Reviving my Major Lash theory post

[Sm0kEyNy]

Second Derivative Theory:
Uriel didn't give Harry Soulfire
It is my theory that if my above "Foundation Theory, and First Derivative Theory are true, then when Uriel “jostled Harry’s elbow”^xrt#3 he did not invest part of his own energy into Harry to give him access, but rather nudged Harry into pulling the trigger on the Soulfire gun that was already in his hand, and made available to him through his latent connection with Lash who had already used Soulfire.  This would make Uriel’s “favor” a truly small one, and reinforces the Foundational Theory.  (props to LML for the trigger/gun analogy)

My only problem with this is the construct it self it seems very clear that harry has NO CLUE how this was done or how to duplicate it. so even if your right about harry acces to soulfire not being the gift from uriel that people think it is. This does also fit in with your theory tho.
Sort of a by the way you haver soulfire here let me show you how it works real quick an when u get the hang of it you too can do stuff like THIS!

[Dot]

Second Derivative Theory:
Uriel didn't give Harry Soulfire
It is my theory that if my above "Foundation Theory, and First Derivative Theory are true, then when Uriel “jostled Harry’s elbow”^xrt#3 he did not invest part of his own energy into Harry to give him access, but rather nudged Harry into pulling the trigger on the Soulfire gun that was already in his hand, and made available to him through his latent connection with Lash who had already used Soulfire.  This would make Uriel’s “favor” a truly small one, and reinforces the Foundational Theory.  (props to LML for the trigger/gun analogy)

Lash might have used some of it to help Harry out in defiance of her coin's purpose, but I think Harry first tapped soulfire, somehow, way back in book 2.   I was rereading Fool Moon a while back, and this passage jumped out at me:

Somewhere, in all of that, I touched on something that wasn’t tapped out, in spite of how horrible the past days had been, something that hadn’t gone cold and numb inside of me. I grasped it, held it in my hand like a firefly, and willed its energy out, into the circle I had created with the spinning amulet on the end of its chain. It began to glow, azure-blue like a candle flame.  The light spread down the chain and to the amulet, and when it reached it the light became incandescent, the pentacle a brilliant light at the end of the chain..."  Kindle location 4354

It isn't the amulet itself that is glowing blue at first - it is the energy that Harry summons from inside himself.   And the blue light amplified the power he was pumping into the amulet already.  That seems like a soulfire boost to me.  I don't know how angelic beings figure into it at this point.  But Harry guesses later that the Black Council was behind the wolf belts - perhaps they were "cheating" in doing so, which in turn allowed for somebody to give Harry a little boost.

Edit to add: Related to the thought about cheating, when Harry soulgazed Denton, he saw the agent's formerly orderly self coated in "a thick, sticky black sludge that smells like swamps and things that attract dun-colored flies" (Kindle location 3955).   At this point in the series, that makes me think of the Formor.  And they seem to be bad guys, or at least have bad things in mind for Chicago magic users.   

[sociotard]

"If it's no big deal," I said, "then why is it so interesting?"
"Oh, well," Bob said.  "It is energy, you know.  And I wonder if maybe...maybe...well, look, Harry.  There was a tiny bit of Lasciel's energy in you, supporting the entity, giving you access to hellfire.  That's gone now, but the entity had to have had some kind of power source to turn against the essence of its own originator."
"So it was running off my soul?  Like I'm some kind of battery?"
“Hey,” Bob said, “don’t get all righteous.  You gave it to her.  Encouraging her to make her own choices, to rebel, to exercise free will.”  Bob shook his head.  Free will is horrible, Harry, believe me.  I’m glad I don’t have it.  Ugh, no, thank you.  But you gave her some.  You gave her a name.  The will came with it.”

Now I'm going to wonder if Dresden will give Bob a little unwelcome gift later on.

[Datakim]

Now I'm going to wonder if Dresden will give Bob a little unwelcome gift later on.

Should bob not already have free will then to some extent atleast? Afterall, Harry gave Bob a name too. If Harry giving Lash her name gave her free will, then why is the same not true for Bob. For that matter, it is kinda strange that this was not brought up in the dialog you quoted such as Harry mentioning to Bob that when it comes to names, his situation is rather similar to Lash.

Maybe Bob does not really THINK of himself as Bob, even if he responds to that name, but Lash did at the end. Or something like that? Maybe Bob would have to somehow embrace the name and the identity/free will that comes with it, and thats what happened with Lash at the end.

[Tanstar]

Harry was a good person before, but he couldn't always use it. And he's made morally grey decisions since and still has the soulfire going strong. So I'd assume it needs to be activated by an angelic being, rather than by being good.

Perhaps turning (even just a photocopy of) a fallen angel back toward the light is a bigger deal and made him worthy of soulfire.  This would make Lash instrumental to Harry being able to use soulfire, but it wouldn't be a gift, but something he'd earned.  I like this concept.

[Serack]

This being my favorite theory that I have put the most effort into developing, supporting, and formatting... but at the same time not getting any new material since pretty much 2010, I wanted to post an update post with some of the newer theorizing, along with relevant WoJ's that I've discovered since it was last updated.

I'll start with the new relevant WoJ's.  They are hidden in spoiler code not because they are spoilers but because I find it a handy dandy way to colapse them so that you can view the post with them, or without them.

(click to show/hide)

Jim said on multiple occasions during the Ghost Story signing tour that both Lasciel and Lash showed up in Ghost Story but under different names.  There was even one unconfirmed report that he told an individual that the parasite was Lash.

If Lash was the parasite, then this WoJ becomes very important:

I was wondering at the end of the book it was a little unclear to me who kept Dresden alive. I think it was just Mab but was it the connection with the spirit of the island that kept his body alive until Mab arrived?
It was Mab, /plus/ Demonreach, /plus/ the parasite.

Lash was apparently able to gain free will from harry, a mortal. Can mortals potentially grant free will to other supernaturals like vampires and faries?”
That’s… a spectacularly complicated question, really. 
Lash didn’t gain free will, per se. Lash gained individuality, became a singular entity, self-motivated and distinct from the personality of Lasciel the Fallen. That personality was strongly influenced by Dresden, who believes very strongly in individual choice and responsibility, but doesn’t necessarily equate to free will in the sense of what mortals possess.
You might note that Lash essentially committed suicide with her “free will.” A choice which rather strongly resembles another choice a few books later in the series.

Some time over the past year or so I saw a seperate theory that I can't remember the source of that was similar to the "Second Derivative Theory:"  in my origional post but took it a little farther due to theories that Lash was the Parasite.  In this interpretation of things, what Uriel actually invested his power into wasn't directly Harry but rather into the vestages of Lash, thus jump starting her and allowing her to reconstitute.  This fits well with the idea that Harry was getting soulfire from Lash rather than Uriel.  It also helps answer questions about how she was able to come back to help keep his meat shell alive in GS if she is in fact the parasite.

This fits well with Uriel answer to Harry about Heaven not responding to Lucifer taking action and investing power on the mortal plane twice when Uriel said that maybe a different arcangel invested his power less overtly and was "Thinking long-term," and close examination of the dialogue between Harry and Uriel in GS shows that Harry is convinced Uriel gave him soulfire, but Uriel doesn't confirm it at all.

Uriel's expression darkened for a moment.  "And I am telling you that I am very limited in terms of what I can do to help you," he said.  "Limited, in fact, to what I have already done."
"Yeah," I said.  "Soulfire.  Just about killed myself with that one.  Thanks."
"No one is making you use it.  Dresden.  It's your choice."

Interestingly enough, with what we know from GS, this conversation happened after the 7 word wisper, but before the response 7 word wisper at the end of GS.  I am starting to think that at this point Uriel had yet again invested power into Lash to allow her to communicate those 7 words to Harry, this being something he had "already done."  This idea also implies to me that Lash and Uriel have had some communication.

[Serack]

Here is an excellent writeup of some of my earlier points in my last post, that also comes to some awesome new conclusions.

Allow me to elaborate on the Lash gives Harry Soulfire theory.

We know Uriel likes to kill two birds with one stone, so it is a fair assumption he always does so at every possible opportunity. I agree Uriel gave Harry soulfire. This raises the question, what other bird did Uriel kill? The answer to that is revealed by analzing how Uriel gave Harry soulfire.

From WoJ, we know Fallen Angels have access to Hellfire and Soulfire, and which they use depends upon their nature. Lash is at least related to Fallen Angels and could potentially retain the ability to use Hellfire/Soulfire. In WN, Harry gives Lash part of his soul, giving her enough free will to make a choice regarding her nature, specifically whether she will be a monster (Lasciel's puppet) or not - she chooses the latter and sacrifices her life. From WoJ, we know that Lash's choice closely parallels a later choice made by another. From WoJ we also know Lash's personality was influenced by Harry.  Thus, it makes sense that her choice would parallel one made later by Harry.

Fast forward to Changes/GS and we see Harry is presented with the same choice - whether he will become a monster (and Mab's puppet) or not and he chooses the latter, committing assisted suicide. In GS, we discover the result of Harry's choice - Uriel offers to send him on a soul-finding journey that eventually results in the return of his soul to his body so that he would have an opportunity to complete his redemption. Since Lash's choice in WN parallels Harry's choice in Changes/GS, we can infer the same thing happened off-scene to Lash. In other words, when she died, Uriel gave her an opportunity to complete her redemption.

The problem, however, is that Lash doesn't have a body and Uriel can't just return her to Harry's body, because that would be cheating. Enter SmF, where the Denarians cheat, giving Uriel a chance to balance the scales by giving Harry soulfire. Rather than giving Harry direct access to Soulfire (one bird) Uriel accomplishes this by restoring Lash to Harry's body, which allows Lash to give Harry Soulfire (two birds). Potentially, Uriel also foresaw that he would need Lash to help preserve Harry's free will in GS (three birds). In further support, we know Uriel likes to work through tools (see the Warrior - Harry is Uriel's tool). Thus, it seems likely Uriel used a tool (Lash) to give Harry Soulfire.

Finally, I'd like to carry this one step further. If Uriel used Lash as a tool to complete his cheat in SmF, it seems likely he also used Lash as a tool to compete his cheat in GS. Thus, I propose that Uriel did not whisper 7 words into Harry's ear; rather, he gave Lash the ability to speak (one bird) so that she could whisper 7 words into Harry's ear (two birds). As further evidence for this last proposition, note that the 7 words called Mab a liar, while WoJ confirms Mab is not a liar, she was simply wrong. That's not a mistake Uriel would make. However, Lash, as a creature with a soul, has more free will than Uriel and more human emotions and given that she faced a similar choice as Harry and seems attached to Harry, she is likely rather passionate about the issue of free will. In her passion, Lash might call Mab a liar rather than calling her wrong.

[Serack]

Archiving a 9/23/12 post here, along with an older post by someone else. ^-Serack

The Lash story line is my favorite, and the one that I have spent the most effort theorizing about.  To get some context for the theorizing I am going to make in this post you might want to read this theory post I first cobbled together in 2010.  Once you have read the first post, I recommend you lead the last 2 posts, but I'll summarize the parts that I want to focus on below.

This is a long string of conjecture, but it goes something like this:

When Harry gained Soulfire in SmF, the conduit for this soulfire is actualy Lash not Uriel.  Maybe, when Uriel helped Harry along to using this conduit, he actually invested some energy into Lash to help her reconstitute and serve as this conduit which also serves the extra purpose of helping her recover.  Cozarkian calls this killing 2 birds with one stone which is certainly Uriel's style. 

Another, similar theory that Cozarkian and I have taken from this idea is that Uriel's 7 words were actually delivered by Lash, and Uriel worked out another 2fer from this by reconstituting Lashes ability to communicate with Harry in the bargain.

Now here are the new thoughts:

Uriel's expression darkened for a moment.  "And I am telling you that I am very limited in terms of what I can do to help you," he said.  "Limited, in fact, to what I have already done."
"Yeah," I said.  "Soulfire.  Just about killed myself with that one.  Thanks."
"No one is making you use it.  Dresden.  It's your choice."

Reading the line "Limited, in fact, to what I have already done."  after the big reveals of GS kind of irritated me like a small rock in my shoe because in GS we find out that this line took place after the evil "7 words" have been spoken, and it wasn't until much later that Harry heard the reciprical 7 words that ballanced out the Fallen's cheating. 

So here's the new thought.  In that Changes conversation, Uriel has already made a bargain with Lash to have her speak 7 words reassuring Harry that Mab can't change him, in exchange for her getting the ability to speak with him again.

Some extra thoughts:  Esentially Harry hears a fallen wisper to him "Die alone" at the end of Changes and gets 2 words in response "Hush now."  Examining this, I have to wonder if right now Lash is constrained to only speaking to counter Fallen messages in kind... 

Also, some have speculated that Uriel has given hints to Harry that if he were to have another internal conversation with Id-Harry (someone Jim has said we will see again ^{2010 BBB Q&A}) He will find Lash there.

Edit: quoting that link below for posterity

Time Traveling might tie into an exchange of places with Subconcious Harry.  And, it could involve phrase: no matter where you go... there you are.  That phrase is alluded by Uriel at the end of Ghost Story. It was originally told to him by Subconscious Harry in Fool Moon.  It could also simply be that Uriel wants Harry to meet Sub Harry again and his new partner-in-crime Lash.

Bob's Evil Genesis
« on: November 16, 2012, 11:26:32 AM »
I want to draw some parallels between Evil Bob and Lash.

First a WoJ:

Lash was apparently able to gain free will from harry, a mortal. Can mortals potentially grant free will to other supernaturals like vampires and faries?”
That’s… a spectacularly complicated question, really.   
Lash didn’t gain free will, per se. Lash gained individuality, became a singular entity, self-motivated and distinct from the personality of Lasciel the Fallen. That personality was strongly influenced by Dresden, who believes very strongly in individual choice and responsibility, but doesn’t necessarily equate to free will in the sense of what mortals possess.
You might note that Lash essentially committed suicide with her “free will.” A choice which rather strongly resembles another choice a few books later in the series.

And a text excerpt:

"If it's no big deal," I said, "then why is it so interesting?"
"Oh, well," Bob said.  "It is energy, you know.  And I wonder if maybe...maybe...well, look, Harry.  There was a tiny bit of Lasciel's energy in you, supporting the entity, giving you access to hellfire.  That's gone now, but the entity had to have had some kind of power source to turn against the essence of its own originator."
"So it was running off my soul?  Like I'm some kind of battery?"
“Hey,” Bob said, “don’t get all righteous.  You gave it to her.  Encouraging her to make her own choices, to rebel, to exercise free will.”  Bob shook his head.  Free will is horrible, Harry, believe me.  I’m glad I don’t have it.  Ugh, no, thank you.  But you gave her some.  You gave her a name.  The will came with it.”

Soooo, the thing is, you could replace every instance of the word "Lash" with "Evil Bob" in the quote "Lash didn’t gain free will, per se. Lash gained individuality, became a singular entity, self-motivated and distinct from the personality of Lasciel the Fallen. That personality was strongly influenced by Dresden, who believes very strongly in individual choice and responsibility, but doesn’t necessarily equate to free will in the sense of what mortals possess."  And the statement would still work (adjusting for "Lasciel the Fallen" to become "Bob the Skull").

Conclusion:  Maybe when Evil Bob hit Harry with the Wammy in DB, he stole some Life essence, or "soul" like Lash kinda did in the WN quote, and used it to build his own self identity.

Wild conjecture:  If this is true, could it have been part of what triggered the Shadow's ability to manifest in that book?  (I don't buy into it, but I'm throwing it at the wall to see if it sticks anyways)