ParanetOnline

The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => DF Reference Collection => Topic started by: Cenphx on December 12, 2012, 11:46:32 PM

Title: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 12, 2012, 11:46:32 PM
This is a list compiled by Tarion, Elegast, Haru, Serack in another thread. Since the subject of the headaches seems to be coming up a lot, I thought I would pull the info out of that thread and list it here.

STORM FRONT
[context- Harry has been attacked and hit in the head by a henchman] 


FULL MOON
[Chapter 8:  context- Harry is working on potions and researching werewolves.]

GRAVE PERIL
[context- Harry is hunting for Charity, had been drugged earlier and had been attacked by the Nightmare]

SUMMER KNIGHT
[context- Harry gets a headache while researching the Queens]
[context- gets another headache talking to Meryl]

DEATH MASKS
[context- no headache specifically, but does suffer head trauma]
[context- Harry’s head hurt while being held by Nic.]

BLOOD RITES
DEAD BEAT

PROVEN GUILTY
[context- after car crash]
[context- after using Sight]
[context- hit in head again]

WHITE NIGHT
[context- after/when Molly looks at the dead girl]
[Chapter 5]
[context- when Little Chicago takes an attack meant for Harry]

[context- gets hit in head again, although Elaine heals it]

SMALL FAVOR
[context- Harry gets kicked in the nose]
[context- Mab freezing his eyeballs]
TURN COAT
CHANGES
COLD DAYS
Title: Re: List of Headaches
Post by: Elegast on December 12, 2012, 11:53:48 PM
Nice!  :D

The first in White Night seems random, but I still tend to think that all 'between the eyes' headaches are not plot-relevant (just caused but the Sight).
Title: Re: List of Headaches
Post by: Ms Duck on December 13, 2012, 12:04:31 AM
i think there are more.. its the description of 'two ice cold picks' thats important. starting with Mab and small favor.
Title: Re: List of Headaches
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 12:04:51 AM
I agree with you that there are a couple that don't seem to be mysterious headaches or terribly important for the future, but I didn't want to make any decisions to edit the list. I thought it would be helpful to be able to see and compare every possible head "issue". You guys did a good job combing the books for the examples!!
Title: Re: List of Headaches
Post by: Elegast on December 13, 2012, 12:06:05 AM
i think there are more.. its the description of 'two ice cold picks' thats important. starting with Mab and small favor.

To my knowledge, the 'ice picks' occur only in  SmF and CD. That being said there is a vise in TC.
Title: Re: List of Headaches
Post by: Haru on December 13, 2012, 12:14:30 AM
Ah, very good. That really makes it easier to compare them. Thank you. :)

Is this also to discuss the headaches again, or should we open a new thread for that and let this simply be a resource thread?
Title: Re: List of Headaches
Post by: Tami Seven on December 13, 2012, 12:14:46 AM
i think there are more.. its the description of 'two ice cold picks' thats important. starting with Mab and small favor.

The two ice picks might imply to separate yet equal forces at work, like having two simultaneous brain aneurisms. In Harry's case, it could imply to 'forces' fighting within his head for control or escape. Only one parasite is mentioned, but maybe the other isn't a parasite but something else entirely.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 03:07:03 AM
@Haru--im cool with this being a freewheeling discussion. Im not sure what the difference is between a reference thread and a regular one, but theorize away as far as Im concerned.          @MsDuck--if you can find or point me somewhere close to headachy stuff you think is missing, it should definitely be added to the list. I'd put your references in with the others
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: HateEgo on December 13, 2012, 04:40:23 AM
Great job on the headache list, I was having trouble tracking them down.  Here are my theories: With these references and the context in which they occur, the odd or random headaches don't start until after Dead Beat.  Which leads me to believe they are linked to Liverspots' death curse since it is still unclear what effect it had on Harry.  Although, Liverspots wasn't a wizard, so how would he manage to work up a death curse at all without a ritual or with borrowed power?  Or, Liverspots released a shade of his own to whisper to him during Changes? 

  Harry gets headaches from trauma and memory manipulation. And after some brief research into brain mapping, headaches moving from the neck to the crown sound like stress and trauma pains because that is where motor controls are in the brain.  During Small Favor Mab played around in his head and Harry got the ice picks to the temples when he tried to remember because that's where recognition and long term memory are stored.  That leaves the eyebrow or "third eye" headache which is where decision making functions are located. I think that is a big clue. 


If not Liverspots' "curse" then when did Harry acquire the parasite?  Bianca's party during GP when Lea (and very likely Ferrovax) were infected by Outsider influence?  Harry was taken and unconscious for a while.  Or maybe before the series' began.  Two things have always felt odd about Dumourne's death and Elaine's enthrallment.  From my point of view Harry just assumed Dumourne enthralled Elaine and went off on him.  I can't remember the exact book or page but Harry mentions the event to Bob and he said "yeah, right." Bob will omit information if Harry doesn't compel him to answer.  Also, we still haven't read about Harry's deal with Lea.  Lea could have performed a memory altering on Harry at his request, he's done it once already.  Was Harry infected by the Outsiders then and Lea locked that part of his mind to contain it and after the incident at the caves weakened that barrier?   

Sorry if it seems my theories run away with themselves.  But how does that sound to you?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Vairelome on December 13, 2012, 04:47:24 AM
The "parasite" is almost certainly Lash.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 05:11:21 AM
Oh, I completely disagree that the parasite is certainly Lash...
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 13, 2012, 05:42:31 AM
the ice picks in smf and cd seems odd... maybe this parasite is something wintery?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Vairelome on December 13, 2012, 07:06:00 AM
Oh, I completely disagree that the parasite is certainly Lash...

Well, I find the report of JB saying "the parasite was Lash" referenced in the WoJ section to be persuasive, but I suppose the source could have been lying about that, if you insist.  On the other hand, you are left with having to establish exactly where else Lash showed up in GS, and I've heard no particularly plausible alternatives.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 13, 2012, 07:08:26 AM
true. that she showed up at all considering she existed only in now burnt out parts of harry's mind does make it hard for her to exist elsewhere.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Elegast on December 13, 2012, 01:31:25 PM
Im not sure what the difference is between a reference thread and a regular one

None.  :)

But we call 'reference threads' threads trying to gather all the information on a defined subject and then organizing this info in  the first post.

Typically, they come in two flavors: a list of some events (as this one), or a wrap-up of all the threads concerning a theory (like my Cowl=Simon thread).
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 13, 2012, 02:57:51 PM
I've got questions concerning the parasite. As it is the source of Harry's latest headaches I thought this may be the correct thread to ask them? (otherwise please tell me were to ask).
1. What exactly is the parasite doing in Harry's head? (beside causing headaches) Can it control Harry? Is it just eating his brains? Putting eggs in it?
2. Why is it in his head and not in his heart? It is mentioned as the heart-beating-part of Harry's live-insurance.
3. Demonreach says that the parasite will "burst forth from his skull". In what form? As a material being? Is it something with an outer form? Molly/Grasshopper being able to help suggested that it is something only a mind-reader can detect?
4. Is there a connection between the specific thoughts Harry is thinking and his headaches? Does the parasite react on thoughts by biting his nerves, if it doesn't like the thoughts? Maybe it is eating thoughts and just doesn't like every flavour? When it spits them out again, Harry feels ice picks dugging into his skull?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 03:03:18 PM
@Vairelome-theres a fairly good discussion of some of your points (not answers per se, but discussion) in the 'crazy HWWB theory revisited', but I just wanted to address your part my idea that Lash isnt the parasite necessarily means that im saying the person who talked to Jim is lying. I definitely do not want to be implying that. Im not saying it nor do I beleive it. Here's what I do think--thats an unambiguous statement by Jim. It doesnt fit, for me, with the kinds of ways he usually tells us things, so I wonder if he is being 'tricksy.' the evidence used to support the idea that the parasite is Lash is not as strong as it seems as first blush. The implications for Harry and the DF if the parasite is a walker are really interesting and have the kind of ramifications Jim seems to like in these books. Best of all we should have our answer about the parasite in the next book, so it wont be a unanswered proposition for long. Thats why I am keeping open the idea that the parasite is someone other than Lash while I accept the veracity of the person who talked to Jim.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 13, 2012, 03:09:40 PM
the evidence used to support the idea that the parasite is Lash is not as strong as it seems as first blush. The implications for Harry and the DF if the parasite is a walker are really interesting and have the kind of ramifications Jim seems to like in these books.
If there is a He-who -walks-behind and a He-who-walks-before, there should be a possibility of a He-who walks-in ... in your head ... or better: between (your ears), as it starts with a "b"  :)
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 03:21:05 PM
Regarding why the parasite is in Harry's head and not his heart, when its described as being able to keep his heart going-i think the parasite is in the lower portion of bis brain and spinal column which regulates the nervous system and your heart beating (and matches up to where Harry was first injured by HWWBh).
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 03:25:22 PM
After reading the list, what does everyone think about the theory that Lash is causing the headaches? It doesnt seem like a pattern of a type of headache actually matches up to when Lash dies/would be regenerating. I am alone in that feeling?? (before this list, I thought the headaches DID match up to Lash)
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 13, 2012, 03:48:00 PM
After reading the list, what does everyone think about the theory that Lash is causing the headaches?
That's pretty much the most widely accepted theory on this forum.  That Lash is still inside his head.   I personally don't agree with it since it makes her entire Heroic Sacrifice in White Knight null and void, and I think from a storytelling standpoint that it's more moving to have the shadow of a fallen angel be redeemed through an act of Sacrifice for another.  But hey, both theories are theories so we'll see when it gets published.

It doesnt seem like a pattern of a type of headache actually matches up to when Lash dies/would be regenerating. I am alone in that feeling?? (before this list, I thought the headaches DID match up to Lash)

Actually to me personally it lines up more with what happened in Small Favor, when Mab stirred up Harry's brain.  Because before that book, his comments about headaches were usually very minor mentions, frequently after being hit in the head by a badguy, and were as I like to call them, his Obligatory Head Trauma for the book.  It's only in the beginning on Turn Coat that Harry takes the time out to really describe to the reader in intense detail that he is having mind numbing migraines that are causing him really really major problems.  And IIRC he mentions that those level of migraines have only been going on for a few months.   To me personally, all the mentions of headaches before could easily be attributed to the OHT of the book, or having his mind mucked about with by people like Corpsetaker.   

And I seem to recall in one of the most recent Q&A's that Jim flat out says that "The Headaches" start at a very specific timepoint in the series.  Which would imply that before that he was having your vanilla mortal headaches from stress, sleep deprivation, trauma, etc.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 13, 2012, 04:05:34 PM
After reading the list, what does everyone think about the theory that Lash is causing the headaches?
I don't see why Lash should cause headaches. She sort of likes Harry. She even got sort of killed for him. There is no reason (I can't see any reason) why she would like to make his head explode. And if it would be Lash, Demonreach wouldn't have had real amunition for a deal with her -- Harry knew about Lash, but he doesn't know about the parasite. So it is most likely not Lash. I'm afraid I have to say goodbye to that theory, even if I liked it since the end of GS ...
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Vairelome on December 13, 2012, 04:35:20 PM
I don't see why Lash should cause headaches.

The headaches could easily be caused by Lash, but unintentional.  They could be unsuccessful attempts to communicate.  They could be an artifact of the brain-healing process that Lash may be trying to accelerate, with pain as a byproduct.  There are any number of non-malicious explanations for the headaches that would be consistent with Lash as the parasite, and Lash having no intention of causing gratuitous harm to Harry.

@Vairelome-theres a fairly good discussion of some of your points (not answers per se, but discussion) in the 'crazy HWWB theory revisited', but I just wanted to address your part my idea that Lash isnt the parasite necessarily means that im saying the person who talked to Jim is lying. I definitely do not want to be implying that. Im not saying it nor do I beleive it. Here's what I do think--thats an unambiguous statement by Jim. It doesnt fit, for me, with the kinds of ways he usually tells us things, so I wonder if he is being 'tricksy.' the evidence used to support the idea that the parasite is Lash is not as strong as it seems as first blush. The implications for Harry and the DF if the parasite is a walker are really interesting and have the kind of ramifications Jim seems to like in these books. Best of all we should have our answer about the parasite in the next book, so it wont be a unanswered proposition for long. Thats why I am keeping open the idea that the parasite is someone other than Lash while I accept the veracity of the person who talked to Jim.

I don't understand how JB could be being "tricksy" by saying "Lash is the parasite."  That doesn't seem capable of multiple interpretations to me.

The best circumstantial evidence aside from JB's reported statement are the parasite's location, description, and evident motivation, all of which are consistent with Lash = parasite.  Beyond that is the verified statement by JB on multiple occasions that Lash appeared in GS, though not under that name.  Lash = parasite is consistent with that statement.  If Lash is not the parasite, then you need to propose a more plausible theory of where Lash did appear in GS.  Without that, I don't really see the point of investigating non-Lash theories.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Ms Duck on December 13, 2012, 04:37:49 PM
After reading the list, what does everyone think about the theory that Lash is causing the headaches? It doesnt seem like a pattern of a type of headache actually matches up to when Lash dies/would be regenerating. I am alone in that feeling?? (before this list, I thought the headaches DID match up to Lash)

its my belief that many of the SmF on headaches were caused by Mab, and that after she promised not to mess with Harry's head again she made a deal with Lash to mess with it for her. The headaches are just to convenient for Mab for her not to be involved somehow.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 13, 2012, 05:09:48 PM
The headaches could easily be caused by Lash, but unintentional.  [...]  There are any number of non-malicious explanations for the headaches that would be consistent with Lash as the parasite, and Lash having no intention of causing gratuitous harm to Harry.
Ok, I would like that to be true. So there is still to be seen what exactly she was doing in his head all the time that is causing him headaches. And, more urgently, why she would finally stop doing it (whatever she is doing) and "burst forth" from Harry's skull. Why would she do that? Parasites normally like to stay with/in their hosts?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Haru on December 13, 2012, 05:19:32 PM
I think the real headaches start in WN. Everything before that can be directly linked to someone clobberin' Harry over the head.

More specific: I think the cause for the headaches happened in Camp Kaboom. Mainly because of the one quote in WN, when Harry gets a headache when he remembers New Mexico and is abruptly stopped in his thought process. To me, it has the same feel to it as the "Sight-hickup", he talks about when meeting Rashid. Like something is triggering a memory, but it gets blocked. SmF headaches are similar to that. Maybe Lash blocking a memory of the Sight, where Harry asked her to do so. Or Harry cut of a part of his soul, that held the memories, kind of like Bob did.

Now however Harry might have gotten infected, I don't think he himself actually is infected. Instead, I think Lash has been infected by the Nemesis that somehow got into Harry's head. Her infection would have happened at the end of WN in my eyes, when she sacrificed herself to safe Harry. But contrary to what Harry believes, she was not killed, she was severely injured and weakened. Nemesis used that to catch a ride out of the Cave, and has since healed and turned Lash.

So this is the parasite: a Nemesis turned Lash.


But I was thinking along a different angle, too. We know that someone or something is causing Harry to have headaches. The time seems to be set somewhere in WN or SmF. The question remains, who is causing them?
And then I thought of the people we know have been in Harry's head. There's Mab and Lash of course. Lea I'm not sure of, I don't think she actually did some remodeling like the others. On the other hand, she could just as well have, if her contract with Maggie sr. allows for such a thing. Then again, since Mab took over Lea's duties and she could meddle in his head, we can't exclude her entirely.

But there is someone else who got into Harry's head. Two actually, now that I think about it:
First, there's his mother. I'm still not sure how she managed to link herself to both Harry and Thomas. Thomas, sure. She probably had plenty of time after he was born to put a spell on him. But on Harry? She died when she gave birth to him. And unless she put it into her death curse, I don't see how she could have done it. But she was definitely in his head, however she may have done it. One possibility would be, that she somehow put part of herself into the pentacles ahead of time, and when Thomas and Harry touched them, that part of Maggie went into them, just as any of the Denariens do. But however she did it, she was in Harry's head. We know of one thing that she did there, confirm that Thomas is his brother, but she could have done all kinds of things there. Hell, maybe that's part of what made Lasciel's shadow transform into Lash.

And someone else who got into Harry is Kravos. I think it was established that he had been infected by Nemesis, and if it hasn't, I will just assume so anyway. How did Harry defeat Kravos? He friggin' ate him. He ate Kravos power, his essence, his soul. If Kravos was infected by Nemesis, how likely do you think it is that Harry did not get that, too? I know, there aren't any signs that he has been infected that early on, but nonetheless, that's something to think about. In the light of CD, and looking at how inside-Harry had dressed her in a prison jumpsuit, maybe inner-Harry has locked away Nemesis inside of Harry's brain, too. As a prelude to Harry's responsibilities as the Warden, so to speak.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: KurtinStGeorge on December 13, 2012, 05:52:52 PM
true. that she showed up at all considering she existed only in now burnt out parts of harry's mind does make it hard for her to exist elsewhere.

Seeing that the ice pick like pains are first mentioned in SmF, I wonder if when Mab messed with Harry's memory she also began the process of healing Harry's brain damage.  I had assumed that occurred when Mab healed his back injury, but if she began the process in SmF that is when Lash started to return, assuming that regrowing the burned out areas of his mind where Lash resided would also bring Lash back. Perhaps its a minor point, but it might have greater significance. 
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 13, 2012, 06:20:55 PM
Seeing that the ice pick like pains are first mentioned in SmF, I wonder if when Mab messed with Harry's memory she also began the process of healing Harry's brain damage.  I had assumed that occurred when Mab healed his back injury, but if she began the process in SmF that is when Lash started to return, assuming that regrowing the burned out areas of his mind where Lash resided would also bring Lash back. Perhaps its a minor point, but it might have greater significance.
Harry doesn't need anyone to help him healing. He is a wizard. Wizards heal, given enough time. Btw, Mab didn't "heal" his back injury, she just made his body forget it and work anyhow (as long as he is respecting Winter law).
Perhaps Harry's natural healing process helps Lash to heal, too?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 13, 2012, 07:34:11 PM
Harry doesn't need anyone to help him healing. He is a wizard. Wizards heal, given enough time. Btw, Mab didn't "heal" his back injury, she just made his body forget it and work anyhow (as long as he is respecting Winter law).
Perhaps Harry's natural healing process helps Lash to heal, too?

Well by that logic, Harry doesn't need any kind of treatment or physical therapy.  But it helps  If it looks like Harry might need that extra mental capacity in the next 10 years, as opposed to the next 25+ years, it would be in Mab's best interest to quicken his healing process.   

And I disagree that Mab didn't "heal" his back injury.  I'm assuming you are referring to the part in CD where he says "Screw Winter's Rules" and suddenly felt himself paralyzed again.    I don't think she's making his body "forget" that it's got a severed spinal cord.  She actually healed it.  It's been established that the Fae can do real healing on those they have power over.  Leah did it to Harry in Grave Peril, and there is no reason to think Mab would be less capable.  Also it was worded in Harry's agreement to her that she heal his body, and Mab is a stickler for the letter of the agreements she makes.   Besides, his body wouldn't keep working normally with a severed spine, it would still need to be repaired before it would function for him.  It's more likely (to me) that his sudden paralysis in that scene was Mab's way of reminding him to obey her rules, that she owned him, and he better not forget it.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 08:51:31 PM
I don't understand how JB could be being "tricksy" by saying "Lash is the parasite."  That doesn't seem capable of multiple interpretations to me.

Yes, exactly. The fact that it is so completely, unambiguously, a straight outright conclusive answer to an ongoing mystery is UNLIKE any other answers I have seen Jim give. It seems un-Jim-like to hand us the answer to a mystery that will not be resolved in writing for another few books (at the time he made the statement). I could be wrong about that, but it is out of character for Jim, as far as I can tell. Therefore I do not trust it.

Jim also said “Justin is dead” over and over again yet how many times do we hear theories that Justin may be alive? People are not convinced simply because Jim says “A is B” that it necessarily is so. For the longest while, I thought this was a waste of time. Then we got the recent WoJ wherein someone asked Jim if we should trust his answers and he said something along the lines of “I wouldn’t trust me if I were you, I tell you great big lies for a living” which leads me now to believe that a WoJ should be considered good evidence of a given fact, but not used to conclusively refuse to consider other potential theories. Those other theories should be considered highly speculative, but I am not willing to ignore or discount them, so long as they have some evidence, reason or logic on their side.

The best circumstantial evidence aside from JB's reported statement are the parasite's location, description, and evident motivation, all of which are consistent with Lash = parasite. 

The parasite’s location is also consistent with the area of Harry’s back where HWWBh injured him in the flashback we see in GS and then the pain he immediately feels in his head.

[context: confrontation starts at about page 277 of Ghost Story (hardback edition)). Harry receives some injury to his back/neck/spine BEFORE he is struck for the first time by HWWB (p.281)]
Quote
I turned back to the reflective surface of the video game’s screen, and just as I again found the shape inside it, FIRE ERUPTED ALONG MY SPINE. I was slammed forward into the video game and my head hit it hard enough to send a spiderweb of cracks through the machines glass screen. Pain, sickening and harsh, flooded though my skull, and I staggered.”
The parasite’s motivation is unknown, so I am not sure how you conclude that it is consistent with Lash. I could and have argued that some of Harry’s behavior is consistent with him fighting the effects of having an outsider parasite in him and some of the other characters’ reactions to him is due to the outsider parasite.
Beyond that is the verified statement by JB on multiple occasions that Lash appeared in GS, though not under that name.  Lash = parasite is consistent with that statement.  If Lash is not the parasite, then you need to propose a more plausible theory of where Lash did appear in GS.
Before we learned towards the end of DB that Lash could project herself enough for Harry to believe she was an independent person, it appeared to us as the reader that Sheila was an actual character. Could Lash similarly be a different person in GS than we currently believe? Maybe, but not likely. Could she be Inez in the cemetery? Again, it’s possible but not likely. Where in GS Lash appears has always been an acknowledged problem with the idea that Lash isn’t the parasite. [http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,35072.msg1676177.html#msg1676177] I personally think the solution is going to be a surprise or a twist from Jim that we have not yet hit on.

So I agree that “Lash = Parasite” is the theory with more evidence to support it. I agree that there are open questions raised by the theory that Lash is not the parasite. I just don’t agree that "Lash = Parasite" is so conclusively proven that any other option is a waste of time to consider. YMMV, of course.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 13, 2012, 09:49:39 PM
And I disagree that Mab didn't "heal" his back injury.  I'm assuming you are referring to the part in CD where he says "Screw Winter's Rules" and suddenly felt himself paralyzed again.    I don't think she's making his body "forget" that it's got a severed spinal cord.  She actually healed it.  It's been established that the Fae can do real healing on those they have power over.  Leah did it to Harry in Grave Peril, and there is no reason to think Mab would be less capable.  Also it was worded in Harry's agreement to her that she heal his body, and Mab is a stickler for the letter of the agreements she makes.   Besides, his body wouldn't keep working normally with a severed spine, it would still need to be repaired before it would function for him.  It's more likely (to me) that his sudden paralysis in that scene was Mab's way of reminding him to obey her rules, that she owned him, and he better not forget it.
As far as I understood Harry's conversation with Butters, there is a big problem with Mab's interfering with Harry's natural feelings of his own body. Harry doesn't feel pain, injuries, broken spines, ... but they are there nontheless. I am not sure that Mab would be able to really "heal" him -- healing is more a power of Summer. But Winter can numb you down very effectively until your body is able to heal itself.
By the way: Very interesting that Winter is not able to stop the headaches caused by the parasite. All other pains are repelled.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Ms Duck on December 13, 2012, 09:51:53 PM
As far as I understood Harry's conversation with Butters, there is a big problem with Mab's interfering with Harry's natural feelings of his own body. Harry doesn't feel pain, injuries, broken spines, ... but they are there nontheless. I am not sure that Mab would be able to really "heal" him -- healing is more a power of Summer. But Winter can numb you down very effectively until your body is able to heal itself.
By the way: Very interesting that Winter is not able to stop the headaches caused by the parasite. All other pains are repelled.
if she didnt heal him, he couldnt stand. :)
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 13, 2012, 09:53:16 PM
if she didnt heal him, he couldnt stand. :)
it kinda references that the WKM is just a really big bandage though too.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Ms Duck on December 13, 2012, 09:56:34 PM
it kinda references that the WKM is just a really big bandage though too.

in some ways, sure. but his spine? if it had failed, he would have instnatly hit the floor and splat. I think it was more a gentle reminder that she can unheal him, too.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 13, 2012, 10:05:03 PM
As far as I understood Harry's conversation with Butters, there is a big problem with Mab's interfering with Harry's natural feelings of his own body. Harry doesn't feel pain, injuries, broken spines, ... but they are there nontheless. I am not sure that Mab would be able to really "heal" him -- healing is more a power of Summer. But Winter can numb you down very effectively until your body is able to heal itself.
By the way: Very interesting that Winter is not able to stop the headaches caused by the parasite. All other pains are repelled.

Except that Winter can heal him, and in fact has healed him in the past.  As I cited before,  in Grave Peril, Leah healed his concussion with a kiss  she didn't make him just forget it, she healed it.  When Harry went to the hospital later to get it looked at, the doctor got pissed off at him for wasting her time with what was clearly a "weeks worth of healing" scar on his forehead.   This wasn't him ignoring the injury, the injury was flat out healed, by an agent of Winter because she had power over him
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 13, 2012, 10:06:10 PM
in some ways, sure. but his spine? if it had failed, he would have instnatly hit the floor and splat. I think it was more a gentle reminder that she can unheal him, too.
Well, he did instantly hit the floor, didn't he? Winter law seems to be some kind of natural law. There is nobody really there actively reminding you. Things just fall down without being reminded to do so. I don't believe Mab was actively involved reminding Harry of her power. Cause: The law itself was deactivated by Harry's remark (screw Winter). Effect: Mantel dissolved, Harry hits the floor.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 13, 2012, 10:07:30 PM
if she didnt heal him, he couldnt stand. :)

Exactly, this isn't The Dark Knight Rises, where they do Blunt Force Trauma Chiropractic treatment.

"Broken spine?"  *punch* "Cured!!!"   "Testicular cancer?"  *punch*  "Cured!!" 

Mab's got way more power than that.  Healing a mere mortal's damaged body is nothing to a creature at her level of Power
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 13, 2012, 10:15:26 PM
Well, he did instantly hit the floor, didn't he? Winter law seems to be some kind of natural law. There is nobody really there actively reminding you. Things just fall down without being reminded to do so. I don't believe Mab was actively involved reminding Harry of her power. Cause: The law itself was deactivated by Harry's remark (screw Winter). Effect: Mantel dissolved, Harry hits the floor.

Except that Winter is Mab.  His mantle is Mab's power within him.  As Maeve put it to Harry on the  bridge, the power within him is Mab herself, which is why she is weak to him.   He wasn't just saying "Screw Winter" he was saying "Screw Mab"  because they are one in the same.  By denying the rules that he was bound to through oath and fealty, (whether he understood this or not), his power through her would be denied him, and I don't see any reason he couldn't be reminded of this via a temporary paralysis reminder.  Besides, as I said before, we have direct evidence that Winter Fae can, and have healed physical injuries on a mortal before, specifically Harry.  So it stands to reason that a Fae with even more power than the one who healed him in the past, could heal him as part of a bargain.    Harry in fact goes into great detail about how hard it is to heal someone via magic, and that it meant that Leah had a direct line of influence/power over him to be able to pull it off.   By swearing fealty to Mab as her Knight, and boinking her on the table...well....that's about as "direct line of influence" as you can get
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: KurtinStGeorge on December 13, 2012, 10:18:46 PM
I know I need to reread the book, but if the headaches started before Harry pick up the coin, maybe Lash isn't what is going to kill him, maybe its something else.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 10:23:21 PM
That's pretty much the most widely accepted theory on this forum.  That Lash is still inside his head.   I personally don't agree with it since it makes her entire Heroic Sacrifice in White Knight null and void, and I think from a storytelling standpoint that it's more moving to have the shadow of a fallen angel be redeemed through an act of Sacrifice for another.  But hey, both theories are theories so we'll see when it gets published.

Actually to me personally it lines up more with what happened in Small Favor, when Mab stirred up Harry's brain.  Because before that book, his comments about headaches were usually very minor mentions, frequently after being hit in the head by a badguy, and were as I like to call them, his Obligatory Head Trauma for the book.  It's only in the beginning on Turn Coat that Harry takes the time out to really describe to the reader in intense detail that he is having mind numbing migraines that are causing him really really major problems.  And IIRC he mentions that those level of migraines have only been going on for a few months.   To me personally, all the mentions of headaches before could easily be attributed to the OHT of the book, or having his mind mucked about with by people like Corpsetaker.   

And I seem to recall in one of the most recent Q&A's that Jim flat out says that "The Headaches" start at a very specific timepoint in the series.  Which would imply that before that he was having your vanilla mortal headaches from stress, sleep deprivation, trauma, etc.

I know we are about a bajillion messages past this one, but I just wanted to say, I think you are making an excellent couple of points.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 13, 2012, 10:24:01 PM
I know I need to reread the book, but if the headaches started before Harry pick up the coin, maybe Lash isn't what is going to kill him, maybe its something else.
those headaches seem different though.
the real indicator is in TC were he says the migraines that started the last few months.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 10:33:27 PM
Except that Winter is Mab.  His mantle is Mab's power within him.  As Maeve put it to Harry on the  bridge, the power within him is Mab herself, which is why she is weak to him.   He wasn't just saying "Screw Winter" he was saying "Screw Mab"  because they are one in the same.  By denying the rules that he was bound to through oath and fealty, (whether he understood this or not), his power through her would be denied him, and I don't see any reason he couldn't be reminded of this via a temporary paralysis reminder.  Besides, as I said before, we have direct evidence that Winter Fae can, and have healed physical injuries on a mortal before, specifically Harry.  So it stands to reason that a Fae with even more power than the one who healed him in the past, could heal him as part of a bargain.    Harry in fact goes into great detail about how hard it is to heal someone via magic, and that it meant that Leah had a direct line of influence/power over him to be able to pull it off.   By swearing fealty to Mab as her Knight, and boinking her on the table...well....that's about as "direct line of influence" as you can get

It just occurred to me that if Mab is actually healing him in full, not just masking the injury (which seems like it wouldn't work with a severed spine) then all the people who think that in time Harry will heal his back and will not need the WK mantle are wrong. Mab healed his spine and then broke it anew when Harry forswore his oath to Winter. So even if Harry is the WK for 200 years and would have been able to heal his own back during that time, there is nothing to heal because Mab fixed it. And she can un-fix it if he breaks his oath to her.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: King Ash on December 13, 2012, 10:51:42 PM
Except that Winter is Mab.  His mantle is Mab's power within him.  As Maeve put it to Harry on the  bridge, the power within him is Mab herself, which is why she is weak to him.   He wasn't just saying "Screw Winter" he was saying "Screw Mab"  because they are one in the same.  By denying the rules that he was bound to through oath and fealty, (whether he understood this or not), his power through her would be denied him, and I don't see any reason he couldn't be reminded of this via a temporary paralysis reminder.  Besides, as I said before, we have direct evidence that Winter Fae can, and have healed physical injuries on a mortal before, specifically Harry.  So it stands to reason that a Fae with even more power than the one who healed him in the past, could heal him as part of a bargain.    Harry in fact goes into great detail about how hard it is to heal someone via magic, and that it meant that Leah had a direct line of influence/power over him to be able to pull it off.   By swearing fealty to Mab as her Knight, and boinking her on the table...well....that's about as "direct line of influence" as you can get

I would say Mother Winter is Winter, Mab simply has a mainline to the winter wellspring, Harry also has a line to the winter wellspring but it is different to Mab's.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: KurtinStGeorge on December 13, 2012, 11:00:19 PM
those headaches seem different though.
the real indicator is in TC were he says the migraines that started the last few months.

Good point.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 11:04:06 PM
I know I need to reread the book, but if the headaches started before Harry pick up the coin, maybe Lash isn't what is going to kill him, maybe its something else.
Yeah, the main thing I got from the big list o'  head problems is that I no longer believe the logic is tight on the theory that "Lash is causing the headaches because they occur at the time she would be regenerating." I think the only true pattern that can be tied to an individual is the headaches caused by Mab's geas.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 13, 2012, 11:07:59 PM
Yeah, the main thing I got from the big list o'  head problems is that I no longer believe the logic is tight on the theory that "Lash is causing the headaches because they occur at the time she would be regenerating." I think the only true pattern that can be tied to an individual is the headaches caused by Mab's geas.
well the parasite bargained with DR to keep quiet about it, maybe mabs part of the bargain was to tinker with his head so harry would avoid certain trains of thought?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: DDragonfly on December 13, 2012, 11:09:17 PM
Just had an idea.
By the way I am nonpartial on the whole Lash-is-back and Lash-is-not-back thing.
But I think that those two headache ice picks in his head are in the same location as those ugly glowing green eyes the Denarians have.
 :)
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 13, 2012, 11:11:11 PM
Just had an idea.
By the way I am nonpartial on the whole Lash-is-back and Lash-is-not-back thing.
But I think that those two headache ice picks in his head are in the same location as those ugly glowing green eyes the Denarians have.
 :)
i don't THINK so... the eyes are on the forehead. the icepicks are in the temples?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Elegast on December 13, 2012, 11:21:08 PM
Just linking to serack's post about Lash, which could explain the headaches start only after SmF:
Serack's lash theory (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,27090.0.html)
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 13, 2012, 11:46:59 PM
Here's the thing, though. The headaches for which we are certain of the causation for are the headaches in Small Favor, where Mab hides the information from Harry about his blasting rod. So let's start there...

The description from those two headaches in SmF. For the first headache, "ice picks plunging into both temples," and for the second, "savage pain." So even though they both are caused by the same thing, Mab, the description is not the same. Arguably, a third headache caused by Mab (Ms. Duck theory) occurs in TC where Harry is precluded from realizing Mouse could help him find Thomas. This headache is described as a vise on Harry's temples. So even with the same agent causing the headaches, the descriptions vary.

That being said, 2 headaches occur in SK and GP which both are described as at the base of his neck creeping towards his crown. Each occurs while Harry is researching with Bob (looking up info about the Queens and werewolves.)

FOUR headaches occur all described as being "between Harry's eyebrows"- three in WN and one in Changes.

The only other echoed headache is the one in Cold Days, caused by the parasite, but described as "two separate ice picks in his temples", "in the same place as usual" indicating other headaches occur here. But the ice pick headaches clearly correlate to the Mab geas headache in SmF. [tangent - Is this why people are saying maybe Mab made a deal with the parasite to block something else from Harry?]

Finally, Harry thinks about a several month time period just before TC where he started having and continues to have increasingly horrible migraines.

So I don't know how one looks at this collection of headaches and reaches the conclusion that Lash is causing specific headaches at a specific time. It seems like there may be a pattern to certain headaches or connections between them, but its thin at best. It seems to me that there is more evidence that something funky is going on before Lash dies, with the "between the eyebrows" headaches than afterwards, unless the lumped together "increasing series of migraines" are the headaches everyone attributes to Lash's regeneration.

Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 13, 2012, 11:56:42 PM
[tangent - Is this why people are saying maybe Mab made a deal with the parasite to block something else from Harry?]

yea, DR an mab wanted harry alive, DR agreed in the bargain not to tell harry much about it. mab CANT tell harry without a scale balancing act, so the parasites bargain was probably slightly different with her. eg, making sure harry doesn't think about it too much. this would explain why he doesn't bring it up to molly immediately. esp sense he had a few ample opportunities to discuss it with her. even at the end he doesn't mention it to thomas to tell molly about it or that he needs her for something.
the only mention of it he makes at all is as soon as he gets to the boat that his head is going to explode.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Ben de Wal on December 14, 2012, 02:55:35 AM
crazzy just a thought about the parisite? maybe luccion was the one who  planted  in harry's head. i mean  harry's been having incresing  bad migrains for the past couple of month at the start of turn coat.bad enough that he went to get an mri and we know butcher doesn't put thing in his books for nothing. and we never  really got an answer for why she was placed next to harry... so am i crazzy?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 14, 2012, 03:01:17 AM
crazzy just a thought about the parisite? maybe luccion was the one who  planted  in harry's head. i mean  harry's been having incresing  bad migrains for the past couple of month at the start of turn coat.bad enough that he went to get an mri and we know butcher doesn't put thing in his books for nothing. and we never  really got an answer for why she was placed next to harry... so am i crazzy?
crazy? maybe.. i started a club for that, wanna join? :o no it explains it in TC, peabody couldn't get to harry because he never goes to edinburgh, she was planted to keep tabs on him and potentially take him out. an easy task considering harry gave her a way through his wards.. the dolt...
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Ben de Wal on December 15, 2012, 08:17:53 PM
 i though that what Harry  and the gatekeeper came up  hmm i'll have ckeck that
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: HateEgo on December 16, 2012, 09:49:38 PM
Ugh, I hate showing up late to a party.    Mab may not have actually healed Harry's nerves in his back.  Technically, all you need to do is bridge the connections to send and receive electrical impulses. To Mab that could be considered healed. 
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 17, 2012, 01:53:45 AM
his spinal column was separated as per uriel, its not a nerve problem only, his fricken back SNAPPED in two...
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: syntagmaton on December 18, 2012, 12:25:24 AM
She might have healed the nerves, but not the supporting bones and discs. When Harry screws Winter law, he gets sort of an herniated vertebral disc?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 19, 2012, 01:41:00 PM
wanted to throw in that jim confirm harry didn't always have the headaches  at 12:08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gn-qp4aOXc&playnext=1&list=PLqgcYPgNpB6x_ex_GKRef2MeUgOKpuimC&feature=results_video

wag. i think maggie sr had took up lasciels coin, malcolm relieved her of it physically touching the coin. but having never taken it up himself got stuck with the shadow in his head. this killed him with the anyurism (this shadow wasn't the lash we know so don't start up about that) it supports my theory of maggie and her escape from hell.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 19, 2012, 02:02:34 PM
I would say Mother Winter is Winter, Mab simply has a mainline to the winter wellspring, Harry also has a line to the winter wellspring but it is different to Mab's.

All of the Queens are Winter/Summer.   They are different facets of that power, and represent different manifestations of its nature and purpose, but they are all Winter/Summer. 
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: King Ash on December 19, 2012, 09:49:31 PM
All of the Queens are Winter/Summer.   They are different facets of that power, and represent different manifestations of its nature and purpose, but they are all Winter/Summer.

Depends on how you are looking at it. I don't think Mab represents the actual season of winter the way the Mother does, she is more in charge of the winter fae. She has a dramatic effect on the environment, but I have seen nothing to suggest that she gets incapacitated during summer the way mother winter did in SF.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: HateEgo on December 20, 2012, 04:01:30 PM
She might have healed the nerves, but not the supporting bones and discs. When Harry screws Winter law, he gets sort of an herniated vertebral disc?


I thinks it the other way around. Bones and Softer tissue heal naturally without magic even proper care.  Nerves do not just mend themselves naturally.  Mab accelerated bone and disc healing and magic bridges the nerves until Harry's "wizard healing" completes the process if it can at all.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 20, 2012, 04:13:17 PM
Depends on how you are looking at it. I don't think Mab represents the actual season of winter the way the Mother does, she is more in charge of the winter fae.

I don't think Mab represents the actual season of winter the way the Mother does,
She has a dramatic effect on the environment,
Her physical presence in Chicago meant that an unseasonably long and cold winter sat on the area until she left.....how does that not represent the "actual" season of winter?  Her presence directly effected the "actual" season of Winter.  That implies she's pretty deeply tied to it.


but I have seen nothing to suggest that she gets incapacitated during summer the way mother winter did in SF.
Except how keeping herself dominant in the physical world so far into Spring and pushing into Summer to keep Harry alive taxed her to the point of making her look like an insect instead of a woman?   And that Harry even comments to her about how she was pushing herself by staying around when it was becoming the time of Summer.   
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: King Ash on December 20, 2012, 09:50:14 PM
Her physical presence in Chicago meant that an unseasonably long and cold winter sat on the area until she left.....how does that not represent the "actual" season of winter?  Her presence directly effected the "actual" season of Winter.  That implies she's pretty deeply tied to it.

Except how keeping herself dominant in the physical world so far into Spring and pushing into Summer to keep Harry alive taxed her to the point of making her look like an insect instead of a woman?   And that Harry even comments to her about how she was pushing herself by staying around when it was becoming the time of Summer.

Her mainlining off winters source works just as well for her changing the seasons. Just by being there she draws energy from winter to the mortal realm.

I would say that spending months in our world instead of Faerie attempting to keep Harry alive taxed her rather than what season it is.  The source of Winter being in decline due to the season giving her less access to her power works as well.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 21, 2012, 02:37:35 PM
Her mainlining off winters source works just as well for her changing the seasons. Just by being there she draws energy from winter to the mortal realm.

I would say that spending months in our world instead of Faerie attempting to keep Harry alive taxed her rather than what season it is.  The source of Winter being in decline due to the season giving her less access to her power works as well.

*shrugs*  I'm not buying that logic but ok, to each his own.    Seeing as the winter was early and unusually cold during the events of Small Favor as well, when she was just hanging out to give Harry and edge seems to suggest that Winter follows her. Hell Bob even pointed that fact out to Harry.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: HateEgo on December 21, 2012, 04:05:33 PM
Since we're on the subject of Mab's power during different seasons.  Did anyone consider that to Mab and Titania the changing of seasons if just a shift in Where they have more power?  After all, while it may be Summer in Chicago it's Winter somewhere else.  In a technical sense the Lady's have no clear dominion anywhere,  the Queens trade continents twice a year, and the Mothers live in a single cottage.  I think there is some symmetry there.  Thoughts?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Snaps At Fireflies on December 21, 2012, 04:21:44 PM
Since we're on the subject of Mab's power during different seasons.  Did anyone consider that to Mab and Titania the changing of seasons if just a shift in Where they have more power?  After all, while it may be Summer in Chicago it's Winter somewhere else.  In a technical sense the Lady's have no clear dominion anywhere,  the Queens trade continents twice a year, and the Mothers live in a single cottage.  I think there is some symmetry there.  Thoughts?

Good point, the Winter/Summer shift as described is very Northern Hemisphere-centric.   But I just chalk that up to "The story takes place there mostly", and assume that yes, Winter and Summer likely go South in the Off-Season.  This could be why their domains are persistent in the Never Never year round, because it's always Summer/Winter somewhere.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: King Ash on December 21, 2012, 09:16:57 PM
Since we're on the subject of Mab's power during different seasons.  Did anyone consider that to Mab and Titania the changing of seasons if just a shift in Where they have more power?  After all, while it may be Summer in Chicago it's Winter somewhere else.  In a technical sense the Lady's have no clear dominion anywhere,  the Queens trade continents twice a year, and the Mothers live in a single cottage.  I think there is some symmetry there.  Thoughts?

There is a WOJ regarding this somewhere stating that the different hemispheres do affect where the table is IIRC. The hard part to work out is why MW doesn't move much in Summer.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: GrandPanjandrum on December 24, 2012, 01:25:37 AM
Pssst....you missed a very important one from Blood Rites.  Harry gets a dull ache in his head (throbbing) when he accepts the gem from his mother while soulgazing Thomas.  The gem contains insight (knowledge).
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cenphx on December 24, 2012, 01:40:30 AM
Thank you!! I will add it once I'm not on my mobile phone. And if you see anymore, definitey let me know. For instance, I'm pretty sure Ms Duck is right that a Mab geas headache or two is missing from TC and/or SmF. I'd like the list to be as accurate as possible so it really can be used as a reference.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Lee3178 on December 24, 2012, 03:24:19 PM
Harry gets a dull ache in his head (throbbing) when he accepts the gem from his mother while soulgazing Thomas.  The gem contains insight (knowledge).

Yes.  I noticed that in a recent reread.  "you don't gain knowledge without a little pain,"  Harry has 3 incorporeal entities in his head, or is it only2?
1 Lash, 2 Parasite and 2 Mother's Advice
1 Lash the Parasite and 2  Mother's Advice
1 Mother's Advice the parasite and 2  Lash
Not to mention Mab and Molly both have tinkered around in Harry's head.  HH is getting crowded.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: spameroo on December 24, 2012, 04:27:47 PM
The headache stopped by DR in Cold Days only started in the room of "Memory... Reflection."  Kinda supports the idea that the headaches' purpose is to keep him from certain trains of thought.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: GrandPanjandrum on December 24, 2012, 04:42:18 PM
The headache stopped by DR in Cold Days only started in the room of "Memory... Reflection."  Kinda supports the idea that the headaches' purpose is to keep him from certain trains of thought.

The immediate thought Harry had right before the "parasite" headache in Cold Days was in recollection of how Ebenezer reacted to him laying down a Sanctum Invocation on the island.  He thought "stunned"...then "horrified."  Then *BANG*...one of the double ice pick headaches instantaneously.

Technically, I think Harry has the potential for at least four things playing with his head.

1. Mab...when she gets a whim
2. Lash, if she's still in there
3. Gained knowledge from his Mother (Blood Rites) that might or might not have activation protocols upon recognition.
4. Gained knowledge from his Mother (Changes) where he receives another gem containing knowledge of the ways.
5. Perhaps an unknown party known as the parasite (my thoughts lead to Arianna's death curse).
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: wizard nelson on December 24, 2012, 04:48:11 PM
what gem did he get first? what was it for and were did it go?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Ben de Wal on December 24, 2012, 04:51:08 PM
 in the soul gaze he had with thomas
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: GrandPanjandrum on December 24, 2012, 04:54:49 PM
what gem did he get first? what was it for and were did it go?

The first gem was in Blood Rites as he soulgazed Thomas.  His mother gave him a gem through the mirror.  Here's the dialogue:

Quote
My mother stood before me holding what I thought was a small gem or a jewel between long fingers.  It pulsed with a low, gentle light.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Insight," she said.
"It's knowledge?" I asked.
"And the power that goes with it," she said.  She gave me a half smile, touched with irony.  It looked familiar.  "Think of it as a mother's advice, if you like.  It doesn't make up for my absence, child.  But it's all that I have to give."

It gave him a dull aching in his head when he touched it.  Of course, it was incorporeal since this all took place in his head.  He doesn't really possess a gem.  But, I thought this was why he was so familiar with Demonreach in Small Favor...not the Wizard Sight as Luccio believed.  Maggie Sr. makes a point of stating that power comes with this knowledge.  Power comes with all knowledge...so it's odd she should mention it.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: finnmckool on December 24, 2012, 06:37:48 PM
Sorry if this is dense of me, but I don't remember Jim saying that the parasite WAS Lash. I remember him saying she'd be back, and I remember that coinciding nicely with some other chat about the Alice statue and Eternal Silence and proxies. But I don't remember him equating the parasite with Lash specifically. Is that the quote, or are we just linking proximal thoughts?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: TheCuriousFan on December 24, 2012, 11:59:38 PM
Sorry if this is dense of me, but I don't remember Jim saying that the parasite WAS Lash. I remember him saying she'd be back, and I remember that coinciding nicely with some other chat about the Alice statue and Eternal Silence and proxies. But I don't remember him equating the parasite with Lash specifically. Is that the quote, or are we just linking proximal thoughts?

The person who got us the videos of a signing (can't remember which) asked Jim about the possibility when getting their book signed (rather than at the Q&A section) and he supposedly confirmed the idea that Lash is the Parasite is correct.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: spameroo on December 25, 2012, 03:50:44 AM
But, I thought this was why he was so familiar with Demonreach in Small Favor...not the Wizard Sight as Luccio believed.  Maggie Sr. makes a point of stating that power comes with this knowledge.  Power comes with all knowledge...so it's odd she should mention it.

I've started to think Luccio might have been lying about that in the first place. As far as I can remember, that was literally the only time such a phenomenon was ever even alluded to by anyone. None of the wizards senior to Harry ever mentioned it again, and he never seemed to experience anything he thought to ascribe to it.

I don't really know WHY she would have made it up, but it always did strike me as sort of a non sequitur.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Ben de Wal on December 25, 2012, 03:58:26 AM
I've started to think Luccio might have been lying about that in the first place. As far as I can remember, that was literally the only time such a phenomenon was ever even alluded to by anyone. None of the wizards senior to Harry ever mentioned it again, and he never seemed to experience anything he thought to ascribe to it.

I don't really know WHY she would have made it up, but it always did strike me as sort of a non sequitur.
ya but it did turn out to be an important place to harry wich it  did so your saying she lied but got it half right kinda streching it a little thin
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: spameroo on December 25, 2012, 04:28:26 AM
I think everyone who found out he had visited DR knew it was going to be important for him eventually. I'm not saying she was trying to lie about that, but that she was trying to mislead him about the source of his premonition. She did seem to have strong opinions about the type of person his mom was.  Maybe she was doing something similar to Maeve convincing Lily that she could detect Nemesis infections with a hand wave.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Homebrewmatt on January 15, 2013, 02:47:38 AM
The interesting part of the headache in SF where he has the stabbing pains in the temples surrounding the discussion about his blasting rod is that Michael helps treat that headache.  He appeals to the WG, touches Harry on the head, and Harry feels a heat and the headache goes away.

That seems to suggest more than someone messing with Harry's memory.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: punkinholler on January 16, 2013, 05:04:41 AM
The interesting part of the headache in SF where he has the stabbing pains in the temples surrounding the discussion about his blasting rod is that Michael helps treat that headache.  He appeals to the WG, touches Harry on the head, and Harry feels a heat and the headache goes away.

That seems to suggest more than someone messing with Harry's memory.

Are you saying TWG's intervention itself indicates greater significance or are you suggesting that the fact that TWG's intervention was required to fix Harry's head suggests that the headache was caused by more than memory manipulation?
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Homebrewmatt on January 17, 2013, 01:01:33 AM
It just seems to me that the WG intervening brings more significance to the headache than Mab simply manipulating Harry's memory
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Griffyn612 on January 22, 2013, 12:05:15 AM
The key seems to be the location of the headaches.  He's got two places he normally has headaches.
1) Between his eyes/bridge of nose
2) His temples.

I think the key headaches are the temple headaches.  I think the temple itself has been emphasized several times.

I'm currently thinking that Mab hasn't altered Harry's memories, like we thought.  I think it was the Parasite, who I think is Lash.  I think Mab and Lash have been working together longer than we thought.

The link to the parasite is through the "ice pick" descriptions.  Those link to the temples, with link to the headaches since Lash disappeared.

There may even be a link to the damage Harry suffered at Lash's 'demise', and other mental manipulations we've seen.

Mental/Memory Manipulation
PG - pg. 112  (Molly manipulated Rose's head; but what about Harry?)
Quote
     Worse, there were what looked almost like burn marks on her temples—small, black, neat
holes, as if someone had bored a hot needle through the skin and skull beneath.
...
     My head started pounding and I pushed the Sight away. I leaned my hip against the wall
for a second and rubbed at my temples until the throbbing subsided and I was sure that my
normal vision had returned.

PG - pg. 134 (Titania manipulated Lily)
Quote
     “I know,” Lily said. She lifted her hand to a temple and closed her eyes in a faint
frown of pain. “But…’’ She shook her head and fell silent again as Titania’s binding sealed
her tongue.

PG - pg. 250 (Molly manipulated Nelson's head)
Quote
     And each of his temples bore tiny, neat holes, sharp and cauterized, as if by a laser
scalpel.

Birth of Lash
WN - pg. 309
Quote
     “For an inhumanly brilliant spiritual entity, you can really miss the freaking point.” I
poked a finger at my own temple. “Think. Maybe you don’t have to be Lasciel.”

WN - pg. 442 (Bob examining Harry after Lash's sacrifice)
Quote
     “I think that’s where the damage is. I mean, I’m looking at you right now, and your head
has been riddled with tiny holes, boss.”

WN - pg. 444 (Bob talking about Lash existing off of Harry)
Quote
     “So it was running off my soul? Like I’m some kind of battery?”


SmF Headaches, First Tarp
SmF - pg. 46  (When Mab took the rod; what else happened?)
Quote
     Mab’s frozen-berry lips lifted in a silent snarl, and the world turned into a curtain of
white agony that centered on my eyes. Nothing had ever hurt so much. I fell down, but I wasn’t
lucky enough to hit my head and knock myself unconscious. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t scream.
     Then there was something cold beside me. And something very soft and very cold touched my
ear. I recognized the sensation, from the far side of the pain. Lips. Mab’s lips. The Queen of
Air and Darkness placed a gentle row of kisses down the outside ridge of my ear, then sucked the
lobe into her mouth and bit down quite gently.

SmF - pg.273-274
Quote
     On the opposite side of Ivy, Rosanna launched more traditional lances of flame from her
open palms, much like the ones I—
     —a savage pain went through my skull for a second—son of a bitch—
     —but Ivy dispersed them with delicately applied wedges of air, intercepting each burst of
fire far enough short of her body to prevent the bloom of heat as they died from scorching her
—though the two more physical Denarians who strained to force their way past the barrier of
snapping sparks that formed whenever they tried to get close had far less luck.

SmF - pg. 312
Quote
     Pain stabbed me in the head, ice picks plunging into both temples. I flinched and
doubled over. Blasting rod. Familiar words. I fought to summon an image of what went
with the words, but I couldn’t find anything. I knew I had a memory associated with those
words, but try as I might, I couldn’t drag it out. It was like a shape covered by some heavy
tarp. I knew an object was beneath, but I couldn’t get to it.

Turn Coat Headache, Another Tarp
TC - pg. 1/9
Quote
     The summer sun was busy broiling the asphalt from Chicago’s streets, the agony in my head
had kept me horizontal for half a day, and some idiot was pounding on my apartment door.
...
     I pulled the door most of the way shut and sank down into the easy chair by the fireplace,
where I could rub my temples and try to think.

TC - pg. 267
Quote
     A long table in the middle of the room was currently covered by a canvas tarp, and the
floor at the far end of the lab had a perfect circle of pure copper embedded in it. The
remains of several differently structured tracking attempts were scattered on the floor
around the circle, while the props and foci from the most recent failure were still inside it.

TC - pg. 272
Quote
     She chewed on her lip. “What are you going to do?”
     “I . . .” My voice trailed off. I sighed. “I have no idea.”
     Mouse pawed at my leg and looked up at me. I bent over to scratch his ears, and
instantly regretted it as someone tightened a vise on my temples. I straightened up again in
a hurry, wincing, and entertained wild fantasies about lying down on the floor and sleeping
for a week.

The Parasite Pain
CD - pg. 164
Quote
     One second, my scalp was tightening up as two separate ice picks dug into my skull in the same places

they always did, and the next the pain was utterly gone.
Title: Re: List of Headaches [CD spoilers]
Post by: Cozarkian on January 22, 2013, 10:04:25 PM
I'm currently thinking that Mab hasn't altered Harry's memories, like we thought.  I think it was the Parasite, who I think is Lash.  I think Mab and Lash have been working together longer than we thought.

Oh, I really, really like that. First, it would explain why the WG interfered to help restore Harry's memories. Second, it would dispose of neuro's conspiracy theory about Mab tricking Harry into a false belief that he can resist by disposing of the evidence he uses for arguing Mab can safely tamper with Harry's memories. Third, it provides a link between the SmF and Turn Coat headaches that would suggest Lash, not Mab, might be responsible for keeping Harry from using LC. Finally, it would tie in the SmF "cheats" with the theory about Uriel restoring Lash. I believe the headaches start before Harry uses Soulfire. Thus, Uriel could have restored Lash to Harry in response to the capturing of Marcone (first cheat) and then nudged him to activate the Soulfire in response to the attempt to capture Ivy (second cheat).