Bob's parents.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Love is additive not subtractive in the Dresden universe, the capacity to love made Lash greater not less. I presume the same applies with a muse, Lea has probably been powering up herself this way for centuries, though I suspect she has been forbidden by Mab in recent years to avoid damaging the balance between the Courts. She never got busy with Harry. This is why she was pleased with the Athame, more power without breaking her word to Mab. Lea is more powerful than the Winter Lady, second only to Mab, the gift was to disturb that balance of power in the Court.

[Arjan]

Love is additive not subtractive in the Dresden universe, the capacity to love made Lash greater not less. I presume the same applies with a muse, Lea has probably been powering up herself this way for centuries, though I suspect she has been forbidden by Mab in recent years to avoid damaging the balance between the Courts. She never got busy with Harry. This is why she was pleased with the Athame, more power without breaking her word to Mab. Lea is more powerful than the Winter Lady, second only to Mab, the gift was to disturb that balance of power in the Court.

But I suspect that to get a child like bonea the love must be in both parents so Lea is somewhat unlikely on that account too.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Check your folklore on the Leanansidhe, she is very loving, fully in the knowledge that he love is fatal.

[Regenbogen]

Jim said we know who's Bob's parents where when asked about whether he was similar to Bonnie etc.

He also said he thought it was obvious.

So assuming Bob is like Bonnie, you need at least one big supernatural parent. But not necessarily a mortal as the other (although I'd bet it is).

Bonnie is a curious mix of Dresden and a shadow of a Fallen Angel. She displays mostly traits that are similar to Maggie, but also the knowledge of her parents is clear (particularly from Lash).

If Bob is somewhere between 600 and a 1000 years old, and we have met his parents, they aren't likely to be mortal...at least anymore. Only one mortal we know of is that old (that is human) - Rashid.

He has a skewed ethical compass, an obsession with sex, an alter ego that is cruel and terrifying, and above all no matter which personality is in charge he ALWAYS resents authority. He is also fairly nerdy.

A fair amount of that can be attributed to Dresden's influence, and perhaps to some degree Butters (and of course Evil Bob can be attributed at least in part to Kemmler). But what was "Bob" like before he met Kemmler? And how much does the current owner change him from his original foundation?

Considering he is a spirit of air, his strange association with Winter and his fear of Mab in particular, not to mention his other traits I would guess that Mab (or at least the being inside the Mab mantle) was his Mother (she is the Queen of Air and Darkness after all), and his father....Vadderung? The OG Merlin is also a possibility, but that would mean we have already met him...

What are your guesses?

I hope I have not missed it reading the posts, so sorry if someone already wrote that.

My immediate thought on Bob's parents was
Merlin & Demonreach
And Mab helping with the birth.
Mab saw potential power for herself through Bob. Bob escaped with Merlin's help. Thus Bob's fear of Mab.

Edit: and maybe somehow the reason for Merlin's imprisonment on the island IF he is the "British Prisoner".

[Conspiracy Theorist]

It is not Merlin, we have not seen Merlin in series and he is confirmed WOJ that he is NOT the British Prisoner.

[Arjan]

Check your folklore on the Leanansidhe, she is very loving, fully in the knowledge that he love is fatal.

But is that real love?

[Regenbogen]

It is not Merlin, we have not seen Merlin in series and he is confirmed WOJ that he is NOT the British Prisoner.

It doesn't matter here who the prisoner is, that was just a side note. Really? Confirmed by woj? Where do I find that? (Edit: ok. Found it.)

And technically we have seen Merlin. Sort of. When Bob explains to Harry in the dumbed down dumbed down version  how Demonreach was created. (Edit: he cast Alec Guinness LOL)

[Conspiracy Theorist]

But is that real love?

Yes, but in the obsessive stalker type of love, which certainly fits the Lea we have seen.

[morriswalters]

We know why Bob's afraid of Mab.  He told Harry in Cold Days. And having a relationship with a stone cold prison warden is like a day without sunshine. Ugh.  We know how the Fae reproduce, Mother Summer told us and we have seen multiple examples. An obsessive stalker doesn't know the meaning of love and I'm pretty sure Lea doesn't. There are four spirit types discussed in the books.  Shadows, Nemesis, the Archive and Bob.

[ClintACK]

I *think* for it to count as Love in the metaphysical Dresdenverse sense, it has to be an act of self-sacrifice, or at least putting someone else's wellbeing ahead of your own.

I'm not sure Lea is actually capable of that. It seems contrary to her fae nature.

[Arjan]

But I am sure Lasciel doesn’t know the meaning of love either. What we are looking for is a spiritual entity that can actually love or an entity that for some reason can split of part of its power to enter a mortal which can be taught to love.

And it needs a reason to invest its power in the mortal. Lasciel needed a new host.

[vultur]

There are four spirit types discussed in the books.  Shadows, Nemesis, the Archive and Bob.

Oh, no, there's lots.

I would say the major categories are:
- Ghosts
- Demons (the kind like Kalshazzak and Binder's minions, not Fallen)
- Spirits of emotions and concepts; the spirits of Rage that Hexenwolves and Lycanthropes bond with, and the Hunger spirits that live within White Court Vampires. Bob is a spirit of Intellect.
- Elemental spirits (overlapping with concepts); Harry references speaking to spirits of water and flame in Changes, and Bob is called an air spirit as well as a spirit of intellect.
- The actual Angels and Fallen, not just their shadows, are arguably spirits (depending on how the soul/spirit distinction works).

Ulsharavas (from DM) is a prophetic spirit allied to the Loa. The Loa themselves might be spirits, and so might various gods and other beings from different beliefs and mythologies around the world.

[Yuillegan]

Indeed, essentially a spirit is an entity who is more in the spirit world than the mortal (but not necessarily physical) world. I think a good rule of thumb is to ask "could the entity cross a threshold without an invitation, and if so, how much of it's power would it leave behind?" and you can work it out. Ghosts, demons etc wouldn't be able to cross a threshold without an invitation, but White Court Vampires can. Black Court are a curious problem but that might be a Will thing as much as anything...although it could also be that the entity in the drivers seat of the meat suit that has the issue (assuming that is what happens with the Black Court).

But we are getting away from the point.

Bob's parents need an act of Love to create him. Which rules out most of the truly alien beings. I don't think Mab can feel love, but I do think that the being inside her mantle can (and indeed did, when she was merely mortal).

So the parings we have so far are:
1. Mab and Merlin (unlikely as he is dead and we haven't met him)
2. Merlin and Demonreach (unlikely due to the love requirement)
3. Leah and Eb
4. Lara and Eb
5. Mab (mortal - Morgana?) and Vadderung
6. Mab and Kemmler (as Michael's father...somehow)
7. Rashid and Mab
8. Tam Lin and Mab

I also might guess that the Archive (several generations back) and a mortal.

The fact both of his parents have been met rules out lots of individuals though. I think Summer and Winter are most likely something to do with the origin (Bob is gold like Summer and Evil Bob is cold and blue like Winter) but beyond that I am stumped.

[ClintACK]

Eb's not old enough, unless you've got him doing major Merlin-level time traveling to get it done.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Eb is too young, Bob is nearly 700 years older than Eb, same with Kemmler, and we haven’t met Kemmler, unless he is the British Prisoner, but Demonreach appears to have been without a Warden longer than his last death.

I have Lea and Tam Lin with Tam Lin as the British Prisoner. Mab and Tam Lin is a possibility but this may be before Mab became Queen, and I am not sure the Lady’s Mantle would allow this. Mab appears first in literature and not myth, Romeo and Juliet, the Tam Lin legend pre-dates this considerably. The Leanansidhe myth also pre-dates the first use of the name Mab. Mab was riding with William the Conqueror around the time Bob was born, presumably at this point she was the Lady if she was mortal and shacked up with Merlin several centuries earlier.

We know from the Tam Lin myth how he escaped from being Winter Knight, what myth doesn’t tell is why or how he became the Winter Knight other than he fell from his horse and was captured by the Queen. Mab parallels him to Harry, what if he had to make a similar bargain? He became Winter Knight to escape Lea’s attentions. Originally Harry owed Lea, his debt was bought out by Mab who kept dangling the Mantle until Harry wasn’t in a position to say no. Harry may not be the first time Lea and the Winter Queen have played such a game.