The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Is the "Black Council" just ... Cowl?
g33k:
Pulled out of another thread (I think it's worth its own discussion, and didn't want to side-track the other thread):
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on April 13, 2023, 02:20:45 PM --- The Black Council is I think largely Cowl, and his allies, agents and cats paws.
--- End quote ---
I think this highly-possible.
It's at least as likely as a large "Black Council" (comprised of 5-15 wizards & other entities) all working in the shadows with nearly-perfect security.
--- Quote ---Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
--- End quote ---
-- Benjamin Franklin
Mab doesn't know... really? The supernatural-world's master-manipulator, the one who scared most of the Spookyside into signing her Accords?
Anduriel doesn't know... really? The Master of Shadows was caught by surprise by the info Harry dropped on him in the Shedd?
We all think there's a whole group of practitioners out there who are keeping everyone(*) ignorant of their little glee-club...?
... Really?
I think a single BigBad -- let's go with Cowl for the nonce -- is more-likely the entirety of the "senior council" of the "black council." He'd have his fingers in a bunch of pies, and likely presents himself as an "equal partner" to everyone else who's sharing a given crust... but doesn't see it that way. He's the baker, they're just the pies.
Papa Raith & Duchess Ariana & Margaret LeFay and "the Starbabe plan" was one such "Black Council" pie (they tried & failed to recruit Ebenezer).
I suspect there was another "Black Council" with Kemmler on it; that may have been a "Council" of two (though I suspect Blampire involvement, particularly Mavra).
There is another "Black Council," wielding Hellfire, who was involved in the assault on Arctis Tor. Harry pinned that on Thorned Namshiel, but I am unconvinced; maybe Nammy, but maybe someone else. Harry named Nammy to Mab (but she didn't explicitly confirm Harry as correct).
Some of the early Casefiles (Sells & Kravos getting their outsized magic; enchanting the Hexenwulf belts; etc) could have been solo op's, without needing any "Black Council" partners at all (likely just a cut-out man as a "junior partner" to deliver the goods to his dupes: a Glau, a Madrigal, etc).
The Outsiders & Nemesis are also involved, of course. Whether Cowl himself is Nemfected I'm unclear; Cowl may just be trying to use the Outsiders to his own ends.
Or, just maybe, Cowl himself is merely the cats-paw of an even-bigger BigBad. In particular, Cowl dancing to Nemesis' subtle music seems not-unlikely-at-all; he doesn't have to be Nemfected to get manipulated by an undetectable supernatural agent...
(*) Possibly everyone but Odin? Vadderung tells Harry something to the effect of, "It's all connected, and you are just now beginning to see the connections." Presumably, then, Vadderung has spotted those connections and figured out their common origin...
Melriken:
The name of the organization is The Circle. It is possible that Cowl is the entirety of the leadership of the Circle, but I don't lean in that direction... I did consider it (I think in that other thread) but it doesn't really ring true.
Kumori is likely Circle.
Peabody was likely Circle.
Vittorio was likely Circle.
Bianca was likely Circle.
Any Nimfected members of the Circle don't need to communicate with each other to coordinate, so spies would only have access to conversations between Nimfected and patsies... makes the conspiracy harder to find.
Just Cowl is possible, but I doubt it.
Melriken:
I found where I was thinking about the possibility of the Circle being only Cowl...
--- Quote from: Melriken link=topic=54834.msg2358319#msg2358319date=1681837314 --- Cowl has his fingers in ALL the pies of the Black Council and is it's most active member (he may be it's only member and is just using the name 'The Circle' to trick people into thinking there is a large organization with power behind him).
--- End quote ---
Just for reference (and the link to that thread)
Conspiracy Theorist:
--- Quote from: Melriken on April 21, 2023, 05:07:07 PM ---The name of the organization is The Circle. It is possible that Cowl is the entirety of the leadership of the Circle, but I don't lean in that direction... I did consider it (I think in that other thread) but it doesn't really ring true.
Kumori is likely Circle.
Peabody was likely Circle.
Vittorio was likely Circle.
Bianca was likely Circle.
Any Nimfected members of the Circle don't need to communicate with each other to coordinate, so spies would only have access to conversations between Nimfected and patsies... makes the conspiracy harder to find.
Just Cowl is possible, but I doubt it.
--- End quote ---
I think Cowl works on a cell system (as we have seen with the Oblivion War) with everyone reporting to a single faceless, Nameless, figure. No one is aware of anybody’s else’s schemes, except Cowl who coordinates. So there is a cell in the White Council, a cell in the White Court, the Red Court, the Fomor, Winter etc. Even Nemesis is a cell.
One point in Nameless favour in being Cowl is that his very lack of a name makes him impossible lock down, magically. That means that Mab, or Anduriel or Odin on his throne Hlidskalff (Which is probably the Monoc Securities Executive Toilet, we have had Hunin and Munin and Gungenir and Sleipnir so yep) which can look into all realms can’t find him but they can find traces of Cowl when he is Cowl which may be why he adopted that affectation, an total absence of clues can sometimes be as informative as a clue. Uriel and the Mothers know, but they are not saying, they are preparing Harry by not interfering except at key points.
Look at all the summonings and the importance of them, no one can summon Nameless.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Melriken on April 21, 2023, 05:07:07 PM ---The name of the organization is The Circle.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on April 21, 2023, 06:03:04 PM ---I think Cowl works on a cell system...
--- End quote ---
To the best of my memory, the only occurrence of "the circle" is explicitly between Madrigal Raith & Vittorio Malvora; Madrigal is trying to prove himself, and wants an audience with "the circle" (about which he knows nothing).
Vito later speaks (to Cowl) of Madrigal; they call him a "fool," and "ignorant" of their plans.
I think these scenes say exactly zero about the existence (or not) of any "Black Council" or "Circle," by whatever name we call it. It only tells us about some nebulous fairy-tale spun by Vito to ensnare Madrigal. Cowl may be the top of that chain.
I think you're correct about Cowl (and/or "the Circle" ... if there's any difference) operating in cells (specifically, though: I think "the Circle" was the name for the Vito/Madrigal cell operating to destabilize the Whampire court). It's the only way to achieve anything like operational security in the Dresdenverse environment.
--- Quote from: Melriken on April 21, 2023, 05:07:07 PM ---Kumori is likely Circle.
Peabody was likely Circle.
Vittorio was likely Circle.
Bianca was likely Circle.
--- End quote ---
Kumori was Cowl's assistant or apprentice or somesuch. I think her loyalty was to Cowl. If there's a "Blac Council" / "Circle," her membership there was through Cowl. She may not have survived to collapse of the Darkhallow; we've seen Cowl repeatedly since then, but never Kumori ("did Kumori survive the Darkhallow? If so, is she still working for Cowl?" would IMHO make a decent question for someone to ask at an AMA event of Jim's).
Peabody is a bit of an enigma. His position (as Senior-Council secretary) makes him the most-likely source of all the mysterious military leaks during the Rampire war... but whether he was Cowl's plant, or that of a larger "Circle," or sat on a "Black Council" senior Council, or was merely an independent Ramp agent... none of these AFAIK have any canonical evidence supporting or disproving any of them.
Vittorio, again, is linked to Cowl. No sign of any larger BC/C organization. Vito is also linked to the Outsiders. Given the secrecy of which Nemesis is capable, it's unclear to me whether Cowl knew this, or not. Cowl may have been anything from the summoner of Vito's possessing Outsider, to just another Outsider catspaw (Cowl may be just another Outsider target, with a Nemfected agent close at hand).
Bianca was just a tool. She was used by her betters, forced to "prove herself," and broke in use. But they got the Athame into Winter, and launched the Ramp / White-Council war, so she was a useful tool. Best of all: she broke herself, fighting Dresden, so they didn't have to dispose of her (after she proved inadequate to the task of handling a junior WC-wizard).
Each of these, I think, was a separate "operation" run by a separate "cell." They aren't all firmly-linked to Cowl, however.
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