Unlike the White Cloaks who are cartoonishly evil and fun to see get walloped

Or the Forsaken who are, to a man, nutter butters and too full of themselves

The Seanchan really do read as realistic villains

Reading this series for the first time all completed naturally gives me a different experience from those readers who read the books as they came out

Still the politics of the book are very centered in the 1990s (or at least the gender and sexual politics)

I think if it was written now the dynamic between tylin and mat would be seen as readers in a very different light then readers at the time for instance

All this to say I am not sure if Robert Jordan and his wife meant the seanchan to reflect colonialism and colonizer mindsets or if they intended anglo readers of the books seeing the european stand in nations of the westlands getting occupied by the seanchan (who are presented as an antagonistic and alien culture) to connect those dots.

At the same time its also clear the Seanchan are fixing serious problems. The nations the seanchan occupy easily were destabilized weakened states that that were riven with centuries of internal civil wars and conflicts. Arad Doman had no government. Tarabon was in utter chaos with literal famines. Amadicia was essentially ruled by white cloaks. Altara was essentially city states with its osstensible capitol of Ebou Dar barely stable.

The Seanchan restored order, ended famines and stabilized the local economies. Even before the forsaken showed up to cause chaos and before the aiel war none of these places were jn great shape.

And there is certainly a comment about how colonizers take advantage of local instability... but if thats the intention...

Thats where it raises questions for me on intent because the seanchan might be enslaving any magic user they can find in handmaid's tale style camps and enforced labor camps, among other things... but theyre also delivering food, health care, and stability for destabilized regions. Which does raise questions for me on intent