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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Night #47 - "Kahmunrah the Trustworthy"

"Alright, they didn't call me Kahmunrah the Trustworthy for nothing. Ha! They didn't call me Kahmunrah the Trustworthy. They called me Kahmunrah the Bloodthirsty who killed whoever didn't give Kahmunrah exactly what he wants in the exact moment that he wants it, which is right now, when I had also better get the combination and the tablet!" Barring the fact that this can easily be shortened to "Kahmunrah the Spoiled Little Shit", this is an indication of Kahmunrah's volatile temper. Because Larry is an enemy in his eyes, he sees no reason to exhibit a filter at all with him. However, because he still needs the help of Al, Ivan, Napoleon, and their men, he sees more of a reason to be amenable to them, if a little bit pushy.

But what happens when he does get what he wants? Suppose his plan goes off without a hitch and he takes over the world, and all goes exactly as he had planned it. What happens then? The reason I ask is because not only is Kahmunrah in danger if he pisses off the people who helped him get to that point, the people who actually helped him are in danger, as well. Kahmunrah is far more likely to throw a huge fit and kill someone rather than talk out a particular issue, and he is also more likely to off someone for outliving his or her usefulness to him. One of the many points which causes me to wonder is when he actually does summon his undead army and they all march out, ready to kill on command. Up to the point where they all decide to leave on account of the giant marble Abraham Lincoln statue coming to the rescue of the good guys, birdmen can still be seen marching out into our world in ranks. There is absolutely no indication of how extensive this army is or what their powers/vulnerabilities are, so it's very easy to assume, for someone like the three lieutenants who have never seen this before, that the army goes on forever and is practically invulnerable. Of course, the army is capable of being scared shitless by giant marble presidents, but that's about as far as our knowledge extends.

Supposing the evil army did stick around to conquer the world (barring such unforseen circumstances as giant marble presidents), where would that leave Al, Ivan, and Napoleon? Their shock upon seeing these things come out of the Underworld by means of magic indicates that they have absolutely no clue what they're dealing with. They have a knowledge base of zero when it comes to ancient bird-headed spear-wielding creatures. That leaves Kahmunrah, whether he wants to be or not, in sole command of his army (unless he managed to get the three others to coordinate their clearly different commanding styles, but it's highly unlikely he would actually teach them about what they're commanding). This was also his goal from the beginning. He simply needed external help to get to the tablet which he would then use to summon the army, which would be his real tool in world domination. Looking at it that way, unless he does arrange for "jobs" for Al, Ivan, and Napoleon, those three are left out in the cold.

Any number of things could happen from here, and by here I mean the point where Kahmunrah is either completely in charge or nearly there, facing a last holdout of rebels but otherwise ruling a near complete wasteland (which is what usually becomes of conquered areas). One, Al, Ivan, and Napoleon are sidelined and left wondering what to do next, which may or may not lead to them signing up with the rebels (in which case they would offer valuable insight into Kahmunrah's mindset and what his plans were, which would help turn the tide of battle in their favor). Two: Kahmunrah, either fearing this, believing the three men to have outlived their usefulness entirely, or both, kills them. Three: Kahmunrah, fearing their rebellion, believing them to have outlived their usefulness, or both, but not wanting to kill them yet (possibly to torture them later or because he doesn't know how to do it to his satisfaction at the time) puts them in jail (a dungeon, a crate back in storage at the archives, or some other remotely secure holding area); this prompts the three to plot an escape and almost certainly sign up with the rebels/sell their information to them and make sure they get paid up front.

Kahmunrah is prone to violence, however, and can be visibly divided between so desperately wanting to kill someone and needing to keep that someone alive because said someone has something he needs (for instance Larry knowing the tablet's combination). On the other hand, if that person no longer has what he needs, he has indicated, especially by the line "If you didn't know this combination, you would be so dead right now, it would be unbelievable", that he is willing to kill indiscriminately (for further proof: "I will kill you and your friends in the blink of an eye"). When he has a problem, he kills rather than try to deal with it. That's why, out of the three options presented for Al, Ivan, and Napoleon should Kahmunrah be successful in his plot, Kahmunrah's killing them as soon as they are useless and anger him by their presence is the most likely--and the most troublesome.

Because wanton killing is indicative of psychological instability.When you would rather kill someone than settle an issue with that person, you have a serious mental break to attest to somewhere in your past. This may be due to the extreme pressure Kahmunrah was under just to make himself feel important (between the lisp, being illegitimate and not knowing it, and being passed over in favor of his brother because of it, no one took him seriously and that was a problem he probably spent his entire natural life trying to rectify and something he's clearly doing in his life as a museum waxwork, as well), or it may be due to a psychological disorder. It could be something suffered in battle, in the form of shellshock or head trauma, something he was born with, or something he developed over the course of his life considering all that has taken place.

The truth is, Kahmunrah is nuts, and because of this, he is a danger not only to his enemies, but to his allies, as well. And that's why I'm worried.

For more information:

Night #3

Night #12

Night #18

Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": wherein I pose various questions of Kahmunrah's original henchmen, you know, those guys who chased Larry and Amelia around for the first half of the second act before getting trapped in the famous V-J Day Photograph

Countdown: 324 Days to NATM 3.

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