What about Oberon?

[Arcteryx]

I thought it was interesting that Harry himself uses a quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream, when Puck says to Oberon, "Lord, what fools these mortals be!". No mention at all about Oberon himself there, so at least there's no canon on where he fits in the Dresdenverse.

But bugger canon if you can dream up something crafty and witty to work for your world - and I like the idea enough that he was the One King who Ruled Them All. Maybe his disappearance is tied to the shattering of the Spring and Autumn courts... and finding him could be a key to having all the courts back in play.

[TheMouse]

There are just so many versions of Oberon that you could construct him as anything.

In one version he's the king of all elves. This would seem to imply he's the Erlking, as has been mentioned.

Or, since "elf" is basically just another word for "faeries," perhaps he's the king of all faeries. This would seem to make him a terribly powerful being, indeed. Or, for a nice twist, perhaps he's not actually all that powerful, but it is one of the laws of Faerie that the Queens may not disobey him in certain instances; this makes him incredibly influential, even if it doesn't necessarily grant him god-like power directly.

Or maybe he's the version that's a beautiful being of dwarf-like stature. Maybe he was once the king of elves, also King of Spring. He was married to Titania. Then, with the fall of Spring, he lost much of his power, and the Erlking snatched up the reins. This builds a nice possible selection of conflicts.

[ryanroyce]

Or Oberon is Santa Claus, the King of Winter who got press-ganged into Christian mythology.  After all, Santa's workshop is supposed to be filled with elves, right? 

[Drashna]

Except that Santa Clause is a powerful and unique brownie, IIRC (as stated in the books). 

From what I've seen in a quick "search", kids seem to be a big deal to both the Erlking and Oberon.  I'd be inclined to say they are both the same entity, just different points in history. Or that they are the "kings" of Winter and Summer respectively.

Though, personally they'd fit in better as part of the autumn and spring courts. Which are more of allies and harolds for the winter and summer courts

[fabulator]

I think that the idea of Oberon and Erlking being the Spring and Autumn Kings is pretty good and it makes a lot of sense to me. I've been working with an idea that at one time all 4 courts were relatively equal in power and then Titania decided to make a bid for power and through some crazy complex faerie scheme stole/consumed Oberon's power by sacrificing him on the Stone Table. This upset the balance of things so the Erlking was forced to yield his position and pass most of his power to Mab. However, the Spring Knight managed to escape Titania's plans and thus allowed the Erlking to keep a bit of his might and become the leader of the goblins and wyldfae. The Spring Knight's survival also provides the possibility of Oberon's eventual return; maybe he wasn't killed but just reduced to pure mortal status.

[vultur]

I'd make him a former Summer lord that's now a 'Wyld fae' (no longer part of the Summer Court) after some sort of dispute with Titania (could be her former consort, if one goes with the Shakespeare idea of Oberon and Titania...)

This provides story potential, if a PC is an Emissary of Oberon or a Changeling of a faerie of his court ... all sorts of interesting (and dangerous) Faerie politics to get tangled up in. Would Winter associate with an exile of Summer? Would Oberon take it kindly if his Emissary allied with Winter for help against Summer? Or would he want to get back 'in with' Summer?