The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Revisit this. Grey Counsel

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Second Aristh:

--- Quote from: Yuillegan on August 23, 2021, 12:57:56 AM ---I mean, not necessarily. The Merlin isn't equal to other Senior Council members - he's the leader. The Chairman, President, what have you. He has executive powers. He could do things the others couldn't. He might have already for all we know. Especially with emergency powers.

We know the White Council's legal system is very old fashioned and not terribly complex. We know that it isn't particularly fair and is unfairly concentrated at the top with fairly minimal checks and balances.

We also know that the Merlin is more than simply the strongest wizard (in magical terms) on the planet. He's also got the strongest political strength, the strongest political position, and he's the one who controls the White Council's financial power.

If he wanted to create some extra taskforce, he no doubt could. It would be risky, and if discovered he potentially risks a civil war, but he could do it. Not only that, but likely things would be to his advantage if he used already existing legal powers to create the task force - which he likely has. Considering what the White Council normally does, even if the Merlin were discovered before being ready, all he would have to do is convince them to go after a particular target (like Ebenezar or Christos) and he would divert the attention off of himself. More than likely the stalwarts on the Senior Council would side with him just to prevent a civil war, and throw one of their number (who might challenge it) to the wolves. Especially as by calling him out, it could potentially give the Merlin ammunition to say "Hey, they don't want me investigating because they're the bad guy!".

They threw Morgan to the wolves without blinking an eye to save the Council. The Merlin will always do what he thinks is necessary after all. Assuming they were not suspected of being black council, the Merlin would have the votes of Mai and Rashid easily. Then he only really needs to convince either Christos, Eb, Liberty, or Listens-to-Wind. LtW made it clear he would ruthlessly protect the Council if necessary so it wouldn't surprise me if he was in favor of it - especially if he wasn't on the Grey Council.

Assuming Christos didn't challenge the Merlin, he would almost certainly vote for an internal affairs taskforce whether he was black council or not. If he's black council, he gets to destabilise the Council further and could use it to rid himself of enemies. If he isn't, he would use it to strengthen his personal position. If he challenged the Merlin about it, he almost certainly would be labelled black council and executed - which would justify to the others the necessity for such a taskforce. I can't see the other SC members siding with him to take out the Merlin even if he was right about a taskforce being illegal and/or unethical - especially if they really did think he was black council, which some of them suspect, and they didn't appreciate him bullying his way onto the SC in the first place.

--- End quote ---
Legally, the Merlin no doubt does have the power to make a group with the mission of the GC.  I just don't think he has the ability to do it quietly.  Official power is loud in a bureaucracy.  Not having the secrecy defeats the mission before it starts, though.

Yuillegan:

--- Quote from: Second Aristh on August 23, 2021, 10:14:38 PM ---Legally, the Merlin no doubt does have the power to make a group with the mission of the GC.  I just don't think he has the ability to do it quietly.  Official power is loud in a bureaucracy.  Not having the secrecy defeats the mission before it starts, though.

--- End quote ---
Is it that uncommon for leaders to authorize such things? Especially in organisations with minimal checks? It's harder in a western government but even they have some powers in this regard. Considering the White Council rules are more typical of organisations several hundred years ago...it's doesn't beggar belief the Merlin has that sort of power.

Quietly doing it is a different matter because you also have to factor in that each one of the Senior Council is watching the rest and has their own agents and factions within the Council at large, including the Wardens. But it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the Merlin has a loyal cadre of Wardens himself and Langtry surely would have dealt with tight operational security in his long life. If he was only recruiting a handful of team members like Ebenezar it's less likely to be noticed.

Truth be told though, so far the Merlin has openly expressed his disbelief in a Black Council. I don't think he's stupid which only leaves corrupted or wilfully ignorant. I'd say it's the latter. Unless he's lying of course...but based on the hard evidence we can only assume he's telling the truth i.e. we haven't caught him in a lie yet.

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