Oberon and the Courts of Fall and Spring

[Drashna]

Notice how the WoJ doesn't actually state what Court the Erlking is?  Though from some of the other mythology, erlking could very much be oberon. 

[Amseriah]

I did notice that, but assumed that it was more of a slip than intentional.  It seemed as though he has been trying to make the Faerie Courts balanced forces and if Winter has a king, then Summer would too.  Also Erlking seems to have opposite traits than the warmness that is common in other Summer Fae, which fits in with what he stated about Santa being the opposition to Mab.  I could be wrong though, and even if I am not, once you start a game it becomes about your story not Butcher's so you can feel free to tell it however you want to.  The joys of role-playing games!!!   

[Drashna]

Have you read many of the WoJ?! (absolutely no offense meant)  Jim has this thing about dangling info in front of us, and teasing. Revealing just enough info to make us interested and want more, but not enough to really give away anything significant (or that you haven't already suspected).  I love his writing, but all the WoJ stuff makes angry! I want more INFO!  And as I have DMed before, I completely understand why he does it. Which makes it worse.


Though I do think you're right about the Erlking.  Well, we won't know for certain for a while, now will we? (curse you Jim Butcher!)

[Quazar]

Also, there are 3 Queens of each Summer and Winter Court.  There's no reason to think that there is only 1 King of Summer and 1 King of Winter.  We just know of 2 with certainty.

[lordoracle]

Actually, I'd say it's shown the Erlking is Winter Court because in Proven Guilty, when Harry uses the Summer fire on the fountain in Arctis Tor, they say the "Forces of Winter" were coming as a result. During the chase back to the Lily's portal, Harry recognizes the Erlking as a pursuer. Then in Changes, the Erlking says that if Harry's retreat at Arctis Tor had taken like a thousandths of a second longer, he'd have had him.

Notice how the WoJ doesn't actually state what Court the Erlking is?  Though from some of the other mythology, erlking could very much be oberon. 

[lordoracle]

To quote Miss Teschmacher in the first Superman movie: "Uh, I know I'm gonna get rapped in the mouth for this..." but what is "WoJ"?

[Wilder]

Don't worry. WoJ simply stands for the Word of Jim. There is a labor of love to collect and document everyone of Jim's interviews, both written and verbal, internet and live. They are used as references to establish the "canon" for the Dresdenverse.

They can be found http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/board,43.0.html and are lovingly tended by Serack, keeper of the WoJ.

[zerogain]

Well, from the thread direction I guess I shoulda kept the Erlking speculation out of my OP! 

I am building a story around what I put in here to start with, in essence a quest to find Oberon and bring him back in an effort to stop another war between Summer and Winter.  In our game we have a particular gem for them to fight over, that being an independent faerie state named Emerald City (opposite of Seattle, WA in the Nevernever) ruled by dwarves (though they call themselves dvergar:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_dwarves).

The same shadow groups that have been moving in the books are moving in our game.  In this case they are slowly pushing for both courts to choose EC as their battleground for their next conflict, no matter how costly it is.  At present neither side has moved to attack the city in force, but that's due to the delicate balance.  In addition with the current state of the winter knight being inactive (yes, we've diverged from canon, right about at the start of TC), neither side is wont to disrupt the precarious balance.

However we come to it, I am loosely planning on the players' having a desperate bid to track down where Oberon went and then trying to convince this rather powerful being that they certainly couldn't fight to hie his hiney back to where it belongs in the natural order or things and restore a kinder balance between the two courts, perhaps giving room for the courts of Oberon's rule (as I have envisioned them) to flourish once more and earning some serious favor.  After all they're going to need it.  The Armageddon I have planned for this little shindig ought to need Faerie as their backup, since it took Marduk to kill it last time ;-)

[sinker]

Of note I think the faerie queens might be interesting allies/foes on a quest like this. On the one hand they both clearly want him back, but on the other hand if autumn and spring are established that would have to take power from winter and summer and they both seem like they like their power...

[Serack]

Don't worry. WoJ simply stands for the Word of Jim. There is a labor of love to collect and document everyone of Jim's interviews, both written and verbal, internet and live. They are used as references to establish the "canon" for the Dresdenverse.

They can be found http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/board,43.0.html and are lovingly tended by Serack, keeper of the WoJ.

lol, officially, I think Myyrdn Eopia deserves that title as the WoJ mod.  I prefer "Self proclaimed WoJ Guru."

[miketh]

Hey, you've got some great ideas here!  Incidentally, I've been working on a piece of holiday fanfiction that will heavily borrow from *some* of your theories, and I was wondering if you'd mind before I posted it?  Just to be safe

[zerogain]

I don't mind it all. Just send me a link when you're done posting it :-)

[miketh]

Will do, thanks!

[noclue]

Well, I'm not all the way through the books, so I don't know what Jim Butcher is doing with the Erlking, but you can definitely make them the same in your game. And you'd be right.

Erlking, a German mistranslation of the Danish word for Elf King. Oberon, king of the sidhe, and the French translation of the German Alberich which means "Elf-king."

[finnmckool]

Lex! My mother lives in Hoboken!