Brutal. Vile. Skilled at killing. Ambitious. Suspicious. The film Game of Thrones is full of such characters. It is hard to think of another film that depicts the tight link between politics and war more explicitly; people are always prepared to kill each other. The wager is total: win or die.

He did not believe in religion of any kind. Voltaire believed only in Godof whom he was always mindful because of God's hard, fundamental cruelty. And incessant.