Thorpe

    Poor old Thorpe, by the end of Hammer Into Anvil I bet he’d wished he’d never heard about the village! I shouldn’t wonder that those “masters” we hear about heard of Thorpe’s animosity towards Number 6, and thought him to be the ideal candidate for Number 2. But then again that theory presupposes that Thorpe and Number 2 of Hammer Into Anvil are one and the same character. They are not supposed to be, according to Patrick Cargill because their characters are different. But fictionally there is no reason why not, after all I don’t think village life suited Thorpe and would have been enough to change anyone. After all we have no idea just how long he had been in the village before the advent of Hammer Into Anvil. And in any case Thorpe wasn’t involved with Number 6, not until Number 6 went and involved himself in the matter of Number 73. There was no recognition between Number 2-Thorpe and Number 2, not that we see. However Number 2 had encountered old colleagues before in the village, Cobb, Fotheringay, 2 Colonels, and Dutton, so why not Thorpe? And besides how sure can we be sure of the Colonel and Thorpe, as it seems impossible to say whether or not they had knowledge of the village before their ex-colleague came calling or not. As for Thorpe, look at him, he has scepticism or is it sarcasm written all over his face!

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