In the 1970s, Brendel was already a member of The Grail, but he was also working in the West German Wehrmacht in anti-terrorism. He met Starr during a rescue operation in which an anti-Jewish group held a plane full of people hostage, trying to get prisoners in Israel released. Brendel’s team got into the plane and killed all the terrorists – the only passenger casualty was a six year-old girl.
Starr was deeply disturbed by the girl’s death, and seemed to Brendel to be a driven, dedicated man, if very unlikeable and impersonal. As far as Brendel was concerned, Starr would be perfect for The Grail.
After doing some background checks and getting approval from his superiors, Brendel introduced Starr to Eisenstein, the brains behind the Grail. Eisenstein set Starr on his first task – kill a renegade Grail agent, currently locked up in an insane asylum. The agent had already talked to police, and there were two Spanish journalists who were interested in the story. The test: kill the agent without arousing suspicion.
Starr blew up the insane asylum.
Brendel led Starr through his rise in The Grail, introducing him to the leaders of the world whom the Grail controlled. He saw Starr be raised up to Sacred Executioner, and then fell under Starr’s gun.
He was eliminated to clear the way for Starr’s master plan: to kill Allfather D’Aronique and The Messiah and take control of the Grail. He knew Brendel wouldn’t go along with him, Starr drove him out to a secluded place and shot him.