The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Ghost Story--two things
Dina:
I do not think she was with child, because I think she conceived Harry after deciding to have a Starborn, so she had to choose the approximated time of the conception. And I believe she took that decision only after she was sure she could do that with Malcolm.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Dina on June 22, 2025, 07:59:46 PM --- I do not think she was with child, because I think she conceived Harry after deciding to have a Starborn, so she had to choose the approximated time of the conception. And I believe she took that decision only after she was sure she could do that with Malcolm.
--- End quote ---
It's entirely possible that Thomas was a failed Starborn-attempt (tho I think he was just "unexpected").
I think Margaret's "starbabe" plan (specifically, her intention to execute the plan) varied with time. Lea (at Mab's orders) laid the foundations: a Starborn that Maggie raised would likely have the mojo to get the White Council to enact the changes Margaret had wanted for a century(ish); Mab(Lea) had her own agenda (but knew Maggie would want that Starbabe for herself as leverage on the White Council).
The party with Raith & Duchess Ortega, where Maggie Sr. tried to recruit Ebenezer was (I think) her first serious attempt; I suspect she wanted him aboard to protect his daugher & grandchild from the Whamp/Ramp coalition. When he wouldn't go for it, I think she got cold feet and backed out (of what was likely, ultimately, a Black Council operation).
Later -- after she was on the run -- she met Malcolm. She fell in love. She soulgazed him, she knew with certainty that he was a good man; extraordinarily so. And the regained her hope in the Starborn plan: that a Starborn that Malcolm raised would also be good (and not swayed by Black Council plots, White Council blandishments, etc). Though he'd also need a badass Faerie Godmother.
Dina:
I don't think Thomas was a failed Starborn. I got the idea that Starborn were born in a very specific window that happens every many, many years. So I do not think Thomas, who is several years older than Harry, was near that window. Also Harry was born on Halloween, which I think is not a coincidence either, I think it was part of Maggie's plan. But Thomas was born on February.
The rest, I don't know.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Lord Kinbote on June 22, 2025, 03:43:51 PM ---I think Dresden's conception and upbringing is far darker and far more intentional and engineered by multiple parties than this theory suggests. For example, I think the bargain was made before Dresden was conceived; if Maggie, Sr. was pregnant with a human child, why would she then seek to bargain with the fae for protection of Dresden instead of going to her own father, Senior Counsel member and the Black Staff? I believe Butcher has been spreading crumbs while misdirecting us both with Dresden as unreliable/in denial narrator and with his WOJ. I don't think that's a bad thing nor do I mean to suggest that Butcher should have done otherwise; it's just the path that Butcher has essentially had to take to avoid the story being unsurprising as its end builds, given the years/decades that he knew would be spent writing and releasing the overarching story.
But all will be revealed eventually, I suppose. I just hope I'm around to read the last book of the final trilogy.
--- End quote ---
I think Mab -- likely mostly via her Handmaiden -- led Maggie gently to the idea of a Starbabe.
I think Maggie's original idea was a starborn wizard with enough mojo to get the White Council to agree to some of her "modern" revisions towards equality/etc.
Not sure when she moved from that plan; but she kinda gave up on the sweetness-and-light version when she threw in with Raith Père & Duchess Arianna (who I think were Black Council (or shills for them)): I think it was a Starbabe plan she pitched to Eb, when Arianna twigged to the familial fight dynamic.
Whatever her scheme, at that point, she was firmly-allied in said scheme with 2 of the 3 Vampire Courts, and that's pretty fucking DARK.
AFAIK we have zero evidence of any WhiteCouncil starbabe plans, but I've gotta suspect they had ideas, most likely around "let the baddies get the babe born, then we'll swoop in to collect the child" &c.
I think Maggie wouldn't go to Eb because she had so much suspicion / distrust of the White Council (possibly even sure knowledge, but no actionable evidence, of black-magic or similar corruption) and knew Eb was solidly pro-WC.
But Mab, and Lea ...
The Winter agenda was a Starborn Winterknight, free from White Council limits & constraints.
They led Maggie down the Starborn garden-path -- probably a decades-long plan: a hint here, an allusion there, a demure smirking not-quite-denial, etc -- then abandoned her to Black Council + Vamps, isolating her from her only viable allies (the WC). Somehow they lured her to escape (I suspect Lea, who's specifically a demigoddess of "inspiration" & muses) under cover of Faerie Glamour (remember how Morgan was un-trackable to everything the White Council could do?), "proving" the Faerie alliance to be invaluable.
Then when Margaret got pregnant with a likely Starbabe, they induced her to bargain for that protection to go to her child (automatically insta-killing Maggie, when the "cannot track/target" Glamour left her, and Raith's entropy-curse found its target)... exactly as the Faeries intended.
Then they arranged for Malcolm's death, too -- he died, iirc, with a gentle smile on his face... almost as if some faerie had englamoured herself to seem like Margaret LeFey (and Mab has proved herself particularly adept at pretending to be a mortal) -- and (once more under faerie-unfindable Glamour) squirreled Harry away to the orphanage (remember: Lea was a semi-regular visitor).
Then they arranged Justin to adopt Harry: harsh (wintery) Justin (to give Harry his White-Council style training); I bet they charged DuMorne a pretty penny, to reveal a Starborn Wizard to him! Even if it was exactly their plan all along.
I put all of that on Mab/Lea conniving.
Mira:
--- Quote ---I'm virtually certain I recall WoJ that Margaret met Malcolm _after_ leaving Raith. I suspect that if she had fallen for Mal beforehand, she wouldn't even have left Raith (for fear of painting a target on Mal).
--- End quote ---
I seriously doubt that Margaret had woken up one morning and had an epiphany, so decided to leave Lord Raith. I am going by what Lash told Harry in White Night.
page 363
--- Quote ---Your mother found the strength to escape Lord Raith for a reason.
--- End quote ---
That line is in the context of a paragraph where Lash hints at a why and the circumstances of Harry's birth. While yeah, one can put the cart before the horse, but I don't think Margaret did in this case. She met Malcolm, he was an extraordinary good soul, she fell in love, she radically changed for the good. That gave her the strength to leave Lord Raith. She wanted to have Malcolm's child, she wanted with his cooperation to conceive a star child.. Harry was planned, and Malcolm was in on it, he hinted that to Harry in the scene around the campfire in Harry's dream about him in Dead Beat I think it was. She knew how risky leaving Lord Raith was, but she was hoping for a better life, one with Malcolm.. Without Malcolm, she wouldn't have changed nor would she have found the strength to leave Lord Raith.
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