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"Mature Content Warning!" |
Khalul, also known as the Prophet, is one of the main antagonists of The First Law fantasy novel series written by Joe Abercrombie. He is the religious leader and de facto founder of the Gurkish Empire. He has been the secret puppet master of the Gurkish Empire for centuries, guiding all its Emperors and telling them what to do.
He was once one of Juvens' apprentices along with Bayaz until Bayaz murdered their master. Seeking revenge, Khalul decided to create the Gurkish Empire and openly broke the Second Law which states it's forbidden to eat the flesh of man, thus becoming the first Eater ever and acquiring immense power.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- He created a massive slave empire called Gurkhul which raids other nations, takes control of their territories, kills many people and takes many more into slavery. The slaves often get mistreated and used as servants, slave soldiers or sex slaves. This practice has continued for centuries which gives him one of the highest body counts in the series as well as making him the most prolific slaver in the series. Ferro Maljin was once a Gurkish slave and she was used as a sex slave, then she became a personal slave to the Gurkish royal family and she was caged and tormented for fun before managing to escape.
- He broke the Second Law which states that it is forbidden to eat the flesh of man and has eaten countless people over the course of centuries, thus becoming the first Eater after Glustrod. The reason for this is because if a man who has magical capabilities eats human flesh, they increase their powers and gain new abilities and immortality.
- He has created an army of hundreds of Eaters over the centuries to serve him and fight for him. Many of them were forced to become Eaters against their will which is shown with a young girl named Shickel who is found by Gurkish priests and she has to choose between being killed by them or eating her own mother and then joining Khalul's ranks as an Eater with Shickel choosing the second option which shows that potential new Eaters are sometimes forced to eat their own relatives. Being an Eater is presented as a curse within the story because an Eater can never stop eating human flesh once they have started in order to live which causes many Eaters to be disgusted by themselves and suffer emotionally, but Khalul doesn't care about how he is ruining their lives.
- Additionally, all the Eaters and the other citizens of the empire are taught that the Great Prophet Khalul speaks on behalf of God and by following Khalul's orders, they are fulfilling God's will which shows Khalul's megalomania and how he manipulates them.
- Because Khalul and his army of hundreds of Eaters need a huge supply of human flesh, each year countless slaves are used as food to sustain the Eaters which has started from the very creation of Gurkhul.
- He has continued to wage pointless wars against his rival Bayaz and the Union for centuries to settle his score with him, sending countless of his own soldiers to their deaths and killing many of the Union's men in the process.
- He allows prisoners of war taken from the Union to be brutally tortured which results in Sand dan Glokta being permanently crippled after two years of torture and most of the other prisoners dying. While it's unclear if Khalul has specifically instructed the Emperor and the Gurkish subjects to torture the prisoners of war so brutally, at the same time he doesn't care about it, so long as Gurkhul wins against the Union.
- Sometimes, he uses his Eaters as assassin's as shown when the Eater Shickel sneaks behind enemy lines in Dagoska to eat Superior Davoust who is in charge of the city defenses.
- He launches a full-scale invasion against Midderland which is the central part of the Union. The Gurkish Emperor, who is Khalul's subordinate, sends one of his generals to threaten the King of the Union, Jezal that if they don't give him Bayaz to stand trial for the murder of their master Juveens, Midderland will be treated as any other territory conquered by the Gurkish and many of its citizens would be slaughtered while many more would be taken into slavery. While the message also says that if they submit to his rule, he is going to allow them certain autonomy and won't harm their subjects, it's only done out of pragmatism to get what he wants and ultimately, Jezal refuses to submit to Gurkish rule and the Union manages to defeat Khalul's forces which leaves him without most of his Eaters who are killed by a powerful spell performed by Bayaz.
- He continues his rivalry with Bayaz and intervenes on behalf of certain sides in places like Styria and the North while Bayaz himself also intervenes on behalf of the opposing sides which either leads to new civil wars or prolongs already existing civil wars which leads to many casulaties even though these lands are not part of either the Union, nor Gurkhul.
- While he has a Freudian Excuse of losing his master Juvens because Bayaz murdered him and no one believing Khalul's accusations against Bayaz which caused Khalul to create Gurkhul and seek vengeance for his master's death, it doesn't hold up as a Freudian Excuse because not only is it not played for sympathy by the story and he also had centuries to get over his death, but there is indication that in the present he might be consumed with a lust for power and a god complex and is committing his crimes mostly to increase his own power. Furthermore, his rivalry started even before Juvens' death and it is a petty rivalry because they both hate each other out of jealousy for the other's abilities and want to show off, thus it puts into question how much of his crimes are actually done to avenge Juvens even if his care for him is not explicitly subverted.
- It is mentioned that he was once a lover to Cawneil, but nothing is mentioned about the two of them having affection to one another. It's also mentioned that in the past he was close to Yulwei, but it's unclear if Khalul still has any feeling for his old friend, considering that Yulwei has chosen to side with Bayaz against him and the two of them are enemies in the present.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He never appears even in a single scene or a single flashback within the story, thus he is not characterized enough to be Pure Evil. However, this is a minor prevention because other characters within the story talk about him and the crimes commited by his subordinates are either shown or at least their aftermath is shown.
- He most likely cares about his master Juvens as the thing which pushed him to create Gurkhul and become an Eater is to avenge Juvens' murder at the hands of Bayaz which is never explicitely subverted and when the Gurkish besiege the capital of the Union, Adua, one of their conditions is for Bayaz to be turned over to them, so he can be judged and sentenced by Khalul for murdering Juvens.
External Links[]
- Khalul on the First Law Wiki