The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Grave Peril Questions

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kbrizzle:
After re-reading this book & given our knowledge of subsequent events, I noticed some odd things in the plot. I have my own theories as to what’s going on, but I’m interested in everyone’s opinions.


* Mavra’s role in the fight at Bianca’s party was pretty underwhelming given her power level. The things she does of note in this book are to train Bianca in vampiric magic (perhaps necromancy-based?), weaken the barrier with the spirit world & help power up Kravos enough to wreak havoc on his enemies. Despite doing all this, her only contribution to Bianca’s cause in the party is to successfully stop Harry & co. from trying to leave early. Michael is able to take her fairly easily even without the Sword, using faith magic alone. And she’s mysteriously absent from round 2 when Harry goes back to the mansion & kills Bianca, unraveling their plan. Her stated reason for being at the party is seek revenge against Michael for eliminating her scourge decades ago.
* Seeing how powerful Cowl truly is in Deadbeat, it seems odd that he would be relegated to attendant duty at the party. Also, given that Mavra’s actions kick-off the plot of Deadbeat, it’s interesting that she & Cowl are at the party without interacting much or acting against each other/ in concert
* At the end of the book, Bianca & Duke Ortega threaten Harry with war if he does not give up Susan. How does this benefit the Red Court?? As Michael points out after the fight at the masquerade, Bianca took her best shot at Harry very publicly & failed. How is stealing Susan (who is not publicly known in the supernatural world as his girlfriend) a commensurate gain? She basically has Harry breaking into her mansion & has captured him - why not just kill him, which was the point of many of her actions at the masquerade? Why allow him to walk out with everything minus Susan? I assume Bianca thinks she can control Harry through enthralling Susan, but she has to know that Harry is going to spend all his time trying to destroy her once this happens (just like she did after Harry “kills” her paramour in StF). She has still lost face in front of the supernatural community since she was unable to kill Harry in her own center of power

Yuillegan:
1. I think Mavra has been holding off for years. Sometimes as author's add new scope to a series and new rules, they can find clever plot threads to explain holes. Such as when McCoy puts a magic lock on Mavra. Quite the trick, yet rarely attempted. And not just because McCoy is Senior Council level wizard. I suspect Mavra (in that book) was not written as powerful as she became later. Numerous characters experienced power-slide over the series and she was one. She may well have had other motives to be there, indeed Cowl does state many things of importance happened there and I am sure we haven't found out anywhere near all of them.
2. As we only see things from Harry's perspective, there is no way to know whether they (Cowl and Mavra) were working together or otherwise. I also believe that there is potential to use Time Travel to explain inconsistencies - I think there is even a WOJ on it from a while back. I also think Cowl and Kumori, like Mavra, prefer to be power behind the throne/scene people. Allows them greater influence and freedom. Cowl clearly doesn't like to draw too much attention to himself, same with Mavra. Neither are Ferrovax level - who just gives zero F's.
3. I think that was explained that they were looking for an excuse for war, and a hot-headed inexperience member of the White Council was a prime target. It was not the value of Susan to the White Council, but rather her value to Harry that made her a tool. I don't believe they thought for one minute Harry would leave Susan. But even so, I think it was also Bianca flexing her muscle (under Ortega's attention). It was a test - could they act perhaps more openly without fear of consequence. And also just in general - revenge for Bianca's dead servant and humilation for the Wizard who so publicly embarrassed her. Remember in the Supernatural world, there is a big thing of respect and honour. Bianca had to restore her standing after losing it so early just after being promoted.

Avernite:

--- Quote from: kbrizzle on April 03, 2019, 06:47:02 AM ---Mavra’s role in the fight at Bianca’s party was pretty underwhelming given her power level. The things she does of note in this book are to train Bianca in vampiric magic (perhaps necromancy-based?), weaken the barrier with the spirit world & help power up Kravos enough to wreak havoc on his enemies. Despite doing all this, her only contribution to Bianca’s cause in the party is to successfully stop Harry & co. from trying to leave early. Michael is able to take her fairly easily even without the Sword, using faith magic alone. And she’s mysteriously absent from round 2 when Harry goes back to the mansion & kills Bianca, unraveling their plan. Her stated reason for being at the party is seek revenge against Michael for eliminating her scourge decades ago.

--- End quote ---
I think Mavra was there to try a sneak attack, but she's a squirrelly sort (as behooves one of the last remaining members of an annihilated race). As soon as Harry, Susan and Michael were on to her, her only next move was to stick around for the official parts and then run like the wind once the real fighting started.

After all, in a fight, you might die - especially when EVERYONE knows what is needed to kill you like a chump.

Kindler:
1/2. I don't think Cowl and Mavra were working hand-in-hand. I think that both of them showing up in both Grave Peril and Dead Beat was mostly a consequence of necromancy being involved. Though I've often wondered if Bony Tony "acquired" the shipping container with the Word of Kemmler around this time.
That said, I do think you're right in that Mavra was understated in GP. I don't really understand what she had to gain by mentoring Bianca, unless she was attempting to manipulate the Red Court and the White Council into war somehow, but that's... not really a high percentage plan, unless she knew the future.
On the other hand, wasn't Mavra the one screwing with the Barrier? Because that's what let Kravos become the Nightmare (that and a dark ritual, which I suspect he put together with Mavra or Bianca's help), and also what let the ghost of Bianca's "friend"—the one with the inconsistent name—rise up to haunt her, which is part of what drove Bianca nuts. So I'd say it's possible that she was manipulating Bianca and Kravos to get to Harry and Michael. Mavra doesn't strike me as the kind of villain who fights in the open; she's seen too many Blampires get taken down by angry villagers for that.
Also, there is a lot of speculation about the origin of Black Court Vampires and the Outsiders, driven in part by this Word of Jim:


--- Quote ---And also what is Drakul a scion of?
Drakul wasn’t a scion of anything! He was something entirely unhuman that got trapped in human form. Dracula was his half-human child, who naturally had enormous paternal issues, and wound up creating himself as the first Black Court Vampire in an effort to win his father’s approval.
It didn’t work out so well.
--- End quote ---

Some have taken that as a possible hint that Drakul himself was an Outsider who got stuck on the Inside. There's also the strange comment Harry makes to Lash about Outsiders and the Black Court in White Night. I just spent like half an hour looking through the Word of Jim archive to try to find it, but I specifically remember Jim responding to a fan's question about that, and clarifying that it wasn't an error (meaning that he didn't mean "Black Council," which some thought might have been the case, since Cowl was present at the time, and they were discussing Outsiders and Starborn). Regardless, it's a curious thing to link the Black Court to Cowl at all in White Night; there weren't any Black Court Vampires hanging around, so why would Harry bring it up?

But then there's Cowl, who gave Lea the Nemesis-tainted Athame in Grave Peril, which is linked to the Outsiders, along with Vittorio (one of Cowl's flunkies) being outright possessed by an Outsider somehow. So... yeah. I think there's a connection, I just don't know if they're working together.

3. Mostly, I think Bianca was crazy by Grave Peril (being haunted by a ghost for a few years could do that) and wanted to make him suffer. She also was looking for a legal reason to kill Harry while he was there at the party, and the best way to do that was to goad him into attacking—which he did. Ortega threatening Harry with war was, in my opinion, a representative of the Red Court trying to be the Adult in the Room, because they weren't ready for it yet—he's also the guy who tries to put the brakes on the war in Death Masks. I don't think Bianca particularly cared about the consequences.

peregrine:
We didn't see much from Mavra because I imagine she had no reason to get involved in the fighting.  She had no major involvement in that whole situation to warrant it.

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