Thomas the Assassin

[g33k]

As (presumably) everyone knows by now, Thomas seems to be accused of being an assassin, either in the upcoming Peace Talks or the followup Battle Ground (per the trailer).

I've seen the suggestion that it's a frame-up; or maybe that Thomas was doing something else, more insidious/objectionable (like Whamp'ing a svartalven lover into revealing critical info); or maybe preventing a threat to Justine; etc.

How about "none of the above" -- it really was an assassination mission.  Assigned (by the Archive) as part of the Oblivion War... so Thomas can't/won't actually reveal anything; but the accusation is essentially true.
 

[exartiem]

This could be interesting.  If one of the guests of the svartalves was the last mortal to have knowledge of some ancient god-thing and was getting ready to blab about it, then Thomas could go kill them and erase the god-thing.

This would put Thomas into a bind.  If he tells anyone why he did it he might undo his whole purpose for the killing.  Worse, he might reveal the existence of the Oblivion War, possibly doing irreparable damage to the cause.

[Bad Alias]

Jim has said that the Oblivion War won't come up in the main novels because the participants do not want wizards involved.

[Arjan]

That was years ago. He can change his mind if that leads to better books.

[Bad Alias]

I just think it makes it less likely. Jim has changed his mind about some things. I'd like him to change his mind about it because I think the Oblivion War is one of his coolest ideas.

[exartiem]

First rule of the Oblivion War: no one talks about The Oblivion War.

[g33k]

First rule of the Oblivion War: no one talks about The Oblivion War.

Exactly.

It could be a behind-the-scenes "what's really happening" element.  There might even be a wink-and-nod tip to the fans, to let us know this is what's really happening (or not), in a manner no little-"o"-outsider (to the Oblivion War) would grasp.

I mean... honestly, I suspect something else is going on.  But it would fit the known facts, in some ways better than anything else (i.e. Svartalves are nobodys' fools, so... having them mistake another agenda for assassination seems unlikely; and framing someone in svartalven territory seems unlikely; so Thomas may well have been an assassin there ... ).
 

[g33k]

Jim has said that the Oblivion War won't come up in the main novels because the participants do not want wizards involved.

Clearly SOME of the participants feel otherwise.  That's the entire premise of the Backup short:  feeding a book to one wizard (Harry) in hopes he'll forward it to  the White Council would try to Stokerize it -- disseminate it widely.
 
That's not to say they want the wizards to be cognizant of the War itself, the agendas of each side, the identies, etc.  But the O.W. brushing up against the wizarding world?  Totally on the table...

[Bad Alias]

Perhaps I should have said the Venatori/Ivy don't want wizards involved. Obviously the other side(s) want everyone involved. I was trying to look up the WoJ, but couldn't find any that "wizards" shouldn't be involved, but several saying "Harry" isn't involved or well suited to it. Those are from 2011 & 2012. So while that's a few years ago, it isn't too many books ago.

[KurtinStGeorge]

The OP is not bad, but the problem is Harry is an investigator (at heart) who couldn't be allowed to solve what he would investigate.  The novel isn't from Thomas' perspective, or Ivy's or Lara's.  Theoretically, all three might know about such a mission, but none of them could speak directly to the reading audience about what's going on and they could never tell Harry the truth either. 

Those restrictions would make it very difficult for Jim; or any author really, to tell a satisfying story.  There would have to be some kind of cover story to get Thomas off or put the blame on some bad guy who deserves to go down for some unrelated reason, while at the same time Jim would have to drop clues to us what was really going on.  Of course, this would be confusing to more casual fans who haven't read the short stories or at least haven't read the specific short story that would give them the context they need to understand what was going on.

So points to g33k for coming up with a clever idea, but I just don't think it's a very workable one.

[g33k]

The OP is not bad, but the problem is Harry is an investigator (at heart) who couldn't be allowed to solve what he would investigate.  The novel isn't from Thomas' perspective, or Ivy's or Lara's.  Theoretically, all three might know about such a mission, but none of them could speak directly to the reading audience about what's going on and they could never tell Harry the truth either. 

Those restrictions would make it very difficult for Jim; or any author really, to tell a satisfying story.  There would have to be some kind of cover story to get Thomas off or put the blame on some bad guy who deserves to go down for some unrelated reason, while at the same time Jim would have to drop clues to us what was really going on.  Of course, this would be confusing to more casual fans who haven't read the short stories or at least haven't read the specific short story that would give them the context they need to understand what was going on.

Think about the stuff we now presume to be true about Mab and the whole situation at SplatterCon!!!   At the time that book was released, I don't think we had all those pieces put together.  I think Jim can write a novel where Harry never comes up with the "right" answer (or not until many books later).  Look at Harry's wrong-conclusion at the end of Backup...

[Mira]

The OP is not bad, but the problem is Harry is an investigator (at heart) who couldn't be allowed to solve what he would investigate.  The novel isn't from Thomas' perspective, or Ivy's or Lara's.  Theoretically, all three might know about such a mission, but none of them could speak directly to the reading audience about what's going on and they could never tell Harry the truth either.

  You can bet though that one of the major plot lines is Harry attempting to clear his brother.  A twist could be that Thomas is indeed guilty, then investigation will morph into mitigation to save him and in the process Harry will open a huge can of nasty worms that will lead to the second book, "Battleground."