I have a question about the Dresdenverse for Jim- okay, I have a whole boatload of them, but here's the one I'd most like answered. The White Council uses the term 'mortal wizard', rather than 'human wizard', lots of times to describe it's members and areas of influence (mortal practitioners in White Knight, a few other places). This doesn't seem too confusing- like the Fae, older wizards probably never get out of the old speech habits, and word things accordingly. However, this raises my question- what does this mean for animals? They would certainly qualify as 'moral'. Outside of the Dresdenverse, there are legends about animals who wield magical powers (Native American legends of the coyote, Japanese legends of kitsune or long-lived cats, etc), and while these could easily be explained in the Dresdenverse as non-mortal creatures (the White Court of vampires seem to have several similarities to kitsune, for instance, and I can't help but think there was some hint towards this with the name Inari, but it's entirely possible I'm just reading too far into a coincidence), we do have in Terra West an example within the Dresden universe of an animal gaining magical abilities. Terra reminded me of something on the level of the Alphas- she's learned enough magic to do one trick really well- but this would imply the possibility for animals to gain even more power (through whatever means Terra did).
So, finally, my question is, if an animal was able to gain enough magical talent, would it be eligible for entry to the White Council as a wizard? Would it be subject to the same Laws of Magic, and would those rules carry over to members of it's species as well (would a bear wizard be considered a warlock if it used magic to kill another bear, or would it be allowed to mind twist humans into leaving it alone since they aren't bears)? I am quite sure you won't come out and tell us if any of the wizards currently in the Council are actually animals- if there are any, I'm sure there's a point to that that will be revealed quite dramatically later, and if there aren't any, well, why ruin an opportunity to keep us guessing- but I am curious as to the possibility of it from the way the terms are worded.
I also can see a certain irony in the possibility of a bat wizard having been involved with the war against the Red Court.
Edit: adding links to newer versions of this for my reference
-SerackWWYAJ
