The Death of Margaret Le Fay

[Yuillegan]

Margaret le Fay died due to the powerful malacchio curse, like the Barabass curse, that causes horrible deadly misfortune on the recipient. This spell was done by the White King Lord Raith, possibly with the help of a cult of practitioners and potentially even He Who Walks Behind.

However, malacchio can mean "evil eye". Who has an evil eye in mythology? Well one interesting individual does: King Balor of the Fomor. Known for his singular eye that killed all it looked upon, he was a ruthless tyrant and terrifying opponent. But what if it was not his eye, or even his physical eye, but the eye was a power he was given through his daemonic (Outsider) heritage from HWWB? This could make a lot of things very personal for Dresden.

[Mr. Death]

I don't really think there's a connection there. "Evil eye" is the term that a guy who really had no idea about the supernatural came up with, based on things his Italian parents/grandparents talked about. He wasn't exactly speaking from knowledge or authority.

[Snark Knight]

I'm not entirely sure she so much died as let herself die; possibly to meet one of the preconditions for making a starborn.

Harry was reasonably confident he could bounce the entropy curse back at its originator with that spell centered on the mirror that he tried to throw up around the film studio, until Trixie interfered with his props and held him up at gunpoint during the spell. Maggie evidently had forewarning that it was coming too, to make her deal with Lea. So one kind of has to ask, why didn't she just do her own version of 'return to sender'?

[Mr. Death]

I'm not entirely sure she so much died as let herself die; possibly to meet one of the preconditions for making a starborn.

Harry was reasonably confident he could bounce the entropy curse back at its originator with that spell centered on the mirror that he tried to throw up around the film studio, until Trixie interfered with his props and held him up at gunpoint during the spell. Maggie evidently had forewarning that it was coming too, to make her deal with Lea. So one kind of has to ask, why didn't she just do her own version of 'return to sender'?

Harry did that with hours to plan and prepare.

Maggie didn't need forewarning -- certainly not hours of it -- to make a deal with Lea.

[peregrine]

I'm not entirely sure she so much died as let herself die; possibly to meet one of the preconditions for making a starborn.

Harry was reasonably confident he could bounce the entropy curse back at its originator with that spell centered on the mirror that he tried to throw up around the film studio, until Trixie interfered with his props and held him up at gunpoint during the spell. Maggie evidently had forewarning that it was coming too, to make her deal with Lea. So one kind of has to ask, why didn't she just do her own version of 'return to sender'?

She was in labor at the time.  That can sorta distract someone.

[Mira]

Yes, she was in labor at the time, but also she had to know once she left Raith that she was a target.
Her death curse wasn't something thought up in the moment.  She had to have a total understanding of his weakness to do something neither her father nor her son could do, hurt him..  Not for revenge but to protect her sons...  So she did what most mothers would do, she sacrificed herself, willingly.

So in my opinion it wasn't a simple manner of tracing back a curse to block it, even in labor she might have pulled it off..  She allowed it to kill her, because that was the only way to cripple Raith..

[groinkick]

One thing I find curious is in I think every example of the curse in action the death of the person was nearly instant.  How'd she survive long enough to make a deal, and direct her curse?  Considering how dangerous she was you would think the objective would be to kill as quickly as possible.

[Mira]

One thing I find curious is in I think every example of the curse in action the death of the person was nearly instant.  How'd she survive long enough to make a deal, and direct her curse?  Considering how dangerous she was you would think the objective would be to kill as quickly as possible.

Which points to her knowing as soon as she got pregnant or even if she never did, she knew Raith
was going to kill her at some point.  However I think it is no secret that Mab was in on her creating a star child so it's protection would be part of any deal.

[forumghost]

One thing I find curious is in I think every example of the curse in action the death of the person was nearly instant.  How'd she survive long enough to make a deal, and direct her curse?  Considering how dangerous she was you would think the objective would be to kill as quickly as possible.

Well, if Papa Raith took her out with the same curse he used in White Knight, it would require time to set up. She probably knew it was coming and set some of that stuff up in advance. Or maybe she made the deal with Lea while Lea was practicing her Midwifery or something.

[Mr. Death]

One thing I find curious is in I think every example of the curse in action the death of the person was nearly instant.  How'd she survive long enough to make a deal, and direct her curse?  Considering how dangerous she was you would think the objective would be to kill as quickly as possible.

Not always. The person who was swarmed by bees didn't die instantly. And in the case of the woman in the shower, Harry had time to intervene and save her even after the curse had hit.

From what we've seen, the Entropy Curse made it look like Margaret was killed in childbirth -- that's not an instant thing, either. Most likely, it created some complication during the birth that was inevitably, but not instantly, fatal.

We've also seen powerful beings able to mess with time, including powerful Faeries. I think it's in the realm of possibility that Lea was able to subjectively extend the time she had to speak with Margaret, not unlike Lash did to Harry in White Night.

We also know that Margaret made a bad deal with Lea, which, to me, would indicate that she didn't have a ton of time to work it out. Bad deals are more likely to happen when you're on the spot, and there's no better time crunch to provide incentive than impending death.

I agree that the concept of her Death Curse was probably something she thought up before; but probably not as a Death Curse. She probably figured it out as a thaumaturgic ritual, in case she had to go up against Lord Raith (Like how Batman has contingencies for others in the Justice League), then used it as her Death Curse when the moment came and she didn't have time to gather other power and materials.

[morriswalters]

Maggie had two years of running with Harry's father to prepare to die.  She knew that the clock was ticking when she broke with Raith.  She was going to get killed sooner or later.  She made her peace and then she made her plans.  She must have known she couldn't kill Lord Raith with Magic, and we know what she did.  If I were plotting it I would set up Lea's actions as payment for some favor Maggie did for Lea.  Something we don't know about yet./shrug/

In any case she had time to make the amulet and find a way to tell Thomas of his brother. More interesting is Harry's father. 

[Mira]

Maggie had two years of running with Harry's father to prepare to die.  She knew that the clock was ticking when she broke with Raith.  She was going to get killed sooner or later.  She made her peace and then she made her plans.  She must have known she couldn't kill Lord Raith with Magic, and we know what she did.  If I were plotting it I would set up Lea's actions as payment for some favor Maggie did for Lea.  Something we don't know about yet./shrug/

In any case she had time to make the amulet and find a way to tell Thomas of his brother. More interesting is Harry's father.

Agreed

[Kindler]

I've often toyed with the idea that Margaret's Death Curse was partially a sort of Birth Curse, harnessing power from giving birth to Harry to either A) anchor the curse's effects to her bloodline, or B) fulfill a requirement to make a Starborn, or C) somehow pass on some of her power to Harry, or D) some combination of these things.

[Avernite]

I've often toyed with the idea that Margaret's Death Curse was partially a sort of Birth Curse, harnessing power from giving birth to Harry to either A) anchor the curse's effects to her bloodline, or B) fulfill a requirement to make a Starborn, or C) somehow pass on some of her power to Harry, or D) some combination of these things.

This seems a pretty good idea.

We know Love is a force that can create offspring, and birth is a powerful symbol of that.
We know Love is the White Court's kryptonite.

So if Harry is a product and thus symbol of True Love between Margaret and Malcolm, his birth would be a good weapon to wield against Raith.

[Kindler]

This seems a pretty good idea.

We know Love is a force that can create offspring, and birth is a powerful symbol of that.
We know Love is the White Court's kryptonite.

So if Harry is a product and thus symbol of True Love between Margaret and Malcolm, his birth would be a good weapon to wield against Raith.

It is possible that the Death Curse and proposed Birth Curse (or whatever, I'm just paralleling here) were entirely separate things, too. Harry's birth may have been organized as a ritual, for example.

To really open up a can of worms, recall that Harry was born on Halloween, a day during which states of power are in flux; immortals can die poimanently (sometimes I like to type with a Stooge accent), for example. So it's possible that power was generated and passed on to Harry from his birth. (I've always thought it a bit convenient that Harry was such a slugger in terms of raw ability. Ebenezer's a brawler, and he's got a ton of power, but we don't know what Margaret was capable of, nor where her strengths were; she may have been a Molly or Elaine equivalent (better at delicate control than brute forcing things). So I think it's possible that power was passed on somehow.)