The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Elaine is the wizard the White Council should really be afraid of.
KurtinStGeorge:
Just to nail down one small point. To a fairly high degree, we can be certain that no one else on the Council knows that the Gate Keeper has the means to detect Nemesis. From Cold Days:
Harry - "Steel," I said.
Rashid - "Pardon?" he asked.
Harry - "Your, uh, other eye. It was steel before."
Rashid - "I'm sure it looked like steel," he said. "The disguise is necessary when I'm not here."
Harry - "Your job is so secret, your false eye gets a disguise?" I asked. "Guess I see why you miss Council meetings."
When he is playing his role as a member of the Senior Council, the Gate Keeper does not share much information, unless he feels the need to do so.
Mira:
--- Quote from: KurtinStGeorge on November 26, 2024, 05:11:19 AM ---Just to nail down one small point. To a fairly high degree, we can be certain that no one else on the Council knows that the Gate Keeper has the means to detect Nemesis. From Cold Days:
Harry - "Steel," I said.
Rashid - "Pardon?" he asked.
Harry - "Your, uh, other eye. It was steel before."
Rashid - "I'm sure it looked like steel," he said. "The disguise is necessary when I'm not here."
Harry - "Your job is so secret, your false eye gets a disguise?" I asked. "Guess I see why you miss Council meetings."
When he is playing his role as a member of the Senior Council, the Gate Keeper does not share much information, unless he feels the need to do so.
--- End quote ---
Exactly, and the same goes for Harry.. Rashid also confirmed that. page 341 Cold Days
--- Quote ---" I will do what I can. If we both survive the next several hours, I will settle matters between you and the Council, which knows only as much about our roles as it needs to--and that isn't much.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---They didn't test her in the DuMorne aftermath, no (when they collected Harry); they never connected her with DuMorne; she only appeared on-scene much later.
Warden Ramirez tested Elaine, out in LA. Harry called to "check up on her bona fides" & Carlos confirmed it.
She wasn't quite up to WC standards... but she was close, and recognizably well-trained in WC fundamentals.
He joked that if the Rampire War continued its horrible attrition, they might have to lower their standards a little bit -- just to keep WC numbers up -- and she'd be in.
--- End quote ---
But she faked it so well, she fell off the radar.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on November 26, 2024, 02:47:38 PM --- ...
But she faked it so well, she fell off the radar.
--- End quote ---
I'm pretty sure she didn't.
They're just not doing anything active about her, pursuing her as a suspect, or issuing any warnings; she'll get no "official" attention/effort until they have some reason to take action.
The WC is the sort to keep meticulous records, and an "almost, but not quite" wizard is well worth noticing and remembering, but that "hands off... unless" policy has always been the WC/Warden MO... and beyond even that, their resources got severely depleted during the war with the Ramps, and that was only... what, 4-5 years before the PT/BG duology?
Also: Carlos is kind of a horndog, and I'm certain he recalls Elaine very well (as I recall, there were hints she flirted a bit to help distract him from noticing her abilities).
Mira:
--- Quote from: g33k on December 08, 2024, 10:14:47 PM ---I'm pretty sure she didn't.
They're just not doing anything active about her, pursuing her as a suspect, or issuing any warnings; she'll get no "official" attention/effort until they have some reason to take action.
The WC is the sort to keep meticulous records, and an "almost, but not quite" wizard is well worth noticing and remembering, but that "hands off... unless" policy has always been the WC/Warden MO... and beyond even that, their resources got severely depleted during the war with the Ramps, and that was only... what, 4-5 years before the PT/BG duology?
Also: Carlos is kind of a horndog, and I'm certain he recalls Elaine very well (as I recall, there were hints she flirted a bit to help distract him from noticing her abilities).
--- End quote ---
The problem with that theory is Mort has been able to keep off the radar as well. As Harry noted in Ghost Story he is way more talented than the Council gives him credit for, so he is left alone by them. If Elaine was successful in distracting Carlos from noticing her talents by flirting with him, he either isn't a very good Warden, or Elaine is very good at fooling him and from there the Council, thank you for making my point.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on December 09, 2024, 12:08:26 PM ---The problem with that theory is Mort has been able to keep off the radar as well. As Harry noted in Ghost Story he is way more talented than the Council gives him credit for, so he is left alone by them ...
--- End quote ---
Mort was almost-washed-up, he had lost faith in himself, his values, his worth. His abilities had declined a lot; we don't know how good he actually was in the pre-Storm Front years, or how closely the WC was (or wasn't) monitoring him then. I don't think the WC has noticed yet that Mort has "bounced back" from the brink. And of course, because he's limited to ectomancy (rather than having a broader array of wizardly abilities) the WC is always going to consider him a "lesser" talent.
--- Quote from: Mira on December 09, 2024, 12:08:26 PM --- ... If Elaine was successful in distracting Carlos from noticing her talents by flirting with him, he either isn't a very good Warden, or Elaine is very good at fooling him and from there the Council ...
--- End quote ---
Carlos is actually a pretty good warden, but he has some specific weaknesses in regards a "pretty face" (Harry's got some of his own (by design): Butcher's writing to the "Noir Detective" tropes, and the "femme fatale" is supposed to be a weakness for our protagonist).
Above and beyond that, though: Elaine has (by Harry's testimony) always been better than him at elements of style & grace, at subtler casting etc... and then she went to summerfae finishing-school where you just gotta know that "subtlety" & "deception" & "flirting" were some of the most-reinforced lessons!
Poor young Carlos... well, as the saying goes, "he never stood a chance."
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version