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Drakul is the third Walker

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Yuillegan:
I propose that it could be that Drakul is the third Walker (who might be called He Who Walks Between).

1. Drakul is something entirely unhuman that got trapped in human form. Dracula was his half-human child that wound up turning himself into the first Black Court vampire (around 600 years ago*). Ebenezar described him as "the Creature" and "Formidable. Dangerous. Cruel". Which is really something, considering all the stuff Ebenezar would have seen. Also notice the emphasis on "the".

2. The Black Court vampires are actually tainted by something hideous and unworldly. The are not of the same ilk really as other vampires (compared to Reds in the quote - see bottom of post).

3. When Jim refers to things like Mordite and Outsiders (both in the novels and in interviews - he often decribes them as "not of this world" and "the Netherworld" etc. World here meaning the universe, not merely Earth. He also often describes the magic associated with them in the same way.

4. He is one of the few beings that could take out Mab.

5. Vlad Tepes (Dracula - the son of Drakul) was the King of Walachia roughly 600 years ago. Which means Mavra likely is one of the first Black Court Vampires (even if she wasn't one of the "Elders") - they would have definitely known each other. WOJ puts Mavra's age at around 600 years old.

So I think it is reasonable to think that Drakul has a strong connection to the Outside. But why specifically is he the Walker? Because of his nature. He seems to be described in terms of Other - not the regular levels of evil and monstrous. We know he is powerful enough to beat Mab. Something else that was not on that list that was as big and scary as Mab, but also hideously deeper, was Sharkface (He Who Walks Before). And there seems to be a strange connection between Mavra, the Black Court, the Black Council/The Circle, and the Outsiders.

The obvious counter-argument to my theory is why would he sign the accords? Shouldn't he and Mab be mortal enemies?
Well my answer is this - it is because he is Between. As in Between two worlds: this one and the Netherworld. A foot in each (a common trope in mythology). Unlike his fellows (Before and Behind) he is not truly immortal any more, perhaps a little more like Vadderung. He is trapped in human form, and that makes him vulnerable. So part of his cold war with Mab is he agreed to not take open action against her. Perhaps he resents being trapped, or left, in his human body. Perhaps he likes being in the mortal world (like Vadderung) and doesn't want to lose the influence he has. The openly horrific nature of the Walkers would be intolerable to the world (I believe there is a WOJ that HWWBh is at Uriel's level, in some ways). But as a somewhat mortal with unbelievable powers, yet still vulnerable, he can be flexible enough to work with. Almost like the Wyldfae, he is his own Power. Sure, when push comes to shove he will side with his own kind. Maybe he likes Reality now that he is in it, maybe he is pissed off at the Outsiders. But one thing is for sure - he is beyond the "usual evil".

Let me know what you think!

PS here is the quote

--- Quote ---Black Court Vamps are a different story. They’re actually tainted by something hideous and unworldly. They are driven to kill to survive. They don’t really have a lot of choice about it. They enjoy being what they are, and doing what they do. They can be sad that they don’t have someone who loves them, or upset that the world has passed them by and has changed on them, but at the end of the day, they’re basically black-hearts who occasionally pull out a few of the tattered remains of their humanity, fail to fit back into them like they used to, and get maudlin about their glory days when they could watch the sun rise.
And also what is Drakul a scion of?
Drakul wasn’t a scion of anything! He was something entirely unhuman that got trapped in human form. Dracula was his half-human child, who naturally had enormous paternal issues, and wound up creating himself as the first Black Court Vampire in an effort to win his father’s approval.
It didn’t work out so well.

2015 AMA
--- End quote ---

My only other theory is that he is the Son of the Devil (the Antichrist). Based on Blood Rites, p219. In that area Eb explains that he is the Blackstaff. He implies that Drakul is a scion (which Jim has since contradicted, see above). He is discussing that Scions are often freakishly powerful, insane malformed and monstrous, but occasionally look human. Which is how both Drakul and Kincaid look. Perhaps they are related. Kincaid (while he worked for Drakul was called the Hound of Hell or the Hellhound). One might take that to mean he is a servant of Hell. Which interestingly enough, some stories about the Antichrist mention a hellhound. It would fit that if an Archangel (Lucifer/Satan) had a child with a mortal, it would be an extraordinarily powerful scion (the most powerful Nephalim). But - as the above quote seems to contradict it (and is more recent 2015 AMA versus Blood rites in 2004) and we know Jim has retconned a lot of his original ideas - I think my first theory is more likely.

And no, I don't buy that Drakul is a Dragon. That is just too on the nose, even for Jim. It might have worked if Drakul was a scion, but he isn't anymore. I think that knowledge would be well known too - when Harry is mentioning who the Freeholding lords under the Unseelie Accord's are (White Night) when telling Murphy that he has bribed Marcone with becoming one, he mentions specifically that he has researched it and that there are two Dragons, Drakul, the Archive, the Ukrainian semi-immortal shapeshifting Guru, Vadderung. He specifically separates the Dragons from Drakul.

Maz:
Not sure I agree with this overall but we do have in-book reference in White Night whereby there is a connection between Outsiders and the Black Court.  It /would/ make sense that Drakul is at least an Outsider trapped on our side and that his scion used his Outsider related power to create the Black Court.

"After which, were going to have a long talk about my mother and these Outsiders and their relation to the Black Court and exactly what the hell is going on."

Snark Knight:

--- Quote from: Yuillegan on August 13, 2019, 12:18:17 AM ---And no, I don't buy that Drakul is a Dragon. That is just too on the nose, even for Jim. It might have worked if Drakul was a scion, but he isn't anymore. I think that knowledge would be well known too - when Harry is mentioning who the Freeholding lords under the Unseelie Accord's are (White Night) when telling Murphy that he has bribed Marcone with becoming one, he mentions specifically that he has researched it and that there are two Dragons, Drakul, the Archive, the Ukrainian semi-immortal shapeshifting Guru, Vadderung. He specifically separates the Dragons from Drakul.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, I think there was a WOJ about the other Dragon having domain over fire (Pyrovax?). And while one can never be entirely sure who of the higher powers might be one guy wearing two hats, it seems unlikely in this case.

Not everything unworldly is a Walker, though. He could be a peer of them from before the current creation but who isn't loyal to the Old Ones the outsiders and the walkers are trying to wake / free either.

Yuillegan:

--- Quote from: Maz on August 13, 2019, 01:01:26 PM ---Not sure I agree with this overall but we do have in-book reference in White Night whereby there is a connection between Outsiders and the Black Court.  It /would/ make sense that Drakul is at least an Outsider trapped on our side and that his scion used his Outsider related power to create the Black Court.

--- End quote ---

Yeah fair enough - there is certainly not enough empirical evidence that Drakul is a Walker, hence why it is still a theory. But his connection to the Outsiders, and his mystery, are strong enough I think to build a good theory around. In fact there a many in-text references to connections between the Black Court and Outsiders, not just White Night! Blood Rites for one, when Ebenezar is explaining who Drakul is and his difference from his half-human son Dracula. Eb goes on to say that Dracula went to join the Black Court as a teenage rebellion. As Jim got older and revised/retconned/forgot his old ideas Drakul no longer became a scion (half human, half immortal) only Dracula (his son) was the scion and seems to have turned himself into the first Black Court Vampire (rather than merely joining them).


--- Quote from: Snark Knight on August 14, 2019, 12:39:34 AM ---Yeah, I think there was a WOJ about the other Dragon having domain over fire (Pyrovax?). And while one can never be entirely sure who of the higher powers might be one guy wearing two hats, it seems unlikely in this case.

--- End quote ---


Yeah Pyrovax (fire) and Ferrovax (metal) are the two remaining Dragons - there is a WOJ on this. So it seems logical that they are the two Freeholding lords that are Dragons (indeed Ferrovax is implied to be one). I did consider whether their might be a masks/mantles situation going on but I think Outsiders don't do masks/mantles. They change depending on which universe they are trying to enter (almost as if they have no Free Will in which to choose who they will be... *wink wink, nudge nudge*)


--- Quote from: Snark Knight on August 14, 2019, 12:39:34 AM ---Not everything unworldly is a Walker, though. He could be a peer of them from before the current creation but who isn't loyal to the Old Ones the outsiders and the walkers are trying to wake / free either.

--- End quote ---


Yeah true. I wondered about that also - if he is some other being from before Creation. One wonders about TWG in relation to Outsiders too, did he come from the same place as the Outsiders? In that case, is he an Outsider too? Or something else entirely... Bit of a rabbit hole to go down!

I think the difficulty with defining Drakul is from his lack of information about him. Especially about what he wants, what he is doing, what he has done. All we know is that he is incredibly powerful and cruel, and no one wants to mess with him. And that his son tried to impress him by creating the Black Court - which it didn't impress him much.

kbrizzle:
Hmm, given the name Drakul, I think it more likely that he is an Nfected Dragon who was trapped in human form as a way of containment. Dracula’s attempt to break out was tainted by Nemesis, which was the ritual that created the BCV.

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