George Cooper, Man of Mystery
May. 14th, 2012 03:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerAlanna, knowing quite well that George collected the ears - and sometimes the rest - of those who disobeyed his orders, hid a grin behind her hand.
Ah, George Cooper. Everybody’s favorite King of the Rogue.
I like George. Everyone likes George. I think it’s impossible not to like George. He’s got lots of funny lines, and he’s so darn nice to Alanna, and he seems to understand her implicitly, which not many people do.
None of this is to say that George Cooper, and the worldbuilding surrounding the court of the Rogue, makes much sense. The quote at the start of this entry encapsulates the problem: here we have the nicest guy in the world...who mutilates his followers when they don’t do what he wants.
Which habit, going by Alanna’s reaction, is...apparently humorous? Oh, that King of the Rogue, he cuts people’s ears off. Isn’t he a card?
This reaction might make sense if Tortall were a more violent society, but it doesn’t really come across that way. The pages aren’t beaten, knight masters don’t beat their squires (THANK GOD. That would add a whole new level of ick to Alanna and Jon’s relationship), nobody gets branded or drawn and quartered or what have you in punishment, so it seems out of place for Alanna to find George’s method of punishment charmingly quirky rather than indicative of pathology.
I would find this less alarming, but Pierce mentions the whole “George cuts people’s ears off!” thing at least once a book, as if it’s an amusing hobby. IIRC in Trickster’s Choice we even learn that he has an ear collection.
Yes. Just like a serial killer on Criminal Minds, George Cooper, ex-King of the Rogue and Lord of Pirate’s Swoop, collects his victim’s body parts.
“He always seemed like such a nice fellow, lord provost, sir. Always helpin’ the young nobles get nice horses, he was, and such a good listenin’ ear, too! Can't hardly believe they found all those skeletons in the dungeon at Pirate's Swoop.”
But even more alarming, the rising ruling cohort of Tortall - Alanna, Crown Prince Jon, Raoul and Gary - not only don’t care what he does to his followers (who are, after all, criminals); they also don’t give a hoot that George and his thieves are preying on Jon’s law-abiding future subjects, either. This doesn’t bode particularly well for Jon’s reign, at least as far as the common folk are concerned.
(My favorite completely-unsupported-by-the-text theory is that George's main business is smuggling. Old King Jasson placed ruinous tariffs on certain absolutely necessary goods [it seems like the kind of thing he would do], King Roald can't be bothered to lift said tariffs, so the legal establishment turns a blind eye to George's activities because, hey, it's a stupid law he's breaking, and he's helping keep order to boot.
This explains why George has such an incredibly good spy network, which you wouldn't think he'd need as Lord of the Petty Thieves. A merchant, especially an illegal merchant, needs good information about the surrounding countries.)
So, yes. George Cooper: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
Ah, George Cooper. Everybody’s favorite King of the Rogue.
I like George. Everyone likes George. I think it’s impossible not to like George. He’s got lots of funny lines, and he’s so darn nice to Alanna, and he seems to understand her implicitly, which not many people do.
None of this is to say that George Cooper, and the worldbuilding surrounding the court of the Rogue, makes much sense. The quote at the start of this entry encapsulates the problem: here we have the nicest guy in the world...who mutilates his followers when they don’t do what he wants.
Which habit, going by Alanna’s reaction, is...apparently humorous? Oh, that King of the Rogue, he cuts people’s ears off. Isn’t he a card?
This reaction might make sense if Tortall were a more violent society, but it doesn’t really come across that way. The pages aren’t beaten, knight masters don’t beat their squires (THANK GOD. That would add a whole new level of ick to Alanna and Jon’s relationship), nobody gets branded or drawn and quartered or what have you in punishment, so it seems out of place for Alanna to find George’s method of punishment charmingly quirky rather than indicative of pathology.
I would find this less alarming, but Pierce mentions the whole “George cuts people’s ears off!” thing at least once a book, as if it’s an amusing hobby. IIRC in Trickster’s Choice we even learn that he has an ear collection.
Yes. Just like a serial killer on Criminal Minds, George Cooper, ex-King of the Rogue and Lord of Pirate’s Swoop, collects his victim’s body parts.
“He always seemed like such a nice fellow, lord provost, sir. Always helpin’ the young nobles get nice horses, he was, and such a good listenin’ ear, too! Can't hardly believe they found all those skeletons in the dungeon at Pirate's Swoop.”
But even more alarming, the rising ruling cohort of Tortall - Alanna, Crown Prince Jon, Raoul and Gary - not only don’t care what he does to his followers (who are, after all, criminals); they also don’t give a hoot that George and his thieves are preying on Jon’s law-abiding future subjects, either. This doesn’t bode particularly well for Jon’s reign, at least as far as the common folk are concerned.
(My favorite completely-unsupported-by-the-text theory is that George's main business is smuggling. Old King Jasson placed ruinous tariffs on certain absolutely necessary goods [it seems like the kind of thing he would do], King Roald can't be bothered to lift said tariffs, so the legal establishment turns a blind eye to George's activities because, hey, it's a stupid law he's breaking, and he's helping keep order to boot.
This explains why George has such an incredibly good spy network, which you wouldn't think he'd need as Lord of the Petty Thieves. A merchant, especially an illegal merchant, needs good information about the surrounding countries.)
So, yes. George Cooper: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-05-15 08:23 am (UTC)But possibly that was just because I couldn't quite reconcile the lovable rogue that George is shown to be with a man who cuts off people's ears?
Incidentally, I think the Tortall of the Beka Cooper books is a more violent society. I'm not sure if this is merely because Beka lives in a Tortall past and the country's changed by Alanna's time, or because Beka is - generally - dealing with different parts of society to Alanna and co., or because they're just different stories.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-15 12:26 pm (UTC)Because you're right, it seems so out of character for George.
I've only read the first Beka Cooper book, but I agree with you; her society does seem more violent.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-30 01:03 am (UTC)Earlier than that--they joke about it during one of the marriage proposals, iirc.
It might be an in-joke, but...well, Pierce has said if she went back she wouldn't make Alanna's love interest a lovable thief (apparently she changed her mind about lovable thieves after being robbed), and I don't think he's well-thought-out at all.
I find it rather baffling how...okay...with George's profession and the ear-cutting Alanna is.
His main business being smuggling would definitely make more sense.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-30 01:06 pm (UTC)And he's not even cutting ears off for good reasons! (Um, insofar as extralegal mutilation ever has a good reason.) It's not because they've committed extra-awful crimes; it's because they've disobeyed him. At least one time, he sends some of his men on a suicide mission (to go after Alanna in the desert), and they do it because they're so afraid of his twitchy knife.
This is presented as romantic.
The smuggling idea doesn't get around the ear-cutting problem, but otherwise it explains a lot.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-31 07:21 pm (UTC)You would think! In-canon, I vaguely recall her being all "whatever, they're thieves," but...half her FRIENDS are thieves, and she doesn't view THEM as sub-human.