The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Who really killed Margaret McCoy Dresden

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Mr. Death:
Another thing to remember -- if Lord Raith was using the HWWB Entropy Curse, he had to do it at specific times.

Maggie doesn't have to protect herself 24/7. She just has to protect herself at about quarter to midnight, or quarter to noon.

And that's assuming that Lord Raith would be casting it every day -- it does not appear to be a persistent, "Hang around until the target dies" curse. It goes off once, causes a singular event that attacks the target, who then lives or dies.

I think it's safe to assume that Lord Raith wasn't casting it every twelve hours. He has other things to do, after all.

Avernite:

--- Quote from: kbrizzle on April 30, 2019, 03:36:28 AM ---I had actually made a thread about a WAG I had about this topic a while back. My theory is that Nemesis is most effective on immortals since the greatest benefit it seems to confer in its inhabitants is the ability to deviate from their base nature (which cannot do since they don’t have free will). This would not be a major advantage to mortals who already have free will.

Regarding your second point about who all have been Nfected outside the Sidhe - good question. Here is my list of suspects:

* Ferrovax - a conjecture based on what the athame did to Lea
* Vittorio Malvora - how was he able to throw an enhanced, overpowered despair “spell” without being Nfected? And he was working with/ for Cowl who is known to be passing out Nfected items (athame)
* One of the Ortega’s in the RCV - likely Ariana
* Fomor - likely someone who is #2 or 3 in command but wants to move up
--- End quote ---
I personally believe Nemesis is very much overused; why explain by Nemfection what can be explained otherwise, like by free-willed alignment with the Outsiders?

Ferrovax seems a few steps in power above the known targets - it is not a given he even CAN be Nemfected, but if he can, sure, he'd be a great target.
Malvora was a free-willed individual; he can have been empowered by Cowl without being directly Nemfected - he had perfectly fine reasons to try most of what he did, and carrying the empowerment around may have slowly driven him mad with power to explain the minor discrepancies.
The Ortega's were profiting tremendously from their alliance with Outsiders; the prime reason the Council was getting occasional very painful losses. Alliance, not Nemfection, seems a perfect explanation.
The Fomor #2/3 would have the same incentives as the Ortega's, so eh, why not simply ally?

kbrizzle:

--- Quote from: nadia.skylark on April 30, 2019, 03:35:13 AM ---Uriel might not have needed to interfere directly. The entropy curse basically has the effect of "make catastrophically bad things happen until the target dies" so I can see arranging for the "catastrophic thing" that kills her to be childbirth as well within TWG's coincidence-adjusting powers without need for anything special.

Still leaves the question of why Nic wanted to kill Harry before he was born, though, especially since when he does run into Harry he tries recruiting him.

(On a tangentially related note, have people noticed how much every Denarian except for Dierdre was working at cross purposes with regards to Harry in Death Masks? I mean, Nic wants to keep Harry uninvolved, or if not then to recruit him; Cassius deliberately involves him as a pawn; and Ursiel just tries to kill him apropos of nothing. It really demonstrates how spectacularly bad Denarians are at working together.)

--- End quote ---

Hmm there are a few reasons I can think of for Nic to kill Maggie. Perhaps  he wanted to kill her so that Harry’s most powerful parent (& source of protection) would be gone & since everyone suspects Raith, he could get away with it. He then circles back to kill Malcolm a few years later to allay the suspicions of Lea & Eb + his allies/ friends who are keeping an eye on Maggie’s kid. However he is unable to get Harry due to an intervention by team UMO, who whisk him away to a mundane orphanage - the last place Nic would think to look for such an important asset to be stashed. It’s even possible that Eb left little Harry at the orphanage, just like how Harry asks for Maggie Jr. to be taken to Father Forthill.
However Simon (Cowl) who is one of Eb’s friends/ allies & included in this plan, lets his former apprentice Justin know that 2 Starborn kids have been stashed in mundane orphanages around the country & that he should go & pick them up.

Or perhaps he, like Lord Raith wanted revenge for something she might have done in the past (like trying to leave the Starborn conspiracy, or something else) & he got her when she was most vulnerable- at childbirth.

Or perhaps he didn’t want a Starborn around before as it would be detrimental to his apocalyptic plans but now that there is one, & Nemesis seems to be in the middle of another sortie, he decides to use the tools he’s got.

Regarding your final point about Deidre not being cross purposes with Harry in DM - she basically does what Nic wants since she seems to love & respect him the most, so I would regard her as Nic’s lackey in that book.

kbrizzle:

--- Quote from: Mr. Death on April 30, 2019, 02:49:43 PM ---Another thing to remember -- if Lord Raith was using the HWWB Entropy Curse, he had to do it at specific times.

Maggie doesn't have to protect herself 24/7. She just has to protect herself at about quarter to midnight, or quarter to noon.

And that's assuming that Lord Raith would be casting it every day -- it does not appear to be a persistent, "Hang around until the target dies" curse. It goes off once, causes a singular event that attacks the target, who then lives or dies.

I think it's safe to assume that Lord Raith wasn't casting it every twelve hours. He has other things to do, after all.

--- End quote ---

Agreed, & maybe she was so focused on protecting herself from Lord Raith, that Nic was able to sneak up on her?

Just to be contrary - Raith Sr. is supposed to have quite the magical library & is known for his use of entropy curses. I wouldn't be surprised if he had rituals that called out to other entities than just HWWB, so the time of the day issue may be a non-issue.

@Avernite
Agreed, it is overplayed. I was only listing suspects since we don’t have any textual evidence so far of non-Fae being Nfected. I also believe that Nemesis can only infect a certain number of people at any given time - 3/5/7 (there have to be some limits to its power).

@morriswalters
The spell being referenced is not an entropy curse - it’s a long term spell, so it has to be rooted in something that will last a while (like a WCV or wizard). The only entropy curse we see being performed is the one with Thomas as the target at the end of BR & his location is not mentioned, at least in the English-speaking parts of the ritual.

morriswalters:
At the confrontation in the Raith Deeps, Thomas is the sacrifice, Harry is the target.

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