Seems unlikely to me, because in the soulgaze with Beckitt, Harry saw young-punk-Marcone.

That said, "reborn" works just amazingly well... Marcone as Arthur, Harry as Merlin, and Excalibur waiting for the right time...

Not to mention that Harry has soulgazed Marcone and didn't see this at all.

I definitely think Nicodemus is going to turn out to actually be an ally in the BAT against the outsiders... but never a friendly ally.

I don't think Harry has been helping along the Circle, though. Assuming Cowl is the head (or a head) of the Circle, Cowl is far too annoyed with Harry for Harry to have been helping him out.

No idea what to make out of HWWB. I agree that it seems that HWWB is testing/forging Harry.

Thomas. I don't know if being human is a requirement. Thomas is descended from essentially the King of the White Court. And, I mean, it's the Sword of Love. His "forbidden" love with Justine just begs for him to be the wielder of the Sword of Love.

I think it's way too soon to dismiss him because of his requirement to feed... His character seems ripe for some sort of redemption story where he somehow converts or casts out his demon. I can't imagine that there won't be some sort of "pay off" with Thomas, the half-vampire son of Maggie. I think there will be something happen with him and his demon. But maybe not until the BAT... obvious time would during "Empty Night" (assuming the working titles of the BAT are Hell's Bells, Empty Night, and Stars and Stones".

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Harry ends up "converting" Lasciel at some point, and then if Thomas can convert his demon, that would be a parallel that would be interesting. Could be Maggie set them both up to be key figures in the future of the Denarians (and maybe the entire angelic host?) and the future of the White Court. I mean, it's the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy... Massive change to the entire lanscape of reality (i.e. changes to how the angels work) would be applicable...

Count me as a fan of focused writing! Both Robert Jordan and GRR Martin both had way too many tangential things going on in their books. Jordan would go off on tangents that were baffling, completely ignoring fan favorite characters like the main crew of kids from the town at the beginning of the story (Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Nynave) and focusing on boring, unimportant characters that, in the end, had little to do with the overall story.

Martin did the same, going far afield in Dorn and on Tyrion's river ride. And Brienne's travels. All boring, all detracting from the main characters. All worthless in the end.

And all of that crap slowed the story down. Jordan died before finishing his tale, and Martin probably is going to as well. I remember when Feast came out, and I lamented, oh, crap, he's pulling a Jordan. Man, did he!

Being a first person account, Jim really can't go too far afield like these other writers did, but I hope he keeps focus. I, too, want to live to see the end of this series, but if it takes him 3 to 5 years per book, hell, he might not even live to see the end. He's got, what, 8 books left?

Fair enough, can't always be sure how well versed people are in Christian theology. I suspect that the actual phrase is either one that Jim created specifically for Michael, or one that is quite uncommon and perhaps only exists in certain communities (such as the one Jim grew up in). I too found little reference to that exact phrase.

Although you will note that the full phrase that Michael uses is "Blood of the Dragon, that old Serpent" which is strikingly similar to 12:7-12 Book of Revelation. On balance of probabilities it is more likely that this is what is in reference to, as nowhere else does anyone ever use that phrase or discuss the connection between the Black Court and Dragons.

The thing is, it isn't to be taken literally. Otherwise why not use that phrase with Ferrovax in the earlier scene? Being that there is an actual capital-D Dragon in the room with them...wouldn't that make more sense?

Also if Michael really were referencing the connection to Drakul, assuming he actually knew of that connection (which only exists as WOJ, and a indirect connection that Ebenezar mentioned), why have he and Harry never discussed the origins of the Black Court before? Or Drakul for that matter? Harry (especially this early in the series) barely even knows who the Vampire Courts are (other than surface information - remember Thomas fills him in during the party). Let alone who Drakul is, which he doesn't even understand the difference between Dracula and Drakul until Ebenezar tells him 3 books later in Blood Rites.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I get what you and Bad Alias are saying about it perhaps being biblical, especially since it is coming from Michael, but man, with an Actual Dragon, i.e. Ferrovax, in the scene -- and this scene being one of the pivotal scenes, if not THE PIVOTAL SCENE in the entire series thus far (it sets up SOOOO much) -- I find it hard to believe that Jim just happened to have Michael say "Blood of the Dragon - that old serpent", randomly. Unless it's a red herring, and considering how important this scene is in setting things up I just don't see that, I think it means more.

I think it's safe to assume Michael knows all about black court vampires and their origins.

I think the unhuman thing that is in Drakul is a Dragon. It just makes too much sense.

I see the idea that Lasciel was the voice in Harry's ear bandied about quite a bit, but I don't understand it myself. Lasciel doesn't have a new Bearer until Hannah, as far as we know, and she doesn't join up until after Harry kills the Red Court (and the Brotherhood). The Denarians are trapped in their Coins without a bearer, and are unable to affect the mortal world (beyond manipulating events subtly, like rolling their Coin toward an unconscious Harry in Small Favor). So I don't understand how it could have been Lasciel.

Lash wouldn't have done that to Harry. Bonnie was still incubating. The Coin itself was, presumably, still in the custody of the Church. Aside from that, Harry barely even touched the Coin in the first place (physical contact once, then it was buring under several feet of concrete and sealed within a powered circle for several years). There shouldn't be any connection remaining between them. And Lasciel is trapped within the Coin without someone to accept it.

On top of that, if it was Lasciel, I'm pretty sure Uriel would've said "Oh yeah you know this one, bee tee dubbs" at the end of Ghost Story. He just confirms it was a Fallen. If it was a more personal connection, I think he would have at least implied that was the case.

Yeah, reading this thread, this is what I was wondering about, too. I think this is a clue that someone who was able to visit Harry at that time may have been carrying Lasciel's coin. That, or there is still some connection between Harry and Lasciel that hasn't been explained yet.

I'm torn... 60 chapters means more reading (or listening in my case), but... I want him to finish! 

So conflicted!