CD Spoilers: The Case of the Stolen Walking Stick

[MegaPuff75]

I'm thinking she lost it in a game of cards, and Intelectus doesn't work at the poker table.

[tze]

Given that we now know that Winter is fighting to keep the Outsiders beyond the Outer Gates---and Mother Winter, the most powerful creature of Winter, has apparently been injured by the loss of her "walking stick"---the theft of the Blackstaff takes on some interesting (and rather sinister) implications (if in fact the Blackstaff belongs to Mother Winter). Without the Blackstaff, Mother Winter apparently cannot physically take part in the battle at the Gates, as Mother Summer says Mother Winter almost never leaves her cottage. It seems like the loss of the Blackstaff crippled (in large part) the battle capabilities of Winter's most powerful agent (hard to do battle when you can't get yourself to the battlefield), which is something the Nemesis would presumably want very, very much.

So I wonder if the Nemesis, or some Outsider-friendly force in general, orchestrated the theft of Mother Winter's "walking stick"? That would mean that the Winter Queens have been targets for quite a while (I don't think we've ever been told exactly when the Blackstaff first came into the White Council's possession). And it makes quite a bit of strategic sense: first you cripple the most powerful Queen, then you go after the weakest Queen, leaving the Queen in the middle (Mab), the one actually in charge of the troops, incapable of calling for backup when you finally turn your attention to her.

Rashid doesn't actually say that the Senior Council in general (or Ebenezer in particular) know about the Winter Court/Outer Gates situation---he says the Council "knows only as much about our roles as it needs to---and that isn't much." There's no guarantee that the White Council has any idea of the implications of taking the Blackstaff away from Mother Winter. Knowing about Demonreach isn't the same thing as knowing about the Winter Court's actual purpose. And though I presume Mother Winter knows the Council has her staff, it's entirely possible that nobody mentioned the origins of the Blackstaff to Rashid himself, which would explain why he doesn't try to unilaterally get it back from Ebenezer; between wizards' penchants for secrecy and the Winter Queens' oft-mentioned pride, this might be a situation where people aren't sharing information (Mother Winter doesn't tell anyone what happened to the Blackstaff because it hurts her pride to ask for help, Rashid doesn't unilaterally get the Blackstaff back for her because nobody's ever told him what it really is), thus playing into the Nemesis's hands. And even if Rashid does know, he might not be able to get the Blackstaff away from Ebenezer without letting the Council know more about what's going on than apparently he wants them to know.

[MijRai]

And in the sense of the White Council not knowing it all, you could perhaps link it to how Summer is the check for Winter's balance. Winter was becoming too powerful, too able to act both in defense and in offense. Perhaps the Staff had to be taken, to limit her nature from showing through and using the advantage to both fight the Outsiders and frost-ify the world. So Summer leaked a bit of the staff's abilities, and let the Council chomp at the bit for it before one of their cunning members managed to snatch it.

[Arjan]

The staff was probably stolen by a wizard motivated and helped by one of the powers. The staff is needed for something and mother winter simply does not have the freedom to use it the way it is needed.

She probably knows.

[The Rat Mage]

A huge theme in this book was that the Sidhe are titanically powerful, and we're all here wondering if some wizard stole something from a being more wise and experienced than /Mab/, who, lets remember, was running the long con this whole book. I find it far more likely that (assuming it's Mother Winter's) the staff was taken through some trickery orchestrated by a full Queen or Mother Summer, most likely the latter because of Summer's role in limiting the power of Winter upon mortals. Probably had more to do with a fae, and probably involved a bumbling wizard who didn't really know much about what was going on. Probably he/she got one of those lovely "rock and a hard place" choices. Merlin?

[Autra]

A huge theme in this book was that the Sidhe are titanically powerful, and we're all here wondering if some wizard stole something from a being more wise and experienced than /Mab/, who, lets remember, was running the long con this whole book. I find it far more likely that (assuming it's Mother Winter's) the staff was taken through some trickery orchestrated by a full Queen or Mother Summer, most likely the latter because of Summer's role in limiting the power of Winter upon mortals. Probably had more to do with a fae, and probably involved a bumbling wizard who didn't really know much about what was going on. Probably he/she got one of those lovely "rock and a hard place" choices. Merlin?

I dunno.

HARRY was able to summon and hold the Erlking as a strong but sloppy wizard, and he's been put on par with the queens.

If there was a serious effort from a powerful AND 200+ year old wizard to steal it, I can see it happening.

Not all of them could do it, and it's obviously not a walk in the park to do, but I could see it happening, during Winter's weaker part of the day when Summer controls the table.

[MijRai]

And look at what happened when Harry tried it with Mother Winter. Woosh, giant skeletal claw hand dragged him into a black room with meat cleavers.

The Erlking may be on par with the Queens. The Mothers are a completely different story. Of the level above archangels (like Lucifer and Uriel).

[Autra]

And look at what happened when Harry tried it with Mother Winter. Woosh, giant skeletal claw hand dragged him into a black room with meat cleavers.

The Erlking may be on par with the Queens. The Mothers are a completely different story. Of the level above archangels (like Lucifer and Uriel).

That was also Harry as a vassal of winter, still being young, and not taking the time to build a strong circle to contain the Mother. Plus, because she'd already lost her walking stick, he HURT her in doing so.

He was counting on his winter Sidhe affiliation to work in his favor. I mean hell, he summoned Titania without even a quarter of the work he put in to summoning the Erlking.

Someone more disciplined and more mature would still have a chance.

(click to show/hide)

Keep in mind that the Mother's cottage was still within 'walking distance' of where the gates were, a place where nobody as young as he was should know how to arrive at, so most wizards as green as Harry is probably wouldn't get close.

[Korwin]

but can't take it back because of the balance with Summer.

I think we can say now after Cold Days, the supposed balance between the courts is'nt there.
Mab could crush Summer anytime she wants. She would only need to let the outer gates without their guards.

And I'm pretty shure Mother Winter and Mother Summer arent two seperate entities.

[FirstSelector]

Mother Winter isn't totally incapable of leaving her cottage without her stick, by the way.

She [Mab] gestured, and the thorns parted. Maeve stood there in her white armor, and Mother Winter stood behind her, all shrouded in black cloth. Before them on the ground knelt Lloyd Slate, broken, obviously in pain, his hands manacled to a collar around his throat, the whole made of something that looked like cloudy ice.

The balance does exist, just not in the way we always assumed.  Summer acts to prevent Winter from interfering too much with the rest of the world, and Winter prevents Summer from overdoing it.  I don't think Mab could crush Summer "anytime she wants," because that would go against her nature as the guardian of the Gates.

Probably the only person with enough power to steal anything from Mother Winter would have to either be Mother Summer (assuming they are not the same entity) or an archangel.  I don't think it is likely that a direct play by the Outsiders would be likely, as the Mothers are too knowledgeable to be tricked.  I doubt it was a dragon (those are on par with Mab, not the Mothers), as I doubt it was a mortal.

If it was stolen, perhaps it was concealed from her in some way (though that would take absurd power).  If not, and she willingly let the White Council have it, there is almost certainly a reason.  The Fae appear to depend on the ability of the Gatekeeper to sniff out infection, and perhaps they leverage the abilities of the Blackstaff in some other way.

[dpara]

I am confused. Why does no one assume it was the Merlin that stole it? Isn't he the most obvious badass contender?

[FirstSelector]

Actually, that brings up a really good point - maybe Mother Winter didn't lose her walking stick in the sense of it was taken, but lost it as in lost a hand of poker?

Imagine if, way in the past, Nemesis decides to start infecting people as a new tactic.  The Fae have to call in a mortal to combat the threat, so Merlin shows up and bargains with Winter.  He builds them a set of magical gates and gets a guardian to go with them (I suspect it might have been Rashid), but in return (they are Fae, after all) he gets Mother Winter's stick and perhaps a few other things.

EDIT:  This explains why, with all of her power, Mother Winter is prevented from retrieving the Blackstaff.  As a Fae, she can't go back on a deal.  I think this is the only reasonable way that someone could have prevented Mother Winter from immediately taking it back.  What it is worth in trade, however, is not as clearly set.

[madness]

Actually, that brings up a really good point - maybe Mother Winter didn't lose her walking stick in the sense of it was taken, but lost it as in lost a hand of poker?

Imagine if, way in the past, Nemesis decides to start infecting people as a new tactic.  The Fae have to call in a mortal to combat the threat, so Merlin shows up and bargains with Winter.  He builds them a set of magical gates and gets a guardian to go with them (I suspect it might have been Rashid), but in return (they are Fae, after all) he gets Mother Winter's stick and perhaps a few other things.

EDIT:  This explains why, with all of her power, Mother Winter is prevented from retrieving the Blackstaff.  As a Fae, she can't go back on a deal.  I think this is the only reasonable way that someone could have prevented Mother Winter from immediately taking it back.  What it is worth in trade, however, is not as clearly set.

Now that we have seen the scope and power of some of Merlin's magic it seems likely that he might have had a whole lot to do with establishing the modern power structure and defining the relationships between Faerie and the mortal world (and by that I mean that he may have been the one who won us a seat at the table rather than having us stuck as cattle or fodder).

[Aegnoralkarin]

Finding any wizard insane enough to attempt such a theft would be the most difficult part of the entire scenario. 

If something is so insane that even Harry wouldn't consider it then you know that the needle has gone right off the scale.

I'm thinking you're underestimating Harry's crazy level a wee bit. If he thought he'd have to, he'd definitely do it.

[Seidmadr]

So.. I was thinking... On the theme of the Mothers... What are the odds that both of them are faces of Mother Nature? Gaea?
They are after all both life and death, and they are tied so damn close... I isn't impossible for something that powerful to wear two masks at once. Perhaps to work more efficiently.