Author Topic: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?  (Read 1791 times)

Offline groinkick

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Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« on: January 28, 2021, 05:09:12 PM »
Mavra wanted to the book of Kemmler, I'm guessing because the Black Court fears that knowledge from being spread to wizards.  They fear necromancy, because as undead they are vulnerable to it.  So I'm wondering if Kemmler would have been an enemy of Drakul.  I wonder just how dangerous Kemmler was based on WoJ that stopping him was a lot like WW1.  He was also once a Warden of Demonreach, giving him access to vast amounts of power, and information.

So do you think he'd be an enemy of Drakul, or a friend?
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Offline Bad Alias

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Re: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2021, 05:19:23 PM »
I don't think Drakul would have been upset by him being removed from the field. They might have been hesitant allies. I remember reading/hearing that a lot of Kemmler's allies were begrudging because they didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I can't remember if it was WoJ or just a theory. I'm fairly certain it wasn't in the books.

Offline groinkick

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Re: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2021, 05:21:39 PM »
I don't think Drakul would have been upset by him being removed from the field. They might have been hesitant allies. I remember reading/hearing that a lot of Kemmler's allies were begrudging because they didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I can't remember if it was WoJ or just a theory. I'm fairly certain it wasn't in the books.

Yeah, the more I learn about Kemmler, the more I want to know.  Jim's backstory on him sounds like it would be a pretty epic book series. In some ways I find the idea of it more interesting than what's going on now. 
Stole this from Reginald because it was so well put, and is true for me as well.

"I love this place. It was a beacon in the dark and I couldn't have made it through some of the most maddening years of my life without some great people here."  Thank you Griff and others who took up the torch.

Offline Bad Alias

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Re: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2021, 05:36:44 PM »
Jim said he had an idea for a trilogy of books or short stories, I can't remember which, where Luccio runs all over the West with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday fighting Kemmler. He said he'd have to fudge the real world death dates of Holiday and Earp.

I think he said this would be something he did after he finished the BAT, I think.

There's a lot of good stuff from his interviews and some really good stuff in those microfictions. You should really take a look when you get a chance, especially at the microfictions. They're all really short and easy. Maybe about the length of a short chapter in the books? Now there is still a lot of the stories we've heard a hundred times in the interviews.

Offline KurtinStGeorge

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Re: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2021, 08:19:19 PM »
In answer to the OP, both.  Remember this exchange between Harry and Cowl in Dead Beat?

Harry - "I don't get it," I said. "I thought that you guys hated one another's guts."
Cowl - "Oh, yes."
Harry - "Then are you working together or trying to kill each other?"
Cowl - "Why, yes," Cowl said, and what sounded like a genuine laugh bubbled in his voice. "We smile at one another and play nicely all in the name of Kemmler's greater glory, of course. But we are all planning on killing one another as soon as it's convenient."

I think Kemmler and Drakul's relationship was similar, though probably lacking the personal animosity Cowl and the other necromancers had for one another.  There's no way Drakul couldn't have seen Kemmler as a threat over the long-run.  In the short and medium run of events their goals may have been compatible with one another's, but Drakul didn't get his position of power by being stupid or ignoring people who could hold power over him.  Kemmler was crazy, so it's hard to guess what he thought about Drakul, but he had to know Drakul's reputation and probably thought about removing him at the appropriate time.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2021, 08:21:19 PM by KurtinStGeorge »
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Offline Yuillegan

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Re: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2021, 12:39:01 PM »
I think there are no friends amongst villains as such. In saying that, I don't believe they were terribly antagonistic with each other either. Vlad was FAR older and more experienced than Kemmler, but Kemmler clearly was a nightmare too. I agree with the idea from KurtinStGeorge that they were probably competing in the long-term with their goals - but clearly everyone in the game who knows what is going on is. I have this odd feeling sometimes that Harry and Kemmler are not as different as we think. Whilst Kemmler certainly acted like a true villain in A Fistful of Warlocks, I wonder if he himself was just a wizard like Harry that started out with good intentions and went insane trying to achieve them, but because he was stronger and more connected than most he became a far worse problem than most. We don't have a lot of evidence that Drakul and Kemmler were enemies other than Kemmler had a spell that allowed him to wreck BCV. Whether that spell would work on Drakul, as he is clearly quite a bit more than a BCV, is another matter entirely. Perhaps a better question is did they work together? If so, what did they achieve?

Jim said he had an idea for a trilogy of books or short stories, I can't remember which, where Luccio runs all over the West with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday fighting Kemmler. He said he'd have to fudge the real world death dates of Holiday and Earp.

I think he said this would be something he did after he finished the BAT, I think.

There's a lot of good stuff from his interviews and some really good stuff in those microfictions. You should really take a look when you get a chance, especially at the microfictions. They're all really short and easy. Maybe about the length of a short chapter in the books? Now there is still a lot of the stories we've heard a hundred times in the interviews.
Oh I hope not. As much as I enjoyed A Fistful of Warlocks...I would hate a series on it. It's a thematic thing, a gimmick. Fun once but then...eh. If Jim wants to do more Wild West, let's see Ebenezer and Langtry. Let's see terrifying Genoskwas and Naaglooshiis and other bogeymen of the time. Besides, Kemmler is European. Why he was even there is beyond me - but even so why would he stay. For the most part he seems to have been focused on Europe anyway.

Sometimes, it would be nice if Jim got out of his comfort zone and wrote about other parts of the world. Flesh the place out a bit.
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Offline forumghost

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Re: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2021, 04:24:07 AM »
TBH, I kinda feel like Kemmler was everyones enemy. Like, you know someone is a problem when Mab refers to them as a Monster and a Madman.

Offline Conspiracy Theorist

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Re: Were Kemmler and Drakul enemies?
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2021, 10:45:08 PM »
Kemmler was the Warden before the one before Harry, so at this point he would have been an ex Warden, perhaps trying to get back.