The Lies of Locke Lamora

All the Gentlemen Bastards are orphans, and when they come to the Temple of Perelandro, they enter a new family of sorts. Father Chains says so directly when Jean arrives at the temple. “Father Chains poured [...] toasts, dedicating the last to ‘Jean Tannen, who lost one family but came to another soon enough’” (315). The Bastards live, work, and play together; they learn from each other and have no choice but to trust each other. They bond fast and forever.

Father Chains made the Temple what it is, and provides a safe and challenging environment that’s also a stimulating school. The Bastards trust each other in part because Father Chains trusts each of them, and because he gives the children reasons to trust him. He’s a “father” because he’s a priest, but he truly is the adoptive father of all the Bastards. In a city that chews children up and spits them out, Chains is a rarity. Chains shows the children what genuine love looks like. They remember Chains’s lessons and legacy and continue it after he dies.

After Father Chains passes, Locke takes over the gang. For the first portion of the narrative, Locke doesn’t outwardly express much affection for his gang members. It’s clear that he cares about them, but he rarely expresses his feelings, and he speaks to them in terms of their skills and usefulness. He calls Nazca his friend, but he doesn’t say that about Jean, Calo, Galdo, or Bug. Locke minimizes their importance, because doing so would show his vulnerability, making himself weak. The vulnerability Locke attempts to disguise is displayed openly when Calo, Galdo, and Bug die, as his life is changed forever, both because of the pain he feels and because he realizes how much he needs them and how far he had to fall.

Calo, Galdo, and Bug follow Locke; they aren’t afraid of him and look up to him. Jean, however, sees Locke as an equal. One of the novel’s threads follows Jean’s development and maturation, just like it follows Locke’s. What Jean does matters just like what Locke does; they’re a balanced pair. Locke fully realizes this halfway through the novel when Jean rescues Locke from his coffin. After the other Bastards die, Locke still has Jean, who is his equal and his closest friend. Locke finally demonstrates his feelings for his found family, and now that he recognizes their importance, he attempts to keep them close through his relationship with Jean.