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* JustFollowingOrders: Harshly deconstructed, as The First Law shows just how messed up someone has to be in order to continue working for the Inquisition, which often requires him to torture confessions out of people, even if they're innocent. Glokta, deep down, is disgusted with himself and how far he's sunk. But he doesn't know how to get himself out of this trap that he's found himself in.
* PunchClockVillain: Glokta's a nasty bastard, but he isn't generally malicious and has NothingPersonal against the people he tortures, viewing his work as just another job.
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: {{Zigzagged}} as Glokta doesn't really want to be an evil person, but after a few too many PetTheDog moments blow up in his face and being so broken by his ruined body and the corrupt system, he decides it's better to be a monster.
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: {{Zigzagged}} {{Downplayed}} as Glokta doesn't really want to be an evil person, but after a few too many PetTheDog moments blow up in his face and being so broken by his ruined body and the corrupt system, he decides it's better to be a monster.
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* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Played with. Glokta spent two years being tortured by the Gurkish Empire, and was mutilated and crippled. After he returned home, he joined the Inquisition and started torturing others for a living. However, according to others and Glokta himself, he was as big an asshole in his youth as Jezal was pre-CharacterDevelopment. All his pain did was make him more sorry for himself rather than empathetic to the people he tortures.
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* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Played with. Glokta spent two years being tortured by the Gurkish Empire, and was mutilated and crippled. After he returned home, he joined the Inquisition and started torturing others for a living. However, according to others and Glokta himself, he was as big an asshole in his youth as Jezal was pre-CharacterDevelopment. All his pre-CharacterDevelopment, and the story about him in Sharp Ends seems to confirm that if anything he was far worse than Jezal. His pain did was didn't make him more sorry for himself a bad person, it just turned his enormous pride and ego into cynicism and self-pity, rather than empathetic to empathy for the people he tortures.tortures or anyone else.
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* CorneredRattlesnake: Without his Practicals, everyone expects Glokta to be a helpless cripple. But when his back's against the wall, he reveals his cane is secretly a sword that he's still handy with. He used to fence, after all. Jab, jab.
* DeathSeeker: A version. He doesn't go out actively looking for his death, but he'd dearly like someone to kill him. He's positively thrilled when Ferro and Salem Lews hold his life in the palm of their hands and thinks they're about to kill him. He can't stand to lose though...
* DeathSeeker: A version. He doesn't go out actively looking for his death, but he'd dearly like someone to kill him. He's positively thrilled when Ferro and Salem Lews hold his life in the palm of their hands and thinks they're about to kill him. He can't stand to lose though...
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* CorneredRattlesnake: Without his Practicals, everyone expects Glokta to be a helpless cripple. But when his back's against the wall, he reveals his cane is secretly a sword that he's still handy with. He used to fence, DID win the Contest in his youth, after all. Jab, jab.
* DeathSeeker: A version. He doesn't go out actively looking for his death, buthe'd dearly like he never really seems particularly worried that someone to might kill him. He's him either. He spends a big chunk of the first trilogy basically waiting for the Archlector to decide he's outlived his usefulness (Body found floating by the docks...) and he's positively thrilled when Ferro and Salem Lews Rews hold his life in the palm of their hands and thinks they're about to kill him. He can't stand to lose though...
* DeathSeeker: A version. He doesn't go out actively looking for his death, but
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* MasterSwordsman: He apparently won a prestigious swordsmanship tournament, before he was crippled by torture.
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* MasterSwordsman: He apparently won a prestigious swordsmanship tournament, before the Contest in his youth and was widely considered one of the best swordsmen of his age. Before he was crippled by torture.torture at least.
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* ShootTheDog: All the time. As a professional torturer, Glokta doesn't pretend that the things he does aren't vile, but feels they are nevertheless a necessary evil for the greater good. One of his most monstrous deeds is forcing a ScarpiaUltimatum on Queen Terez, threatening to torture her childhood love unless she essentially becomes a baby-farm to an unknowing King Jezal to ensure the Union remains stable.
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* ShootTheDog: All the time. As a professional torturer, Glokta doesn't pretend that the things he does aren't vile, but feels they are nevertheless a necessary evil for the greater good.good (or sometimes just to save his own skin). One of his most monstrous deeds is forcing a ScarpiaUltimatum on Queen Terez, threatening to torture her childhood love unless she essentially becomes a baby-farm to an unknowing King Jezal to ensure the Union remains stable.
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* LaserGuidedKarma: His plans blow up in his face, he is arrested and stripped of all of his rights, and at the end of the series he's left at the mercy of [[TheDogBitesBack Glokta]] and Pike.
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* UncertainDoom: By the end of the trilogy, he's at the mercy of Glokta and Pike. Whatever they have planned for him is unlikely to be good.
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: {{Zigzagged}} as Glokta doesn't really want to be an evil person, but after a few too many PetTheDog moments blow up in his face and being so broken by his ruined body and the corrupt system that he decides it's better to be a monster.
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: {{Zigzagged}} as Glokta doesn't really want to be an evil person, but after a few too many PetTheDog moments blow up in his face and being so broken by his ruined body and the corrupt system that system, he decides it's better to be a monster.
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* VillainRespect: {{Zigzagged}} as he respects Bayaz's manipulative acumen and his [[TheChessmaster schemes to gain power]], but he's disgusted by his boasting.
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* VillainRespect: {{Zigzagged}} as he respects Bayaz's manipulative acumen and his [[TheChessmaster schemes to gain power]], but he's disgusted by his boasting.boasting and [[ItsAllAboutMe vanity]].
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* {{Determinator}}: ''nothing'' will stop Glokta in his quest to getting to the bottom of a case. Not his ruined body nor the orders of his superiors. This impresses Bayaz, who [[spoiler: gives him the job as the Arch Lector and basically becoming his MouthOfSauron.]]
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* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Glokta is a deconstruction of the PunchClockVillain or JustFollowingOrders; the series goes into in-depth exploration of how messed up you would have to be to keep "working" as a villain. He constantly questions himself and his superiors (in fact his {{Catchphrase}} is "Why do I do this?") but also doesn't think he's capable of doing anything else because of what his own torture and his work for the Inquisition turned him into.
* DeadpanSnarker: He could be the headliner of the page...
* DeadpanSnarker: He could be the headliner of the page...
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: {{Zigzagged}} as Glokta doesn't really want to be an evil person, but after a few too many PetTheDog moments blow up in his face and being so broken by his ruined body and the corrupt system that he decides it's better to be a monster.
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* VillainRespect: {{Zigzagged}} as he respects Bayaz's manipulative acumen and his [[TheChessmaster schemes to gain power]], but he's disgusted by his boasting.
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* PsychologicalProjection: Glokta can be prone to this, particularly when it comes to Jezel, who reminds him of his former younger self.
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[[WMG:[[center:[-''Literature/TheFirstLaw'' '''[[Characters/TheFirstLaw Characters]]'''\\
'''The Union'''\\
[[Characters/TheFirstLawUnionRoyaltyAndGovernment The Royal Family & Closed Council]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawUnionMilitary Union Military]] | His Majesty's Inquisition | [[Characters/TheFirstLawUnionCitizens Nobility & Citizenry of the Union]]\\
'''The North'''\\
[[Characters/TheFirstLawNorthRoyaltyAndRule Northern Royalty]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNorthLogensBand Logen's Band]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNorthernProtectorate Northern Protectorate]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNorth The North]]\\
'''Other Characters'''\\
[[Characters/TheFirstLawMagi The Magi]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawGurkishEmpire Gurkish Empire]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawStyria Styria]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNearAndFarCountries Near & Far Countries]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawAdua Adua]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawTheFirstLaw The First Law trilogy]] | ''Characters/BestServedCold'' | ''Characters/TheHeroes'' | ''Characters/RedCountry''-]]]]]
'''The Union'''\\
[[Characters/TheFirstLawUnionRoyaltyAndGovernment The Royal Family & Closed Council]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawUnionMilitary Union Military]] | His Majesty's Inquisition | [[Characters/TheFirstLawUnionCitizens Nobility & Citizenry of the Union]]\\
'''The North'''\\
[[Characters/TheFirstLawNorthRoyaltyAndRule Northern Royalty]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNorthLogensBand Logen's Band]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNorthernProtectorate Northern Protectorate]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNorth The North]]\\
'''Other Characters'''\\
[[Characters/TheFirstLawMagi The Magi]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawGurkishEmpire Gurkish Empire]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawStyria Styria]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawNearAndFarCountries Near & Far Countries]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawAdua Adua]] | [[Characters/TheFirstLawTheFirstLaw The First Law trilogy]] | ''Characters/BestServedCold'' | ''Characters/TheHeroes'' | ''Characters/RedCountry''-]]]]]
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Dewicked trope
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* KnifeNut: Severard really likes his knives.
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* EvilMentor: He serves as one to Vick dan Teufel who serves as both a protege to him and a warped kind of morality pet, despite the fact that he's the one who arranged her entire family to be locked up in the prison camps of Angland and only released her once she agreed to join the Inquisition.
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* ALighterShadeOfBlack: He may betray his allies and execute political prisoners, but he's more of a blustering buffoon too blinded by ideas to think of pragmatic ways to help the Union. In contrast, the Weaver's other right-hand, Judge, is a dangerous psychopath. [[spoiler:While Risinau's reign is ineffectual, Judge's is marked by mass murder, terror and fanaticism.]]
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* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:He and his supporters are the first Judge sentences to be thrown off the Tower of Chains.]]
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* IgnorantOfHisOwnIgnorance: Just about the only person who doesn't know Risinau is an idiot is Risinau himself.
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* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:He tries to say some last words only for Sarlby to tell him he's "said enough" and force him off the Tower of Chains.]]
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* ALighterShadeOfBlack: [[spoiler:By ''The Age of Madness'' Glokta no longer serves Bayaz and actually engineers events so that his daughter rules with his guidance. However, this does not make Glokta a good person. He's still an unrepentant torturer and mass-murderer who used his daughter as a pawn and doesn't seem to care about the pain he's put her through. As Savine notes, Glokta engineered the Great Change to get rid of Bayaz, so Glokta could ''become Bayaz.'' Glokta's only "better" in the sense that he's capable of love, admits he does want at least ''some'' positive change for the Union and would intends to advise his daughter instead of using her as a puppet, whereas Bayaz is a sociopath who only cares about empowering himself and glorifying his ego.]]
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Though he does love his adopted daughter Savine in his own twisted way, he doesn't feel any guilt over the emotional and physical trauma she endured as a result of the Great Change and seems more annoyed that she's holding him orchestrating the revolution against him rather than just moving on and being pragmatic.]]
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Though he does love his adopted daughter Savine in his own twisted way, he doesn't feel any guilt over the emotional and physical trauma she endured as a result of the Great Change and seems more annoyed that she's holding him orchestrating the revolution against him rather than just moving on and being pragmatic.]]
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* TheChessmaster
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* TheChessmasterTheChessmaster: Glokta is an incredibly skilled planner.
