Molly's heritage.

[Serack]

I remember discussing this when the WoJ came out, but I can't find any of my posts on the topic so I'm starting a new topic to use as a reference in another theory topic I'm generating.

Jim said about a year and a half ago on twitter:

Question among my @HarriedWizard RPG group for @longshotauthor : would changelings be sterile? and if not how would the genetics work?

@DeusSolis @HarriedWizard No, not at all.  And cautiously.
@DeusSolis @HarriedWizard Consider it a dormant gene group that could potentially be activated by environmental exposure.

@longshotauthor @HarriedWizard So a half-elf changeling could have kids that when exposed 2 faerydom, child could exhibit faery qualities?

@DeusSolis @HarriedWizard Yeah, though they'd need more exposure the wider the generation gap was. It would be impractical at some point.

Many of us crack theorizers seized on this to explain how Molly was eligible to be the Winter Lady.  Probably through her mother she had changeling blood, and her exposure in Arctis Tor and later training from Lea served as the catalyzing "environmental exposure."

Edit 3/5/2016:  Below is a newer WoJ relevant to the topic that I find thoroughly confusing in it's content but relevant and worth archiving here ^-Serack

So in regards to Molly and the process that she’s been going through and growing up and such and now she’s the winter lady… I’m kind of interested in… it’s kind of two fold.  How long has it been since a mortal has become that level of a faerie and what kinds of repercussions or changes do you think that we are going to see.
Well it’s been a while since there was a pure mortal… I mean technically Maeve and Sarissa are pure mortals and are only influenced by the mantle so… they were first generation Half Fae, but… As far as Molly being pure mortal… is she really any more is sort of the question and sort of what we are dealing with.  I don’t know if you’ve read your short story [audience:  It’s not out yet] It’s not out yet?  Oh, Oh, ok, Well you should read that! Definitely.  It’s called Cold Case. 

Edit:  May 2019

So I just posted the info in the OP (not the 2016 edit) to reddit and got a collective shrug.  So all the below will be full post on the reasons why it makes sense to me that the above tweet applies to Molly.

First lets look at the sampling we have of Winter Ladies and their heritage:

• Maeve:  Biological daughter of Mab, ergo sidhe (not just fae) changeling of the first degree (Source 2014 AMA)
• Aurora:  Unknown heritiage, Claimed by Titania to be her daughter, but that could be the mantle subsuming her identity thing, as Mab refers to Molly as her daughter now too. 
• Lilly:  Fae "Nixie" changeling (Meryl says she is half "nixie" in SK)
• Sarissa:  Biological twin to Maeve and biological daughter to Mab.
• Mab:  Jim said at the 2015 DragonCon, "Mab was originally Winter Lady" so she counts.  We don't know if she was a changeling but we do know that she was Titania's biological twin.  The symmetry between her and Titania being twins and Maeve, the last WL and Sarissa the current SL being biological twins is interesting and points towards Mab and Titania having been changelings, but that's hardly evidence at all, just interesting potential parallels
• Titania:  In the same WoJ where Jim said Mab had been Winter Lady, he also said "And the same thing with Titania."
• Molly:  Her heritage is what this post is all about.

So of the seven known winter ladies, we positively know three (Maeve, Sarissa, and Lily) were first generation changelings, and we have varying degrees of reasons to believe the rest were as well, but no confirmation either way.  I'll add that we also have strong reason to believe that 4 (Maeve {See 2016 Myths and Legends Convention WoJ}, Sarissa, Lily, and Molly) were still "pure mortal" which I interpret to mean not fae when they took on the mantle. 

Environmental Exposure:
So the Tweet says that individuals with Fae heritiage beyond the first generation can have a dormant gene group that can activate with "environmental exposure" (Which I interpret to mean could develop into changelings themselves and therefor chose/be recruited to become fae), but that the further the generation gap the more "exposure" necessary to a point where eventually it's "impractical."

So when I read this, I thought, "what has Molly gone through that constitutes 'environmental exposure.'"  The obvious answer is that she has been training under "Auntie Lea" for quite a while.  It is possible that her magical training also fits in this category, especially since the bulk of her talents, and therefore the skills she developed lie in what I'd call "fae like glamour." 

And if you look at the most interesting WoJ on Proven Guilty (partially quoted below)

See above regarding "the question is *why*?" 

Ask yourself why Mab had Molly brought in.  What chain of events did that set in motion?  What secondary effects came about because of it? 

Those "environmental exposures" were the result of a chain of events that came into motion because of Mab having Molly brought in.  But even more in your face is something that priscellie pointed out to me when we first discussed this the tweeted WoJ.

Harry exposed her to a faceful of aerosolized Heart-of-Winter's-Wellspring when he threw Summer Fire around Arctis Tor.

So with all the above, I'll address a question articulated by redditor Teh_Swimmly when I quoted my OP on Molly's heritage to reddit today:

Does it matter? Even if Molly has some Far blood, and that seems like a stretch, it's still Harry's acceptance of the Knighthood and the subsequent training by Lea that provide the additional factors making her eligible for the mantle. This theory just adds an additional step that we have no support (for in Molly's case).

As Winter Lady, Molly is a full time immortal ruler of the lords of Fae, and bound by Fae law on a level so strong it abrogates her free will in certain circumstances.  She is now fae.  Given how many of the previous ladies were changelings before they became fae ladies, I think it is more of a stretch that Molly became a fae without first being a changeling via heritage and environmental exposure as detailed above than that she jumped from being a non-changeling fae-associated mortal to becoming an immortal fae lady via mantle assumption. 

Full disclosure, I /do/ suspect it is possible to "become" fae to some degree via mantle assumption without having first been a changeling.  See the below WoJ:

Is Kringle Fae?
His mantle, yes, is part of the Winter Court. Which does not necessarily mean that he himself is Fae as much as the fact that his mantle is. While he’s there, he’s got to pay deference to Mab. If Mab gives him a command, he has to obey it.

I also suspect the Erlking wasn't fae before he assumed his mantle. 

[Mira]

I remember discussing this when the WoJ came out, but I can't find any of my posts on the topic so I'm starting a new topic to use as a reference in another theory topic I'm generating.

Jim said about a year and a half ago on twitter:


Many of us crack theorizers seized on this to explain how Molly was eligible to be the Winter Lady.  Probably through her mother she had changeling blood, and her exposure in Arctis Tor and later training from Lea served as the catalyzing "environmental exposure."

Do you think there was a hint that Mab knew it all along, so we have that line in Grave Peril where Lea mentions a real interest in Michael's first born? 

[robert82a]

From time to time I've wondered if Molly's biological father might be the dragon Michael killed. I vaguely remember hearing a WOJ might have shot that down. Anyone else remember hearing something like this?

R

[Cozarkian]

Many of us crack theorizers seized on this to explain how Molly was eligible to be the Winter Lady.  Probably through her mother she had changeling blood, and her exposure in Arctis Tor and later training from Lea served as the catalyzing "environmental exposure."

Why does it have to be her mother's side? The child of a Fae changeling might not be that interesting as a Winter Lady candidate, but the hybrid-child of a Fae changeling and human wizard? -- that's special.

[Tami Seven]

Michael and Charity both have shown an affinity to "Magic". Michael woudl deny it, saying it's all "Faith", but let's face it, I doubt Sanya or Shiro could do what Michael could do.

If there is Fae genetics in Molly's family, it could have come from either her mother or her father.

[Serack]

Why does it have to be her mother's side? The child of a Fae changeling might not be that interesting as a Winter Lady candidate, but the hybrid-child of a Fae changeling and human wizard? -- that's special.

I've got nothing to back it but intuition, but I suspect far queen eligibility is passed maternally

[taishar]

We know that Mab had other plans for Molly then Winter Lady, but I don't believe that Charity would ever cheat on Michael considering her devotion to him. I think she was pure vanilla mortal who had gotten magic from her mom and Lea's tutoring changed her to make her more compatible with Winter

[Griffyn612]

We know that Mab had other plans for Molly then Winter Lady, but I don't believe that Charity would ever cheat on Michael considering her devotion to him. I think she was pure vanilla mortal who had gotten magic from her mom and Lea's tutoring changed her to make her more compatible with Winter

There's a theory, though, that some -- if not all -- mortal practitioners inherited their power from changelings, scions, and other half-supernatural offspring that chose to be human rather than supernatural. 

If so, then Molly's potential might be tied to an ancestor that was a Sidhe changeling that chose humanity, but retained the supernatural genetic trait that A) gives her the ability to tap into magic, and B) could be triggered to turn her into a full Sidhe.

[Cozarkian]

There's a theory, though, that some -- if not all -- mortal practitioners inherited their power from changelings, scions, and other half-supernatural offspring that chose to be human rather than supernatural. 

If so, then Molly's potential might be tied to an ancestor that was a Sidhe changeling that chose humanity, but retained the supernatural genetic trait that A) gives her the ability to tap into magic, and B) could be triggered to turn her into a full Sidhe.

I thought the Fae were originally mortals that achieved Darkhallow-style power? That theory would put us in a chicken or egg scenario.

[Griffyn612]

I thought the Fae were originally mortals that achieved Darkhallow-style power? That theory would put us in a chicken or egg scenario.

That's one theory.  It's based on an old WoJ that started with a conversation about Cowl and the Darkhallow, and ended with something like, "how do you think Mab and others got their power?" 

Some took that to mean that they used a Darkhallow.  Others think he simply meant that they all started off fairly weak, but gained power through Ascension rituals, whether it be Darkhallow or ritual sacrifice on a stone table or making a pact with a powerful NN beastie.

My current guess is that in the beginning, no mortal humans had any power, but monsters from the NN bred with humans, and created offspring that weren't entirely human nor monster.  Those were the origins of most pantheons, as many of those offspring most likely chose Power rather than Humanity.

But those that did choose Humanity became carriers for magical genetics that left them predisposed to using magic.  Those men and women could then use rituals to gain more power for themselves; they stared off mortal, but became something more.

[Mira]

   I think Molly's connection, if there is one, is to Titania.  A new thread has just started with the theory that like Mab, Titania had two daughters... If this theory is correct, like Sarissa,Aurora's little sister might have been interested in her mortal roots as well.. Well, suppose she chose to be a mortal a long time ago, and her descendant is Molly... One hint that his might be true, was what Mab said about Molly being more suitable for Summer Lady than Winter Lady.. Page 499 hardcover Cold Days..

"It was never my intention for her to replace Maeve," Mab said.  "Frankly, I would have considered her a better candidate for Summer."

Why?  Because Sarissa was her younger daughter and their closeness?  Molly's personality?  Was it really that simple?  Or is there a connection way back when to Titania?