The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Ebenezar and Harry (peace talks spoilers)
Arjan:
--- Quote from: huangjimmy108 on July 17, 2020, 01:35:01 AM ---He is old. He is also afraid because the council wants to boot Harry out and Harry being Harry really making the council's job easy. When EB try to persuade Harry to be in the straight and narrow, Harry defy him. More than that, Harry throw all of EB bad choices in his face.
Wizardkind in general are prideful creatures and the older they are the more prideful and stubborn they become. Paranoid too.
Do you think all of the above is enough to explain why EB acted the way he did in PT?
--- End quote ---
He has been angry at Harry for not following his lead in the past most notably in changes and at that time they only communicated via stones and he could not have used direct violence.
So it is in character but the lack of control is accelerated and already demonstrated in the sample chapters. So nothing out of character but I do think the brakes are getting weaker. That can also happen when you get old.
toodeep:
Eb is certainly a bossy guy, but this uncontrollable rage against the white court seems new and deux ex machina in my opinion. We know He shouldn't be having such rage issues because:
1. When Harry soulgazed him he saw a big steady oak, not something that readily loses itself to rages and angers.
2. One of the key things he taught Harry was how to deal with his anger, so the idea that he is such a total fail at it here is out of character
3. He was trusted by the previous black staff wielder enough to be given the blackstaff. You don't give permission to kill at will to someone who has those kind of rage issues.
4. He obviously didn't have these rage issues when he sat down at a friggin dinner party with his daughter, Papa Raith, and a member of the red court. Sure, he said no to their proposal, but he was polite and his own friggin daughter thought there was a chance he would say yes. If he had had these issues then there would have been no way she would have even tried inviting him to that dinner.
BrainFireBob:
Harry is letting Thomas around Maggie unsupervised.
Y'know, the girl named for Eb's own daughter?
Thomas is defiant and comfortable in Harry's home.
I think Eb's supposed to have been *stewing* about Thomas and whatever "hold" he had on Harry. He may have had a similar confrontation with his Maggie, and she chose Papa Raith. Now here's Harry doing the same.
From Eb's perspective: Harry has, in this book and Changes, tossed in his face a "Let the world burn, then!" attitude when it comes to family. His defiant comments about the foster system initially would have seemed to be purely about his daughter. Eb, an old and wise man who cares deeply about Harry, realizes that Harry is including Thomas, *similarly abandoned by their shared mother*, under that defensive blind spot. Harry will choose Thomas over the Council, and the consequences be damned.
Bad Alias:
--- Quote from: KurtinStGeorge on July 17, 2020, 02:48:57 AM ---"Changing of the guard" But to whom?
--- End quote ---
I made a similar point. One thing is that maybe the Council won't be a gerontocracy anymore. Rashid has said that Harry will challenge the Council. Cristos has already laid the groundwork for ignoring the tradition of selecting the Senior Council on a gerotocratic basis. We've been repeatedly told that the young vastly outnumber the old because of the explosive population growth of the last century. A lot of those kids end up as warlocks. How many of them have ended up on the Council? The young might take over the Council after having been drafted into a war they were forced to play defense in.
KurtinStGeorge:
--- Quote from: toodeep on July 17, 2020, 02:54:29 PM ---Eb is certainly a bossy guy, but this uncontrollable rage against the white court seems new and deux ex machina in my opinion. We know He shouldn't be having such rage issues because:
1. When Harry soulgazed him he saw a big steady oak, not something that readily loses itself to rages and angers.
2. One of the key things he taught Harry was how to deal with his anger, so the idea that he is such a total fail at it here is out of character
3. He was trusted by the previous black staff wielder enough to be given the blackstaff. You don't give permission to kill at will to someone who has those kind of rage issues.
4. He obviously didn't have these rage issues when he sat down at a friggin dinner party with his daughter, Papa Raith, and a member of the red court. Sure, he said no to their proposal, but he was polite and his own friggin daughter thought there was a chance he would say yes. If he had had these issues then there would have been no way she would have even tried inviting him to that dinner.
--- End quote ---
OK, but what does it suggest to you if it isn't a lazy use of deux ex machina by the author? Ebenezer's age leading to an onset of dementia could be a natural explanation for his behavior. Anger issues and sometimes extreme anger can be a part of this illness. I've personally seen this kind of thing in action and it's a sad and depressing thing to witness. Perhaps some of the people on this forum have had a similar experience. More importantly, it fits with the theme of the older members of the Senior Council hanging on because they know a storm is coming and they believe they are the only ones qualified to deal with it, when in fact they may no longer be up for the job.
However, there is another explanation which also fits with a major plot element in the larger story. Alarm bells should go off when we see a character who is acting against their nature. It's one of the signs that they are no longer themselves and have been nemfected.
If either of these possibilities are correct then Ebenzer McCoy is no longer fit to wield the Blackstaff. It's also a clue that Eb is nearing the end of his journey and someone else will have to carry the Blackstaff. You know, it might not be something that the White Council bestows upon Harry as much it's something Harry picks up when Eb falls in battle. At that point the Council would have a choice. They could let the Winter Knight; who is no longer a member of the White Council, use the blackstaff as he sees fit or as Mab sees fit, or return him to his position on the Council, allow him to leave the Wardens; because Harry never wanted to be one in the first place, and become the new Blackstaff of the White Council. This would also prevent Harry from returning the staff to its original owner.
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