The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Cowl Unmasked!
dspringer1:
This is not about "who" Cowl might be. There have been acres of threads on that topic and everything worth saying has been said at least thirteen times.
This thread is about "how" Cowl will be unmasked. My assumption is that Dresden will realize the true identity of Cowl at some point and mayhem will result. He is a detective and it makes sense that he will use what he learned and his intuition to discover the real identity of Cowl.
Intuition based on what you ask? Answer - intuition based on the facts that Cowl himself shared when he encountered Harry
General factoids that can limit the pool of potential candidates from thousands to perhaps a few score -- plus some number of presumed dead white council wizards as well whose bodies were not clearly identified.
* Cowl was seen at three specific points of time - Bianca's party, events in Chicago during Dead Beat and (indirectly) during the final battle in Raith cave vs the super ghouls. Clear alibi's during that time slot could rule out many people -- or a lack of an alibi could seal the accusation
* Cowl was clearly identified as male during Dead Beat when he met Harry in front of the book store.
* Cowl's height was identified during Dead Beat when he met Harry in front of the book store.
* Cowl has a female apprentice. Wizards take apprentices pretty seriously and I doubt they would use the word when the true relationship is something else (like ally or minion) at the time of Dead Beat's events.
Aka - half the wizards are male. Probably a lot less than half of those males wizards have a female apprentice, with the rest obviously having a male apprentice or no apprentice at all. If your pool is obviously mature/powerful wizards of the White Council, there cannot be more than a few thousand of those. Probably no more than 15% of that number are male with a female apprentice. The three score wizards remaining could probably be reduced in half again with some simply screening around the dates. You now have a viable pool of potential candidates for Cowl that is of sufficiently reasonable size as to work with.
Other factoids are more specific to Cowl and Probably are something that is best used to winnow the near final list to the real Cowl.
* Cowl expressed a preference for specific classical book authors when he met Harry in front of the book store.
* Cowl used specific words when casting his spells. Harry uses his words as one of his spellcasting "aids" and I suspect Cowl does the same. This could easily be the "trigger" that causes Dresden to put everything together. Ditto with spellcasting gestures, how he vanished, etc.
* Cowl's magical signature could have been memorized by Harry - but as this was never mentioned I assume that Harry did not pick up the skill to read magical signatures until Small Favor -- or he remembered to do so too late to be useful.
* Cowls words implied that he is not -- or is not currently - a member of the grey council. He speaks of them as if he is not a member. This also implies that he is not completely "in the know" as to why the Council takes special care with regards to Dresden.
* Cowl cannot be the Merlin or Gatekeeper - simply because those positions are so powerful that the Outsiders would have already won if either had been held by their stooge.
Any other clue I missed?
nadia.skylark:
--- Quote ---Cowl has a female apprentice. Wizards take apprentices pretty seriously and I doubt they would use the word when the true relationship is something else (like ally or minion) at the time of Dead Beat's events.
--- End quote ---
He could have hidden his apprentice. I was under the impression that Justin didn't tell the Council about Harry and Elaine, so it's presumably possible to just not announce that you've got an apprentice if you don't want to.
--- Quote ---Cowls words implied that he is not -- or is not currently - a member of the grey council. He speaks of them as if he is not a member. This also implies that he is not completely "in the know" as to why the Council takes special care with regards to Dresden.
--- End quote ---
Wait, what? Cowl, a member of the grey council? Are you sure you don't mean black council?
raidem:
I enjoyed reading the post. I also am glad I returned to the board. I've missed you guys and this topic was a great one to return to. I'll have to think up some things.
Cowl appears to have many cut marks on his arms. I say appears because there exists the possibility that they are illusioned, but I doubt they are.
g33k:
--- Quote from: dspringer1 on May 06, 2019, 09:57:18 PM ---* Cowl has a female apprentice. Wizards take apprentices pretty seriously and I doubt they would use the word when the true relationship is something else (like ally or minion) at the time of Dead Beat's events.
--- End quote ---
I wouldn't count this one.
Kumori is a powerful wizard in her own right. Maybe not the raw power of Dresden (few have his raw power!), but more skill and polish. From the POV of the White Council (I presume she & Cowl are both members), I'd expect her to be a full-fledged wizard.
I suspect that Kumori has "apprenticed" to Cowl strictly from the Necromancers' POV, specifically to wibbly-wabbly learn necromantic "stuff."
Kindler:
--- Quote from: raidem on May 07, 2019, 01:56:34 AM ---I enjoyed reading the post. I also am glad I returned to the board. I've missed you guys and this topic was a great one to return to. I'll have to think up some things.
Cowl appears to have many cut marks on his arms. I say appears because there exists the possibility that they are illusioned, but I doubt they are.
--- End quote ---
Welcome back, mon frere. I was actually just wondering why I hadn't seen you post in a while.
On topic: I like that Harry would fall back onto his PI stuff to deduce Cowl's identity. Though I'm not sure at all how he would then prove it. So say, for argument's sake only, that Cowl was Listens-to-Wind. He figures it out similarly to how you detailed, paring down the suspect pool until only one person fits. How's he going to actually convince people that this is the case?
Actually, does the White Council even know that Cowl is around? Luccio just kinda knows him as the guy who tried to do the Darkhallow once, not as an Orchestrator of Great and Terrible Deeds. (Side note: why hasn't Cowl tried to do the Darkhallow a second time, in the several years since? He could probably pull it off; there's a war going on somewhere, after all, and there should be opportunities to do something like that relatively unnoticed among the chaos of conflict).
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