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Drumm
Home

Del (formerly)

Physical description
Species

Ol

Gender

None (disguised as male)

Personal information
Allies

The Shadow Lord

Chronological and political information
Profession

Chief advisor

Position

Chief advisor to King Lucan

First appearance

Dragon's Nest

Last appearance

Secrets of Deltora (mentioned)

Drumm was the Chief Adviser to King Lucan and oversaw the placement of the Four Sisters in Deltora.

History

Drumm was appointed to act as King Lucan's chief advisor, though the details of how he attained the position are unclear. At some point during Lucan's reign, the Shadow Lord placed the Four Sisters at the northernmost, easternmost, southernmost, and westernmost points in Deltora, using them to slowly poison the land.

Lucan, wanting his son, Prince Gareth, to know about the land he would one day rule, commissioned Doran to write a book about Deltora. Drumm opposed the creation of the book, Secrets of Deltora, but could not go against King Lucan's direct order by stopping Doran from writing the book. Instead, Drumm ordered Doran to write in pencil so that the explorer's messy handwriting and sketches could be rewritten and redrawn to standards more appropriate for the Prince of Deltora.

In reality, Drumm hoped to edit and censor the book to keep important information from Gareth, though Doran preempted this and had Withick prepare the book beforehand. Doran included several cleverly disguised riddles in the book, warning Gareth of Drumm's treachery and the plight of Deltora's dragons. Though Drumm failed no notice these additions, he was able to convince an ailing King Lucan that Gareth was too young to be trusted with such a valuable book, and had Secrets of Deltora locked away in the palace library. Not long afterward, Withick was found dead.

Doran departed from the Palace almost immediately after presenting his book to the king, stopping only to draw a map of where he believed the Four Sisters were in the Deltora Annals. Doran never returned from this journey, having been captured by the Shadow Lord. Drumm, on the Shadow Lord's orders, tore the map from the Annals, ripped it into four pieces, and wrote a cryptic verse on each piece to dare any future "upstart" to try and stop the Sisters. He hid one part of the map in the table containing the Shadow Lord’s crystal and hid the other three throughout Deltora. Drumm is also mentioned in the Deltora Annals as having attended a palace dinner at some point after Doran drew his map.

Drumm's note

Drumm's refusal to remove the pedestal.

Drumm destroyed as many copies of The Belt of Deltora that he could, though he was unable to hunt down all of them. Drumm was also responsible for adding the pedestal to the center of the Palace chapel. When Rufus, the chief of the Ralad builders, horrified at the unwanted modification to the original design, saw the pedestal, he sent a letter to King Lucan, begging that the pedestal be removed. Drumm refused on King Lucan’s behalf.

King Lucan eventually died after months of being poisoned by Drumm, though it is unclear if Drumm continued to act as chief advisor. The Shadow Lord eventually tired of Drumm and eliminated him, replacing him with a new spy.

Dragon's Nest

When the Shadow Lord's crystal was being destroyed in the forge in Del, King Lief, along with Barda, Jasmine, and Doom, overheard a conversation between Drumm and the Shadow Lord, which had been recorded by the crystal. The Shadow Lord spoke to Drumm about the Four Sisters, revealing that they were poisoning Deltora. Drumm questioned the wisdom of leaving Doran's map intact rather than destroying it, but the Shadow Lord silenced him.

This conversation led to Lief, Barda, and Jasmine's quest to destroy the Four Sisters.

The Sister of the South

Manus recovered Drumm's letter to Rufus during his research of the royal palace’s blueprints and angrily told King Lief about the issue with the pedestal in the palace chapel. Lief, recognizing Drumm's name, deduced that the pedestal was put in place to hide the Sister of the South.

Physical appearance

Nothing is known of Drumm's physical appearance, though, as an Ol, he could take any form he wished. He took the form of a male human to serve as Lucan’s chief advisor.

Personality

Drumm seemed to be highly paranoid or, at least, overly cautious. He opted to lock away Secrets of Deltora despite there being no obvious threat contained in the book, other than simple knowledge. He also thought it would have been safer to totally destroy Doran's map, rather than simply divide it. He did not seem to be highly trusted by the Shadow Lord and only had cursory information about his master's plans, though he carried out his orders faithfully. Drumm was very nervous and occasionally spoke without thinking, in one instance suggesting that the Shadow Lord had made a mistake in his plans, though he apologized profusely and fearfully when the Shadow Lord reprimanded him. Drumm's voice was higher-pitched and more whining than Prandine's.

Abilities

Drumm was a Grade 3 Ol, able to perfectly disguise himself as any living creature or inanimate object for as long as he needed, though as a result he could be killed in his human form. He was able to communicate with the Shadow Lord via the crystal and, with the Shadow Lord backing him, was able to secretly plant the Four Sisters throughout Deltora.

Drumm was skilled at manipulating the king, as were most of the Shadow Lord's spies, and convinced Lucan that Deltora was perfectly safe while the land was deteriorating. He was able to control and slowly poison Lucan without raising the suspicion of anyone else in Deltora, save for Doran the Dragonlover, though the explorer was never able to act on his suspicions. Drumm's control over Lucan effectively gave him control of Deltora, though with some limitations, as he could not defy a direct order from the king.

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