What if the White Council is operating in reverse of the way it's "supposed to be"?

What if someone, somehow, erased WC's the "institutional knowledge" and reconstituted it in its modern form?
(Maybe some "temporary measure" was put in place to handle some "temporary" situation, but then those who *like* the power they gained "arranged" for the change to continue, and eventually be made permanent... I dunno)

How "should" it be, under this theory?

Basically -- serving the Warden of Demonreach.

That's right, the Warden.  Don't you think it's odd that the same title applies to the WC's enforcement-arm as to the guy in charge of the island?  I'm going to allege that -- at this moment -- Harry Dresden is the legitimate head of the WC's "Wardens," exactly the same way a Sheriff is in charge of all the deputies.  It's just that the White Council (and the Wardens themselves) have forgotten.

I posit that the ENTIRE White Council exists primarily as support-services for the Wardens.  The Wardens are, essentially, the "military branch" of the WC, but (as any military historian can tell you) it takes about 10:1 logistics & support personnel to maintain each soldier in the field.

As I eyeball this, it looks to me like the entire White Council is, roughly, sized to be the non-frontline portion -- the support staff -- for the Wardens.

###

Let's take a step back, and look at Merlin -- O.G. Merlin, not the current (or any) holder of the title.

We know Merlin founded the White Council.  And we know Merlin created the Prison on the island (now called Demonreach).  Ponder those two a moment.  And consider importance of what happens on/under Demonreach.

If (as I suggest above) the Warden isn't a coincidental title with regard to "the Wardens" (or vice versa, if you prefer the other order) it follows that "the Wardens" are an accessory organizion of the Warden, and of Demonreach.  And then the various non-combatant wizards attached to "the Wardens" are... well... support staff.
 
But somehow, somewhere, somewhen, things got reversed.

The White Council got turned inside-out.


(OK, I admit that I myself don't find this WAG wholly convincing.  I'm dubious Jim Butcher would write the setting such that the ONLY wizards' org was "supposed to be" a vast military magico-industrial complex supporting a doomsday prison... and those are the good guys!...  But I find the string of coincidences (outlined above) a bit too coincidental.)
 

... is it?

Is it a cellphone, that is?

Or is it some "sufficiently advanced" magic (lookin' atchu, svartalves!), indistinguishable from technology?  Molly is still mortal, even with the Winter Mantle (at least, so far...) so she still has a mortal-wizard impact on tech (albeit much less than Harry's).  The "fact" that she has a cellphone is anomalous, but even before becoming the Winter Lady she was working deals at a VERY high supernatural levels.

The svartalves could easily create a little enchanted communication-and-information device that looks and acts much like a cellphone.  They could probably even create an interface into the mortal cell-net, a "server-room" they control, where their own devices communicate with Svartalven-hardened cellular infrastructure (and thence, once it's all safely-mundane signals, with the un-hardened mortal-built cellular infrastructure)...  "SvartalNet(tm)"

Veils, we know, are not Harry's strong-suit.
He got a lot better -- made himself get better -- because he needed to train Grasshopper.  But it's still not a strength of his.

Magic items, however, ARE something he does particularly-well.  So... I bet he could make a powerful veil by way of an item.

I figure he makes it out of the "scrubs" that crime-scene techs wear, who are tasked to "leave no detectable trace."  Outline of the notion designed by Butters (during his time crafting items with Bob).  Dresden could write or paint on the fabric, in lieu of the carvings and dyeing he did on staff & duster.  The advantage over most wizards' work is that it also blocks leaving physical traces that forensics could find (most wizards have no idea how comprehensive and how subtle modern science has gotten).

And Dresden's "ninja wizard suit" ends up being nerdy as fuck, instead of cool & sexy, so completely on-brand.

n.b. "Lasciel's Shadow" and not "Lash."

In another thread, I advanced this theory.  I haven't seen anyone suggest it previously... but I could easily have missed it.  Apologies if this has previously been thrashed-over!

I thought the notion seemed solid enough to present as its own topic, under its own title.  Below, I expand on the idea (a bit of text copied from that thread).

In Battle-Ground, Harry goes ragemode, loses his temper, and tries to kill Rudy.  A couple of Knights of the Cross step in... in fact, the ONLY TWO THERE ARE step in!

Let's think back to the last time Harry was called-out for losing his temper:  he had to have a chat with the Shadow, for amping-up his rage.

Let's think about Changes for a moment... Harry gets a call from Susan, learns about Maggie, and... begins to feel a "subterranean" rage begin growing.  Almost like something in his unconscious was deliberately holding it in check, stoking it, shaping it.  "Protect the offspring" says id!Harry... who we know speaks more freely to the Shadow.  And at the end of that story, in a burst of "out-of-nowhere" inspiration, Harry comes up with the idea of... sabotaging the woman he (still!) loves, the mother of his child; and sacrificing her to the blood-magic ritual.  Seems almost... fiendishly inspired, eh?  And then he suffers 2 minutes of amnesia.  Gee, whatever could have happened there?  Nothing too bad, surely!  Those 2 minutes were called a "Chekhov's Gun" and I think it nearly-certain that's right.

Back to Battle Ground, where that Harry-vs-Butters battle scene ended when Butters' Sword stripped off the WK-Mantle... and also revealed the scent of Brimstone.  When was the last time Harry's powers smelt of Brimstone?  Maybe the Sword also stripped away the Shadow's ability to cloud Harry's senses, hmmm?

Theoretically, Sanya came to Chicago to fight Ethniu, but... that's not the Knights' job!  Their job is to oppose the Fallen and to redeem the Fallen's Host.  Now the world's entire complement of KotC's are tag-teaming one person... I'm gonna say the odds favor that person being a Denarian.

"But wait" you cry.  "Bob already told Harry, after the Raith Deeps, that (a) his head was full of holes & (b) a chunk of his soul was gone."  Ergo, Lash really did sacrifice herself, and is gone (producing Bonea, of course).

Yep, I agree!  Lash -- the part of the Shadow that Harry "converted" and gave a bit of soul to -- is gone.  But as we already know (from seeing Evil Bob, and from Bob's nervousness about Evil-Bob-stuff):  these "Spirits of Intellect" can be split in two, with each part remaining a largely-cohisive whole; and furthermore, WoJ has stated that Bonea's genesis was very very much like Bob's; Bob&Bonea are like Bobbsey Twins!

Lasciel... the Temptress, the Deceiver, the Weaver of Webs.  I mean... what are the odds she might have laid a deeper deception against Harry?  Abandoned one mask, that had failed, and retreated to the deep shadows to try again once Harry had "learned for certain" that the Shadow was gone.

I'm gonna say Jim has given us all the clues we need.

Mab and Titania "have not met face to face in over 1000 years."  Possibly since becoming the Queens.

The Ladies occasionally meet, but... hrm... have we ever seen them meet not "under the influence" of Nemesis?

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Mothers Summer & Winter ... cohabit??!?

The most-primal & most-potent forms of these diametrically-opposed forces share one corner of the Nevernever, and a... cozy little cabin?

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WAG:

Harry will have to kill them both.  They are Nemfected, and have been for a long time (maybe since the White Council got the Blackstaff -- maybe that weakness is what let in Nemesis...?) .

They tried to use Harry to pass Winter's Unravelling to the Summer Lady.

Harry did a Summoning for Mother Winter; he called her Skuld.  He called her Atropos.

When Mother Winter told Mother Summer that Harry had used certain names, she asked and was told there was one particular Name that Harry hadn't used.  Then they left the topic.

What name might it have been?  What name would be particularly problematic?
Hecate is the "obvious" answer for a "True Name," but... I don't think that would be particularly problematic (for either or both of the Mothers).

Maybe some other deep mythological name.  Asherah, as the nominal "wife of Yahweh" (very opposed by most of Abrahamic faith), etc.

But I think the MOST problematic Name for Harry to have maybe used would have been Nemesis.

If Harry was performing a Major Summoning and linking Mother Winter with Nemesis... that'd be bad for their long-term planning.

Very, very bad!

As (presumably) everyone knows by now, Thomas seems to be accused of being an assassin, either in the upcoming Peace Talks or the followup Battle Ground (per the trailer).

I've seen the suggestion that it's a frame-up; or maybe that Thomas was doing something else, more insidious/objectionable (like Whamp'ing a svartalven lover into revealing critical info); or maybe preventing a threat to Justine; etc.

How about "none of the above" -- it really was an assassination mission.  Assigned (by the Archive) as part of the Oblivion War... so Thomas can't/won't actually reveal anything; but the accusation is essentially true.
 

Denarians, as we know, can implant a "shadow" of themselves within the mind of a mortal who knowingly/intentionally handles a coin.

It doesn't appear to be like a magical "tag," where touching an unwilling or unknowing subject gives that person a Shadow.  You gotta know what you're doing, and do it either intentionally or carelessly.  Similarly, merely "handling" a coin isn't sufficient to release the Fallen and become their host.  You must, it seems, agree to that role; you must "make a deal with the Devil," so to speak.

Still, there is that "Shadowed" step, between being host to one of the Fallen and being utterly free of the coin & its Fallen.

But thanks to @morriswalters, I just realized something...

In Proven Guilty, Michael Carpenter tells Harry how to eliminate the shadow:

“Give up the coin of your own will. And set aside your power. If you do, Lasciel’s shadow will dwindle with it and waste away.”

Hmm.  That's how a WIZARD can do it.  (How can a MUGGLE do it?  Or CAN they even?  More on that below...).

Then we look at Harry's magic.  Even before the Shadow manifested to Harry, in dream or illusion, it was still giving Hellfire to Harry's magic; mostly to Fuego, but also to Forzare.  Simply running his will through his staff (to get the runes glowing) brought a hint of brimstone.

Taken together, it appears that a Denarian Shadow -- in a wizard -- links directly and to their magic, not merely to their "mind."

I mean, yeah there's stuff like the "eidetic memory" trick, gift-of-Tongues, etc.  Mental tricks that aren't explicitly "magical."

But the Shadow was affecting Harry's spells without him understanding how, or what to do about it; and the Church knows that setting aside magic will cause a Shadow to "whither" alongside the magic.

So the Shadow -- in a Wizard -- is linked specifically to their magic!

Other mortals (from above), non-wizards?  How do they get free?  I'm going to go over to Father Forthill's wisdom in Proven Guilty:

“Power,” he said, waving a hand in an all-encompassing gesture.  "Magic.  Physical strength.  Economic strength.  Political strength.  It all serves a single purpose..."

So I'll venture a WAG that any Muggle would set aside the Shadow by setting aside their mundane strength.  Retire from politics (including all consulting, being interviewed, writing op-ed pieces, lobbying, etc); give away all their wealth; etc.  Someone with physical strength would be particularly challenged, I think; they'd have to set up their life to operate as if they were of average-or-less strength, and intentionally act within those limits.  Take more trips carrying smaller loads, pack smaller bags/boxes to carry, etc.

Just what it says on the lable -- the  B B E G  of the Dresdenfiles.

(B_ig B_ad E_vil G_uy, for those not knowing the acronym -- the climactic villain of an action/adventure piece)

Not necessarily the BAT, but I think Jim's hinting that the BBEG of the BAT is already active and driving events in the DF; indeed, all the way back to Storm Front.  As such, the DFbbeg may be (likely is) the same as the BATbbeg.

Is Satan the BBEG?  Certainly from Michael's POV.  But... from Uriel's?  From the POV of the Almighty?

Are the Outsiders the BBEG?  They seem to be Butcher's nod to the Cthulhu Mythos, more or less.

Who/what is "Nemesis"?  The Greek goddess?  The Goddess, corrupted by Outsiders?  Outsiders-full-stop, who just chose the Cool Name?

What of the Oblivion War?  Does it target some/all of the Outsiders?  Does it target Something Else?  I think it can't be the Outsiders:  they have the Outer Gates which they seem to occasionally -- but not exactly rarely -- slip an agent through; the Oblivion War's multi-century effort will inevitably be un-done in a moment, as an Outsider agent makes it their chore to disseminate all the carefully-expunged knowledge.  So I think the O.W. is Something Else (or perhaps the Outer Gates are a breach in Creation that happened AFTER the creation of the Archive).

===

And what of the Inside?  Harry's "Black Council"?  Is this the same as "the Ring" (to which Cowl, evidently, belongs)?

How does "Nemesis" relate to either/both?

How does the BC / tR relate to Outsiders, in general?

Was DuMorne a member of either the BC or tR?

Was Kemmler?  Is Kemmler coming back?

So many guesses...


And so I reiterate:   who (what) is the BBEG?