The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
What does the Merlin want out of Peace Talks
raidem:
The White Council I think will start taking the gloves off with the Fomor. The Fomor essentially kidnapped potential wizards worldwide, and then rushed into the vacuum left by the Red Court along with other powers.
kazimmoinuddin:
The thing is while he is sure to have an agenda, the talks are not his show. So he would forced to be more reactive then active in his agenda.
He needs to put on a show of strength. To stop the supernatural predators perceiving them as weak or prey. That or he needs to some how undermine them so better to position the council.
wardenferry419:
--- Quote from: dspringer1 on September 27, 2017, 03:59:59 PM ---I think it would be very interesting indeed if the Merlin had Harry as his ace in the hole. That implies all sorts of changes in the council and the Merlin. I would argue that up to this point the Merlin has never looked at Harry as anything more than a annoyance, a dangerous warlock or a lever to use against other senior council members. The Merlin has certainly been petty with regards to Harry, he has not devoted much energy to opposing Harry beyond petty political games. While the books are harry centric, the Merlin has shown no indication of being harry centric.
Also, if the Merlin's plans involved Harry in some significant way, then the Merlin plans to disrupt the peace talks in some significant way. The Merlin has always seen harry as a force of destruction/chaos/disruption. If the Merlin sees benefit in Harry's involvement, then he wants the Peace talks disrupted. Otherwise the Merlin's plans for Harry would all be about how to keep Harry away from the Peace Talks. Why do you imagine the Merlin wants the talks to fail?
The peace talks are about resolving the war with the Red Court, Black Court and White court. I agree with you that this war is effectively over, but it is NOT actually over. The black and white courts were active participants in the war and they are not destroyed.
I do agree that the primary focus of the peace talks themselves are the spoils/territory to be divided and managing the conflicts already happening as supernatural races fight over the spoils. Simply ending the war would be fairly easy as the Black and Red would just keep what they got and return to the status quo. It is all the red territory that is now up for grabs that is the problem -- especially as the White Council is not capable/willing of taking it for themselves and defend it against all comers -- and winter/summer do not want it.
--- End quote ---
I didn't state that Harry would be a knowing and willing ace-in-the-hole plan.
dspringer1:
--- Quote ---I think the argument for Harry being the Merlin's ace-in-the-hole is primarily Doylist. From Jim's perspective, the reason to build a book around a concept like a summit is to play with Harry's now divided loyalties.
--- End quote ---
Very logical. But in order for that play to make sense, the Merlin's agenda has to have changed. His old agenda was to return to the status quo. I can see no scenario where the Merlin would rely on Harry to achieve that outcome.
--- Quote ---The WCW's inability to defend all of this now-exposed territory is why I feel like the Merlin might be willing to trade away the safety of some portion of the vanilla mortals and lower talents for peace.
--- End quote ---
Of course the Merlin would trade away territory. Giving away territory is easy - all the troublesome nations would happily accept the territory of the Red as a gift. The peace talks would only be challenging if the Merlin did NOT want to give away most of the territory. And given this territory might strengthen very dangerous potential enemies of the White Council, the Merlin has a strong incentive to manage the territory changes that come out of the Peace Talks.
* The White Council may lack the strength to keep large blocks of the territory
* The White Council may lack the enthusiasm/support to keep large blocks of the territory
* Other powers may object to the White Council claiming the territory.
If the purpose of the White Council is to leave the Peace Talks with some agreement that aids the White Council in keeping a lot of this territory - or at least make sure that the territorial gains other powers make do not threaten the White Council, that can be a very good use of Peace Talks (in the eyes of the Merlin).
--- Quote ---I didn't state that Harry would be a knowing and willing ace-in-the-hole plan.
--- End quote ---
I did not make that assumption. But the Merlin "knows" Harry to some extent and would predict the likely outcome if Harry gets involved (insults, threats, fights, disruption, etc). The only reason I can think of for the Merlin to want harry there is
a) he wants the talks to fail and the war continue
b) he expects the talks to break down into open fighting and he wants one of his most dangerous wardens there in the fight
Besides, I thought I read on this site that Mab was the one insisting Harry be at the peace talks - against the Merlin's wishes.
raidem:
I think it was Ramirez choice and langtry didn't like it.
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