The Dresden Files > DF Reference Collection
Reviving my Major Lash theory post
itshim:
I'd always considered that for Lash to exist outside of Harry's head she would need to possess some soul and she got this by taking some of Harrys when she sacrificed herself. It may be that Harry himself (through his unconcious) authorised it, as I don't know whether you can just take and use someone elses soul without it being the blackest of black magic (which would then completely change Lash and negate the point of her sacrifice).
My reading of WoJ was that Lash would be around in the second half of the series, as a ghost or something else, to help him in the nevernever.
Nigel
AcornArmy:
I think the OP is right, at least in so far as what we think Uriel did in Small Favor was not what he actually did, or at least not exactly what he did. I've suspected that since Mab, at the end of the book, told Harry that only he would be able to answer the question of what exactly Uriel had done to him.
At the end of White Night, Harry discovered that Lash had left him a gift of knowledge in the form of musical talent. Presumably, Lash's musical talent, made a part of Harry's mind when Lash took the psychic bullet-- either by Lash's design or by chance. Serack's theory may be entirely correct, and the knack for Soulfire was also a gift from Lash, and Harry just didn't realize he had it until Uriel bumped his metaphorical elbow. Even if the truth isn't quite that direct, though, I'd guess that something of Lash's knowledge or mind did give Harry a vital piece of whatever is required in order for a human to use Soulfire.
At any rate, I think that, whatever it was Uriel did, it was something to do with Lash or Lash's remnants. And a direct side-effect of it was to give Harry access to Soulfire. I suspect it also had something to do with the way Harry's left hand was able to dextrously snatch the denarius out of the air before it could touch him, in SmF, too. "The burned hand teaches best," was the first quote Harry saw when he opened Uriel's copy of The Two Towers. Maybe Uriel did something to help Lash put herself back together, intending that Lash should become Harry's future teacher.
If that were true, though, I have no idea why she wouldn't have popped up by the time of Changes. When Harry mentioned the headaches at the beginning of Turn Coat, I thought for sure that was a sign of life for Lash, but between TC and Changes, the headaches apparently vanished. And still no Lash. So who knows? Maybe the headaches were something completely different.
Serack:
--- Quote from: X on July 08, 2011, 09:55:28 AM ---
--- Quote ---Serack
My take: When Lash rebelled against her originator, the bit of lasciel's energy that was giving Harry access to hellfire was either destroyed of fundamentally changed to the point where it was no longer the same thing... I.E. Soulfire and Hellfire are 2 sides of the same coin and that coin had now flipped. So yah he wouldn't have access to hell fire any more (He didn't obviously) and instead he had access to soulfire, he just didn't know it/didn't know how to access it.
--- End quote ---
The problem I have with this statement is that you are essentially suggesting that a mere imprint of a time immortal being was able to give Harry access to Soulfire. The reason I think that Lash allowed Harry the use of Hellfire is because that is the nature of the Denarians. They offer power, and Lasciel herself is known as The Temptress. If that is her nature, then offering a small sampling of power in exchange for binding his soul is well within her nature, thus the imprint is allowed to give access to Hellfire.
Harry gave Lash, a mere shadow free will, to go against her creator, but to say that the mere shadow that was Lash gave Harry access to Soulfire, and allowed him to use it after she was no longer present within him as far as we know, I find that to be an extreme stretch.
Furthermore, in Turn Coat, Uriel himself converses with Harry, informing him of the good side actually doing something, just not in a noticeable way at first, then Mab appears and gives us a little backstory regarding Uriel. If Lash gave Harry the ability to use Soulfire, then you are essentially saying that Jim Butcher himself planted Uriel, a freaking Archangel, in the series as a red herring. Possible? Yes. But I disagree.
--- End quote ---
The question I most want to ask Jim is: Can any mortal pratictioner use Soulfire, or does mortal access to soulfire/helfire require "angelic" sponsorship? Does this sponsorship require active investment from the sponsor?
I'm guessing that Hellfire, having a powersource outside the mortal, requires active sponsorship, but that soulfire, once granted, sources it's power from the mortal's own soul and thus once the mortal has access (in this case/theory without knowing about it or using it) it doesn't have to be maintained.
Bob uses very similar language to describe how Harry had access to Hellfire from a bit of energy from Lasciel, and how Lash subsisted from a bit of energy from Lasciel. When Lash rebelled against that energy, a fundamental paradigm shift occured for her, and part of this was that she flipped the coil over from helfire to Soulfire. If my assessment of the requirements for Soulfire as listed above is accurate (I.E. no requirement for active sponsorship since the power source is the mortal's own soul), then the echoes of this paradigm shift are still enough for Harry to have had access to it, even without Lash still actively sponsoring it.
If Soulfire does require active sponsorship, then it had to have come from Uriel, and he has to still be actively "sponsoring" Harry. If not, then the source of the ability is just as likely to come from Lash as from Uriel.
Edit: slightly reworded the "question
AcornArmy:
--- Quote from: Serack on July 08, 2011, 11:48:13 AM ---The question I most want to ask Jim is: Does mortal access to soulfire/helfire require "angelic" sponsorship? Does this sponsorship require active investment from the sponsor?
--- End quote ---
I think the most likely answer to this question has to be no. Harry's Hellfire was sponsored, but it didn't use any of his soul when he cast it. And the sum total of the sponsorship appeared to be the ability to use the Fallen's Hellfire for his spells.
With the Soulfire, Harry is burning up his own soul. He's mentioned reaching into the place in his mind where Soulfire resides when he casts it. If Uriel is involved, he doesn't seem to be doing much. Maybe Uriel gave him the initial access, but after that, it seems to be all Harry. This appearance could be misleading, though, I guess.
Serack:
Slightly reworded the question
--- Quote ---Can any mortal pratictioner use Soulfire, or does mortal access to soulfire/helfire require "angelic" sponsorship? Does this sponsorship require active investment from the sponsor?
--- End quote ---
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version