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The Looking Glass War

83 statements
15 feature instances
3 referencing feature instances

The Looking Glass War	type	TVTItem
The Looking Glass War	label	The Looking Glass War
The Looking Glass War	page	TheLookingGlassWar
The Looking Glass War	comment	The Looking-Glass War is the fourth novel by John le Carré, first published in 1965.The Department, a slowly declining British intelligence service that exists in an uneasy rivalry with the Circus, obtains evidence of secret military activity in East Germany. The initial attempt to investigate leaves one of their agents dead.Leclerc, the Department's director, describes John Avery as the brightest of their new stars. And so it's Avery who's given a key role in dealing with the death and handling the rest of the operation.Although the focus of the book is on the Department, it shares its setting with the earlier novels about the Circus - George Smiley plays an important role and other pre-existing characters are mentioned.The novel is Le Carré's second attempt at "Do Not Do This Cool Thing" and is even more cynical than The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, this time with a satirical edge.It was adapted into a 1970 film, featuring Anthony Hopkins as Avery and Ralph Richardson as 'LeClerc'.
The Looking Glass War	fetched	2023-09-29T06:46:04Z
The Looking Glass War	parsed	2023-09-29T06:46:04Z
The Looking Glass War	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Looking Glass War / int_13e1c444	type	Plot-Triggering Death
The Looking Glass War / int_13e1c444	comment	Plot-Triggering Death: Wilf Taylor's death in Finland, and the loss of the film he was collecting, drive almost all of the events that follow.
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The Looking Glass War / int_151bc113	type	Cover Identity Anomaly
The Looking Glass War / int_151bc113	comment	Cover Identity Anomaly: Avery, travelling under his own name, claims to be half-brother to the late Mr Malherbe, Wilf Taylor's cover. It's not until he's quizzed by the Finnish police that he realises he hasn't seen Taylor's fake passport details and doesn't know his supposed brother's age or date of birth.
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The Looking Glass War / int_272abb98	type	Shoot the Shaggy Dog
The Looking Glass War / int_272abb98	comment	Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Operation Mayfly is a disaster from start to finish. Taylor got his shabby aerial photos of the suspected missile site in a way that nearly got a civilian airliner shot down, and then dies before he can bring the evidence from Finland to London Leclerc takes Taylor's death as evidence of the site's existence, assuming he was murdered by the Stasi in an attempt to take the photoes. In actuality, Taylor's death was likely nothing more than a simple road accident. The ground operation costs a young East German border guard his life, and culminates in a Bolivian Army Ending while gathering no intelligence. There probably was no way that Leiser could have even collected the evidence that he was sent to get, because the missile site probably didn't exist. The only winner in the end is The Circus, who uses Mayfly's failure to win their Inter-Service Rivalry with The Department once and for all. The broader British intelligence loses itself a skilled agent and has nothing to show for it other than a diplomatic embarrassment.
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The Looking Glass War / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
The Looking Glass War / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: The Department's operation unravels and it's suggested that Leclerc, Haldane and Avery will all face the consequences. Leiser, pinned down in East Germany, is either captured or killed by the Vopos. Leiser's murder of a border guard becomes a propaganda story in East Germany and causes diplomatic tensions in the West. And the Circus predicted that most, if not all, of this would happen - and deliberately let the Department blunder into it.
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The Looking Glass War / int_5a3b8032	type	The Un-Reveal
The Looking Glass War / int_5a3b8032	comment	The Unreveal: The book never reveals whether Taylor's death was murder or accidental. For that matter, it's strongly implied that the Kalkstadt missile site is a hoax, but the details are never made clear.
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The Looking Glass War / int_5f3bb274	type	Late-Arrival Spoiler
The Looking Glass War / int_5f3bb274	comment	Late-Arrival Spoiler: One Continuity Nod acts as a spoiler for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Haldane suggests handing the operation over to the Circus, via one of the old hands, "someone like Smiley or Leamas". Leclerc points out that Leamas is dead.
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The Looking Glass War / int_6bda9a30	type	Meaningful Name
The Looking Glass War / int_6bda9a30	comment	Meaningful Name: The plan to put Leiser into East Germany is Operation Mayfly. Leiser himself is codenamed Mayfly. Mayflies are famous for living only two days. At most.
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The Looking Glass War / int_79a0e313	type	Bolivian Army Ending
The Looking Glass War / int_79a0e313	comment	The ground operation costs a young East German border guard his life, and culminates in a Bolivian Army Ending while gathering no intelligence.
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The Looking Glass War / int_99926ad3	type	Inter-Service Rivalry
The Looking Glass War / int_99926ad3	comment	The only winner in the end is The Circus, who uses Mayfly's failure to win their Inter-Service Rivalry with The Department once and for all. The broader British intelligence loses itself a skilled agent and has nothing to show for it other than a diplomatic embarrassment.
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The Looking Glass War / int_9dab0a6e	type	Continuity Nod
The Looking Glass War / int_9dab0a6e	comment	Continuity Nod: An early reference to the Circus mentions Smiley, Leamas and Guillam by name, establishing the book's shared setting. Smiley later makes an appearance, the other two are merely there for context.
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The Looking Glass War / int_a3df8e61	type	And You Thought It Was a Game
The Looking Glass War / int_a3df8e61	comment	And You Thought It Was a Game: Leclerc insists on keeping the Circus out of the loop, telling them they're only providing support for a training exercise, not a live operation. Subverted as the Circus is well aware that's a lie, and is waiting for the operation to fail.
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The Looking Glass War / int_a7defafd	type	Code Name
The Looking Glass War / int_a7defafd	comment	Code Name: The plan to insert Leiser into East Germany is Operation Mayfly.
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The Looking Glass War / int_b61f1b2b	type	TouchÃ©
The Looking Glass War / int_b61f1b2b	comment	Touché: Leclerc and Haldane both have variants of this when they realise that Mayfly's doomed and the Circus has been aware of what they're doing. Leclerc is the Graceful Loser, "impressed by the neatness of it". Haldane acknowledges it as well, but with rather more bitterness.
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The Looking Glass War / int_ec0ce986	type	Spotting the Thread
The Looking Glass War / int_ec0ce986	comment	Spotting the Thread: Leiser makes multiple mistakes once he's in East Germany, but his shoes are noticed even when his words don't give him away. They're too clean and far too new.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Looking Glass War	hasFeature	Cover Identity Anomaly / int_ce81a7eb
Inter-Service Rivalry	processingUnknown	The Looking Glass War
The Looking Glass War	hasFeature	Plot-Triggering Death / int_ce81a7eb

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