The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Notes on Contagion
Griffyn612:
LAST CALL
--- Quote --- “It’s laced with . . . some kind of contagion
focus, I think.”
I nodded. She was talking about magical
contagion, not the medical kind. A contagion focus
was something that formed a link between a
smaller amount of its mass after it had been
separated from the main body. A practitioner
could use it to send magic into the main body, and
by extension into all the smaller foci, even if they
weren’t in the same physical place. It was sort of
like planting a transmitter on someone’s car so
that you could send a missile at it later.
...
“The contagion looks like a simple compulsion
meant to make the victim drink more, but it’s really
a psychic conduit.”
...
“A psychic conduit?” Murphy asked. “What’s
that?”
“It’s like any electrical power line,” I said. “Except
it plugs into your mind—and whoever is on the
other end gets to decide what goes in.”
...
“So do what you do. Put the whammy on them,
and let’s track them down.”
I grimaced and shook my head. “I don’t dare,” I
told her. “All I’ve got to track with is the beer itself.
If I try to use it in a spell, it’ll open me up to the
conduit. It’ll be as if I drank the stuff.”
...
“That’s what the psychic conduit links them to,” I
said. “To Dionysus. To the god of revels and
ecstatic violence.”
--- End quote ---
BATTLE GROUND
--- Quote --- “I am the doubt that wards away sleep. I am the
flaw that corrupts, the infected wound, the false
fork in the trail. I am the gnawer, the worm in the
book, the maggot that burrows in the mind’s eye.”
“I am He Who Walks Beside.”
--- End quote ---
PROVEN GUILTY
--- Quote --- “These mortal notions,” Maeve said. “Good, evil,
love. All those other things your kind natter on
about. Are they perhaps contagious?”
I rose with her, politely. “Some would say so,” I
told her.
She grimaced. “In the time since her death, I
have often thought to myself that Aurora was
stricken with some mortal madness. I believe the
Queen of Air and Darkness has been taken by a
similar contagion.”
--- End quote ---
COLD DAYS
--- Quote --- “Sir Knight, you must have seen it. You must
have seen the contagion spreading. It has been
before your eyes for years.”
“I haven’t seen . . .” Then I paused. My head
started adding things together. “You . . . you aren’t
talking about a physical disease, are you?”
“Of course not,” Lily said. “It is a kind of spiritual
malady. A mental plague. An infection slowly
spreading across the earth.”
“And . . . this plague. What does it do?” I asked.
“It changes that which ought not change,” she
said quietly. “It destroys a father’s love for his
family by twisting it into maniacal ambition. It
distorts and corrupts the good intentions of
agents of mortal law into violence and death. It
erodes the sensible fear that keeps a weakly
talented sorcerer from reaching out for more
power, no matter how terrible the cost.”
--- End quote ---
Yuillegan:
Great pick up with Last Call. I must have missed that!
Thanks for putting this all together. I really think this helps for theory crafting.
If we assume Nemesis works the same way as the contagion in Last Call, we actually can work out what the "transmitter" is on each case. Each person infected would need to have been given a focus of some sort.
The obvious one is Morganna's Athame in Grave Peril. I could also see the jewels given to Ferrovax being one as well, which could mean he is compromised potentially. The Wolf Belts for the FBI. Victor Sells Scorpion perhaps, or perhaps a book of spells. I'd need to reread Storm Front to look for it. Aurora is a tricky one but perhaps a gift of some kind. I can see Kravos being infected perhaps via ritual or being gifted something by Cowl. Maeve was infected by Leah, perhaps through a gift. That works especially well with Faeries. Perhaps a tainted artefact for the Denarians in Blood Rites - the corrupted ones? Almost certainly something necromantic for Cowl, probably in his past. If not the other necromancers. Cat Sith could have had direct contact with He Who Walks Before or Justine (Nemesis). Where Justine picked it up is harder...but I suspect someone in the White Court. Lara or one of the lesser ones.
My oh my this feels like contact tracing. This would be so annoying to actually have to do.
Technically Mac could be infected, at least Jim hints that's possible in one of his latest interviews.
We know there is a limit to how many can be infected...I'd guess 13 makes sense.
Another way that really works for the series is via blood. Lots of those infected consume blood or practice sacrifices or are around blood being spilled.
Interestingly, I wonder if you can exorcise Nemesis? Or cut of the link to the main being?
Griffyn612:
Suspected Infected = Suspected Vector = Suspected Source
* Victor Sells = Scorpion = Cowl or Lord Raith (he worked at Silver Co.
* Philip Denton & the Feebs = Wolf Belts = Cowl
* Leonid Kravos = Big Leather Book = Cowl
* Bianca St. Claire = ? = Cowl or Mavra (latter trained her)
* Lea = Athame = Cowl
* Ferrovax = Gem = Cowl
* Aurora = ? = Elaine
* Madge = Ritual Knife? = Lord Raith
* Cowl = ? = Kemmler (decades prior) or Lord Raith (more recently)
* Maeve = Athame = Lea
* Scarecrow = ? = Maeve
* Madrigal = ? = Cowl or Maeve
* Vitto Malvora = ? = Cowl
* Namshiel's Host = ? = ?
* Peabody = ? = Cowl
* Madeline = ? = Cowl or Maeve
* Arianna = ? = Cowl or Bianca (years earlier)
* Cat Sith = ? = Maeve
* Justine = ? = Lord Raith or Madeline or ?
Griffyn612:
Theory on Order of Infection
* Young Lord Raith infects himself; becomes anchor for Beside
* Lord Raith infects Kemmler
* Kemmler branch begins and ends
* Lord Raith infects Margaret Lefay
* Margaret Lefay breaks free
* Lord Raith infects Justin DuMorne
* Justin DuMorne infects Elaine Mallory
* Lord Raith infects Cowl
* Cowl infects Peabody
* Cowl infects Victor Sells
* Cowl infects Denton & the Feebs
* Cowl infects Bianca
* Cowl infects Leonid Kravos
* Cowl infects Lea
* Cowl infects Ferrovax
* Elaine infects Aurora
* Lea infects Maeve
* Lord Rath infects Madge
* Maeve infects Scarecrow
* Cowl infects Madrigal Raith
* Cowl infects Vitto Malvora
* Nemesis-controlled Lord Rath infects Justine
* Cowl infects Namshiel's Host
* Cowl infects Madeline Raith
* Cowl infects Arianna Ortega
* Maeve infects Cat Sith
Second Aristh:
I'd say that Nemfections are quite a bit simpler overall. For instance, I don't think every big bad in each book is necessarily Nemesis. A number of them, especially the small time ones, can be written of as manipulated by the Black Council/Circle.
I think for our purposes, we can have some assumptions on Nemesis (since by WoJ there is some upper limit for how many places it can be at once).
1. Nemesis infected characters somehow behave differently than they should in a small way
2. For most Significant InfectionsTM, we get an "on-screen" clue for when they are turned, or we will in the future.
3. Nemesis is strategic for how it invests itself in people. It doesn't bother with infecting someone who is too small a player to matter (e.g. Kravos or Victor Sells or the hexenwolves). The Circle handles those instead for whatever reason that meddling occurs.
Lea is the easiest. She was infected in GP by Morganna's athame when she used it in the NN to summon minions to chase Harry.
Maeve is next easiest. She was infected in SK during the battle over Chicago while Mab was distracted. She makes the comment that Harry's godmother sends her regards.
Cat Sith is infected by Maeve in CD when he rescues Harry from the ambush in the gardens.
Other candidates are harder to pinpoint. Aurora was clearly infected by Nemesis, but we don't know how or when yet. Same with Justine.
For the rampires, I don't think Ariana Ortega or her husband were infected, nor Bianca. They act too normally for that. The one that's acting weird was the Red King himself, manifesting in his erratic behavior during the war and his weird-for-rampires bloodlust. The Ortegas were a countering force against Nemesis screwing with their leadership, and Bianca was manipulated by the Circle (who have allied with Nemesis, but are not themselves Nemesis; Cowl and Kumori are our representative members of this group).
I'd also put characters like Peabody into the Circle and/or their pawns group instead of Nemesis.
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