"What I mean" he said "is that I know about your island. I know where it came from. I know what it does. I know what's beneath it."
"Idiots" he breathed. "Even is they could defeat the banefire..."
"Wait" I said "Banefire"
"The fail-safe" Vadderung said. "The fire the island showed you"
....
"It is the only way" Vadderung said. "If anyone managed to set free the things in the Well..."
....
"Not bad" Vadderung said "The end"
....
"The island cannot accept it as a possibility" Vadderung said absently.
Vadderung waved a hand. "Nonesense. There are laws that govern the progression of time in relation to space, like everything else."Now first their is a description of what limits the Gatekeepers, Foresight/Hindsight in Proven Guilty thats relevant.
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning that the echoes caused by temporal event are proportionately greater than the span of time that was bridged" he said "Had the attack been launched from a century ago or hence, the echoes of it would have begun far, far in advance of the event--- centuries ago. These echoes have appeared only within the past few days. I would guess roughly that the attack must originate only hours from the actual, real time occurance"
"Because if he significantly altered what happened with his knowledge of the future it could cause all sorts of temporal instabilities. It could cause new parallel realities to split off from the point of alterations he couldn't predict or kind of backlash into his consciousness and drive him insane"
....
"But if your car never got stolen" Bob said "then how did he come to know to come back and warn you?"
I frowned
"That's paradox and it can have all kinds of nasty backlash. Theory hold that it could even destroy our reality if it happened in a weak enough spot."
.....
"If it's done subtly enough, indirectly enough you can get all kinds of things changed. Like for example, he tells you that your car is going to be stolen. So you move it to a parking garage, where instead of getting stolen by the junkie who was going to shoot you and tale the car on the street, you get jacked by a professional who takes the car without hurting you- because by slightly altering the fate of the car, he indirectly alters yours"
"Paradox is an overrated threat. There is... a quality similar to inertia at work, Once an event has occured, there is an extremely strong tendency for that event to occur. The larger, more significant or more energetic the event, the more it tends to remain as it originally happened, despite any interference."
I frowned. "There's... a law of the conservation of history?"
Vadderung grinned. "I've never heard it phrased quite like that, but it's accurate enough. In any event overcoming that inertia require's tremendous energy, will and a measure of simple luck. If one wishes to alter the course of history, it's a far simpler matter to attempt to shape the future."
.....
" A twinned universe" Vadderung said "A new parallel reality, identical except for that event. One in which you never existed and one in which you failed to kill your grandfather"
.....
"Meddling with time is an irrationally, outrageously, catastrophically, dangerous and costly business. I encourage you to avoid it at all costs."
.....
"Because the energy requirements are astronomical" he said "Bridging a temporal gap of any length is something utterly beyond the reach of any mortal practitioner alone. Doing such a thing and then trying to project the spell over a distance as well? The difficulty of it would be prohibitive. And do not forget how much water surrounds the island, which will tend to mitigate any energy sent toward it--- that's one reason the Well was built there."
"Perhaps" he murmured "you already have"Theirs also myths about Odin, hanging himself for more knowledge or power. which reflects Vadderungs statement to Harry about death.
"Fewer try it then you might think"
....
"Nothing that significant just happens, Dresden"
.....(later on in the chapter)
"Wizard...you have been dead and returned. It has marked you. It has opened doors and paths that you do not yet know exist, and attracted the attention of beings who formerly would never have taken note of your insignificance"
"Meaning what?" I asked
There was no humour at all in his face. "Meaning that now more than ever, you are a fulcrum. Meaning that your life is about to become very, very interesting"
"Many, many mantles are worn--or discarded-- on Halloween night, wizard."
...
I saw Vadderung's wolfish features lurking inside Kringle's
A while back there was a few theories on the former Guardians of the Outer Gates. I think the prevailing theory was that Angels were the original Guardians and then it was a few other mythologies (including the Greco-Roman) and then the Norse.
There were excellent arguments both ways - not helped by more than a few contradictions in the text and WOJ. For instance Jim discusses how the Courts were split on purpose and that the Fae were the creation of beings who were losing influence in the world. This would tend to support the idea that there was no split until the Fae.
But there is also in the text how some Fae like the Leanansidhe discuss the how the Formor are cousins of the Jotun. And how the Formor are related to the Fae. Which would tend to suggest that the Jotuns were not Outsiders. Unless you go in for my theory that the Formor have the blood of the outsiders in them, hence being cousins of the Jotun.
But there are further ideas that Mab, Mother Winter and the Winter Court have strong similarities to the Jotuns. It is a complex topic. I do suspect in one form or another something akin to the Mother's has always existed to defend reality (a la the Fates/Norns etc.) But what beings were from them is very very difficult to guess.
I personally am of the opinion that Odin was a mortal wizard who completed a rite of ascension to become a God. But after a while he realised he had to forfeit some of his power to maintain his influence in the world - which likely corresponds to waning of the Norse gods influence and the retreat of the Jotuns and the Norse Gods losing their way. I suspect he had the option to bow out of mortal affairs but chose not to.
Vadderung is a very interesting character. We have never actually confirmed him as Odin, though it is heavily implied and guessed at by Harry. We know he taught the original Merlin - which means he likely influenced the formation of the White Council. We know he has had many identities over the centuries, and he is going by Vadderung this time. And when he gets involved, he goes all in, but that normally means things are about to get really bad. We know he is stockpiling for the apocalypse/Ragnarok and that his children have gone astray. We also know that there is an implied fued between Mab and him and that he wears his Kringle mask in order to keep the peace. We also know that Mab assumed her duties in 1066 - the year of the last great Viking raid, commonly thought of the year the Viking age came to an end. We also know during that time a Starborn was running around, the old Mother Summer died or abdicated, the old Summer Queen took her place, the Summer Lady stepped up to being Summer Queen, and the Winter Queen died, causing Mab to step up. It is speculated this could also have been when the Courts were split. An interesting time for Vadderung. We also know that Uriel considers Vadderung to be in a similar line of work - which is interesting for two reasons. Uriel both preserves and nurtures freedom of choice, we also know that he is Heaven's wetworks man and chief spook. So which field is Vadderung in? My money is on both - especially considering more than once we have had significance around assassins and spooks. So I wonder what Vadderung does in that area? We definitely know he is the protecting freedom game. And of course he is a psychopomp - he guides the souls of the dead to the afterlife. I think a lot of reveals about Vadderung will open up the world of the Dresden Files in a big way.
My theory is Vadderung takes more direct action than Uriel and provides direct muscle and advice for the fight, while Uriel is restricted and bound to act as a balance to whatever evil does. Vadderung has more freedom to act because he's Mortal, and finds the idea of it awesome as per WOJ.
We know he taught the original Merlin.
Ebenezar nodded "He taught Merlin you know. The original Merlin
And also to add to your eight, LaFortier/Christos, Kemmler/Cowl, Kemmler/Grevane, Kemmler/Corpsetaker.