The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Warden of Demonreach: Dragoncon lore-dump or retcon??!?
LordDresden2:
--- Quote from: Mira on September 17, 2024, 03:43:45 AM ---Harry did blunder his way into it.. However it is stupid on the part of the Senior Council to think that to be Warden of the island would be Villain in Chief.. The post has dangers because it carries with it great power as well as responsibility, both can corrupt the person holding it, but that doesn't make them a villain, and to let the post remain vacant for all those years seems rather stupid.
--- End quote ---
I don't think the Council believes that THE Warden is automatically a villain-in-chief. I think they consider the position horrifically dangerous and easy to misuse, and they know that would-be villains will be attracted to that kind of power. If the Senior Council has the brains of your average gopher, then with their lifespans and experiences they will know that power draws corrupt people, and that power, any power, also has a tendency to corrupt. They'll have seen it. They would know it isn't inevitable, but they would know it's always a risk.
Demonreach one of the most dangerous sources of Power in the game. It's a kind of power that is readily abused, easy to misuse, and THE Warden is right next to some serious mega-evil beings, some of whom I'm sure can be very clever and persuasive and highly intelligent. Remember, that prison keeps skinwalkers in minimum security. They're too minor to rate anything heavier. Think about what they implies about the ones in supermax or isolation tank.
Yeah, I can easily understand the Senior Council's fears and caution.
LordDresden2:
Something else occurs to me: if I was on the SC, when picking a new Warden of Demonreach, I think, everything else being equal, I'd want a middle-aged Wizard. Someone old enough to have learned a few things and shown stability and trustworthiness and so on, but at the same time, someone young enough that he can serve for a long time. Someone young enough, too, that if he does go off the rails, he's relatively manageable to deal with.
If you can find a good candidate, you'd probably want to keep him in place for a while. Making an SC member, or someone that age and power level, might well mean that he can only serve for a century or less, and if go south he would also be a handful to take out.
(Langtry was able to hold off an entire army with one ward, by himself. Ebenezar can shake continents with quakes and eruptions. Rashid is Rashid. Klaus once stopped an entire German military force with a toy duck, IIRC. Imagine that kind of power combined with THE Wardenship and it went sour.)
From that POV, Harry would seem way way too young (and he is!), but a fellow SC member would look too old and powerful.
Mira:
--- Quote ---Langtry, OTOH, would probably have been passionately opposed to the idea of Harry as THE Warden. "One Kemmler is enough."
--- End quote ---
And you will remember according to Eb's journal, Langtry wanted to put Harry under surveillance upon hearing what he did, but that seems pretty mild. Eb's opinion of that was Langtry "was a damn fool." I repeat, at that point Harry had no clue as to what he had gotten himself into, he didn't do the sanctum thing to become Warden of the island, and may not have done it if he knew the consequences, all he wanted was a better chance to protect Morgan so he could get a fair trial. Yet no one save a vague warning from Rashid and another indirect vague warning from Eb said anything to him or explained anything to him... Don't you think that strange? Or once again the Senior Council decides that something could be very dangerous, i.e. another Kemmler, but then ignores the problem totally in hopes it will go away? When perhaps an ounce of prevention is called for? Or is it a wait and see what happens? In other words, the damn foolish surveillance idea of Langtry, because if it does go south, that horse has already left the barn, while the Senior Council just watched it happen.
vincentric:
The real issue is the lack of surveillance at any time before or after Harry became the Warden. If you're going to suspect whoever takes control of the island, maybe you should be watching so you know if someone's making an attempt and who they might be. Also, why would you promote someone to the job of Warden of North America if you don't trust him? I mean there's only three Senior Council members living there out of seven total.
The Denarians set up shop there, kidnapping two signatories of the Accords. The White Council may not care about Marcone, but they really should care about the Archive. But we have no indication that the WC even knew what happened until Harry reported it.
The WC didn't know that Harry had taken the island in TC. The only reason they came there was because Harry set up a meeting there. Rashiid, Eb and Listens all learn that Harry has become the new Warden but aside from Rashiid's minimal warnings, no one offers any advice of any kind.
For CD, the new Warden and Winter Knight has been assassinated after the destruction of the Red Court, but the WC can't spare one wizard to check on the island occasionally. The magical tension in the area was building for months. Maybe there might have been some help on-hand to stop the breakout that would have resulted in kicking off the Apocalypse.
Mira:
--- Quote ---The real issue is the lack of surveillance at any time before or after Harry became the Warden. If you're going to suspect whoever takes control of the island, maybe you should be watching so you know if someone's making an attempt and who they might be. Also, why would you promote someone to the job of Warden of North America if you don't trust him? I mean there's only three Senior Council members living there out of seven total.
--- End quote ---
What was weird about that is not only was Harry the equivalent of a rookie cop at the time, he had just gotten drafted into the Warden Corps. It hadn't been all that long since he was living under the Doom.
Exactly, I agree, though the island had some defenses, it was still vulnerable and you'd think you'd want to know who'd try to bond with it and why.
--- Quote ---(Langtry was able to hold off an entire army with one ward, by himself. Ebenezar can shake continents with quakes and eruptions. Rashid is Rashid. Klaus once stopped an entire German military force with a toy duck, IIRC. Imagine that kind of power combined with THE Wardenship and it went sour.)
--- End quote ---
Very true, that's where the integrity thing becomes important. Being Warden of the island would be an even greater danger than even if the Blackstaff suddenly lost it and went rogue.
--- Quote ---For CD, the new Warden and Winter Knight has been assassinated after the destruction of the Red Court, but the WC can't spare one wizard to check on the island occasionally. The magical tension in the area was building for months. Maybe there might have been some help on-hand to stop the breakout that would have resulted in kicking off the Apocalypse.
--- End quote ---
I think that any one of the Wardens could have had a watch on the comings and goings on the island.. Then when needed the big guns could have been called in. I guess they thought the island could keep it's secrets, after all the Denarians camped out there and held the Archive hostage and didn't seem to know it's secret or never attempted to breech it.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version