Jamil’s plan to replace Kalim with himself in Book 4 is expanded upon in his dream of Book 7, where Kalim was asked to pay for something in his hometown for the first time in his life (“But why would people in town not know who I am in Jamil’s dream?”) and his home has had a “change in ownership years back, and the new owner had it relocated to high ground on the outskirts of town.”
When asked what happened to Kalim’s family a local resident responds, “Last I heard, they had to give up their house after their business failed,” and it is revealed that, although Jamil’s family used to work for the Asims as they do in reality, they then became rich and Jamil’s father “was kind enough to buy (their) manor from the Asims when they were in sore need of money.”
In the dream Jamil is the student council President of Jahar Sahir College, making his appearance to the dream’s visitors in a parade riding an elephant. Kalim says, “A parade where I actually walk is a fun change of pace,” so it is possible that Kalim is usually the one riding in the real world.
When Jamil seems frustrated with the real Kalim (whom he has mistaken for the Kalim of his dream) Grim asks, “Ain’t Malleus supposed to be givin’ people happy dreams? Jamil’s in a snit. He doesn’t seem all that happy to me,” and Ortho explains, “Kalim is a source of stress for him, just like Neige is to Vil. But Kalim exerts an outsized influence over Jamil’s personality and capabilities in reality…Removing a figure that influential would make the dream more prone to major paradoxes.”
Real-Kalim comes close to waking Jamil up by reminding him of some of Jamil’s experiences as the servant he is in reality, culminating the plot of Book 4, but Jamil is dragged into a deeper sleep by a Dream-Kalim who promises him money, land and freedom.
The deeper level of Jamil’s dream is an alternate timeline where he succeeded in hypnotizing Azul and ousting Kalim in Book 4 and is now plotting to overthrow Crowley. Kalim confronts Jamil and they get into a physical figh, with Jamil pointing out that “it would spell disaster” for him if they were to ever fight in reality successfully awakening him.
In the abyss Jamil is met with an overblotted version of himself bemoaning the life of servitude that has had him deferring to others since he was a child, saying, “It’s because of my environment. Because of my parents. Because of Kalim!” Jamil agrees, saying, “…True. If I hadn’t been born into the Viper family, I would’ve led a very different life,” but also acknowledging that he “rushed in all reckless, and botched things, and blew up at everyone,” as he had been convinced that he was actually superior to others, but had been wrong.
The abyss-Jamil insists that everything is Kalim’s fault and he could “show them all” if he ever stopped holding back to which Jamil responds, “That narrow-mindedness of yours is what’s really robbing you of your freedom,” but also, “This is me.”
The abyss-Jamil declares that they “are fated to be trapped in a dark, cramped place, being constantly run ragged. All the while dreaming of someone setting us free… For our whole lives!,” and Jamil responds, “The last thing I want is to entrust my wish to someone else. I’m through bemoaning my lot in life and feeling sorry for myself. And I’m through averting my eyes from my own desires and ambitions. I’ve got better things to do with my time than wallow in self-pity.”
Returning to his original dream Jamil is met with a dream-Kalim saying, “I owe everything to you and your honored father. I’ll happily serve you for the rest of my days,” to which Jamil replies, “When I see those sparkling eyes…It makes my skin crawl, you charlatan. A Kalim who’s polite and humble? Even for a dream, that’s beyond farfetched!,” hypnotizing and dismissing the Kalim of the dream.
Jamil declares, “Giving commands or receiving them… Simply swapping those positions is missing the whole point. I’m the one who decides things. Besides, I have no interest in freedom and power handed to me by someone else.No matter how long it takes…I’ll seize what I want for myself!”
Towards the end of Book 7 Jamil greets Malleus with, “Thank you for the wonderful dream you gave me. It showed me a side of myself I never knew existed, in a world where I got everything I wanted. And it was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced by far.”
In Book 7.5 Azul comments that he thought Jamil did not have any interest in money or influence and Jamil says, “I thought so, too…until I saw the dream Malleus gave me. Having everyone in town kneel before me, getting to put a foolish ruler in his place from atop an elephant…that felt incredible! Of course everyone wants to be special. To be better than everyone else. Our dreams were exaggerated and distorted in weird ways, but they were still our wishes, in part.”
Jamil tells Azul, “Malleus picked quite the nightmares to show us. Once someone has a taste of nectar, they can’t help but want to taste it again. That’s just human nature.”
