Author Topic: Morgan's Journal Revisited  (Read 9415 times)

Offline Mira

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Morgan's Journal Revisited
« on: August 26, 2020, 06:35:50 PM »

  I decided to reread the micro fiction story that are literally Morgan's last words, or rather a last message. Now we know what his dying words were to Harry, that he more or less regretted what he had put him through the last few years. 

Anyway, the first thing he says is he hadn't written in his journal in decades, or since he was in his seventies.  However as he is bleeding out he feels he has to get his thoughts about Harry on paper, on the record for Luccio or whoever to read.

1] He makes a promise to Margaret to protect Harry.  When and why did he make this promise? Had
he been in on the star born bit from the beginning?  Or was he just making a promise to a dear friend to keep her child safe? 

Then the next paragraph or so gets interesting;
Quote

I tracked him and his father until the time of Malcolm’s death. To this day, I’m not sure who killed him. I suppose it’s possible that Malcolm’s death was natural, but given this child’s ongoing misfortune it seems clear to me that he has been marked with an Adversary from the moment of his birth.

Malcolm died while I was on mission elsewhere. I arrived less than ten hours after the child went into the foster care system, and someone made him vanish. Magically, physically, bureaucratically. There was no trace of him, and I searched for years.

That bastard Justin DuMorne got to him before I could.

Malcolm was marked with a Adversary?  Not by, but with, a Adversary.  Just a type O?
If it was a type O then Malcolm was marked for murder by the Adversary.  But if it wasn't a type O
it implies that Malcolm was working with an Adversary, and thus marked for death along with someone else. Holy crap, we've always been told that Malcolm was an extraordinary good man, "as good a soul, as any I've ever seen." said Eb. Then Morgan more or less blows his death off, "I suppose it could have been natural."  But given what he just said, you would have thought he'd have looked into Malcolm's death a little more closely.  Or at least shared this info with Harry, so he'd look into it.  I know many here have wondered why Harry never looked into his father's death, but except for the hint from Chauncy that it was otherwise, he thought it was natural.  At least it could have been grist for the wheel, because it is pretty important if Malcolm was indeed working with an Adversary.

Timing is everything, who arranged for Morgan to be away on a mission when Malcolm died, and young Harry dropped off the radar screen?  Morgan says he arrived on scene less then ten hours later and Harry had already disappeared.  Really?  No records anywhere of what happened to six year old Harry?  What is weird about that is as a Warden of the White Council, you'd think that Morgan would know some pull to get access to those records.  Someone on the Senior Council or even Luccio would have political connections of that kind. 

So who could have pulled off that kind of erasure?  We know that someone else who had promised Margaret to keep her baby safe, Lea, visited Harry from time to time when he was in the orphanage.
She knew of Margaret's mistrust of the Council, so perhaps thought it best that no one connected with them knew of Harry's whereabouts.  Under this veil we know from Harry himself, except for being very unhappy as the odd kid out, until he was adopted when he talent appeared his next six years in state custody was pretty ordinary.  As in, none of the Nemesis type influence that Morgan feared.  So perhaps Lea was successful there, but then she failed and somehow Justin managed to track and get his mitts on Harry..  Unless Justin was the Adversary that was working with Malcolm, murdered Malcolm, then managed to keep track of Harry in spite of Lea's best efforts.  Another
possibility is Eb is the one that "disappeared" young Harry in the system.  He sort of confessed or used the excuse that it was best that Harry not be brought up by him given what he is.  But if that was his plan, he failed big time because in the end Justin did get a hold of Harry to use him for his own purpose.

When Harry kills Justin finally in a duel, that Morgan is a bit doubtful about, the assumption is Harry is infected or is still being used by the Enemy.  Though Morgan admits that the Enemy is with in the Council itself and set him up and he has no choice but to run to Harry for help.  We know how that story went.

He closes with;
Quote
Perhaps I have been too hard on him. Perhaps I really have become paranoid and mad. Perhaps I have wronged a good man. But there is too much at stake to take that chance. The thought of allowing a Destroyer to be birthed among us when I could have stopped it is too heavy to bear.

Yeah, Morgan was paranoid, and because he failed to look into the circumstances surrounding Malcolm's death, he did hound and wrong a good man.   
 

Offline morriswalters

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2020, 07:12:26 PM »
Subject and predicate. 
Quote
but given this child’s ongoing misfortune it seems clear to me that he has been marked with an Adversary from the moment of his birth.
The phrasing could have been made clearer but it is what it is. And of course the Adversary in this case is HWWB. This is established in Storm Front.

Offline Mira

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2020, 07:33:50 PM »
Subject and predicate.  The phrasing could have been made clearer but it is what it is. And of course the Adversary in this case is HWWB. This is established in Storm Front.

The phrasing is ambiguous at best, I suppose it’s possible that Malcolm’s death was natural, but given this child’s ongoing misfortune it seems clear to me that he has been marked with an Adversary from the moment of his birth. 

Offline vultur

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2020, 10:54:29 PM »
Yeah, I think the implication is that Morgan thinks that Malcolm's death is the result of Harry being "marked with an Adversary".

IE, there's nothing obviously unnatural about Malcolm's death by itself, but all the other things going on around Harry automatically makes it suspicious.

At least that's how I read it.

--

I'm not really sure exactly what "marked with an Adversary" means. I don't think it was HWWBehind, since Harry was marked by HWWBehind in their encounter when Justin summoned him - so not "from the moment of his birth".

And 'an Adversary', capitalized, is also interesting. Is there more than one Nemesis? Or does Morgan mean Nemesis as one of several agents of the Circle/Outside/whatever? Or something else?

Offline morriswalters

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2020, 12:36:40 AM »
Who knows what Jim is up to.  But Harry was marked for something prior to conception.  Jim's been banging the drum on this since the series started. That's the whole point of the Morgan microfiction.  Harry was bred like a horse.

Offline Mira

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2020, 03:51:07 AM »
Who knows what Jim is up to.  But Harry was marked for something prior to conception.  Jim's been banging the drum on this since the series started. That's the whole point of the Morgan microfiction.  Harry was bred like a horse.

Well, yeah, Harry is a star born..  Question is who disappeared him for the six years between Malcolm's death and his adoption by Justin?  And why was he disappeared?  Since Harry was in the foster care system there should have been records.  Yes, these things are kept confidential but still it shouldn't be beyond the skill of a nosy wizard to find and track down.  You ever get the feeling that Morgan was never the brightest penny in the sack?  Loyal? Yes.  Duty bound? Yes. But clever? Not so much.. Maybe that is what made him a good executioner?  He never asked questions.

Just a thought, but if Harry was marked from birth, perhaps Morgan was referring to someone else also marked from birth.. If Harry is the star born, maybe Elaine is the one marked as an Adversary?   
Quote
IE, there's nothing obviously unnatural about Malcolm's death by itself, but all the other things going on around Harry automatically makes it suspicious.
Unless you take Chauncy at his word, he claimed that Malcolm as well as Margaret were murdered.. Harry couldn't get any further with that without giving up another one of his names.

Offline vultur

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2020, 05:46:55 AM »
You ever get the feeling that Morgan was never the brightest penny in the sack? 

Yeah, he certainly seemed that way. TC and this piece give him more depth than what Harry originally saw, but some of his actions still seem pretty questionable at the very least (especially in Summer Knight).

Quote
Unless you take Chauncy at his word, he claimed that Malcolm as well as Margaret were murdered.. Harry couldn't get any further with that without giving up another one of his names.

Oh, I agree Malcolm's death wasn't natural; what I meant is that it looked natural (superficially), and Morgan only thought it wasn't because so many other things were going on around Harry (i.e. not because the cause of death was itself obviously unnatural).

That's why Morgan couldn't really be sure.

Offline Mira

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2020, 01:14:06 PM »
Quote
Oh, I agree Malcolm's death wasn't natural; what I meant is that it looked natural (superficially), and Morgan only thought it wasn't because so many other things were going on around Harry (i.e. not because the cause of death was itself obviously unnatural).

That's why Morgan couldn't really be sure.

And yet when Malcolm and Margaret's six year old child completely disappears from the radar screen, Morgan fails to investigate the death that led to that disappearance?  The first step in finding out what happened to the child is figuring out who or what was behind the death of the father. 

Then when Harry does surface again, up until he himself became a suspect, Morgan busied himself trying to take Harry out at every turn because he had bought into the theory that the Enemy had gotten to him at some point.  It was only when the finger was pointed at him and he was at the point of death does he admit he might have been paranoid and perhaps wronged a good man.

As I said, Morgan was good at what he did as far as that went, but he was never the brightest penny. So it was easy to manipulate him to bird dog Harry in the hope maybe that he'd succeed especially while Harry was under the Doom to lop his head off and never ask questions. No, there are some big cats at work in the life of Harry Dresden, Morgan was a less than effective paw in keeping that mouse in check.

So who were/are the big cats?  The Winter Court? The Black Court? The Senior Council of the White Court? Eb? Outsiders?  Someone wanted to prevent this star child from maturing.. Could the same be said of Elaine?  We know nothing of her background.

Someone didn't want Harry observed when he was a very young child until his talent showed.  That finger points to Eb, by his own admission in Peace Talks.  However does Eb have that kind of power to wipe Harry from official records?  Maybe, but how is it he failed so badly when Harry's talent did surface to prevent a evil man like Justin to get a hold of him for his own gains?  Who helped Justin to locate not just Harry, but Elaine as well? Do we really believe they were there only children of talent that surfaced in the foster care system?  Why did he chose them especially?
« Last Edit: August 27, 2020, 01:17:37 PM by Mira »

Offline BrainFireBob

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2020, 05:39:30 PM »
I rather think Morgan was underestimated.

Morgan was seen as a shotgun, or attack dog- dangerous at KABOOM magic, but not a free-thinking individual. People forgot he had his own mind.

Morgan might be the White Council's public executioner- Eb, of course, being their assassin- but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a moral code.

I rather think this, combined with Turn Coat, points to someone trying to setup Morgan to execute Harry without understanding that Morgan's rigidity wasn't mental, it was moral- he would literally be damned before betraying his principles and loyalties. Morgan was the one ultimately responsible for the Doom being revoked. At the end, he concluded Harry was no warlock but was stupidly reckless at times (which Harry would probably concede)- which means instead of it being a settled question in his mind (as we were given the impression) it was a question he was still personally considering. Morgan let them down by not being what is called in DnD a "murder hobo."

Which points to whoever the enemy is in the White Council, they don't have a lot of experience with/exposure to the Wardens, or they'd not have under-rated Morgan that way. That's the clear takeaway to me. That, or their exposure to the Wardens predates Morgan being a prominent personality. What I can't decide is if this makes Langtry more or less likely to be Black Council. I lean toward less, and that Langtry is the pillar on Harry's "side" on a larger scale than Harry is aware of- with Harry and Langtry both finding this out with corresponding angst later. Phrased differently: Langtry is the "real" problem for the Black Council, and Harry keeps coming out of his self-imposed hermitage (in WC terms) to interfere and generally be in the way.

Regarding Morgan himself: I rather think he was more clever than people realized, but that he was on a mushroom diet. I can see his report on the Naagloshii being "Encountered Naagloshii. Will not be a further problem for the Council" with no words about how, what, why, or that he actually killed the thing.

Offline ClintACK

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2020, 08:45:16 PM »
Morgan busied himself trying to take Harry out at every turn ...

Did he? That's certainly Harry's perception, but he's an unreliable narrator. Look at what Morgan actually does? He pokes and prods and goads Harry to see if he can get him to start fight using his magic in anger.

It's a test. Morgan soulgazed Harry and knows that his first-law violation (killing Justin) gave him a magical anger management problem. If Harry isn't careful about it, his anger problem will grow and he really will be a warlock. And Morgan means to be there when it happens, because he's seen what happens next and he'll blame himself for all the victims he couldn't save.

Offline Mira

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #10 on: August 27, 2020, 10:05:14 PM »
Quote

It's a test. Morgan soulgazed Harry and knows that his first-law violation (killing Justin) gave him a magical anger management problem. If Harry isn't careful about it, his anger problem will grow and he really will be a warlock. And Morgan means to be there when it happens, because he's seen what happens next and he'll blame himself for all the victims he couldn't save.

There is no evidence that Morgan ever soul gazed Harry.  Eb soul gazed Harry, he says that in Blood Rites, he is also the one who spoke up for him at his trial, not unlike Harry did for Molly.  Harry based his defense for the most part on his soul gaze, I imagine Eb did the same.  If Morgan had soul gazed Harry and found what you say, I doubt that Harry would still have his head.  In addition, lets not forget that a soul gaze goes both ways, if he had, then Harry would have understood Morgan better.  By Morgan's own admission he was more paranoid than anything and may have wronged a good man, no, if Morgan had soul gazed Harry he wouldn't have pursued him like he did.

No, I don't think Morgan was underestimated..  He may gave been moral, but at the same time he wasn't all that clever.  Morgan was never a thinker.

Offline Conspiracy Theorist

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2020, 10:09:22 PM »
Morgan wasn’t an investigator, he was an enforcer, when he needed an investigator, he went to Harry.

Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2020, 10:40:34 PM »
Chasing down wardens was his main job so he has a fair amount of practice at investigations.
Currently dealing with a backlog of games.

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Offline Conspiracy Theorist

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2020, 11:56:51 PM »
The mad Warlocks were hardly subtle, neither was Morgan.

Offline vultur

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Re: Morgan's Journal Revisited
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2020, 02:04:28 AM »
I rather think this, combined with Turn Coat, points to someone trying to setup Morgan to execute Harry without understanding that Morgan's rigidity wasn't mental, it was moral- he would literally be damned before betraying his principles and loyalties. Morgan was the one ultimately responsible for the Doom being revoked. At the end, he concluded Harry was no warlock but was stupidly reckless at times (which Harry would probably concede)

I think this is true, but isn't necessarily incompatible with Morgan being not-the-brightest.

Or, well, I think more accurately he wasn't good at thinking outside the box. Morgan wasn't dumb, but he was a straight-line A-to-B thinker... like most of the older wizards, it seems.

Even Luccio must have a bit of this problem, or something like the Paranet would have been set up decades ago, dealing with pixies etc. would be standard Warden protocol, etc.

And he still did ignore Harry's warning about the Summer/Winter issue in SK; I don't think that's explainable as just testing Harry.