I still think "Black Council" is too misleading of a term for the bad guys' alliance(s).

I think Maggie was a founding member of a group that included herself, DuMorne, Raith, Arianna, almost Eb, and others. I think she wanted the group to break the rules to accomplish noble goals. I think they wanted to break the rules for selfish goals. When she realized that, she tried to get out.

I think it disbanded after Maggie's death since she was the driving force, but mortal members of that group ended up forming a wizard-only group that became the "Black Council". They kept their contacts with the other factions and worked together when needed for common gain.

It does make you wonder if Harry's going to start carrying crystals around, to be ready. Some of us speculated that he could put a piece of Demonreach crystal into his pendant like his mother's stone, to use it as a foci.

I don't think they need worship. They existed before humans did per Ethniu so that wouldn't really work. They're elementals, beings representative of primal forces. Like Dragons, they need no direct worship. Only continued knowledge by humanity of their existence. Or to put it another way, the things they embody are part of reality, of existence to humanity, ergo they can't 'unbelieve' them. Unlike the Queen's, who have taken the power upon themselves, but do not necessarily represent it in it's entirety. Man's the winter queen, not the queen of the artic and antarctic. Per recent Woj the queen's are mostly northern hemisphere, relying on liaisons with the southern wild fae. Where as the frost Giants were probably winter in it's totality.

I don't know. On one hand, the oldest generation (Ethniu's dad) might have been angels/Aspects/Avatars that don't require worship or humans; they just exist(ed) with their own power tied to their nature.

But the Eye of Balor ran off terror and fear. Maybe papa Balor could fuel it on his own without help, but Ethniu needed the boost of fear to charge it.

Seems likely that each generation lost a bit of their Powered by their Nature fuel and grew more dependent on Human Interaction fuel.

That fits with the Hecatoncheires being Titan-spawn and them being able to make armor from Mordite. They are kind of half of the Outside half of the Material, then the later Titan-Spawn (what we call Gods) became more tied down to the physical world. I think Dragons come from the middle layer. They are lesser than Angels but greater than most of the Gods.

It seems likely that the eldest generation predated reality, and time, and are therefore beyond the limitations of those born within both.

Uriel, the Fallen, and the Walkers might be the only ones we've seen in the series that fit the bill for that. Everybody else is a few to many generations down the line, up to and including wizards as very diluted progeny.

The theory is that Namshiel's previous host was infected, which calls everything he did into question. If so, then the choice of holding the Archive captive on the island might have been intentional to try to screw with the defenses there, since we know Beside is interested in the place.

But more to your point, if Namshiel's host was infected, or even a Beside host, then depending on the timing, he could have been responsible for the attack on Arctis Tor with hellfire.

I mean, I'm a fan of time traveling Harry doing it, but even I have to admit that the old Namshiel seems more likely than Harry or Namarcone.

I like the Lord Raith history, and Cowl's too.

Not sure that I am convinced on the 3 parts of Nemesis or the order of events, but it's an interesting take.

I think we haven't seen the Walkers full power yet. I think that will be available as things get more chaotic.

I think the Walkers are limited by their hosts to some extent. Before was in a human (Vito if you accept the tongue-in-cheek WoJ) and jumped ship as soon as the body was damaged beyond repair. Beside couldn't really control Cat Sith, likely because of built-in limitations thanks to the Sidhe rules. And Justine is just a human, so she's probably got caps on what can be done with her body.

If we see Before and Beside in better bodies, they will probably be more of a threat.

And if they ever get actual pieces of their own bodies inside reality, then I'm sure it'll be on Lovecraft levels of madness.  (That's what I expect parts of the capstone trilogy to be like. Post-apocalyptic a la The Black Company, with regions of the earth falling to demigods and outsiders and all the other dark things)

It doesn't speak to the question.  The context is the foreshadowing of Harry becoming the Winter Knight.

Or her sacrificing Harry on the table to try to get his starborn power. Either way, not good for him, and I didn't see anything saying no wizard ever had been sacrificed there. So it might be moot if we're correct.

If I'm a young wizard that has survived the Council being at war for fourteen years, in which time I've seen two Senior Council wizards murdered, the captain of the wardens body-swapped and demoted in duties before being accused of murder, her apprentice killed after being hunted for murder, two thirds of the wardens slaughtered, hundreds of innocent bystanders slain, other young talents turned warlock and beheaded without having been instructed on anything, and watched the impenetrable Council headquarters compromised twice in as many years by a mistfiend and plague curse with casualties on both occasions, with countless masters and apprentices dying around me in battles and assassinations, with rumors of dark wizards betraying the Council and breaking laws, all because one wizard drew the Council into a war because of a personal grudge with a vampire he didn't like, while he sleeps with another vampire and acts as executioner for the evil Sidhe queen and kills a Sidhe queen and performs necromancy without punishment and commits genocide of a species that leads to further upheaval and opens the door for another faction to gain power until they openly attack a major city and kill tens of thousands of humans...

At that point, as a young wizard turned nearly middle-aged battle-scarred veteran that just wants a break...

I've got no faith in any of them.

I don't recall Lea saying no wizard blood had been shed there. Do you know what page it was?