List of Headaches [CD spoilers]

[syntagmaton]

And I disagree that Mab didn't "heal" his back injury.  I'm assuming you are referring to the part in CD where he says "Screw Winter's Rules" and suddenly felt himself paralyzed again.    I don't think she's making his body "forget" that it's got a severed spinal cord.  She actually healed it.  It's been established that the Fae can do real healing on those they have power over.  Leah did it to Harry in Grave Peril, and there is no reason to think Mab would be less capable.  Also it was worded in Harry's agreement to her that she heal his body, and Mab is a stickler for the letter of the agreements she makes.   Besides, his body wouldn't keep working normally with a severed spine, it would still need to be repaired before it would function for him.  It's more likely (to me) that his sudden paralysis in that scene was Mab's way of reminding him to obey her rules, that she owned him, and he better not forget it.

As far as I understood Harry's conversation with Butters, there is a big problem with Mab's interfering with Harry's natural feelings of his own body. Harry doesn't feel pain, injuries, broken spines, ... but they are there nontheless. I am not sure that Mab would be able to really "heal" him -- healing is more a power of Summer. But Winter can numb you down very effectively until your body is able to heal itself.
By the way: Very interesting that Winter is not able to stop the headaches caused by the parasite. All other pains are repelled.

[Ms Duck]

As far as I understood Harry's conversation with Butters, there is a big problem with Mab's interfering with Harry's natural feelings of his own body. Harry doesn't feel pain, injuries, broken spines, ... but they are there nontheless. I am not sure that Mab would be able to really "heal" him -- healing is more a power of Summer. But Winter can numb you down very effectively until your body is able to heal itself.
By the way: Very interesting that Winter is not able to stop the headaches caused by the parasite. All other pains are repelled.

if she didnt heal him, he couldnt stand.

[wizard nelson]

if she didnt heal him, he couldnt stand.

it kinda references that the WKM is just a really big bandage though too.

[Ms Duck]

it kinda references that the WKM is just a really big bandage though too.

in some ways, sure. but his spine? if it had failed, he would have instnatly hit the floor and splat. I think it was more a gentle reminder that she can unheal him, too.

[Snaps At Fireflies]

As far as I understood Harry's conversation with Butters, there is a big problem with Mab's interfering with Harry's natural feelings of his own body. Harry doesn't feel pain, injuries, broken spines, ... but they are there nontheless. I am not sure that Mab would be able to really "heal" him -- healing is more a power of Summer. But Winter can numb you down very effectively until your body is able to heal itself.
By the way: Very interesting that Winter is not able to stop the headaches caused by the parasite. All other pains are repelled.

Except that Winter can heal him, and in fact has healed him in the past.  As I cited before,  in Grave Peril, Leah healed his concussion with a kiss  she didn't make him just forget it, she healed it.  When Harry went to the hospital later to get it looked at, the doctor got pissed off at him for wasting her time with what was clearly a "weeks worth of healing" scar on his forehead.   This wasn't him ignoring the injury, the injury was flat out healed, by an agent of Winter because she had power over him

[syntagmaton]

in some ways, sure. but his spine? if it had failed, he would have instnatly hit the floor and splat. I think it was more a gentle reminder that she can unheal him, too.

Well, he did instantly hit the floor, didn't he? Winter law seems to be some kind of natural law. There is nobody really there actively reminding you. Things just fall down without being reminded to do so. I don't believe Mab was actively involved reminding Harry of her power. Cause: The law itself was deactivated by Harry's remark (screw Winter). Effect: Mantel dissolved, Harry hits the floor.

[Snaps At Fireflies]

if she didnt heal him, he couldnt stand.

Exactly, this isn't The Dark Knight Rises, where they do Blunt Force Trauma Chiropractic treatment.

"Broken spine?"  *punch* "Cured!!!"   "Testicular cancer?"  *punch*  "Cured!!" 

Mab's got way more power than that.  Healing a mere mortal's damaged body is nothing to a creature at her level of Power

[Snaps At Fireflies]

Well, he did instantly hit the floor, didn't he? Winter law seems to be some kind of natural law. There is nobody really there actively reminding you. Things just fall down without being reminded to do so. I don't believe Mab was actively involved reminding Harry of her power. Cause: The law itself was deactivated by Harry's remark (screw Winter). Effect: Mantel dissolved, Harry hits the floor.

Except that Winter is Mab.  His mantle is Mab's power within him.  As Maeve put it to Harry on the  bridge, the power within him is Mab herself, which is why she is weak to him.   He wasn't just saying "Screw Winter" he was saying "Screw Mab"  because they are one in the same.  By denying the rules that he was bound to through oath and fealty, (whether he understood this or not), his power through her would be denied him, and I don't see any reason he couldn't be reminded of this via a temporary paralysis reminder.  Besides, as I said before, we have direct evidence that Winter Fae can, and have healed physical injuries on a mortal before, specifically Harry.  So it stands to reason that a Fae with even more power than the one who healed him in the past, could heal him as part of a bargain.    Harry in fact goes into great detail about how hard it is to heal someone via magic, and that it meant that Leah had a direct line of influence/power over him to be able to pull it off.   By swearing fealty to Mab as her Knight, and boinking her on the table...well....that's about as "direct line of influence" as you can get

[KurtinStGeorge]

I know I need to reread the book, but if the headaches started before Harry pick up the coin, maybe Lash isn't what is going to kill him, maybe its something else.

[Cenphx]

That's pretty much the most widely accepted theory on this forum.  That Lash is still inside his head.   I personally don't agree with it since it makes her entire Heroic Sacrifice in White Knight null and void, and I think from a storytelling standpoint that it's more moving to have the shadow of a fallen angel be redeemed through an act of Sacrifice for another.  But hey, both theories are theories so we'll see when it gets published.

Actually to me personally it lines up more with what happened in Small Favor, when Mab stirred up Harry's brain.  Because before that book, his comments about headaches were usually very minor mentions, frequently after being hit in the head by a badguy, and were as I like to call them, his Obligatory Head Trauma for the book.  It's only in the beginning on Turn Coat that Harry takes the time out to really describe to the reader in intense detail that he is having mind numbing migraines that are causing him really really major problems.  And IIRC he mentions that those level of migraines have only been going on for a few months.   To me personally, all the mentions of headaches before could easily be attributed to the OHT of the book, or having his mind mucked about with by people like Corpsetaker.   

And I seem to recall in one of the most recent Q&A's that Jim flat out says that "The Headaches" start at a very specific timepoint in the series.  Which would imply that before that he was having your vanilla mortal headaches from stress, sleep deprivation, trauma, etc.

I know we are about a bajillion messages past this one, but I just wanted to say, I think you are making an excellent couple of points.

[wizard nelson]

I know I need to reread the book, but if the headaches started before Harry pick up the coin, maybe Lash isn't what is going to kill him, maybe its something else.

those headaches seem different though.
the real indicator is in TC were he says the migraines that started the last few months.

[Cenphx]

Except that Winter is Mab.  His mantle is Mab's power within him.  As Maeve put it to Harry on the  bridge, the power within him is Mab herself, which is why she is weak to him.   He wasn't just saying "Screw Winter" he was saying "Screw Mab"  because they are one in the same.  By denying the rules that he was bound to through oath and fealty, (whether he understood this or not), his power through her would be denied him, and I don't see any reason he couldn't be reminded of this via a temporary paralysis reminder.  Besides, as I said before, we have direct evidence that Winter Fae can, and have healed physical injuries on a mortal before, specifically Harry.  So it stands to reason that a Fae with even more power than the one who healed him in the past, could heal him as part of a bargain.    Harry in fact goes into great detail about how hard it is to heal someone via magic, and that it meant that Leah had a direct line of influence/power over him to be able to pull it off.   By swearing fealty to Mab as her Knight, and boinking her on the table...well....that's about as "direct line of influence" as you can get

It just occurred to me that if Mab is actually healing him in full, not just masking the injury (which seems like it wouldn't work with a severed spine) then all the people who think that in time Harry will heal his back and will not need the WK mantle are wrong. Mab healed his spine and then broke it anew when Harry forswore his oath to Winter. So even if Harry is the WK for 200 years and would have been able to heal his own back during that time, there is nothing to heal because Mab fixed it. And she can un-fix it if he breaks his oath to her.

[King Ash]

Except that Winter is Mab.  His mantle is Mab's power within him.  As Maeve put it to Harry on the  bridge, the power within him is Mab herself, which is why she is weak to him.   He wasn't just saying "Screw Winter" he was saying "Screw Mab"  because they are one in the same.  By denying the rules that he was bound to through oath and fealty, (whether he understood this or not), his power through her would be denied him, and I don't see any reason he couldn't be reminded of this via a temporary paralysis reminder.  Besides, as I said before, we have direct evidence that Winter Fae can, and have healed physical injuries on a mortal before, specifically Harry.  So it stands to reason that a Fae with even more power than the one who healed him in the past, could heal him as part of a bargain.    Harry in fact goes into great detail about how hard it is to heal someone via magic, and that it meant that Leah had a direct line of influence/power over him to be able to pull it off.   By swearing fealty to Mab as her Knight, and boinking her on the table...well....that's about as "direct line of influence" as you can get

I would say Mother Winter is Winter, Mab simply has a mainline to the winter wellspring, Harry also has a line to the winter wellspring but it is different to Mab's.

[KurtinStGeorge]

those headaches seem different though.
the real indicator is in TC were he says the migraines that started the last few months.

Good point.

[Cenphx]

I know I need to reread the book, but if the headaches started before Harry pick up the coin, maybe Lash isn't what is going to kill him, maybe its something else.

Yeah, the main thing I got from the big list o'  head problems is that I no longer believe the logic is tight on the theory that "Lash is causing the headaches because they occur at the time she would be regenerating." I think the only true pattern that can be tied to an individual is the headaches caused by Mab's geas.