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| “ | Was there gold hidden in the village? Silver, gems? Was there more food? Where was Lord Beric Dondarrion? Which of the village folk had aided him? When he rode off, where did he go? How many men were with them? How many knights, how many bowmen, how many men-at-arms? How were they armed? How many were horsed? How many were wounded? What other enemy had they seen? How many? When? What banners did they fly? Where did they go? Was there gold hidden in the village? Silver, gems? Where was Lord Beric Dondarrion? How many men were with him? | „ |
| ~ The Tickler questioning his victims. |
| “ | Would you put to sea without bidding farewell to your brother? Ser would sooner you returned to Harrenhal with us, Sandor. I bet he would. Or King's Landing... | „ |
| ~ The Tickler, moments before his last fight. |
The Tickler is a minor antagonist in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. He is a sadistic man-at-arms in service of House Clegane and a torture technician who served with "the Mountain's Men" under Ser Gregor Clegane.
The Tickler is infamous for the many creative ways he would interrogate prisoners and none, not even the strongest of them, ever survived the torture. His victims include children. He always uses different forms of torture every day. Despite his average appearance, the Tickler's sadism, creativity, and the way he makes his victims suffer slow and painful deaths made him the most feared man of Gregor's warband, including Gregor himself.
In the show, he was portrayed by Anthony Morris.
Appearance and personality[]
The Tickler is of medium height and build, with a face so ordinary it's difficult to establish his age. In addition, he wears a garb that is so plain it makes him look like he is an ordinary peasant instead of a soldier, until he is seen doing his work. During the war campaign in the Riverlands, while performing his job as a torturer, he asks the same questions to every prisoner under questioning, such as "was there gold hidden in the villages", "where is Lord Beric" and "which of the village folk aided him". He kills his victims regardless of whether they give him the information he wants.
Biography[]
A Song of Ice and Fire[]
A Clash of Kings[]
The Tickler.
The Tickler first appears when he and his companions capture Arya Stark, Gendry, and Hot Pie near the Gods Eye. During the journey to Harrenhal, he sadistically tortures several peasants daily to gain information on the whereabouts of the Brotherhood without Banners. He is sometimes helped by some of his own men, causing the Tickler and those that helped him to be added to Arya's prayer kill list. He later leaves Harrenhal to be part of the Mountain's vanguard.
A Storm of Swords[]
The Tickler met his death by Arya Stark.
After the Mountain recaptures Harrenhal, the Tickler and Polliver took a squire from Sarsfield to the Crossroads Inn to lose his virginity. They encounter Arya and Sandor Clegane, who claims that the men are trying to torture the innkeeper to find gold. During an ensuing brawl, the Tickler and Polliver were about to overwhelm the Hound when the Tickler, due to not wearing armor, was stabbed to death in the back by Arya in a frenzied rage. At the same time, she screamed out the same questions that he would ask his prisoners.
Game of Thrones[]
The Tickler serves as a soldier under the Mountain, who selects a prisoner everyday to be interrogated while the prisoner suffers from torture at the Tickler's hands until they died. When Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie arrive in Harrenhal, they are lined up for choosing while the Tickler (off-screen) tortures a prisoner to death. A woman, who is one of the prisoners, reveals to Arya, Hot Pie and Gendry that the prisoner who had died was her son and that her husband and sister also died in the same manner. A villager from a local village next to Hot Pie claimed that he stares at the Mountain every day, which is why the villager never gets chosen. That same villager who told Hot Pie was then chosen by Gregor to be tortured by the Tickler.
The Tickler, while nonchalantly eating a pear, proceeded to ask the chosen prisoner if there is gold and silver in the village to which the villager denied any knowledge. When he was asked on the whereabouts of the Brotherhood without Banners, the villager claims that he doesn't know. In response, the Tickler has his assistant Weasel take a bucket and place a rat inside. He then asks the same question, but the prisoner again denies knowing on where the Brotherhood's whereabouts and the Tickler silently orders Weasel to strap the bucket to the villager's chest. The prisoner is then asked on which villagers aided the brotherhood, however, just like with the previous questions, he states the same answer. At the same time, while asking the prisoner again on who aided the Brotherhood without Banners, the Tickler has Weasel heat the bucket with a torch, forcing the rat inside to start clawing at the prisoner. The villager finally admits that it was a butcher named Ganes and his son, and though the Tickler finally got the answer he needed, he callously continues the torture and the prisoner is killed.
The next day, Gendry was chosen next and the Tickler began using the same process. Gendry was spared from death when Tywin Lannister arrives. Later, when Faceless Man Jaqen H'ghar wanted to repay Arya in exchange for saving his life, the Tickler was the first to be named. The latter was then pushed off a balcony by Jaqen and ends up breaking his neck.
Notable Victims[]
Books only:[]
- All-for-Joffrey - Tortured to death during interrogation.
Trivia[]
- The Tickler's death in the television series was from Chiswyck, another one of the Mountain's Men, in the novels. A similar manner of the Tickler's death in A Storm of Swords was given to Meryn Trant in the show's fifth season.
Gallery[]
