Ever since Justine's reveal, I have always assumed she got infected by Nemesis early on working for Lara. How that happened is a mystery, but I would guess it was while Cowl still had agents in the White Court (assuming he doesn't have them any more..)

Lara seems more like Drakul, in that now she understands the Game, she is playing at a higher level. She isn't so worried about small stuff like merely ruling the White Court. So I can't see her allying with Outsiders or whatever. Not for the moment. But she does want to gain a lot more power, and it seems she has a strategy (given how apparently she is going for power "in a big way" according to Thomas).

Nemesis we still know frighteningly little about.
We know:
- It can possess/infect/corrupt other beings both immortal and mortal (although there might be limits on more powerful beings).
- There is a limit to how many it can "infect" although we don't know what that limit is
- It can't be detected except through the Sight (presumably only mortals and certain immortals can see it), but this is dangerous
- It's better to try and guess who it has infected as it's more "art than a skill" according to the Gatekeeper
- It's very powerful and has a lot of reach
- It is less of a planner and more an "agent of chaos" like the Joker in the Dark Knight, or Jack Sparrow (if you're feeling cheeky). It simply does "things" and sees what end it creates. It all furthers it's long term goal.
- Its long term goal is "Empty Night" "the unravelling of all things"
- Even the Gatekeeper at the focus of his power cannot always be sure
- Even Uriel might not always know given how power from the Outside works, according to WOJ
- If He Who Walks Before (Sharkface) is the harbinger and vanguard leader, and He Who Walks Behind is the assassin and ruling knight, then He Who Walks Beside (Nemesis) and is the infiltrator and sapper and agent of sabotage and espionage.
- We have no idea what a "Walker" is but that title keeps coming up, and suggests even among Outsiders the Walkers are special. The current theory is they are some sort of planeswalkers which gives them special powers in the multiverse. But we don't have any confirmation of this.
- Nemesis seems to have caused a LOT more destruction currently than his brothers/peers. It will be interesting to see if they are saving their strength or simply play far different roles (or are perhaps just a lot less effective).

From the way Corb talked I'd more suspect her to be Nimue? Morganna wasn't a mewling child in Arthur's day, Nimue tho.. an I don't think even Merlin would have authority to cast out the kings sister. I took it more under the context of dismissing your apprentice, and as the court mage casting her out of the court.

I know traditionally Merlin had the romance with Nimue...but as a Fae, Nimue was old when Merlin (OG) was young. Unless Jim is rewriting Nimue to have been human originally at the time...

Now, a mortal witch who was a "mewling brat" around the time of William the Conqueror? That could well have been Morganna, depending on how Jim is incorporating Arthurian myth into history. There are indeed many stories of Morganna and Merlin being connected, both as master and apprentice, but in some cases lovers too.

As for Merlin casting out Morganna - he was Merlin. He built Demonreach, created the White Council, reformed the Vatican, rescued important knowledge from the Library of Alexandria when it fell, and jumped over tall buildings in a single bound. The guy did what he liked. Who could really stop him? If you read the stories, he essentially comes and goes as he pleases and tells Arthur (even as King) what to do all the time. He is an adviser, but he doesn't really see himself as a subject. And Arthur highly respected Merlin (as did all the Knights). If Merlin said Morganna was to be exiled, I think they would hurling her out the door before he finished his sentence. Not to mention, consider why Morganna was exiled? Likely dark magic - which is even hinted at much in the old tales, and I can't see Arthur giving his half-sister a pass for that. Arthur wasn't Michael Carpenter in nature - just read about how he takes Guinevere cheating on him. Guy could be pretty wrathful.

Just for argument sake, a couple of points;

1] The prisoner has been in that cave for a very long time.. It is very possible that he learned modern English form the various Wardens. Though admittedly why he'd have a British accent is a mystery.
2] Corb might not know that Merlin is in the cave on the island, unless told, he wouldn't know. 

I get what you mean, but Jim was asked about the BP being Merlin - and the answer he gave was that it wasn't very likely given Merlin would still be speaking old Aenglish/Welsh. Whoever that being is on the island, I wouldn't necessarily consider him a good guy particularly given he was much further in than Naagloshii.

I mean, he might not. But given Mab's reaction to Corb's words...I'd say she thinks he is dead too. And I'd say it's less likely she wouldn't know that Merlin is on the Island, if that's were he was. Beyond that though, most of the supernatural community believe Merlin (OG) is dead. Hence the entire need for a replacement one on the White Council. Which isn't to say that he is dead (or completely gone beyond the veil), necessarily speaking.

I think this is key.

A long while back, I proposed that the Red Court where initially meant to do what the Fomor ended up doing. The Fomor where not being held back because of the Red Court being powerful, as has been speculated (largely due to a misconception that the Red Court were holding back other scary supernatural nations, rather than others simply playing a longer game). The Fomor simply were waiting for the right time to attack the Sidhe, and perhaps were "aimed" at the the Fae Courts by some of those players like Cowl operating in the shadows, or rather spurred into action on the Black Council's timeline.

After all, the incredibly not coincidental timing of the Outer Gates coming under heavy assault just as the Fae are fighting an ancient enemy that might have destroyed them seems to indicate a level of planning.

The Red Court (along with the other Vampire Courts aiding them) were simply the weapon the Black Council wanted to use to end the White Council.

But it's all the same goal. Anything that weakens the defence of reality so that the Outsiders can get in.

Why the Black Council want that is another question, and there is plenty of speculation around that for another topic.

Had the Red Court succeeded in wiping out the White Council, my guess is that the Fae wouldn't have lasted much longer as without the White Council I don't see Ethniu being stopped. Once she had crippled or destroyed Winter, the Outsiders would have eventually got in. And perhaps then the others would have got a chance to rule, somehow. gg

It's one of the Red Court nobles who uses the word, which makes sense given some of them would have been conquered by (or perhaps themselves were) Spanish invaders. It irritates Harry a bit irrationally as he has a foolish sense of ownership of the word, even though it's quite likely there would be other magic users that use Spanish as their magic words.

I won't get into how using a live-language would have so many problems (not to say the least if he actually learned Spanish, it should in theory diminish the protection provided by those words). Which seems to be why a lot of wizards use older languages (many of which are no longer in use) e.g. Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, etc.

The Grey Council had indeed arrived by this point.

Cowl isn't Justin.
Evidence in verbal exchange with evil bob
Zero familiarity in my opinion.

And yet, Cowl knew about Evil Bob in the first place. I doubt Cowl and Evil Bob would have a similar relationship to Harry and normal Bob, so if you're expecting that sort of familiarity you would probably be disappointed.

The relationship is a very clear one of master and servant. What would such a conversation sound like if it was more "familiar"?

I don't doubt Harry's actions made a lot of noise ... but I don't think the Walker was making a serious shot at his life at that point. From the unclouded memory flashback in GS, it was pretty clearly trying to goad him into using magic for violence.  It got more than it was bargaining for with setting a gas pump on fire, but if it had wanted him dead, it could have done it easily.

I'm also not even sure Justin was really the one who sent it, for that matter. I think Harry might have that assumption wrong.

I think that's clear from Lea's hints in Ghost Story. Justin may have summoned HWWBh, but I doubt he was calling the shots. More likely reporting back to his superiors...

I do quite like the theory, although I think it's unlikely.

The main problem is that I don't see how Nemesis could do such things as possession (which is a fairly powerful thing) and grant free will to immortals (or at least a version of it) from inside the Island, given how many layers of defences are between what would be the "core" Nemesis and it's puppets. It has to get through the crystal coffin, and then whatever wards are on the hallway, through that super-max magical door that leads to the corridors of prisoners, up and through the earth and wards of the Tower, and past Alfred this whole time and any other defences of the Island, plus the water of Lake Michigan...

It just seems implausible.

Unless...Nemesis had off-shoots. Little avatars or clones, which might explain why it can only possess a limited number of people.


More likely though, I think Nemesis wants to release all the other horrible monsters (which likely includes some nasty Outsiders) that reside in Demonreach, given that would kick off the End of the World for humanity. That's goal enough, in my opinion.

I am not sure I see that Nemesis hates Harry more than the others, or more than most other people hate him except that Harry is a starborn and seems to be constantly ruining Nemesis' various plans (confirmed by the Gatekeeper in Cold Days).

I agree with the premise, and yet also disagreee.

G33k raises a few good points - namely that the White Council is simply a product of it's time. They aren't all that adaptable. They do have huge resources, but they also are heavily hamstrung by their own internal political problems. They only appear on the outside to work together; internally I would say it's far less organised. Think the UN, but at a smaller scale (the whole White Council is barely a few thousand wizards, given that their wardens only numbered about 200 in Dead Beat).

I agree that Jim probably would find it hard to emulate an Illuminati-esque organisation given his presumed lack of exposure to one. I also agree that the rich and powerful tend to have armies of servants to support them. I suspect the really powerful wizards probably do have large networks of allies and servants - we just haven't seen that much of this yet. But each of the Senior Council has shown glimpses into their networks. The Merlin, of course, has an entire organisation under him to direct. But the Gatekeeper has shown his relationships with the Faeries, Listens-to-Wind has shown his relationships to the Forest People as well as other local magical groups, Martha Liberty has connections amongst the Loa, La Fortier had deep relationships with a lot of European and other factions (which Cristos has taken over), Simon had relationships with the vampires it seems (as well as other European connections), and of course Ebenezar has been shown with the most connections (Vadderung, the Grey Council, Kenku, etc). Part of what makes the senior wizards so strong is their allies and political strength, on top of their magical might and skills. Jim has also said they each have their own demesnes to retreat to...which gets interesting.

We just haven't seen everyone put their cards on the table, as it's a Harry-centric story. Remember, the White Council had many allies to support it during it's war with the vampires. And when it came time to finish them off, there is a decent theory that Harry's involvement with destroying the Red Court and ending the war was somewhat planned (potentially that Harry acting unbeknownst to himself as a sort-of black ops agent). When the temperature ramps up I wouldn't be surprised to see people start to put their cards on the table.

I also believe that the White Council is very strict about allowing outsiders in - as G33k points out it is a security issue as much as anything. But they also seem to big on the idea of not involving vanilla mortals in their affairs. So the hiring of clued-in mortals seems a bit tricky.

I suspect the reason they have survived so long is partially to do with the appearance of power. They have overcome much in their history, which gives the predators pause. And Ebenezar has hinted that the White Council has nearly been wiped out several times over. So yes, they probably have more than a few supernatural benefactors invested in their survival. There is a reasonable theory that Vadderung (among others) caused the creation of the White Council - which makes sense given that he personally trained the original Merlin. So he and those like him would be invested in it's survival. I would be willing to bet he puts out a lot of unseen fires. Let alone beings like Uriel.

Not to mention, at the end of the day it's a group of several thousand of the strongest mortal magic users on the planet (with the exception of certain dark wizards and so on). That power combined, that knowledge combined, makes them a match for many groups. Yes, they are still minnows. They are nowhere near the top of the food chain. But they can probably hurt just about any being, and that alone is scary. Mortal magic after all has special and unique properties that the other supernatural beings don't have. And the White Council is probably the largest well of mortal magic on the planet.

I think the White Council's greatest threat ultimately is itself - and that is certain to be its downfall. Nothing lasts forever and the White Council is assuredly at the end of its time.

Sorry, only just read Snark Knight who sums it up more succinctly and clearly than myself. Agreed.