The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Was Ascher telling the truth?
wardenferry419:
I guess I am confused. Are you more interested in the holes within the warden system as a problematic plot device or as an organizational deficiency?
Mr. Death:
You're still painting the Wardens as this unregulated, unsupervised group. But they are regulated and they are supervised. They're a military command structure -- yes, members operate with a degree of autonomy, but we know from Dresden's experience that they meet together with a fair amount of frequency, they know each other, and they keep each other briefed on their cases and what they're doing.
They are, as Murphy puts it, a bureaucracy. They're not lone-rangers taking the laws into their own hands without anyone to answer to. We know by name at least three people that they can and do answer to.
What we still don't have is an example of a Warden abusing his or her power in the way that you're suggesting is all but inevitable.
Arjan:
--- Quote from: Mr. Death on December 12, 2017, 06:26:00 PM ---You're still painting the Wardens as this unregulated, unsupervised group. But they are regulated and they are supervised. They're a military command structure -- yes, members operate with a degree of autonomy, but we know from Dresden's experience that they meet together with a fair amount of frequency, they know each other, and they keep each other briefed on their cases and what they're doing.
They are, as Murphy puts it, a bureaucracy. They're not lone-rangers taking the laws into their own hands without anyone to answer to. We know by name at least three people that they can and do answer to.
What we still don't have is an example of a Warden abusing his or her power in the way that you're suggesting is all but inevitable.
--- End quote ---
Which is not surprising because we have so few examples of everything and what we have is most probably atypical anyway.
It is just that what we know about the structure (no separation of powers, No appeal, fast convictions, trial outcome can be political motivated,...). The circumstances (war, lack of manpower, too many warlocks, gerontocracy, nepotism). And human nature abuse is to be expected. The only question is the scale.
Mr. Death:
--- Quote from: Arjan on December 12, 2017, 06:48:49 PM ---Which is not surprising because we have so few examples of everything and what we have is most probably atypical anyway.
--- End quote ---
Atypical which way, though?
Most of our perspective is through Dresden, a man who felt hounded by the Wardens in general and Morgan in particular for most of his adult life.
The view we have is skewed -- and for most of the series, it's skewed to see the Wardens as worse than they actually are. And then Harry meets the Wardens and starts working directly with them and, hey, his view has softened considerably since he put on the grey cloak.
That, to me, says that the Wardens are not the boogie-men that Dresden paints them as for the first few books.
--- Quote ---It is just that what we know about the structure (no separation of powers, No appeal, fast convictions, trial outcome can be political motivated,...). The circumstances (war, lack of manpower, too many warlocks, gerontocracy, nepotism). And human nature abuse is to be expected. The only question is the scale.
--- End quote ---
The war was probably a good thing for the Wardens, at least in this respect. It cleared out a lot of the old guard -- the ones who would be the most political, the most hardline, and replaced most of them with younger Wardens like Harry and Carlos. By the end of the war, the Wardens' numbers have increased substantially from the pre-war days, and the vast majority of them are going to be the younger crowd.
Hell, Harry's one of the guys training them these days. AAAA Wizardry's whole framing story is Harry lecturing a class of young Wardens-to-be on how to properly assess, investigate and solve cases.
If anything, the newest crop of Wardens should be a hell of a lot more open and friendly toward the Paranet and the people in it, considering Carlos and Harry are two of the guys directly overseeing and training them and all.
wardenferry419:
Many of the younger ones might have been on the internet before their magic kicked it. So bonus on knowledge.
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