Similarities Between Nim and Tor

(NOTE: page numbers refer to the hardcover edition of The Eight and the paperback edition of A Calculated Risk. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but those are the only editions available to me at the moment.)

NOTE: This was written 20 years ago, before The Fire was published, and some of it is out of date.

When I first read the description of Tor in A Calculated Risk, I immediately thought, "Nim!" The two characters are very similar; almost identical, I would have said, after I read A Calculated Risk for the first time. After reading it a second time, however, I noticed a few differences which I will point out later on.

Let's look at Katherine Neville's descriptions of Nim and Tor; we can see the similarity right away. Nim: "I had a friend in Manhattan who was even more mysterious than the elusive Solarin. A man who was listed in no phone book and had no mailing address. He was one of the legends of data processing and, though barely thirty years old, had written definitive texts on the subject. He'd been my mentor in the computer business when I'd first arrived in the Big Apple three years earlier..." (The Eight, p. 117). Tor: "He'd been my mentor twelve years earlier, when I'd first gone to New York. He was the most reclusive person I'd met... Everyone in computers knew the name: Tor was the father of networking, and had written the classic texts on communications theory. So famous was he, that younger people, reading the classics he'd written, imagined him to be long dead. Though he was not yet forty..." (A Calculated Risk, p. 28-29). A little later, we find out that Tor "didn't believe in phones or mailing addresses" (A Calculated Risk, p. 29).

As we can see from these descriptions, these characters are almost identical; in a few places, Katherine Neville uses almost exactly the same words to describe them. The descriptions bring out what I think are the two most important parts of Nim's and Tor's characters: their reclusiveness and their brilliance, especially in the field of computing. Also, we see how important they are to Catherine and Verity; both were the heroine's mentor in computing.

Both The Eight and A Calcuated Risk contain a scene in which the heroine tries to call her mentor; again, the two scenes are almost identical. Since Nim and Tor both keep their phone numbers a secret from almost everyone except the heroine, she has a very difficult time trying to reach him by phone, and in both scenes the person who answers the phone pretends not to have heard of him.

From The Eight: "wanting to find Nim and finding him were two different things... They wouldn't even admit they knew who he was when you called..." "Rockaway Greens Hall," said the woman who answered the phone. "I'm trying to reach Dr. Nim," I told her. "I'm afraid we have no one here by that name," she said sweetly. This was a pleasant treatment compared with the vicious denials I normally got from Nim's answering service." (The Eight, p. 117-118). The number turns out to be that of a convent; later, Catherine tries to call Nim at the New York Stock Exchange and, once more, runs into someone who says she hasn't heard of him (The Eight, p. 119).

From A Calculated Risk: "Tor never visited his office, however, and when you called there, you got a strange response. I gave it a try. "Delphic," the receptionist snapped, not lavish with information. "I'm trying to reach Dr. Tor--Dr. Zoltan Tor. Is he there?" Fat chance. "Sorry," she said, not sounding it, "you've dialed the wrong number..." (A Calculated Risk, p. 29).

Besides being experts on computing, both characters are experts on codes. Nim sends Catherine coded messages when she is in Algiers, and he helps her figure out the fortune-teller's message. In A Calculated Risk, we find out that "Among Tor's many accomplishments was his mastery of cryptography." (A Calculated Risk, p. 29).

Both characters are very wealthy; we are not sure exactly how they made their money, but I'm sure it had something to do with computing. Nim lives in a wonderful house on Long Island. The house Tor buys on the island in San Francisco Bay is also very interesting, although not as enormous as Nim's house. Both houses have a huge fireplace (The Eight, p. 138; A Calculated Risk, p. 230).

Nim and Tor are both gourmet cooks, while Catherine and Verity do not seem to be interested in cooking. Nim and Tor cook for Catherine and Verity.

Nim is 30 and Catherine is 23; Tor is 39 and Verity is 32. In both cases, there is a seven-year age difference.

Both characters drive an old dark-green car.

The two characters' physical appearance is also similar. Both have red hair: "coppery" (The Eight, p. 129), "precisely the color of copper" (A Calculated Risk, p. 65). Nim and Tor are both tall, too. Interestingly, though, their eye color is different. "Nim's eyes, due to a strange genetic twist, were of two different colors, one brown and one blue." (The Eight, p. 130). Tor's eyes are different: "Now I noticed the color of his eyes. They were strangely disconcerting--an intense, coppery flame burning in the depths..." (A Calculated Risk, p. 70).

Now I would like to point out some differences between the two characters. Although both Nim and Tor are attracted to the heroine, she responds in a different way. Catherine never realizes until the end of the book that Nim loved her, and even then it's hard for her to believe: "Don't be ridiculous," she says to Solarin, who has figured out that Nim loves her (The Eight, p. 529). She loves Solarin instead of Nim; at the end of the book, we assume that Catherine and Solarin will get married. Verity, however, comes to love Tor, although she did not realize it at first. It is when they are on the island in San Francisco Bay that she first realizes that she loves him (A Calculated Risk, p. 226). At the end, we think that Verity will marry Tor.

Before she comes to realize her feelings for Tor, however, Verity is annoyed by him. She is especially bothered by his reclusiveness, and she also thinks he is trying to control her life. The relationship between Verity and Tor is much more competitive than the one between Catherine and Nim. Verity and Tor compete against each other during the book, while Catherine and Nim are always on the same side. I don't remember Catherine being annoyed by Nim, except for the fact that it's so difficult to reach him by phone, and she doesn't think Nim is trying to control her life.

In spite of the fact that he's so reclusive, I think Tor is more outgoing than Nim. He is certainly better at expressing his feelings for the heroine than Nim is. After all, Nim never actually tells Catherine he loves her; she has to find out from Solarin.

Nim is a great chess player; I don't remember anything about Tor playing chess. Of course, this could be because chess is so important in The Eight, but not in A Calculated Risk.

I've also noticed a few similarities between Tor and Solarin. Of course, there is the obvious one: both are the heroine's main love interest. As I said, Tor can be outgoing in spite of his reclusiveness; Solarin has an outgoing personality, although he is mysterious, too. Tor and Solarin are also very good with boats; Solarin takes Catherine and Lily on the boat across the Atlantic, and Tor takes Verity on a boat in San Francisco Bay.

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Copyright 1997 Vicki Kondelik.