Small Favor - Arbitrator Choice

[Snark Knight]

Hmm, so if Marcone was the base level prize and Ivy was just a possibility, it could jive.  It still represents a metric f*ckton of wasted resources on a vague possibility, given that it took Lucifer Himself to fuel the huge Circles that were only needed for Ivy, a cost equivalent to having to deal with a Soul fire-empowered Dresden there-after.   

That was how I took it, anyway. They involved Lucifer for the sure grab of Marcone, a pretty good shot at involving Harry whether through his relationships with SI or Mab, and decent odds that requesting an arbitrator would be the only play available to him.

It's also important that as far as Nic's scheming goes as of SmF, he was still under the impression Lasciel's shadow was slowly working on getting Harry to fully take up the coin. For one thing, that means he couldn't have guessed Uriel would take the other side's freebie to balance Lucifer's action by granting Harry soulfire, since he thought Harry was still drawing on hellfire. Secondly, Nic very well might have been almost as happy with putting enough pressure on Harry that he had to fully give in to Lasciel in order to survive confronting her fellows as with actually getting Ivy. I doubt he would have shared with Tessa that he'd be happy to see the plan end up netting a nascent Starborn instead of the Archive, but if Lash had stayed on mission for them, it might actually have been a reachable possibility (supported by the fact that he tried to capture Harry after everything else went pear-shaped for them).

The question of Harry's eligibility for soulfire if Lash had still been there also prompts an interesting what-if. Given that Harry's access to hellfire had been via Lash' connection back to Lasciel, what would have happened if she'd survived turning on her originator instead of immediately sacrificing herself? I gather she'd lose the connection to continue giving Harry hellfire, but since soulfire comes from the caster anyway, could she granted Harry that ability? (I always figured Uriel using that as his balancing action was equivalent in acting at all, rather than energy expended) Or would Lash have been left as 'just' a cosmic storehouse of knowledge, without any hard power-ups to offer?

[raidem]

See.  I don't think Uriel's gambit with Harry was equal to Lucifer and Hell's actions in Small Favor, which is why I think Uriel has a long game in plan for Lash in making her into a REAL angel, say the Death Angel we see in Ghost Story that is familiar with Harry.

So, part of Lash + part of Harry=>Bonnie.  part of Lash + Uriel's Investment=>Death Angel
Uriel's other balancing act was to allow Harry to tap into Soulfire, which was the other side of the same coin as Hellfire per WOJ.

IF Harry has Hellfire, he can access Soulfire.  If he has access to Soulfire, he can access Hellfire.
He can't access both at same time though per WOJ.
We know Angels can use both.  I don't know if mortals can.  This power is the SAME COIN, however.

Uriel wants to destroy a galaxy: hellfire.
Uriel wants to create something: soulfire.
So, its like destroy vs. create; chaos vs. order.

Now if you are an angel that goes around mainly destroying everything, you aren't heaven's angel.  This is all consistent I believe with WOJ.
#259 “Does the same apply to hellfire/soulfire. What would happen if Harry were to take up Lasciel’s coin and then try to use soulfire and hellfire together? Would that result in Harry dying horribly?”
Those are different. They’re really two sides of the same coin–but they can’t really exist together like that. They aren’t explosively reactive, but they aren’t additive, either. Which one came into the person to be used would depend on the person who was using it, and what they were using it for.
Angelic types have access to both. Which one they use is partially what determines what /kind/ of angels they are. (Emphasis added)