The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Morgan Micro Fiction
Mira:
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Clearly, the journal entry was written before the events of the novel... but after LaFortier's murder (where Morgan had rescued Luccio from the frame-up and instead framed himself).
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That doesn't quite fit the timeline, Morgan woke up in LaFortier's room, he was dead and Luccio was holding the murder weapons.. I don't buy that Luccio was framed, I believe she did it, but for the reasons Morgan gave plus the ink from Peabody couldn't be held responsible for it. Problem, how could it be proved? So veiled her, not himself, got caught and blamed for it. Peabody was the one that orchestrated it with the ink. Rashid pretty much confirms that with the ink he got Luccio to murder LaFortier. The damage to her mind by the ink had been severe and as Rashid put it, " doing violence wasn't against her nature."
Avernite:
--- Quote from: Mira on February 07, 2020, 08:32:07 PM --- That doesn't quite fit the timeline, Morgan woke up in LaFortier's room, he was dead and Luccio was holding the murder weapons.. I don't buy that Luccio was framed, I believe she did it, but for the reasons Morgan gave plus the ink from Peabody couldn't be held responsible for it. Problem, how could it be proved? So veiled her, not himself, got caught and blamed for it. Peabody was the one that orchestrated it with the ink. Rashid pretty much confirms that with the ink he got Luccio to murder LaFortier. The damage to her mind by the ink had been severe and as Rashid put it, " doing violence wasn't against her nature."
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Pretty sure the ink was only on the Senior Council who could be tweaked only, and the younger wizards were just outright brainfried with mind magic... or do we have any reason to believe otherwise?
g33k:
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 1. Ridiculous that he would write an entry before going to see Harry saying that he is going to see Harry. What if someone finds it before he is caught? If it is a friend it puts them in a moral quandary, and if it is an enemy than it gives his location away. Either way it sets up Harry for all kinds of crap.
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Morgan's not immune to the kinds of wizard arrogance that lead to "I can totally hide this journal, such that nobody can find it... except for Anastasia!" Particularly if he feels he has a crucial perspective / information to share. Or, as he says: a final (presumably posthumous) confessional.
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 2. He promised to protect Margaret’s son? Why?
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This is, I think, an excellent question; possibly even THE question. That, together with the subsequent / associated questions.
What was their relationship? Was this willingly-offered by Morgan (as others have noted, protecting kids is just a "good guy" thing, and Morgan was a "good guy"), or a hard-fought bargain by Maggie (and if so, on what terms; what did Morgan get out of it?) ? Etc.
I'm inclined, slightly, to think something other than an old-school faerie-style "bargain" -- he calls it a promise.
Also let's notice this as Maggie arranging YET ANOTHER protector for Harry -- one of the most-dangerous Wardens (2nd only to Luccio, I presume), in addition to one of the most-dangerous Winterfae (2nd only to Mab). This is an OMG level of protection, and it's combat-centric not "care-taking" protection; she clearly expected he'd be (as this journal entry says) "marked with an Adversary." And this even begs the question... did she arrange any others? Maybe following a Rule of Three ... ?
...
...omg...
...
Uriel???
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 3. He couldn’t find Dresden? Had he not taken any samples before he disappeared to be able to find him? If he hadn’t it seems like he was remarkably stupid in his attempts to protect Harry. If so, and they didn’t work, it indicates there are even more things Harry doesn’t know, since he seems to feel blood is a unpreventable connection method.
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Blood is the very best... but it's very transitory. Hair could last a while longer... but that duration will probably get cut short <heh> by regular haircuts in the orphanage. There's nothing that will last, not reliably; and as a working Warden, Morgan simply wouldn't have the time & freedom to keep going back and renewing his link. Such frequent visits would, if anything, draw more attention to Harry (thus placing him more at-risk (and Morgan too, for that matter: any place you visit repeatedly could easily be made a trap!)).
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 4. “That bastard Justin DuMorne got to him before I could. From then on, we could not be sure that the child was not molded to be a creature of Nemesis.” I’m assuming he only assumes Justin got him then, but I find it interesting that, assuming that, he then assumes that Justin was making a tool for Nemesis. It really makes it sound like:
A. He/They knows what Nemesis is and are opposing it.
B. It seems obvious that they should oppose it if they know what it is, but if they knew/believed that Justin was a tool of it, why didn’t they take him out earlier? They wouldn’t have learned it after his death, so they must have known it before. Why leave a known tool of nemesis running around?
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You raise some interesting points here; particularly the notion that at the time Malcom Dresden dies, Morgan & cohorts knew of Nemesis and knew/suspected DuMorne as an agent of Nemesis.
Just KNOWING of Nemesis -- that long ago! -- is kind of a bombshell fact; before this, we had understood (from conversations with Eb) that knowledge of such a hidden enemy or Adversary -- using wizards & other Supernaturals as mere catspaws -- was just percolating up into the WC... and at that, only to a few open-minded of them.
Why not act?
I presume one (or more) of a few reasons --
* Trivially obvious: maybe DuMorne had hidden himself such that they couldn't find him. DuMorne seems to have done so with Harry, too; so it seems likely.
* Maybe the political situation was such that they couldn't act (such as if the WC political situation had a lot of "the Wardens are out of control!" sentiment); DuMorne had some of that "was part of the Kemmler take-down" heroic vibe, and if they had no proof of wrong-doing, he may have been politically immune.
* Maybe at that time, they didn't understand the scope of the threat Nemesis represented; felt it was "another hoary old gribbly from the Nevernever, who they'd eventually unmask and defeat," or similar complacent-making understanding.Maybe something else?
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM ---5. ... But it also indicates it is not a well kept secret, so we should assume that at the very least the entire senior council knows.
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I assume Morgan knowing means that Luccio knows, and the Merlin. I don't assume it has spread any further, not when wizards collect secret knowledge and hoard it like treasure.
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 6. Morgan says the enemy has invaded the Senior Council itself. I first took this to mean that he knew his set up was Nemesis inspired. I’m not sure if he is assuming that person who was framing him is on the senior council (which is wrong, just very near by) or if he has another reason to believe the someone else on the Senior council is infected
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We shouldn't conflate the "Black Council" with Nemesis; they aren't necessarily the same! I think Peabody was BC, but not necessarily Nemesis. I could be wrong -- maybe he was Nemesis, and not BC; or both BC + Nemesis.
I presume the BC is trying to use the Outsiders, within limits & under control. I presume Nemesis is acting to bring in the outsiders without limits or control.
I don't think Nemesis has gained control of the BC or its agenda, but I do presume it has infiltrated more BC-members than the BC generally knows; I think "taking control of the BC and its agenda" is one of the projects Nemesis is working on, much like the project to make Aurora destabilize the Summer/Winter balance, or the project to corrupt Maeve into unleashing Demonreach's prisoners.
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 7. “A Destroyer” obviously has actual meaning. Not enough info to guess though, other than it obviously ties into him being starborn
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I don't think it's necessarily linked to being Starborn, though I agree it's probable. Gonna launch another thread.
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 8... Was shagnasty in debt to a mere mortal wizard such that he had to be a servant in that book, or was shagnasty infected and being driven by Nemesis?
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WoJ says that there are beings operating to whom shagnasty is no more than a cheap hired thug; "dumb muscle" and no more. I don't recall Jim actually specifying that that's what was going on. But from what we know of Shagnasty, he was operating very true to his nature and his wants, not doing something oddly and Nemesis-driven against his nature.
--- Quote from: toodeep on February 06, 2020, 04:19:48 PM --- 9. Nemesis – Everyone seems scared that if you talk about it, it will learn that you know about it and come to get you ... Sure, one of them could be infected, but does telling them hurt somehow?
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As a Starborn, Harry probably possesses some unique resistances to Nemesis... maybe even a immunity, or nearly such?
Harry isn't the only one who acts oddly around naming Nemesis, or discussing it; I think blaming on general "wizard assholery" is mistaken. EVERYONE (even Vadderung) is being careful. I think the books support the idea that just knowing, and/or speaking out loud, is a risk; and that telling someone puts them at risk.
Having proven able to infect both a Summerlady and a Winterlady, and other senior Fae like Cat Sith, it certainly places any lesser beings at a severe risk.
KurtinStGeorge:
First, when I saw the title Microfiction at Jim's website, I thought there may have been some kind of contest for fan fiction and this was the winner or one of the winners. I was about half way through reading it when I thought, "This is pretty good and well written," and then I glanced up and saw, "By Jim Butcher." Then it was, "Stop! Go back and start over and read slowly.
So here are some general impressions:
IMO Morgan seems a bit optimistic that Luccio will eventually read what he had written. He knew she had been mind controlled into killing LeFortier. Even though Morgan veiled Luccio and got her away from the crime scene he would have known that she could still be mind controlled by the traitor. I wouldn't have rated her long-term survival chances very highly. The traitor would have every reason to use her and then dispose of her or set her up to take the fall for a different crime.
Yuillegan suggested that Morgan didn't believe in the Black Council because he saw the bigger picture, that Nemesis was the real problem and therefore everyone else who may have been helping its plans were just its tools and dupes. That is certainly a valid argument and it may be a correct one. However, here is what Morgan said after denying the existence of the Black Council. "The Council is not divided," he said, his voice as hard and cold as I had ever heard it. "Because the moment we turn upon one another, we're finished. There is no Black Council, Dresden." So maybe both ideas are true. Morgan sees Nemesis as the real enemy but he fears the White Council could tear itself apart if the idea of a Black Council became public. My guess is that Morgan would rather deal with any of Nemesis' tools discretely, but he wouldn't hesitate to do so, he would terminate such a person with extreme prejudice.
Yuillegan and 123Chickadee also mentioned The Circle. Many of us have discussed the Black Council and the Circle. We have wondered if they are one and same or completely different organizations. The more I think about it, I don't think there is or ever was a Circle. I think it's just a term Vitto Malvora created and used to sell his plan to Madrigal Raith. We know, from both Vitto's conversation with Cowl and the final battle in the Raith's Deeps that there wasn't another active partner other than Nemesis. I think it's easier to sell the idea of a powerful group working together than one rogue necromancer and an entity from beyond the Outer Gates that most people in the magical world had never heard of. Also, Vitto told Cowl he could dispose of Madrigal if he needed to. I suspect Madrigal Raith was sold the idea he could become a player in a grand conspiracy, but one of the primary reasons he was recruited was he could be made into the patsy for all of the murders Vitto and Madrigal carried out. Yuillegan suggested that Harry liked the idea of the Circle because it fit nicely with his concept of a Black Council, and I think that is the correct conclusion to draw. Now to get back to the Morgan.
Avernite asked an interesting question about Margaret LeFay. "Was she a double-agent that fooled even the Blackstaff into thinking she had half-turned, when she was undercover for the most hard-bitten part of the Wardens?" At first I dismissed this idea, but the more I think about, the more plausible it sounds to me. In Blood Rites, Ebenezer told Harry that Margaret "was one of the wizards who had turned the Council's own laws against it. She was guilty of violating the First Law, among others, and she had... unsavory associations with various entities of dubious reputation. The Wardens were under orders to arrest her on sight. She'd have been tried and executed in moments when she was brought before the Council."
So if Harry's mom was really guilty of these crimes, how did she escape from Morgan and how could she expect him to protect her unborn child if she was going to run away and hide? What? Morgan said, "I'll let you go for now, but contact me after the child is born." Does that sound plausible to you? I think it's more likely that Margaret said to Morgan something like this; "I did the job, I found what and who you were looking for, now I need you to do something for me." There's more going on than we have been told. No matter what the actual story is, it also means Luccio was holding out on Harry when he asked her about his mother.
One of the issues that several people have brought up is about Rashid the Gatekeeper and who knew what about his actual role. Jim has said that collectively the Senior Council knows a lot about Harry, but because "knowledge is power" and the general culture of paranoia they operate under, they don't share more information with each other than they think they need to. The way I see it, perhaps one or two Senior Council member know that Winter keeps the Outsiders outside our reality, and knows that Nemesis is the directing mind or force behind the Outsiders, but does not know that Rashid plays any part in it at all. This individual might think "Gatekeeper" is an archaic term which doesn't apply to the Outer Gates. How many of them besides the Gatekeeeper would have ever been to the Outer Gates? My guess is between zero and one. Another Senior Council member might know that the Gatekeeper is involved with keeping the Outsiders at bay, but only knows that he sometimes directs Winter's conventional forces and has no clue about Rashid's Nemesis infection scanning ability or that of the Outer Gates itself is a nemfection scanning tool. My guess is that no one on the Senior Council knows about that Rashid's scanning ability.
Now this is just a WAG, but my guess is the Senior Council member least likely to be the clued in; other than Cristos, who we don't have enough information about to make a judgement call on, is Ebenezer McCoy. It's not just because after Cristos, Eb has the least amount of time on the Senior Council. I don't think you tell the Blackstaff everything. In the White Council tradition you compartmentalize and only tell that person what they need to know to do their job. Before he joined the Senior Council, and when he wasn't acting as the White Council's wetwork's man, Eb was living in his home in the Ozarks. Other than bits and pieces of information he would have picked up doing his less than savory work for the Council, I don't think Eb would have been in a position to learn very much about Nemesis. That's also a reason that if Margaret was acting as some kind of double agent, Ebenezer wouldn't have known about it.
So no one shares information unless forced to do so, and everyone who knows about Nemesis is afraid that talk openly about it lest they make themselves a target. (Except Harry of course, who told nemfected Cat Sith he knew what was really going on and even had a short conversation with the underlying personality, which was probably Nemesis itself. Great job Harry.) So Mira, I don't think we shouldn't be too surprised if Morgan; and by extension Luccio, only know part of the story. Knowing about Nemesis doesn't mean the people who are clued in have all the information. Rashid certainly isn't going to offer up any information, unless like Harry, they show up at the Outer Gates.
One more thing. Morgan says, "But the enemy has invaded the Senior Council itself." But Morgan didn't know about Peabody. Perhaps he picked up that the Senior Council members weren't acting as they normally did and he drew the wrong conclusion, that one of the Senior Council members was nemfected and doing something to the others.
One of the things I'd like to know is who is now in possession of Morgan's journal? Morgan was found by a team of wardens led by Thorsen, who Harry refers to as the Swede. Perhaps they gave it to Captain Luccio or perhaps the first Senior Council member on the scene saw it and demanded they turn it over to him or her.
morriswalters:
Margaret wasn't running away to hide. She was a dead wizard walking. And she knew it. That much is in the text. As the how to safely meet someone who wants bad things for you, you meet them on the National Mall where they will be seen if they act.
Whatever Margaret knew it was valuable. Somebody was shielding her from Raith. Even if she was a deep cover agent of some type she still had to buy off her protector. Short of living her life in a circle, the only ones able to shield her that we are aware of were the Fae. The same way Morgan was shielded. And whoever did do it, did it for two years. Her stay alive card expired on October 31 when Harry was born.
That fact might lead you to believe that Harry was the price. Morgan isn't complaining that Harry was born. He bitching because Justin got in first. But there is another point implied. That Margaret had another thing so valuable it convinced Lea to protect her and then Harry. And this is pure speculation. Margaret knew who had the Atheme. Picture this, Lea doing a happy dance, and spending he next 25 years coming up with the price.
As an aside, the Senior Council knows about Outsiders. But that doesn't imply that they knew about Nemesis. But if the don't Cowl was right. And there is no reason to believe that the broader White Council is aware of Outsiders at all.
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