One was an emaciated version of Molly, as
though she’d been starved or strung out on hard
drugs, her eyes aglow with an unpleasant, fey light.
One was her smiling and laughing, older and
comfortably heavier, children surrounding her. A
third faced me in a grey Warden’s cloak, though a
burn scar, almost a brand, marred the roundness
of her left cheek. Still another reflection was Molly
as she appeared now, though more secure, l
laughter dancing in her eyes. Another reflection
showed her at a desk, working. But the last…
   The last reflection of Molly wasn’t the girl. Oh, it
looked like Molly, externally. But the eyes gave it
away. They were flat as a reptile’s, empty. She wore
all black, including a black collar, and her hair had
been dyed to match. Though she looked like Molly,
like a human being, she was neither. She had
become something else entirely, something very,
very bad.

I think it's like the book said. Possibilities. Not necessarily actual branch realities or all things from the prime reality.

I think option one was if didn't get tutored by Harry, and ended up a junkie on the streets with a modest power.

I think option two was her giving up her power line her mom did, and being a vanilla mortal.

I think option three was her getting tutored by someone other than Harry. Luccio or Morgan perhaps.

I agree that option four is the road taken, tutoring under Harry.

Option five is the most nebulous. This could be her walking away from all of it and going to school. Not giving up her power, but not being trained, not getting drawn in, just her doing her thing on her own.

Option six is either her going full dark side, either via black magic, outsider corruption, or maybe even Black Court.

Well actually I was wrong.  It's in the text and I have no idea how I missed it.  Beside is Nemesis by his own admission, unless he lied.

Yeah, Mira quoted it on the previous page of the thread.

I guess it could be argued that they all claim the name, or Beside was playing Sidhe-like games and playing into misconceptions about his nature.

After all, "Hoss I am called" is not the same as "My name is Hoss".

The Accorded nations would have to respect such an organization if only because it could tell the military where to shoot. They could raise layered ward around important sites. Not strong enough to stop an incursion, but enough to slow the initial rush and summon security that would normally be stopped by hexed equipment. Just putting up circles around crucial areas is priceless.

I like this idea but it could quickly become unwieldy and I could see it fracturing into regional and national squabbles.

I suppose it depends on the nature of the Librarians.

I like the idea of them being the current iteration of a timeless organization that has existed for nearly five thousand years, moving from continent to continent, collecting knowledge and artifacts but not getting involved because they understand the natural order of things, as well as that they are largely powerless in the face of such beings.

But they could also be an obnoxious, corrupt bureaucracy with over-confident, self-inflated mortals that think themselves superior because they know a bit about things others don't.

Given that Butcher has hinted at mortal resources being brought to bear against the supernatural, I'm inclined to think they'll be more like the former than the latter.

But so far we've every mortal authority (SI, CPD IA, FBI) all be asshats. If the agents seen in Dog Men are from the Librarians, then I'm not optimistic. If they're more like Agent Tilly, then maybe it'll work out

Maybe, maybe not. Attacking a single member may get excused, or require wergild. After all, what happened to the White Court when they killed Margaret? Nothing.  Or when they killed some of the Ordo Lebes? Harry would not be White Court ROYALTY as such, he would be a consort. "Be nice to Lara's toyboy" Now a signatory ... it's the difference between some foreign person kills a US tourist, and someone kills Biden.

There was no evidence against Raith for Maggie's death.

As for the Ordo, the perpetrators were killed and Lara paid weregild to the victims' families. So they paid via the Accords.

If someone broke the Accords to attack him as an associate or asset of the White Court or Winter Court, they'd open themselves up to retaliation.

So, they'd have to do it very subtly.

Yeah, if we go by the sheared off pieces of Odin model, they may be too small of a piece to protect themselves properly for the amount of power they have.  Too juicy of a target for someone wanting to throw a sucker punch for later.  Odin might not want to risk them in a direct confrontation when there is too much unknown.

Considering they can shred steel with their fingernails, I wouldn't say they're weak in a fight.

But the risk does seem to outweigh the reward. Especially if they play integral roles in his intelligence apparatus.

I could see Jim using Crisis on Infinite Earths as inspiration for the BAT, it is one of the OGs. Besides, anywhere there's time travel there's a multiverse and to quote an abridged perfect bug man "Multiverse Theory's a *****!"

I've always figured Mirror Mirror will end with Uriel showing up and escorting Harry back to his timeline. Depending on how things go, it might be even more shocking if Harry sees the other timeline, and at the end gets pulled out by Uriel only to watch as a spectator as the timeline is obliterated. And then Uriel turns to Harry and says "there aren't many left".

Talk about pressure.

Back on topic, I'm in the Hugin and Munin are pieces of Vadderung he splits off camp. They can act as eyes and ears remotely and they can mentally swap experiences after scouting or combat to help optimize strategies.

Given that we didn't see them engage with Ethniu or the Fomor I'm beginning to think they pulled the trigger on Gungnir frying the eye. Thoughts?

Are you saying you think they blinked at Harry and then spoke through Vadderung when he couldn't?

I lean more towards it being Vadderung regaining consciousness a few minutes before, and triggering it when he thought it'd help.

I see H&M being non-combatants that help Vadderung stay weak enough to remain involved.

Did you ever watch the Highlander TV show?  Well on the show there are The Watchers.  They are supposed to watch, and catalog the things that go on with Immortals but to never interfere.  So they pretty much know everything about the Immortals but the Immortals don't really know about them.  Anyways at one point a group of them decide to start killing the Immortals.  The Immortals who are great at hiding, and combat (from centuries of experience) didn't really know what was hitting them or how to respond.

I could see something like that happening.  I mean when the Red Court used mortals who used poison gas to get past the Wardens wards, it was very effective.  So a super secret organization with vast resources, technology, information, and weaknesses of the supernatural community could do quite a lot if they felt it necessary.

I think if they did something it would be ultra assassin stuff that left no real trace, and not something big and flashy.

I'm really hoping Ziusudra is the founder and leader of the Librarians. I think he'd be perfect for it.

• He's immortal.
• He's human with no known powers.
• Historically, he helped humanity survive a divine-based apocalypse.
• He was the last of a line of Sumerian kings.
• Sumerians all but invented civilization and writing.
• Two of the oldest surviving texts mention him by name. One is a guide from his father on how to rule; the other is the Epic of Gilgamesh, where he's mentioned as an immortal that Gilgamesh seeks out in his own quest for immortality.
• He could be an amalgamation character in the Dresden files, and Harry could meet him and learn at the end that he's also known as Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah.
• As an immortal, he could have overseen the creation and relocation of the greatest libraries in history, moving a collection from place to place, until it ended up in America.
• He could have overseen the growth of the earliest empires, and the wonders they built, from the gardens of Babylon to the pyramids of Egypt to the lighthouse of Alexandria.
• The library could be the latest incarnation of a long list he oversaw, including the libraries of Ashurbanipal, Alexandria, Pergamum, Trajan's Forum, Constantinople, the Baghdadian House of Wisdom, and finally the museums of the west.
  

I could see where in the first generation after Merlin, there were seven seniors with seven responsibilities. But due to wizards keeping secrets, and unexpected deaths without specific inheritance protocols, and changes in Council rules and practices, the association of one for one was lost.

Thus do we end up with the Blackstaff not on the Senior Council, and the Warden mantle abandoned. There could be other mantles out there that aren't used just like the Warden went unfulfilled for decades or longer.