Denarian Dresden

[SerScot]

Arjan,

The main argument is Mab's purpose. Mab's purpose is to defend reality. She is compared with a body's immune system. Nicodemus is someone who has to be saved from the fallen who are corrupting, guiding and after so many years just controlling him. His purpose is that of the fallen and the fallen are the antithesis of the swords in this case.

Nicodemus is at least as evil as Michael is good. That should be answer enough but on top of that Nicodemus is actively interested in harming humans, Mab is not and most of her subjects are not really interested in humans either. Humans are further shielded by a lot of rules and the summer court. She is part of a structure.

I agree with you.  But, in fairness, I think others will say that because we don't know Nicodemus' purpose we can't judge him a fully Evil.  Deirdra was willing to die for her Father and claimed they did what they did to "save the world".  Nic makes my skin crawl in ways that Mab does not but we do need to know why Nic does what he does before we can truly assess his level of Evil^TM

[Arjan]

Arjan,

I agree with you.  But, in fairness, I think others will say that because we don't know Nicodemus' purpose we can't judge him a fully Evil.  Deirdra was willing to die for her Father and claimed they did what they did to "save the world".  Nic makes my skin crawl in ways that Mab does not but we do need to know why Nic does what he does before we can truly assess his level of Evil^TM

I think characters in the books are not the only ones who swallow the lies of the fallen even if other evidence is screaming against it, Nicodemus is written that well.

[Kindler]

Regardless, even if Nicodemus and Mab are indeed both defending reality, I'd say that there is a significant difference between their motivations behind doing so. It's Mab's responsibility to do so; Nic and the Fallen want to do so because nobody but them is allowed to break their toys—at least, that's my reading of it. There's a quality of possessiveness that Nic has that Mab doesn't, in my opinion.

I could see Harry becoming like Mab, but I could never see him becoming like Nic, despite Harry's inner monologue insisting otherwise.

Aside from all this, consider that Nic is still a mortal. He's got a Fallen Angel in his brain, but he's still a guy. That means he's constantly choosing to do the things he does, in my opinion.

[Arjan]

Aside from all this, consider that Nic is still a mortal. He's got a Fallen Angel in his brain, but he's still a guy. That means he's constantly choosing to do the things he does, in my opinion.

That is why Michael and Uriel are still trying to save him but the chances are not that good, really. A warden would just cut his head off.

If the warden had defined him as human which they don't so every way off killing him would have been OK if they were interested. But they are not.

[SerScot]

Arjan,

I think characters in the books are not the only ones who swallow the lies of the fallen even if other evidence is screaming against it, Nicodemus is written that well.

I agree with you.  But, I have to concede to the other side of this discussion, that their point of view is at least hypothetically possible, until we see Nic's real motivation.

[Arjan]

Arjan,

I agree with you.  But, I have to concede to the other side of this discussion, that their point of view is at least hypothetically possible, until we see Nic's real motivation.

A lot of what we know is from unreliable narrators so hypothetically a lot is possible. Especially because even if supernatural entities don't change our understanding of them changes anyway. But some things are just extremely unlikely.

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But Jim is still writing it....