The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Let's take another look at Elaine ...
g33k:
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on August 21, 2023, 10:26:29 AM --- ... We should suspect anything Elaine has told Harry about her past.
--- End quote ---
THIS!
So much this.
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on August 21, 2023, 10:26:29 AM --- ... Second Nemesis has always sought out those one remove from power, Lea, Maeve, Justine. Elaine does not currently fit that pattern ...
--- End quote ---
Elaine, sent to make a bargain with Aurora, would indeed be placed one remove from power.
Similarly, as gf/firstlove to Starborn Harry, she's one remove from him.
As head of the Paranet, she's one remove from the White Council.
She's one remove from Ramirez, the Regional Commander of the Wardens; make her move on him, and she'd be one remove from the Captain.
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on August 21, 2023, 10:26:29 AM --- ... This does not mean however that something she bore with her infected Aurora, like Lea and the Athame. If she were pregnant and her non-Starborn child were nem-fected, then if she offered her firstborn to Aurora in return for sanctuary and healing then that would make sense, her obligation would be discharged when the child reached its majority. Justin knew of the relationship and Harry says he knew nothing of Faerie so therefore neither did Elaine. Was this the plan all along to use a pregnant Elaine as a nem vector? A Trojan horse? The infection of Lea was much later ...
--- End quote ---
Jim has said there will be no more "surprise family" (bro-Thomas, Gramps-Eb, kids Maggie & Bonnie; all came as surprises). Of course, Jim lies sometimes. And he could always change his mind.
But Elaine could *still* have gotten pregnant, after the Justin blow-up. Traumatized young woman, living without resources... it's all too easy to envision. Or maybe the child was Justin's (sexual congress as part of the binding-ritual). I don't really see any way for this alternative *not* to be a pretty dark part of Elaine's backstory, to be honest...
But I don't think we need to go there.
Justin undoubtedly had a bunch of other magical items; Harry walked away with Bob, maybe Elaine took something too! Such an item could have been a Nemfection vector. I'd place a pretty long-odds bet that Aurora was already sad about all the suffering from the Summer/Winter conflict, which (under Nemesis' influence) became an obsession & madness... some artifact of Gaia, perhaps? Tempting her to "strengthen the world"?
Mira:
--- Quote ---I recall that differently (but do not have my copy of the book to hand, so I cannot check): The "immobilization" spell was a homework-assignment from Justin, that they worked out together. It had a serious weakness/flaw because (a) it was designed by apprentices; & (b) their real motivation was to get done with homework ASAP so they could go be horny teens together.
I don't recall that specific spell being explicitly part of (or not part of) Elaine sandbagging Harry for Justin... Though if she *did* use a spell with a known weakness, she may have done so accidentally, being fuzzy-brained from the mind-control spells. Or maybe (being horny teens, and only apprentices) they hadn't realized the weakness when they crafted it.
--- End quote ---
Here is the passage I was thinking of, but didn't care to look for at five this morning with just a swallow of coffee.. Now it is 100 degrees outside, so what else is a girl to do?
Summer Knight, paperback pages 311- 312 bolding mine
Aurora had just ordered Elaine to bind Harry magically and then she was going to kill him;
page 311
--- Quote ---"Just like old times," I wheezed. "Yeah, just like old times, Elaine. You backstabbing,poisonous,treacherous. . ."
And then the thought hit me. Just like old times.
"...deceitful,wicked,clevergirl. If this works I'll buy you a pony."
--- End quote ---
Harry has realized that something is off about Elaine, that she couldn't do anything to him that would bring about his death and, feel nothing. On 312 he starts mentally reaching out and testing the spell she had put on him.
--- Quote ---I'd been right. It was the same binding she'd used when we were kids, when she'd been holding me down while my old master, Justin DuMorne, prepared to enthrall me. I'd found a way out as a kid, because Elaine and I shared a certain impatience for our magical studies..
--- End quote ---
And yes, their magical experiments led to sexual experiments etc.. But that is beside the point, the point is the binding that the supposedly enthralled Elaine put on Harry so Justin could also enthrall him didn't work, Harry got away and we know the rest of the story. I guess you can look at it two ways, 1] Elaine was enthralled, but because her and Harry did their homework, it was a lucky coincidence that he knew the binding and was able to get away, or.. 2] Elaine wasn't enthralled after all, was able to fool Justin into thinking she was, used a binding on Harry that they had worked on together and he was able to escape.. In the Summer Knight passage as she binds him as per Aurora's orders she reminds him of that and he is able to undo the binding and get away again.. Now ask yourself, if Elaine had really been enthralled when Justin ordered her to bind Harry, would she have remembered just what she did so that he could get away, not just the first time but remind him so he could get away the second as well? I think not, but that's a personal opinion, oh, one more thing, Elaine also had Aurora fooled that she was under her control when she magically bounded up Harry, not unlike when she had Justin fooled.
--- Quote ---You mean "Aristedes"? He wasn't all that powerful, really. A bit of mind-magic, IIRC, but it didn't seem like a serious strength (I don't think he was as strong as Korean Kid). Mostly, I thought, Aristedes was a typical "one trick pony" sorceror, with his kinetomancy / speed schtick.
--- End quote ---
No, I mean Mort, who Harry concludes by the end of Ghost Story is a much more powerful wizard in the area he works than the White Council realizes.
Conspiracy Theorist:
The Paranet doesn’t count as a power, the supernatural world doesn’t discount it, they don’t even consider it. If they did they would pay for a hacking attack and disrupt it. So no Elaine’s position in it does not fit the pattern of Nemesis infiltration. She was also subject to a Whamp attack Nemesis should have defeated and subject to a mindlink with Harry which should have raised suspicion. Nemesis had moved on by this point if she was nemfected in the first place.
Similarly with Summer, Elaine had no power or confidences in Summer until appointed their emissary well after Aurora was nemfected. The Timeline is wrong if nemfected she was merely the Athame a powerless vector, not an active agent. Aurora was always the target to undermine Titania, Mab’s watchdog. Summer Knight was probably intended to kick off a prolonged War between Summer and Winter, with Aurora and Lea working to make it as damaging as possible, like Count Dooku and Palpatine but each at one remove, weaken the Accords and weaken defence of the Gates.
We don’t know whether or not Elaine is Starborn mainly because Jim has vacillated over what the term means. However Justin used good old mortal mind control on her despite having access to the Walkers, this would suggest that if she was Starborn she was immune to their influence and required a mortal influencer instead, like Harry would, otherwise you would go straight to the walker.
Yes I am familiar that Jim said no more secret family it is an overused trope flogged to death by Jim in the series BUT that makes it more likely than less as Jim originally used this as an exercise to stick it to his professor. When told readers don’t like ‘talking heads’ giving exposition he created Bob doing exactly that. The orphan finding long lost family has been used no less than six times already (including the interludes with Margaret and Malcolm).Besides Harry being challenged by an annoying wizard who he can’t place but seems strangely familiar would be fun. And Titania would love to use such a son against Harry. Besides there is the whole James thing if Harry is a surrogate for Jim. Besides Harry must be there to seen his son burn down his first building. I would point out that we are at 14 post SF in the narrative, Harry came to Chichago 3 years pre SF and spent 2 years before that with Eb. Assuming Elaine was less than 3 months along when Justin died, then any putative child would reach 18 during Next Book. Just saying. There was more than one reason for Next Book, reintroducing Elaine and a wayward son would make a good one.
Re the binding of Harry, Elaine would have been under a geas by Aurora due to the agreement, like Fix and Lily would be later, do not confuse that with Nemesis, she worked through it in a similar fashion to Fix and Lily. Again proof Elaine not nemfected at this point.
Mira:
--- Quote ---We don’t know whether or not Elaine is Starborn mainly because Jim has vacillated over what the term means. However Justin used good old mortal mind control on her despite having access to the Walkers, this would suggest that if she was Starborn she was immune to their influence and required a mortal influencer instead, like Harry would, otherwise you would go straight to the walker.
--- End quote ---
I think there is evidence that Elaine wasn't enthralled by Justin. It does get confusing because the memories Harry has of it change from the first accounts of it to the memory he has assisted by Lea in Ghost Story. We also know from that last account that everything surrounding both Harry and Elaine are a lot more complicated than first appeared. Which goes back to Margaret's choice of father for Harry, that is the monkey wrench that was tossed in the works.
--- Quote ---Re the binding of Harry, Elaine would have been under a geas by Aurora due to the agreement, like Fix and Lily would be later, do not confuse that with Nemesis, she worked through it in a similar fashion to Fix and Lily. Again proof Elaine not nemfected at this point.
--- End quote ---
I don't think so.
Conspiracy Theorist:
Why give Harry a way out? If Aurora and Elaine are both nemfected?
And if Aurura died where did her Nemfection go? Not Lily, Fix? Toot? Aurora died by Harry’s hand he was holding her while she died. Maeve was killed by suicide and her infection passed on. Is that the difference? Harry in killing the host kills the Nemfection?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version