SuspectsLord Raith: Teacher for Victor Sells?Considered a likely suspect because Sells worked at SilverCo, reminiscent of the other named Raith company, SilverLight, from Blood Rites. Sells was friends with his boss at work. He obtained books about magic and Raith has an extensive, locked away library. Furthermore, Sells learned to fuel his rituals with sex; to fuel his magic from other people’s emotions, each a very-WCV modus operandus.
However, much of this evidence could suggest any WCV actively affiliated with the Raith family and businesses. Lord Raith did work with or teach “assistant” magical practitioners, see Madge in Blood Rites, but it seems that he uses females not males (Madge, Margaret LeFay, Lara).
Most importantly, Lord Raith could potentially at least be responsible for Sells and the entropy curse in BR, he is not a viable suspect for the love seatbelts or the hexenwolf belts. By the time of Love Hurts, which takes place between Turn Coat and Changes, Lord Raith is ostensibly a puppet of Lara’s. Even if he is not Lara’s puppet, the love seatbelts were being used to cut down on potential food for the WCV. Whoever was teaching LeBlanc need not share her goals, but certainly Lord Raith would not help her cull the WCV’s food supply.
We can eliminate Lord Raith.
Erlking: Distributor of the Hexenwolf belts? (see Reply #7, 29)
Considered a likely suspect because the belt creates a predator-hunter in the wearer; the FBI base connects to his place in the NN; and the FBI are hunters, the belt is a tool of hunters. The proposed motive for the Erlking to give out the belts was because the Erlking’s goal is to be left alone to hunt and he deals harshly with those who interfere. Others, like Odin, can lead the Wild Hunt, and thus interfere. Marcone is very connected to Odin. Therefore, the guess is that Erlking is messing with Marcone because Marcone is one of Odin’s descendants
However, the hexenwolves are driven to kill in a way that is not sporting and would not be condoned by the Erlking and the victims are not prey worthy of a hunt. When Harry soulgazes Denton, the agent’s soul, beyond the erosion caused by his years working as a cop, is covered in a layer of filth and slime, most likely a result of the belt. The Erlking’s magic would not be corruptive like this. Also, Odin and the Erlking do not seem to be at odds with one about who leads the hunt; they were okay with Harry taking over briefly.
Most importantly, the Erlking has no connection at all to the love seatbelts, to Victor Sells or to the entropy ritual/curse used in Blood Rites. We should also consider the WoJ about whether we have met the people who created the belts where 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]
This WoJ could refer to three characters being involved, one of whom we’ve seen but don’t really know (e.g. Cowl; Mavra, if the body saw her in is a puppet), one of whom we’ve heard of but never met, (e.g. Margaret LeFay; Justin) and one we definitely know (e.g Lord Raith, Elaine, Erlking). It could also all be referring to the same character, who we have met, but who is infected by Nemesis, which has not yet been revealed to us, such that “yes” we’ve met the character, but we only have “kind of” met the creator of the belts, which is more Nemesis than the infected character. The second interpretation makes more sense because it incorporates the second part of Jim’s statement that we got information about the creator of the belt in Cold Days, which I take to refer to us learning about Nemesis and how it infects people.
We can eliminate the Erlking.
Cowl: Certainly would have the magical power/ability to create the belts, the ThreeEye potion and has probably been around long enough to be aware of the bloodline curse. But 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.
Mavra: (see Reply #36, 43, 55; 50; plus Drakul connection at #57)
Also would have the magical power/ability to create the belts, the ThreeEye potion and has probably been around long enough to be aware of the bloodline curse. Additionally, in Grave Peril, we see her actively teaching magic to lesser practitioner, which fits with Sells.
I haven’t thought about her as much as the first few suspects. I don’t think she is a good fit for all LH=FM=SF=BR. But Mavra could use more consideration.
Nemesis: Given the WoJ that we learned something about the makers of the hexenwolf belts in Cold Days, I concluded he was referring to Nemesis. However, knowing someone is infected with Nemesis does not help to narrow our suspect pool.
Red Court vamps (see Reply #30)
My WAG:I am trying to operate on the principle that my theory should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. So I will not introduce an unnecessarily complicated scenario, if a more straightforward one works for all of the relevant plots in Storm Front, Fool Moon, Blood Rites and Love Hurts. I know that just because the resulting theory is simple, does not mean it is valid.
We know that there is at least one person above LeBlanc (LH) and Denton (FM). There is no reason to presume that this person is other than the person who created the belts. Therefore, we are looking for a wizard. Given the complexity of the ThreeEye potion and the belts, I believe the wizard in question must great ability, if not brute strength like Harry. In other words, a White Council level wizard. A consistent pattern emerges from the fact that the most likely suspect for each event is *inconsistent*. In other words, a fall guy is in place, so none of the suspected groups is where we will find our suspect. Given Lord Raith’s penchant for working with female wizards, I believe he would continue with this pattern after Maggie Sr. escaped him, so we are looking for a female wizard of WC strength. Finally, given the WoJ about the wolf belts, I believe this strong female wizard is infected with Nemesis.
Here’s where I get crazy. The connections between these events are better at eliminating suspects, than positively identifying anyone, but I’ve never been afraid of lobbing a WAG.
My two suspects are Elaine and/or Luccio.
Beyond the above reasoning, one reason I consider Elaine especially is as follows: the tag word Jim uses for the magic in the belt is “delicate”. Harry says that “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.” [LH (331)]. (Don’t forget that whammy is also a reference to the magic in the wolf belts.) Jim uses tags, or short phrases or specific words, to call to mind a certain character: “Tags are words you hang upon your character when you describe them. When you're putting things together, for each character, pick a word or two or three to use in describing them. Then, every so often, hit on one of those words in reference to them, and avoid using them elsewhere when possible. By doing this, you'll be creating a psychological link between those words and that strong entry image of your character.”
http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/1698.html.
One tag for Elaine is that her magic is “delicate” and graceful: grace, style, elegance [SK 152]; elegant, slender, graceful, grey storm cloud eyes [SK 115]. She is responsible for the mind fog in Summer Knight, [SK 363], which was a “dangerous and delicate spell”, and which was rare [SK 295] and so strong that Harry was not sure that even a Queen could pull it off outside of faery [SK 304]. I also think this mind fog shows a precision with mind magic that is echoed in the way each of the belts gets inside the heads of the wearers. I think the belts are a form of mind magic more than just a plain spell.
As for Luccio, in order to be able to pull off the belts in LH, she would have to be faking whether she still has magic after the body swap in Dead Beat. Setting that aside, there is some evidence that Luccio was around in Storm Front.
Harry goes to the police station: “the desk sergeant wasn’t the mustached old warhorse whom I had run into before, but a graying matron with steely eyes who disapproved of me and my lifestyle in a single glance, then made me wait while she called up Murphy.” [SF 151.] Given that this is the first book and we’ve never met the usual desk sergeant, why did Harry *need* to tell us that the desk sergeant was new? Consider Luccio’s description: “solid old matriarch of a woman, as tall as most men and built like someone who did plenty of physical labor. Her hair was a solid shade of iron grey, cropped into a neat military cut.” [DB 349]. Perhaps he had to point out the new sergeant so we could later figure out that Luccio was around?
There is other evidence that magic is being done at the police station during SF. Harry specifically noted in this book that static during a phone call usually happened on his end of the phone. [SF 171-72]. Early on in the book, the telephone connection to Murphy at the station was so clear Harry could hear her drop an Alka-Seltzer into a glass. [SF 108]. Later, Harry tried to call Murphy at her desk at the police station, but Carmichael answered because Murphy had left to go arrest Harry. Carmichael acted someone was standing next to him, he pretended like he was talking to someone other than Harry. There was static on Carmichael’s end of the call, which was scratchy, noisy, and which squealed with static, [SF 281-82], which is a signal that someone is doing magic at the other end. Harry then immediately called Murphy at his office and there was no problem with static. [SF 282].
Now consider that in LH, Harry calls the WC and gets Luccio. He asks her about whether any black magic pinging in Chicago. Luccio has no info for him, but does asks what he thinks is going on. Harry also uses a few lines to explain that because of all the magic at the other end of the call he may have trouble hearing Luccio [LH 308-09], reminiscent of how he has problems only on the other end of the line in SF. What is unusual about these lines is that so much is dedicated to telling us very little. In contrast, Harry later summarizes using all his other supernatural contacts in about one line. So what purpose does the long exchange with Luccio serve? Is it a signal to remember where else similar problems happened?
Luccio as a suspect answers several unanswered questions. A question left over from Storm Front is why did Morgan show up when he did in SF and how did he know about the murders of Tommy Tom and Jennifer Stanton? Morgan says, “Someone killed two people with sorcery last night, I think it was you.” Was it just a coincidence or did someone point him in the right direction at the right time? Luccio, as Morgan’s mentor, would be in a position to provide him information he would not question.
If Luccio is infected with Nemesis/is a traitor, it explains why Cowl is constantly moaning about how the WC is corrupt. It could bring LaFortier’s death into a different light. Could it explain why Mab sent the hobs to the train station in SmF-were they after Luccio, not the Archive? Could it explain where Thorned Namshiel’s coin disappeared to? She was in the helicopter as well. Could this explain that funky letter that is sent to Harry where she claims the WC has turned on the wardens, causing him to look elsewhere for help? Could it explain why her versions of Harry’s mother differ from the other accounts we get of her? Could it explain why her story about Ivy’s mother is not only wrong, per the Archive’s own account, but wrong in a way which seems calculated to make Ivy despair? Could it explain why she tries to convince Harry not to console Ivy after SmF? Could it explain why she receives a non-fatal, non-maiming wound in the first moments of the battle against Shagnasty at Chateau Raith which allows her to be left behind at Harry’s apartment, perhaps so she could be one of the two wizards we know appeared at DemonReach during TurnCoat? Could it explain how the ghouls knew where Camp Kaboom was?
There was more, but my brain is melting.
Edit: I added a line for the Red Court vampires as a suspect and I listed the replies which contained the theories supporting each suspect so its easier to find what you are looking for in the thread.
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