Over in the "... first few books" thread, I wrote:
I suspect Justin was mostly his own agent, seeking his own power (but working with other parties (often as a "junior" (often a very junior) ally). But I think I'll spin that into another thread, so as not to drift this one too much... Justin (& his agenda) is part of Harry's (still very mysterious & unexplained) origin-story, not merely a "first few books" topic!
Herewith, the "Justin & his agency" thread ...
Harry's understanding is, Justin was simply a Warden-gone-bad. A warlock who was seeking personal power, who grabbed Kemmler's skull as a personal power-up, dropped off-radar, then grabbed a couple of promising proto-wizards to enthrall as core of his own Brute Squad. And summoned Outsiders because (a) why not? (b) "Dark Wizard, Harry, as dark as they come"
Which may be true, as far as it goes... but I don't think it goes far enough.
To begin with: the odds of Justin "happening" to end up with a couple of possible/probable
Starborn wizards seems vanishingly small. Did he specifically target them? Was he guided to them by a 3rd party, maybe not even knowing their "provenance" & significance? Or...?
Next: how was Harry hidden, in the orphanage...
hidden even from wizards? Morgan was looking for him; Dollars to diamonds that Eb was, too! Remember: these are top-tier Wardens; but Wardens aren't just "enforcers," they are also magical
investigators. Was Justin part of hiding Harry (Morgan implies so, in the "Journal" microfiction)? If Justin wasn't... how did
Justin find Harry? Eb, after all, had blood-of-his-blood as needed to use in a tracking spell!
My theory (ok, "theories..." or WAGs if you will):
- Yes, Justin was a warlock, a former Warden turned to Black Magic. If nothing else, the enthrallment is proof: that kind of mental-domination magic is automatically a death sentence, and (per WoJ) inherently self-corruptive.
- Harry was hidden by the Leanansidhe, as part of her "protect Harry" / "Faerie Godmother" deal with Margaret LeFay (n.b. we later saw Morgan invoke his "Summer Esquire" pin to get a period of being similarly un-findable); I have a further WAG that Mab was already involved: she knew something BAT-y was coming up, and wanted a Wizard & Starborn as her Knight (bcuz srsly, ppl -- u wanna say Mab's Handmaiden wasn't doing Mab's will in theses portentous matters??!? Mab, the most conniving & long-range-planning actor we know (running neck&neck with Odin).
- It then follows from #2 that it was Lea (proxyMab) who helped DuMorne find Harry. (Training as a wizard would absolutely be "protecting Harry" as per her deal; and it would later let her fulfill the other FG trope: showing up to "rescue" Harry from DuMorne! Still unclear is if they were "working together" all along, or if Lea just reached out to Justin when it was time for Harry to move on); even more mysterious, in all this: what was Elaine's pre-Justin origin-story??!? (noting that Harry went Winter & Elaine went Summer).
- Going back to Harry's origin -- as a Starborn, a planned birth -- we had Margaret planning this far in advance (including the infamous party where she tried to lure the Blackstaff into the plan (and where Ramp Duchess Ortega spotted the Ebenezer/Margaret family dynamic)).
So, then: Let's go even further back. Back to Margaret LeFay, pre-Raith. She is walking the Ways, well-known to Faerie-kind. Including known to Lea, and to Mab.
It is Mab herself who plants the seed of the idea with Margaret LeFay; the seed that is to become Harry Dresden: the idea that a Starborn Wizard is a good path to power. Mab works via Lea as proxy. Lea is instructed to -- subtly -- put herself into Margaret's path, to encounter her often enough to strike up a relationship, to begin a series of bargains and deals. Eventually -- when the starborn seed bears fruit -- to become the child's Faerie Godmother.
It was Mab all along.
Lea (& Mab) keep an eye on Harry & Malcom. Eventually, Lea kills Malcom (we have WoJ that something Lea did will make Harry want to kill her), and takes Harry away to an orphanage; likely it's Mab herself keeping him veiled from all other surveillance or tracking.
Then they "permit" DuMorne to find Harry. Maybe they even work a "bargain," where DuMorne gives them something (what?) in return for being told where to get a wizardling child of great potential. As noted above -- at this point, they WANT Harry being given wizard training. Hard, brutal training, of the sort Winter approves.
It was Mab all along.
AND it was ... Odin!
Because if you think that wily old wolf didn't see
all the same signs that Mab saw... well,
think again. Also, Odin has seen several of the Starborn cycles... he may even have planted the idea with Mab, as she did with Margaret; 0r maybe they concocted it together.
Fast-forward'ing again, to Justin. Mab (or Lea) gets Harry into Justin's hands. Justin likely has little to no idea how much high-level planning, for decades at least, has gone into this moment. He may not even know he's got a Starborn 'prentice.
He thinks he's just pursuing his own power, his own best interests.
That just makes him more amenable to being manipulated as a pawn of much-greater powers.