The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Proven Guilty: An update to my previous thoughts on the topic

(1/15) > >>

namkcas:

PG is considered a book that is very thick with unanswered questions.  This theory makes it actually a quite simple book.  A book where the main points are actually called out directly...mostly by Harry.  The problem is that it only makes sense post-Cold Days.

The main questions are:

- Who sent the Fetches?
- Why did the Black Council (maybe we should call it The Circle per WN) attack Arctus Tor?
- Who fixed Little Chicago?
- Who hit Harry's car?

The answer lies in the future roles planned for Molly Carpenter. Mab's desire to have her and Harry positioned for future work is the driving force of the story.

Remember this is all kicked off by a letter from the Gatekeeper.  We now know that he hangs with a lot of folks from Winter and is working with Mab to defend the Outer Gates. His message was about Black Magic in Chicago.  Harry gets this message right after the execution of a Warlock.

Molly, at this point, is a Warlock and clearly on a downward slope.  Charity admits that she had problems and future events (particularly TC, Changes, and GS) show that Molly is touched by darkness.  Imagine that Harry does not act.  I would consider it likely that Molly would be full Warlock and be executed.  The primary outcome of PG is that Molly is saved from immediate Warlockdom and is Harry's apprentice.

Molly has come to the attention of the Black Council somehow.  That is why they are in the picture here.  The entire scenario would be set up for Glau to monitor Molly's progress to evil.  I agree with Harry that Glau was a cutout and that leads to the answer to the next two questions.

Mab sent the fetches to kidnap Molly to keep her away from the Black Council.  They were upset enough about this that they attacked Arctus Tor.  Mab fights them off but keeps things open for Harry to rescue the girl.  She wants Molly bound to Harry and wants her in place.  She needs to judge Harry's capability.  So she sets up a difficult but not impossible rescue scenario (I have no use for weakness.).

That means it is Mab that fixes Little Chicago.  She does so because she wants Harry to succeed in his rescue.  This is similar to the help she gave him by calling Thomas in CD.  I want to point out that this plot is similar to (in some ways) the Archive in SmF.  Mab tried to kidnap the Archive so that the Denarians could not (and failed).  In the PG case put Molly in instead of the Archive.  She does not make these things easy for Harry (remember the line about preparing Harry to become Winter Knight). 

The other thing that gets accomplished in PG is that Mab shows Nemesis to Harry.  He does not recognize it but it is called a sickness and several nFected sidhe are part of the story.  If Mab is listening in to the conversation at Mac's with Maeve, then she would know that Maeve in nFected right then.

Finally, Ace likely is the one that hits Harry's car.  He is likely the bomber of Murphy's car in WN.


TL:DR  PG is all about getting Molly to be Harry's apprentice.  Mab has a difficult rescue set up for Harry to test/prepare him.

raidem:
Well, I think everyone already knows my theory that there is a strong link between Murphy and Mab, going so far as equating the two in some past,present,future, alternate reality. So here it goes.
First off, I think Harry's accident was to get Murphy involved in assisting Harry in the search for black magic, aka Molly's black magic.
Second, it was Murphy that tipped Harry off to use Charity's blood to divine the whereabouts of Molly.

To be continuted with supporting text and further arguments.
(click to show/hide)
--- Quote ---Then he brought everyone a cup of tea, and faded immediately back to the kitchen alcove again while Charity prayed.
Maybe ten minutes later, Murphy knocked at the door and then opened it.
Besides Thomas, she was the only person I’d entrusted with an amulet that would let her through my wards without harm. She wore one of her usual work outfits: black jacket, white shirt, dark pants, comfortable shoes. Grey predawn light backlit her. She took a look around the place, frowning, before she shut the door. “What’s happened?”
I brought her up to speed, finishing with my failure to locate the girl’s trail.
“So you’re trying to find Molly?” Murphy asked. “With a spell?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“I thought that was pretty routine for you,” Murphy said. “I mean, I can think of four or five times at least you’ve done that.”
I shook my head. “That’s tracking down where something is. I’m looking for where Molly’s been. It’s a different bag of snakes.”
“Why?” Murphy asked. “Why not go straight to her?”
“Because the fetches have taken her back home with them,” I said. “She’s in the Nevernever. I can’t zero in on her there. The best I can do is to try to find where they crossed over, follow them across, and use a regular tracking spell once I’m through.”
“Oh.” She frowned and walked over to me. “And for that you need her hair?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Which we don’t have. So we’re stuck.”
She chewed on her lip. “Couldn’t you use something else?”
“Nail clippings,” I said. “Or blood, if it was fresh enough.”
“Uh-huh,” Murphy said. She nodded at Charity. “What about her blood?”
“What?” I said.
“She’s the girl’s mother,” Murphy said. “Blood of her blood. Wouldn’t that work?”
“No,” I said.
“Oh,” Murphy said. “Why not?”
“Because…” I frowned. “Uh…” I looked up at Charity for a moment.
Actually, there was a magical connection between parents and children. A strong one. My mother had worked a spell linked to Thomas and me that would confirm to us that we were brothers. The connection had been established, even though she had been the only common parent between us.
The blood connection was the deepest known to magic. “It might work,” I said quietly. I thought about it some more and breathed, “Stars and stones, not just work. Actually, for this spell, it might work better.”

Charity said nothing, but her eyes glowed with that steady, unmovable strength. I thought to myself, That’s what faith looks like.
I nodded my head to her in a bow of acknowledgment.
Then I turned to Murphy and gave her a jubilant kiss on the mouth.
Murphy blinked in total surprise.
“Yes!” I whooped, laughing. “Murphy, you rock! Go team Dresden!”
“Hey, I’m the one who rocks,” she said. “Go team Murphy.”
Thomas snorted. Even Charity had a small smile, though her eyes were closed and her head was bowed again, murmuring thanks, presumably to the Almighty.
Murphy had asked the exact question I’d needed to hear to tip me off to the answer. Help from above? I was not above taking help from on high, and given whose child was in danger it was entirely possible that divine intervention was precisely what had happened. I touched the brim of my mental hat and nodded my gratitude vaguely heavenward, and then turned to hurry back to the lab. “Charity, I presume you’re willing to donate for the cause?”
“Of course,” she said.
“Then we’re in business. Get ready to move, people. This will only take me a minute.”
I stopped and put a hand on Charity’s shoulder. “And then we’re going to get your daughter back.”
“Yes,” she murmured, looking up at me with fire in her eyes. “Yes, we are.”
This time, the spell worked. I should have known where the fetches had found the swiftest passage from their realm to Chicago. It was one of those things that, in retrospect, was obvious.
--- End quote ---
So, whoever hit Harry's car, whether with goodwill or ill intent, it had the consequence of Murphy getting involved.  Murphy's involvement directly led to Harry successfully finding the opening to Deep Faerie to rescue her.  And, Murphy's entrance and assistance followed directly after Charity and company sought Heavenly assistance in the matter.  As to Mab, she would be fully aware of a method of how Harry would search for Molly, so I doubt she was surprised and anticipated it.
So, I agree that Mab could definitely have been the one to have fixed Little Chicago.  Subsequent text in later books confirm that possibility since Fae with benevolent intent can have greater freedom of action within a threshold which Mab wouldn't have had much of a problem with anyway.

(click to show/hide)As to Murphy/Mab in some capacity at some point, it's kinda nice to think that Harry is being led by Murphy through the series with a set of probing questions. Like Hades said, "All I did was ask you a few questions," which if you go back through the early books, the conversation between Murphy and Harry is her nearly always asking him questions.

--- Quote ---“But you’ve already helped me,” I said. “Just by pointing out what was going on.”
Hades didn’t smile, but the corner of his eyes wrinkled. “All I did was ask you a few questions. Are you ready?”
--- End quote ---
Bringing in Molly, preserves a successor for either Winter and Molly.  It also bring Murphy to Arctis Tor.  If somehow Proven Guilty was an attempt by the bad guys to get rid of Murphy prior to her ascension as Mab, then Mab short circuited that gambit by bringing Murphy, her prior self, to the safety of Arctis Tor.  Or, if Murphy is a vessel of some kind, she is a backup.

jonas:
Ahh.. you jogged something else on Murphy, the original time ID interefered he directly told Harry he should trust Murph, this action changed their whole dynamic throughout the stories. Looking backwards through the sieve of generational theory, MM Murphy is probably a Denarian enemy of Dresden's. Between the dream involving her as a denarian(which most dreams he get's filter things in from alt realities) and looking at the odd possibility she would basically be Nic's wife in his variation. The whole love/hate thing would work well there.

Cozarkian:
Another WAG I've had that supports the Mab connection.

Harry was saved from using LC by a timely phone call from Molly. Assuming someone knew Harry was about to use it and wanted to save him, the easiest method would be to have a chat with Molly at the police station to help her realize she already knows someone who can help - Harry.

We've seen Mab use false personas. I think she appeared to Molly off-screen masquerading as a friendly ear and prompted the call to Harry. It makes more sense than Molly fortuitously calling at that exact moment.

raidem:
My original thoughts on that was a TTMolly was in the midst.  And, that Mouse wasn't just picking up on black magic Molly but on something bad at the police station when Harry went to pick her up.
We have seen Mab impersonate Molly in phone calls before.
I'm stretching things, but the phone call was fortuitous.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page