Reflections on the "Vampyre" Novels

By Dale Rippke

Spoiler Alert!--This essay contains information you may not want to know until after you have read David Gemmell's "Vampyre" novels. Also note that this essay is speculation based on facts gleaned from the combining of the various Drenai and "Vampyre" novels and in no way should be considered an official history.

The newest David Gemmell book, HERO IN THE SHADOWS created a bit of a stir when it was released in March of 2000. Not because of anything new that he brought to the Drenai saga, but because of something old that was presented in a new light. The Angostins, a race of men featured in his non-Drenai novel MORNINGSTAR, make an extended appearance in HERO IN THE SHADOWS. This made the readers suddenly consider that MORNINGSTAR might have to be included in the Drenai series in some capacity. In an article published in Game Masters Magazine, David Gemmell stated that: "It is no secret that ALL my books are interlinked, but it is how they are interlinked that is the secret. All the clues are there and all it takes is some lateral thinking plus an active imagination to make the connection."

I came to take this as a personal challenge; a throwing down of the gauntlet, so to speak. If MORNINGSTAR had any real linkage, I was determined to find it.

The first interesting item that I noted about MORNINGSTAR is that while it is presented as a stand-alone novel, in reality it shares information and themes with an earlier David Gemmell novel called KNIGHTS OF DARK RENOWN (KoDR). It becomes quickly apparent that selected pieces of KoDR are a part of the MORNINGSTAR backstory; a shared history. We are shown that the Angostins in MORNINGSTAR have legends and traditions that are related in some manner to the ancient empire of the Gabala that figures so prominently in KoDR.

One enterprising member of the GemmellFantasy list referred to this duo as the "Vampyre" Novels (since they both feature vampyres). I like the term and will use it in this article. Since KoDR was the first of the "Vampyre" novels written, we will take a look at this novel's linkages first.

KNIGHTS OF DARK RENOWN

KNIGHTS OF DARK RENOWN is a story of the end of an empire and how it is easy to place the blame on others. It has no direct connection to the Drenai saga; all of its evidence is circumstantial. The Gabalan race of KoDR use the Raq as its primary gold coin; the Drenai use the Raq as their primary gold coin. The Gabalans worship an ethereal force called "the Source"; the Drenai worship it as well. Both of these show that a connection between the two races is at least possible.

A comparison of locations shows that the nation of Gabala would fit very nicely indeed into the Drenai world. It has an oriental land lying far to its east and nomadic steppes in its near eastern areas. The Drenai saga has Chiatze in the far east and the Nadir Steppes in close to the same arrangement with unspecified "Northern Nations". Gabala fits into this area with no problem at all. Not a single one.

A comparison of proper names shows that the only overlap is the aforementioned Raq and "the Source". There isn't any overlap between KoDR and the Drenai Saga in terms of place names. However, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It can simply be that the Gabalans call them by a different name during their age of existence.

A comparison a magic shows that the Gabalans have an entirely different system based on colors or frequencies of energy. This doesn't really mean much since it's stated in the book that this type of magic is fading from the world. It is of interest to note that a limited concept of this type of magic is mentioned in the novels MORNINGSTAR and QUEST FOR LOST HEROES. Having a different system of magic does not seem to present any problems to a placement in the Drenai saga.

The placement of the novel into the established Drenai timeline also doesn't present any major problems. I attempted to place it before, during, and after the Drenai stories and found that the only problem-free placement was several thousand years before the beginning of the Drenai tales. There is mention of elder day heroes (very early in Gabala History) battling with winged demons and demonic werebeasts. This can be easily interpreted as having occurred during the Illohir "Demon Wars" and the "Great War" with Kuan Hador's meld-beasts, respectively. The vampyres in KoDR are from a different world and do not conflict with the "long-tooth" Illohir vampires that were banished much earlier. If the founding of the nation of Gabala occurs during the middle of the "Demon Wars", then the dating of the story KoDR would seem to belong about 2454 years before the founding of the Drenai nation.

The only (admittedly minor) problem with an early placement of KoDR is technology based. There are armored knights in KoDR and armor does not seem to be that advanced in the Drenai saga. That is not to say that plate armor doesn't exist in the Drenai world; the Armor of Bronze is a type of plate armor. Perhaps the Drenai just didn't care to wear plate. Perhaps there was a dark age after the fall of the Gabala empire and the ability to produce the stuff was lost. Maybe that is why the Armor of Bronze was such a magical item; it was a remnant of the lost Gabala technology.

MORNINGSTAR

MORNINGSTAR is a novel about how we "create" our heroes out of the clay of ordinary men. It is nearly the opposite of KoDR in that there is only two direct references to the Drenai saga and no real circumstantial evidence. The Angostin race of MORNINGSTAR use a silver penny as its primary coin; their gold coin in not named and is only referred to as gold coin. The Angostin worship God; there is no mention of "the Source". The sources of the novel's connection to the Drenai series are nebulous at best.

It is difficult to confidently place the island of Ikena on a map of the Drenai world. From the descriptions of the land, I believe that its most likely location was off the west coast of "the Northlands", where Gabala would be found. However, a case can also be made for placing it in the ocean east of Chiatze, since its primary trade partner was oriental and the land of Ventria would lie nearly straight south of it. The eastern location causes some problems in the history of the area, so a western location is probably the most accurate.

A comparison of the proper place names in the story is a mixed blessing. It directly states that the Drenai saga land of Ventria lies to the south of the island (a western location makes sense in that Mace wants to go to Ventria to get as far away from Ikena as he can). The Angostins are prominently mentioned in MORNINGSTAR and the information given here corroborates the information given in HEROES IN THE SHADOW (HITS). HITS has Ventria in the south and the Angostins abiding in the lands north of Gothir. Both accounts seem to be describing the same places.

The downside is that nearly all the names in MORNINGSTAR are variations on places in the British Isles and its environs (we have names like Picts, Franks, Vikings, and Gaels). While the use of an occasional familiar name evokes a certain mood or feeling from the reader, in MORNINGSTAR the feeling becomes almost jarring. It seems hard to suspend your disbelief and makes one wonder if Gemmell is actually describing the British Isles. While the usage of proper names seems to hurt a placement in the Drenai saga, the reality is that there is nothing that contradicts that placement in the actual story. The names end up being "just one of those things".

The technology of the Angostins in MORNINGSTAR (plate-armored knights and sea-going galleons) seems to be quite advanced for how it appears in HITS. Perhaps the proposed "dark ages" that occurred after the fall of the Gabala in reality occurred after the Angostin invasion of Kydor. However, there is no written evidence to support this other than the fact that the latter Angostins do not seem to be as advanced.

The placement of the novel into the established Drenai timeline really doesn't present any major problems. I attempted to place it before and after the Drenai stories and found that the only place that it made sense was before the Drenai series properly begins. Due to its use of Gabalan history as Angostin legends and traditions, the story has to take place after KoDR. Since the Angostins have conquered as far east as Kydor by the time of HITS, it needs to take place before that story. I feel that the Angostin invasion of Kydor is the catalyst that led to the great Drenai migration (mentioned in QUEST FOR LOST HEROES) that founded the nation of Drenai, so it should be placed before the migration. This would place the story of MORNINGSTAR at approximately 500 years prior to the founding of the nation of Drenai. Also, the vampyres in MORNINGSTAR are the result of a sorcerer's search of everlasting power and were probably the result of a spell, so they would not conflict with the "long-tooth" Illohir vampires in any meaningful way.

A Conjectural history of the Drenai race

So how does this all shake out? You should realize that this is merely conjecture and speculation on my part and this should not be construed as any "Official History" of the Drenai world. It does, however, fit most of the facts given in the books.

The nation of Gabala was founded about five hundred and fifty years before the ending of the "Demon War". This nation, which at its height created a continental-length empire, existed for around 1500 years, finally breaking apart into its constituent duchies, of which the Angostin were one. At the same time a tribe called the Drenai formed in the area to the north of Chiatze from a mixture of Gabalan/Nomad people. The Drenai founded the nation of Kydor in the Far East. The Angostin invaded the island of Ikenas and after 300 years began to fight a series of overseas wars on the northern continent. Trying to emulate their predecessors, the Gabalans, the Angostin presumably conquered most of the northern continent including the Drenai nation of Kydor. Around this time, a climate change or some other disaster threw most of the northern continent into a "Dark Age" and the conquered remnants of the Drenai decided to seek greener pastures and began a massive migration that was noted by the Tattooed People and finally ended with the formation of the Drenai nation far to the south of Gothir. Due to the strain of this "Dark Age", the Angostin Empire broke under its own weight, although it left the duchy of Kydor intact.

So what do you think? Do the Vampyre novels fit into the Drenai Saga? I think I made a pretty good case in favor of it. The nation of Drenai could easily be the legacy of the Empire of Gabala. It certainly gives Drenai prehistory a resonance that was previously missing. And it makes the history seem that much more "real". That’s the best part about it.

Spoiler Alert!--What follows is an alternate timeline incorporating the events of the two "Vampyre" novels into the Drenai saga's prehistory. This timeline contains information you will not want to know if you haven't read David Gemmell's "Vampyre" novels. Also note that this is nothing more than speculation based on facts gleaned from the combining of the various Drenai and "Vampyre" novels and in no way should be considered an official history. If you want to compare this with the original timeline, it can be found by clicking here.