"Ensuring the well-being of my spiritual self," I murmured. Then I blinked. "The garden, the one on the other side of this place... It's yours."
"Indeed, child," she said. "Did you not think it strange that in your turmoil-strewn time here none of your foes-- not one-- ever sought to enter from the other side? Never sent a spirit given form directly into your bed, your shower, your refrigerator? Never poured a basket of asps into your closet so that they sought refuge in your shoes, your boots, the pockets of your clothing?" She shook her head. "Sweet, sweet child. Had you walked much farther, you would have seen the mound of bones of all the things that have attempted to reach you, and which I have destroyed."
"Yeah, well. I nearly wound up there myself."
"La," she said, smiling. "My guardians were created to attack any intruder-- including one that looked like you. We couldn't have some clever shapeshifter slipping by, now, could we?" She sighed. "You took a terrible toll on my primroses. Honestly, child, there are elements other than fire, you know. You really ought to diversify. Now I have two gaping maws to feed instead of one."
"I'll... be more careful next time," I said.
"I should appreciate such a thing." She studied me quietly. "It has been true for your entire lifetime, child. I have followed you in the spirit world. Created guardians and defenses 'pon the other side to ward your sleep, to stand sentinel over your home. And you still have only the beginnings of an idea of how many have tried." She smiled, showing her delicately pointed canine teeth again. "Tried, and failed."
Which also explained how she was always near at hand whenever I had entered the Nevernever. How she would be upon my trail in seconds whenever I went in.
Because she had been there, protecting me.
Zolt
I still maintain that Little Chicago fixed itself, shortly after it achieved sentience.
Where do we ever learn that Little Chicago achieves sentience?
I still maintain that Little Chicago fixed itself, shortly after it achieved sentience.
Where do we ever learn that Little Chicago achieves sentience?
Oh, crap, a magical Skynet.LC will turn out to be the major villain of the BAT!
AA Ms. Duck had this theory as well, and it was well fleshed out. I agree that the last piece of information sealed the deal for me that Mab fixed LC and it alsoe makes perfect sense that Lea was never far away from Harry in the NN
Ah, was this part of the "Mab is Molly" theory?I think everything is. :D
I think it was Mac. Whose to say he couldn't have?Please, let's not get into the "Mac is God" theory. I've heard that so much....
Please, let's not get into the "Mac is God" theory. I've heard that so much....
Okay. Mac is Death.*sigh*
Okay. Mac is Death. ;DOf course not. He doesn't talk in ALL CAPS.
AA Ms. Duck had this theory as well, and it was well fleshed out. I agree that the last piece of information sealed the deal for me that Mab fixed LC and it alsoe makes perfect sense that Lea was never far away from Harry in the NN
LC will turn out to be the major villain of the BAT!
Yep Duck pretty much had this theory word for word already.
of course I still say it was mister who fixed it.
*sigh*
At least it's something different....
What does she gain from secrecy now?She doesn't give anything for free :)
She doesn't give anything for free :)
The theory holds water, but at this point why wouldn't Mab own up to it?
Is there any evidence to suggest that if Little Chicago had blown up, it would have affected Harry spiritually?
Is there any evidence to suggest that if Little Chicago had blown up, it would have affected Harry spiritually?
Not that I can think of. Unless you count frustration over losing a tool he got some use out of and was on the whole very proud of.
Aside from being dead, I can't think of any such effect. On the other hand, in the same book, we see that Mab has kept Slate alive and has been torturing him for years, for no apparent reason other than a decision to wait until Harry accepted the position of Winter Knight before killing the traitor. According to Fix and Lily, this was detrimental to the Winter Court, yet Mab was doing it anyway.
If Harry blew himself up with Little Chicago, all of that time would have been wasted. It's possible than Mab simply used her position as Harry's temporary godmother as an excuse to do what she wanted to do, which was preserve his life. After all, in Dead Beat, once she realized that the Darkhallow preparations had begun, she told Harry, "I must do what I might to preserve your life."
I know this runs contrary to all of the many, many times when Harry was almost killed and neither Lea nor Mab ever popped out of thin air to save him. The only guess I can make is that maybe it was a matter of simple awareness. Mab was talking to him and aware of the danger to his life in DB, so she had to act to help him. Maybe she watched him in his laboratory, and when she became aware that the flaw in Little Chicago was an imminent threat to his life, she had to act to save him. Which she already had personal reasons to do, anyway. Just a guess.
I believe Bob stated that Harry missed a power coupling near the stadium, which shifted the power flow around LC. Rather than having gone to the trouble of attempting to get through Harry's wards and into his basement without Bob or anyone else noticing, I think the culprit simply disabled and/or removed the actual coupling at the time Harry did his trial run.
After all, it's a lot easier to take out a power coupling than it is to go the other route.
Mac is Connor Macleod of the Clan Macleod after winning the gathering in 1985.
/there can be only one.
No, Bob didn't say that LC now matched the power flows in the real Chicago, so the problem was solved; he said that LC had a power flow set up the wrong way the last time he looked at the model, but that now, when he was looking at it, the power flow was correct. One scenario involves the real world changing but the model staying the same, while the other involves the world staying the same and model changing between one viewing and the next. If the real world had changed, Bob and Harry wouldn't have had any need to go through the part of the discussion in which they talked about how someone would've needed to get past the wards, examine Little Chicago, and realize how to fix the problem. Bob would have known the difference and we would've had an entirely different mystery to think about.
On top of that, we have Bob stating that in all likelihood, no one did get into Harry's basement to fix the issue. It was fixed elsewhere first, and in the basement after the trial run.
Lea stated in Changes that it was her role, as Harry's godmother, to protect his spiritual self. With the Sidhe, distinctions like that one are very important.Yes, but Changes is the first time that is spelled out. In SK Lea makes it pretty clear she's agreed to protect Harry's life, and then points out the old neighbor "calling the cops" and the sirens outside of Wal-Mart as two times she's done it. In DB Mab gives Harry the info to try to save his life because Lea has to aid him. And I think magically blowing one's head off counts as needing help from someone who can fix it. :D
Is there any evidence to suggest that if Little Chicago had blown up, it would have affected Harry spiritually?
Lea stated in Changes that it was her role, as Harry's godmother, to protect his spiritual self. With the Sidhe, distinctions like that one are very important.
Is there any evidence to suggest that if Little Chicago had blown up, it would have affected Harry spiritually?
But that may be incidental, because I can't think of any reason Mab couldn't just cross over and mess with LC any time she felt like it, regardless of Harry's metaphysical link to her. Can anyone else think of a reason Mab couldn't mess with the model if she wanted to?
Actually, something just occurred to me: Mab is the Queen of Air and Darkness, etc. etc. She's the ruler of one of the most powerful supernatural groups in existence. Is there some reason that she couldn't step over and tweak a magical construct if she felt like it? Some rule that would prevent her from doing so, if the urge took her?]
Harry's wards and threshold ?And not just breaking them but leaving no traces at all.
And not just breaking them but leaving no traces at all.
Harry's wards and threshold ?Ah, but that was before he and we knew about the easy access through his workshop. And being a different level, indeed not converted into living space like the rest of the apartment, I don't know as the threshold would count for it. Not to mention I still don't see Lea or Mab having problems crossing the threshold if it was in the godmother line of duty.
not to mention lea was behind his threshold and had enough juice to put susan and martn to sleep. Actually that may be another bit of information that Jim referenced and we had not picked up on. The fact that Lea was in Harry's apartment uninvited and seemed to not have any problems from his wards or thresholdUmmm, no wards anymore at that point, and no threshold since well no door. All that was post FBI.
Harry's wards and threshold ?
The wards: I've been looking, and I can't find anything to say whether or not Harry's wards would affect someone coming into his home from the Nevernever. If they're set up around the physical structure of the building, they may not. Harry once said that he had wards around the door and windows, but even if they completely surrounded his apartment, they might not cover entrance from the spirit world. Prior to Changes, we've never seen any travel from one side to the other while in Harry's house, so there hasn't been much commentary to go on.
Didn't they leave from the top floor of Harry's flat in GP, during the attempted infiltration of Bianca's place?
Didn't they leave from the top floor of Harry's flat in GP, during the attempted infiltration of Bianca's place?
We don't, but I suggest you read Codex Alera.(click to show/hide)
Now I will try to eliminate Mab. The reason why I doubt that Mab would fix it is not because of her desire to have Harry as her Knight, but rather why would she? She is Mab, to her, a simple human is nothing, and she could easily allow Harry to blow up his mind, fix him, then say he owes her. Thus, it stands to reason that she could potentially benefit from Harry blowing up his mind.Well, if Harry had killed himself using a flawed model, he wouldn't have been useful to Mab. And don't forget that while Lea was encased in ice, Mab had to fulfill her obligations.
Well, if Harry had killed himself using a flawed model, he wouldn't have been useful to Mab. And don't forget that while Lea was encased in ice, Mab had to fulfill her obligations.
Plus, as inexplicable as it is, we have Mab's literal word in Dead Beat, when she realizes that the Darkhallow is close to being cast, that she must do what she can to preserve Harry's life. I've pointed this out before in this thread, but I guess people don't really know what to make of it, since most people tend to completely overlook that instance of Mab's behavior.
The only thing I can think of that might reconcile her statement with the many, many times in which neither she nor Lea have appeared to save Harry or give him vital information is to guess that it may have something to do with their awareness of Harry's imminent peril. Maybe if they're aware of it, they have to do something about it, but if they aren't certain, they're off the hook.
I'm inclined to think Mab is not just aware of any time Harry is in peril, she's aware of it with enough accuracy to know whether it needs her intervention or not; up to the very end of Changes, he gets through all those times, so her intervention arguably was not needed in any of them.
Then her surprise over the Word of Kemmler and the necromancers would've had to have been feigned, in Dead Beat.
I don't know, I tend to distrust theories which require deceptions to be several layers deep, on the principle that it's too big a pain in the ass for most sane people to want to deal with, including writers.
Not if viewed in the same way as the Gatekeeper and Harry on Demonreach. If Mab could keep tract of the most likely outcome then she'd know her help wasn't needed. But if the Word was shielded in some way, which doesn't seem a stretch given the players involved, then things would have changed rapidly. Just like when the Gatekeeper changed his opinion when Harry stepped onto the island instead of the dock.
Personally i think Lash repaired little Chicago by moving her soul into it, so LC=Lash's new body, so in effect LC is now sentient and as such escaped the buildings destruction by moving itself away from the building. just a thought :D
but on another note i do think LC survived his apartment being destroyed even if only because someone stole it somehow or the same person who "repaired" it built in a teleport or shielding feature to protect harry's creation from destruction.
Unless, of course, Harry himself did it.
We have WoJ that it was destroyed.one can dream one can dream. I'll miss you sentient LC.
one can dream one can dream. I'll miss you sentient LC.