EB McCoy after the BAT

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Enough to search Peabodies quarters for evidence.

Have we some reason to think he'd be sloppy enough to not cover his tracks?

[Arjan]

Have we some reason to think he'd be sloppy enough to not cover his tracks?

Sure, As Ebenezar said in the trial:

“Working on the evidence Dresden found,” Ebenezar said, “Warden Ramirez and I searched Peabody’s chambers thoroughly not twenty minutes ago. A test of the inks he used to attain the signatures of the Senior Council for various authorizations revealed the presence of a number of chemical and alchemical substances that are known to have been used to assist psychic manipulation of their subjects. It is my belief that Peabody has been drugging the ink for the purpose of attempting greater mental influence over the decisions of members of the Senior Council, and that it is entirely possible that he has compromised the free will of younger members of the Council outright.”

Looking for evidence must have been Ebenezars first priority.

I do not think it was sloppyness. He needed the stuff and probably a lot of it to do that huge scale mental manipulation. He had to keep it close and hidden in plain view.

[Sterling Rat]

I don't think Eb will survive the BAT... I also believe that, at some point, Harry will be sent to get Mother Winter's cane back.

Eb, as Blackstaff, is allowed to use mind magic... We will find out that Eb rewired Harry's brain in Hog's Hollow after the incident with Justin. He has been asked a couple times why he does what he does and he doesn't really give a good answer - I think they were trying to clue him in that his brain was altered. I also think that Eb influenced Susan's thinking to keep Maggie away from Harry, since Eb was with them during Dead Beat and I doubt that was a coincidence.

I think Eb will succumb to the corruption of Dark Magic and the Outsiders, causing Mother Winter to send Harry after him.

Disclaimer: I have been wrong each and every time I have predicted anything. If I said Monday would be followed by Tuesday, I would expect the flow of time to suddenly change just to make me wrong. Jim Butcher has come up with better stuff than me every time I think I know what's going on, so I'm sure that trend will continue and I look forward to finding out how wrong I am.

[Rasins]

I don't think Eb will survive the BAT... I also believe that, at some point, Harry will be sent to get Mother Winter's cane back.

Eb, as Blackstaff, is allowed to use mind magic... We will find out that Eb rewired Harry's brain in Hog's Hollow after the incident with Justin. He has been asked a couple times why he does what he does and he doesn't really give a good answer - I think they were trying to clue him in that his brain was altered. I also think that Eb influenced Susan's thinking to keep Maggie away from Harry, since Eb was with them during Dead Beat and I doubt that was a coincidence.

I think Eb will succumb to the corruption of Dark Magic and the Outsiders, causing Mother Winter to send Harry after him.

Disclaimer: I have been wrong each and every time I have predicted anything. If I said Monday would be followed by Tuesday, I would expect the flow of time to suddenly change just to make me wrong. Jim Butcher has come up with better stuff than me every time I think I know what's going on, so I'm sure that trend will continue and I look forward to finding out how wrong I am.

I don't know that Eb ever met, or knew, Susan.  How would he even know about Maggie Jr if he didn't know about Susan?

[Sterling Rat]

Sure, but that would mean that Ebenezer assisting the Fellowship during Dead Beat was just a coincidence. Or a Red Herring.

It is completely reasonable that after Eb lost track of Harry as a child, he could have taken magical steps to monitor any future offspring.

It probably won't happen that way because Jim is a professional writer with good ideas and I am a data specialist who has only ever had three original ideas... and two of those sucked. But if I keep guessing, I will be right someday.

[Viktor]

I don't think Eb will survive the BAT... I also believe that, at some point, Harry will be sent to get Mother Winter's cane back.

I agree with the first. I actually think/hope that he goes out fighting Cowl. This shows how strong Cowl really is, and drives home just how strong he has become when Dresden kills him... while wielding the Black Staff. I do hope Mother Winter is going to comment on the cane after he gets it.

[wardenferry419]

Curious question. What would happen if the Black Staff is broken or can it be broken?

[Quantus]

Curious question. What would happen if the Black Staff is broken or can it be broken?

Im going to go with: No, It cannot Be Broken.  Or Rather, to do so would require and.or result in the Breaking of Winter's Power as a whole; I think one is too primal a symbol of the other.

on the other hand, per WOJ "just really, really, really powerful and tapped into like some serious elemental powers in the universe.  But basically all it really is is insulation from using those powers."  So maybe it's jut a tap into that Power, and loosing it would just close off that access.  It might have all kinds of implications to the overall function and Balance of things, but perhaps not any direct (ie explosive) fallout. 

[Rasins]

What would happen if Harry presented Mother Winter with a new walking stick?  As her vassal, he can give her stuff without her incurring obligation to him.

[wardenferry419]

Im going to go with: No, It cannot Be Broken.  Or Rather, to do so would require and.or result in the Breaking of Winter's Power as a whole; I think one is too primal a symbol of the other.

on the other hand, per WOJ "just really, really, really powerful and tapped into like some serious elemental powers in the universe.  But basically all it really is is insulation from using those powers."  So maybe it's jut a tap into that Power, and loosing it would just close off that access.  It might have all kinds of implications to the overall function and Balance of things, but perhaps not any direct (ie explosive) fallout.

So, the Black Staff is an under-used object of power?

[jonas]

So, the Black Staff is an under-used object of power?

Keep in mind this is the same description used for the hexxenbelts, Mantles, ect. Insulation. I think it's all insulation, and all from the same things, spiritual entities.

[Rasins]

So, the Black Staff is an under-used object of power?

I totally would.  I'd be surprised of Eb knows all the tricks it can do FOR Mother Winter.

[Kindler]

Could the Blackstaff itself be the conduit to black magic? Meaning, if it is destroyed, could all access to it be closed permanently? Assuming it's tied to the Outside, the Blackstaff may have existed as long as the Gates—as Gungnir, for instance—passed down from guardian to guardian. If black magic comes from Outside, as many have hypothesized on this forum, then it may be the reason wizards and others can tap into it at all. Like a Yin/Yang; you have to have a little Black inside the White, if you catch my meaning.

[jonas]

Could the Blackstaff itself be the conduit to black magic? Meaning, if it is destroyed, could all access to it be closed permanently? Assuming it's tied to the Outside, the Blackstaff may have existed as long as the Gates—as Gungnir, for instance—passed down from guardian to guardian. If black magic comes from Outside, as many have hypothesized on this forum, then it may be the reason wizards and others can tap into it at all. Like a Yin/Yang; you have to have a little Black inside the White, if you catch my meaning.

-.- nobodies allowed to say that but me lol. yin yang represents pretty much all of creation in the DF, right down to the original divides between existence and non existence, which then became layered excessively. (ying and yang into greater and lesser, 4 majors into the 8 elemental manifestations down into the 5 elements themselves.) DR is the little black dot that is at the center of our world... Angels perhaps are the White dot in the black... Think about their existence on Archangel level, multiple galaxy destruction, only dips toe into our sandbox, pancake existence. both are beyond space and time, ergo outside, even if not outside existence in the critical sense everyone seems to get stuck on(variations, VARIATIONS!), mordite is an example in extreme of the idea of NOTHING being too simply translated.

[Quantus]

So, the Black Staff is an under-used object of power?

Depends on your perspective. 

On the one hand, it does not actually let you do anything at all that you could not already do (other than summon a really cool stick made of black smoke, I guess); there is no power boost or additional special abilities granted. 

On the Other Hand, it lets you do ALL THE BLACK MAGIC without having to worry about turning your psyche into swiss cheese from what amount to the spiritual equivalent of Brain Damage.  If you're already down that swiss cheese road it's probably not going to give you much you didnt already have. Im not sure it would have any appeal to your Kemmlers or Cowls, for example.