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DF Spoilers / Infected by Nemesis. What do know about how and when. What we don't know.
« on: October 23, 2023, 03:46:08 AM »
I'm talking about everyone we can reasonably guess was infected by the Nemesis bug.
There are also characters who may not have become infected, but who were tempted into making deals that corrupted them in other ways. For example, I wouldn't be surprised if Victor Sells, The Hexenwolf FBI agents and Leonid Kravos weren't actually infected by Nemesis, despite what Lily told Harry in Cold Days. Simply approaching and making a deal to teach Sells and Kravos black magic would quickly corrupt them and they would be willing to do just about anything to learn more. We saw what the hexenwolf belt almost did to Harry, so it's no mystery how FBI agents were corrupted by them. It's possible some or all of these characters did become nemfected, but I doubt it and in any case we can't be certain.
The first character who we can reasonably guess was nemfected is Aurora. We don't know when Nemesis got to her, just that it was before the events in Summer Knight and because Elaine was spending time in the Summer Court, she makes a pretty good suspect. The problem is we do not have any information about anyone else who may have been visiting Summer or had contact with Aurora. If you go back and reread the scene in Summer Knight when Harry brought a wounded Elaine to be healed by Aurora, there were one or two other humans who were working with some of the Summer Fae on a couple of artistic endeavors. They were about as minor as characters can get. They didn't have any lines of dialogue and weren't named, but there very presence tells us that some other mortal could have visited Summer and infected Aurora. How it was done is a mystery.
Next is the Leanansidhe. We know she was given the tainted athame at Bianca's masquerade party. Lea told Harry this in Ghost Story and Mab confirmed it near the end of Battle Ground. Cowl and Kumori handled the gifts that Bianca gave out. Unless Cowl took the gig of acting as one of Bianca's flunkies as a second job to pay off his student loans, it's a pretty good bet he knew exactly what he was handling. Kumori might have also been in on the plot or Cowl might have kept her in the dark and gave her a seemingly plausible explanation for their actions that night. My guess is she knew something, but maybe not everything. If Elaine = Kumori then her knowing that she was helping to spread the Nemesis bug makes much more sense.
Maeve was tainted by contact with Lea. So there's no real mystery here. She must have been tainted sometime before the events in Proven Guilty.
Cat Sith was most likely grabbed by HWWBf when the malk was covering Harry's retreat. This would be an example of direct contamination from an Outsider, not by the use of a tainted item.
Justine is a real mystery. I doubt she was contaminated because Nemesis jumped from Maeve when Murphy shot the ice princess in the head. Justine wasn't acting like herself for a long time before Cold Days. In the short story Even Hand she was acting like a top flight secret agent when she chose to go to Marcone's HQ in order to evade the Fomor lord who was chasing her. That story took place between the events in Turn Coat and Changes, but I suspect Nemesis got to her much earlier than that. Just before the duel in the Raith Deeps in White Night, Justine surprised Harry by the confident and collected way she was able to describe the events taking place and rivalry between Skavis and Malvora. It was almost like she wasn't the real Justine.
But when Justine got the Nemesis bug isn't nearly important than how she got it. That is, if I'm right that it didn't happen on Demonreach near the end of Cold Days. Because, if I am right, then Nemesis got to Justine while she was under Lara's protection. Justine would have been on the grounds of House Raith or at Thomas' apartment most of that time. Here's a possible explanation how it could have happened. Maybe it happened when she did her secret agent thing offscreen before the start of Even Hand. I believe she infiltrated a Fomor base. She would have been vulnerable then. Maybe she wasn't successful and was captured but Nemesis was present in someone or something else and saw an opportunity in Justine by making it look like she had succeeded. It would explain her demeanor with Marcone. I haven't reread that story in a long time, but I recall that Justine came across as very calculating in her decisions and actions. Perhaps Justine had told Harry the truth in White Night when she said medication had made her a more stable person.
What else can you think of that we know or can reasonably guess about Nemesis? I suspect there is at least one other character who is nemfected. Is there anyone else you think could be a Nemesis agent?
There are also characters who may not have become infected, but who were tempted into making deals that corrupted them in other ways. For example, I wouldn't be surprised if Victor Sells, The Hexenwolf FBI agents and Leonid Kravos weren't actually infected by Nemesis, despite what Lily told Harry in Cold Days. Simply approaching and making a deal to teach Sells and Kravos black magic would quickly corrupt them and they would be willing to do just about anything to learn more. We saw what the hexenwolf belt almost did to Harry, so it's no mystery how FBI agents were corrupted by them. It's possible some or all of these characters did become nemfected, but I doubt it and in any case we can't be certain.
The first character who we can reasonably guess was nemfected is Aurora. We don't know when Nemesis got to her, just that it was before the events in Summer Knight and because Elaine was spending time in the Summer Court, she makes a pretty good suspect. The problem is we do not have any information about anyone else who may have been visiting Summer or had contact with Aurora. If you go back and reread the scene in Summer Knight when Harry brought a wounded Elaine to be healed by Aurora, there were one or two other humans who were working with some of the Summer Fae on a couple of artistic endeavors. They were about as minor as characters can get. They didn't have any lines of dialogue and weren't named, but there very presence tells us that some other mortal could have visited Summer and infected Aurora. How it was done is a mystery.
Next is the Leanansidhe. We know she was given the tainted athame at Bianca's masquerade party. Lea told Harry this in Ghost Story and Mab confirmed it near the end of Battle Ground. Cowl and Kumori handled the gifts that Bianca gave out. Unless Cowl took the gig of acting as one of Bianca's flunkies as a second job to pay off his student loans, it's a pretty good bet he knew exactly what he was handling. Kumori might have also been in on the plot or Cowl might have kept her in the dark and gave her a seemingly plausible explanation for their actions that night. My guess is she knew something, but maybe not everything. If Elaine = Kumori then her knowing that she was helping to spread the Nemesis bug makes much more sense.
Maeve was tainted by contact with Lea. So there's no real mystery here. She must have been tainted sometime before the events in Proven Guilty.
Cat Sith was most likely grabbed by HWWBf when the malk was covering Harry's retreat. This would be an example of direct contamination from an Outsider, not by the use of a tainted item.
Justine is a real mystery. I doubt she was contaminated because Nemesis jumped from Maeve when Murphy shot the ice princess in the head. Justine wasn't acting like herself for a long time before Cold Days. In the short story Even Hand she was acting like a top flight secret agent when she chose to go to Marcone's HQ in order to evade the Fomor lord who was chasing her. That story took place between the events in Turn Coat and Changes, but I suspect Nemesis got to her much earlier than that. Just before the duel in the Raith Deeps in White Night, Justine surprised Harry by the confident and collected way she was able to describe the events taking place and rivalry between Skavis and Malvora. It was almost like she wasn't the real Justine.
But when Justine got the Nemesis bug isn't nearly important than how she got it. That is, if I'm right that it didn't happen on Demonreach near the end of Cold Days. Because, if I am right, then Nemesis got to Justine while she was under Lara's protection. Justine would have been on the grounds of House Raith or at Thomas' apartment most of that time. Here's a possible explanation how it could have happened. Maybe it happened when she did her secret agent thing offscreen before the start of Even Hand. I believe she infiltrated a Fomor base. She would have been vulnerable then. Maybe she wasn't successful and was captured but Nemesis was present in someone or something else and saw an opportunity in Justine by making it look like she had succeeded. It would explain her demeanor with Marcone. I haven't reread that story in a long time, but I recall that Justine came across as very calculating in her decisions and actions. Perhaps Justine had told Harry the truth in White Night when she said medication had made her a more stable person.
What else can you think of that we know or can reasonably guess about Nemesis? I suspect there is at least one other character who is nemfected. Is there anyone else you think could be a Nemesis agent?