The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Can one of the Fallen become infected by Nemesis? And if so...?

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KurtinStGeorge:
There's no way to be certain, but I want to run a WAG by everyone that relates to a nemfected fallen angel.  But first, I want to give some context to put this idea into perspective.  In White Night, Harry has a conversation with Lashiel's shadow in which he claims that she had changed from when Harry first picked up the coin:

Lash - "You. Cannot. Change. Me." 
Harry - "You're right. I can't change Lasciel. But I couldn't prevent Lasciel from walking out of the room, either." I eyed her hard and lowered my voice. "Lady, you ain't Lasciel."

So, from the above bit of conversation it appears the Fallen are immutable, it is only their shadow form that can be altered through contact with a mortal.  However, Outsiders aren't mortals.  Nemesis isn't a mortal.  What if the Fallen are not invulnerable to becoming nemfected?  Equally important, why would I think one of the Fallen might be nemfected?  Well, there is this bit of conversation between Harry and Nicodemus in Small Favor:

Harry - "Tessa and Rosanna," I said quietly. "They got their collection of thugs back. They bailed at just the right moment to ruin your plan, too."
Nicodemus - "Deceitful bitches," Nicodemus murmured. "One of them is our own Judas; I was sure of it." ...
Harry - "And you're telling me this why?"
Nicodemus - He shrugged a shoulder. "It's somewhat ironic, Dresden, that I can talk to you about this particular aspect of family business. You're the only one that I'm sure hasn't gone over to this new force-this Black Council of yours."

The hypothetical Black Council, a group of human wizards and other supernatural beings who appear to be in league with the Outsiders, with Nemesis.  And Nicodemus thinks Tessa or Rosanna is one of them.  We've only seen Rossana in Small Favor, which makes it difficult to judge her words and actions in that novel as being anything but that of one of the Fallen and her collaborating mortal partner.  I didn't get any vibes in Skin Game that Tessa was acting against her nature.  That would be a major clue that she was nemfected.  I find it difficult to believe that one of the Fallen would ever enter into a long-term alliance with Outsiders.  They might do it on rare occasions but only if they thought they weren't helping to bring on the end of reality, the thing the Outsiders want most.  That is why I think one of the Fallen would have to have been taken over by Nemesis to do its bidding.

However, there's a problem with Nicodemus telling us Tessa or Rosanna is Black Council.  Think of a stage magician getting his audience to look one way while the real action is taking place somewhere else.  Of course, the stage magician is Jim Butcher and he has every reason to misdirect the readers.  I think Jim may have hidden the real traitor among the Fallen in plain sight.  It’s Thorned Namshiel.  He’s the Denarian who threw around hell fire at Arctis Tor.  Mab confirmed that in her final conversation with Harry in Small Favor.  Do you think Thorned Namshiel was just following Tessa’s orders when it attacked, or helped to attack Arctis Tor?  He might have done so, but it doesn’t make much sense to me.  It makes more sense to think that Thorned Namshiel had his own agenda or he was being controlled by Nemesis.

If the later is true, this doesn't mean that Marcone is nemfected, though he could be.  Marcone might just be getting advise and training from a Nemesis infected fallen angel.  Though at some point it might be beneficial or simply necessary for Nemesis to directly control Marcone.  But; I can hear some people saying, Marcone and Thorned Namshiel helped to defend Chicago from Ethniu.  I think Ethniu had her own agenda and there's no reason to think she was a Nemesis agent.  It might be more important for Nemesis to build up Marcone's position in the supernatural world, especially in Mab's alliance, in order to help set up the sucker punch Nemesis wants to pull off to bring all the supernatural powers allied against it down. 

The beauty of this scenario is this, if Marcone starts to act odd or out of character, most of us would think that is an indication that Thorned Namshiel is starting to take over and fully control Marcone.  Most of us would never think that Nemesis was controlling Marcone.  It could be a great surprise for Mab, for Harry and for the readers.   

 

Snark Knight:
I'm pretty sure there was a WOJ that, at least, archangels aren't susceptible to Nemesis because their nature is immutable.  Maybe he wasn't speaking to the lower orders of angels on that point because he just wanted to keep readers guessing, but the omission seems striking.

On the other hand, it's not impossible that some of the Fallen - being treacherous by nature - might make a calculated decision to go over to the other side for rewards under the new Outsider order, rather than being compelled by Nemesis.  Or the infection might be of the host rather than the Fallen.

Regarding Namshiel though, I think he's the misdirect, with Tessa and/or Rosanna framing him as the Denarian turncoat.  Marcone isn't an innate talent, or at least he's a very minor one if he has any juice at all - most of what he's doing relies on Namshiel's power. All it would have taken to ensure Nemesis' success in BG would have been for Namshiel to turn off the tap at the crucial moment.  That suggest that while Namshiel is still a dick, he's acting on his own purposes rather than the Outsiders'.

As for Arctis Tor, we don't actually have Mab's reasoning for believing he was the attacker (for that matter, she didn't actively confirm Harry's guess that he was, either, she just stayed silent to it). But I don't think it would be beyond Tessa's abilities to cast a disguise that would pass for Namshiel so long as she didn't get too close to Mab.  Just choose a spiny battle form instead of her usual one - or even cast a high quality illusion of one - fry some foot soldiers from a distance, and boom, you've got a patsy set up even if the attack fails.

Besides, on all the other occasions we've seen Namshiel fight, he seems to have a preference for more esoteric forms of magic over raw fire - I suspect it's an egotistical streak.  I suppose it's possible the attacker really was Namshiel and he was just resorting to crude fire because it's a good counter to lots of Winter troops, but it seems more compelling that someone less talented was posing as Namshiel.

Avernite:
Of course there's an associated third option: the Fallen - being treacherous by nature - intending to abuse the Outsiders to achieve some goal, fully intending to stab their back if they should ever seem likely to succeed.

Ed0517:
But maybe it is not the Fallen but the host? The namshiel that pioured fire in Winter should be the previous host, who was killed. doesn't mean it passed to Marcone

And Namshiel may use other things besides fire... but fire may be exactly what you use against Winter, the old Fire and Ice opposites. He may have many tools and likes to use the proper one instead of defaulting to fire, but sometimes, fire is the right tool.

Conspiracy Theorist:
They are I believe the same thing, the Outsiders split when they disagreed with creation, the Fallen split over the rise of humanity.

In that case the Hosts of the Fallen are already nemfected.

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