Does Durkon's anti-vampire gambit even make sense?

[LogicalOxymoron]

Durkon's strategy to retake control (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1130.html)is based on maneuvering the vampire into a situation where he willingly asks for all Durkon's life memories. The thing is, we already know that Durkon can force memories onto the vampire without him asking for them, like his memories of food poisoning (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1089.html). So why was the whole complicated Sigdi/resurrection memory thing necessary?

[Riftwolf]

Durkon's strategy to retake control (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1130.html)is based on maneuvering the vampire into a situation where he willingly asks for all Durkon's life memories. The thing is, we already know that Durkon can force memories onto the vampire without him asking for them, like his memories of food poisoning (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1089.html). So why was the whole complicated Sigdi/resurrection memory thing necessary?

To confuse and disorientate the vampire spirit before unleashing a wave of positive energy. He could've overwhelmed the spirit before, maybe, but wrong-footing him and getting the upper hand before the attack ensured it worked.
Also, so the audience can learn Durkon's backstory.

[Jay R]

I think he needed the vampire to want to process the emotions, and to want to understand the memories.

Durkon didn't want him just to have the memories. He wanted him to have "all me joys and sorrows".

[Grey_Wolf_c]

The thing is, we already know that Durkon can force memories onto the vampire without him asking for them, like his memories of food poisoning (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1089.html).

No, that's not what we see there. First, Durkon was providing a memory in response to a petition from Greg: "What do you have to say to that?" was answered with the memory equivalent of a raspberry.

Second, and far more important, Greg was able to immediately shut the memory down when he disliked it. What Durkon needed was for Greg to want to consume all the memories of joys and sorrows. Even if he could start the flow, he needed Greg's curiosity to keep the flow going.

Grey Wolf

[Rrmcklin]

There's already been a ton of discussion on this, in several different threads. It really don't see why it needs another one.

[WolvesbaneIII]

I think it meant that the vampire took all the memories at one time, as opposed to 1 memory at a time.

Theres a difference between say, drinking 1 glass of water and 1,000 glasses of water in 1 sitting. even if the vampire drank all the memories 1 after the other in a row, it'd still not be the same as if durkon made him chug 1,000 glasses of memory in 2 seconds.

rich made a water hose comparison earlier, this is pretty much the same idea.

[MartianInvader]

The Sigdi memory was important. It left the vampire confused, his worldview shattered. He *wanted* to absorb those memories, viewed through the lens of the Sigdi memory, to make sense of everything. This is the same lens through which Durkon views his own life, which is why the memories turned the vampire into a Durkon copy.

If Durkon had just bombarded him with everything out of nowhere, the memories would have been viewed through the lens of the vampire's cynical worldview, shaped by the memory of the day Durkon was exiled. That would have prevented the memories from affecting the vampire so profoundly.

Durkon's plan worked because it started by luring the vampire into a position of emotional weakness, questioning his worldview and, by extension, his very identity.

[martianmister]

HPoH's reaction to Sigdi's sacrifice reminds me an angry fan's reaction to a plot twist he didn't like from his favourite tv show.

[ORione]

No, that's not what we see there. First, Durkon was providing a memory in response to a petition from Greg: "What do you have to say to that?" was answered with the memory equivalent of a raspberry.

Second, and far more important, Greg was able to immediately shut the memory down when he disliked it. What Durkon needed was for Greg to want to consume all the memories of joys and sorrows. Even if he could start the flow, he needed Greg's curiosity to keep the flow going.

Grey Wolf

If Greg could shut down memories he didn't want to see, he wouldn't have offered Kudzu's safety in exchange for not being shown memories (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1121.html).

[factotum]

If Greg could shut down memories he didn't want to see, he wouldn't have offered Kudzu's safety in exchange for not being shown memories (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1121.html).

That was the equivalent of offering a small child an ice cream if they promise to be quiet for a few hours--Durkula just didn't want the annoyance of Durkon spouting memories at him while he was directing the battle, he didn't have any fear that the memories would actually affect him. See here:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0948.html

He just tells Durkon he's wasting his time trying to give him more information than he asked for, there's never any impression that he's afraid of being given extra memories.

[ORione]

That was the equivalent of offering a small child an ice cream if they promise to be quiet for a few hours--Durkula just didn't want the annoyance of Durkon spouting memories at him while he was directing the battle, he didn't have any fear that the memories would actually affect him. See here:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0948.html

He just tells Durkon he's wasting his time trying to give him more information than he asked for, there's never any impression that he's afraid of being given extra memories.

Not afraid, no, but to use your analogy, it suggests that he can't just will the small child to be mute.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Not afraid, no, but to use your analogy, it suggests that he can't just will the small child to be mute.

No, it suggests he can stop memories, but he can’t stop Durkon from starting them. Just because you can get up and turn off the lights doesn’t make it any less annoying if someone keeps turning on new ones.

Grey Wolf