The easiest way of explaining why Thomas isn't a Starborn is that they shot at the target and missed. Having said that it fails to account for Elaine if she was Starborn as well.
It is certainly possible. Yeah Elaine is a real oddity to me. She doesn't neatly fit in at all. Which absolutely makes me much more interested. I would really like to find out more. She screws up many a theory.
It's unsafe to assume otherwise. Somebody knew a lot. They knew where Harry was. And Harry didn't have a fixed address. They tagged after him for six years. And they had a plan for losing surveillance after they murdered Malcolm. And a way to shield him from prying eyes. Lash doesn't say that parentage is important. But they couldn't control the circumstances of Harry's birth. The when, where and how unless it was set up before she ran. But if parentage was important and Malcolm was the father then Margaret knew who he was before she ran. He wasn't random. Is there a hole in that?
And I have to ask, doesn't anyone ever find it funny that Harry does so much rat running with senior level angels. Not to mention dream mail from dad. He gets a lot of attention for a non angel.
Unsafe eh? Is there something I should know about? Is it dangerous to get WAGs wrong? Well probably, at least on this forum...
Yeah it is a curious thing the whole Malcolm thing. I agree that it does appear that she picked him out, whether he was the biological father or not. I do imagine she did fall in love with him. From what we know, he seems like a truly good man. Perhaps that is reason enough. She knew she might have a monster for a kid, and picked the best soul to raise him right that she could. A really interesting study about psychopaths a few years ago postulated that nurture had a lot to do with how psychopaths behaved as adults. Those that received love, particularly from their mothers, were less likely to go around murdering folks and more likely to become successful (if perhaps brutal) people.
But perhaps Michael had special, magical properties that she needed. I find this less likely, but still possible. The quote you use is the only one I recall ever mentioning Malcolm's height. Which could explain away a lot of my theory (so obviously I must dislike it, when the facts fail to fit your theory they must be discarded!)
But as you say, there is quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that suggests that Margaret knew she was going to have Harry. Perhaps she even predicted it (with her Future Sight). She did plan things out quite far. She knew to leave her jewel with Leah. She planted the vision within Harry and Thomas in order to convince each other they were siblings, so they would protect each other. Who knows what else she planned?
Yeah I know what you mean. In fact, I am surprised Harry isn't more weirded out by how much interaction he has with Angels. Especially Uriel. Almost like Harry will be involved in big, multiverse affecting events. Which all goes back to my frustration that Harry really should question his life more, particularly the weirder stuff. Like how in a decade he hasn't bothered to find out more about his mother, or a what a starborn is etc. I feel he would be less out of his depth if he took the time to just figure out some of the bigger questions in his own life. Not to mention some of the big universal ones, like where do gods come from or why do the Outsiders want to destroy reality or who was the Merlin? Maybe pick up those damn diaries that Eb has!