The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
A Curious Speculation From Cold Days
Conspiracy Theorist:
The Merlin if he has the votes can do pretty much anything. He has a personal beef with Eb, diminishing him whilst he is injured is a very Merlin thing to do, taking away his personal power up.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on June 13, 2022, 12:15:22 AM --- The Merlin if he has the votes can do pretty much anything ...
--- End quote ---
As suggested upthread, I don't think the object itself "belongs" to the White Council, or is subject to its laws or rulings. If the Merlin had enough proxy-votes, then sure... he could vote to take it from Eb; technically, he could "vote" to dethrone Mab and have himself declared "King of Winter," or any other stupid thing he wanted.
I do not think either project would end well.
I don't think the Merlin thinks they would end well, either. There's probably no other wizard as well-suited to be Blackstaff as Ebenezer McCoy: he's on the top-10 shortlist of most-powerful wizards in the world, and the most combat-capable one. Anyone else would become a "weakest link," probably killed by the staff itself (but maybe broken by it, to become a psychopathic killer).
###
I suspect the WC "retconned" the role of "the Blackstaff," inventing it after a WC wizard showed up wielding the damned thing; I'm unclear if that was Eb himself; was there a prior Blackstaff wizard...? AFAIK the canon stories & WoJ are silent on this point.
The Blackstaff itself is an item beyond WC magic or abilities. It allows the lawbreaking without the moral/psychological damage; and so the wielder isn't within the purview of the Law (which is about preventing said damaged wizards). Furthermore, the staff itself is semi-alive / semi-sentient. It *wants* to kill; likely enough, it urges its owner to do so.
The Outer Gates -- and the Gatekeeper -- are similarly outside the scope of the White Council. The duties of the Gatekeeper are entirely separate from White Council business; to Rashid, virtually all WC stuff is ancillary distraction, at the most... except/unless it touches upon Seventh Law / Outsider material.
Conspiracy Theorist:
When I say the Merlin has the votes he can do anything, he might get a vote to strip Eb of the Position of the Blackstaff, for refusing to take on Harry, and seek to award it to some favourite to take on Harry as a power up. Internal politics.
Now how much the Merlin knows about the Blackstaff and it origin is moot, as the Blackstaff seem to have generally passed on the Blackstaff to their chosen successor. Everyone out of the line of succession may know very little other than what it does. He may not know that it is an object of Winter, and that it may be ineffective against the Winter Knight (Eb didn’t draw upon it in his battle with Harry) and indeed any attempt to use it against an official of Winter may result in the Blackstaff returning to Winter i.e. Harry. Worse it might result in an insult against Winter by the White Council and specifically the Merlin. Eb probably knows this, Harry has (along with the reader) deduced much of this. Does the Merlin know?
A sick and crippled Eb, being pressurised to give up the Blackstaff might just do so, if it puts the Merlin in Mab’s crosshairs. The Merlin could not only lose the Blackstaff from the White Council, he could be facing a personal magical duel from Mab’s champion, who I believe is currently is Harry, now armed with the Blackstaff. Harry would be seeking to rescue his grandfather, humiliating the Merlin would just be a side effect. I do not think would kill the Merlin even in a duel, I do think he would force the Merlin to swear on his power so many times that should he break his multiple oaths he would rapidly become almost powerless, publicly and irrevocably breaking the Merlin’s power. The Saruman option. But beware Saruman had one last act of spite.
The Gatekeeper has stated that Harry would take on the White Council after challenging them in Turn Coat, saying that it wasn’t time yet. I believe we might be approaching that time, these events or something similar will force the issue. Mab does not care about an insult against Harry such as the boom in Little Things ( a Merlin plot I think) but an insult against Winter is a different matter.
Ed0517:
--- Quote from: Snark Knight on June 12, 2022, 09:27:40 PM ---Is it actually awarded by Council vote? The senior council would have to vote on it secretly, since the Blackstaff's very existence isn't even acknowledged to all the membership.
--- End quote ---
Not all - but Eb was apparently Blackstaff even before he became Senior Council - he becomes SC during the books, but Kincaid knows him as Blackstaff for a long time. So some outside have to know. And I think the Staff does select
Ed0517:
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on June 14, 2022, 11:41:09 PM ---When I say the Merlin has the votes he can do anything, he might get a vote to strip Eb of the Position of the Blackstaff, for refusing to take on Harry, and seek to award it to some favourite to take on Harry as a power up. Internal politics.
Now how much the Merlin knows about the Blackstaff and it origin is moot, as the Blackstaff seem to have generally passed on the Blackstaff to their chosen successor. Everyone out of the line of succession may know very little other than what it does. He may not know that it is an object of Winter, and that it may be ineffective against the Winter Knight (Eb didn’t draw upon it in his battle with Harry)
--- End quote ---
I think more likely Eb was trying to keep it nonlethal, and might have been afraid the Staff would take it upon itself to kill Harry if an opening presented. Power-wise, the Knight is a step down from the Lady, who is step down from the Queen, who is a LONG way from the Mother. The staff is from Mother Winter. She is not carrying a .22 short....
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