The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Further proof that black magic is connected to Outsiders

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kbrizzle:
At the start of PG after the Council executes the Korean boy, the Merlin says something that intrigued me. When Harry questions the necessity of killing the young warlock, the Merlin answers that he personally examined the kid as well as 12 of his victims. Given that the WC just about scraped through the Ramp attacks in DB, it seemed odd to me that the Merlin would spend so much time on what seems like workaday Warden work.

Also why now? Why start staging public executions of warlocks guilty of breaking the Laws especially when it would be distasteful to almost everyone involved this far into the Ramp war?

Why go after Molly so ruthlessly for practicing black magic even though she was at a much earlier ‘warlock’ stage than the Korean kid? The Merlin took the time to soulgaze the Korean kid, but does not do so for Molly - he just wants to execute her. Eventually the Gatekeeper’s stalling tactic enables the rest of the SC to vote against Molly’s execution. The reason cited for this is KotC Michael being her dad & saving the day against Outsiders. The Merlin also seems to relent after these facts are introduced.

I think timing is key here. The first execution of this kind that we see is right after the events of DB where the presence of Outsiders ups the ante in the Ramp war. We also see from Eb’s words that the group in Oregon had a very tough time fighting the Outsider-allied Red Court & would likely have lost without Michael’s help. Given Mab’s seeming preoccupation in dealing with her own issues (Winter amassing troops at Summer border instead of fighting Ramps trespassing on their territory) & Outsiders openly allying themselves with the RCV, it would make sense that the WC would decide to deal very harshly with any practitioners following the left-hand path. These are the folks likely being co-opted by the Black Council/ Circle to summon Outsiders in the first place.

That the Merlin would take the time out of his very busy schedule to personally examine the victims of a teenage warlock shows that the SC is aware of the Adversary & is ready to take the ruthless steps to stamp out any violators of the Laws and send a stern warning to those who flirt with black magic (what Langtry thinks Harry does).

This is further proof that there is a relationship between black magic & allying with Outsiders. I’ve always liked the theory that the taint left on a practitioner’s soul from black magic foments a connection of sorts with the Outside. Interestingly we don’t really hear of further battles against the Ramps where Outsiders are involved in the following books. Instead the next few times the Outsiders attack are because of Cowl, Peabody & Maeve. So maybe the tactic sorta worked?

Hankthemoose:
I don't like that theory at all, because it contradicts several important plot elements.

Black magic practitioners who oppose outsiders - most notably Nicodemus and the nickleheads, as well as Wamps, and the infernal powers of hell in general. Huge portions of the Nevernever are understood to be "evil", with most commonly understood "demons" just being various creatures of the Nevernever.

All of the Outsider hints dropped early in the series - The whole point of Victor Sells, the wolf belts, and all later hints was that Harry is dealing with black magic that isn't behaving normally. They aren't normal bad guys, they are off somehow, and so is their magic. This strongly indicates that there is such a thing as a normal bad guy and normal black magic.

The traditional good/evil moral dimension represented by heaven/hell - The Outsider conflict is one being fought by "the world" headed by Mab against "the outside". The Dresden Files has another conflict between the forces of heaven and hell. This is NOT about protecting the world from outside, it's about the souls of mortals. Uriel and the swords basically treat outsiders as irrelevant to their mission. Instead, they fight evil, and the corruption of free will by the forces of said evil. If the source of this evil was "outside", then they would be set against outsiders, which they are not. Notice how the swords never show up in an outsider story?

Tying black magic to Outside in general kills a huge portion of the nuance of the entire story, and simply does not track with the story overall.

Avernite:
Uhm, Michael did save the Council from the Ramp Outsiders, so the Swords do work on outsiders.

Even though otherwise I agree with you, Hank.

Hankthemoose:
Good catch! though mainly I understood that Michael had been sent on that mission to put him in a position to save Molly. I suppose the swords do get sent into non-denarian missions pretty regularly, considering Butters' first mission. I'm still fairly confident that outsiders are at best a peripheral concern to them.

morriswalters:
Unless I missed something the SC is involved with every execution.  One might assume that they gaze all the victims of every instance. This particular instance was more political than perhaps the others.

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