So far Harry is an anomaly amongst the Starborn we have met and i think Malcom is the key to that. Its Malcolm's nature that Harry inherited keeps him good. Which is part of the reason why I think Malcom was a plant by Uriel. Not a supernatural being though just a normal guy who is good. Good in the best way possible and good in its everyday form. That shows Harry the way and keeps him from becoming like the other starborn

I love this idea. I think it's completely within Uriel's wheelhouse and strategy to have a Starborn, wizard-to-be raised by a kind person that can also teach their child about basic misdirection and tricks. Having someone like that just kind of hanging around could be a massive force for good.

How much agency does Uriel have in a situation like this? I can see that he could make Malcom and Maggie Sr's paths cross, but could he go deeper? How much could he have directed Malcom to Maggie Sr? At some point it may start to interfere with free will. As I understand it, Uriel can't interfere with free will. Therefore, he couldn't force Malcom to upend his life to put him on a collision course with Maggie Sr. Was tweaking the circumstances enought to guarantee a meeting? Is a chance meeting enough to cause them to fall in love? So many questions....

I agree, I don't think Raith knows how Margaret fueled her death curse.  If it were as simple as her bloodline, then it makes no sense not to just kill Thomas.. If Raith can still breed, he could still get a male heir..  I also doubt that he hadn't kept track of Margaret's younger child, and one wonders why he didn't arrange for young Harry's death at some point as well.

Raith states in Blood Rites that he worked out what Margaret Sr did. We don't know when he worked it out, only that he knows.

Lord Raith is running on an empty tank constantly. He is not able to feed deeply to replenish himself. He would not be up to a prolonged physical battle. Thomas could draw upon his hunger to heal far more often that Lord Raith can. Thus, Raith avoided any direct confrontation with his son. He can't just walk up to him and kill him because Thomas could potential heal and overcome him. He can't do anything to overt to kill Thomas like have in his own household becuase if Thomas dies under his roof (violence, poison, etc) then Lord Raith looks weak for not protecting his family. If he tries something violent outside the home (ex drive by shooting) and he fails then Thomas might come gunning for him or if he succeeds and it is traced back to him he looks weak because he didn't kill Thomas subtly. Subtle behind the scene machinations is what the White Court is supposed to excel in. Anything too overt and Lord Raith looks weak and there may be a coup. That is why he sends Thomas on dangerous missions such as the White Court representative to The Red Court party hoping that Thomas' perceived incompetence will get him killed. I still think that one of the reasons Lord Raith kept Thomas alive was to draw his brother out so that he could be more easily disposed of.

As far as Harry goes, we do not know at what point Lord Raith discovered that he was the son of Maggie Sr. He most likely knew that she had another son, but Maggie had left him before she had Harry. I'm sure she took steps to protect Harry and Malcom. Even if Lord Raith was trying to follow her trail to find Harry, we know that Justin made Harry disappear when Malcom died and then he was on Eb's farm under the eye of the Blackstaff. By the time Harry reappeared in the public eye when he set up shop in Chicago he was several steps removed from his previous life.

It's per WoJ.
The transcription is reported as:
Reportedly from this AMA (video) recorded at a bookstore in Seattle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDJDn-ggqOo
(but I'm taking the reported quotation at face value:  the vid is almost 2H long, and I didn't listen through to find the precise quote)

Thanks for the link. I'm not surprised that the Langtry is an air mage, adept at communication and is also the Merlin of the White Council. Would love to see a true Air Mage in combat.

Lord Raith knew that Maggie Sr put a death curse on him. I think he was aware that he needed to kill her sons in order to free himself. He may not have known for sure who Harry was. In the Micro Fiction Journal, Morgan wrote that after Malcom's death Justin got to Harry and made him disappear physically, magically, and bureaucratically. Raith may not have been able to find Harry after that. One of the reasons he might have kept Thomas alive was to serve as bait hoping that his brother would come find him. I also agree that there might have been some politics in there about having a male heir. That being said, IIRC, at some point Thomas states that his dad keeps sending him on missions hoping he will die. The White Court works through cat paws, killing Thomas directly (even if he disappeared) would be seen as a sign of weakness. Lord Raith wasn't able to deal with his son indirectly. Having him die of his own stupidity would work much better for Lord Raith. The problem is that Thomas was hiding his power and knowledge and kept on surviving.

FWIW, Langtry is an Air mage; fundamentally, that's the magic he used to simul-speak everyone in the Council chamber (when Peabody cracked containment on the mistfiend).

IIRC, Bob has been described as an "airy spirit" and a "spirit of intellect" -- thoughts are tied in the Dresdenverse to the element of Air.

I never thought of Air Magic being the method of conveying his speech to everyone in the Council. I assumed it was some form of sanctioned mind magic.

GS took me a while to come to grips with it, but I did so by about 1/3 - 1/2 way through, and enjoyed the rest (and all of each re-read) very much.

I think Winter -- or at least the Winter Knight -- is very physical, very embodied, very animal.
Winter has very little traction with a ghost/soul.

Agreed. I would add that Winter is about the primal urges. A ghost transcends the physical and the primal urges no longer impact it.

I don't think the Skinwalker did "convert" Thomas; not really.
It tortured Thomas until he gave up hope in his gentler and more-loving aspirations.

But even then, he wasn't the merciless predator it had tried to create:  he was angry & hurt that Harry still wanted that from him & for him, expected it of him.  He wouldn't have been hurting/angry if some part of him didn't still see that as better!  The Skinwalker had convinced him that he was a broken thing, unworthy of having nice emotions & nice relationships.

Agreed. The Skinwalker just tortured him to near death and allowed him to feed himself back to health. He wasn't actively trying to talk him into something he was just training him. I liken it to taking a recovering alcoholic, trapping him without water, waiting until her was dehydrated, and giving him only alcohol to drink. The alcoholic will walk out thinking that alcohol is what has freed him from his prison and i necessary for his ongoing life.

It's a hard call at this point.  Yes, Thomas learned some elementary or rudimentary spells, but on the surface anyway, he didn't seem interested on learning more.  Was that because as a vampire he didn't think he needed to know more?  Did he fear his father would kill him outright if he did?  Remember Thomas was very into playing the dumb playboy type to stay alive, when we first meet him because of his father.  Or is this in fact as far as Thomas can go with his talent?  He has had his chances to learn more, he lived with Harry for a year and he was a protector of the Paranet and had contact with Elaine.  Was he also afraid of the Wardens if they figured out how talented he really was?  One problem with that if I remember correctly, Harry seems to have a "spidy sense" vibs when he is around someone with considerable magical talent, he has never mentioned it as far as Thomas goes.. But then again I could be remembering that wrong, and Harry also has been clueless at times. One more question, and it may be elementary because Thomas was very young when Margaret left him for Malcolm..  Surely she would have known that as her son, Thomas potentially had talent, maybe lots of talent.  She had to also know how dangerous a WCV wizard would or could be.  So knowing this, why did she leave him behind?  Yeah, maybe roll of the dice, no talent, little talent, potential kick ass wizard, worth the chance?  Or did she have ways of blocking that aspect of her genes when she conceived Thomas with Raith?  Or did she have another way of knowing her six year old son's magical talent would be limited at best?

You are absolutely correct that Thomas has had the opportunity to learn more if he wanted to. It brings up the question of where he learned his basic spells from. Did Harry teach him that? If so, why did Thomas not learn more? It very well could be out of fear as Mira suggested. Fear of the Council or fear of his father/Lara viewing him as a threat.

As far as Harry having a "spidey sense" with regards to magical talent, he can tell either through direct physical contact with someone or by deliberately reaching out with his senses to scan their aura. Harry has said that when he touches another person with magical talent it feels like an electric shock with bigger jolts corresponding to bigger talents. If I recall correctly, actively sensing someone's aura is harder to do and more invasive. It is uncomfortable for the wizard having their aura scanned and therefore not considered polite. Most wizards do not do that for that reason. In addition, wizards can shield their aura at least partly. As far as Maggie Sr goes, we know that magic is passed along the female line. Therefore, she would have had to know that Thomas would have had a chance at inheriting magic. Magical talent does not express until early teenage years and I do not think there is a way to gauge magic talent before it is expressed.

I have wondered a lot about what made Margaret decide to leave Thomas behind? In some thoughts she is the villain, in some the victim. Maybe she thought that a life on the run would be less safe for her child than staying at home with his abusive father but being integrated into a strong family clan with at least one loving sister (Lara).
Or was she forced to leave alone in a situation of flight or death?

I think somewhere there is a WOJ that Maggie had already met Malcom and was pregnant with Harry when she left Raith for good and went into hiding. If I was guessing, I think she left to protect Harry and could not safely take Thomas with her. Especially if she knew Harry would be starborn and was trying to keep Raith from getting his hands on Harry.

Or did she make a bargain with someone/fae (Leanansidhe?) or with Lara for protection for Thomas?

I do not know if she made a bargain with Lara, but the author states that she did not make a bargain with Lea covering Thomas because she figured Thomas was  a baby shark and could protect himself.

Did she suppress his magical talent to make him seem like no threat to Raith's power?

Until he was old enough to express his magical talent there was nothing for her to suppress. Unless she was able to put some type of shield over him tied to his lifeline/soul before he expressed his talent in order to hide it from prying eyes. We know she tied the death curse on Lord Raith to her kids life, so it is possible to tie a spell to someone.

How involved was she in the plan to produce a starborn child? And when her first attempt failed, she left her failure (Thomas) like garbage to try again?

Someone asked the author this specifically. He said that Thomas was not planned and was just the result of having lots of awesome vampire sex. No word on if Harry was intentionally conceived to be starborn or not. We know that Maggie Sr loved Harry's father so he could just be a result that love and cosmic coincidence or she could have been shooting for a specific time to become pregnant by Malcom.

There seemed to be some love between her and Thomas, or she wouldn't have linked her sons' amulets to trigger her appearance during their soul gaze. But for her to do that, she must have known that there will be a future second child.
Was she prescient? Or did someone tell her? Or did she plan it all ahead?

She knew she was pregnant when she set up the amulet linkage. She might have even had Harry at that point. In the amulet message to Thomas she told him to look out for his brother. Thomas had memories of his mother and already knew that he had a brother.