Count Szemioth Character Analysis

The story of Lokis is a narrative from a professor’s point of view of a strange man named Count Szemioth who exhibits unusual animalistic behaviors. Despite this, the Count is merely described as eccentric. The Count has certainly lived an eccentric life, his mother was mauled by a bear and became mad as a result, to the point where she had suicidal tendencies and called her newborn son ‘the beast!’, and the Count himself encountered a bear but was only licked and then left alone. The characters first meet when the professor goes back to his room in the Count’s castle only to be greeted by an intruder who was climbing the tree outside his window, when the professor asks one of the servants if it was someone from the household, the servant remains

The Count is too intelligent not to notice this abnormality so he explains to the Professor that he was only curious and ran away because he was ashamed of the ridiculous situation. Progressing further into the story, the Professor and the Count go on a horseback ride through a forest and encounter an old woman who gives the Count an ambiguous description of him having teeth and claws. The Count during this ride, consistently asks the Professor what his thoughts are, about how animals are afraid of the Count and of what the old woman said about him. Almost as if the Count was trying to gauge the Professor’s awareness of how abnormal the Count really is. The professor does not notice these strange behaviors or when he does, he hypothesizes an explanation for them. Such as when the Count and him are visiting Miss Julia and are having fun dancing together. During the dance the Count hugs and kisses Julia and she complains that he ‘hugged her like the bear he was’. The Professor noticed that this complaint did not please the Count but the Professor’s explanation for his agitation was simply that the Count must have been reminded of his mother’s