Spoilers!!!! Carlos's apology from the lot of you, SC IS THAT DUMP

[Tinfoil hat]

Here be spoilers

Turn back Now


I'm serious
In the aftermath of PT and BG, a lot of Carlos hate was thrown around on this site and others, Carlos is blind, dump, should trust Harry etc, etc. In the post 12 Months discussion there is little being said about Carlos and Harry interactions ,and Eb and Harry's interactions.
Carlos turns out to be on good terms with Harry while hiding it from the WC. He shows up several times even helps in a fight or two. But here's the thing. Carlos claims WC intelligence is  2nd to none in the presence of Molly and Lara when discussing how to gather info on their enemies implying its comparable or better than winter court spy network,  the white court and mortal intelligence gathering. He isn't laughed out of the room.
Long tangent but hold on I'm getting to my point.
Eb says damn the Merlin for  kicking Harry while doing so in a way that Harry thinks Is leaving a lot of information out.
To my point Carlos is young and he already knows Harry is on the level. The SC has networks of info, spys and spirits they can use to gather information on just about anyone yet they still don't trust Harry. The rank and file I get but seriously the older members of the council should know better. Harry is practically attached to the knights of the swords and the swords themselves. He owns a temple dog if nothing else ancient Mai should be on his side.
 Is the SC council blind, dump or do they have something else planned because at this point their level of distrust for harry is
about to reach mission impossible levels of stupid. In the mission impossible movies series every movie the higher ups think Ethan has gone rogue hunt him then oops he was on our side repeat 8 times

[Mira]

To my point Carlos is young and he already knows Harry is on the level. The SC has networks of info, spys and spirits they can use to gather information on just about anyone yet they still don't trust Harry. The rank and file I get but seriously the older members of the council should know better. Harry is practically attached to the knights of the swords and the swords themselves. He owns a temple dog if nothing else ancient Mai should be on his side.
 Is the SC council blind, dump or do they have something else planned because at this point their level of distrust for harry is
about to reach mission impossible levels of stupid. In the mission impossible movies series every movie the higher ups think Ethan has gone rogue hunt him then oops he was on our side repeat 8 times

At this point, no apologies, at least from this reader until we get a better explanation from Carlos!  Carlos dumped on Harry extremely hard and was basically kicking him in the testicles when Harry was at his lowest point, grieving, physically hurt and exhausted, and had just saved them all from the Titian!   We Carlos fans were totally shocked by the scene, there should have been a couple of lines somewhere where Carlos apologizes to Harry!  Just a line or two, no choice etc. from Carlos would be enough, but it wasn't there.  That, going along with suddenly out of the blue, Carlos says that Merlin built the castle.  Yeah, we knew about the runes and wards Harry noticed when he took over the place, but I don't recall anywhere and I could be wrong that it was attributed to Merlin.  While I am pleased that Carlos is trying to make it up to Harry and actually says he is being watched closely, there still needed to be a couple of words of apology from him to Harry!

[Dina]

In the aftermath of PT and BG, a lot of Carlos hate was thrown around on this site and others, Carlos is blind, dump, should trust Harry etc, etc. In the post 12 Months discussion there is little being said about Carlos and Harry interactions ,and Eb and Harry's interactions.

What do you mean? I saw a lot of discussion about how Carlos and Harry suddenly seem chummy again.
I don't know. I think Carlos  had time to think and realize he was in the wrong. I am glad for that and I welcome him, but for now I won't apologize.

[Bad Alias]

I think Carlos  had time to think and realize he was in the wrong. I am glad for that and I welcome him, but for now I won't apologize.

I need to carefully reread the end of Battle Ground again in light of how Carlos behaved in 12 Months. Based only on memory, the two don't go well together. However, it is perfectly believable that you are right and Carlos doesn't want to revisit that conversation and Harry is just letting it go because he'll take friends where he can get them or he is too focused on his grief to even care.

[Mira]

I need to carefully reread the end of Battle Ground again in light of how Carlos behaved in 12 Months. Based only on memory, the two don't go well together. However, it is perfectly believable that you are right and Carlos doesn't want to revisit that conversation and Harry is just letting it go because he'll take friends where he can get them or he is too focused on his grief to even care.

It goes beyond the heated conversation at the end of Battle Ground though, because Carlos acted like he did go along with what the Council was saying.  Every resentment and suspicion he felt after his unfortunate encounter with Molly against the Winter Court came out.  While he may not want to revisit it, a word or two from Carlos to Harry of appology was needed and we never heard it.

[g33k]

The thing about Carlos is that he's very much Schrödinger's Ally to Dresden -- we don't get to see inside his head, we don't know what's going on there.

I go back to the groundwork laid in White Knight, between Harry and Carlos.
Carlos challenges Harry as to Harry's motivations & alliances, there in the Raith Deeps, before the fighting starts.
Later in the hospital, they have something of a reconciliation... and they set their own private alliance:  not White Council, not Grey Council, just Harry and Carlos as trusted allies working to uncover the corruption within the WC.  Working the problem from both ends, towards where it meets.

Thereafter, they must act as if they are growing apart.  Carlos, in his role of "White Council Warden, trusted and trusting and reliable" cannot be friendly with someone like Harry, in his role of "rogue wizard, delving ever deeper into darker & darker paths & alliances."

. . .

All of the hostility & negative stuff might 100% be Carlos playing his role.
Or, it might be Carlos becoming more suspicious and distrustful of Harry.
We don't really have any way to be certain, because we don't have a view inside the box.

[Mira]

Thereafter, they must act as if they are growing apart.  Carlos, in his role of "White Council Warden, trusted and trusting and reliable" cannot be friendly with someone like Harry, in his role of "rogue wizard, delving ever deeper into darker & darker paths & alliances."

Yes, but first in front of witnesses.

[Bad Alias]

Yes, but first in front of witnesses.

In 12 Months, Carlos did say he was being watched. Maybe he was being watched at Harry's Grave in BG?

[Mira]

In 12 Months, Carlos did say he was being watched. Maybe he was being watched at Harry's Grave in BG?

Could be, though he said nothing about being watched until the end of 12 Months.  My question how did Carlos know the castle was about to be attacked?  Was he hanging out with Butters and Father Forthill watching the boxing match, and heard about it at the same time?  Doesn't sound like he was.  Was he spying?  He was fully veiled, but he wasn't wearing his cloak, says he wasn't there and cold prove he was somewhere else..  Very strange, because it didn't seem prearranged between him and Harry, yet he is now part of the war council. 

[Lord Kinbote]

I think there are 2 alternatives that are at the top of the most likely scenarios for the change in Carlos:

1.  Carlos has questioned his initial reactions to Battle Ground as well as his loyalty to the White Council.  You can imagine Carlos re-thinking things in light of (1) the Merlin declining to immediately address/avenge the fates of Yoshimo, Meyers, and Chandler, (2) the Knights of the Cross (active and retired), Father Forthill, etc. still standing with Harry, and (3) how Harry pushed the Accorded Nations to help normal people affected by the events of Battle Ground (which surely must have become known to the White Council).  So Carlos approaches Harry with an open mind, doesn't see any sign of black magic, gets treated firmly but fairly by Harry, and finds Harry still on board with dealing with Drakul.  So Carlos is willing to give Harry the benefit of the doubt, to extend 'trust to a degree but verify,' and to work with Harry where it doesn't cross his obligations and remaining loyalty to the White Council. 

2.  Carlos is working Harry, at the behest of the Merlin.  The Merlin has no eyes on Harry, has to be concerned about Harry's increasing power and prestige, positions, upcoming marriage into the White Court, etc. and has decided to keep his perhaps enemy closer.  So he's sent the person that Harry has a long history with, that Harry has considered a friend, and that is low enough in the White Council hierarchy/structure to be less suspicious than, say, Luccio.  The 'Merlin won't help with ' card adds credibility to Carlos, giving him a sympathetic motivation for approaching Harry that Harry will be pre-disposed to believe.  Given how Carlos views Harry's lack of loyalty/friendship to him, and how Carlos knows he was lied to, misdirected, and backstabbed by Harry (in short, intentionally played for a fool by Harry), I can see Carlos being undisturbed by returning the treatment.  Me, I think this is the best explanation for the sharp turn by Carlos after the end of Battle Ground, especially after accounting for the enjoyment Butcher gets in torturing Harry.

[Bad Alias]

Could be, though he said nothing about being watched until the end of 12 Months.  My question how did Carlos know the castle was about to be attacked?  Was he hanging out with Butters and Father Forthill watching the boxing match, and heard about it at the same time?  Doesn't sound like he was.  Was he spying?  He was fully veiled, but he wasn't wearing his cloak, says he wasn't there and cold prove he was somewhere else..  Very strange, because it didn't seem prearranged between him and Harry, yet he is now part of the war council.

Toot told him.

[Bad Alias]

I think there are 2 alternatives that are at the top of the most likely scenarios for the change in Carlos:

Both seem plausible to me.

[Mira]

Toot told him.

Did he?

[KurtinStGeorge]

It's the Dresden multiverse.  In one verse Carlos Ramirez is Harry's secret ally.  In another Carlos Ramirez no longer trusts Harry. 

If the emoji doesn't tell you, I absolutely hate this idea.  Please consider the above to be a bad joke.  If it turned out to be the correct explanation I would be greatly disappointed.  It would allow Jim to do almost anything with his characters, with little rhyme or reason for changes in their behavior from one novel to another.  Worse, the remaining novels in the series should be setting up the finale.  If major supporting character's behavior becomes erratic, it could, probably would make this setting up phase less coherent and the reading far less enjoyable.

[Bad Alias]

Did he?

It seems the most obvious reasoning. Harry sends Toot out to alert people. Harry isn't at all surprised that Carlos shows up.