I am 99% sure that Cowl is Dresden from the future

[The_Sibelis]

I've never really found cowl to be actively trying to kill harry though, I think his fine control is better than Harry, and so when he put just enough power in his strike to make harry flip tail over tea kettle it was intentional. And again when he perfectly shorted out LC without blowing it up in Harry's face.

[TheCuriousFan]

This is one of my go to theories... Buuuut, Nicodemus actually says this to him in SmF... So it could well have been Nic and Deidre...
*I thought cowl was mentioned as indiscriminately around Dresden's height?

IIRC he just got a general "taller than Kumori" statement.

I've never really found cowl to be actively trying to kill harry though, I think his fine control is better than Harry, and so when he put just enough power in his strike to make harry flip tail over tea kettle it was intentional. And again when he perfectly shorted out LC without blowing it up in Harry's face.

The other problem with Cowl being Harry is that, as you pointed out, his fine control is way better than Harry's. He'd have to be Harry from decades if not centuries in the future.

[The_Sibelis]

Not necessarily, I'm sure, under this theory one of the cowls would have been harry with Lasciel and Harry if he'd done the darkhallow, which would be him in DB. Such a change would give him power and control no?
In that version, I'm thinking 'the circle' is actually the different Harry's that came back to different points in time. But I could be misremembering who mentioned the circle 🤔
*I do not know the correct terminology for it, but the effect of 'whatever happens in the past effects the present time traveler by default' is at play I think.. looper is the best example I can think of... Predestination had that effect too to some extent.. great movie, better than the book even!

[Mira]

Not necessarily, I'm sure, under this theory one of the cowls would have been harry with Lasciel and Harry if he'd done the darkhallow, which would be him in DB. Such a change would give him power and control no?
In that version, I'm thinking 'the circle' is actually the different Harry's that came back to different points in time. But I could be misremembering who mentioned the circle 🤔
*I do not know the correct terminology for it, but the effect of 'whatever happens in the past effects the present time traveler by default' is at play I think.. looper is the best example I can think of... Predestination had that effect too to some extent.. great movie, better than the book even!

  Cowl needed the book so he could perform the Darkhallow, Harry with Laciel's help read the book and learned how to do the Darkhallow, he confirms that as one of his options in Changes.  So if Cowl was future Harry, he'd know how to do the Darkhallow so he wouldn't have to come back in time to get the book so he could do it when he attempted to do it in Dead Beat.

[The_Sibelis]

  Cowl needed the book so he could perform the Darkhallow, Harry with Laciel's help read the book and learned how to do the Darkhallow, he confirms that as one of his options in Changes.  So if Cowl was future Harry, he'd know how to do the Darkhallow so he wouldn't have to come back in time to get the book so he could do it when he attempted to do it in Dead Beat.

he'd have to make fate linear? It's probably more the proverbial care fate change bob talks about... A few times in the series cars simply change model mid scene,  the book was the key to the future.. mmm, almost like back to the future two lmao..
*That scene at bock's is one of them, the flipped car iirc.

[Mira]

he'd have to make fate linear? It's probably more the proverbial care fate change bob talks about... A few times in the series cars simply change model mid scene,  the book was the key to the future.. mmm, almost like back to the future two lmao..
*That scene at bock's is one of them, the flipped car iirc.

  I think you are going to have to do a bit better than that to make your argument.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Have we reached the point in this thread yet where Maggie from the future is Kumori?

[ClintACK]

Molly, not Maggie!

[The_Sibelis]

  I think you are going to have to do a bit better than that to make your argument.

not really no, the scene outside bock's store changes the car, shows evidence of TT changes, I don't actually have to 'do better' than to point out primary in book evidence and then give a valid correlation, he knew he had to contain the book because the fate of the book was the key to the whole thing. You can take that mcguffin and apply various outcomes to it's fate that would directly change the future. Say, if Harry had decided to keep it and learn from it directly for instance, one simple choice changes everything, they were there to alter it's path.

[Mira]

not really no, the scene outside bock's store changes the car, shows evidence of TT changes, I don't actually have to 'do better' than to point out primary in book evidence and then give a valid correlation, he knew he had to contain the book because the fate of the book was the key to the whole thing. You can take that mcguffin and apply various outcomes to it's fate that would directly change the future. Say, if Harry had decided to keep it and learn from it directly for instance, one simple choice changes everything, they were there to alter it's path.

 That proves nothing.. Not to mention that the Harry of this time learned how to use Darkhallow, so the Harry of the future i.e. Cowl would still have that knowledge and not need the book.  Further why would he have to come back in time to set if off knowing that his past self would stop him?

[morriswalters]

"Just as well," Cowl murmured. "I have wanted to see for myself what has the Wardens so nervous about you."

This is about as definitive as it gets.

[The_Sibelis]

That proves nothing.. Not to mention that the Harry of this time learned how to use Darkhallow, so the Harry of the future i.e. Cowl would still have that knowledge and not need the book.  Further why would he have to come back in time to set if off knowing that his past self would stop him?

he didn't know his past self would stop him, what harry did when he stopped it was obviously a choice.. he was probably trying to keep Harry from reading the book to begin with. I just said it was about changing the fate of the book itself, not Cowl learning how to do the dark hallow.

[Snark Knight]

This is about as definitive as it gets.

Even if future Harry had forgotten quite how far along his brawling skills were that particular year, there's still the question of how he'd know what the wardens thought of him at that point in time.

Now, you can speculate that present Peabody passed their reports to future Harry as Cowl ... but Simon would have been receiving those same reports up until his "death".

[Marconesque]

Even if future Harry had forgotten quite how far along his brawling skills were that particular year, there's still the question of how he'd know what the wardens thought of him at that point in time.

Now, you can speculate that present Peabody passed their reports to future Harry as Cowl ... but Simon would have been receiving those same reports up until his "death".

He knows his skill vaguely because he's likely older several decades, so how could he imply he knows about it to Harry without revealing his identity?

Of course he needs to be manipulative and lie to Harry, imagine if he would outright say

"I have a vague memory of your, or should I say my skill, so let's see what my past self was all about"

[Mira]

He knows his skill vaguely because he's likely older several decades, so how could he imply he knows about it to Harry without revealing his identity?

Of course he needs to be manipulative and lie to Harry, imagine if he would outright say

"I have a vague memory of your, or should I say my skill, so let's see what my past self was all about"

  Current Harry is very well aware of the lack of refinement of his skills, this is a huge point about
him until he takes on Molly as an apprentice.  This forces him to actually go back to school as you will so he can be a decent teacher for her.  It is very unlikely that he would forget this, wizards don't.
Isn't there also a "rule" concerning time travel?  Why it is discouraged or forbidden about the consequences of meeting one's self in the past or future?  Cowl would know about this and it is unlikely he would deliberately confront his past self.

he didn't know his past self would stop him, what harry did when he stopped it was obviously a choice.. he was probably trying to keep Harry from reading the book to begin with. I just said it was about changing the fate of the book itself, not Cowl learning how to do the dark hallow.

Oh, well for a guy who wasn't interested in learning how to do Darkhallow, Cowl made a pretty good
attempt to pull it off.  I guess it makes as much sense as Mavra is really the future Murphy. She made a deal just before the battle with the Titian and now she gets to come back from the future as the undead Mavra to get the book.  Actually it makes more sense because future Murphy has incriminating photos of herself to blackmail her past self and Harry if she doesn't get the book.  And she actually succeeds.