Wormwood

[Mira]

It could be.

Here is a wild thought.   Most of us assume, including Harry I believe that the little pot labeled, Wormwood got cracked when it fell from the shelf that he bumped into.  But what if that isn't what happened?   While the crack has everything to do with Harry, it has nothing to do with him bumping into that shelf.   What I am saying is if the theory that Harry as the starborn, is the Wormwood following the second interpretation that is a person.  What if that little pot is like a bird's egg?  One that because it is getting close to hatching so beginning to crack?  When the BAT happens it will completely break open and Starborn Harry Wormwood Dresden will come into his own. 

[peregrine]

I hope not.  While Harry is the main character, not everything in the world has to be about him.  The prophecy about the one divine prince who turns the waters bitter is more Anung Un Rama than it is Harry Dresden.

[Mira]

I hope not.  While Harry is the main character, not everything in the world has to be about him.  The prophecy about the one divine prince who turns the waters bitter is more Anung Un Rama than it is Harry Dresden.

He is the starborn, he was conceived under special conditions for a reason...   It says prince who is instrument in the fall as opposed to turning waters bitter... Of course bitter waters could be mainly metaphorical and not  literal....

[morriswalters]

There isn't enough data.  It foreshadows something but it's too vague.  The context suggests it is of the same grouping as the rest of the jars.

I gave thought to the idea that the fallen were the Fomor who had retreated to the sea and as such referred to some type of attack. Since Mother Winter calls Harry's attention to it, it may be saying something about Summer. As in they aren't the good guys you think they are.

Or it may be something else.

[Mira]

There isn't enough data.  It foreshadows something but it's too vague.  The context suggests it is of the same grouping as the rest of the jars.

I gave thought to the idea that the fallen were the Fomor who had retreated to the sea and as such referred to some type of attack. Since Mother Winter calls Harry's attention to it, it may be saying something about Summer. As in they aren't the good guys you think they are.

Or it may be something else.

Yeah, actually it is Harry who picks up the pot and Mother Summer takes it from his and caresses it gently before she puts it back on the shelf.  I agree that we don't have enough information, and I maybe merely imagining things, but that interpretation plus Harry being a star born, the BAT, Mother Summer's way of handling a pot, but I think there are some dots to connect even if it is still vague.

[Avernite]

I dunno, I am mostly in favour of Wormwood just being a horrible disease. Not all that is bright is good (White Court, anyone?), and I can totally understand disease being in Mother Summer's province.

Mind, this is a very straightforward interpretation, so it is a bit surprising attention is paid to it in the book, but maybe it was there to emphasise that while Winter is harsh compared to Summer, it may not be any more or less evil/deadly.

[Mira]

I dunno, I am mostly in favour of Wormwood just being a horrible disease. Not all that is bright is good (White Court, anyone?), and I can totally understand disease being in Mother Summer's province.

Mind, this is a very straightforward interpretation, so it is a bit surprising attention is paid to it in the book, but maybe it was there to emphasise that while Winter is harsh compared to Summer, it may not be any more or less evil/deadly.

  There is plenty of nasty deadly weather in the summer, hurricanes, heat, drought, tornadoes, floods.. We just don't  think of summer in those terms usually.   However wormwood isn't a disease, where as the other labels clearly were.

[Avernite]

  There is plenty of nasty deadly weather in the summer, hurricanes, heat, drought, tornadoes, floods.. We just don't  think of summer in those terms usually.   However wormwood isn't a disease, where as the other labels clearly were.

Or maybe there is a disease called Wormwood in the Dresdenverse, sometime in the future.

[Bad Alias]

... maybe it was there to emphasise that while Winter is harsh compared to Summer, it may not be any more or less evil/deadly.

Which is a theme brought up continually since Summer Knight.

"[If Summer wins, it could] set off an era of rampant growth."

"That last one doesn't sound so bad."

"No. Not if you're an Ebola virus. You'll have lots of friends."

Chapter 10

[KurtinStGeorge]

In the Bible, the book of Revelation tells of a star named Wormwood that plummets to Earth and turns a third of the rivers and fountains of waters bitter.

Just a guess, but I think that if there was a supernatural nation that lived and spent most of it's time underewater,  cough, cough the Fomor, Wormwood wouldn't be very nice for their home.  Just as it has been speculated that Nicodemus has a dooms day, scorched earth strategy to deal with the Outsiders, perhaps Summer has a doomsday startegy to deal with the Fomor.

[Mira]

Just a guess, but I think that if there was a supernatural nation that lived and spent most of it's time underewater,  cough, cough the Fomor, Wormwood wouldn't be very nice for their home.  Just as it has been speculated that Nicodemus has a dooms day, scorched earth strategy to deal with the Outsiders, perhaps Summer has a doomsday startegy to deal with the Fomor.

  Drought supposedly knows no season, but seems worse with the heat of summer.  Drought can dry up whole lakes..