Can a Wizard's Powers be Stolen or Taken permanently?

[Rasins]

I think there's a pretty solid qualitative difference between a theft and assassinating one of the leaders of the whole wizarding world.

The White Council is as self-centered as any other nation -- they're not going to care if some muggles get swindled, but if one of their own ends up dead, they're going to step in.

Oh, I get it.  It just never set right with me.  There are seven laws of magic which is supposedly what the council protects.

Oh, but there are other laws that can result in your head being chopped off as well.  It'd be nice to know that.

[LordDresden2]

I agree with LD2.  I've had this discussion before without a satisfactory conclusion, other than, it's their's because they can.  If the murder had occurred in Grand Central Station, I could see them trying to take it, but don't know how successful they'd have been.

My guess?  If the police caught the suspect, someone in a nice suit would show up at the relevant NYPD precinct, with completely legitimate papers, and a legitimate-looking but bogus reason why the case was being transferred to Federal jurisdiction, and he'd just vanish into the system.  If the police didn't catch the suspect, he'd just disappear from wherever he was when the Wardens caught up to him.

It's a good bet the Council has its hook into enough politicians and officials to make the jurisdictional transfer at least quasi-legit, legally.  If necessary, though, he could just disappear out of his cell with no explanation.  Access to Faerie is a wonderful thing, and so are veils.

[LordDresden2]

I'd like to see a mundane police force handle it.

"OK, victim, aged ... 237? Is this a typo? ... OK, suspect, born in ... 1865? Come on, is this some kind of joke?"

It's worse than that.  If we're talking about a Council-level suspect, how are the police going to hold him?  If he's a major warlock, how many cops, guards, etc. are going to be maimed, mind-warped, or killed before they decide to back off?  Even if a cop manages to put a bullet in him, where does his death-curse go, and who does it fall on?

The Council is arrogant with regard to mundane authority, so question about it...but their policies are also protective.  Part of the reason the Council doesn't like to allow mortal authorities to be involved in magical business is precisely that the mortal authorities in question have a tendency to end up looking like they've been through a food-processor, or babbling in a padded cell, or worse.

Ask Ron Carmichael about it.

[LordDresden2]

And yet we haven't seen Wardens going after thieves (come on, there have to be some clepto wizards), or frauds, or many other laws in the mundane world.

But at the same time, you probably rarely see such actions affect many people, either.  So it's less disruptive not to rock the boat.  But Council-on-Council violence, or attacks on Council members, are a different thing.

[LordDresden2]

Oh, I get it.  It just never set right with me.  There are seven laws of magic which is supposedly what the council protects.

Oh, but there are other laws that can result in your head being chopped off as well.  It'd be nice to know that.

I would imagine the Council members mostly do know what they are.  We don't, but I pretty sure they do.  Harry just hasn't discussed it much, and he's our source.

Just speculating, but fairly confidently, I would say that among other things, actions that are likely to get the Council involved (though not necessarily get you executed):

1. Council-on-Council violence (outside of maybe formal duels or the like).

2. Revealing stuff the Council considers 'sensitive'.  Obviously this doesn't automatically just mean knowledge of magic and the Council, because lots of people know.  But I'm sure there is stuff Wizards are expected to keep quiet about, even to low-level practitioners and the like.

OTOH, IIRC, Harry warned Susan explicitly that the White Council would take steps to stop her from revealing very much on a large scale.  Even if she had somehow magically (no pun intended) gotten out of that party at Bianca's alive, intact, and with her story, it wasn't just the Red Court that would make sure it was never published, it was also the Council.

3. Organized violence against low-level practitioners.  Both Harry and Ramirez recognized that one reason the murderer in White Night disguised himself as a Warden was to prevent scared practitioners from turning to the Council for help, which implies that the Council might have intervened.

4. Messing with the Council's financial empire.  (This would be less likely to get you beheaded, I would think, than get you broke, unless it was a Council member doing it.)

5. A Wizard getting too involved in mundane politics on his own, without Council approval.

I'm sure there are others, but I'd be very confident that this sort of stuff could do it.

6. Stealing Council property, especially 'sensitive' or expensive/rare stuff.