Which headache do we know was Mab's fault?  Are you referring to the one at the end of SmF, after she's given his blasting rod back?  Because that was caused by hearing her voice when she was angry.
In the final scene of GS, Harry says she can't screw with his head.  Technically, she never acknowledges that.  So its debatable whether she agreed to it or not.

the one where he tries to think about the rod but can't

Does Vadderung telling Harry that a mortal wizard can't possibly draw enough power to go back in time have any play in the conversation?
Actually, as I've been rereading through the series, I've been compiling a headache journal for Harry.
The first time in the series he complains about a headache not related to an injury is in Fool Moon.
However, there's another series of headaches that happen where Harry has a headache, and then does something uncharacteristic. It's most obvious and frequent in Cold Days, but it's also happened in the series for some time, and at least one such occurrence happens in Summer Knight.

there's one specific type of headache that occurs first in SmF, however:

the two piercing points of cold, like a pair of icicles shoved into his brain.

occurs in SmF (in relation to Mab and the rod), In TC (when harry is about to get mouse to lead him to Thomas)(also with the missing LC) and again in CD.

its like a giant 'Mab was here' sign.

He knew me online, some time ago.  Different world, different alias, but a couple of decades ago there were Pratchett fan communities that had some similarities to this here forum in terms of groups of cool people getting to know each other through a common interest; except largely UK-centric, so quite a bit easier to meet each other in person also. As for the rest, well, I got a fortune cookie this weekend saying people find it difficult to resist my persuasive manner. *waggles eyebrows*

If I ever do publish fiction of my own, I intend to see whether I can get that quote on the back (along with Steve Brust calling me cute and JB's "dear god are you a CIA analyst or something").

what nothing from Charles Stross?

 

No, when Mab manipulated Harry in SmF, she froze his eyes and kissed his ear.  That's presumably when she laid her memory compulsion on him.  And it may have triggered Lash.  What if the resurrection of Lash was partly -- accidentally -- induced by Mab's memory manipulations?

Then the headaches occur when her compulsion kicks in.  Lash is trying to warn Harry, causing the headache.

problem with that theory is Mab swore to stop messing with his head at the end of GS- and some of those headaches were damn convenient for Mab

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Lash was already mucking with Harry's head. We see in Ghost Story that Lash was behind Harry choosing to take up the Winter Mantle. Also, if Mab was in cahoots with Lash, she wouldn't have needed to bargain with her to save Harry when he was down and out in Ghost Story.

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1- the shadow probably wasn't lash, it was lasciel

2- shadow I dont think intended him to become knight. it wanted him dead

3- the interference im talking about having lash do occurred in CD

If "Molly travels back in time and gets left behind, eventually completing a Darkhallow and ascending to become Mab" is the same as "Molly became Winter Lady when Maeve died", then Vairelome and I were right about Lea's madness being because she was possessed my HWWBh.   http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,32204.msg1403385.html#msg1403385

"Lea was possessed by HWWBh" = "Lea was Infected by Nemesis".

there were always two versions of that, Molly/ Mab and Mab/ LC.

the first took some serious WAGs and may or may not have any relevance.

the second came dang close, and also predicted a connection between Molly and winter without ever specifying what that connection was.

the reason for the two was the question : How does Mab predict the future?

If it was time travel, then Mab is a character we know now by another name. Hence, Molly.

If it was by precognition, then Mab can just be herself. But she still kidnapped molly for a reason, and that reason has something to do with winter; ergo, Molly is important to winter..

then I got on my logic choo choo train and drove around for a bit.

 

and Ill accept your conclusion about Lea and Nemesis, frankly. its close enough for hand grenades to me; when making WAGS we cant be held responsible for elements Jim hasn't shown yet.

No need to go that far. Let's consider the events of last October, when we were presented with a pin-up calendar image of Molly as Winter Lady. Had anyone actually looked at that image and reached that conclusion, with the evidence available at that time, they would have deserved to be disregarded and/or flamed. After all, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and up until then, we had never seen anyone not of Fae blood pick up the mantle.

(And we were told that Lily was the first not-fully-Fae Lady, even! And then Jim told us that Lily was lying to herself, and she had been forced to choose Fae by the mantle! See how all the evidence points away from it being possible for Molly to become Winter Lady?).

And yet... that's exactly what happened. And yet, just because it's what happened, it doesn't mean that logic would have allowed us to see it coming. It just means that, as Spock pointed out a long time ago, logic is not the only path to wisdom.

But I did come to the conclusion that molly would become winter, thru logic...

several years prior to that. The pic was just icing on the cake

Keep in mind, Harry actually asked Lea who was coming to Arctis Tor as a result of his attack. Her reply was “Why, all of Winter, child. All of us.” Is there any particular reason you're doubting her word? Is this like how when she says in Summer Knight that Mab and Titania are on the same level as the archangels and the lesser gods, you say that she's wrong? (At least, I think that was you? It was in the topic about relative power levels where you quoted your previously calculated values. Could have been someone else in the topic, though, in which case, I apologize for the case of mistaken identity.)

Out of curiosity, what do you think was the Gatekeeper's purpose in warning Harry about the Dark Magic at the beginning of Proven Guilty? To borrow a bit from Jim himself, what chain of events did that set in motion?  What secondary effects came about because of it? If I'm reading your interpretation right, it doesn't seem to have actually accomplished anything at all...

because being possessed by nemesis allows a sidhe to be less than honest, and she was obviously not functioning on all gears at the time?

and Lea gets rather poetic at times. Also, Jim uses the word 'peer' in terms of status not power level.

its a doylist interpretation for me: the reader needs to know how foresight and prophecy work, and what steps it takes to change the foreseen future. To harry, its a heads up that he is involved in such a prophecy somehow.

from GK's pov, I think he may have been testing the waters. At this point, he was half convinced Harry had been infected by N and wanted to see what happens.

frankly I think if GK was involved at all it was as Mab's agent. It was her plan, she started the ball rolling.. its quite plausible she briefed GK, but she may not of.

Just wanted to confirm which parts of that you still subscribe to after our discussion in this topic. As I previously mentioned, I'm still not convinced Mab has access to foresight. You mentioned in this topic that you don't think Mab can see how her actions will change the future away from what she saw, to which I pointed out that well, other beings who can see the future have been shown being able to tell exactly how their words change the future (Angels and Fallen) or have WoJ confirming that they have that skill (quoting: "Odin saw you coming last year, and he made his countermoves to what you're doing right now a week and a half ago.").

Do you still believe Mab has personal access to future knowledge, and if so, what evidence makes you think so? Do you still think it works differently from Angels and Odin? And if she does, why wasn't she using it prior to the big final fight in Cold Days? She kinda didn't see much coming that day.

If she can't see the future... can the rest of that topic stand without her having foresight?

Also, I don't think that topic answers my question about who's plan the Summer Fire attack on Winter's Wellspring was. I personally believe that the attack resulted in the Gate being unguarded for some time as every member of Winter rushed to AT, so it just doesn't make sense as something for Mab to have actually intended, you know? What are your thoughts on this?

(Actually, it does make sense to me, but I'd rather hear your thoughts first, rather than bias them with my own idea).

I still believe Mab can see the future, and is very good at it. She's just not perfect though, because the Dresden universe is a non deterministic one- no one in that universe, even a cosmic level god, can see the future 100% IMO.

seeing the future, and interpreting it, are two different things. I don't know if you've ever read Thomas Covenant, but I know Jim has ( he's lamp shaded in the books) and a big part of it in that series (which has a lot to do with free will, much like this one) is there are two parts:

Seer, who has visions of the future

and Prophet, who can tell you what those visions  mean.

now all the rest is IMO:

Mab is a very good Seer- she can foresee very well often years in advance, but doesn't always understand why things will happen the way they do. And she knows she could be wrong.

and she play chess against someone with the exact same limitations. Currently Mab's up on position but down on points, losing Maeve hurt a lot.

some people wonder why N left Maeve so much of her own free will and let her direct some of the action, while he just took over cat sith. Its because N understood Mab loves Maeve, and as long as there was even the smallest chance that she could be saved, would be willing to risk her own life to try and do so. In some messed up way, its Mab's biggest weakness.. she can still love.

as to how Mab sees the future, I think she has several methods. But I believe a major one is that the mantle of the queens was once one thing, before it was split; first into three pieces and then into six when the courts split into summer/ winter.

Being a far more advanced and powerful version of the archive, all persons who wear it, in all times, are somewhat connected; to each according to their gifts, and from each according to their intellects. So much like in the ancient Celtic myths of old, Mab can remember not only what past wearers knew but also foresee what future members might know.

Its the Once and Future.. Queen.

 

So do I think Molly goes back in time and becomes Mab? nope, not anymore. I think Mab goes into the future and becomes Molly.

If Book 20 doesn't end with 'all hail queen Molly' ill eat my bill.

As Mab approaches the point of change, her future memories of Molly become more clear, and having fresh human emotions, more strong. Thus the 'mine, mine, mine' in Changes, and the whole speech at the end of CD about how Harry raised Molly. It may have been about her training, but what it was relay about was how much Molly/ Mab loved Harry, and how little he loved her, and how much it hurt them.

was it unfair? yes, certainly. but it was also very real.

probably the scariest things is, if I am right, Molly/ Mab is damn close to losing it.

The two of them need Harry right now, and since he has his head up his ass to the point where he can smell out his belly button, they aren't likely to get him.

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Back OT, I doubt summer fire had anything to do with N and im sure it didn't leave the gates unguarded. The forces that were called back were Mab's border guards, and her reserve force, under the command of the Erlking. That's what, a 1/1000 th of her total force?

I joked in another thread that while we've met Odin and Herne, where are Cerne, Arawn, Lugus.. Jokes aside, Jim mentions there are lots of kings of winter, and I suspect some of them are in command of the gates.

---

as to the end of CD.. I think a lot of it came out 'within spec'. Mab didn't get exactly what she wanted ( Maeve restored) but she knew the odds on that were always damn long to begin with.

As to the comments of what she intended for Molly.. of course she didn't intend Molly to take Maeve's place. Molly is supposed to someday take hers. Sarrisa was meant to take over Lilly's.  The solution that came out was less then ideal, but its still workable.

on the other hand, she did lure her enemies to attack DR directly, which unknown to them had a fully functional and operational warden. (cue imperial music). that, with the wild hunt and two sidhe kings/ generals put the enemy right between the rock and the hard place.

it cost the enemy dearly too- as outisders must be summoned by mortals, there is a limit to how many they can field. 

kind of hard for Mab to:

- introduce Harry and DR in SmF
- Make her potential knight warden in TC (without N knowing)
- Broadcast his knight Dom in changes, very loudly
- arrange to get him killed , again very publically
- while sitting here
- and diverting the bullet from his head to his heart
- and catching him in the water
- getting rid of that silly death curse
- towing him to the isle, with which she had a deal
- let her enemies get their plans underway
- give them enough rope to hang themselves
- and turn their own trap against them

if she cant have fore seen at least some of that, right?

I mean, heck, Batman cant pull off plans like that, and he's one of the worst mary sue's in history.

 

ps- as to the WG, im not sure how much he's even involved. I do think Mab and Uriel have come to an 'understanding' and that Mab is not happy about it, one bit.