DF's B B E G

[g33k]

Just what it says on the lable -- the  B B E G  of the Dresdenfiles.

(B_ig B_ad E_vil G_uy, for those not knowing the acronym -- the climactic villain of an action/adventure piece)

Not necessarily the BAT, but I think Jim's hinting that the BBEG of the BAT is already active and driving events in the DF; indeed, all the way back to Storm Front.  As such, the DFbbeg may be (likely is) the same as the BATbbeg.

Is Satan the BBEG?  Certainly from Michael's POV.  But... from Uriel's?  From the POV of the Almighty?

Are the Outsiders the BBEG?  They seem to be Butcher's nod to the Cthulhu Mythos, more or less.

Who/what is "Nemesis"?  The Greek goddess?  The Goddess, corrupted by Outsiders?  Outsiders-full-stop, who just chose the Cool Name?

What of the Oblivion War?  Does it target some/all of the Outsiders?  Does it target Something Else?  I think it can't be the Outsiders:  they have the Outer Gates which they seem to occasionally -- but not exactly rarely -- slip an agent through; the Oblivion War's multi-century effort will inevitably be un-done in a moment, as an Outsider agent makes it their chore to disseminate all the carefully-expunged knowledge.  So I think the O.W. is Something Else (or perhaps the Outer Gates are a breach in Creation that happened AFTER the creation of the Archive).

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And what of the Inside?  Harry's "Black Council"?  Is this the same as "the Ring" (to which Cowl, evidently, belongs)?

How does "Nemesis" relate to either/both?

How does the BC / tR relate to Outsiders, in general?

Was DuMorne a member of either the BC or tR?

Was Kemmler?  Is Kemmler coming back?

So many guesses...


And so I reiterate:   who (what) is the BBEG?
 

[Snark Knight]

Lucifer is almost certainly not it. Per WOJ, he's trying to prove a point in some argument against the Almighty, but in some ways Nicodemus the human is actually worse than the devil. That's not to say that his victory wouldn't still be bad - he's trying for an apocalypse - but the Outsiders' empty night scenario is pretty clearly worse.

I'm not sure whether Cowl and the Circle are Nemesis infectees, deluded pawns, or actually powerful enough to be equal allies to the Outsiders. I'm not even sure whether there will be a singular Big Bad in the final trilogy. But the Circle, the Outsiders (& their masters the old ones), the Fomor, and apparently the Black Court seem to constitute some sort of loose grouping. I figure they'll account for a worse threat in the BAT than Hell does.

[Yuillegan]

By "the Ring" I assume you mean the Circle? The shadowy organization that was first mentioned in White Knight?

I do agree with SK in that there isn't necessarily one BBEG. This isn't Harry Potter, and encompasses a far larger field of adversaries.

For instance, we have several types of villains (not all of which are necessarily "Bad Guys").

We have the Merlin (who appears to be on the side of the "good guys", but is a constant impediment and sometimes adversary of Harry) so let's call these type of villains Antagonists. Murphy was in this group in the early series although has become a full-time good guy. Marcone loosley fits this group, as do the mortal authorities, Mrs Carpenter (in the early books), Morgan and several others.

Then we have Anti-Heroes. Leah, Mab, Marcone all fit in here. I base this on the fact that they just as often aid Harry as impede or antagonise him, but mostly seem to want to protect him and (to varying extents) protect others from the really bad guys. Kincaid could easily fall into this group.

Then we have the Black Hats. This is Cowl, Kemmler, Peabody, potentially (Cristos), Arianna, Ortega, Lord Raith, Justin Dumorne etc. Basically all those who may be or have been on the Black Council and/or Circle (which may or may not be the same thing) OR are plotting equally bad stuff. For example, just because you are not with Daesh/ISIS doesn't mean being a Nazi is any better; they both have horrible plans and ideas but wouldn't necessarily work together. Nicodemus and the Denarians fit here, but also are special. But I will get to that.

There are obviously the Horrors. Naaglooshii, Outsiders, Old Gods, Fallen, other Demons. All very bad - but probably not trying to necessarily end Harry or the World more than anything else. The Outsiders might, but then again, we don't really know what they want. Technically Mother Summer and Winter fit this category due to their extreme power, but they don't seem to scheme as much as affect the universe on a more fundamental level.

Finally - the Uber-villains. The Devil, maybe He Who Walks Behind, the Old Ones. All seem equally awful in power, but potentially who knows how much Harry will have to do with them. Obviously there is a connection to HWWBh, so I would say there will be another rematch or two. Jim has said the Devil will get on stage, and there is an old WOJ where he actually says the Devil is the worst "c'mon - he's the freaking Devil!". I will try and dig it up. So my money is on the Devil. Also Nemesis is in here. Not the worst, but still very scary.

Titania, Nicodemus, Tessa etc also are Very Bad. Jim has implied Nicodemus is more of a danger to the universe than Lucifer is, in some ways (defined by the fact the Lucifer still wants a universe, which Nicodemus may not). Tessa seems to be linked to the Circle too, but I don't totally buy that Nicodemus isn't. I have included Titania as she REALLY hates Harry. And I think that even if she isn't currently working against Harry, as she isn't going to get a lot of screen time until the BAT, I would say it is going to come back to bite Harry in a big way.

All this of course assumes there isn't someone or something else out there. And it is all Harry centric. Which makes sense, considering it is all from his perspective, but whether the BBEG of the books is actually the worst possible being out there is much harder to say. The other thing is, we are basing Big Bad Evil Guy on assumptions about Good and Evil in a book where that is often not so clearly defined. Just because Harry has strong opinions about the nature of such things doesn't make it so. He is a very unreliable narrator. So those that Harry may see as "Good" or "Evil" may not be objectively totally so, not to mention that there may not be an objective truth of such things in the Dresden Files AND Harry may have a different idea about all this to you or me or Jim or whoever, so Jim might feel Nicodemus is the true BBEG, but I might think it was Harry himself, and Harry might think it was Cowl and you might think it was the Devil!

So, not a very easy question to answer. But great fun to think about!

[morriswalters]

Mother Summer and Jim told you what Titania's purpose was.  And she fears Nemesis and will only whisper the name, "lest he hear.".  On the other hand no one seems to be afraid to say Lucifer's name.  And Nicodemus can die.  And the Well can hold the Old Gods, even if they can't be killed.  And the existence of the Oblivion War tells us that some dangers only exist as long as we have memories of them. Jim has reinforced that theme at least three times.  There is at least an outside possibility that Cowl is nemfected, there is a weird exchange in Dead Beat that suggests it.

I gotta go with Cowl and the Circle as as allies and potential, at least in their minds, usurpers of Nemesis.  With them playing Saruman to Nemesis' Sauron.  Which makes the ground outside the Gates, Mordor. A nemfection seems to play into the theme of the One Ring.

[Kindler]

I think it's mostly the Outsiders as a whole. They'll be personified by their named villains (the Walkers, Nemesis, maybe an Old One or something, too), but they're the only group that is in complete lock step, according to Harry. They're working toward a unified goal, and I'm pretty sure that would mean the destruction of the universe. I do not know if that will also destroy the various parallel universes, but I'm not betting that it wouldn't.

[Bad Alias]

My vote is for Cowl as the leader/personification of the Black Council and the Circle. I like the idea of a human having some grand plan for the "greater good" or something, manipulating the entire supernatural community, causing great harm, and it all coming to nothing because some broke kid on the fringe of society decided to "do the right thing."

Lord of the Rings is great and all, but Sauron and similar villains are usually boring.