Prince of Thorns

“War my friends, is a thing of beauty. Those as says otherwise are losing.” 

Almost immediately the reader is bluntly informed of Jorg’s “winner take all” view of life. From the outset Jorg is established as a ruthless and ambitious young man who is perfectly at home amidst slaughter.

“Fifteen! I’d hardly be fifteen and rousting villages. By the time fifteen came around, I’d be King!” 

In this quote, the reader discovers that Jorg is not yet even 15 years old, so that his hardened and bloodthirsty nature is belied by his youth. Moreover, although Jorg may be engaged in small-scale plundering, his ambition far outruns his current station. Given the willingness to kill, maim, and rape that Jorg has shown already in the first chapter, the reader quickly senses that Jorg considers little if anything to be off the table in his pursuit of power.

“‘The ones who built this road…if they’d make me a castle—’ Thunder in the east cut across my words. ‘If the Road-men built castles, we’d never get in anywhere,’ Makin said. ‘Be happy they’re gone.’” 

The general attitude towards the Builders is best described as ambivalent. As Jorg’s wish shows, the Builders have left durable and useful infrastructure upon which the current civilization depends—both the Tall Castle and the Castle Red are housed in Builder ruins. On the other hand, their technical skill is terrifying since it allowed them to self-immolate and poison the world.