Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tyrion and Glokta :: Similarities

Tyrion and Glokta

 

Tyrion and Glokta are two very interesting characters from A Song of Ice and Fire and The First Law trilogy written by George RR Martin and Joe Abercrombie, respectively. These are the two characters that stand out from the thousand extensive cast of ASOIAF and the still expansive vista painted in TFL. 


The benefit these two have is that they are the prime story movers in both the novels and there are so many common instances in both these characters that one cannot help but think of them on similar terms. The similarities start at both being broken individuals, while Tyrion has made his mocked name "The Imp" his own, Glokta has also come to terms with being called the cripple. Both have less power when it comes to weapons but in the weapons of the tongue and the mind, both are sharp as any sword-wielder. 


In ASOIAF, we see Tyrion taking charge of battle on a few occasions and he is a daft hand with an axe and can even ride a horse, while (spoiler ahead) Glokta wields a sword only once in The First Law books and By Jove if that's not the moment when the readers cheer for him.

 

Both have a patronizing and scary figure overshadowing them, in case of Tyrion it's his father Tywin Lannister and in case of Glokta it's his superior torturer. Both have hired help to do their dirty work, while they don't mind getting their own hands dirty when need be. We often see Glokta torturing his victims by hacking off their fingers, and there is Tyrion who deliberately poisons his sister so that she can't attend the court proceeding and mess with his "evil" plans. Glokta's hired help is his assistants, Severard and Frost while Tyrion has his own set of sellswords Bronn and Shagga who are killing in his name when needs come up.

 

And the best part of both the characters, both end up getting married to pretty girls who were incidentally about to be married to the king figure in the book. Who are these girls, better read the books to find out, I am not giving any more spoilers here. 


This is it for now, more when I feel like writing more.

Do you think there are any similarities between Glokta and Tyrion that I've missed? Drop a comment :) I'll add it to the post. Cheers!

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