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Note: For the book version of the character, see: Vargo Hoat
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| “ | All you lords and ladies, still think that the only thing that matters is gold. Well this makes me happier than all your gold ever could! And that makes me happier than all her sapphires, so go buy yourself a golden hand, and f-ck yourself with it! | „ |
| ~ Locke |
| “ | Your daddy ain't here. Never forget that. Here, this should help you remember! | „ |
| ~ Locke severing Jaime's sword hand. |
Locke is a supporting antagonist in Game of Thrones, the television adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. He is considered to be a counterpart to the character Vargo Hoat from the novels. He is considered by Lord Roose Bolton to be his best hunter and is known for having cut off Jaime Lannister's sword hand.
He was portrayed by Noah Taylor, who also played Darby Sabini in Peaky Blinders, Thomas Rogers in the 2015 version of And Then There Were None, and Adolf Hitler in Preacher.
Biography[]
Season 3[]
"Dark Wings, Dark Words"[]
Locke is dispatched by Lord Roose Bolton to hunt down Jaime Lannister, under the penalty of being executed if he fails. He and his men tracked down the Kingslayer with his escort, Brienne of Tarth, in the aftermath of a protracted fight. When Jaime asks them if they want to negotiate, Locke tells him that he'll lose his head if he fails to bring Jaime to Robb Stark. He then takes him and Brienne into custody.
Walk of Punishment[]
While en route to Harrenhal, the now-captive Jaime warns Brienne that when they make camp for the night, she will be raped more than once by Locke and his men, before advising her to give no resistance and to just think of Renly Baratheon. As the Bolton men were only sent to capture Jaime, Brienne therefore means nothing to them, and at the slightest provocation, they will kill her without hesitation. Brienne insists she will fight even if they kill her, and Jaime agrees that if he were a woman, he would fight to the death before being raped, too.
Later that night, Jaime's warning proved to be true when Locke and his men began dragging Brienne into the bushes, where she would be gang-raped. Disgusted by this, Jaime stops them by revealing that Brienne is a noblewoman and the sole heir of Lord Selwyn of Tarth. Lying that the island of Tarth is the "Sapphire Isle," named such due to an abundance of precious gemstones, Lord Selwyn would pay Locke and his men a ransom of her weight in sapphires only if they returned her intact.
Fooled by this, Locke agrees, and he calls his men before they tie Brienne to a tree. Emboldened by his success, Jaime then tries to bribe him via smooth talk, saying that if he is let go, his father, Lord Tywin Lannister, will give him wealth and power. Enraged by Jaime's arrogance and complacency, Locke decides to test if Tywin will never deal with the likes of him. At first, he has his men untie Jaime, making it look as if they are letting him go, but then they hold him down onto a chopping block while Locke grabs a knife and cruelly threatens to cut out Jaime's eye before reasoning with the Kingslayer that maiming him would bring House Lannister the ultimate proof that they should never deal with Locke, much less bribe him.
After telling Jaime "Your daddy ain't here. Never forget that. Here; this should help you remember!" Locke brutally severs Jaime's sword hand.
And Now His Watch Is Ended[]
While continuing on to Harrenhal with his men, Locke took enjoyment in taunting Jaime by having tied the Kingslayer's own severed hand to his neck with a rope before forcing him to smell the stench from the hand's now-rotting flesh. When a barely-conscious Jaime falls from his horse and onto the mud, this shows that Locke has been tormenting him by denying him water, causing Jaime to become dehydrated. Locke dismisses Jaime's warning that he and his men will be in big trouble if Jaime dies. Locke then hands him a container filled with "water", which Jaime immediately drinks from, unaware of what he is actually drinking. Locke reveals to him that he filled the container with horse piss just to torment to Jaime, who then vomits out the contents. He was then repeatedly kicked by Locke.
In a surge of effort, Jaime managed to steal a sword from one of the Bolton men and try to fight his captors, but because he is so weak and feverish, along with the loss of his sword-hand, he was unable to. This caused Jaime to soon realize that he cannot fight but is instead provoking the Bolton men to kill him so he can die with some small dignity. Enraged by the cruelty of her captors, Brienne tries to stop them but is immediately held at swordpoint.
After being sadistically beaten, Jaime is knocked into the mud as Locke proceeds to brutally kick him several times until Jaime is immediately disarmed, having succumbed to exhaustion. Not bothering to punish him this time, Locke threateningly warns Jaime that if he does it again, he'll lose another hand.
Kissed by Fire[]
Successfully reaching Harrenhal, a prideful Locke delivers Jaime and Brienne to Roose Bolton, who is surprised that Jaime had lost his hand. An oblivious Locke proceeded to reveal his actions, which angered Roose, who then ordered Locke to dispose of the severed hand. Locke proposes to send it to Tywin, which prompts Bolton to tell Locke that he will hold his tongue or lose it.
The Bear and the Maiden Fair[]
As Lord Bolton leaves to attend the wedding of Edmure Tully, Locke receives a raven from Lord Selwyn Tarth offering 300 golden dragons to ransom Brienne, but Locke refuses. As Jaime prepares to leave for King's Landing with Qyburn and Steelshanks Walton, Locke taunts him. Locke puts Brienne inside the Harrenhal bear pit for his amusement and that of his men, giving the warrior woman nothing but a wooden tourney sword to defend herself from the bear. To Locke's frustration, Jaime comes back to rescue Brienne and saves her from the pit with the aid of Steelshanks, who has no choice but to help Jaime fulfill Lord Bolton's orders.
Season 4[]
Locke reunites with his lord and assists Bolton with evading the ironborn forces in order to reenter the North and deliver his new bride to the Dreadfort.
Locke evidently enjoys a strong relationship with Bolton's bastard son, Ramsay Snow, greeting him like an old friend and japing over their shared sadism. After Ramsay reveals to his father that Bran and Rickon Stark are alive, Lord Bolton promises Locke 1,000 acres and a holdfast if he finds the two boys.
At Castle Black, Locke infiltrates the Watch with the new recruits trained by Jon Snow and Grenn, proving himself skilled in combat. He poses as a one-time poacher from the Stormlands who chose to take the black rather than lose his hand, the penalty for hunting a partridge to feed his children. When Jon Snow's expedition to capture or kill all the betrayers at Craster's Keep is sanctioned by Alliser Thorne, Locke volunteers to go. Jon points out that he cannot take a recruit, but Locke counters that Jon needs men who know how to fight and are willing to say his vows already.
After the Night's Watch group led by Jon Snow arrives at Craster's Keep, Locke is ordered to scout ahead. While scouting, Locke encounters the hut in which Bran, Jojen, Meera Reed, and Hodor are held prisoner. Locke returns to Snow and the others to give his report on the mutineers, but lies about the hut with the prisoners, claiming that it is a kennel and that they should stay far from it so the hounds do not alert the traitors. The raid takes place that night. While the others fight, Locke goes to Bran and the others and introduces himself as a member of the Night's Watch's rescue party, but soon exposes himself as a threat when he slices Bran in the leg and threatens to gut the others in order to identify him. Locke picks Bran up and carries him into the woods, but during this process, Bran enters the mind of Hodor, who ambushes Locke and kills him by partially tearing his head off his neck.
Locke's body is brought back to Craster's Keep by Eddison Tollett. Grenn openly wonders what could have killed him. Jon then orders his body to be burned inside Craster's hut along with the other slain.
After the Bolton army drives the remaining ironborn from the North and takes Winterfell, Roose Bolton asks Ramsay if he has heard anything from Locke, which Ramsay denies. However, Roose dismisses Locke's absence as unimportant, speculating that Bran and Rickon may already be dead.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Originally, the screenwriters of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, meant for this character to be a Qohorik foreigner named Vargo Hoat, just like his novel counterpart. But at the same time, they changed Vargo's role from a sellsword leader of the despicable Brave Companions to that of a man under House Bolton's employ and leader of an unsavory group of Bolton soldiers. Several aspects of Vargo's traits were changed, most notably his lisp, as the show's producers thought that Hoat's lisping voice was too over the top. Like he had previously done with Jeyne Westerling's name being changed (who became the Volantene Talisa Maegyr), George R. R. Martin requested for the name of Vargo Hoat's television counterpart to be changed because the character became too different from Hoat, being even less sadistic and vile, resulting in the character becoming a northman named Locke.
- In Season 3, Locke also partially replaces Rorge in the role of tormenting Jaime and Brienne during the ride back to Harrenhal. For example, in the novels, it is Rorge who makes Jaime drink horse urine and beats him.
- However, in the show Locke's abuse of Jaime is nowhere near close to Rorge's level of brutality and cruelty toward him (and Brienne as well), which results in Jaime not being able to walk for a while and nearly dying. Locke's book counterpart, Vargo, had to put trusted guards on both Jaime and Brienne, to prevent the worst and most unhinged and insubordinate Brave Companions from hurting them again.
External Link[]
- Locke on the Game of Thrones Wiki
