New (I hope) Elaine Theory

[wardenferry419]

Elaine is trying to stay as low-profile and under-the-radar as possible; that is really hard to do if you are hanging around someone as infamous as Harry. Besides, her feelings for Harry are more like a memory of what was and not anything that she is currently feeling.

[Kindler]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think that Elaine is Somewhere Between Good and Neutral on the scale of Good and Evil. Most of her actions that may be viewed negatively feel like the result of being betrayed by pretty much everyone she's ever met, except Harry. It's enough to make anyone twitchy and distrusting. Most of the things Elaine does seem like part of an ongoing effort to cobble together some kind of life for herself after the devastation Justin left behind.

Plus, you know—mind control. Murphy spent years after Grave Peril totally screwed up, and that was a single attack; she'd never been turned into a thrall. What happened to Elaine may have been significantly worse, and the damage might be permanent. I'd imagine it's something like picking up several phobias, neuroses, and tics all at once.

[Quantus]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think that Elaine is Somewhere Between Good and Neutral on the scale of Good and Evil. Most of her actions that may be viewed negatively feel like the result of being betrayed by pretty much everyone she's ever met, except Harry. It's enough to make anyone twitchy and distrusting. Most of the things Elaine does seem like part of an ongoing effort to cobble together some kind of life for herself after the devastation Justin left behind.

Most of this would perfectly apply to Harry as well.

Plus, you know—mind control. Murphy spent years after Grave Peril totally screwed up, and that was a single attack; she'd never been turned into a thrall. What happened to Elaine may have been significantly worse, and the damage might be permanent. I'd imagine it's something like picking up several phobias, neuroses, and tics all at once.

What's more, she was (presumably) betrayed by her adoptive father at a particularly formative age; that alone makes it potentially quite a bit more damaging that what Murphy faced.


For better or worse, there really are only two camps when if comes to Elaine:  Either you believe her initial assertion that she was not complicit with Justin's attack on Harry, at which point everything that follows can make perfect sense given her trauma, trust-issues, and stated life-goals. Or you think she was a willing accomplice with Justin's Black Magic, and what little we've seen her say and do since then is all potentially just part of a Long Con and is 100% lies and manipulation.

[jonas]

there really are only two camps when if comes to Elaine:

Nothing about her originally being a victim precludes her continuity as a villainous fiend. Personally I find her original trauma to be entirely that, trauma... She has since been practically raised by the Sidhe since then, and one that went off kilter at that. I find her a great and intentionally ambiguous character. Whom I do find to be cowardly/selfish. It's Not really her prime personality, but deep inside she's still that scared little girl and the defense mechanisms it relies on are very base instinctive things. You see it come out of her quite a few times... and most any time she's directly rose above it she took the edge from Harry's lead.(in SK with the thorns, him pleading mercy when captured and VS Pricilla's psychic attack.)
She's damaged inside, and well written for it imo.

[LordDresden2]

Elaine is trying to stay as low-profile and under-the-radar as possible; that is really hard to do if you are hanging around someone as infamous as Harry. Besides, her feelings for Harry are more like a memory of what was and not anything that she is currently feeling.

The first is true.  We can't be sure about the second without violating the Third Law.

We don't really know exactly what's in Elaine's head, or heart, with regard to Harry.

[LordDresden2]

Most of this would perfectly apply to Harry as well.
What's more, she was (presumably) betrayed by her adoptive father at a particularly formative age; that alone makes it potentially quite a bit more damaging that what Murphy faced.


For better or worse, there really are only two camps when if comes to Elaine:  Either you believe her initial assertion that she was not complicit with Justin's attack on Harry, at which point everything that follows can make perfect sense given her trauma, trust-issues, and stated life-goals. Or you think she was a willing accomplice with Justin's Black Magic, and what little we've seen her say and do since then is all potentially just part of a Long Con and is 100% lies and manipulation.

There's a third reasonable position, which is "Insufficient data".  For some, the jury is still deliberating and waiting for more testimony.

[wardenferry419]

There has been two present-time appearances of Elaine as Elaine, discounting flashback memories and Elaine=Kumori theory. So more data really is necessary. First appearance was surprise twist, second time was a coincidence of commonality, third time will set the pattern of her relationship with Harry.

[KurtinStGeorge]

Elaine's concern for the members of the Ordo convinces me she wouldn't sell out members of the paranet to the Fomor.  She was definitely hiding something from Harry in White Night; specifically dealing with her healing ability, but that isn't enough to prove she is Kumori.  That incident could be a red herring or it could be about something else besides Kumori. 

I could see Elaine become a militant defender of the paranet.  (I've said this before.)  I won't be surprised if she turns up in Peace Talks, though not as a participant in the talks.  I don't see Elaine being happy if the White Council and the Fomor are all set to make nice if the lesser magical talents aren't guaranteed protection by the Council.  She has enough individual power, and with an intelligence network at her command; Harry and Carlos will be occupied with their duties and Butters may be out and about doing KotC stuff, she could do things to disrupt the talks.  At least before everyone gets locked into a presumably safe meeting place she might find ways to make accidents happen and possibly set different factions against each other.  Elaine knows the type of wards Harry uses and because she has mislead Warden Ramirez about her abilities, she may have made a study of his magic too.  This means she might turn up in unexpected places.  Of course this is a big WAG, but if Jim wants to do something dramatic with Elaine, now might be a good time for that to occur.     

[wardenferry419]

Due to the mid-series trilogy, there are alot of characters that haven't been played with in a while. Elaine is one of them.

[Sully]

Do you consider it strange from a writers point of view that such a significant person from Harry's past has played such a small role in the series?  It's his first love who he thought he'd killed who comes back and then....... gone?  It's odd to me.  Word had to have made the rounds that Dresden had been killed, and then even more waves must have been made upon his return.  She never even dropped by to see if the rumors were true.

Maybe she didn't need to.  She probably has plenty of contacts among the Fae.

[KurtinStGeorge]

Maybe she didn't need to.  She probably has plenty of contacts among the Fae.

Plus, Harry was incommunicado for more than a year when he was stuck on Demonreach and he had only been in town for one day before that when settled matters with Maeve.  So it's not like Elaine could have dropped in on Harry any time before the end of Skin Game.  The most she could have done is contact Murphy or Butters through the paranet and asked them if it was true that Harry was back from the dead.  This is one of the reasons why it might be a good time for Elaine to make an appearance.   

[wardenferry419]

Plus, Harry was incommunicado for more than a year when he was stuck on Demonreach and he had only been in town for one day before that when settled matters with Maeve.  So it's not like Elaine could have dropped in on Harry any time before the end of Skin Game.  The most she could have done is contact Murphy or Butters through the paranet and asked them if it was true that Harry was back from the dead.  This is one of the reasons why it might be a good time for Elaine to make an appearance.

And for Elaine to be exposed as Cowl's apprentice Kumori....bawahaha!

[groinkick]

And for Elaine to be exposed as Cowl's apprentice Kumori....bawahaha!

[Sully]

Isn't the described height of Kumoro and Elaine very different?

[Griffyn612]

Isn't the described height of Kumoro and Elaine very different?

Nope.