Most "Tortured Soul" in fantasy/sci-fi??

[Hallow]

Jorg from Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns could qualify, although he's also a pretty heartless guy.

[Suttree]

Jorg from Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns could qualify, although he's also a pretty heartless guy.

 

How was that Hallow?

[Hallow]

Jorg from Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns could qualify, although he's also a pretty heartless guy.

 

How was that Hallow?

 

The book? I thought it was fantastic, can easily recommend it to anyone (and the sequel is out in a few days!).

 

There's the caveat of the protagonist being a very conflicted person and sometimes committing pretty atrocious acts (rape, pillage, murder etc.) so if that sort of thing bothers you I'd steer clear.

[Suttree]

Jorg from Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns could qualify, although he's also a pretty heartless guy.

 

How was that Hallow?

 

The book? I thought it was fantastic, can easily recommend it to anyone (and the sequel is out in a few days!).

 

There's the caveat of the protagonist being a very conflicted person and sometimes committing pretty atrocious acts (rape, pillage, murder etc.) so if that sort of thing bothers you I'd steer clear.

 

Thanks for the heads up and yeah Bakker is my fav fantasy author so all good.

[The Fisher King]

The Doctor

 

Fitz

 

Theon

 

 

 

Fish

[slatanic1]

I may be jumping genres a little bit, but I just started the third book of The Bourne Series, and I think David Webb deserves a place on the list.

 

 

Especially since the torturers are his own government

 

 

 

I definitely agree that Fitz should be near the top of the list as well.

[Guest Kai]

I haven't read that many fantasy books yet but if Urban Fantasy counts then out of what i've read it would have to be Harry Dresden from Dresden Files.

[blank]

Oh I definitely agree with the Doctor and poor poor FitzChivarly.

 

To throw a new name into the mix, Sand Dan Glokta from Joe Abercrombie's First Law series. At the very beginning of the book he is revealed to be a Torturer because he was so badly tortured it's all he knows now. I think he qualifies.

 

He's also hilarious.

[Ozzie_aiel]

Oh I definitely agree with the Doctor and poor poor FitzChivarly.

 

To throw a new name into the mix, Sand Dan Glokta from Joe Abercrombie's First Law series. At the very beginning of the book he is revealed to be a Torturer because he was so badly tortured it's all he knows now. I think he qualifies.

 

 

Throw in Bloody Nine with this guy, and Shivers later on

 

What about Paragon, the mad liveship? Came to sentience in the middle of a storm that killed 2 member of the family he was connected with and went insane, killed his entire crew on 2 different occasions bfore coming back to harbour and weeping like a small child, then had his face hacked with axes.

 

Horus (from the Warhammer 40K Horus Heresy)

 

Dante from Dantes Inferno, believes he's doing the right thing and he'll get to heaven for his part in the Crusades, then has to save his girl from Hell, and its his fault she's down there

 

And lets not get started with comic book characters

 

Dumbledore can be taken as a sort of tortured soul in the last book when you find out about his early life. He just hides it well

[slatanic1]

I've just started book two on my re-read of the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker Duology. and Asher of Restharven definitely belongs in the list. Even though I want to see it through again, I've actually been avoiding it because I don't know if I can stand watching him go through it again.

[blank]

Oh I completely forgot about Paragon, good choice!

 

Also Matrim, I've never read the kingmaker, kingbreaker duology but if you're avoiding it because a character arc is too painful, I'd say he is definitely a contender for most "Tortured Soul".

[elric]

i go with Elric of Melnibone

 

BIG SPOILER

-----------------------

 

a nice guy who forced by his destiny to kill his family /destroy his city / massacare his race and his swords eat the souls of his friends and 2 TRUE LOVES and feed it to him

 

______________________

 

 

TU for adding the correct tags -> didnt know how

[peacesells]

i go with Elric of Melnibone

 

BIG SPOILER

-----------------------

 

a nice guy who forced by his destiny to kill his family /destroy his city / massacare his race and his swords eat the souls of his friends and 2 TRUE LOVES and feed it to him

 

______________________

 

did he get raised as a god in later books? Called back to life by worshipers? Or am I mixing this up? It's been many many years.

[elric]

• i think u refer to Korum , :))
  

[Hagazussa]

Dracula from Bram Stokers novel by the same name.

Rand al'Thor from Wheel of Time

Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

[coldestcaress]

Gotta agree with Roland Deschain. Gollum, too, and all of the Malazan characters mentioned.

 

Mind you, I find it a bit difficult to pick out the most tortured soul in the Malazan series, all things considered. :|

 

And GRRM is rough on his characters. As someone mentioned, Sansa has gone through a lot, and Theon (SHUDDER). Sandor Clegane qualifies as a tortured soul, too, I think.

[Red2111]

i agree 100% that the Hound is a tourtured character.

 

Sansa and Theon though ... meh i think they bring it on themselves. Sansa for refusing to move beyond her ignorance and Theon for just being a straight up ass. while i do think Bolton went too far, i can't say i feel all that sorry for him tbh.

[Hallow]

Gotta agree with Roland Deschain. Gollum, too, and all of the Malazan characters mentioned.

 

Mind you, I find it a bit difficult to pick out the most tortured soul in the Malazan series, all things considered. :|

 

And GRRM is rough on his characters. As someone mentioned, Sansa has gone through a lot, and Theon (SHUDDER). Sandor Clegane qualifies as a tortured soul, too, I think.

 

In the case of Malazan, it's harder to find one that isn't tortured.

[Darksmoon]

I'm going with Thomas Covenant

[BFG]

Can I nominate SoIaF generally? With the exception of Joffrey who just seems to be a psychopath?

 

Agree with the

Doctor,

Fitz,

Paragon,

 

and I haven't seen him nominated yet, but

Cheradenine Zakalwe

from Use of Weapons, Iain M Banks (strictly speaking sci fi and not fantasy).

[Wolf505]

I'm a huge BSG fan and it's chalk full of tortured characters. The two that stand out most to me are Starbuck

severely abused childhood, feels responsible for the death of her fiancee, is captured and thoroughly mind-jacked by the Cylon Leobin, dies and comes back with knowledge of how to get to Earth, but nobody believes her.

and Baltar

inadvertently helped the Cylons destroy the human race. Sees inexplicable visions of Six. No matter what he does, people are always suspicious of him, especially Roslin. Gets all the blame for the Cylon invasion of New Caprica even though he couldn't have done anything about it. He's constantly trying to overcome his greedy hedonistic nature and can't ever quite seem to do it until the very end.

 

 

Richard and Kahlen from SoT. No matter what they do people and situations are constantly tearing them apart when all they want is to live together in peace. Faith of the Fallen was one of my favorite books of all time, but the last three books of the series are particularly harsh for Richard and Kahlen.

 

Most of the others I'd mention, people have already mentioned.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Nice topic, a few that haven't been mentioned.

 

Arithon s'Ffallen Janny Wurts -War of Light and Shadow

 

Lysaer s'ilessid Janny Wurts

 

 

Half-brothers infected with a curse that makes them want to kill each other. Drank some water that makes them live for 500 years.

 

Arithon is by far the most tortured of the two. Becomes known basically as the supreme evil of the world, hunted by his curse-driven brother. Has to sacrifice many friends and loved ones because he is bound by an oath to survive no matter what (he can't kill himself, and survival kicks in when he is in danger) All he wants to do is play music and live quietly and is further cursed with an abnormal amount of compassion. Oh, and he can't be with his soulmate, because she is in one of the Orders who want to see him dead. They can crush her soul if they get too close. Incidentally, they also use that connection to try and kill/capture him.

 

Lysaer is also torutered, he tries to control the curse, and in his brief moments of lucidity, feels pretty crappy about things.

 

 

Frater Mercury - Mark Charan Newton - Legends of the Red Sun

 

 

Created a bunch of speices, considered a god. Witnesses tens of thousands of years of his creations doing war against one another to almost total annihilation.

 

He wants to kill himself, but one group of his people wont let him because they want him to save them. So he is imprisoned by his own creations.

 

 

Cayal the Immortal Prince (and basically all of the Immortals) Jennifer Fallon - Tide Lords

 

 

As it suggests, they are immortal. Live thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years and can't kill themselves.

 

Cayal has killed milions probably, and seen countless people/kingdoms die out along with friends/lovers etc.

 

He is trying to get himself killed, but it is impossible. The best that can happen is if he cuts his head off, when it grows back (yes, I mean grow back) his memories are wiped. However, doing so will cause a whole heap of destruction and reduce him to near mindlessness.

 

[Stitched up by a postie]

Agree with Rand Al'Thor, Raistlin, Turin Turambar. I'd also suggest Londo Mollari from Babylon 5 - ruins his world and dooms his race to extinction out of ambition.

 

Don't understand the Doctor being thought a tortured soul, though - maybe because I haven't watched the series post-Ecclestone (shudder).

[Whizbang]

Anyone read the Kane series of books and novellas by Karl Wagner (http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Darkness-Complete-Novels-Kane/dp/189238924X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1350328924&sr=8-3&keywords=karl+edward+wagner+kane)?

 

The guy has out-lived gods, demons and thousands of countries and races. He's even out-lived mountains. The guy is bored to death with life and the only way to end it is by violence. So, he contrives ways to occupy his time until someone manages to kill him.

 

I dunno, maybe I am reading too much into this pulp-fantasy character. He was pretty bad-ass and fought like a demon to stay alive, so maybe my "lonley, bored immortal" description doesn't fit. Anyway, I still get the impression he is miserable and does what he does out of spite and anger at the gods who cursed him.

[Sagacious Lu]

It's hard for me to imagine a worse fate than Elric's. Roland and The Hound deserve to be mentioned as well, along with possibly Illyn Payne. I can't think of her name at the moment but the star at the end of Gaimon's Stardust got one of the rougher endings I've come across.

Belgarath? No way. Where to I sign up to be "tortured" by the women of Maragor? :p