No victory (Beware - contains spoilers)

I'd even go further and say that as years passed, Karla had become the person that Smiley felt the strongest bond with.

One needs to have watched Tinker, Tailor along with Smiley's People to fully appreciate Smiley's state of mind. Look at his co-workers, his brothers in arms in the great cause, so to speak: Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase complaining about not getting promoted or having enough money, Percy Alleline being a man "who would sell his mother for a knighthood" and Haydon being you-know-what. Men like Control or General Vladimir had become so rare, so ancient that it looked like it'd take only a nudge for the new generation to ridicule them. As the years passed, Smiley found himself in a world of James Bond-wannabes who had none of his dedication, faith or intelligence: Guys like Strickland (didn't you just want to punch him in the teeth?) or disco king Enderby, who were too full of themselves and personal agendas to consider anything else.

Except Karla. He knew Karla was like his reflection. An old man who lived by his beliefs, who had some core values in him. Smiley's past was Karla's past; they spent years trying to bring each other's systems down. That was something they shared. And Smiley shared very little with anybody else.

So I feel that Karla was what kept Smiley going. There was obviously a bond between them, though I can't find the exact word. In the end he did what he had to do, but of course it wasn't a glory. Smiley had already lost the game, he just blew one final punch. I very much liked that he didn't pick up the lighter, it would spoil the sense of disappointment and bleakness.

Never be complete.

Smiley does not at all like the situation - because he finds out that there is less difference than he likes between him and Karla: to get Karla to defect, Smiley uses the same procedures as Karla. And with the same lack of hesitation.

There's a few key momentse in TTSP and in SP which centre around Smiley's perceived weakness being his struggle to supress his sensitivity towards Ann.

- After talking about Ann, Smiley supposes to Haydon that Karla got Prideaux out due to delicacy towards Haydon. Something which both men know is unlikely and which, rather sadistically on Smiley's part, shows up the fallacy in Haydon's idea of the ugliness of the West, and the service, in comparison with the Soviets.

- Before the operation, Smiley cuts himself off competely from Ann. Rather than put up with her, he's decided to reject her for the good of the mission.

I think it occures to Smiley that the way in which Karla's defection has come about actually illustrates how both men have crossed over. It's ultimately Karla's humanity, and not his fanaticism, which has pulled Karla over while Smiley's symbolic shedding of it was deemed necessary to acheive it. The irony is that Gregoriev is so inept that Karla's downfall was virtually inevitable. If Karla had truly been so fanatical then his daughter would have been eliminated years before.

Perhaps this dawns on Smiley also. That he could have done nothing and there would have been the same outcome. Smiley's fanaticism is, arguably, coincidental to Karla's defeat.

Glasgow's FOREMOST authority Italics = irony. Infer the opposite please.