What was Hel's plan if Malack hadn't been killed by Nale?

[caltino]

Was vampire durkon Hel's high priest even when he was a thrall, or did Hel jump in after Malack died? Did Hel get lucky with Malack being killed?

I am not sure about just how many coincidences lined up in Durkon ending up as high priest of Hel.

[Takver]

She got lucky, I think. Her plan doesn't even become viable until after four of the gates are destroyed, and the gods put "destroying the world" on the table. But she had no influence on the world to help bring that about, because no priest. So I think she's always been hoping for a vampire dwarf cleric she can use to further her plans. That it wound up being someone as high-level as Durkon was like winning the lottery. I mean, until now.

[LuisDantas]

Greg was subservient to Malack, and therefore not available to Hel as a priest, until Malack's death.

Yes, Hel was lucky. She was expected to need a lot of luck to circunvent the obstacles put on her way by Loki, Thor and Odin.

[Elfich]

Cook popcorn, wait. Use the dwarf spirit for some other nefarious plot.

[Stabbey]

Hel's plan doesn't require a cleric of Hel at all. It only really requires that the Gods decide to destroy the world, thus dooming all Dwarves to dishonorable deaths. If the last gate gets destroyed or the Snarl gets out of control, Hel will still win.

The only thing having a cleric at the Godsmoot did was to try and ensure that the world gets destroyed at this point, when the gods are holding a vote on the fate of the world, instead of needing to hope that the last gate gets destroyed as well OR the Snarl escapes more fully.

[Gift Jeraff]

Malack claimed he was going to free Durkon once they were finished in Windy Canyon. If he was true to his word then Durkon would have proceeded with the plan possibly with the help of Malack's magic items or friends to teleport him to the Northern Godsmoot faster. Since Malack would have been called to represent Nergal at the Western Godsmoot, I'm sure he'd understand.

Also, if Girard's Gate had not been destroyed, we're not even sure if the Godsmoot would have been called.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Was vampire durkon Hel's high priest even when he was a thrall, or did Hel jump in after Malack died? Did Hel get lucky with Malack being killed?

I am not sure about just how many coincidences lined up in Durkon ending up as high priest of Hel.

Greg is an entity of negative energy created by Hel the moment Durkon’s corpse became a vampire. She created him with a bunch of knowledge (including language and the details of the plan) but until Malack died Greg was not capable of independent thought. Yes, Hel had to get very lucky to get Greg serving her before the Godsmoot, but on the other hand, what did she have to lose by rolling the dice?

GW

[Yirggzmb]

Also, rereading recently, I've noticed that Hel and Durkon* do communicate. So she could have easily updated him with new bits of plan as things changed.

[Rrmcklin]

What others have said, Hel didn't plan for it to happen, she saw an opportunity chance and took it. Yes, there are a lot of coincidences that make it all possibility, but that's hardly out of the ordinary for stories of this nature.

If the highly improbable didn't happen they wouldn't be interesting stories.

[The Pilgrim]

Malack said he would free Greg after the mission, so not much would have changed. As soon as Malack freed him, Greg would began to obey Hel's commands.

[martianmister]

Whole godsmoot thing is only happened because of the destruction of Girarad's Gate. Considering how little time passed between the Gate's destruction and Malack's death, there was probably no plan before of Malack's death.

[oonker]

A whole lot of coincidences had to line up for Hel's plan, but well... We do know that a one in a million chance is actually a sure thing (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0584.html).

[factotum]

Hel's plan doesn't require a cleric of Hel at all. It only really requires that the Gods decide to destroy the world, thus dooming all Dwarves to dishonorable deaths. If the last gate gets destroyed or the Snarl gets out of control, Hel will still win.


I don't think any god wins if the Snarl gets loose, mainly because they tend to die in its presence. And without Hel voting to destroy the world at the Godsmoot, the Northern Pantheon would have voted to *not* destroy the world, thus delaying or possibly even torpedoing her plan. So, having a High Priest at last was undoubtedly a real stroke of luck for her.

[KorvinStarmast]

Also, if Girard's Gate had not been destroyed, we're not even sure if the Godsmoot would have been called.
What others have said, Hel didn't plan for it to happen, she saw an opportunity chance and took it. Yeah, opportunity knocked and she opened the door.
Whole godsmoot thing is only happened because of the destruction of Girarad's Gate. Considering how little time passed between the Gate's destruction and Malack's death, there was probably no plan before of Malack's death. Aye.
A whole lot of coincidences had to line up for Hel's plan, but well... We do know that a one in a million chance is actually a sure thing (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0584.html). Fair point. What she lacked was a high level cleric; that lack was a result of the bet. A high level cleric dropping into her lap so that she'd have a spot at the moot filled by a suitable representative was the piece of the puzzle she needed to advance her attempt to get a better deal than her current one.

[Synesthesy]

She only needed the last gate destroyed. That was probably her plan at the beginning. Then, plan B was to bribe some god, she only needed one vote more to get a tie, after all; then bribing the demigods, as she did unsuccessfully, then controlling the council of elders of the last demigods, maybe using some other undeads or frost giants or something.
The existence of Greg did only make all this possible one gate before.

[hroþila]

Hel referred to Durkon as her "serendipitous servant" on the very first comic where the true nature of the vampire was revealed to us. Hel didn't count on having Durkon at her disposal. If Durkon hadn't been released from his thralldom then Hel would simply have focused on other ways to influence the Godsmoot, as noted. That's not a flaw in her plan, that's just a testament to how powerless she is, for a goddess.