The Dresden Files > DF Reference Collection
The Gatekeeper fixed LC and other PG musings [spoilers up to CD]
wizard nelson:
--- Quote ---- Abby replied to a question before he got a chance to make it, and her reply stopped him from making it. Meaning, the timeline where he asked the question never happened in the first place.
--- End quote ---
i really should sleep before trying to explain things but.... this isn't changing the past. abby sees possibilities and uhhh argh!
just go watch that nicholas cage movie knowing (or know?) it has everything you need to figure it out yourself.
wyltok:
--- Quote from: Cenphx on February 11, 2013, 11:54:11 PM ---First, let me just say, big kudos to you for laying this all out so clearly. I know it takes a buttload of work and is really difficult, so give yourself a pat on the back. Reading your post and then rereading, I have a couple of probably minor questions for you.
1) Regarding your point that Rashid made sure to come inside to fix LC when Bob wasn't around, how could he know that Bob wouldn't be there? As noted in Serack's post, Harry rarely took Bob on investigations and Bob's role at the convention that night was pretty minimal. So it would be hard to know that Harry would take Bob with him. Unless Rashid saw that too with his foresight, but I guess I don't imagine it giving the wielder that kind of small detail (like what Harry is carrying in his backpack when he leaves his apartment). But I guess I could be wrong about that.
2) When Rashid sees something with his foresight that he wants to change, we have seen his actions be as minimally intrusive as possible, the bare minimum he could get away with and still be effective. I'm thinking of his very vague direction to Harry about "black magic is afoot" rather than "go stop Molly Carpenter from using mind magic against her friends and being abducted by Winter" (or something equally clear but meeting his goals--maybe he wanted Molly abducted.) So why would Rashid act directly here rather than just sending Harry another vague message like "you might want to double-check all your magical items before you use them"? It seems out of character.
3) Why would Rashid keep his actions a secret from Harry? If it was okay for him to direclty intervene, what difference would it make if Harry knew?
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Thank you for the kudos!
Let me begin by commenting on something you said on your second question, which took me somewhat by surprised. In it you expressed that the Gatekeeper's actions tend to be the bare minimum that'll be effective. I find myself disagreeing with this view. We've seen the Gatekeeper act in 4 books (Summer Knight, Proven Guilty, Turn Coat, Cold Days). The only time where he held back from acting directly was in Proven Guilty, in my opinion. Every other time, he seems to do as much as his duties (and limitations) allow.
In Summer Knight, he tracked Harry throughtout the whole test, and then gave Harry a bunch of tools that helped him handle the upcoming fight, in fact risking Harry's life by doing so (since it could be argued that he interfered with Harry's test). I would guess that the reason he didn't go with Harry to the war is that with the Fae Queens and Ladies in Chicago-over-Chicago, the Wall was understaffed and he was needed there.
In Turn Coat, Rashid went and confronted Harry directly as soon as he knew what Harry was up to, and had quite the honest talk with him. There's no way for Rashid to have been part of the arresting party, however: he couldn't step foot on the island, so he wouldn't have been able to help with the ambush. Even then, he made sure to send a message to help diminish the amount of deaths in the ensuing fight.
In Ghost Story, we finally find what exactly keeps Rashid busy so much of the time that he can't help Harry more. Even then, Rashid promises to help Harry as much as he can, though he admits that with his duties, it amounts to getting Harry re-instated in the Council.
When it comes to Rashid, I'm usually reminded of that scene in Blood Rites where Lord Raith first mind-whammies Murphy. Harry learns the painful lesson that even with phenomenal power, sometimes the best one can do is... nothing at all.
With regards to your questions, I actually think they all tie together. Read again Bob example of how a message from the future is generally meant to change something else, rather than whatever gets mentioned (in the example, the car theft gets mentioned, when the intention is to avoid a murder instead).
If we look at the chain of events, without Rashid's message vs. with Rashid's message, Harry still would have received Molly's call, but I believe it is only Rashid's warning that makes Harry worried enough about Splattercon!!! that he's willing to risk taking Bob with him to investigate. So by giving a mysterious message rather than a clear one, Rashid accomplishes his mission of creating a window of opportunity to fix LC, and since he's a hands-on kind of guy, he goes and fixes it himself.
aShorty21:
Are we ignoring the Time Traveling Harry as an option? That has always been my favorite. If I get time in the near future I'll do my best to explain how I think TTHarry fits all the OP scenarios the most.
An aside: Any being that is good enough to get into the sub-basement from the NN is good enough to fix LC without Thomas even knowing they were there. So Thomas would not have to know about about the fixer in that instance.
Griffyn612:
--- Quote from: aShorty21 on February 12, 2013, 08:47:35 PM ---Are we ignoring the Time Traveling Harry as an option? That has always been my favorite. If I get time in the near future I'll do my best to explain how I think TTHarry fits all the OP scenarios the most.
An aside: Any being that is good enough to get into the sub-basement from the NN is good enough to fix LC without Thomas even knowing they were there. So Thomas would not have to know about about the fixer in that instance.
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We've got 2 threads talking about TTH right now, so I decided to leave this one alone. I didn't want to de-rail the discussion of the GK theory with another theory.
aShorty21:
--- Quote from: Griffyn612 on February 12, 2013, 09:07:38 PM ---We've got 2 threads talking about TTH right now, so I decided to leave this one alone. I didn't want to de-rail the discussion of the GK theory with another theory.
--- End quote ---
Gotcha, so TTHarry being a posiblity isn't a reason to discount The Gatekeeper as one.
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