Ke-Dre
2067 BCE - Ke-Dre is born in Egypt, the daughter of Thanagarian Pharaohs Khufu Kan-Tarr & Chay-Ara Thal. Her birth is chronicled by Hath-Set.
2050 BCE - 17-year-old Ke-Dre becomes the new ruler of Thebes when her parents Khufu Kan-Tarr & Chay-Ara Thal are mysteriously killed. Her kingdom is threatened by outer dynasties who perceive her as vulnerable.
2043 BCE - 24-year-old Ke-Dre's armies defeat the last of the attacking dynasties. She now holds Egypt in its entirety. Hath-Set continually tries to win her, but she continues to reject him.
2031 BCE - 36-year-old Ke-Dre discovers that her advisor Hath-Set killed her parents Khufu Kan-Tarr & Chay-Ara Thal. They are both killed in the ensuing battle.
In cannon, Kendra Saunders was originally introduced as the grand-niece of the original Hawkgirl, Shiera Saunders Hall. The simplicity of that origin was actually incredibly innovative at the time, but later on, as they brought back Carter Hall and introduced the idea that he and Shiera were actually living an endless series of reincarnations, the new idea was that Kendra was actually a new reincarnation of Shiera, and part of their story hinged on the idea that they were destined to be lovers... which modern audiences might recognize as being very creepy. So instead, we invented Ke-Dre, an original character meant to tie Kendra into the Hawk's story of reincarnation.
Our Ke-Dre StoryKe-Dre is the child of Khufu & Chay-Ara, which would make her both the daughter of pharaohs and a full-blooded Earth-born Thanagarian. She becomes the new ruler of her parent's empire after their death, becoming the object of Hath-Set's desire, as with her parents gone, if he is able to marry her, he would assume the throne. The real-life Eleventh Dynasty did in fact go on to unite all of Egypt before it lost power, and it actually fits to suggest that after her parent's death the surrounding kingdoms would begin to attack Thebes, forcing the young princess to lead her armies in her countries defense. All this while, she would have Hath-Set as an advisor, probably aware that he wants to marry her but keeping her distance... right up until the day she discovers that he is actually her parent's killer.
By making Kendra the modern-day reincarnation of Ke-Dre, she becomes part of the Hawk's story of reincarnation without having to somehow be part of their love story. This works SO much better. The art we're using here for Ke-Dre is very specifically from a single issue of JSA, when Kendra traveled back in time to ancient Egypt and interacted with Khufu & Chay-Ara, and got to wear a cool Egyptian armor, and is a great look for her. It also implies that Ke-Dre was the first to actually use Nth Metal wings. |