"Vorkosigan" Villainy Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Shards of Honor"

Ges Vorrutyer is a sadist and madman whose position of power as an Admiral gives him near carte-blanche to assault prisoners of war, particularly women. Along with Prince Serg, he tortures Escobaran POW Elena to the point of rendering her nearly catatonic. Elena has her memory wiped by rescuers who take pity on her - then has it restored by a second group of well-meaning people who believe she has the right to remember what happened.

Answer: "Mirror Dance"

Baron Ryoval of Jackson's Whole is a master of psychological torture, who delights in breaking people so they then willingly participate in their own degradation. Mark, already the victim of unspeakable abuse, almost instantly nearly-"splits" into alters who can individually handle what Ryoval is inflicting upon him.

Answer: "Brothers in Arms"

Ser Galen, Komarran terrorist, raised Mark Vorkosigan for decades as a clone of the highly-connected Miles Vorkosigan. Once he replaced Miles on Barrayar, Komarr was ideally going to emerge into the chaos caused by "Miles" going rogue. Thankfully his plans do not survive the book.

Answer: "Barrayar"

Count Vordarian is a conservative who objects to the Aral Vorkosigan Regency policies, which seem likely to continue for the 15 years of the Regency and influence the child Emperor. Vordarian believes himself to have influence with the Princess and Council of Counts, which inspires him to action.

Answer: "Memory"

Lucas Haroche has his boss Captain Simon Illyan mentally incapacitated through use of a strange bio-weapon, that disables Illyan's implanted memory chip. This hampers both Illyan's synthetic memory and his organic one, and the effects resemble dementia. This leads to Harcohe temporarily winning Illyan's job.

Answer: "The Vor Game"

Cavilo, the only female villain of the ten featured here, is the mastermind behind the chaotic nature of the Hegen Hub war, which turned out to have no backing motivation other than her own twisted mind. Her mercenary fleet drummed up the hostilities, and her shifting goals cause there to be many, many twists and turns throughout "The Vor Game".

Answer: "A Civil Campaign"

Richars Vorrutyer and Dono Vorrutyer feud over who should take over as Count of the Vorrutyer district, both claiming male primogeniture. Richars, who had a career history of murder and intrigue, doesn't stop at Dono's challenge but tries to scare Dono away and render him ineligible for the inheritance by having him attacked in a back alley before the vote.

Answer: "Komarr"

Etienne Vorsoisson is a petty criminal when it comes to Barrayaran law, but his cruelty to his wife Ekaterin and son Nicolai are the standout crimes on his record. His fear of his genetic disease being discovered has led to him living a painfully isolated life (and forcing his wife into one as well), and he has denied his son a chance to get treatment for the disease either.

Answer: "Diplomatic Immunity"

Cetagandan bioweaponry is unleashed as a victim of the ba's cruelty starts to fight back against it on Graf Station in "Diplomatic Immunity". As it turns out, the ba did not have haut-Cetagandan permission to do this, so calling in the powers that be manages to contain the situation before it turns into a bloodbath.

Answer: "Mountains of Mourning"

Mara Mattulich, upon seeing that her granddaughter is a "mutant" (really, only victim of a cleft palate and harelip), feels compelled to kill the child so her daughter Harra doesn't have to do it herself. Mara had to kill two of her own children for "mutations", so she feels that it must be the right thing to do in her granddaughter's case, or else she couldn't face her prior actions.