I've long embraced the theory that the Winter Court's assumption of Outer Gate duty was concurrent with Mab's ascension. However, I just spent 20 minutes looking through my old posts and couldn't come up with anything recent where I discussed it, and there's someone on Reddit commenting on some info from the new Dresden Files Accelerated RPG book preview (available only to kickstarter backers) and how it backs the theory up.
So I've decided to compose a topic that brings together the body of evidence and speculation that supports this theory. It's not a certainty, or it wouldn't be worth going through the trouble pointing out the evidence, but I do believe it is a very strong theory. So lets get this party started.
Fact: Winter wasn't always in charge of the Outer Gates, and there were others previously guarding it.There are always Outsiders trying to tear their way in. There are always forces in place to stop them. In our age, it is the task of Winter to defend these boundaries, with the help of certain others to support them. Think of them as . . . an immune system for the mortal world.
I seem to remember that the Outer Gates are currently being guarded by Winter, but it was insinuated that they are just its current defenders. Does that mean that there were guardians before them or that they are the last of those guardians?
Both. 
IMO, the passing of this torch is one of reasons why it was necessary for Odin to take on the Kringle mantle. There was probably enmity earned in Mab's taking over, but also a need for some level of politically cordial relations between the former and current heads of the Gate Guardians during the transition.
Fact: Mab and Titania aren't the original "Queens" Mab and Titania:I was wondering if Mab was the first Winter Queen?
No. Mab was not the first Mab. Mab was originally Winter Lady, and Lea was her Jenny Greenteeth. She was her sidekick and handmaiden. And so when Mab got promoted Lea did too. So she got to be much more powerful and awesome. But that was a while back. When that happened. And the same thing with Titania. The Winter Queens actually died. The last time things got awful in the wizard world. So things are about to get awful in the wizard world again and they're a bit nervous. They're a bit nervous about Dresden. Well, Titania is very nervous about Dresden. Mab is keeping her enemies close.
Well, I think it happened around "Hastings." That is, the 1066 "
Battle of Hastings" but we don't flat out know. First, here are the main bits of info we have implying as much.
How old is the current Mab anyways?How often do the Ladies’, Queens’ and Mothers’ mantles change?
Uh, the Ladies, Queens and Mothers, their mantles change very, very, very rarely in general. I mean, Mab’s been there for better than 1,000 years. And Maeve’s been there….there was a Winter Lady before Maeve, uh, in Mab’s time. And she didn’t fare so well the last time a Starborn was running around.
Is Nic older than Mab?
He is.
There's also the Hastings references below:
What we know about Hastings being significant to Winter/the Fae:"I have not exchanged words with my sister since before Hastings."
How long has the White Council had the Blackstaff
Look for Celtic Lore around 1065 ad.
This is widely believed to be when Mother Winter "Lost her walking stick." Jim doesn't flat out confirm this, but has acknowledged that plenty of people on the internet have figured out the origin of the Blackstaff correctly.
Which sounds a lot like the kind of thing that could be associated with "The last time things got awful in the wizard world."The Sidhe haven't always been as they are now That is, the current state of Summer and Winter Fae doesn't necessarily reflect how they used to be.
sapph42: Could the Summer Court bestow the Mantle of the Summer Knight (is that capitalization all correct?) on someone who held the Mantle of the Winter Knight? What would holding both Mantles do to a person? If it is possible, and is not fatal, how would such a person resolve their conflicting obligations? Would they still have obligations if they lived, but no longer held the Mantle(s)?
Jim: 2) That's a fascinating question. I think they /could/, but it would do horrible things to the head of the person who got it. Reuniting two things that were meant to be divided just cannot be good for the person standing around when it happens...
To me, the word "reuniting" implies that the power was at one point united.
The Sidhe were created by outside agents for a purpose. (My spin on the below WoJ is that they already existed in some form, and were... appropriated and reshaped to purpose)
You've previously said that the Sidhe and Mab came from origins like Toot Toot and kind of took on responsibility and grew. You've also said that every single Fae have come from mortal origins like changelings and Scions and stuff. Could you reconcile these two apparently contradictory origins?
I could but I won't *sing song* I'm not gonna tell you.* The Sidhe were created for a reason though. They were created specifically by certain agents who no longer had as much influence on the world as they once did. I've hinted at that in some previous books and I'll leave it at that and I'll leave the rest to you.
"You're telling me that this is why Mab has her power? To... to protect the borders?"
"To protect you all from the Outsiders, mortal."
"Then why does Titania have hers?" I asked?
"To protect all of you from Mab."
"Titania cannot match Mab's forces, but she can drag Mab personally into oblivion with her--and Mab knows it. Titania is the check to her power, the balance."
Although the Summer and Winter Courts were probably already a dichotomy, taking up stewardship of the Guardianship of the Outer Gates and the associated terrible power and responsibility is probably the wedge that drove Mab and Titania apart such that Titania no longer can even speak with her sister, and probably instigating the creation of the two Knight mantles that were "meant to be divided."
What ties the two events together? (Mab's ascension, and Winter's assuming stewardship over the Outer Gates)
What evidence do we have these two major events were concurrent?
We have a WoJ that adds up to our Mab being the one taking over at the Outer Gates. I remember the older WoJ referenced here, but I've lost it unfortunately. If you use contorted logic with respect to phrasing it is possible to suppose that the "she" and "her" pronouns refer to the mantles held by more than one Mab since we have WoJ that favors like this are to the mantle not the person holding it, but that's very convoluted and unlikely.
At a Con you attended recently, you mentioned that the reason Mab owes favors to some unsavory characters is due to debts she accrued when the Winter Fey first assumed the duty of manning the Wall.
Regarding that favor, it was a situation where Mab needed to be in two places at once and couldn’t. So Anduriel loaned her Nicodemus to step into one of the places she couldn’t be. Man has since learned better than that and now she has somebody that will step in for her when she needs to be in two places at once. Which is why the Leanansidhe has got so much power and generally shows up whenever Mab isn’t there. If you’ll notice in the books, the Leanansidhe and Mab very rarely show up in the same place at the same time. That’s because Leanansidhe is covering things that Mab should be doing, while Mab is wasting her time on Harry Dresden. And vice versa.
Finally, there is this interesting analysis of a line from the new Dresden Files Accelerated RPG book provided by redditor Anubissama
So I have been looking through the new Dresden Files Accelerated RPG which is written "in world" like the previous books, but this time from the point of view of Ivy (the Archive).
And besides some world expanding infos like who was the Gatekeeper before Rashid, and what the Gates are made out off, we get this titbit:
The reason may be found in Winter’s reason for being, which is this: they stand guard at the Outer Gates, and have done so for time immemorial.
In the segment about the Winter Court and there violent nature, now this raised my eyebrows. We have a WoJ that the Guard at the Gates changes, so it can't mean "times immemorial" in the poetic sense "since always", but the Archive wouldn't be so imprecise, would it?
If we check the phrase "Time Immemorial" we find out that it is an actual legal term. In the human world (at least the part influence by British Law) it means since the 6th of July 1189 the beginning of the reign of King Richard I.
So transferring this to Fairy terms, does it mean that the Fairies have been only Guarding the Gates since Mab ascension to Queen?
According to WoJ, Mab is Queen for around a thousand years, some speculate that her ascension happen at the Battle of Hastings on the 14th October 1066, the last time her and Titania spoke directly, some other speculate on historic events that took place on 31 October, with Bob being present hence why he knows that Immortals are vulnerable on Halloween.
I think we can assume that the "Time Immemorial" references the ascension of a Winter Queen and that this Queen was Mab, since her takeover was so hectic that she needed to indebt herself to Anduriel to help with the transition, sounds to me like Winter took up some new duties with Mab as Queen.
PS I know that the Dresden Files RPG book aren't strictly canon but from what I know they are at least proof read by Butcher, so speculating on the new information given in them, is in my opinion, warranted.
- Our Mab is the one who took over at the gates
- "Hastings" is when the White Council obtained the Blackstaff, which is probably Mother Winter's walking stick and is probably "The last time things got awful in the wizard world." That is, when Mab and Titania's predecessors died and they ascended.
- Mab's position as defender of the gates is what defines the purpose of Titania's power, and is the likely wedge responsible for Titania no longer speaking with her "since Hastings"
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), but who knows? I'll run it by him.
