That's the $64,000.00 question as they used to say.  We've been kicking that subject around for years.

I'll re-introduce my own WAG here... part of which is that Justin isn't (necessarily(*)) the "evil wizard" Harry thinks he is.

He's "old-school" and harsh, for sure... fastball baseballs as shield-training, &c.  But the mover & shaker in this was Mab(**).

  I agree that Justin was old school, but I don't think Mab is the mover and shaker here.  I also agree that there is a lot of missing information and when and if we ever find out what and why of it it will turn out to be a lot more complicated than we think.

1] Yes, Justin old school wizard, former Warden, he was tough on Harry... But was he equally tough on Elaine? We know nothing of his lessons with her.  Why weren't her and Harry taught together? After all defensive skills are the same for male as well as for female wizards as Lea and Mab both complained to Harry that he was too easy on Molly.

Elsethread was posed the question:  what if it was an attempted Nemfection?
Would young-Harry, half-trained and in a panic, have even known the difference?

How could he?  Until Harry pushed Titania to name names, he didn't even know Nemesis existed, and Harry is just now learning what it is capable of.  Hind sight is 20/20 and I wouldn't be surprised if Harry revisits what happened that day with fresh eyes knowing what he knows now and will learn in future books.

  We've talked a lot about this of late, and I am wondering if Justin enthralled her at all.  There are a few things that don't add up and it is possible that she was only acting enthralled.

But then he could have just not trained Harry and Elaine beyond the basics. No need to make Harry an enforcer if he's going to body switch him. Actually, just be a semi-decent parent to them so the heel turn is more effective later.

That makes sense. 

Dunno... maybe he just really, really hated the "Doogie Howser effect" and was waiting for Harry's body to at least hit his legal majority... Maybe even an extra decade or two to get past the hardcore hormones (Luccio remarked on finding that difficult to manage).

No, it wouldn't be the Doogie Howser effect, because outside of a young body, he'd be inside Harry's head and conducting that body.  However you maybe on to something,switching bodies can cause problems as Luccio discovered, she no longer could make warden swords. Though that might be because she was dumped into a non-wizard body.  The Corpsetaker on the other hand doesn't seem to have that problem with each switch she makes.

Nice loophole, but... Murphy ain't gonna be willing to leave her own people behind.

Not to mention, that Murphy doesn't belong in this dimension, so who knows what kind of consequences there would be if that happened.  Also she isn't the same Murphy in both dimensions, unless Jim uses the Spock loophole as per the original classic Trek story... However even if she had the same values as the other Murphy, while she may fight for justice in her dimension she cannot cross over to one she doesn't belong in.  So maybe a nice lovey dovey interlude for Harry, but he has to go back to his own dimension and leave her behind.  Doesn't do a thing for his grief nor his depression, and he needs to be sharp for the coming BAT.

HAAH! I am the master of WOJ Google Fu!

Took me an hour of searching through youtube transcripts before I remembered to check a chat I'm on Discord. Found it in five seconds.

WOJ: "My first question was: "Since Murphy has recently become a just mostly dead Einherjar, how likely do you see it that she, given her personality and love for Harry, would be content to abide by the „until she has passed out of living memory“ rule and not try to subvert it in some way?"

His answer: Does Murphy strike you as someone to just follow along with such a rule? Of course she will try to subvert it somehow."

Edit: Credit to Magnuskin he posted it from a panel from Denmark. https://www.paranetonline.com/index.php/topic,54936.0.html

 Key word, try.  Thanks for taking the time to look it up!  Sounds like Jim is covering his behind and hasn't decided.  Actually, Murphy is all dead and has gone to Valhalla. However there are reasons for the rule, Murphy may figure a way around it, but me thinks there will be consequences that in the end will only cause more pain for Harry.

She had just as much devout faith in being a cop, but she compromised on that alot in Ghost Story and beyond.

Murphy's faith started going off the rails when she got canned from the police department, actually maybe earlier with her two failed marriages.  Her devout faith went somewhere else when she briefly was a KoC at C.I, she didn't like being a holy sock puppet..  She totally lost it when the assumption was made based on pretty good evidence that Harry was dead.  She then proclaimed herself the custodian of the Swords, and when the real custodian, by that I mean the guy to whom a couple of KoCs actually handed their Swords to returned, she claimed to have better judgement than he did, but no faith in the Lord's judgement speaking through His Knights.. Then she got a Sword smashed because she thought she knew better than the rules governing it's use and passed judgement on Nic... Yeah, it turned out okay, but no thanks to her.. So in a word, her "devout" faith has been in the toilet for some time.

Uriel and Vadderung are colleagues. If an Archangel tells someone whose devout that she'd still be fighting the good fight. Thats the next best thing from mission from God. Which she already turned down when she didn't pick up the Sword.

Actually I don't think Uriel has much say at all in the matter, free will, is free will.  Not sure if the same rules relating to free will apply to Odin or not.. Either way, I think Murphy did make a free choice, she believes she stays in the fight as an Einherjaar and will be able to continue to fight along side of Harry, something she doesn't think she could do along side of her father helping Uriel.

Murphy had been working with and alongside Einherjaar for awhile. She has respect for them as warriors. Besides I doubt she'd just serve blindly faithful.

She may believe that, but the Einherjaar are Odin's warriors, his soldiers, as such, they follow orders. Unless some huge exception is made for her, I doubt she will be given a lot of options when she gets orders..

I think there actually *is* a WOJ about her being a pain to Vadderung same way Harry is to Mab. iirc.

Maybe, I would like to see that WoJ if you can find it, just what he said..  I doubt they will be the same, Harry is Mab's Winter Knight, the go to guy.. As an Einherjaar, Murphy is just one of many, and since the Einherjaar don't seem to have any "powers" aside from being kick ass warriors I doubt she'd be much of a pain in the ass to Odin, other than giving him a verbal hard time.