The theory being this: the Bookmen did not band together to stop the formidable Drosselmeyer from writing his tragedies, but that they assigned him his stories. 

Yes, the Bookmen are Drosselmeyer’s bosses. 

Okay just listen. 

In episode one, the Narrator describes the last few pages of the Prince and the Raven, “Once upon a time, there was a man who died. The man's work was the writing and telling of stories, but he could not defy death. The last story he was working on was about a brave and handsome prince who vanquishes a crafty raven. But now, it seems their battle will go on for eternity” (season one, episode 1). Drosselmeyer died before he finished the story, and I’m not sure he planned on ever finishing the story based on this line: “"this is great!" said the old man who was supposed to have died” (s1e1). 

Drosselmeyer getting his hands chopping off wasn’t because the Bookmen believed his powers were getting out of hand, but because he wasn’t doing his job. 

The Bookmen weren’t against Drosselmeyer, in fact they were in charge of stories, Drosselmeyer was just supposed to write them. 

In episode four, Giselle, the Narrator says this: “The man charged with spinning this tale” (s1e4). This line specifically is what makes me think that the relationship the Bookmen and Drosselmeyer had was more than just bitter enemies. 

“ And so the love remains forever sorrowful as the story lives on. The tale, no longer being spun searches for a conclusion…” (The Narrator). 

“A story’s birth is a sudden event. The start, a happy accident. The end, the fate for which it’s meant. A story that never ends is a cruel thing.” (Edel, s1e2). 

This is Drosselmeyer’s great tragedy, what he truly wants, a story that never ends, where he can just sit back and watch the events unfold. 

Story’s in this land are an accident, they are not started with intent or purpose, the Story Spinner’s job is to give those stories an end, to control and bend reality to a conclusion, whether happy or not. The Bookmen don’t care, what matters is that the people who are pulled into the story are eventually let go. Giselle can die, she can kill herself, it doesn’t matter, but the story needs to end. 

In fact, I’m willing to bet that Drosselmeyer doesn’t care for writing and the machine he writes in the end isn’t so that he can have control over the stories, but simply to record the story’s events. The machine isn’t giving him control over the story, it’s a scribe. 

The characters are free to do whatever they want, and they do. 

There are countless times where the characters surprise Drosselmeyer, shock him, or even go against what he wants to happen in the story.

Drosselmeyer abandons the stories he’s been given to end in favor of watching real people being trapped inside of a story for the rest of their lives, and this is why his hands were cut off. 

Drosselmeyer’s a punk.

Anyway. 

I’m not sure why the Bookmen try to cut off Fakir’s hands unless they think he’s going to be as lazy as his grandfather. But when I get there I’ll add on to this theory. 

Again, I apologize for this not being about a side character as promised, but hopefully this with appease everyone until I can finish the series.