What makes a morally ambiguous character enjoyable? : a character study of Sand dan Glokta in Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy

Abstract

Morally ambiguous characters are popular in many different types of media, and the reasons for why that is have been explored previously. This thesis, however, focuses on what makes morally ambiguous characters enjoyable to read about and what makes people empathize with them. The thesis analyses this question by examining the character Sand dan Glokta in Joe Abercrombie’s fantasy novel series The First Law, using reader-response criticism and close reading. The analysis reveals that people empathize with morally ambiguous characters mainly because the stories offer enough context to understand the characters and their reasoning for doing morally ambiguous acts. Additionally, the reader’s interest in the story and the character reinforces the enjoyability of the morally ambiguous character. The study is relevant because morally ambiguous characters are popular in popular culture and have not been researched much.