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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: Con on October 06, 2021, 08:05:12 AM

Title: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Con on October 06, 2021, 08:05:12 AM
So Harry is technically Mother Winters, Winter Knight. Harry owes her allegiance. Could she task harry with getting the Blackstaff back?
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: hiddendotgif on October 06, 2021, 11:14:24 AM
I imagine so, but that may be a tad extreme for right now - an 'impossible' task (even if Harry would likely find a way). There's no use throwing out a perfectly good Knight by asking such a power-balance-changing task.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 06, 2021, 12:22:11 PM


  Yeah,  I think if Mother Winter wanted her stick back, she'd get it.  Here's a thought, Mother Summer, Mab, and Titania know perfectly well that Eb has it, but are not telling Mother Winter.

Why? Because they have determined that it is most effective where it presently is.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Con on October 06, 2021, 12:58:45 PM

  Yeah,  I think if Mother Winter wanted her stick back, she'd get it.  Here's a thought, Mother Summer, Mab, and Titania know perfectly well that Eb has it, but are not telling Mother Winter.

Why? Because they have determined that it is most effective where it presently is.

Doesn't Mother Winter have Intellectus anyway?

and yeah Mab probably finds it useful that the Blackstaffs Grandson is her Winter Knight.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: LostInTime on October 06, 2021, 04:29:25 PM
Mother Winter doesn't know where her staff is in the way Harry doesn't know where the eye is. She hasn't looked for it.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 06, 2021, 05:24:50 PM
Mother Winter doesn't know where her staff is in the way Harry doesn't know where the eye is. She hasn't looked for it.

She may have looked for it, but cannot find it..  It could be as cantankerous as she is, it was taken
away for the sake of mankind.  Not quite the same as Harry, he doesn't want to know, because he wanted to the Marcone and the other members of the Accords that he doesn't know.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: b4utoo on October 06, 2021, 06:52:11 PM
Everyone knows Blackstaff McCoy. Unless Mother Winter hasn't heard it. She Knows! Just because she "lost it" past tense doesn't mean it wasn't found and just not recovered. Like when Mab just knows the whole story with few clues... intellectus.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 06, 2021, 07:16:18 PM
Everyone knows Blackstaff McCoy. Unless Mother Winter hasn't heard it. She Knows! Just because she "lost it" past tense doesn't mean it wasn't found and just not recovered. Like when Mab just knows the whole story with few clues... intellectus.

Maybe not, she doesn't get around since she lost it, remember how hard it was for her when Harry summoned her.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 06, 2021, 11:42:49 PM
The likelihood is that she loaned the Blackstaff to the White Council but promised not to take it back, the White Council has to voluntarily return it to her, which is never going to happen unless Harry intervenes.

She can’t retrieve it or order Harry to retrieve it, but if it were to end up in Harry’s Possession (which it will, all major magical artefacts seem to) he Can give it back to her.

The whole magical artefact thing is so bad that when the White Council eventually find out about him they will  tell him that Bob is number 2 on the most wanted list of dangerous magical artefacts and Bob could easily say “that’s flattering, I don’t even make the top five in Harry’s collection” which is true, Eye of Balor, Spear of Destiny, the Shroud, The Placard, the Crown of Thorns, Amorrachius, Bob.

And he has previously been custodian of the sword of Faith and a blackened Denarius at the same time, as well as an original Star Wars poster.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Second Aristh on October 07, 2021, 02:41:20 AM
I don't think it's a given that Mother Winter will get her walking stick back at all during the series.  Could she order Harry to get it back for her?  Probably, but could and would are two different questions.  I'd more expect her to have made the judgement that the Blackstaff is in an appropriate place for the time being.  The White Council has had it since Mab ascended around 1065.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 07, 2021, 10:47:18 AM
Quote
And he has previously been custodian of the sword of Faith and a blackened Denarius at the same time, as well as an original Star Wars poster.

Yeah, he lost a small fortune when that burned up.. But then again condition is everything..
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Ed0517 on October 08, 2021, 07:56:43 AM
The Mothers can unravel reality. She could likely do a Thor "To me" and it materializes in her hand, unless someone of her level is holding it.  Doesn't need Harry.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 08, 2021, 10:41:14 AM
The argument given her power level is that she has agreed not to take it back, but would accept it if offered it back.

It is currently held by the White Council. There is no time-line in which they will voluntarily hand back any artefact of power. No wonder she is grumpy. She probably invented the norovirus/winter vomiting virus because of it, a nasty bug perfect for the cramped unventilated environment of the White Council in Edinburgh, with almost certainly inadequate plumbing.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 08, 2021, 11:30:44 AM
She can't, she can't leave the cottage. Not really (she reached out and pulled Harry to her for a reason) it's the walking stick that lets her er.. Walk. I reason when she told Harry, as winter knight, he's "no knight of mine" she was being quite literal. Instead of a mantle, she made an artifact, a talisman similar in it's basic form to the hexxenwolf belts. They connect you to a spiritual being, that being has powers you draw upon via the artifact.(looking at my explanation, that's almost exactly what the Swords do) it gives her the baba yaga mask, the wicked witch, and gives a being of neigh unlimited power the ability to go anywhere and eat anything, it gives her freedom to act, choices she wouldn't have had.
I'm not sure she can ask for it back, not outright. But if she had it, I think she coulda marched right into Chicago and snatched Ethniu up and grinded her bones into bread.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Avernite on October 08, 2021, 03:39:06 PM
I think it's the other way around.

Sure, she's grumpy about not being able to walk - but with the blackstaff out in the world, it is active, bringing death and suffering to the world she can't walk in. She'd probably shatter mundane reality just by glaring, nevermind when amassing the magic oomph to drag a satellite onto a mansion.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 09, 2021, 12:07:46 AM
I am not sure the Mothers can properly enter the world without breaking reality, it’s like Ferrovax, he extrudes his human form in, or like Vadderung who has deliberately limited himself.

I think the mantles were set up to make the Mothers powerful enough for full intellectus, the Queens just powerful enough to stride the Earth without breaking it, and the Ladies just powerful enough to be immortal. When created they had specific purposes in mind. Otherwise we see more limited Intellectus like the Archive (all recorded knowledge) Harry/Demonreach (the island) and Bob (porn), none of the members of the Accords we have seen have displayed Full  Intellectus, the only character likely to is Uriel. Even Anduriel doesn’t have it.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 09, 2021, 02:07:28 AM
Quote
I am not sure the Mothers can properly enter the world without breaking reality, it’s like Ferrovax, he extrudes his human form in, or like Vadderung who has deliberately limited himself.
that's... What the mantles are for. To give them another, lesser form that doesn't break reality.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 09, 2021, 03:19:48 AM
The Mothers can see the future, all of them.  For them to go into any one timeline is to be blind them to all of the others. This is how Mother Summer knew that Mab had ordered Maeve's death.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 09, 2021, 03:36:40 AM
Can't be that easy to lose track of your multiversal self, otherwise Uriel would be doing it all the time. An he seems kinda important. (Now if giving Micheal his grace did that is a different story) metaphorically, I'd you dip your big toe into a pool, you don't loose track of everything around you, but if you submerged yourself..
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 09, 2021, 04:46:14 AM
Uriel may have answered that in Small Favor.
Quote
“Well,” he said, “I never been to much school, you understand. But seems to me that you assuming something you shouldn’t assume.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“That God sees the world like you do. One thing at a time. From just one spot. Seems to me that He is supposed to be everywhere, know everything.” He put the lid back on the trash can. “Think about that. He knows what you’re feeling, how you’re hurting. Feels my pain, your pain, like it was His own.”
Pretty much out of the Christian playbook. Mathew 10:29. Or omniscience.

For the Mothers what I imagine when I think of it, is like looking at a very long wall.  The closer you get, the less you can see. You  have never seen the Mothers away from their cottage. Not even in an alternate form. Except when Mother Winter's arm pulled Harry through the bottom of his grave when he summoned her./shrug/
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 09, 2021, 06:29:51 AM
The ‘pull in’ is about the amount the Mothers can manifest in the real world without reality breaking, but would not restrict Mother Winter retrieving the Blackstaff if she had a choice in the matter.

One thing which is WOJ is that there is only one Uriel and he exists simultaneously across the multiverse. Perhaps this is to prevent his presence breaking any one reality? His metaphysical weight is evenly distributed across the multiverse rather concentrated in one place, so can extrude in a real world of a universe because it is only a small part of him.

This would suggest that the Mothers are discrete to their universe, consistent with the Mantles being created relatively late in history, say the last few thousand years. On that basis there will be whole swathes of the multiverse where Winter and the Mothers do not exist, they are not therefore evenly distributed across the multiverse.Uriel created by the White God at the start of creation would be.

It’s space time and the rubber sheet and bowling ball all over again, but it’s metaphysical.

Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Ed0517 on October 10, 2021, 06:10:15 AM
I think the Mothers may have interdimensional counterparts - they are likely usually the Queens moved to semiretirement - and we know Mab was once mortal. So the Queens likely were too, so each dimension can have varying queens, as they came from different mortals.  Heck, maybe some dimensions have kings....  Uriel started out an Archangel.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 10, 2021, 09:20:31 AM
I think the Mothers may have interdimensional counterparts - they are likely usually the Queens moved to semiretirement - and we know Mab was once mortal. So the Queens likely were too, so each dimension can have varying queens, as they came from different mortals.  Heck, maybe some dimensions have kings....  Uriel started out an Archangel.
archangels and the mother's, per Woj, have only one distinct being that exists simultaneously in every timeline.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 10, 2021, 10:58:20 AM
The Mothers would certainly exist in all the universes where the Mantles exist, but the Courts and the Mantles are at most a couple of thousand years old, so this would only be a percentage of the Multiverse. Thus whilst there may be one of them, they are the Mothers over that percentage. Where the Fae and the Courts do not exist they have no reason to be, and there may be other beings occupying a similar position over a other local groups of universes. Conversely if their local group of universes succeeds in defeating the Outsiders it allows further branching of these universes and an expansion of their being. They are very pro Harry succeeding, even if they have a back up champion on another timeline where they exist because it means they start the next cycle at a much higher percentage of universes where they exist, more opportunity for branching of their universes, and their own personal growth.

Uriel has been described as being able to snuff out galaxies, his power runs through the multiverse, throughout each universe, including timelines where the solar system or Earth never coalesced, life never existed on Earth, humanity never evolved etc but life evolved on other worlds giving rise to alien champions totally apart from Earth all being watched and shepherded by Uriel and the other Archangels in the battle against the Outsiders. Earth is this local group ofuniverses battleground.

The White God and the Archangels are spread all over Creation from, well it’s creation. The Mothers would only exist over their little part of creation.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 10, 2021, 03:10:07 PM
That's very assumptive of them NOT existing before giving the mantles, which is not the case. How the mother's appear is directly effected by the courts they have made/aligned themselves with, in other offshoots of reality where they broke off different pieces instead they still exist as their 'True' identity. Only how we perceive them changes. Indeed, I think that's something all multiversal beings share, and not just the outsiders that we know for sure of.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 10, 2021, 04:16:24 PM
It is fairly clear that Mantles were made from the power of other entities including small ‘g’ gods, the beings upon whom the Mantles were bestowed existed before this, BUT it is doubtful these beings had full Intellectus, or multiversal manifestation because otherwise, why bother?

In other universes, yes these beings never pooled their power to create the Mantles and they may be more like Mab able to perceive and communicate with their variants in other universes, but not a single being manifesting in multiple universes.

The Mantles may also have been designed to prevent beings adopting Mantles being changed by perceptions of them by humanity, freezing their function and purpose. The Mothers are probably immune to this stuck in the Never Never away from human scrutiny, but not probably the Queens or Ladies more in the real world, the Mantles protect them from this.

Look at the Kringle Mantle, the Mantle protects Kringle from becoming the Coca Cola Santa, who frankly wouldn’t lead the Wild Hunt.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 10, 2021, 07:52:31 PM
You don't need to worry about the branches the world isn't in. If you assume that the universe is the White Gods toy then it makes sense that he has intellectus with his toy.  Since he made it. But no matter where the outsiders might break in, all they need do is traverse the tree downwards to the root. The branches become fewer going back until you are left with nothing but the trunk. The Outer Gates would be at the one point where the Outsider space and the Universe touch.  And this is the Place the Queens defend.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 10, 2021, 09:16:00 PM
Most likely one of the places defended by various defenders, we cannot presume this is the only such engagement in the multiverse, only the one putting this part of the multiverse at risk of sterilisation by the White God in the event of defeat becoming likely.

We have to presume Uriel is like one of those Chess Grandmasters, taking on 100 players in different matches simultaneously and Harry is a White Knight in only one of those games, but the one where defeat is most likely to be soonest unless there is a bit of nifty gameplay.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 10, 2021, 10:42:25 PM
Quote
The Mothers would certainly exist in all the universes where the Mantles exist, but the Courts and the Mantles are at most a couple of thousand years old, so this would only be a percentage of the Multiverse. Thus whilst there may be one of them, they are the Mothers over that percentage.
uhh... The mother's existed pre mantle's, just not in their current identity, identity shaped by belief. MW is likely a beginning of time pillar, as would be the original MS. Creation and destruction are kinda key to reality. They exist, and they always exist in basically every reality. Now, in that reality next door, where Hinduism blew up. They more closely resemble Shiva and Vishnu. But that's a change of beliefs, not if beings.
There are no timelines where they don't exist, because they are part of the metaphysics that create reality, only their manifestation and degree of connectedness to reality changes.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 10, 2021, 10:50:27 PM
Talking purely speculatively, why can't it be just one? If there are an infinite number then the game might be over over before it begins. The more gates the more likely that one will fall.  The math is fairly simple. So create one place and populate it with an appropriate cast of characters and the go.  In that scenario all the Mothers have to keep up with is the Human branches. Since all the fey come from human stock there you go.  I suspect angels guarded the border before Humans.  Just saying.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 11, 2021, 04:34:09 AM
Talking purely speculatively, why can't it be just one? If there are an infinite number then the game might be over over before it begins. The more gates the more likely that one will fall.  The math is fairly simple. So create one place and populate it with an appropriate cast of characters and the go.  In that scenario all the Mothers have to keep up with is the Human branches. Since all the fey come from human stock there you go.  I suspect angels guarded the border before Humans.  Just saying.
yea.. and I suspect those galaxies Uriel is capable of destroying (i.e wars he fought on galactic scale), are likely timelines where the wall was going to give out, so he cauterized the wound. Sheared the timeline off. I also wonder if this isn't the balance hell plays in hells bells, they do something to give angels room to act to destroy reality.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 11, 2021, 04:59:29 AM
yea.. and I suspect those galaxies Uriel is capable of destroying (i.e wars he fought on galactic scale), are likely timelines where the wall was going to give out, so he cauterized the wound. Sheared the timeline off. I also wonder if this isn't the balance hell plays in hells bells, they do something to give angels room to act to destroy reality.

I don't think the Angels need to destroy a reality where Outsiders invade because I think the Outsiders unmake that reality.  Empty Night.  No more reality.  However as we are going to learn from Mirror Mirror, realities are constantly being created.  New ones are being born all the time.  This is probably why the Outsiders consider them "noisy".  They keep multiplying, and the creation of each new reality probably creates some sort of shockwave that the Outsiders sense, or feel.

I see realities growing exponentially.

(https://vidzhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/parallel-Universe-1024x576.jpg)
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 11, 2021, 06:59:01 AM
I don't think the Angels need to destroy a reality where Outsiders invade because I think the Outsiders unmake that reality.  Empty Night.  No more reality.  However as we are going to learn from Mirror Mirror, realities are constantly being created.  New ones are being born all the time.  This is probably why the Outsiders consider them "noisy".  They keep multiplying, and the creation of each new reality probably creates some sort of shockwave that the Outsiders sense, or feel.

I see realities growing exponentially.

(https://vidzhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/parallel-Universe-1024x576.jpg)
yeah, I usually see it that way, but something in his post made me reconsider, if the point of taking the queens us to get to the mother's, then what they're really looking for is one opening that undoes all reality. If MS(because I kinda assume MW already is, but fights it proactively) became Nemfected, then as a being omnipresent, infected by another being apparently omnipresent then... What? All of MS's fall and ergo All reality? I consider the gates and mother's intrinsically connected, if there's truly only one of them, perhaps there's only one of the other?
Consider, if any of the fallen used to be archangels, like Uriel, with only one of them, then their fall effected all realities at the same time? And if this was effected by something happening in one specific reality, then multidimensional beings/creations are very much at risk inside a singular reality.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Ed0517 on October 11, 2021, 07:54:53 AM
archangels and the mother's, per Woj, have only one distinct being that exists simultaneously in every timeline.

I thought it was each dimension had their own set of mothers, but there was one Uriel? I can't find it though
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 11, 2021, 09:28:01 AM
I thought it was each dimension had their own set of mothers, but there was one Uriel? I can't find it though
each has their own queen, who can "talk" between counterparts, but the mother's are singularly unique apparently.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 11, 2021, 03:43:31 PM
If the Outsiders get into one universe they can spread, so the White God will prune rather than lose in that universe.

The White God has been with Creation from Day One, the Mothers in whatever form have likely been around only since humanity evolved the concepts which they embody. They therefore may not have evolved to Full Intellectus without the mantels as belief splinters empowering many different deities, instead of one, rationing the power. The Mantles were formed from the power of several major deities, perhaps none of which developed Full Intellectus, the Fates may only have had an Intellectus about the people of Earth perhaps, not enough for the task at hand if it couldn’t cover non-humans, or other worlds.

Otherwise there is no need to create the Mantles.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 11, 2021, 07:26:14 PM
yeah, I usually see it that way, but something in his post made me reconsider, if the point of taking the queens us to get to the mother's, then what they're really looking for is one opening that undoes all reality. If MS(because I kinda assume MW already is, but fights it proactively) became Nemfected, then as a being omnipresent, infected by another being apparently omnipresent then... What?

Mother Winter is the original, Mother Summer is not, the previous stepped down.  So a Mother can be replaced.  Also when Jim was asked about Nemesis infecting an Angel, he stated that Nemesis isn't some omnipotent Being, It has limits.  Leah, who is not remotely on the same level as a Mother was able to resist It, long enough for Mab to help her.  I don't believe that Nemesis is capable of taking on something as big as one of the Mothers.  It's just not on that level.

I think it's more like they want a foothold, and for mortals to begin worshipping the Old Ones.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 11, 2021, 09:03:56 PM
Mother Winter is the original, Mother Summer is not, the previous stepped down.  So a Mother can be replaced.  Also when Jim was asked about Nemesis infecting an Angel, he stated that Nemesis isn't some omnipotent Being, It has limits.  Leah, who is not remotely on the same level as a Mother was able to resist It, long enough for Mab to help her.
🤔 tell me something I don't know? Just because something can be replaced doesn't mean it isn't vital and can't be compromised. Stepping down is much different than becoming a twisted version of oneself. And where as specific things dictate what happens to queen's mantles, we don't know how well mechanismed they are. As you pointed out though, MS isn't the original, this means to me, she isn't pure in formation. How can she be immune to any of the things the courts are vulnerable to when she's the same sort? Nemesis can't effect things that are too absolute, the only thing this specifically applied to was archangels, but it really leaves alot open for interpretation That's a disconnect between host and spiritual entity, how can she be absolute when she's inherited her position and wears it?
Quote
  I don't believe that Nemesis is capable of taking on something as big as one of the Mothers.  It's just not on that level.
I think it's more like they want a foothold, and for mortals to begin worshipping the Old Ones.
heh, im thinking when we find out what the outer gates are a metaphor for, that's exactly what they do. Mother's don't have to be too big, nemesis is only dipping a toe in reality itself. An either it took out the 3rd sister of fate, compromised her, or just straight up IS her, but for any of those to have happened she'd have to be directly on par with, or capable of subverting mother level powers... It's already been done once.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 11, 2021, 10:04:52 PM
You can nemfect a Mother, infect a Lady and kill the Queen and wait.

Both Ladies were infected so that was a likely strategy.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 12, 2021, 02:18:23 AM
An either it took out the 3rd sister of fate

I don't think there was three.  I think Jim put his own spin.  There are 3 Fates.  Mother, Queen, Lady.  3 Fates for Winter, 3 Fates for Summer.  If there wasa 3rd Mother, what would she represent?  Not a season as the other 2 do.  A 3rd Mother would be out of place from the readers perspective.  There is a precise balance between Winter and Summer, and a 3rd Mother wouldn't make sense.


EDIT:  Unless before they took up Winter, and Summer, there were 3 Mothers, and the 3rd Mother leads the Fomor who Jim did say were defeated by the Sidhe.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Second Aristh on October 12, 2021, 02:58:31 AM
I don't think there was three.  I think Jim put his own spin.  There are 3 Fates.  Mother, Queen, Lady.  3 Fates for Winter, 3 Fates for Summer.  If there wasa 3rd Mother, what would she represent?  Not a season as the other 2 do.  A 3rd Mother would be out of place from the readers perspective.  There is a precise balance between Winter and Summer, and a 3rd Mother wouldn't make sense.


EDIT:  Unless before they took up Winter, and Summer, there were 3 Mothers, and the 3rd Mother leads the Fomor who Jim did say were defeated by the Sidhe.
Nah, I'm not a fan of the Fomor mother idea.  The Fates were seen as maiden/mother/crone triple deity.  That got split in half to get the six queens we know and  love.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 12, 2021, 03:39:49 AM
I don't think there was three.  I think Jim put his own spin.  There are 3 Fates.  Mother, Queen, Lady.  3 Fates for Winter, 3 Fates for Summer.  If there wasa 3rd Mother, what would she represent?  Not a season as the other 2 do.  A 3rd Mother would be out of place from the readers perspective.  There is a precise balance between Winter and Summer, and a 3rd Mother wouldn't make sense.


EDIT:  Unless before they took up Winter, and Summer, there were 3 Mothers, and the 3rd Mother leads the Fomor who Jim did say were defeated by the Sidhe.
life, fate, all things to come, there's a reason they had to throw her @$$ out when free will came about. Lachesis the spinner, decided fate for everything, in some stories even the Gods Couldn't defy fate.
Lachesis IS in DF if only apparent by her noticable absence. Her spin wheel actually made an appearance in SK, something I chalk up to one of those object/mantles MW seems to collect as trophies for particular kills.
As for a third not making sense, of course not, but as you say, they weren't originally formed as they are.. they created the courts later, those are not the original forms of them, least not the mother's who would actually matter on the right scale. Summer and Winter are smaller aspects of themselves they broke off.
Or on another wavelength, Norse mythology is fire and ice consuming the world makes a third power, Water. Kinda fomory that.
Slightly off topic tin foil theory
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 12, 2021, 05:05:47 AM
Jim says no on splitting Hecate up and down. There either something we haven't seen or something hiding in plain sight. Maybe the Gates. The cottage may be part and parcel of the Mother's identity. Which may be why we never see them out of it.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 12, 2021, 05:23:06 AM
The Mantles were additive, they didn’t divide, so the power of the Fates and Hecate were poured into their creation, at a minimum. The Queens and Ladies were less powerful than a god such as Hades or Odin no longer allowed in the real world fully manifest, but the Mothers are more powerful, and definitely cannot leave the Never Never.

We certainly haven’t found everything which went into the creation of the Mantles or how and why they were created, we might be surprised who else donated their power but I wouldn’t be surprised if Athena and Artemis didn’t put the bulk of their power in the Mantles as well.indeed I suspect the majority of the female members of the Greek Pantheon contributed to the Mantles , to make the OP Mothers.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 12, 2021, 06:12:59 AM
What is this Woj on Hecate not "splitting up or down"? Context?
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 12, 2021, 02:01:04 PM
What is this Woj on Hecate not "splitting up or down"? Context?
If I can find it I'll post it. At some point I had the idea that the Mantle had been split vertically, 2 Mothers, 2 Queens and 2 Ladies. Somebody shot me down with a WOJ where Jim says otherwise.  I'll try to find it.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 12, 2021, 07:03:27 PM
If I can find it I'll post it. At some point I had the idea that the Mantle had been split vertically, 2 Mothers, 2 Queens and 2 Ladies. Somebody shot me down with a WOJ where Jim says otherwise.  I'll try to find it.

This isn't that but I found this quote interesting

Quote
The Mothers are extremely powerful beings, I mean, they’re really really well, you can tell because they hardly ever show up on the real world. In the Dresden Files universe if you don’t show up on the real world, it’s because you’re too big to walk around there. For instance,  I think in the third book, when the Dragon is talking about how the Earth couldn’t bear his weight, it’s not that the Earth itself would literally crack, it’s that reality would have issues trying to contain him, because every time he coughs, it would bend around like Neo in the Matrix. So, they spend most of their time NOT on the real world, they spend it hanging around in the Nevernever, all the really heavyweight guys do that. If you’re in the real world, well, the problem is that you’re in the world, and you’re kind of mortal, and something could come along and try and whack you, if they’re fast enough, or good enough, or lucky enough. Which makes Odin a kind of special guy, because he doesn’t mind it, he thinks it’s awesome. But anyway, you can always tell. If there’s folks who don’t show up in the real world, it’s because they’re super big. So, like, an angel shows up, and it’s just sort of a whispered presence that one person is aware of, that’s because he’s just too big to show up here, it’s a giant sandbox, and he’s got to be very very careful to not squash the sandbox. So, he just shows up for that one bit.

If this is true then it could mean the Mothers can't be killed, as long as they are in the NeverNever. 
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 12, 2021, 07:12:59 PM
Jim called Mother Winter Baba Yaga.  There are similarities with Baba Yaga, and Hecate.  It could be that Baba Yaga is Winter, 3 women, and Hecate is Summer, 3 women. 
"In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga (/ˌbɑːbə ˈjɑːɡə/; Russian: Баба-Яга, romanized: Baba-Yaga, pronounced [ˈbabə jɪˈɡa] (About this soundlisten))[a] is a supernatural being (or a trio of sisters of the same name)"

"However, it is noticeable that, like Hecate, Baba Yaga presides over a wide, diverse array of domains and functions."
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 12, 2021, 08:27:43 PM
The Mothers are immortal, like Mab she couldn’t be killed even with iron. Only the Stone Table which appears to have been set up as part of the Mantles, a deliberate backdoor, could kill them, or on Halloween when all immortals are vulnerable.

Many deities have cropped up under various names, the Fates could easily also have been Baba Yaga and her sisters, and the Norns etc. Lots of powerful triumvirates of witches. You have the original trio of the maiden, mother and the crone, they put their power in one set of Mantles, and additional power is added by other deities on Halloween to power them up, most notably the Crone, and a lesser extent the Mother. At the same time the same applies to Summer, a different triumvirate and the Stone Table is created regulating the Mantles and setting the limits upon their use, creating a balance. Some of the ordinal donors of power stay on under the new Mantles. All this is done under the strictures of the White God, be in the mortal world under lesser power, or face exile to the Never Never.

The knights are created at this time as well, the Mantles most in the real world, again from donated power. With the Courts created, the Fae (all Wildfae at this point) start declaring for their Court.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: LostInTime on October 13, 2021, 01:14:12 AM
Mab could have indeed been killed that night. She told Harry so in her contingent final command.

Mab was immobilized with iron. What would have happened if someone had struck off her head with an iron sword instead of removing the rebar? We'll never know, that moment has passed. (That wouldn't have been Butters. The faithsaber could have definitely ended Mab. An angel's power is far beyond Mab.)

Enough power could have killed Mab. She said so herself. We don't know all of the times, places and conditions under which immortals can be killed. But I bet we're going to find out.

For what it's worth, the mantles don't make you immortal. You are still mortal, you are loaned immortality. Just as Michael was loaned Uriel's grace. If that mantle is taken away, you are just as mortal as you were before you got it. And Kringle's words to Harry at the end of Cold Days indicate that the mantles can be changed on Halloween. A mantle need not be forever. The original Mother Summer retired, per WOJ.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 13, 2021, 01:14:41 AM
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The Mothers are immortal, like Mab she couldn’t be killed even with iron. Only the Stone Table which appears to have been set up as part of the Mantles, a deliberate backdoor, could kill them, or on Halloween when all immortals are vulnerable.
Mabs not unkillable, she was vulnerable to death when that happened by her own words. An Halloween probably isn't the only confluence either. I confess, I wonder if say, the blackstaff isn't a confluence type being placed into an object. It would fit being deaths scythe.
*Mantles DO make you effectively immortal, the issue is not everyone is wearing a mantle. MW is the original being, not a mantle for instance.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 13, 2021, 02:21:08 AM
Mab explains it in BG.  She tells Harry that she is immortal, not eternal.  She is, give or take, about a 1000 years old.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Second Aristh on October 13, 2021, 03:57:40 AM
The Eye might have killed Mab, but I don't think that beheading her with iron would have done it in BG.  Her head would have just grown back in enough time.  (Minutes?  Hours?  Months?  Hard to say)

The "a little bit mortal" concept attached to Vadderung and beings outside the NN is that somebody tough enough, smart enough, or lucky enough might be able to put him out of commission for a time, even outside of a confluence situation where it could be permanent.


Also, I think the idea of mantle vs no mantle is largely semantic.  Power combined with responsibilities/rules is basically a mantle.  The biggest of them just happen to provide limited immortality.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 13, 2021, 04:43:44 AM
Looking at Harry's explanation of iron, he directly explained why that much iron could kill mab.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Con on October 13, 2021, 05:28:36 AM
The Eye might have killed Mab, but I don't think that beheading her with iron would have done it in BG.  Her head would have just grown back in enough time.  (Minutes?  Hours?  Months?  Hard to say)

I have a theory that the Eye did kill Mab it's just taking longer. Like a mortal wound infected or a curse.

That's what Titania and Mab were talking about at the end of Battle Ground.

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"You understand what has happened" Titania replied quietly
"what it Means"
"I expect you to do your duty" Mab said
Titania's expression flickered in pain "When have I not?"

It's the flicker of pain that does it.

As for immortal being so powerful they can't interact with the world without mortal free will. It's ore of a hindrance to power than a benefit.

Asking Ferrovax to kill one person is likie asking Mt Vesuvias to kill one Roman.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 13, 2021, 06:13:00 AM
I have a theory that the Eye did kill Mab it's just taking longer. Like a mortal wound infected or a curse.

It's a good theory but I don't think it's correct, here's why.  Generally when something like this happens, the afflicted person grows weaker over time.  Mab hasn't.  She was very weak, and frail after the blast from the Eye.  Later on she had returned to normal.  If she had been mortally wounded, I don't think she'd have gotten stronger, and healthier afterwards.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 13, 2021, 11:06:06 AM
Mab wasn’t sure of the outcome in BG, if an immortal is not killed then they are dissipated until they re-coalesce. This is what happened with Erl and Odin, but they pulled themselves together quickly, another blast? Perhaps not so quickly, but the Eye had to cycle and there were multiple threats to Ethnui, which was the strategy. We have only been told of two ways of killing Mab, there isn’t a third.

A Mab dissipated for several decades is a bad as a Mab dead, worse it is not sure if the Mantle would transfer to Molly or not during that period. Nor is it clear that the being Mab would survive this, whilst the Mantle would, Mab wasn’t an immortal before assuming a Mantle
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 13, 2021, 05:58:49 PM
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Mab wasn’t sure of the outcome in BG, if an immortal is not killed then they are dissipated until they re-coalesce. This is what happened with Erl and Odin, but they pulled themselves together quickly, another blast? Perhaps not so quickly, but the Eye had to cycle and there were multiple threats to Ethnui, which was the strategy. We have only been told of two ways of killing Mab, there isn’t a third.

However you are talking gods, Mab isn't exactly a god.. True for the mantle, but put Mab in a blender and pour her out, the only chewable bit left is the mantle, the rest ain't coming back together in my opinion.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 13, 2021, 06:03:37 PM
However you are talking gods, Mab isn't exactly a god.. True for the mantle, but put Mab in a blender and pour her out, the only chewable bit left is the mantle, the rest ain't coming back together in my opinion.
the way I interpreted it, is a conjunction uncaps the immutability of immortals (even and perhaps especially those who wear mantles). Which is why they could kill the ladies off during CD. Without an conjunction or otherwise lethal tool, they are in fact immortal when inside the mantle.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 13, 2021, 07:15:28 PM
According to Jim, the Eye is a god killing weapon.  He said even Uriel could be killed by it eventually (if he just sat there and did nothing).  It would have killed Mab if she took one or maybe two more blasts with it.  She barely survived the first one.  The Mantle would have went to Molly right away I'd think.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 13, 2021, 09:28:45 PM
According to Jim, the Eye is a god killing weapon.  He said even Uriel could be killed by it eventually (if he just sat there and did nothing).  It would have killed Mab if she took one or maybe two more blasts with it.  She barely survived the first one.  The Mantle would have went to Molly right away I'd think.

WOJ please, whilst Jim can re-write his rules as he pleases but this hasn’t been shown in BG, all the immortals zapped by the Eye survived though I think only the Erl King was a genuine immortal not reliant upon a Mantle for his immortality.

What the Eye can do is break reality, little point being an immortal if reality has ended.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 13, 2021, 10:26:18 PM
According to Jim, the Eye is a god killing weapon.  He said even Uriel could be killed by it eventually (if he just sat there and did nothing).  It would have killed Mab if she took one or maybe two more blasts with it.  She barely survived the first one.  The Mantle would have went to Molly right away I'd think.

Except you leave out that Mab understood how the Eye worked, understanding it, she neutralized any power it may have had to kill her.

on page 394 of Battle Ground, Harry asks her how she withstood it.  First observation he made was the Eye was made of hate and destroyed everything it touched.  Mab explains how she was able to withstand it.

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"Everyone," she said, "thinks that hate and love are somehow opposite forces.  They are not.  They are the same force, facing opposite directions."  She glanced aside at me.  "Love is fire, my Knight.  Love turned the wrong way has killed as many as hate.  Reason,young wizard, is the opposite of hate, not love.  Ethniu could not destroy me with a single blast of the Eye.  I was certain of it.  I ran the numbers."


So it may be a god killing machine, perhaps because most gods don't apply reason, maybe because the don't feel they need to.  It makes them vulnerable to the likes of the Eye.  Reason, is what Eve gained at the Tree of Knowledge when she took a bite.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: vincentric on October 13, 2021, 10:56:31 PM
WOJ please, whilst Jim can re-write his rules as he pleases but this hasn’t been shown in BG, all the immortals zapped by the Eye survived though I think only the Erl King was a genuine immortal not reliant upon a Mantle for his immortality.

What the Eye can do is break reality, little point being an immortal if reality has ended.

The only Immortals attacked by the Eye were Mab and Titania. Titania deflected it and Mab took the hit.

The Erlking and Odin got beat down along with Titania after that.

As for immortals regenerating, Molly say in BG that she would regeneraten if she was put in a blender. If she can do it, Mab certainly can. It takes a power like the Eye or Spear to kill an immortal outside of a confluence.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 13, 2021, 11:30:01 PM
I just have the unsettling image of a Molly Smoothie.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: morriswalters on October 14, 2021, 12:50:45 AM
Most of this is covered in Cold Days, including the fact that you could kill Mother Winter.  But you can't destroy the mantle. And puree de Molly is not on the menu.  EOS.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Second Aristh on October 14, 2021, 02:34:56 AM
WOJ please, whilst Jim can re-write his rules as he pleases but this hasn’t been shown in BG, all the immortals zapped by the Eye survived though I think only the Erl King was a genuine immortal not reliant upon a Mantle for his immortality.

What the Eye can do is break reality, little point being an immortal if reality has ended.
I don't think there are any immortals absent a mantle.  The immortal mantle is what makes an immortal immortal (noting that not all mantles confer immortality).  The Erlking is the Eldest goblin.  "Eldest" is a powerful mantle in Faerie, and there are a few of them.

I'd also guess that either Grimalkin or Cat Sith is the Eldest malk.  Scarecrow was the Eldest fetch.  And, going out on a limb, the Redcap is the Eldest gnome.


Even outside of the fae, other gods have mantles.  Hercules's mantle got passed over to the Hulk, for example.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Con on October 14, 2021, 09:48:47 AM
WOJ please, whilst Jim can re-write his rules as he pleases but this hasn’t been shown in BG, all the immortals zapped by the Eye survived though I think only the Erl King was a genuine immortal not reliant upon a Mantle for his immortality.

What the Eye can do is break reality, little point being an immortal if reality has ended.

Relevant WOJ

"Is it even like dangerous to Uriel? Or his boss?

If Uriel just stood there in it, yeah, I mean he wouldn't, it could kill him I mean it's- again it's one of those- I mean Uriel is... he's so powerful that he's not even on the scale with everybody else. I mean yeah maybe the Eye of Balor could disintegrate Uriel if Uriel couldn't just immediately teleport anywhere or make the energy go somewhere else or basically do anything at all to defend himself. If he just stood there like a dummy, sure somebody could kill him with the Eye of Balor. He's not going to, freaking archangel."

As for Mantles I was kinda disappointed Hercules isn't around anymore, I've got a fanfic short story in my head of Thor and Hercules having a Bromance.

I do think that Hecate has some correlation with the Fae Queens. Molly's statue in Skin Game and Hades reference are too much groundwork laid for future appearance.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 14, 2021, 11:48:39 AM
“Maybe” Jim has thought it through.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 14, 2021, 02:18:25 PM
Except you leave out that Mab understood how the Eye worked, understanding it, she neutralized any power it may have had to kill her.

on page 394 of Battle Ground, Harry asks her how she withstood it.  First observation he made was the Eye was made of hate and destroyed everything it touched.  Mab explains how she was able to withstand it.
 

So it may be a god killing machine, perhaps because most gods don't apply reason, maybe because the don't feel they need to.  It makes them vulnerable to the likes of the Eye.  Reason, is what Eve gained at the Tree of Knowledge when she took a bite.
I feel like that quote explains balance in the DF, at least inside 🤔 like... You could apply that same reasoning to Summer and Winter for instance. The opposite is actually Nemesis.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 14, 2021, 05:21:47 PM
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I feel like that quote explains balance in the DF, at least inside 🤔 like... You could apply that same reasoning to Summer and Winter for instance. The opposite is actually Nemesis.
Maybe, but I think what Mab is getting at is both hate and love are emotions, reason for the most part isn't.   You can counter both love and hate with reason.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 14, 2021, 07:00:00 PM
Maybe, but I think what Mab is getting at is both hate and love are emotions, reason for the most part isn't.   You can counter both love and hate with reason.
... That's what she's directly saying yes?
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 14, 2021, 07:12:31 PM
So it may be a god killing machine, perhaps because most gods don't apply reason, maybe because the don't feel they need to.  It makes them vulnerable to the likes of the Eye.  Reason, is what Eve gained at the Tree of Knowledge when she took a bite.

Read Mab's quote again: "Ethniu could not destroy me with a single blast of the Eye."

Then look at why I said " It would have killed Mab if she took one or maybe two more blasts with it.  She barely survived the first one."

She knew she wouldn't be killed with the first blast.  But she couldn't have taken another, in my opinion, based on how damaged she was from it.  She would have eventually been killed by it.


Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 14, 2021, 07:15:05 PM
Maybe, but I think what Mab is getting at is both hate and love are emotions, reason for the most part isn't.   You can counter both love and hate with reason.

She said reason was the opposite of hate, not love.  She didn't say reason was the counter to love.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 15, 2021, 02:24:05 AM
Read Mab's quote again: "Ethniu could not destroy me with a single blast of the Eye."

Then look at why I said " It would have killed Mab if she took one or maybe two more blasts with it.  She barely survived the first one."

She knew she wouldn't be killed with the first blast.  But she couldn't have taken another, in my opinion, based on how damaged she was from it.  She would have eventually been killed by it.

But apparently Ethinu didn't either, because she never tried a second or a third blast.  You are making an assumption that a second or a third would have killed Mab, but there is no proof of it because neither the blast nor the death happened. Mab knew this when she stood up against her, she ran the numbers.  Then she reasoned it out.
Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 15, 2021, 02:49:18 AM
But apparently Ethinu didn't either, because she never tried a second or a third blast.  You are making an assumption that a second or a third would have killed Mab, but there is no proof of it because neither the blast nor the death happened. Mab knew this when she stood up against her, she ran the numbers.  Then she reasoned it out.

The Eye needed time to charge which is why she didn't just fire it nonstop at everyone.  Mab took the shot to buy time.

"Mab was not strong enough to do much more than lift her own head"
"My Knight, came Mab's psychic voice.  We have perhaps sixty seconds before the Eye is once again loosed upon us.  you must call her by then", talking about summoning Titania. 

From that point on, Ethniu was pretty much fighting off everyone else, and didn't get a shot at Mab.

Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: Mira on October 15, 2021, 11:03:13 AM
The Eye needed time to charge which is why she didn't just fire it nonstop at everyone.  Mab took the shot to buy time.

"Mab was not strong enough to do much more than lift her own head"
"My Knight, came Mab's psychic voice.  We have perhaps sixty seconds before the Eye is once again loosed upon us.  you must call her by then", talking about summoning Titania. 

From that point on, Ethniu was pretty much fighting off everyone else, and didn't get a shot at Mab.

But that is the point, Ethniu gave Mab everything she had with the Eye, and Mab withstood it.  Against an immortal with half a brain to reason, the Eye isn't deadly, yes, Mab took a severe shot, but it gave the others a window in which to take her down. 

Title: Re: Mother Winter Blackstaff Back
Post by: groinkick on October 15, 2021, 07:24:24 PM
But that is the point, Ethniu gave Mab everything she had with the Eye, and Mab withstood it.  Against an immortal with half a brain to reason, the Eye isn't deadly, yes, Mab took a severe shot, but it gave the others a window in which to take her down.

She took a single shot, and survived.  Just because she could take one shot, doesn't mean the eye isn't deadly.  She probably wouldn't have survived a second, as she was made clear to Harry that he needed to act quickly.  If it weren't deadly to her, she wouldn't have been worried because she could have taken more blasts.

The Eye is clearly deadly to her.  She is just powerful enough to take one good blast from it.  A second would have finished her.  She was pretty clear that it could kill her when Harry said she was Immortal, and she replied that she wasn't eternal when discussing the Eye and it's power.