The First Law: Review and Philosophy Discussion

“Honour, eh? What the hell is that anyway? Every man thinks it's something different. You can't drink it. You can't fuck it. The more of it you have the less good it does you, and if you've got none at all you don't miss it.”

            The First Law Trilogy is a grimdark fantasy written by the author Joe Abercrombie. A grimdark fantasy is notable for being anti-Tolkien in nature. The genre dismisses the hopeful, idealist aspects of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and replaces it with violent, amoral, and nihilistic themed storytelling. The most notable of this genre would be GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire series, though Martin has rejected the nihilistic charge. In contrast, I would say The First Law does seem to be more brazenly nihilistic.

Review (No Spoilers)

Overall, I did enjoy the series. If you are the type who can't read a book with characters that have unapologetically repulsive quirks, or a book with crushing depression and suffering, then I can't recommend the book. However, if you do like that sort of thing, then I can say that this book will be a ride. The trilogy is notable for its consistency. There really never is a missed step. If you find yourself hooked for the first book, you can rest assured that the rest of the trilogy will click for you as well. The trilogy is also notable for its characters, which are tragically flawed in very human ways. I would go so far as to say that these characters are more selfish and unlikeable than those in ASOIAF. What drive the interest, of course, are their conflicts and their unique struggles. The trilogy does an amazing job making these thoroughly repulsive characters . . . engaging. Finally, the trilogy is notable for the twists that it provides throughout the story, particularly at the end of the trilogy, that redefines how the series is looked at. I personally found the ending to be great, and exactly what you should expect for a series of this kind.

There were some flaws with the series, as well, as nothing is perfect:

 Unfortunately, The First Law cannot boast the complex political intrigue that fascinated me when I was reading ASOIAF. The latter series was so compelling, not just because of its grimdark tropes and the associated genre subversions, but because of the complicated and engaging political machinations that made up the plot. While The First Law does try to incorporate some of this intrigue into the story, the plots are notably less complicated and interesting. Now, that said, perhaps you think ASOIAF was too complex, even when only considering the first three of that series; if that is that case, then this book should work just fine for you; this can only be a preference.

The other problem I had with this series was the lack of a map. I found myself wondering about the layout and movements of the characters, but Abercrombie is notable for rejecting the use of maps. The result is a lack of grounding for a lot of the events. Fantasy, of all genres, requires a map for the reader to make sense of everything, and I think this book is a good testament as to why.

Finally, a few nitpicks, just because I can:

The prose is good, overall, but I noticed throughout that Abercrombie isn't afraid to write incomplete sentences. I'm not sure why; I'm also not sure why I didn't really care that much.

Sometimes, the characters did come off as a bit tropey, which I didn't really care for. Glokta is a self-aware asshole with snark; Ardee is a fiery bad girl who pushes sexual mores.

I'm sure I pissed some readers off with that Glokta comment, so let me just say he was one of my favorite characters. I think some of this might be my general disillusionment with most fiction these days. Much of it just seems to be the same.

All in all, I enjoyed the read, and so I'll give the series an 8/10.

Philosophy of The First Law (Spoilers)

As I mentioned in the beginning, the trilogy is a grimdark fantasy, and as such, much of the centers on the subversion of many Tolkien-esque tropes. This is done primarily through the characterization and conflicts over the course of the story.

Logen Ninefingers

"Blood gets you nothing but more blood. It follows me now, always, like my shadow, and like my shadow I can never be free of it. I should never be free of it. I’ve earned it. I’ve deserved it. I’ve sought it out. Such is my punishment"

Logen Ninefingers is one of the prime examples of a grimdark character. He functions mainly as commentary on characters like Aragorn from LOTR. Logen, like Aragorn, is from the more rugged north, and he embodies a great warrior whose name is known throughout the land. Logen contrasts quite significantly, though, when you consider the fact that Logen is infamous. He was a savage murderer responsible for the deaths of many, including women and children. He is also ugly, his face sliced open with a plethora of scars. Logen's character conflict amounts to Logen's increasing disillusionment with his old ways, and his increasing desire to turn around and become a better man. The series sets this whole arc up by having Logen be one of the travelers on the quest to the edge of the world. As you would expect, Logen begins to form bonds with this disarray of characters. He wins the respect of the arrogant Jezal, he makes love to the hostile Ferro, and manages to bring his necessary contribution to the journey.

The first major undercut comes when their journey ends in failure. The magical seed that they were looking for was hidden somewhere else, and the second book ends with the whole crew completely dejected and frustrated. Logen, in particular, is forced to come to terms with the fact that this whole journey was for naught. He has lost his potential for redemption. What's more, his relationship with Ferro falls apart, and they end up parting ways, never to return to one another.

The second undercut comes when Logen returns to the north after their fruitless journey. He finds himself back where he started, not just in terms of location, but also in terms of morality and well-being. The north is, and always has been, a harsh place. He is consequently forced to return to his old ways of intimidation and murder in order to keep himself alive. Everything comes to a head when Logen finishes his fight with Bethod. It is made more explicit, how Bethod has been wronged by Logen numerous times. The reader is forced to realize more surely than ever, that Bethod, for all his faults, falls short of Logen in terms of faults; the reader is supposed to question whether the side they are following is even the correct side; the reader further wonders whether that question even matters.

The final undercut comes when Logen leads the northmen south to help the Union in their war. This was motivated by a desire to be a better man, as he wants to keep his word to Lord Marshal West. The fight is brutal and horrible—practically a pyrrhic victory—and one of his close friends is killed in the process. What's more, the revelations surrounding Bayaz throws a wrench in all of this, as it is realized that Bayaz had never been on a noble quest, and he had been using Logen from the beginning. But Logen is also forced to admit that he walked into this charade.

Logen eventually returns home, only to be turned on by one of his men. While this man is notorious for his own backstabbing, sadistic nature, he accuses Logen of being one of the more evil people he had met; he emphasizes that this is mostly due to Logen's lack of self-awareness. This final encounter is meant to be the final nail in Logen's coffin, the final question that undermines everything that he had been vying for throughout the series. He had an idea of becoming a better man, but not only could he not get away from his old life, but he is forced to question what kind of man he actually is. Is he an evil man engaging idealistic denial? His story ends exactly how it began: with Logen falling into a river during a fight.

Bayaz, The First of the Magi

"Rules are for children. This is war, and in war the only crime is to lose."

The second character to embody the subversion of the Tolkien-esque trope is Bayaz. Bayaz, from the beginning is introduced as a Magi (read: wizard), and this draws immediate parallels to Gandalf. Further, he is the man who orchestrates the great quest to the edge of the world, in the hopes of saving the Union. Along the way, he preaches at length about the wisdom he has garnered over the years. He gives advise on how to rule, and it become increasingly obvious that he has been around for hundreds of years, and has even been actively involved in the government. This all gives off the image of a guardian protector; if he is not a deity, he is one step closer than the average human.

The undercutting of the wise master trope begins fairly quickly and becomes progressively sharper over the course of the story. The first thing the reader catches onto is the arrogance of Bayaz, who, on multiple occasions, loses his temper over the lack of respect he receives; he emphasizes his position as the First of the Magi and implies that he is owed this respect. This is a minor flaw. Things start to grow more fishy, though, as the journey progresses and they meet up with the other Magi. None seem to have very favorable opinions of the Magus, and what's more, there are rumors going around about his past, suggesting that he is lying about some of the darker parts. His enemies accuse him of killing the master, Juvens, and his friends show evident worry over whether the accusation really was true. The final undercut comes at the climax of the story, and serves as one of the last major twists in the story. It is revealed that Bayaz really did kill his master; but his crimes did not stop there. It also revealed that he is hardly set apart from those that he is fighting. He accuses Khalul and the others of breaking the Second Law, despite having friends on his side who break that same law. He brazenly claims that the only thing that sets him and Khalul apart is that he won. As the cherry on top, the full extent of his influence is revealed, showing the shear mastery he has over puppeteering the politics of the Union.

In short, Bayaz, far from being the noble guardian protector of the people, standing on the periphery, guiding the Union through hardship, Bayaz is an arrogant, power hungry prick, coldly manipulating everyone to force things to go his way. He sacrifices thousands in his petty feuds with Khalul, he doesn't show much regard for the lives of his people, and he actively suppresses attempts to give the populace power over their lives. He is the creator the Union, much like a god is the creator of the world, but he is painfully, horrifyingly human.

San Dan Glokta

"You could not even guess at the things that I have done. Awful, evil, obscene, the telling of them alone could make you puke. They nag at me from time to time, but I tell myself I had good reasons. The years pass, the unimaginable becomes everyday, the hideous becomes tedious, the unbearable becomes routine."

The next character I want to discuss is San Dan Glokta. He, like most of the other characters, never actually changes throughout the story. This is part of the overall message of the story, though his story's end does not play out exactly like the others.

Glokta starts out as a crippled shell of a man, having withered away due to years of torture under the direction of the Gurkish Empire. He was once a proud and vain man, handsome and brave, but this vanity led to his capture and to where he is now: a cripple who needs a cane to walk, twisted and ugly, condemned to only eat soup for the rest of his days. The most horrifying aspect of his character is his position within the Inquisition for the crown; he is a torturer, himself, now, and fully aware of this irony. Throughout the story, Glokta does many horrible things, from rigging election processes to threatening gang rape to torturing false confessions out of people. What's more is that he doesn't show scruples, other than through snarky comments about his relative place in the world. Unlike the rest of the characters, Glokta is completely self-aware, and unlike Logen, he doesn't show a consistent desire to change his ways.

Glokta does come close to having that desire. In the second book, he lets the traitor he has been tasked to expose go free. He does this out of a seeming desire to do the right thing. The typical tropes of storytelling suggest that this is the beginning of Glokta's redemption. But that never happens. Glokta worries about this choice, and then it bites him in the ass when the traitor comes back to haunt him. The story ends with Glokta continuing on with his ways, after being promoted to Arch Lector; the final scenes are of Glokta coercing a women into having sex with the King and torturing the former Arch Lector as a nasty form of revenge for all of the events of the story up to this point. His rise in power is bracketed by his realization that he is under the thumb of Bayaz, but the story also emphasizes more positive aspects, like the fact that he is the man acting in Bayaz's stead, and by the fact that he has gotten married to a beautiful women, no matter how disturbing the whole scenario is. Unlike the other characters, the vibe of his story's end is one of a new beginning, after winning a hard fought battle. All of this is undercut by the realization that Glokta is no different than he was before.

Jezal Dan Luthar

"He wiped his face, and then—his favourite part of the day—gazed at himself in the looking glass."

The final character I will discuss is that of Jezal Dan Luthar. Jezal starts the story as an arrogant noble prick that looks down on all those around him. He has the usual prejudices that a nobleman does, and is wholly unlikeable for it. He isn't very clever, nor is he a very good fighter, without much at all to redeem his character.

As was the case with Logen's character, the story is set up to give off the impression that Jezal will change for the better by going on the journey to the edge of the world. This is how most stories work. As the journey progresses, this is what we begin to see. We see Jezal start by moping and annoying the rest of the people there, but by the end of the journey, he has drawn blood, taken a hit and a scar, and learned to respect Logen, who he had dismissed as dimwitted. This is legitimate progress. However, this progress is twisted upon return when Jezal learns of the rumors of his talents spreading throughout the Union; these rumors are all false. The reader is forced to confront the absurdity of Jezal's journey and progression by having it contrasted with what it could have been. Notably, the rumors fit the stereotypes of fiction far better than his actual actions do: the rumor that he peacefully put down a peasant rebellion is nobler than him killing a random thug.

But something interesting happens. At the very end of the final battle and his lackluster performance throughout the fight, he decides to stand up and fight for himself, instead of letting everyone else get around him get hurt in his stead. This is supposed to sound noble. On the face of it, it does sound noble. Except, there are two catches to this turn. The first is that he is the King, at this point, which means he must be protected by others. The second is that he never actually does anything due to an intervention by a subordinate of Bayaz. His heroic turn around is taken away at the last moment.

Even still, Jezal tries to become a better King in the aftermath. He starts to visit the wounded in person, and gains a reputation for being a King who cares about his people. In spite of everything, Jezal seems to have actually changed, unlike any of the other characters. But the story undercuts this final point as well, by clearly establishing Bayaz's control over him. He has turned into a good King, with the love of the common folk, and with high-minded visions of progress, but this is nipped in the bud by Bayaz, who prevents him from bringing about any reforms.

Conclusion

Conflict, violence, and futility are the common themes across all of the character arcs. Characters fail to change, either because they refuse, or because their past and their circumstances won't let them, and even when they do change, they find themselves impotent in a cruel world. There is no justice, there is no nobility, and there certainly is no point.