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Thoughts on Simon Petrovich being Cowl

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kbrizzle:
Some thoughts on why I think Cowl is Simon & not Kemmler/Justin/ time traveling or alterna-Harry. I’m open to changing my mind about this however.

Simon as Cowl makes sense to me for a few reasons:

* Simon was the Council’s vampire expert - Cowl has been seen with Ramps (Bianca’s ball/ coordinating attacks on the Council during Ramp sorties etc); he’s working with some Whamps (White Night) & the fact that Mavra is the one who put Dresden into the necromacers’ path in Dead Beat shows that there is likely a Blamp connection as well.
* Cowl starts operating more openly around the time of Simon’s death, almost like Cowl was a persona created by Simon to step into when he felt the time was right.
* In Dead Beat Cowl is surmised to be stronger than Ebenezer by Harry (right or wrong, Harry explicitly feels the need to compare Cowl’s hits to McCoy’s) - as a Senior Council member who is likely older, Simon would be stronger than Eb.
* Something is fishy about the whole Archangel attack by Ortega - a Ramp strike team is able to infiltrate a well guarded garrison of the Council’s combat heavies but a mysterious explosion wipes everything out so there’s little evidence/ no survivors to tell anyone of what actually happened (surmised to be Simon’s death curse).
* Ebenezer clearly doesn’t agree with a lot of the Council’s actions & policies, it would make sense that one of his close friends on the Council would feel similarly about it - perhaps enough to try & destroy it.Why I disagree with the Cowl is Kemmler theories (although I believe Kemmler has a role to play in the series yet):

* Grevane & Corpsetaker knew Cowl & seemed to have known him since their Kemmler disciple days. They would never dream on taking on their master in Dead Beat - if anything, they would help him perform the Darkhallow no matter whose body Kemmler was in.
* If Cowl is Kemmler/ Kemmler’s spirit inhabiting someone etc, why does he need the book or Bob in Dead Beat to perform the Darkhallow? Indeed why didn’t he perform it any time in the years preceding or after Dead Beat?
* Cowl specifically does not like being called a Kemmlerite & refers to Kemmler as a ‘bad man’ in Dead Beat.
* Kemmler was the guy who started 2 world wars & was a huge threat (big enough to get the ENTIRE White Council together to finally strike him down). As Cowl his stature seems to be vastly diminished. I also expect Kemmler would’ve wiped the floor with any single Senior Council member, so Harry & a few werewolves wouldn’t have scared him off in Dead Beat.
Why I disagree that Cowl is Justin (Justin had THE necromancer’s database in Bob for 20 years, I’m sure he knew a way to ‘cheat’ death):

* It would make his statement about wondering what has the Council riled up about Harry strange at their first encounter in DB - you’d think that after fighting a duel with 16 yr old Harry, Justin would be a lot more cautious now... (whether or not Justin actually won or lost the duel, 16 yr old Harry still defeated an Outsider Walker...)
* If Cowl were Justin, I’d expect him to be a lot more personally interested in Harry even now - we know Starborn don’t grow on trees. This is a man who spent a decade of his life raising 2 preteens for a purpose, why wouldn’t he want to keep manipulating Harry instead of disengaging like he has since Harry was 16?
* Justin had Bob for ~20 years before he adopted Harry - why didn’t he perform the Darkhallow any time during this period if he were so inclined?
* While I’m sure Justin was a formidable warden & all back in the day, he didn’t strike me as someone who was a big enough player to stealthily adopt 2 Starborn (or even know what they are) from the under the noses of people like Eb & Morgan - it would make more sense if he were doing these things under the directions of his old master, Simon.
Why I disagree with Cowl being Harry from another universe/ time travel:

* As Odin tells Harry in Cold Days, there is a Law of Conservation of History - so a time traveling Harry would have great difficulty in doing things that matter significantly if he were to go into the past as Cowl.
* If Cowl is any version of Harry, he would have Harry’s number in any fight between the 2, however somehow OG Harry has come out on top in all their actual confrontations (although Cowl managed to walk away each time)
* Kemmler’s disciples know Cowl & he knows them well - since Kemmler has been dead for more than 5 decades by the time of Dead Beat, what would time traveling or alterna-Harry have been doing for that time in the interim?

Bad Alias:
The Council came down on Simon for getting involved with the Czar, according to the Paranet Papers. He could have a similar motivation to Injun Joe's of not wanting to watch something get destroyed again because of some principal.

g33k:

--- Quote from: kbrizzle on May 13, 2020, 07:27:03 PM --- ... In Dead Beat Cowl is surmised to be stronger than Ebenezer by Harry (right or wrong, Harry explicitly feels the need to compare Cowl’s hits to McCoy’s) - as a Senior Council member who is likely older, Simon would be stronger than Eb ...
--- End quote ---

I'm pretty sure that -- in straight-up combat -- McCoy is generally held to be the WC's heaviest hitter.  That consensus could be wrong, of course!

I'm certain that Eb never hit Harry with anything like his full power... Harry, as narrator, therefore isn't qualified to judge between McCoy & Cowl (not that I think Cowl has ever hit Harry with his full force, either (fwiw)).

Snark Knight:

--- Quote from: kbrizzle on May 13, 2020, 07:27:03 PM ---Why I disagree that Cowl is Justin (Justin had THE necromancer’s database in Bob for 20 years, I’m sure he knew a way to ‘cheat’ death):

* It would make his statement about wondering what has the Council riled up about Harry strange at their first encounter in DB - you’d think that after fighting a duel with 16 yr old Harry, Justin would be a lot more cautious now... (whether or not Justin actually won or lost the duel, 16 yr old Harry still defeated an Outsider Walker...)
--- End quote ---


That comment also leans toward Simon. As a SC member, he would have seen the Wardens' files on Harry.

It's not ironclad, since Cowl could have got those reports through Peabody too. But Simon was close to Ebenezar - it would make sense for him to take an interest in the kid Eb stuck his neck out to save and mentor, even if he didn't recognize the familial connection (and I wouldn't bet against him knowing about that).

AClone:
When someone asked Jim he powerful death curses could be, he responded by saying that it was Simon’s death curse that took out all of thode Red Court nobles.

So:
A. The people at Archangel really got caught with their pants down, So much so that they didn’t manage any real resistance, and
B. Simon really is dead. Dead dead.

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