Who told Monica Sells? (Wild speculation and possible series spoilers)

[Electric MacButters]

After re-reading SF in preperation for Ghost Story my question is this:

Who told Monica Sells that she should go to Harry Dresden? 

On page 243 of SF, when Harry soulgazes Monica Sells, he says and I quote

"There hadn't been time to see all her reasons, all her logic.  I still didn't know why she had drawn me into this entire business-"

  Monica knows that magic is real, but why would she go looking in the yellow pages for a wizard to challenge her husband?  Harry specifically states that his advertisement is located in the yellow pages under wizard, and that he is the only entry, so she didn't find him while looking for a PI to catch her husband red handed. 

I think that the quote from SF is a cluebat.  Someone (or something) is preparing Harry for the trials ahead.  Someone has invested several years into training Victor Sells (my guess is 4-6 years, because Monica explicitly states that he got his magic when their son was 4, and Harry guesstimated the children to be 10-13 and about 2 years younger,) but in all that time he/she neglected to inform Victor that there was a White Council that would frown on his actions if they became public.  This tells me that Victor's teacher wanted him to get caught, and may even have been the one to plant the idea of going to Dresden in Monica's head.

Another possible cluebat in this vein are Victor's job and his friends.  When Monica goes to Harry the first time he asks where her husband worked before he was laid off and if he had any friends or family.  She said he worked for SilverCo (a trading company), he was friends with his boss, and he was estranged from his family.  Serack pointed out to me that the porn studio owned by the White Court had silver in its name and that might be another clue.  Also, Victor settled on lust as his emotional focus for his spells.  If his teacher was White Court, he or she would be biased towards teaching Victor to harness lust over the rest of his emootions.

In Changes,

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Odin states that Victor's spell is the same as the Red Courts, just smaller.

Putting this together, we have Victor Sells, a potental mage who works for a possible White Court shell company and was taught

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a Red Court killing ritual normally reserved for only their most massive attacks

.  I think that Victor was actually a White Court cats paw meant to draw Harry into play on a greater game,

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possibly the oblivion war?

  I suspect that it will eventually be revealed that Victor's teacher was either Lara or Thomas Raith, and I am personally leaning more towards Lara.


Well, that's my theory.  Is it crazy like a fox Duck or just plain crazy?

[contraducktory]

I can follow that chain of events.  However, I would think it was  Papa Raith that was teaching VS.  i mean, after VS failed, he started his own coven of porn start sorceresses, epic btw.  And we know from what Eb said, that Papa Raith knew Arianna as well.  back when Maggie Sr was hatching and plotting.

[Electric MacButters]

To me Papa Raith would have gone for the kill with Harry, not try to get the ball rolling.  I can see Papa teaching VS, but He would have started screaming "Kill him! Kill him!  KILL HIM!!!" once Harry got involved because

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he believed that Harry had to die for him to feed again.

I suppose it would make sense if Papa Raith taught Victor how to perform certain select eldritch spells while Thomas 'accidentaly' mentioned to Monica that Harry Dresden is a wizard in the Chicago area who could put her husband back in his place.

[itari]

Another possible cluebat in this vein are Victor's job and his friends.  When Monica goes to Harry the first time he asks where her husband worked before he was laid off and if he had any friends or family.  She said he worked for SilverCo (a trading company), he was friends with his boss, and he was estranged from his family.  Serack pointed out to me that the porn studio owned by the White Court had silver in its name and that might be another clue.  Also, Victor settled on lust as his emotional focus for his spells.  If his teacher was White Court, he or she would be biased towards teaching Victor to harness lust over the rest of his emootions.

Hey, I made a similar thread not long ago!

Your theory is plausible, I think, although:

I suspect that it will eventually be revealed that Victor's teacher was either Lara or Thomas Raith, and I am personally leaning more towards Lara.

Thomas doesn't have much magic, only few tricks. I doubt he could teach a sorcerer.  Lara, on the other hand, is not a spellcaster, unless she deliberately hides it.

I can follow that chain of events.  However, I would think it was  Papa Raith that was teaching VS.  i mean, after VS failed, he started his own coven of porn start sorceresses, epic btw.  And we know from what Eb said, that Papa Raith knew Arianna as well.  back when Maggie Sr was hatching and plotting.

That would be my guess too.

[contraducktory]

Depends in when he found out about what Maggie did. If he knew at that point he could gave killed Thomas at any time previous.

[Electric MacButters]

Hey, I made a similar thread not long ago!

Sorry about that.  I did a basic word search to see if I could roll this into an existing thread, but I must have used the wrong tearms.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

To me Papa Raith would have gone for the kill with Harry, not try to get the ball rolling.  I can see Papa teaching VS, but He would have started screaming "Kill him! Kill him!  KILL HIM!!!" once Harry got involved because

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he believed that Harry had to die for him to feed again.

But Lord R does not know that until he eavesdrops on harry and Thomas in the gallery in BR.  He says so at the end of BR.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

You don't need to spoilertag anything more than a year old.

I think that the quote from SF is a cluebat.  Someone (or something) is preparing Harry for the trials ahead.  Someone has invested several years into training Victor Sells (my guess is 4-6 years, because Monica explicitly states that he got his magic when their son was 4, and Harry guesstimated the children to be 10-13 and about 2 years younger,) but in all that time he/she neglected to inform Victor that there was a White Council that would frown on his actions if they became public.  This tells me that Victor's teacher wanted him to get caught, and may even have been the one to plant the idea of going to Dresden in Monica's head.

I have the impression Victor was very much a dabbler until he lost his job, which is a timescale of what, a couple of months.

Putting this together, we have Victor Sells, a potental mage who works for a possible White Court shell company and was taught

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a Red Court killing ritual normally reserved for only their most massive attacks

. 

Your spoiler tag is where I disagree.  I think Victor was given an unused ritual to test whether it would work, and was otherwise totally disposable.

I think that Victor was actually a White Court cats paw meant to draw Harry into play on a greater game,

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possibly the oblivion war?

 

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The Oblivion War has far too much of the logic of the psychological abuser to it - particularly in having such a good internal reason for not telling anyone else about it - that, considering the only source we know Thomas has is Lara, and considering the degree of abusive manipulators that family are in general, I think it's much more likely a mindgame designed for Lara to get her brother to do killings of occasional rogue elements than anything actually real.

[Don]

Your spoiler tag is where I disagree.  I think Victor was given an unused ritual to test whether it would work, and was otherwise totally disposable.

Speaking of which, during Storm Front, Harry was totally convinced that only a human practitioner could pull of that spell.  I understand that he was very young and even as of GS, he does not have perfect knowledge of everything magical, but he was sure to the extent to limit the suspect pool to human beings.  We never really found out what his reasons were for believing that.

[Phariah]

Jenny Sells read the Arcane and knew about Harry. not farfetched to see Monica knowing her husband is in to the mystical reading through the Arcane and seeing articles about Harry also. she than builds enough courage to seek help from him.

Victor used more than lust he used anger also. he found out emotions could aid in the charging of spells. and it was hatred that was a main factor behind the RC curse as Harry pointed out. and the Beckitts had plenty of hatred to go around.

i don't see how a WCV got one of RCV's greatest weapons. the bloodline curse. Arriana wouldn't do that unless it was because she was sharing w/ a BCouncil ally.

Victor wasn't aimed at Harry he was aimed at Marcone. Marcone was stopping the RC from expanding into the Chicago underworld. and they were in a drug war.

when Harry starts to go after Victor the WCouncil sends in Morgan. not to find a warlock but specifically was sent after Harry. and we all know Peabody was messing w/ the Council for a long time.

as of SF Papa Raith had no idea about Harry being Mag LeFae's son. neither did Lara. and Thomas can barely use a tracking spell. also Papa Raith cannot feed to replenish his own energies. so why would he waste energy showing Victor how to use magic?  my bet on who taught Victor is Cowl.

Harry would never even have been brought in if Monica's sister didn't threaten to go to the police and Marcone, thus forcing Victor's hand. so he killed her and Tommy Tom.

[BobForPresident]

I mean, the obvi answer is that he's in the phone book. But that's not nearly as much fun as it being....Elaine or somebody.

[Electric MacButters]

Speaking of which, during Storm Front, Harry was totally convinced that only a human practitioner could pull of that spell.  I understand that he was very young and even as of GS, he does not have perfect knowledge of everything magical, but he was sure to the extent to limit the suspect pool to human beings.  We never really found out what his reasons were for believing that.

True, I suspect that it is based on Harry's knowledge of the Sidhe.  Harry assumes that since the Sidhe cannot kill a mortal unless he/she is involved with one of the courts, no creature from the nevernever can kill a mortal unless they enter into (or violate) the Accords.

[Electric MacButters]

Jenny Sells read the Arcane and knew about Harry. not farfetched to see Monica knowing her husband is in to the mystical reading through the Arcane and seeing articles about Harry also. she than builds enough courage to seek help from him.

Victor used more than lust he used anger also. he found out emotions could aid in the charging of spells. and it was hatred that was a main factor behind the RC curse as Harry pointed out. and the Beckitts had plenty of hatred to go around.

i don't see how a WCV got one of RCV's greatest weapons. the bloodline curse. Arriana wouldn't do that unless it was because she was sharing w/ a BCouncil ally.

Victor wasn't aimed at Harry he was aimed at Marcone. Marcone was stopping the RC from expanding into the Chicago underworld. and they were in a drug war.

when Harry starts to go after Victor the WCouncil sends in Morgan. not to find a warlock but specifically was sent after Harry. and we all know Peabody was messing w/ the Council for a long time.

as of SF Papa Raith had no idea about Harry being Mag LeFae's son. neither did Lara. and Thomas can barely use a tracking spell. also Papa Raith cannot feed to replenish his own energies. so why would he waste energy showing Victor how to use magic?  my bet on who taught Victor is Cowl.

Harry would never even have been brought in if Monica's sister didn't threaten to go to the police and Marcone, thus forcing Victor's hand. so he killed her and Tommy Tom.

Good catch on the Arcane, I seem to have missed that.

Of course Victor used more than just lust, my point was that he personally ended up focused on the lust as his goto emotion, and a WC teacher would have encouraged that decision.

The WC loved to collect secrets and use them to throw their enemies off balance.  Papa Raith could have been holding on to that spell for millenia for all we know, until just the right patsy appeared.

Marcone was a civilizing influence on Chicago.  He made it a point of honor that noone could perform random violence in his city without his approval.  This makes him dangerous to any creature that counts on its victims being dismissed as 'just another victim of gang violence.'  In short, Marcone was bad for WC business.

Morgan isn't a factor in my theory, but ok.

Papa Raith wouldn't need to use his own magic to teach Victor, he just needs to show him the very basics of magic and leave some select spell books out to be read.  Harry himself notes that Victor has several very powerful spells, but no other real training to speak of.

But Jenny only stood up to Victor because Monica wanted to escape and protect her children.



Also, good catch to everyone who remembered that Papa Raith wasn't aware the Harry was Maggie's son yet, I had lost track of that detail.

[Lash Dresden]

Of course Victor used more than just lust, my point was that he personally ended up focused on the lust as his goto emotion, and a WC teacher would have encouraged that decision.

Choosing lust as his focus emotion speaks of House Raith in specific, not the White Court in general.

[Serack]

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The Oblivion War has far too much of the logic of the psychological abuser to it - particularly in having such a good internal reason for not telling anyone else about it - that, considering the only source we know Thomas has is Lara, and considering the degree of abusive manipulators that family are in general, I think it's much more likely a mindgame designed for Lara to get her brother to do killings of occasional rogue elements than anything actually real.

A frustrated reader asked me to shoot this speculation down, and at first I was going to refuse because I don't like to bother responding to your posts.  This is because you usually only bother taking such obscure positions if they are impossible to refute.

Then I remembered that Jim has said that he really enjoyed writing Backup because it allowed him to go into the background of the

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Oblivion Wars

, which was something he had really been wanting to do but couldn't do from Harry's perspective for obvious reasons.  Unfortunately at the time that I heard him say that, I hadn't read Backup and had no idea what Jim was talking about. Even more unfortunate, I didn't record it, and apparently it was in an audio or video WoJ source that has yet to be transcribed because I can't find it using browser search methods. 

So, we have WoJ that Jim wrote the

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Oblivion Wars

into Backup because they are an actual part of the DV that Harry is unaware of.  Which is contrary to the concept that they are just a means for Lara to manipulate Thomas.  Unless someone else can point at the source, I don't have more to offer as source material other than "I know I heard Jim say X," but then, when I say that, it means something. 

After things calm down from the release of GS (proally after summer is over) I am likely to make a new pass through all the WoJ material and see if there is anything that sifts out as material that should have been included in the compilation.