Shrike is a powerful character because he has two sides to his personality as he can be a heartless creature and can also be a caring warm-heated cyborg.

This can be shown when he met Hester he said ” YOU CAN’T STAY HERE CHILD” this therefore means that he cares for her and that also proves that he isn’t heartless. However he can also be shown as a heartless creature when he as sent to kill Hester and Tom, he didn’t have mercy and would’ve killed them if they didn’t run; in this case he was a heartless cyborg that would do anything he is told and would never feel guilty. To include the way that Shrike says “CHILD” can also suggest that that he might have been a farther once which could be understood why Shrike had such an emotional connection with Hester and would mean a lot to the story because the reader would have much more sympathy for Shrike; so this creates sympathy for him, however this could also suggest that when he had lost everything he couldn’t rectify it.

Reeve creates sympathy for Shrike when he touched Hester’s face; this shows that he still has feelings so therefore this proves that he might of had a loved one before he had been turned into a war machine and had loved them as how he has feelings for Hester; this is one key asset that determines that Shrike is a powerful character. Also he has been described in every detail that could be imaged this means that the reader could imagine in the circumstances that Shrike is put in and also the reader could imagine being in Shrike’s shoes and also with the emotion put in Shrike means that the reader would have a lot of sympathy for him which therefore means that he is one of the most powerful characters in the book.

‘because that was the worst thing about the stalkers: they had been human once, and somewhere beneath that iron cowl a human brain was trapped’, this adds  an eerie feeling to the reader which should create a image of a lonely man trapped inside a jungle of wires,metal, dust and most of all … Loneliness. This therefore creates a feeling of sympathy and how Reeves describes this makes the reader have sympathy for Shrike and all of these points add up to make Shrike one of the most powerful characters in the whole story.

The reader has sympathy for Shrike because the reader had read the change from a normal and emotional cyborg into a ruthless emotionless killer that wouldn’t stop for nothing. This makes the reader know that it is a very deep change and knows it is real from and the description put into this, it cannot be put into words however the reader has an emotional connection with Shrike. Reeves puts this purposely puts all of these statements together to make the reader have a connection with Shrike and this will therefore make Shrike a powerful character.