The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Fae Rankings
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on October 17, 2023, 04:55:41 AM --- ... But not as simple as it sounds ... who is to say that it wasn't Mab who was really the infected one trying to get rid of her uninfected daughter.
--- End quote ---
But it is just that simple... from Mab's perspective, from the Faerie-Law / Winter-Law perspective.
Mab knew Maeve was incurably-Nemfected, so Maeve had to die.
The end.
Obviously, it wasn't that easy from Harry's perspective! Maeve cleverly raised the spectre of Mab being the "crazy" one. Harry needed to figure out what was really going on.
--- Quote from: Mira on October 17, 2023, 04:55:41 AM --- ... Maeve was bat guano crazy before she was infected, and didn't behave too differently after she was infected ...
--- End quote ---
I don't think we know this.
Lea took the Athame in Grave Peril, book 3. We don't know how soon after that Maeve became Nemfected, but presumably Nemesis made that happen ASAP.
IIRC, we first met Maeve in Summer Knight, book 4. Mab is already stepping in between Harry & Lea; I presume Lea's Nemfection has Mab's attention (I'm unclear if Mab has figured out that Nemesis is the issue, but I'm inclined to think not).
Maeve's pre-Nemfection resemblance to guano is really entirely unknown.
Con:
Something to consider (and this part of my own fanfic wag).
The Fae Courts are running their own version of the Cold War. There are rules and boundaries, and if one side moves the other moves; in either conjunction or against.
It gets very tit for tat favors and blood feuds and skirmishes.
Summer couldn't intervene against the Red Court in Proven Guilty because Winter had their armies on the borders, but sending in a team with Harry as owed a favor and they maneuver into doing so.
The Soveit Union and Nato Allies had a pretty standardised set of Espionage rules. No direct attacks on each other, but supplying arms to their adversaries enemies was a frequently used tactic. Those rules were set up in the few decades the Cold War was running.
The Fae Courts have been doing this for a Millenia give or take a century.
I have a headcanon that Mab had to 'gently' guide the Soveit Union in how to make a Cold War, so that neither power blew the world up.
No you can't bomb their embassies, yes you can exchange hostages, no directly fighting each others military, yes you can train geurilla forces against them. etc
It's all very Fae technicalities and lawyering if you think about it.
So back to my rambling point. Mab knew something was up with Summer but was limited in how she could respond within the rules. Harry thinks she was genuinely surprised when he told her it was Aurora on the battlefied.
Meave was within her court so she could technically move against her, but delayed doing so until Maeve started to threaten the Island and she had a suitable weapon in Harry to deal with her.
Titania couldn't or wouldn't get directly involved except to advise Harry on a crucial point about Nemesis.
Either way both parties could only act against each other in mirror actions.
Hell even Mab gets a kick out of Mac saying;
'May your scales always return to balance'
Small Favor; Mab backs Marcone, Titania finally has an excuse to take Harry out.
tit for tat.
Happens in almost every book the Fae appear.
Mira:
--- Quote ---But it is just that simple... from Mab's perspective, from the Faerie-Law / Winter-Law perspective.
Mab knew Maeve was incurably-Nemfected, so Maeve had to die.
The end.
Obviously, it wasn't that easy from Harry's perspective! Maeve cleverly raised the spectre of Mab being the "crazy" one. Harry needed to figure out what was really going on.
--- End quote ---
If Maeve was that obviously crazy and infected, why would Harry even believe the merest hint that it was Mab who was the crazy one? Because it is more complicated and there are bigger issues at stake, as Mother Summer points out and Mother Winter would if she were able.
--- Quote ---I don't think we know this.
--- End quote ---
We do know she had issues before she was infested, and not just "mommy" issues. If it was so obvious that Maeve was infected why did it take till Small Favor before Mab figured out what happened to her daughter and was so pissed at herself for not seeing it when something other than killing her could have been done?
--- Quote ---Lea took the Athame in Grave Peril, book 3. We don't know how soon after that Maeve became Nemfected, but presumably Nemesis made that happen ASAP.
--- End quote ---
But we don't know, Mab also had the Knife during that time.. It was not till that scene in the chapel in Small Favor that Mab realized her daughter was infected! Not only that she was infected, but she, her mother didn't see it! Is Mab that oblivious to what is going on around her? Or is it that Maeve's behavior was so bad before her infection the difference after was so subtle that it wasn't noticeable until the latter stages.
--- Quote ---IIRC, we first met Maeve in Summer Knight, book 4. Mab is already stepping in between Harry & Lea; I presume Lea's Nemfection has Mab's attention (I'm unclear if Mab has figured out that Nemesis is the issue, but I'm inclined to think not).
Maeve's pre-Nemfection resemblance to guano is really entirely unknown.
--- End quote ---
Yes, it is, Mab, herself alludes to it after Molly became Lady, how irresponsible Maeve was.. And the scene at Maeve's Court in Chicago's underworld, that wasn't a recent set up, or how she came to pick Slate as the Winter Knight.
I don't think Lea knew she was infected in Summer Knight, she had already surrendered the Knife to Mab and was acting quite sane for the most part, also acknowledging that she had wronged her Queen. I also believe it was in that book where we see Mab at least once wearing the Knife in her belt. Think about it, if Nemesis was so obvious in it's symptoms when it first infects, it would quickly be eradicated..
Mira:
--- Quote ---The Fae Courts are running their own version of the Cold War. There are rules and boundaries, and if one side moves the other moves; in either conjunction or against.
--- End quote ---
Except they are not at war with each other.. Mother Summer explained it to Harry, Mab/Winter is powerful to protect all of us from the Outside.. Titania is just as powerful to keep Mab/Winter in check, to protect us. At the Gates they do work together, Summer supports Winter, the medics are all Summer.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on October 17, 2023, 12:42:56 PM --- If Maeve was that obviously crazy and infected, why would Harry even believe the merest hint that it was Mab who was the crazy one?
--- End quote ---
No; you're putting words into my mouth. It was NOT "that obvious."
Mab had multiple years to observe Maeve -- her words, her actions, her lack of actions -- and determine what had happened.
Harry only has a few brief scenes with her, less than an hour all-told across the years (up until the Birthday Party scene with Sarissa). It wasn't nearly enough for him to figure out who's "crazy," who's acting Winter-y vs who's acting Nemesis-y (Harry doesn't even have the name "Nemesis" to hang his theories upon, as of the Birthday Party!) .
--- Quote from: Mira on October 17, 2023, 12:42:56 PM --- ...We do know she had issues before she was infested, and not just "mommy" issues.
--- End quote ---
Having "mommy issues" and generally being ... shall we call it "inadequate"? ... at the Winter Lady gig: this does not qualify either as "bat guano crazy" nor "nemfection." And all of that was out of Harry's sight (but not Mab's).
Nemfection is good at subtlety, at passing unnoticed. I expect there were many things that Nemfected!Maeve could slip past Mab as just "that's just Maeve having mommy-issues again" and "Maeve not doing her job, again." Eventually, of course, Mab did notice that it wasn't just "Maeve being Maeve;" we don't know how long from that initial "notice" until Mab realized Maeve was Nemfected... It was book 8, Proven Guilty, where we saw Lea the Sidhe-cicle; but Mab never spoke. I think it isn't until book 10, Small Favor, that we see Rage!Mab speaking through malks, or causing head-trauma with her angry-voice. But we don't actually know when it was that Mab realized Maeve was Nemfected
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