RNT: What is The Enemy's Plan in Storm Front?

[Bridger]

Specifically: What is Nemesis' Plan in Storm Front?

While reading SF, there's no real indication that anything deeper is happening.  It just seems like the Shadowman found some old books and learned some intro black magic and used it to make Three-Eye.

Yet in later books we find out that there's a bigger force moving behind all of this.  Assume for the moment that Harry doesn't stop Victor.  What does this accomplish for Nemesis'  What's their end goal in "helping" the Shadowman here?


This question will be discussed on the next episode of Recorded Neutral Territory, with the most insightful answers being featured on the show.

RNT is a chapter-by-chapter re-read podcast for the Dresden Files. Episode 8 just released yesterday.  In that episode we finally get to see Harry gear up and put on a show when he confronts Marcone at the Varsity.  At the end of the episode we also discuss using Thaumaturgy as a Weapon.

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[Mr. Mouse]

You have to think that third eye being distributed everywhere would have helped the Fomor's campaign.

Specifically: What is Nemesis' Plan in Storm Front?

While reading SF, there's no real indication that anything deeper is happening.  It just seems like the Shadowman found some old books and learned some intro black magic and used it to make Three-Eye.

Yet in later books we find out that there's a bigger force moving behind all of this.  Assume for the moment that Harry doesn't stop Victor.  What does this accomplish for Nemesis'  What's their end goal in "helping" the Shadowman here?

[Talby16]

You have to think that third eye being distributed everywhere would have helped the Fomor's campaign.

Precisely. Nemesis says in Battleground through Justine that apocalypse isn't an event, its a frame of mind. Flooding the streets with the Three Eye Drug would help lay the framework of that frame of mind in the populace.

[Mira]

Precisely. Nemesis says in Battleground through Justine that apocalypse isn't an event, its a frame of mind. Flooding the streets with the Three Eye Drug would help lay the framework of that frame of mind in the populace.

Opening skirmishes, setting the stage for the big battle to come.  The idea is to nibble around the edges unnoticed to weaken, then the take over.  Remember for the first several books the reaction to Harry's theories about a "Black Council" for lack of a better name was rejected by most. 

[peterwiggin94]

I suspect that people like Victor crop up all of the time and the White Council deals with them routinely. Victor was different because he had access to a very powerful killing curse, had a burgeoning drug empire, and had a fairly powerful demon that he barely controlled. I suspect that Nemesis propped him up in order to threaten Dresden and/or Morgan. Both would be positioned to be major threats to any play that Nemesis made against Demonreach so would be good people to eliminate as early as possible.

[Mira]

I suspect that people like Victor crop up all of the time and the White Council deals with them routinely. Victor was different because he had access to a very powerful killing curse, had a burgeoning drug empire, and had a fairly powerful demon that he barely controlled. I suspect that Nemesis propped him up in order to threaten Dresden and/or Morgan. Both would be positioned to be major threats to any play that Nemesis made against Demonreach so would be good people to eliminate as early as possible.

And because it's considered routine, the real threat is lost in the shuffle.

[Bridger]

And because it's considered routine, the real threat is lost in the shuffle.

I like this idea.  We know that Ebeneezer came to the same conclusion about the Black Council as Harry did.  What evidence did he see that convinced him of their existence?  Were there other 'unusual but dismissed as routine' events happening in other cities that he was able to connect together?

[Talby16]

I like this idea.  We know that Ebeneezer came to the same conclusion about the Black Council as Harry did.  What evidence did he see that convinced him of their existence?  Were there other 'unusual but dismissed as routine' events happening in other cities that he was able to connect together?

A great question. Ebeneezer as both the previous Warden Captain and a member of the Senior Council has a greater knowledge of both the events impacting the White Council and those impacting the wider supernatural world. I'm sure there are more dots that could be connected to the dots Harry has personally come into contact with that give greater depth to the Black Council Threat. Heck, our knowledge of the war with the Red Court is fairly limited given that it comes from Harry. We know there are events happening off page and we know that a large number of baddies (Nemesis, Black Court, Black Council, Necromancers, etc) like to make movies during the chaos of war. How many events slipped past the Council's notice or couldn't be responded to because of the war? There are probably a lot more dots out there than we are aware of.

[Mira]

A great question. Ebeneezer as both the previous Warden Captain and a member of the Senior Council has a greater knowledge of both the events impacting the White Council and those impacting the wider supernatural world. I'm sure there are more dots that could be connected to the dots Harry has personally come into contact with that give greater depth to the Black Council Threat. Heck, our knowledge of the war with the Red Court is fairly limited given that it comes from Harry. We know there are events happening off page and we know that a large number of baddies (Nemesis, Black Court, Black Council, Necromancers, etc) like to make movies during the chaos of war. How many events slipped past the Council's notice or couldn't be responded to because of the war? There are probably a lot more dots out there than we are aware of.

Or the White Council hadn't really been challenged in so long they couldn't conceive that they could be attacked, especially from the inside.

[Talby16]

Or the White Council hadn't really been challenged in so long they couldn't conceive that they could be attacked, especially from the inside.

There is definitely a degree of institutional delusion present in the White Council. As high and mighty wizards capable of commanding the powers of the universe they see themselves as the protectors of humanity. They are the shining bulwark against the darkness. This is backed up by centuries of tradition. The war with the Red Court exposed some of their weaknesses (ex not having enough wardens) and the Peabody event showed that their are wizards who are willing to die for a different set of beliefs just to bring the council down. The fracture lines are showing.

[Tinfoil hat]

There is definitely a degree of institutional delusion present in the White Council. As high and mighty wizards capable of commanding the powers of the universe they see themselves as the protectors of humanity. They are the shining bulwark against the darkness. This is backed up by centuries of tradition. The war with the Red Court exposed some of their weaknesses (ex not having enough wardens) and the Peabody event showed that their are wizards who are willing to die for a different set of beliefs just to bring the council down. The fracture lines are showing.

Its a little bit of both. From the bits of lore we have Everyone, the big supernatural powers (Mab , Odin), the various nations , even the wizards know the wizards are dangerous. Harry mentions that he can do everything a supernatural being can if he devotes enough time to try and figure it out and hes young really young by wizard standards. Now imagine what Eb, the Merlin and older Wizards have picked up over the years.
The WC has a reputation of kicking ass and taking names cause every once in a while the WC does something to back up their claims. The satellite drop thing kept the RC away from Chicago for a while. And if you go back to the test of wills fight Harry seems to be winning and his young therefore less powerful.
If i remember correctly everyone thought the WC would win handily and i think with out the Enemy backup they would.

[Mira]

The WC has a reputation of kicking ass and taking names cause every once in a while the WC does something to back up their claims. The satellite drop thing kept the RC away from Chicago for a while. And if you go back to the test of wills fight Harry seems to be winning and his young therefore less powerful.
If i remember correctly everyone thought the WC would win handily and i think with out the Enemy backup they would.

The thing is, in reality the satellite drop was in reality a rouge move by one wizard, no evidence that it was Council, even Senior Council sanctioned.   However it was done by Eb, who as the Blackstaff has carte blanche on such matters.  Yeah, it made the Council look all powerful and feel powerful, but it was a bit of an illusion.  The RVC were planning war all this time as cat paws of a greater power, in the end Harry's moves saves the White Council because as Shiro said, forced the enemy to act before it was really ready..   

[g33k]

... While reading SF, there's no real indication that anything deeper is happening.  It just seems like the Shadowman found some old books and learned some intro black magic and used it to make Three-Eye.

Yet in later books we find out that there's a bigger force moving behind all of this...

This is a recurrent theme of the DF novels: later-series Harry, with more maturity & more power, swimming in deeper waters, has more information and a more-nuanced understanding (than earlier-series Harry).  When Harry first introduces her, Mab is "queen of the Evil faeries" and the archetype of all villainous malice.  Later, we learn she is on Team GoodGuy^(tm)... just, one of the more cold-blooded members of the team.

Part of the fun of WAG'ing in the fandom is trying to figure out some of that -- spot the easter-eggs, unravel the clues, beat Harry in achieving that nuance!

Specifically: What is Nemesis' Plan in Storm Front?
... learned some intro black magic and used it to make Three-Eye.
Yet in later books we find out that there's a bigger force moving behind all of this.  Assume for the moment that Harry doesn't stop Victor.  What does this accomplish for Nemesis'  What's their end goal in "helping" the Shadowman here? 

Nemesis wants the Outsiders back "inside" Creation; that's the Big-Picture plan.

As to the specifics, I agree with @Talby16... it's this, I think:

Precisely. Nemesis says in Battleground through Justine that apocalypse isn't an event, its a frame of mind. Flooding the streets with the Three Eye Drug would help lay the framework of that frame of mind in the populace. 

IIRC (I don't have the PT/BG texts on hand, to ^F thru) Ethniu voiced a similar sentiment.  She wanted the mortals aware of magic once again; and cowed by it.   Given that Three-Eye let mortals see magic, this is clearly one of the Nemesis/Outsider through-lines.

I think we should take this as part of that "apocalyptic state of mind:"  mortals who see the magic -- or at least believe it's there, even if they don't see it -- are expected to be more "apocalyptic."

And indeed, "magical foes, beyond mortal soldiers' ability to kill" looks very much like something that could prompt the battlefield use (for example) of nuclear weapons / WMD, which is another "apocalyptic" sort of mindset.  For those without Maximum Overkill weapons to hand, hopelessness and despair -- and desperate longing to have such weapons -- seem like common reactions to things like the Superghouls in the Raith Deeps, or Ethniu's personal combat prowess, or the realization that Winter comes to anywhere that Mab comes (potentially destroying a year's crops) &c.

"Apocalypse: the Mindset" would seem to follow naturally.