Connections-Hexenwolf belts, Love Hurt belts, Victor Sells, Blood Rites curse

[Cenphx]

I started pulling on the thread of my certainty that the love inducing seatbelts in Love Hurts were created by the same person as whoever made the hexenwolf belts in Fool Moon. There has been a lot of discussion about certain connections which exist in the early books of the series. So this is my attempt to lay out those connections and consider where this information leads us. I read about a million posts and threads which touched on parts of these topics and some ideas I lifted directly from others, so let me give some credit here to: Griffyn612; Wyltok; Phariah; neurovore; knnn; Elegast; KurtinStGeorge; Quantus. Considering my citations were made without rereading each book, there may be more or better cites for specific propositions than what I currently have. I’ll update with anything better as it comes along. Also, I am aware that there are other connections I am not using or other books in which a lot of these same connections occur (most specifically, Grave Peril), but the project was massive as is and so I kept it to the books with the best connections, in my judgment.

I will specifically be looking at the events of Storm Front, Fool Moon, Blood Rites and Love Hurts. This first thread will lay out the connections themselves. I am posting a separate thread wherein I consider the suspects the board has considered the most likely responsible for these events. I will also present my own suspicions in that thread, though I think my work can rule out suspects but does not provide enough evidence to conclusively determine an actual suspect. Enough stalling…here we go:

Who gave the Hexenwulf belts to the FBI agents in Fool Moon?
Absolute connection acknowledged

• Harry and Murphy talking about the nature of the magic in the love belts [LH (331)]:
  

  Murphy scrunched up her nose. “Like the wolf belts the FBI had?”
  “Yeah, just like that.” I blinked and snapped my fingers. “Just like that!” [emphasis in original
• WoJ that the use of belts in Fool Moon and in the short story Love Hurts wasn't a coincidence [still looking for citation]

Vending machine magic – energy in, magic result out

• Harry speaking at first in reference to the love belts, but then connects [LH (331)]:
  

  “…it’s most likely a focus artifact of some kind. An item that has a routine built into it. You pour energy in one end, and you get results on the other.”
  Murphy scrunched up her nose. “Like the wolf belts the FBI had?”
  “Yeah, just like that.” I blinked and snapped my fingers. “Just like that!” [emphasis in original

Item given out which allows non magical person to cause magic to occur

• Bob [FM (70, 71)]:
  

  “You get a wolf-hide belt, put it on, say the magic words, and whammy, you”re a wolf. A Hexenwolf.”
• Bob explains that the person does not use their own magic, they use someone else’s magic through a talisman.  [FM (71)]

Addictive nature of item (beyond the simple addictiveness of use of dark magic?)

• Harris, talking about how using the belt feels, [FM (292)]:
  

  “I tried coke once in college, and it was nothing compared to this.”
  …“You just can’t stop, man. It gets to where you’re pacing the room at night.”
• Harry to Denton: “Those belts are like a drug.” [FM (371?)]

Clues?

• WoJ: Jim was asked whether we have met the people who created the Hexenwolf belts yet and he answered, “That's another "I'm not gonna tell you" question. I will say, "kind of," "not really," and "yes." But we'll get into more of that during Cold Days as well.”  [See http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,22558.msg1252323.html#msg1252323]
• The Hexenwolfen tried to recruit Harry [FM 29], before they gave up and tried to kill him
• During his soulgaze with Denton, Harry sees Denton kneeling at someone’s feet and a wolfbelt being passed into his hands. [FM 354.]
• How the magic in the belt felt to Harry:
• vibrating, warm to the touch, full of the power and the strength which had been channeled into it, a dark, wild power. [FM 371.]
• “Power. I could feel the belt’s power in me, it’s magic, it’s strength. I recognized it now. That dark surety, that heady and careless delight. I recognized why there were parts of me that loved it so much.” [FM 379].
• How it made Harry think: “Things were simply as they should be, right in a way so fundamentally profound that I wondered why I had never noticed its lack before.” “It was perfect.” [FM 372.]
• Like the way the magic in the love belts made Harry feel like loving Murphy was “right” and he could not see why he had not just given in to it before?
• Whoever gave Denton the belts did not then abandon him: after the killings started, Denton was contacted and warned about the WC and that Harry worked for them. [FM 347.]

Who taught LeBlanc and created the love inducing seatbelts in Love Hurts?
Absolute connection acknowledged in book - between Love Hurt belts and hexenwulf belts

• Harry and Murphy talking about the nature of the magic in the love belts [LH (331)]:
  

  Murphy scrunched up her nose. “Like the wolf belts the FBI had?”
  “Yeah, just like that.” I blinked and snapped my fingers. “Just like that!” [emphasis in original
• WoJ that the use of belts in Fool Moon and in the short story Love Hurts wasn't a coincidence

Vending machine magic – energy in, magic result out

• Harry [LH (331)]:
  

  “…it’s most likely a focus artifact of some kind. An item that has a routine built into it. You pour energy in one end, and you get results on the other.”

Teaching magic to lesser practitioner/nonmagic person

• Harry [LH (331)]:
  

  LeBlanc was no practitioner. She can’t be the one who was working the whammy….This is a delicate, difficult magic. There might not be three people on the entire White Council who could pull it off.”

Item given out which allows non magical person to cause magic to occur

• By wearing the seatbelt, the wearer engaged a love spell embedded in the belt
  WoJ-introduction to Love Hurts
  

  “…seemingly random love spells are running amok through the city….”

Addictive nature of item beyond the simple addictiveness of use of dark magic

• The belts caused irrational, obsessive behavior in the users, which is not an addition to the belt itself, but an addiction to the feelings caused by the belt [LH (306)]
• The victims covered their walls and ceilings with pictures of just the two of them together taken only in the days before their deaths while in the grip of the spell, wherein they wore matching shirts and went to the same vacation spots over and over and over. [LH 305-06]
• The belts caused addiction—Harry explains to Murphy why they are destroying something which makes them feel good/happy/in love [LH (332)]:
  

  “Junkies are happy when they are high….but they don’t need to be happy. They need to be free.”

Clues?

• Baroness LeBlanc, a Red Court Vampire, is the suspect Harry catches
• LeBlanc’s motive: to create more people who are in love so as to cut down on potential food for the White Court
• Both belts described as a “whammy”
• How the magic felt-which echoes FM:

• Harry felt a “quiver in the air, no more noticeable than the fading hum from a gently plucked guitar string.” [LH 316]
• While under the spell, everything felt smooth and natural, better than he had ever felt [LH 320], Murphy even wonders why they never just let go before

Who recruited and trained Victor Sells to use the heartripping/bloodline curse and to create the ThreeEye potion?
Teaching magic to lesser practitioner/nonmagic person

• Harry speaking [Storm Front (279)]:
  

  I might be giving Victor Shadowman too much credit. He was as powerful as a full-blown wizard, but he didn’t have the education.
• Harry talks about Sells [Fool Moon (341)]:
  

  I never had found out who exactly was behind the warlock who showed up the previous spring. Black wizards don’t just grow up like toadstools, you know. Someone has to teach them complicated things like summoning demons, ritual magic, and clichéd villain dialogue. Who had been his teacher?
• ThreeEye was a potion, which worked by using energy Sells stole from other places and people [SF 323-24]
• Potions were tricky, harder to perform than spells, which rely on intent, while potions rely on precise details and were good usually for only a few days [SF 99] which would indicate a novice wizard like Sells did not all by himself pick up the ability to make the ThreeEye potion or make it last longer than a few days

Ritual magic – energy in, magic result out

• Same as second quote above – someone taught Sells ritual magic.

Item given out which allows non magical person to cause magic to occur

• ThreeEye drug allowed non magical persons to be able to have/use/experience the wizard’s sight

Addictive nature of item beyond the simple addictiveness of use of dark magic

• ThreeEye hooked people faster and harder than crack [SF 155]

Absolute connection acknowledged in book

• SF’s heartripping curse and Changes’ bloodline curse are the same, only the latter has more fuel
• Per Vadderung [Changes 162]: “It tears out the heart[.] Rips it to bits on the way out, too. Sound familiar?”
• Harry ponders Sells. Vadderung again [Changes 162]:
  

  “It’s all connected, Dresden. The whole game. And you’re only now beginning to learn who the players are….The sorcerer who used the spell in Chicago before didn’t have strength enough to make it spread past the initial target. The Red Court does. No one has used power on this scale in more than a millennium.”
• Vadderung does not just say they are using the same spell, but tells Harry directly that the two are connected.

Clues?

• ThreeEye was inert until it was inside people, then it interacted with their emotions and desires [SF 324]
• Company where Sells worked was called SilverCo [SF (40)], similar to the Raith company in BR named Silverlight
• Sells was friends with his boss and some people at his work before he was fired [SF (346)]
• Sells found magic when his son was about 4--“he brought home books and books” [SF (236)]
• Sells bought books on it at the religion section of the bookstore [SF (39)]
• When discussing whether Lord Raith knows any magic, Thomas replies that he has a “huge library he keeps locked up most of the time.” [BR (174)]
• Sells figured out he could touch people’s emotions to fuel his magic, then he discovered that lust worked best [SF (237)]

Blood Rites-entropy ritual/curse used by Lord Raith and pornstar sorceresses
Vending machine ritual magic – energy in, magic result out

• Harry to Trixie [BR (237)]:
  

  I snorted. “You haven’t got any powers.”
  “Yes, I do. I’ve killed with them.”
  “You’ve killed with a ritual,” I said.
  ….
  “…a ritual spell like that doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s like a cosmic vending machine. You put two quarters in, push the right button, and the curse comes flying out, courtesy of some psychotic otherworldly force that enjoys that kind of thing. It doesn’t take skill. It doesn’t take talent….

Teaching magic to lesser practitioner/nonmagic person

• Lord Raith speaking [Blood Rites (391)]: 
  

  “Wizard, I believe you have met my assistants.” Two women rose from the shadows within the circle and faced me. The first was Madge, Arturo’s first wife, the disciplined businesswoman.
• Harry, describing the entropy curse [BR (84)]:
  

  …magic this powerful would be a dangerous business for someone new to the use of magic….Someone with a disturbing amount of ability was methodically committing murder.
• Harry thinking [BR (393)]:
  

  I shot a hard glance at Madge. She had power. Not necessarily a lot of it, but she had it.

Clues?

• Lord Raith is gunning for Genova’s porn studio as competition with his own studio, Silverlight [see generally, BR (289)].
• Ritual works by using Outsider magic—sending HWWBh’s magic after the victim
• Raith uses a woman with magic to do the actual work (like with Margaret LeFay?)

Summary of Connections

• Absolute connection acknowledged in book
• Between Love Hurt belts and hexenwulf belts
• Between heart ripping curse/spell/ritual of Sells in SF and the Red Court in Changes
• Item given out which allows non magical person to cause magic to occur
• Belt (FM)
• Belt ( LH)
• ThreeEye potion (SF)
• Vending machine ritual magic – energy in, magic result out
• Belt (FM)
• Belt ( LH)
• Entropy curse ritual (BR)
• Addictive nature of item beyond the simple addictiveness of use of dark magic
• Belt (FM)
• Belt (LH)
• ThreeEye potion (SF)
• Teaching magic to lesser practitioner/nonmagic person
• Baroness LeBlanc (LH) (taught by ?)
• Victor Sells (SF) (taught by ?)
• Madge and other porn star sorceresses (BR) (taught by Lord Raith?)


Therefore, the connection between LH and FM appears conclusive, LH = FM, as does their connection to SF, such that LH=FM=SF. While the number of connections to between BR and the others is not as many, the specific language to describe the magic is so precise and distinctive, that for purposes of theorizing, I am willing to connect BR as well.

So we have LH=FM=SF=BR.

I will use these connections to consider and rule out possible suspects in the next thread.

[GrandPanjandrum]

First of all...well done on all the research and outlining.  It takes a while to digest it all...but well done.  You've pointed out a number of things I've overlooked.  Not the least of which is that someone used a talisman on the hexenbelts.  Until Cold Days, I always assumed that the Erlking hooked up the FBI guys.  Then, in Cold Days, the Erlking seemed to be solid and a pal of Kringle's (and ultimately a confidante of Harry's). 

So, someone stole something magical from him to infuse the belts. 

[Cenphx]

Thanks. It definitely is a lot of info. I thought it would take me a day or two to put together. Instead, its been about a week and a half of obsessiveness. 

After you've had time for it to marinate, so to speak, let me know if you think these events are all connected. On its face, it doesn't seem like they should be this tightly woven together, but then when you get down into the details, it seems inescapable. Which really limits how many people can be considered a suspect.

Which is why I don't think the Erlking is viable anymore--he has no connection to the other events.

[madness]

I don't think that the Blood Rites (Raith/HWWB) magic fits in.  The rest of it all ties together though.

The two common themes are the Red Court and people using magic that they have been given by someone else.

I don't know if the source of the black magic was giving it out to multiple parties (Bianca, LeBlanc, Sells, Denton, Kravos, etc.) or if they were giving it all to the Red Court and allowing the Red Court to spread the power to proxies of their own.

You could make a pretty good argument that the mysterious magic in the first few novels is the result of Bianca/Red Court using proxies to remove enemies (Sells targeted Marcone originally, Denton targeted Marcone and then was pointed at Harry, LeBlanc was targeting the White Court, Kravos was aimed right at Harry).

[madness]

I never liked the idea that the Erlking was behind the belts simply because he is a hunter spirit.  There are tons of other hunter spirits in the mythologies that the Erlking's names/mantles come from.

We know that Mavra was involved and we know that Cowl is involved with several of the players so they are two most likely suspects, IMO.

If I had to guess though I would say that Mavra is the far more likely suspect.  If she is a disguised Black Court Elder (or has grown to similar power) it makes it a whole lot easier to explain how the wide range of powers, enchantments and spells are available - even a wizard of Cowl's caliber would be hard pressed to have that wide of a knowledge base and enough power to teach/share/spread so much of his magic and knowledge.

My grand unified theory guess is this:

Mavra was the power (heavy duty magical backer) behind Lord Raith's original cabal (Lord Raith, Arianna, Maggie, Dumorne).  When Lord Raith got castrated by Maggie then Mavra decided to use the Red Court as the face of her empire.

[Cyberchihuahua]

Well, certain recent events in the books and theories in the forums have laid out the possibility that Nemesis is in the council to some degree. We have also seen that The Erlking is at least willing to hunt outsiders, if he is not actively engaged in fighting the enemy. So he may have given the belts to the FBI agents to aid them in hunting out the agents of Nemesis, and warned them about Harry because he was an unknown quantity, aside from being a WC agent.

[wizard nelson]

well... and i'm aware most won't agree so no need to naysay... the comment about only 3 WC being able to pull it off and the nature of the hexxenbelts specifically has always pointed to injun joe in my mind. him being nemesis infected would be parallel to a woj where he says some people believed to be bad are good and vise versa. what really cements it though is the nature of betrayal. it has to be someone close to you and someone you wholehearted believe is on the level injun joe is both. him being ebs closest ally.

[Cenphx]

Though I made a WAG in the other half of this thread that the culprit is Elaine or more likely Luccio, the most concrete parts of the theory is that it is a very powerful WC wizard, so Injun Joe could fit. I found some clues that I think point to Luccio more than anyone, but I dont think your guess is crazy at all.

[wizard nelson]

luccio already had her bit being mind controlled though. when the reds attacked during DB it was said someone from within revealed their current position, granted peabody had another ally within the council but this just says to me more than one person is a traitor. i've always thought it was cristo. so he hired shagnasty, i would attribute that to joe but woj said the hiring one has been mentioned but not seen.

[madness]

Though I made a WAG in the other half of this thread that the culprit is Elaine or more likely Luccio, the most concrete parts of the theory is that it is a very powerful WC wizard, so Injun Joe could fit. I found some clues that I think point to Luccio more than anyone, but I dont think your guess is crazy at all.

Luccio and Klaus are the only top-notch enchanters that get much specific mention for those skills.  If anyone WC could make the belts it would probably be them.

I don't think that it is either of them (I don't think that it is WC wizard behind the belts) but they would be the likely candidates of people we know about.

[123456789blaaa]

Fantastic work Cenphx  .

I think that the belts (both types) come from the Circle. I think that Cowl was the person who made the belts and was the person who taught LeBlanc. It has been shown that Cowl is super powerfull (possibly SC level if he is Simon) so he would probably be able to create the belts. Remember that the Circle has shown many connections with the red court (and if Simon is Cowl than something more is that Simon was the White Council expert on vampires and the closest to them). Remember that Harry specifically says that the heart bursting curse couldn't be done by RC vamps. I would assume that you need to able to do a heart bursting curse to teach it too someone thus I believe that Cowl (who I think is Simon) taught it to Victor Sells and also taught him magic in general. Cowl being responsible for the events of the first two books also fits with Jim being a self admitted "lazy writer".

I fully admit that the above beliefs are shaky and full of holes.  I'm also very tired right now so the above may not make much sense. I'm just throwing it out here.

EDIT: As Cenphx nicely pointed out in another thread:

in DB when Cowl first meets Harry outside of Bock Ordered Books he says something like, “I want to see what has the Wardens so nervous.”  This suggests Cowl wasn't around in SF or FM.  He does not have the knowledge of Harry which would be shared by whoever was involved with the Hexenwolves or Victor Sells.

 

Disregard the entire Cowl speculation part of my post.

The white court parts of the theory seem kind of disconnected and weird until you remember that [CD Spoilers]

(click to show/hide)

Vittorio was infected and/or possessed by an Outsider

and that Lord Raiths magic protection is probably either provided by an Outsider we haven't seen yet or HWWB.   

[Elegast]

Summary of Connections

• Absolute connection acknowledged in book
• Between Love Hurt belts and hexenwulf belts
• Between heart ripping curse/spell/ritual of Sells in SF and the Red Court in Changes
• Item given out which allows non magical person to cause magic to occur
• Belt (FM)
• Belt ( LH)
• ThreeEye potion (SF)
• Vending machine ritual magic – energy in, magic result out
• Belt (FM)
• Belt ( LH)
• Entropy curse ritual (BR)
• Addictive nature of item beyond the simple addictiveness of use of dark magic
• Belt (FM)
• Belt (LH)
• ThreeEye potion (SF)
• Teaching magic to lesser practitioner/nonmagic person
• Baroness LeBlanc (LH) (taught by ?)
• Victor Sells (SF) (taught by ?)
• Madge and other porn star sorceresses (BR) (taught by Lord Raith?)


Therefore, the connection between LH and FM appears conclusive, LH = FM, as does their connection to SF, such that LH=FM=SF. While the number of connections to between BR and the others is not as many, the specific language to describe the magic is so precise and distinctive, that for purposes of theorizing, I am willing to connect BR as well.

So we have LH=FM=SF=BR.

I will use these connections to consider and rule out possible suspects in the next thread.

Great job.

What becomes clearer thx to your work, is that we have only two absolute connection: the belts and the curse, and that both of them involve the Red Court.

[Cenphx]

Thx for the compliments, guys! It got to the point where I woke up in the morning and my first thoughts were of this thread.    I know the BR connection is weaker than the rest. It certainly shouldnt be considered one of absolutely proven parts, but the language about how the magic works is so unique and distinctive and (like 12345678blaaa pointed out) the likelihood that LR was helped/given magic by someone who could summon outsiders (mortal wizard) that im willing to accept BR as part of the pattern. But I get why other people are not.

[123456789blaaa]

Thx for the compliments, guys! It got to the point where I woke up in the morning and my first thoughts were of this thread.    I know the BR connection is weaker than the rest. It certainly shouldnt be considered one of absolutely proven parts, but the language about how the magic works is so unique and distinctive and (like 12345678blaaa pointed out) the likelihood that LR was helped/given magic by someone who could summon outsiders (mortal wizard) that im willing to accept BR as part of the pattern. But I get why other people are not.

Please, call me Count  . It probably feels less stupid to type and is shorter to boot.

Was Lord Raith a practitioner? I don't recall any mention of it in the books.

[Cenphx]

I dont think we see LR do any magic anywhere or are told that he can. He does seem to have a habit of recruiting female practitioners to do the work. Given that he used the same entropy curse in BR that he used against Harry's mom some 30+ years before, he had to have a dif woman doing the magic besides Madge. So I concluded he is teaching or giving the entropy spell to these women, but he didnt develop it himself. Someone gave it to him.