The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Denarians and/or Circle in Storm Front?
morriswalters:
What led you to the conclusion that I meant there was anything random about it? Sells may have used sympathetic magic and targeted the lust event in that hotel room. It was how he powered his ritual. All this happened over Bianca's head, or behind her back. Or she came up with the idea. Take your pick. And who knows what Jim was thinking.
Bad Alias:
--- Quote from: Kindler on January 02, 2020, 07:28:55 PM ---That's why he was paying off what's his face, the guy who got Harry's hair who bit the dust in the original Velvet Room courtesy of Cujo Hendricks. ...
But yeah, I think the Circle wanted something to happen with the Three Eye. I just don't know what that something is.
--- End quote ---
"Gimpy" Lawrence.
I think whoever supplied Sells with Three Eye and the Heart Spell likely had multiple agendas. I'm convinced someone was testing out the Heart Spell for down the road that ended up being used in Changes, whether that was the original goal, something close to it, or something completely different. The Three Eye might just have been "payment" to Sells, but I don't think so. Hell, it could just be a plan of starting a bunch of practitioners down the black magic path to sow chaos or develop possible alias. Any who die sorted themselves out of the potential ally pool.
--- Quote from: g33k on January 02, 2020, 11:39:28 PM ---That's the way to get it going, if spreading the drug was a goal in itself.
--- End quote ---
It could be that they underestimated Marcone. The supernatural factions usually underestimate mortals ability to accept the supernatural and deal with it.
Jennifer Stanton (Sell's sister-in-law) was the target because she was going to tell Tommy Tom (Marcone's man) who Sells was (Marcone's rival). Tommy Tom may have been specifically targeted because of this, or the "splash" got him.
I don't think someone was trying to get Harry involved with Sells. It was Harry's first big case, so there probably aren't a lot of players who new Harry's character and skill well enough to know how it would play out. One of the themes of the books is that Harry's opponents underestimate, or at least misread, him.
Mira:
--- Quote ---We know the Ramps have the big-ritual heart-ripper (they used it in Changes) and we know from Vadderung that it's basically the same spell -- of the same origin -- as what Sells used. That says to me that the origin (of both) is the Black Council.
--- End quote ---
That isn't a unique spell though, anyone with enough power and knowledge can use it if they use the dark arts. That is why Harry became suspect, he had the knowledge and enough juice to deploy it without the turbocharging his spell with a sex orgy, electrical storm, and a frog demon. The heart
ripping spell was deployed by an amateur with just enough knowledge to be dangerous and who was used. Marcone comes into the equation because of the Beckitts, they might have been brought in
and agree to run the sex part because of a promise of gaining revenge eventually for their daughter.
by someone else in the same league or higher than Harry.
Kindler:
--- Quote from: g33k on January 02, 2020, 11:39:28 PM ---I'm not at all clear that the Circle actually wanted ThreeEye to be a success.
I mean... you may be right! On the face of it, it looks like an awfully silly thing to do, if they DIDN'T want it to succeed.
On the other hand, maybe they counted on somebody to take down Victor, stop the drug... Harry, Bianca, Marcone, Raith... Sells was operating out of his league. He had raw power, but very-minimal training, and little info on the wider supernatural community. It was inevitable that someone would end him. The BC could eventually have just killed him themselves, if nobody else managed it.
The thing is: if they really wanted to make ThreeEye a success, they should have launched it somewhere else. Somewhere without a ruthless crime-lord possessing startling self-discipline and a flair for strategic thinking; somewhere away from one of Papa Raith's chateaux; somewhere far from a powerful wizard with a WhiteKnight complex, like Harry Dresden. Somewhere without a resident Knight of the Cross!!! Build their base in small farming towns, in rural places, etc. If for some reason they want it in Chicago, then start it in all the areas AROUND Chicago, and let it filter into town... maybe even just cut a deal to distribute through Marcone! That's the way to get it going, if spreading the drug was a goal in itself.
--- End quote ---
I think it only happened in Chicago because that's where everything seems to happen. Which, considering what we know about the Circle, is actually a pretty good idea.
Most of the established Supernatural Powers consider North America the boonies. The White Council had, what, five Wardens stationed in the US? Harry, Ramirez, Wild Bill, the other one who reported to Harry, and then maybe one or two who reported to Carlos? The Red Court didn't seem to have a huge presence there, either; Bianca's elevation to Margravine (I think that was the title she was given in Grave Peril, please correct me if I'm wrong) was a really big deal, and it's not like she was running Chicago. She ran a brothel.
Winter and Summer didn't really have an established presence there at the time yet; Aurora and Maeve had recently moved in during Summer Knight (I forget the exact timeline, but it was within a year or so of the start of SK).
The only truly major player in the area at the time that the Supernatural Powers would really care about was the White Court, and they didn't seem interested in the local drug trade. They're barely present in the story until Blood Rites.
And Harry hadn't exactly gotten himself his reputation for White Knighting yet. Storm Front is his first truly big case (well, it's treated that way in the text; I haven't read the comics, so I'm not sure if there's a major event that takes place before SF). He was a potential warlock that the Outsiders had some kind of interest in; if anything, I'd think that the Circle would want Harry on their side, and would view his presence as a potential upside, but represent relatively minor risk.
So at the time in Chicago, you've got: Bianca's Velvet Room; Chateau Raith; Marcone; Chicago PD; Harry Dresden, Broke-Ass Wizard. That's a far cry from what would be there even a few books later (expanded White Court presence and influence, Winter and Summer presences, a Black Court scourge, the Chicago Alliance, the Alphas, a supernaturally savvy Marcone + Monoc Security contractors (VIKINGS), and Harry Dresden, Terror Hero, Warden of Demonreach and the White Council, Winter Knight, pseudo-Denarian, He of the Gross Left Hand, Friend of Mouse, Bane of Bad Guys and Personal Hygiene). There's also Michael, of course.
But anyway, I don't see how the Circle could have thought that Marcone would be important enough to even care about. The only answer to things like that is Time Travel or Prophecy, and at that point almost every mystery can be answered similarly. My personal WAG about Marcone in SF/Fool Moon is that Odin saw the potential for Marcone to become a player after Storm Front and arranged for the belts to be delivered to Denton's Pack as a test. I don't think it's an accident that the next time we see Marcone after Fool Moon, he's working with Gard.
But in Storm Front? Nah. I don't think any of the supernatural powers, including the Circle/Black Council even gave mob outfits like Marcone's a second thought.
I sometimes think that they were flooding the streets with Three Eye as a way to find something. More specifically, someone who would react to the drug in a specific way.
Mira:
--- Quote ---But in Storm Front? Nah. I don't think any of the supernatural powers, including the Circle/Black Council even gave mob outfits like Marcone's a second thought.
I sometimes think that they were flooding the streets with Three Eye as a way to find something. More specifically, someone who would react to the drug in a specific way.
--- End quote ---
I think there is more to it than that, remember the kid strung out on Three Eye who told Harry stuff
that only HWB would know? The question is what and how skilled an author Jim is in tying all these loose ends together by the BAT..
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