Character Analysis
Leck. Rhymes with bleck—and for good reason. This guy is unbelievable. He tortures and kills small animals, he abuses women and girls, and his idea of a fun game is trying to get his strong-minded daughter, who has somehow found the power to resist his brainwashing, to bend to his will. He is the culmination of evil… or so it seems. But we don't ever really learn enough about Leck to know if there's more to his story or not.
Was he an abused child? Was he, as a young Graceling, exploited the way that so many Gracelings in the seven kingdoms are? We've heard rumors that his story might be told in full in one of Kristin Cashore's other novels, but we have to confine our analysis to what we see in Graceling. And we don't see much.
What we do see is appalling and tough to understand for everyone. On Captain Faun's ship, one of the sailors questions Katsa about Leck:
"What do you think is wrong with him, Lady Princess?" Patch asked.
Katsa caught a snowflake in the middle of her palm. "What do you mean, wrong with him?"
"Well, why does it pleasure him to hurt people?"
Katsa shrugged. "His Grace makes it so easy."
"But everyone has some kind of power to hurt people," Patch said. "It doesn't mean they do." (34.17 – 20)
Good point. Katsa doesn't really have an answer for him, and neither do we. Except to suggest, as Katsa does, that some people are cruel and that power corrupts. If you want more insight into Leck's character, you might want to read Fire, which you can find a brief synopsis of here.