The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Hierarchy of the Courts
Con:
--- Quote from: Zaphodess on August 22, 2017, 11:52:24 AM ---Toot painted his face half blue when Harry became the Winter Knight in Changes. He said "We are Winter now".
It could come down to individual bargains and relationships, just as in medieval feudal society. A simple peasant or soldier was directly related to his lord. The lord was in a direct relationship to a duke e. g., the duke then to a king and so on. By these indirect links, the king ruled the whole country.
Things like Kringle being Vadderung with different relationships to Queen Mab were not uncommon at all in the higher aristocracy. These guys held several titles. The king of one country could own a duchy in another and technically be the vassal of someone with whom he was otherwise in an equal relationship and maybe even be at war with him.
--- End quote ---
I figure that Kringle and Erlking are the equivelent of Earl's or Jarls in Germanic and Norse societies, given their both from Norse and Germanic mythologies, plus you know "Earl"king.
The only thing I know about the nature of the relationships between Earl's/Jarl's and Kings comes from the tv show Vikings where they would band together for campaigns, but that Earl's/Jarl's often had enough power to challenge the Monarch.
My question is where do these duties and obligations begin and end. Kringle has to adhere to little games of protocol, but where does Mab's power over him extend to. Given Erlking and Kringle's alliance with Mab during the events of Cold Days, there is some cooperation, but both the Erlking and Kringle have stated that they don't get along with Mab. Erlking in Changes when he warns Harry against summoning Mab another ruler into his domain, and Kringle outright states it as I've quoted above.
Does Mab now owe Kringle and Erlking a debt for Cold Days? Or were they returning the favour?
--- Quote from: Mira on August 22, 2017, 01:41:23 PM ---And the Enemy's desire to infest him, I think is more to the point. My impression is Grimalkin and Cat Sith are the same kind of creature, and it appears they have their own pecking order.
--- End quote ---
So they're the same creature but in a different pecking order. Whose higher, Grimalkin as her favoured Pet, or Cat Sith as her Cat Paw * ba dum ching*
Zaphodess:
Cold Days might have been a special case, Kringle and the Erlking might have decided to help themselves. I got the impression that the usual rules don't necessarily apply when it comes to Outsiders. They're everyone's enemy.
Con:
That would seem to go against the nature of fairie balance and favours.
Unless the balance being redressed was Natural World vs The Outside.
Rasins:
--- Quote from: Con on August 22, 2017, 03:01:21 PM ---That would seem to go against the nature of fairie balance and favours.
Unless the balance being redressed was Natural World vs The Outside.
--- End quote ---
It could also be ... smaller adjustments being redressed.
If Kringle and the EK do things to support Winter in their usual course of "ruling" their courts, that may be obligation, but small debts may be incurred. By doing things like they did in Cold Days it may balance out several of these smaller favors.
deflated:
I'm not sure there is what we would consider a hierarchy (e.g. military chain of command) in the Courts, it's more of a constantly shifting balance of power. Take Lea and Molly; Lea has a lot of personal power inherited from Mab in exchange for acting as her faithful handmaiden but must bargain with other fae to get them to act. It looks like Molly has less power (individual magical strength) than Lea but does have agents, such as the Knight, directly under her control that increases her influence. I haven't read anything yet that would accurately place either of them in a hierarchy; words are too easy for the fae to twist for any of Lea or Mab's statements to be ironclad.
On maintaining balance: the fae have had centuries of practice at finding pretexts to act. Given the long battle with the Outsiders I'm sure Kringle and the Erlking had no problem justifying their actions in Cold Days as balancing some prior slight they had received from them.
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