Chapter ten of The Law, Bob and Paranoid Gary have ferreted out some interesting information as to who Mr Winter Winter is..  Then Bob says something that really caught my attention about the attack on Arctus Tor and well as Harry's reaction to that remark.

"Ouch," I said.  "How come Lapland and Inverno are working for freaking Marcone?"
"Take that up with Mab," Bob said. "But based on Inverno's court records, it looks like she stuck the pair of them out in the mortal world not too long after Arctis Tor got slagged."
"She doesn't trust them."
"Guy's a demigod of strife and division," Bob said.

I think this could be the significant paragraph in the whole novella.  There has been wild speculation about the attack on Arctis Tor, one being that Namshiel was in on it since there was Hell Fire present.  Another that it could be an inside job, or pulled off with inside help, Maeve being one of the candidates for that.

Invenrno and Ms Lapland seek shelter and are taken into the Winter Court by Mab. He happens to be the demigod of strife and division, what is associated with strife and division? Nemesis.. It is possible that they were a mole planted by Nemesis in the Winter Court.  After the attack on Arctis Tor, Mab plants them in the mortal world, supposedly for balance.. Or double agent? Interesting that one of his main clients is the Baron Marcone, seems natural enough, he is a signer and member of the Accords.  Or is it? When a pissed off Mab turns everything to ice in the chapel at the end of Small Favor, it is because she realizes that Maeve is now infected.. She also remarks that her and Uriel had a common enemy that day, i.e. the Denarians who were in on the attack on Arctis Tor.  Could it be that she also knew that Namshiel had lost his head on Demonreach and that Marcone had gotten hold of his coin, even if he hadn't taken it up yet? Honestly I don't where all of this will lead eventually, but to quote Alice, "Curiouser and curiouser.."

  Got it last night and read it twice.  It is a fun read, good pacing, must take place with in a
month of the battle.  Some observations;

 Grief has hit Harry very hard, but he is coping, he is also still recovering from injury.  He
is sheltering a number of people, at least one is an Alpha.
Bob has shed his skull and now seems to reside in the castle walls, he also seems to have a
handle on the built in defense system, but he makes mistakes.
Toot is tall and so is Lacuna, their "steel" is made by the svartalves, I think the kitchen appliances must be also because Harry doesn't seem to have trouble with modern appliances now.  It also allows for serious "steel" swords for Za-Guard that are not made quite the same as those made from "bane," though the kitchen counters are made from it, and there is a standing suit of armor in the hall also made from "bane."  Interesting touch, fitting decoration for a castle, but I can't see Harry decorating with one, but left over maybe from Changes when Lea dressed him that way?  Or left over from when Marcone was in residence?  Who knows?  Gremlins can apparently use iron without harm.  A lot of work and repairs still need to be done on the castle, tarps are everywhere.

Mab's frozen boogers

I think Toot is beginning to grow on Lacuna... Mister's age is mentioned by Toot, but also says he is a spry 30 pound old cat. Toot is very intelligent and loyal, though he sounds childlike and Bob treats him like he is a child.  Toot and Harry have a very special relationship, it is real friendship. Toot is trying to understand Harry's grief and what death and loss means, since this isn't something in the experience of Pixies.

All in all a nice little action story and begins to set the stage for Twelve Months and Harry's new life.

  I was looking up for laughs and giggles what the name of my dog, " Princess Buttercup" means.. Basically  "Buttercup is a humble sweet creature and she is that.. Then since my American black Lab's name is "Harry Barry Blackdog," out of curiosity I looked it up to see what "Harry" means.. What I found is interesting, in Hebrew it means "house protector or protector of the home," which sort of fits my dog, but more so Harry Dresden.  More interesting is "Harry" can also mean, "army commander."  Now this one really fits Harry Dresden if you believe that Harry is destined to be the "commander" against the Outsiders in the BAT.. Wonder if Jim looked that up and had that in mind when he chose the name, "Harry," or is it just a coincidence, because he was named after the magician as his father had told him?  Or both?

Why Mab so wants an alliance with the White Court.

Page 111-112 Battle Ground;

The Black Court had been all but exterminated, thanks to a really underhanded move by Lara's people a century and change back.  The only ones who were still alive--well, who continued to exist--were the oldest, wiliest, and most powerful of their kind.  These vampires were old-school, the real deal, nightmares of the Old World.  A Black Court vampire was a match for any dozen counterparts in the Red or White Court.

Yet, Lara's people all but wiped them out, underhanded move, but that fits the White Court's M.O.
Point is, her people did defeat them once, could this be the real reason why Mab wants the alliance between the White Court and the Winter Court, what's more a star born Winter Knight, to cover her flank against Drakul, a star born and the Black Court?

Which leads to another thought, one I think we've all had.. Wills, is mere will what sets a star born apart from mere mortals? 

Yeah, lots has been said about how if it hadn't been for Toot, Mavra would have had Harry.. Maybe, but for a microsecond, will against will, it was a draw between Harry and Drakul.  Drakul laughs it off, but...
pages 117- 118

Drakul's black-hole eyes swept back to me, and suddenly I was being crushed to the ground by the weight of the universe itself.  The very thought that I could have done something against a power like that was laughable---but I'd felt this kind of raw, universe-binding will before, in Chichen Itza.  Drakul, whatever he was, had considerably more personal power than the Lords of the Outer Night had ever managed to show me.  But I had hoisted those Red Court losers by their own petard,when everything was said and done.  I would be damned if I rolled over for Dracula's famous dad.  I ground my teeth and fought back against the power crushing me, not with my muscles but with my mind.  I pictured Drakul's will as a great, dark hand pressing me down--and mine as my own hand, rising to force it away.  I poured my will into the image, a couple of decades of disciplinw, experience, and focus,investing it with power, with reality with life.
   Gasping, one inch at a time, I lifted my hand until my right palm faced Drakul and steadied.  I couldn't stand--but I got an elbow underneath me and snarled silent defiance up at him, my right hand raised against his power.

Drakul smiled at Harry's efforts, one has to wonder though, what if Harry had put some soul fire behind it, or called upon the Spear of Destiny, what might have happened?  Then Drakul goes into his arrogance act and gives Harry a whole boatload of truths and half truths and perhaps some lies as well without really telling him anything as to why he was bred to be a star born,or what it means to be a star born, and what a poor ignorant fool he is with no style, or decorum, no gravitas.. If Harry had these things he would have seduced him into playing for his team.. Then just as Drakul is about to kill him, Harry uses all of the above to launch into a knock, knock joke, which confuses and delays Drakul until River and Listens get into position.  For a short while the three are doing okay until Mavra came on scene.  Now was it because Harry had no style that Drakul didn't seriously try to recruit him, or did Drakul realize that a guy who had resisted the Shadow of one of the Fallen, wasn't going to knuckle under to him whatever he promised?

Which brings us back to Mavra, and what Harry says to her back in Dead Beat.. Harry is warning her in the final chapter not to get to him through Murphy or his other vanilla friends.. Mavra laughs it off says he hasn't got that kind of power..

Page419

"This ever happens again," I said quietly.  "You try to get to me through other mortals again and I'll kill you."
Mavra's rotted lips turned up at one corner. "No, you won't," she said in her dusty voice.  "You don't have that kind of power."
"I can get it." I said.
"But you won't," she responded, mockery in her tone.  "It wouldn't be right."

Then Harry lists what power he can get potentially, everything from taking up a coin to becoming Mab's Winter Knight, this pisses Mavra off and Harry tells her to leave his town.  So what is the point of this? 

Well, Mavra knew at that point in time that Harry was a member of the White Council, that he was bound by the Laws of Magic.  So she was confident that he'd never be able to kill her because he was bound by doing the right thing, he wouldn't do what he'd need to do to kill her.  They were also standing by his grave that said, "He died doing the right thing.."  Well, Harry is no longer a member of the White Council, he isn't bound by those rules.  Could this be the real reason the Council voted him out?  Because they know from this time forward it will become necessary for Harry to break a lot of rules, so they are distancing themselves from him?  Harry can do what needs to be done, and because he is no longer a Council member their hands are clean.

Then on page 420 of Dead Beat, Malcolm says something that counters "Harry is now a monster,"  accusations that Carlos made at the end of Battle Ground..

I looked away from .  "I did things.  I made a deal I shouldn't have made.  I crossed a line."
"I Know," he said. "It only means what you think it means."
I looked up at him.  "What?"
"Harry, life isn't that simple.  There is such a thing as black and white.  Right and wrong.  But when you're in the thick of things, sometimes it is hard to tell.  You didn't do what you did for your own benefit.  You did it so that you could protect others.  That doesn't make it right---but it doesn't make you a monster,either. You still have free will.  You still get to choose what you will do and what you will become."

All of the above is spot on and why Harry is no monster.  Harry didn't do any of the stuff Carlos accused him of for his own benefit. Then we get to why Harry will never become a monster.  page 421 Dead Beat;

"As long as you believe you are responsible for your choices, you still are. You've got a good heart, son.  Listen to it."

The above is was the ingredient that made Margaret decide to conceive a star born with this man.. Malcolm's good heart, and Harry inherited it.  That is why Harry will never become a monster.
Margaret knew that, so do the Council, Harry will never become their monster to control, or anyone else's..


 

Nemesis?  I mean we know what happened to the mantle, it entered Molly.. Did Nemesis also enter Molly even though it isn't apparent right now?  Could this be the real reason why Mab ordered Harry to kill Molly if something happened to her?  Because of Mab dies, Nemesis would come forward and take full advantage.

   Upon reading the discussion about Lord Raith's immunity to magic, a thought came to me.
According to Lash, Margaret got the courage to leave Raith after she met Malcolm, with whom
she created a star born, Harry.  Okay, she also managed to figure out a way to neutralize him through her death curse, which I think was well planned in advance.  So here goes my thoughts on this and why it connects to Mab wanting Harry to marry Lara and why maybe it pisses Molly off so much..

Living with Raith as suggested, Margaret figured out a way to do him in even if she couldn't kill him.  Many of us think that he has been protected all along by an Outsider, or perhaps even Nemesis.  Heck the Hunger Demon maybe closely related, which could explain the White Court's connections as we saw back in White Night, though I do need to reread and this a spare of a moment idea.. Anyway, she figured that out and what Nemesis's plans were, that is when she began to understand the importance of a star child to stop them/it..  That is why she wanted to give birth to one, knowing the history of star borns and that so far they do more harm than good, she was very selective about finding the right man to father this child.  She met Malcolm.  I wonder if in the process of creating a star born, she also used the same formula to neutralize Lord Raith? 

Now fast forward to now, Mab understands the connection between the White Court and Nemesis/Outsiders as well, she cannot overtly go against the White Court, but she figures her
Knight like his mother will figure it out in the intimacy of marriage and take out Lara and the rest pf the Court for her..  This presets a huge risk for Harry, and while Mab is willing to sacrifice her Knight, keeping him in the dark, Molly isn't.

  There are a lot of questions surrounding Justin.  How he came to know about Elaine and Harry.  That he was raising them to enforcers. Enforcers for what? Ghost Story, when Justin confronted Harry with a straight jacket, Harry asks, "why?"  Justin answers;

"You don't have the knowledge you need to understand boy.  Not yet.  But you will in time."

That is weird, because he sounded just like Eb and Listens to Wind, in Peace Talks.  Morgan and Eb both call Justin, paraphrasing "a bastard who had gotten a hold of Harry." But what if unknown to them, Justin was working under orders from the Council?  However Justin miscalculated, infected, he was going to double cross the Council, but he hadn't anticipated that Harry would resist his efforts to enthrall him. 

Again in Ghost Story, HWWB seems to know all about Harry, he calls him a "child of the stars.."  He seems to also know all about Justin's training of him as well.  He appears to be testing Harry's potential, as young as Harry is..  One wonders, if HWWB knew all of this, was Justin infected? And on one hand he was working under orders, but on the other hand because he was infected, Justin had another agenda.. But he miscalculated..

HWWB also miscalculated, he was close to succeeding in intimidating Harry and was proceeding to murder him... But he made a critical error, he murdered poor Stan in front of innocent 16 year old Harry's eyes.  Harry had never witnessed anything like that, he knew it wasn't right, he knew Stan didn't deserve to die, it pissed him off.. That,I believe was the true turning point in Harry's life, that was the spirit of Malcolm coming through.  In that moment he demonstrated "power over Outsiders."