The Lies of Locke Lamora

“‘My name,’ said Locke Lamora, ‘is Lukas Fehrwight.’ The voice was clipped and precise, scrubbed of Locke’s natural inflections. He layered the hint of a harsh Vadran accent atop a slight mangling of his native Camorri dialect like a barkeep mixing liquors. ‘I am wearing clothes that will be full of sweat in several minutes. I am dumb enough to walk around Camorr without a blade of any sword. Also,’ he said with a hint of ponderous regret, ‘I am entirely fictional.’”

Locke demonstrates his skill at and delight in grifting. He doesn’t disguise himself as Fehrwight because he must but because he thoroughly enjoys it. Stealing and grifting are things Locke needs to do to feel like himself and to be happy.

“[T]he shark came up biting and must have taken [Cicilia] by one or both legs. [...] In moments the ink foam was dark red once more, and the two struggling shadows were sinking into the depths. [...] ‘Gods!’ Doña Sofia stared at the spreading stain on the water; the surviving fighters stood with their heads lowered, and the priests were gesturing some sort of mutual blessing. ‘Unbelievable! Taken in so fast, by such a simple trick.’”

This quotation coincides with the end of the Salvaras’s negotiation with “Fehrwight.” Sofia is talking about the contrarequialla’s mistake, but from Locke’s and the reader’s perspective, she’s also referencing her own mistake. This is an example of irony: Sofia doesn’t understand that she’s truly talking about herself, and the truth of her statement is invisible to her.

“Such audacity could never be faked—Locke had to feel it, summon it from somewhere inside, cloak himself in arrogance as though it were an old familiar garment. Locke Lamora became a shadow in his own mind—he was a Midnighter, an officer in the duke’s silent constabulary. Locke’s complicated lies were this new man’s simple truth.”

As Locke transitions into a new identity, the narrative provides a crucial bit of insight about how he folds lies upon lies for survival, thievery, and thrill. Locke must believe his own lies to make other people believe them too. The simile, which compares arrogance to an “old familiar garment,” is resonant, since Locke dresses in the old familiar garments of his wardrobe to become this new person.

“Chains had trained them superbly for the task of relieving Camorr’s nobility of the burden of some of its accumulated wealth, but had perhaps neglected to discuss the possible uses of the sums involved. Other than financing further theft, the Gentlemen Bastards really had no idea what they were eventually going to do with it all.”

For the Gentlemen Bastards, thieving isn’t about the items and money they steal. They revel in how much money they get from the Salvaras, but they’re chiefly celebrating their own skill and audacity, not the money itself. This illustrates how crime is so widespread in Camorr that it is a career for the Bastards.

“If the Dregs were poverty-racked, the Snare disreputable, the Mara Camorrazza openly dangerous, and Ashfall dirty and falling apart, the Cauldron was all of these things with a compound interest of human desperation.”

This quotation highlights the novel’s gallows humor. Gallows humor is a type of irony that makes jokes about dire and deadly situations. Lynch frequently uses gallows humor for worldbuilding purposes and set the story’s tone. He doesn’t simply describe the places; he describes how the people who live there feel about those places.

“Maintaining her father’s secrets was Nazca’s entire life. Did it mean something for her, to have one of her own that she could keep from him?”

Locke considers Nazca’s perspective: What might it be like to be her? This is one of the first times when Locke genuinely empathizes with another person. That Locke identifies with Nazca through the secrets she keeps reveals the secrets Locke himself holds close and demonstrates his character growth.

“He was far too young for much self-analysis, but the process of scheming gave him real pleasure, like a little ball of tingling warmth in the pit of his stomach. He had no name for what he was doing, but in the collision of his whirling thoughts a plan began to form, and the more he thought on it the more pleased he became with himself.”

Locke starts to become aware of how good scheming makes him feel. He loves the scheming for its own sake, but it also makes him feel “pleased with himself”—which often leads him to dangerous arrogance and disastrous mistakes.

“‘Tomorrow [...] you and I will go out and plunder!’ ‘That sounds dangerous,’ said Jean. ‘For anyone else, maybe. For Gentlemen Bastards, well, it’s just what we do.’ ‘We?’ ‘We.’”

Young Locke invites young Jean into the Gentlemen Bastards of his own volition, not just because Father Chains asks him to. He explicitly invites Jean to come join him in “plundering,” a word that contains a sense of enjoyment and power; Locke is inviting Jean to join him in feeling joy and power, not just in stealing. He uses “we” when describing the Gentleman Bastards to confirm that Jean is now part of this collective. From now on, they’re a unit.

‘“Chains isn’t blind,’ said Jean. ‘I’m not an initiate. And you’re not really…not really…’ ‘A mean old son-of-a-bitch?’ Jean giggled despite himself. ‘I, uh…I wonder if I’ll ever meet anyone who is what they seem to be, ever again, my lord.’”

Although Jean’s not as skilled at false-facing as the rest of the Gentleman Bastards, his appearance and soft-spokenness belie his skills as a fighter. He uses his body to intimidate his opponents or hides it to give them a false impression of safety. His question as to whether he’ll meet anyone who is authentically themself foreshadows the duplicity of identities that the Bastards adopt in adulthood.

“The light from the hearthstone sank several stages further before Jean answered. ‘I thought we’d agreed long ago that they get what they deserve, Locke. Nothing more. This is a fantastically silly moment to start giving a shit.’”

Jean has a moment of conscience when he speaks of agreements, and of “giving a shit,” subtly suggesting that it’s the right thing to do. Jean’s merchant background and memories of his parents make him more prone to this than any other member of the Bastards. There’s a bitterness to what he says that demonstrates a part of him wishes he could still “give a shit.”

“I just have to keep you here [...] until Jean gets back.”

A young Locke lets Tesso beat him up because he knows that when Jean arrives, Jean will beat Tesso up for him. Locke needs Jean, and Jean will always show up. This is how their friendship and relationship works, even as children: They’re a bonded pair. Locke repeats this declaration during his final confrontation with the Gray King. Their bond is what allows Locke to survive.

“‘What, no crack about my moral education?’ ‘Your moral education’s over. [...] Now you’re going to learn a thing or two about war.’”

Bug says the first piece of dialogue to lighten the mood for Jean, Locke, and himself. But the mood can’t be lightened. This interaction foreshadows that the rest of the novel centers on war and revenge and that Bug will die next.

“Their throats were slashed from ear to ear, a pair of smooth gashes—identical twin wounds.”

Twins are a thread throughout the novel, as seen through the Berangias sisters and Jean’s hatchets. Twins are also present with Calo and Galdo, and their twinness is part of what makes them important to the Bastards. Even in death, they’re together.

“It seemed to him that the alien glass ceiling that had shed warm light on his life for so many long years now took a knowing pleasure in showing him nothing but dark red: the reflection of the floor on which he sat with the motionless body of Bug, still bleeding in his arms.”

This quotation combines the novel’s images of Elderglass and violence. The “alien” Elderglass ceiling, which became familiar after many years, is now alien again. The red of Bug’s blood preludes the red justice to come.

“I promise you a death-offering, brothers [...] I promise you an offering that will make the gods themselves take notice. [...] This I swear to Chains, who kept us safe. I beg your forgiveness that I failed to do the same.”

Locke will work to accomplish this death-offering for the rest of the novel, just as he had to fulfill his first-death offering as a child. After he makes this death-offering, he pushes his old shark tooth into the Gray King’s man’s hand and wounds him. Locke has this new goal, but he’s also lost one: properly succeeding Chains as leader of the Gentlemen Bastards.

“The shark exploded out of the pool [...] a sleek dark devilish thing, with black lidless eyes and white teeth gaping.”

The shark isn’t just scary here—it’s evil. This vivid imagery shifts the shark symbol from being dangerous to being actively sinister. The shark embodies the violence of this society, but its sinister actions indicate to the citizens that more is amiss than the baseline violence they encounter daily.

“The plan seemed to come up out of nowhere; it swept into his thoughts like a boarding party rushing onto a ship. In the blink of an eye, he was in its power, and it was set out before him, plain as walking in a straight line.”

This combination of similes vividly shows Locke’s facility at scheming and how quickly he can become embroiled in something. After multiple chapters of tragedy and despair, Locke gets a chance to do what he’s good at and take joy in being who he is.

“It was strange, how readily authority could be conjured with nothing but a bit of strutting jackassery.”

Authority and power are very important in Camorr. Authority means danger and occasionally profit. Lynch’s contrast between power and “strutting jackassery” raises questions about what power really is within the novel and who holds it at any given time.

“There’s a chance I won’t [live out the night.] But you know what? Calo and Galdo Sanza are laughing at you, bitch.”

But Locke and Jean begin to invoke the twins’ names (and Bug’s) throughout this part of the novel. It is a way of reminding themselves of what they’re fighting for and of expressing their pain.

“To say that he was an intemperate, murderous lunatic would wound the feelings of most intemperate, murderous lunatics.”

This is an example of gallows humor and hyperbole. It’s also an example of the novel’s worldbuilding. Trevor Vargas is exactly the type of person expect to be found in Camorr, and this description makes that clear.

“‘Your…Midnighters…You mean—you must be fucking kidding. You’re the Spider?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘and by the gods, it feels good to finally fling that in the face of someone who can appreciate it.’”

This is a meeting of adversaries who respect and admire each other, even though they want to defeat each other. This interaction contrasts how Locke feels and acts around the Gray King and the Bondsmage. He pays respect to Doña Vorchenza, who operates within the Camorri code of justice, where he antagonizes the Gray King who goes rogue and operates by his own definition of vengeance.

“‘Jean’s rather soft-hearted,’ said the Falconer, ‘but you’re the real weakling, aren’t you? You’re the one who begged me to do anything to you as long as I left your friends alone…’”

The Falconer reveals his viciousness. He’s not simply a hireling who does what the Gray King tells him to do. He enjoys it. In his revelation, he strips Locke down to his most vulnerable being, and uses it against him, highlighting the violence of the narrative. 

“And the Gray King whirled, dragging Locke halfway around with him; whirled in fear of Jean Tannen before he realized that Locke must be lying…”

As the Gray King falters, the narration shows two basic truths about Jean and Locke: Jean has a reputation for hurting people, and Locke lies. These things are true, but at the end of the novel, they both know they’re much more than that. This revelation illustrates Locke and Jean’s character growth, highlighting how far they’ve come since the beginning of the story.