Just because he has no free will does not mean he can not want things or has no will, it is just not free.Bow would just serve Harry. That was hia nature and he was bound to do so. He would be bad influence.Bob is power and knowledge, did he need more motivation?Justin picked up Bob and he became Justin's Bob. No further complication necessary. Justin's Bob was evil enough, he helped him with enthrallment spells after all but it does not compare with Kemmler's Bob.Harry was too careless with using Bob. Someone like Cowl woul see it if he spied on Harry and recognise it.Murphy's house was not protected against surveillance and Harry even left at some point letting Thomas and Butters speak with Bob. Of course Cowl learned about Bob, no special information source necessary. Harry was just too careless with Bob and did not realize any kemmlerite would recognise him.Is that the Elaine is Kumori thing? I don't think they knew Harry took Bob. Justin was dead and Elaine fled to Summer before it happened.It is still something sparcely used. It is not that I am tied to the real world concept. I read ghost story unlike a lot of people here. It is just that they are characters that belong to the back story. Getting them back is unlikely and the longer they are dead the more unlikely it is.
It makes it highly unlikely. And add to that the rigorous way they were killed, with a lot of magical fire wich seems to help keeping them dead and the many woj about them being dead. Yes Jim can write anything he likes but that does not make it particularly likely.
And we might see Murphy again. They are all dead though and can do very little here.
We discussed who got Namshiels coin endlessly. Marcone was not my favorite but his name did pop up.
Elaine was never dead. I expect Cat Sith to pop up sooner or later. The other ones popped up when Harry was dead. Of course he met dead people then.
But he does not often bring people back from the dead. It is a big thing. Vadderung said so.
I never said Bob had no will. Just not free will. A very important distinction. One might argue it's one of the central points of the series. Bob, as a non-mortal, does not have then ability to change who and what he is without a mortal's will.
Not sure what book you read but when Harry first meets Evil Bob it almost killed him, and would have if not for his initial order to Bob. And every time he has met Evil Bob since had been the same. Just because you can bind a being doesn't mean it will happen easily. Bob is bound by his skull, and presumably some enchantments around it, and perhaps because he would be fairly easy to defeat due to his weakness to daylight etc. If you know his weaknesses you can compel him even without a binding. However, Evil Bob is the full power of the being unrestricted and not limited by even a modicum of conscience. Therefore if Harry encountered the original being (Evil Bob) he would have died or been enslaved.
But how did Justin know that Evil Bob even existed? And it's surprising that he thought he could defeat such a being, even as a Warden. Luccio regarded the being as very dangerous. Beyond that, we then must assume Justin was already somewhat corrupted because he knew the risks of getting involved with such a dark spirit yet went ahead anyway.
I disagree. Even if it were as simple as holding the skull, you still forget that Evil Bob almost killed Harry in his first meeting despite being bound. It's not as simple as you think whether or not it's a simple matter of possessing the skull. I only vaguely remember something about Bob helping with the enthrallment spells...but even so he basically cannot say no if Justin forces him to. Not sure that makes Justin's Bob evil per se if he doesn't have the choice. In some ways, what Uriel says is true - if you don't have Choice the distinction between good and evil doesn't matter.
How would Cowl "spy" on Harry through his wards and apartment's threshold? Doesn't add up. As far as Luccio was concerned - and this is likely the official White Council line - Bob was destroyed.
Pure conjecture - we don't know that Cowl spied at all. All we know, as a fact, is that Cowl knew about Bob and was looking for him. Doesn't matter that Murphy's house wasn't protected. And if we go with your theory, why would Cowl have just gone in earlier to retrieve Bob?
Elaine knows about Bob the same way Harry does i.e. because Justin showed them. Why would only Harry know? If Elaine were Kumori I think she knows Harry well enough that he would take Bob. She may well have gone to retrieve him herself. But even if Elaine isn't Kumori, she would still be one of the few who would know that Harry has Bob because only her and Harry knew Justin had Bob, as far as we know.
You might feel that certain characters belong in the backstory. But that might not be how Jim feels. Not sure why you think the amount of time a character has been dead matters. Carmichael died and then showed up 10 books later. Malcolm was dead for decades and then shows up. Jack is the same. Elaine was missing for at least a decade. Kemmler used to disappear for decades after being "killed". Corpsetaker died in book six and then shows up in book 13. You get the idea.
Being dead doesn't make anyone in the series unlikely to return. If this were a standard detective series set in a world without magic, sure. But it isn't. Jim brings back characters as per necessary. Even Margaret Le Fay made a cameo. Jim had given himself every tool for bringing back any character he likes (magic, memory, afterlife, spiritual visitation, time travel, parallel universe etc). If Jim wants a character to come back for emotional purposes he won't hesitate.
What makes it likely is his pattern. And Jim has previously returned several characters that were meant to be dead or missing. He likely will again.
A character being dead can do very little here...have you seen the Corpsetaker? Or Kemmler? Or Malcolm? The dead interfere all the time in the Dresden Files. And we have no idea what the dead get up to in their various afterlifes.
People did guess about Marcone...but I don't remember you being one of them. And that is one example. Are you trying to tell me you have seen all of Jim's foreshadowing and guessed all the sucker punches?
Elaine wasn't dead, but Harry wasn't sure for a long time. Not to mention she was a character from his backstory. She showed up for narrative purposes. Just like Malcolm..who was dead. Corpsetaker was also dead. You're argument doesn't stand up.
Vadderung said it was a big thing to walk in the shadows beyond life (or something like that). Not that it was unusual to return. And even so, it wouldn't make it common for Justin or Simon or Kemmler to return. That would be a maximum of four out of several billion. Not anyone's definition of common. Even if you only include wizards that still a maximum of four out of several thousand.
You cannot discount a return from death of a wizard, especially if the also happen to be a necromancer. That's literally one of their tricks.
