Storm Front questions and theory

[groinkick]

Ok I thought I read on here that Jim said there was information in Storm Front that nobody picked up on or words to that effect.  Am I remembering that correctly?  Has anyone else heard this?

If so what are your Storm Front theories?  Here is one of mine.


Sells had been manipulated by either Nemesis, or the Black Council.  The entropy curse was actually designed to target Bianca's friend, not Marcone's bodyguard.  It was a round about way of getting Harry killed by Bianca (or for him to killer her, and cause conflict).  It nearly worked too.  "You killed her"  "you killed Jennifer.  She was mine, mageling."  She then nearly rips him apart.  So either she kills him, or he kills her in her home, which puts the White Council in a very awkward situation.  Fortunately Harry was actually able to talk his way out of it.  Something the Black Council didn't think he was capable of.  Still, she ended up overfeeding and killing her lover after this confrontation leading to her going after him later.  So it actually did work in the long run (if that was the plan)

Why not hit Harry directly?  I'm not sure they can.  For whatever reason they have to do things in a very covert way.

My other theory is that 3 Eye was being distributed to create conduits for Nemesis.  All the people who used it were made vulnerable to Nemesis, and therefor the eyes, and ears of that entity.

There is more information from this text, but don't know what it all means:

"Wizard!" he trumpeted. "Wizard I see you!  I see you, wizard!  I see the things that follow, those who walk before and He Who Walks Behind!  They come, they come for you!"

Obviously he see's Behind.  I think he's also seeing Before but doesn't say "He", instead "those who walk before".  Sounds like more than one, and not a Walker.  "things that follow"?  I don't know what that means either.  Whatever he's seeing, it's bad, and I don't think it's been fully explained yet.

What do you think?

[Griffyn612]

I don't think there was any consideration of Harry in the killing of Jennifer and Tommy. They were killed by Sells because they threatened him.

I think the junkie was just seeing Harry with his Sight. My take is that it was just images of people and things, and Behind was specifically mentioned because his stain on Harry's aura is likely notable. We're talking about the psychic residue of a Queen-level entity on a developing young adult practitioner.

I still think the unknown things from SF revolve around who gave Sells his stuff and set him on his path. But other than the mention of Silver Co and using sex to fuel magic and getting books from someone and being warned of Council interference, I don't think there's a ton on it.

[Mira]

  I like the idea that 3 Eye was being used as a way either to make humans vulnerable to Nemesis or actually infect them.  It makes sense, but since in most cases the effects were so adverse, that avenue
for Nemesis was abandoned.

It is my belief that Bianca was a cat's paw of a cat's paw.  She had delusions of grandeur and had no clue that she, herself was being used by a greater power.  Suspected Harry of the long range murder because he was the first being in front of her who actually had that kind of power if he so chose to use it.  It never entered her mind that a two bit amateur sorcerer was capable of such a thing.

That is the real mystery here, who trained up Victor Sells?  Could he actually have been infected?
In that moment in time, Harry wouldn't have a clue of what the Enemy looked like when it inhabited another body.

Harry wasn't hit directly in my opinion because though it would rid them of a star born, it would not do enough damage to the supernatural community as a whole.  Leaving Harry alive, making him the fall guy for Bianca's death and starting a war did much more damage.  While yeah, a miscalculation lost them the Red Court, the war also wiped out scores of wizards and their allies making them weaker as a result.

[Second Aristh]

Yeah, for StF, I think it was one of the Black Council/Circle's early moves to start preparing for GP.  Send one or more of their members to train a nobody sorcerer so they can do some test runs on the Red Court's bloodline curse that hadn't been used in forever.  Sells was a cutout to help keep the existence of their group a secret.  Have that test do double duty getting Chicago whipped up and in the mood for GP to be their first big risky gambit. 

They're planning on setting the White Council and the Red Court at each other's throats as a giant distraction for new actions as well as set a few of "reality's defenders" against each other and weaken the Accords alliance as a whole.  To that end, they want the wizard-vampire war to be as even as possible for as long as possible.  That means screw up both sides' strategies when one gets to a place where they have the advantage (hence Peabody and the rampire leadership schism; I believe the Red King was held by Nemesis, but Arianna is also a popular theory).  So, the bloodline curse test in StF was an option being prepared to help the Red Court, just in case they got behind in the war.  It backfired spectacularly in Changes, but the war itself was a moderate success.


As far as not telling Sells to target Harry with the curse immediately, Harry is not a fully known quantity for the BC in the early stages.  They know he's a starborn from DuMorne (and likely was aware of Maggie Sr trying to make a starborn if the theory that she was a founding member of the BC is correct).  He's also a known warlock.  Someone like that might not be a fan of the WC, hence may be recruitable.  That kind of potential asset shouldn't be wasted if they can turn him to their purposes, especially for people in bed with Nemesis.

[Snark Knight]

Fortunately Harry was actually able to talk his way out of it.

Talk-ish. Blasting her with the stored sunshine had more to do with making her back down.

It's almost a shame the divergence chosen as the basis for Mirror Mirror is in the events of GP, because the 'what if' scenario if Harry had handled the first meeting with Bianca more diplomatically - say, opened by swearing on his power that he wasn't the perpetrator - is actually fascinating.

Having her not lose it and aggro on him to kickstart a grudge could actually have been a good setup for a dark timeline. If their meeting instead ended with her convinced of his innocence, them cooperating against a common enemy could have started Harry on the way to falling in with a bad crowd.

[Mira]

It's almost a shame the divergence chosen as the basis for Mirror Mirror is in the events of GP, because the 'what if' scenario if Harry had handled the first meeting with Bianca more diplomatically - say, opened by swearing on his power that he wasn't the perpetrator - is actually fascinating.

Just a wild guess, but if this is true, I wouldn't be shocked if Maggie is asking Harry some questions he cannot answer, or he can but either way it brings on a huge wave of guilt about Susan..  So he goes back to try and do it differently, only to realize if he does, no Maggie... Or if he hadn't tried to kill Lea with the Sword of Love, losing it to her and having her trade it for the Knife..  Or even something with Justine, she may not have ended up infected and Thomas locked up in Demonreach..

[Second Aristh]

The Mirror Mirror book isn't the time travel book.  Mirror Mirror will start with Evil!Harry summoning an alt-universe version of himself (our Harry) as a way to fake his own death.  Evil!Harry's reality was created by a choice of Harry's in GP by WoJ.


For that choice, I think one near the end of the book works best, though several would probably fit the bill.  As an example, the "I love you" to Susan when he's in the basement with her after being captured.  Swap that choice, Susan goes feral and either forces Harry to kill her or she kills Justine.  The first turns Harry into a full warlock in the WC's eyes and the second will mean Thomas never becomes an ally.  Either way, his life is totally different from that moment on.

[The_Sibelis]

I have a bit of a different take on SF. I think it was set up by the inside players. Lord Raith might have his hand in silver Co and giving shadow man knowledge, but remember how he wanted to become a player himself? Taking what Vadderung says about Harry just now meeting all the players, and then watching how the major accords members acted in the meeting in BG. He wanted to be one of those monsters. Few other random thought..
-looking at what consequences it actually achieved, Marcone and Harry's paths are forcefully crossed. Intentionally, but without forcing it. Reminds me of later when Kumori causes Marcone to seek Harry out, they gave him a choice sure, but they stilted what his options were by introducing elements he can't contain.
-three eye helps break down the veil and change/create supernatural belief.
-those who come before, and he who follows. Those before are plural. Something about this makes me assume they are named, or connected to an event or happening. Those who come before the event, and he who follows after. I do note, other than him being summoned, Hwwbh hasn't been shown to directly interfere, (unless you count the cat sith connection possibility) he comes after?

The Mirror Mirror book isn't the time travel book

could be, it could be.. anything saying it's not? Smoke and mirrors!

[Second Aristh]

could be, it could be.. anything saying it's not? Smoke and mirrors!

Only insofar as dimension hopping counts as time travel.  We'll get some introspection from Harry about how his choices and free will matters, and likely some tidbits about Nega!Black Council that may or may not apply to prime!BC.

[The_Sibelis]

Only insofar as dimension hopping counts as time travel.

considering in some theorem's it's one and the same.. but no, I'm implying both happen, one as a result of the other.