The YLC (Why Little Chicago) thread

[TheCuriousFan]

Problem, You need the conscious mind to do the casting of spells needed to fix Little Chicago.

[fuzzix]

Just like you need a conscious mind to use hellfire/soulfire? or different?

[TheCuriousFan]

Just like you need a conscious mind to use hellfire/soulfire? or different?

I'm just going to have to go down on record as saying that the procedures needed to fiddle with Little Chicago are probably just a tad different to desperately calling on any power available and getting hellfire. And if Lash could help fix it, wouldn't she have just /told/ Dresden about the flaw?

[fuzzix]

I'm just going to have to go down on record as saying that the procedures needed to fiddle with Little Chicago are probably just a tad different to desperately calling on any power available and getting hellfire.

Fair enough.

But, putting this aside, what about the Gatekeeper wanting Harry dead?

[TheCuriousFan]

Fair enough.

But, putting this aside, what about the Gatekeeper wanting Harry dead?

There are plenty of easier ways for him to do it, no one knows where he is most of the time, he could just sneak up on Harry under a veil, kill him and say he was out Gatekeeping if anyone asked.

[fuzzix]

There are plenty of easier ways for him to do it, no one knows where he is most of the time, he could just sneak up on Harry under a veil, kill him and say he was out Gatekeeping if anyone asked.

OK OK.  I will sleep on it and think more about it tomorrow.

[Arjan]

There are plenty of easier ways for him to do it, no one knows where he is most of the time, he could just sneak up on Harry under a veil, kill him and say he was out Gatekeeping if anyone asked.

He could have let the Merlin do it at the trial at the end of proven guilty.he did his best to save both Molly and Harry there.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

But, putting this aside, what about the Gatekeeper wanting Harry dead?

Not really compatible with what we see of him in the rest of the series, to my mind.

Knowing that Harry is walking a very fine line, knowing how very bad indeed things could get if he fell off, wanting him to make it through and helping him as he can but being willing to take him out if he does fall works for me, though.

[fuzzix]

The real question I am trying to answer is what would have transpired without the gatekeeper getting a message.

The reason is, the only apparent thing the gatekeeper does accomplish is getting Harry to use LC before it is ready.  Harry would still get the phone call, and would still be involved without the note, right?  What did the gatekeeper actually change?

[pharthead]

He put Harry on the right train of thought from the beginning.  Harry spent most of PG looking for signs of black magic.  If he wasn't specifically looking for those signs, he could have easily missed them and not found out until it was too late to save Molly

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

The reason is, the only apparent thing the gatekeeper does accomplish is getting Harry to use LC before it is ready.  Harry would still get the phone call, and would still be involved without the note, right?  What did the gatekeeper actually change?

Would he ?

Change timing by a little bit for Harry not getting the message, and we can plausibly  posit Harry never being sideswiped by the hefty old car, being home a lot earlier, using LC before it is fixed, not being interrupted by Molly, and frying his brain.

[pharthead]

As far as harry getting hit by the car, why can't it be a regular accident?  There are people who don't have insurance that would flee from an accident to avoid having to pay to fix the other person's car. 

I think LC was very useful to Harry, it just didn't get a lot of screen time.  LC was mostly used to speed up the tracking of lost items.  Therefore LC could simply be something that Harry made to speed up his business and because he though it would cool.  I know a lot of people who go home and make random things that serve absolutely no purpose besides being fun to make.  Heck, Legos has made a ton of money on that.  Why can't Harry do something to test his abilities?

[TheCuriousFan]

As far as harry getting hit by the car, why can't it be a regular accident?  There are people who don't have insurance that would flee from an accident to avoid having to pay to fix the other person's car. 

Our paranoia will not allow it, also, Jim is a lazy author, he wouldn't put it in if it won't be relevant later.

Or maybe he's just saying that while slipping in one or two things per book that are really suspicious to drive the more paranoid members of the board nuts in between books.

[SAZ]

The real question I am trying to answer is what would have transpired without the gatekeeper getting a message.

The reason is, the only apparent thing the gatekeeper does accomplish is getting Harry to use LC before it is ready.  Harry would still get the phone call, and would still be involved without the note, right?  What did the gatekeeper actually change?

The Gatekeeper has ways of knowing things, but he doesn’t seem to me to see all and know all. He may not have been aware of the possibility that Molly would call Harry.  Or didn’t think it was that likely.

I see the Gatekeeper as working with, or at a minimum doing a favor for Mab in PG. Molly I think is going to be nearly as important as Harry when the really big turds hit the fan when we approach the BAT. Harry becoming a nickel head and Molly losing her head by way of warden sword dose Mab and the team she sometimes works with no good what so ever.

At the time of PG Harry is likely the only person who Molly the rebel teenager would take direction from, and Harry is clearly the only wizard who would stick his neck out to help her. Likewise, I think the taking on of Molly as a troubled apprentice helped Harry reaffirm his beliefs in the what’s and whys of magic. This reaffirmation likely helped Harry resist Lashel’s shadow’s temptations.

Harry and Molly were both each other’s moral anchors.

Also I agree with neruro's assessment that the Gatekeeper knows the fine line Harry is walking and is ready to kill him if he goes dark, but is also willing to help him as he can as long as he doesn’t go dark.

[Decorus]

Harry fixed Little Chicago or more accurately Lash used Harry to fix it.

Lash is the only one with the means, know how and chance to fix it.
It wouldn't be the first time Lash had intervened to protect Harry from death.
Basically Lash knew it was broken, she tried to get Harry to take up the coin to protect himself and when he refused she chose to fix it to prevent Harry from dying.