So given the information we got in Cold Days, I wanted to revisit my theory about the parasite being an Outsider placed in Harry by He Who Walks Behind during their initial encounter when Harry was 16 and test whether it still works. Here is the original thread:
The following link died (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,32084.msg1395852.html#msg1395852), here is the content that used to be in the OP. -Elegast
Hello, this is my first post of a question and I decided to pull out the craziest possibility that’s been kicking around my head.
I won’t bury the lede: I think there is a real possibility that the parasite is He Who Walks Behind.
Begin when Harry is recounting/reliving/remembering his encounter with HWWB to Lea (starts at about page 277 of Ghost Story (hardback edition)). Harry receives some injury to his back/neck/spine BEFORE he is struck for the first time by HWWB (p.281):
The confrontation continues and Stan is killed. Then we have these sections:
I had always read the above section to be that a rage larger than Harry had ever felt before awakening a larger possibility within him for magic. But, what if that is not all that was coming online? What if a daughter organism from HWWB was also unfurling?
What if HWWB was not seeing the great wizard in Harry but signs of the parasite it planted? One question I have always had was after Harry struck back at HWWB, the outsider says:
What did HWWB expect? Harry to want to hold hands? OF COURSE, Harry would strike back, right? Maybe ineffectually, maybe with a lot of fear, but c’mon. Sooo…Maybe HWWB was not talking to Harry at all, but its own daughter organism.
When Demonreach tells Harry about the parasite, it says that Mab provided breath, the island provided nourishment and the parasite “kept the blood flowing.” Guess which part of your brain controls vital functions like blood pressure, temperature and blood circulation? That’s right---the brain stem. It is the lowest part of the brain and connects to the spinal cord. Maybe where Harry felt the “fire erupt”? I know Lash makes a lot of sense as the parasite (how many times did she say “my host”?) but maybe we should consider a much more literal, physiological parasite rather than a purely spiritual one.
The theory leads to some an interesting speculation. What if Harry’s parasite is making him much more willing to confront the big bads? It’s a scientific fact that some parasites alter the behavior of their host organism, making them do things not only which are not natural, but which are downright deadly for the host. The parasite T. gondii, when in mice, makes the mice not only not afraid of cats, but makes them seek the cats out. Bad for the mouse, but good for T. gondii, because the best host for it is the intestinal tract of the cat. (first time I ever heard of this was in a book series by Daniel Abramson writing as M.L.N. Hanover—the Black Sun’s Daughter.)
All this leads to what does HWWB get out of infecting Harry? Here is complete, rank, speculation: what if “the door” the outsider’s are going to come through is not a physical, magical one. What if Harry is the door?
Shorter: HWWB was not trying to kill Harry but instead infected him with a parasite during the fight. Ever since, Harry has been fighting its dark influence. Previously I posited that the parasite was HWWB himself (I’m modifying that slightly now-see below. But still an outside and still a walker) Finally, Harry, through this parasite, will be the door the Outsider uses to get into our world.
Since some people won’t read all this, let me make my favorite point now. Here’s the poetic part of this theory, to me: Harry’s greatest fear is becoming a monster. We see this in his fears about what the Winter Knight mantle is doing to him and whether he will be able to resist it. Throughout the series, we often are made to consider what it means to be monster (Thomas, Marcone), and think about actions and choices that lead that way, as well as having “monsterhood” thrust upon you involuntarily (Susan, Lily (depending on how one defines monster—for instance, if the Winter Lady mantle could turn Molly into a soulless psycho sex monster Maeve, is that monsterhood? Did the Summer Lady mantle change Lily?) ANYHOW, the point I am getting at is that through all these books of angst about monsterhood, Harry had a monster in his head the whole time. We, from the very first moment we met him, have experienced Harry-as-possible-monster. His greatest fear was something he was already experiencing, dealing with, learning to live with. The character we all like or love or respect or all three, has had the worst bad guy right in his head the whole time.
Questions/points from information we got in CD:Why would Mab or Demonreach, having knowledge of the parasite, allow Harry to live/give him such important powers/duties considering Mab was willing to kill her own daughter who was infected? Harry, unlike Maeve or Lea, has been infected for 30ish (how old is he?) years and has not went darkside, the parasite does not seem to be controlling him, he is managing the infection.
Moreover, we have heard multiple times that Harry is a/the fulcrum for the events leading to the BAT and/or the BAT itself. A fulcrum is the thing upon which everything else balances and turns. As such, he may be too important to kill. But I think this is less the reason than my next reason for why Mab/Demonreach would not kill him. Beyond the strict definition of a fulcrum, in literary contexts or movies, I always think of the fulcrum character not just defined by the way the struggle between good and evil turns on the character, but also the way the character, internally, is teetering between good and evil. (My personal reference for this is Darth Vader—all through the early stories he could go either way, then he goes way dark, which puts him at the critical moment with the choice between good and evil, kill his mentor, the emperor, or his son. He is the fulcrum, to me.) If you accept this concept of what it means to be a fulcrum, then by definition, the fact that Harry has potential for great evil within him would be accepted as part of the nature of who and what he is. Since he also has the potential for great good, killing him would be counterproductive. Plus, would another person then become the fulcrum? One who Mab/Demonreach would be less able to push the direction they wanted or needed? You know that saying, keep your friends close but your enemies closer? Well, by keeping Harry at hand and monitored, Mab has her enemy and her friend close. But mostly, I think you just have to accept that fulcrum characters are dangerous, otherwise they wouldn’t be important, you just have to hope and plan for them tipping your way at the right time.
Also, if Harry’s parasite is the third walker, as I suggest below, then killing him and it, would just free the walker to be placed into someone else who might not be able to control it like Harry is. As it stands, Harry’s head is its prison. Just another way in which Harry is THE WARDEN.
Why does the parasite in Harry seem different than the Nemesis infections in other people, like Lea or Maeve? Some parasites actually infect multiple people/organisms, but are still part of a collective, like a hive. Perhaps Harry is infected with the most important parasite, like a queen bee. It was this idea that made me think that maybe the parasite in Harry is He Who Walks Within (HWWW), the third walker, which I just made up. It would explain why He Who Walks Before (HWWBf ?? versus HWWBh?? I need better abbreviations) seemed to want to take custody of Harry and/or talk to him at Mac’s bar; it didn’t seem like he was trying to kill him. The walkers are trying to recruit him.
What about the fact that Harry’s headaches only started relatively recently, potentially around the time Lash was obliterated-doesn’t that make Lash more likely to be the parasite?I think there are some compelling arguments to be made that Lash is the parasite (not the least of which is the time Jim answered a question that Lash was the parasite, plus I have no idea who Lash was in GS if she was not the parasite). I am not great on the timeline of exactly when Lash died versus when the headaches began, but from what I remember reading here, the two seem to match up nicely.
That being said, in support of the parasite being HWWW, parasites can be dormant for long periods of time, years and years. The biology of parasites is pretty remarkable. The can “wake up” or even if already awake, they can accelerate their behavior or change it. So HWWW could be trying to take control of Harry in preparation for ….whatever the Outsiders’ plan is. I find it completely plausible that only now the parasite is causing serious physical problems for Harry.
Why does Rashid not notice that Harry is infected since he has the ability to see Outsider infection?Who said he hasn’t? Could be why he has been watching him so very closely, but not killing him for the same reasons as Mab and Demonreach.
But Harry is Outsiderbane. Wouldn’t that mean he/his body would repel an outsider?Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what “Outsiderbane” means. Maybe the term means the one who bring the downfall of the Outsiders or kills them. On the flip, say Harry does have some natural bad reaction to Outsiders, maybe that is why he is having the headaches now. Maybe like a build-up of inflammation or an allergic reaction, maybe now Harry’s body is finally manifesting outsider problems.
What about how DR said the parasite was going to burst forth from his head and he should ask Molly to help?I don’t know whether to take DR literally about the bursting forth or figuratively, like emerge from stasis and take over. But if DR meant it literally, like the equivalent of an alien bursting out of someone’s chest, why the heck would Molly be the go-to person for such a physical problem? Wouldn’t Butters or a neurologist who operates on tumors be a better candidate? Why Molly? Maybe because Molly, with her powerful ability to understand the inside of someone else’s mind, would be able to tell Harry that he has been living with and controlling the parasite for 30 years, he just did not know it, so he just needs to chill out and remember he is in control, not the parasite.
Speaking of which , why is Harry’s parasite “bursting out” when Lea’s was able to be killed through popsicling? Age of the infection. Older parasites are harder to remove, more fully integrated into their host.
What do you all think?
