Every Thursday, Nathan over at Fantasy Review Barn hosts a weekly party where blogs get to follow along with Diana Wynne Jones’ hilarious book The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel listing their favorite books with a particular fantasy trope. So sit back and enjoy the fun.

11th September, 2014 – TYRANTS

TYRANTS are like bad KINGS, only truly atrocious…Tourists can tell when a country is ruled by a tyrant because the road to the main city will be lined with impaled corpses..

I realize that it is a fine line between “Dark Lords” of the Sauron ilk and “Tyrants”, but I’ve tried to pick a few that seemed to be closer to the later than the former.

JOFFREY BARATHEON – SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

Is there any one else who deserves to be on this list more than this little creep? He is the most famous “tyrant” of the moment. Sure, the Game of Thrones television series has presented him in all his cruel madness, but anyone who has read SoIF could have told you that Joffrey was an absolute “tyrant.” The oldest son and heir of King Robert Baratheon and Queen Cersei Lannister, his birth from the political marriage of his parents was meant to cement Robert’s usurpation of the throne from the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen and bring peace to the Seven Kingdoms. And it did until he actually assumed the throne, at which point, he began acting like the bloodthirsty, power mad, little jerk he always was. Thanks again for getting killed by the boar, Robert.

JORG ANCRATH — THE BROKEN EMPIRE by MARK LAWRENCE

Everybody’s favorite sociopath has to be on this list. After a self-imposed time as a mere highwayman, this son of nobility pulls himself up the ranks from savage killer to king to emperor, leaving a trail of bodies as he goes. While he might not be the typical tyrant we all think of, Jorg is as cruel as they come and is willing to sacrifice anyone to accomplish his ends, meting out all manner of harm upon friends, foes, and subjects alike. Honestly, if Joffrey and Jorg ever meet, I’m putting all my money on Jorg to kick his golden haired Lannister ass, so maybe, this Emperor of Thorns should really be first on this list.

MALEKITH — TIME OF LEGENDS: THE SUNDERING by GAV THORPE

This only son of Aenarion, the first of the Elven Phoenix Kings, and the mysterious and beautiful seeress Morathi begins his life as a dedicated soldier and general like his father. He attempts to be a honorable elven ruler, carving out an elven empire in the new world and forging an alliance between his people and the dwarves. Yet slowly, Malekith turns more and more into a tyrant, who eventually succumbs to his lust for power and decides to kill his sworn king and take what has been denied him. And he only gets worse after he supposedly “dies.”

I know it is a short list, but who is going to top these three guys?

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