Another Cowl Theory

[Snark Knight]

One thing that supports your argument is the duel between Cowl, and Dresden.  According to Jim those on the Senior Council would stomp Harry pretty easily.  So it wouldn't be someone as strong as say Eb.  I don't even think Cowl is as strong as Morgan, based on the duel.  Cowl does appear to surpass Harry's magical experience in other instances though....

We don't know how tired Cowl might have been from other work before confronting Harry over the Erlking book, so I don't really agree with ruling Simon out just because he didn't wipe Harry out with his first shot. Maybe he was just sandbagging with the force blasts rather than use his best earth-based strikes - he could have been nervous Harry being blasted into a crater would have drawn Ebenezar to drop other matters and investigate.

[kbrizzle]

I’ve posited in the other post about Justin being Cowl that Simon is simply the best candidate instead. If Justin is Cowl, he had Bob uninterrupted for more than a decade at least. Why didn’t he perform the Darkhallow at any point during this time? Simon on the other hand, tries to perform the Darkhallow a few years after his “death”.

As a Senior Council member older than Eb, Simon is likely more powerful; explaining how he was able to hit Harry harder than Eb ever had. Paolo Ortega (likely Nfected) led the charge to destroy Archangel. Simon had excellent relations with the vampire courts - Cowl is allied with Red Court & interferes in the White. Mavra clearly didn’t want Cowl (or the other 2) becoming necromantic gods.

[Yuillegan]

@kbrizzle,

See my other response to your post about Justin vs Simon as a candidate. Just wanted to add that while the fact that Simon being older would explain how strong he was...Harry honestly had no idea just how powerful Eb or even Leah was. He even said that Eb had only hit him in practice rounds. Now I think for the drama of the scene, that exposition by Harry was necessary. However we must remember that Eb blew the top of El Castillio with a word, and also caused Krakatoa, Tunguska etc. Seriously, had Eb hit Harry properly Harry would have died. Especially as some punk in training, let alone by the time he gets to Dead Beat. Leah slaughtered two Lord of the Outer Night in a moment. They were taken off guard, but I really think Harry had never properly dueled either of them and so his claim was misleading. Not to mention that while Harry may have fought Justin in earnest, he lost twice and we have no idea how he won the third round. Harry doesn't even talk about it. So I find a lot of Harry's earlier power rankings more than a little dubious. In saying that, Cowl is still likely seriously strong. JB wrote that scene to showcase Cowl so I imagine he was trying to show him a serious threat. So he may be stronger than the others, in fact we have almost never seen him go all out on assault. Every time he has been defeated it was almost just dumb luck while he was distracted.

[Kindler]

I’ve posited in the other post about Justin being Cowl that Simon is simply the best candidate instead. If Justin is Cowl, he had Bob uninterrupted for more than a decade at least. Why didn’t he perform the Darkhallow at any point during this time? Simon on the other hand, tries to perform the Darkhallow a few years after his “death”.

As a Senior Council member older than Eb, Simon is likely more powerful; explaining how he was able to hit Harry harder than Eb ever had. Paolo Ortega (likely Nfected) led the charge to destroy Archangel. Simon had excellent relations with the vampire courts - Cowl is allied with Red Court & interferes in the White. Mavra clearly didn’t want Cowl (or the other 2) becoming necromantic gods.

I'm not sure Simon was actually older than Eb. Arthur Langtry and Ebenezer are both over 300 years old, and the two of them are about the same age (they met when they were both 16). Ebenezer either strongly implies or states outright that he's simply never sought a seat on the Senior Council before because he wasn't interested. He only does so in Summer Knight (according to his words and Harry's interpretation at the time, which is perhaps biased considering he doesn't even know that he's the Blackstaff at this point) in order to protect Harry from the White Council vote.

From what I can tell, there's no indication of how old Simon was when he "died." For all we know, he could've been Luccio's age.

None of this is stating one way or another which one is older, only that it isn't confirmed in the series or by any Word of Jim I know about. I don't think it much matters for purposes of this conversation, though; I really, really, really, really, really doubt Ebenezer actually hit Harry with anything close to even fifteen percent of his power, ever. According to Harry, Eb didn't really give him much magical instruction anyway, so much as gave him the whole "With great power, comes enormous pains in your ass, and you're going to have to make sure you don't go psycho and murder or enslave a ton of people, otherwise you and I are both going to be killed by the wizard police. So quit your whining and learn how to ride this horse" bit instead.

[Cozarkian]

I think this also shows that Cowl probably wouldn't be Simon, who as a member of the Senior Council wouldn't have difficulty with Harry in a duel.  Morgan seemed to think it impossible for Harry to beat Justin in a duel meaning he probably had a deal of respect for Justin.  That says Justin was probably a heavy hitter himself.  That could be a strike against Justin being Cowl even though Harry did apparently beat him in the past.  Justin if he survived would have another 10 - 15 years to get stronger, and more experienced as well making him tougher to deal with.

There is another possibility.  Cowl was sick, dying, or weakened (recovering from injuries) during the duel with Harry.  Either that or he telegraphed his shots at Harry to scare Harry with dangerous spells while at the same time winding up so Harry could avoid being killed by them.  Cowl "swaying" after using a spell does make me wonder about his power level though

Another thought I just had. Justin or Simon could be body-snatchers like Corpsetaker. If they were forced to take a body of limited means they could still be attempting to return to their full power.

[g33k]

I've got to agree that the Cowl/Harry duel outside the bookstore cannot reliably be taken as a measure of Cowl's strength...
 1. Cowl may have been previously tired/weakened.
 2. Cowl may have had reasons to "pull his punches."
 3. Cowl specifically wanted to test Harry, not kill him.
So we cannot judge Cowl's strength solely from that encounter.

Cowl is a Senior Council member (or maybe on the shortlist of nominees for next empty SC seat), or else a pretty-senior Warden.
 1.  He's just too strong for any other WC role.
 2.  He seems intimately aware of WC operations & filled with inside-info.
Harry caught Cowl's initial force-blast perfectly, and it STILL almost took Harry out; and although relatively-junior, Harry is still a magical heavyweight, a powerhouse wizard.  Overwhelming Harry by that degree, head-on, is the mark of a wizard with comparable raw strength AND a lot of experience.

But who?

Cowl could even be Arthur Langtry (another heavyweight I haven't seen nominated).  I dislike this for two reasons -- first, it combines two enemies, which takes pressure off Harry.  Not JB's style, not at all!  Second, we've seen the deep dislike and even hatred that the Merlin holds toward Harry, which doesn't match Cowl's more neutral/curious/amused stance toward Harry.

Cowl's use of raw-force is a closer match for Harry's own magic than any other wizard we've seen, so TT-Harry is a reasonable theory; of course, Cowl could simply have been testing Harry in Harry's own strong suit.  The big downside that I see to TT-Harry being any Mover&Shaker figure (such as Cowl is) is 2-fold... 1)  acting in the past throws up SO MANY chances to F'ThingsUp in spectacular ways; one little intervention, MAYBE... but ongoing plotting, taking Kumori as an apprentice & stepping into the Darkhallow, sending hordes of uberGhouls into the Raith Deeps, etc; but even moreso,  2) being Cowl would make TT-Harry one of the driving forces behind all the low-level talents being murdered by the Malvora/Skavis plot... so, NO, not TT-Harry).

Eb - We've already had Harry go through the "you betrayed me" schtick with Eb over Eb's being the Blackstaff.  I don't see JB re-running that exact sequence, so I don't see Eb being Cowl.  Furthermore, if the actual stick is in fact Mother Winter's Walking Stick (as I've seen theorized, but has WoJ ever unambiguously confirmed???) I don't really see Mother Winter loaning that power to anyone who'd be doing Darkhallow magic.

LaFortier - This would be another Peabody-esque figure; he's being shown as mildly incompetent, a Rampire-pawn early on, etc.  A "foe" of Harry's, but mostly as The Merlin's pawn or the RC's pawn, not one who really matters as themselves; the same way Peabody was kind of a doesn't-matter figure (until it turned out that his claws were into most of the SrCouncil & most Wardens...).  In the end, I come down on "not enough info for a firm opinion" on the likelihood.

Another WhiteCouncil minor character (e.g. Klaus, etc) including other Wardens - All of these fall under the same "not enough info" mantle as LaFortier.

Simon - He was apparently like Morgan, but moreso.  Major heavyweight combat wizard, likely at risk of burnout & becoming cynical, going all ends-justify-means.  I mean, look at what we know:  already on the Senior Council & with the Warden's combat/security to hand, he created his OWN tower-fortress and his OWN cadre of combat wizards... sufficiently morally-dubious that they were called a "Brute Squad."  The Cowl/Kumori "White Council has rotted from within, and will fall in short order" perspective is right up that alleyway, probably even sitting in adjacent dumpsters.  This is a likely one.

Justin - OK, lots to like here!  Warden, in at the final kill when Kemmler went down, ended up with EvilBob from Kemmler's lab.  He'd have to have been morally-teetering (at least) even then, but grabbing EvilBob sent him over the edge.  Working on Justin=Cowl, I expect that owning EvilBob was probably all the Necromantic expertise needed to get to Cowl levels of power; and being part of the Kemmler-execution puts him neatly into the "Kemmler and his disciples are insane scum" POV.  Also as Harry's ex-mentor, having some curiosity (about how strong he has turned out) and an amused/dismissive attitude, fit well with how we've seen Cowl.  Justin had, however poorly, spent some years in the father-figure role with Harry, so there's THAT number to play.  Justin as Cowl and Kumori as Elaine... that would be REALLY hard on Harry.  Do we think Jim would torment Harry that much?  Oh, yeah, we think that!

The Mirror,Mirror twist:  TT-Harry wouldn't condone murdering all those Skavis/Malvora talents, or risking Paradox; but Mirror-Harry very well might.  So if we combined TT+MM, then Harry becomes IHMO a very very likely Cowl indeed.  I expect Jim will try to have MM-Harry break ALL the Laws of Magic.
 

[nadia.skylark]

Justin as Cowl and Kumori as Elaine... that would be REALLY hard on Harry.

Would it be, though? I mean, Kumori as Elaine would be awful for him, sure, but Justin as Cowl...actually might make him feel quite a bit better about himself. It would, after all, confirm that Harry had never broken the Laws of magic. That doesn't seem like it would be a torment to him--quite the opposite.

[ClintACK]

Eb - We've already had Harry go through the "you betrayed me" schtick with Eb over Eb's being the Blackstaff.  I don't see JB re-running that exact sequence, so I don't see Eb being Cowl.  Furthermore, if the actual stick is in fact Mother Winter's Walking Stick (as I've seen theorized, but has WoJ ever unambiguously confirmed???) I don't really see Mother Winter loaning that power to anyone who'd be doing Darkhallow magic.

I agree with you that Eb's not Cowl -- but why would you think Mother Winter would think there's something wrong with a Darkhallow? The faerie courts were founded on mass human sacrifice. Remember the Stone Table?

It's Cowl's work with outsiders that would have Mother Winter pulling out her good set of teeth.

The same thing that rules out Gatekeeper.

[Yuillegan]

Would it be, though? I mean, Kumori as Elaine would be awful for him, sure, but Justin as Cowl...actually might make him feel quite a bit better about himself. It would, after all, confirm that Harry had never broken the Laws of magic. That doesn't seem like it would be a torment to him--quite the opposite.

Yes I think it would hit hard. He thought he got rid of his initial nightmare (Justin) but he has been "alive/around" all along, manipulating Harry's life from behind the scenes and basically responsible for a lot of Harry's misfortune. I think that would be pretty emotional stuff. Elaine is an old wound - I think it would sting a lot. But I think if it were those two as Cowl and Kumori, the way it would have most impact is if when they reveal their identities they actually have a convincing, even necessary "Join Us" plan. If Harry realised he might be wrong, I think that would really shatter him. 

Well actually, it might confirm that he didn't break the first law initially - but it doesn't rule him out of breaking the other laws. He definitely used Necromancy (which while he didn't break law technically - I am not sure the after affects will care much), he also quite likely killed some humans during his battle with Bianca (which he won't look into because he is scared of what he might find).

ClintACK, while you are correct on Mother Winter probably loving a whole bunch of death and destruction for an Ascension ritual, I think in this particular case she would have been a bit mad. Necromancy (true Necromancy) may have it's origins in the Outside. This would make it almost anti-death (which the natural destroyer might take issue with - after all she is like the seasons, everything must die in due course so new life can grow. Everything existing forever is antithesis to her nature). I also think that if it were Eb, he would absorb the power of the Blackstaff into the ritual if he could - and Mother Winter wouldn't exactly be thrilled by such a loss to her power.

I think the Gatekeeper is unlikely purely on the fact he has worked with fae and Outsiders for a thousand years - he could have taken godly power long ago and didn't, so why now? Also after the Darkhallow - both Eb and the Gatekeeper are active. Cowl took a little longer too come back as he was blown to bits. So the timing doesn't work.

[Snark Knight]

From a plot point, I expect that Harry will unmask Cowl before he knows his identity, and then later will see him at the Council to then put a name to the face.

The problem with that is that seeing Cowl's actual face would elevate Harry from not worth the potential trouble to kill, into a threat that he pretty much has to take his chances on silencing. He hasn't put all this trouble into discretion to blow everything on turning a corner in Edinburgh and being recognized sometime Harry comes to visit.

[nadia.skylark]

Yes I think it would hit hard. He thought he got rid of his initial nightmare (Justin) but he has been "alive/around" all along, manipulating Harry's life from behind the scenes and basically responsible for a lot of Harry's misfortune. I think that would be pretty emotional stuff.

I think his response would be more "yeah, right, you're clearly faking it" actually. I mean, from his perspective, what would it mean that Justin's alive? Well...

1) Harry never broke the First Law when he was 16, despite the fact that black magic leaves traces on users. Therefore...
2) Either a great many wizards on the White Council are lying to everyone about being able to sense black magic (including Ebenezer) and doing it well enough that they convinced Harry that he could sense black magic (which he has before) or a great many wizards on the White Council (including Ebenezer) lied to him and everyone else about Harry's breaking of the First Law (since they should have been able to sense that he had not used Black Magic).
3) Justin tried to kill him repeatedly, then just stopped for no good reason.
4) Justin tried to recruit him repeatedly, then just stopped for no good reason.
5) Justin is this super-threatening figure who Harry may not be able to beat even now, yet the best plan he could come up with against 16-year-old Harry was to escape by faking his own death (as opposed to, say, beating him, restraining him again, and going right back to trying to enthrall him).

Given that the other option is for Harry to believe that some shapeshifter is messing with him, and that he in fact has ample evidence that this is something shapeshifters are perfectly capable of doing, I don't see Harry believing that Cowl is Justin even if he is. From Harry's perspective, it's just too implausible.

But I think if it were those two as Cowl and Kumori, the way it would have most impact is if when they reveal their identities they actually have a convincing, even necessary "Join Us" plan. If Harry realised he might be wrong, I think that would really shatter him. 

I'd go the opposite way, actually. I think that no matter how convincing their whole recruitment speech would otherwise be, Harry would disregard it out of hand because it's Justin. I mean, this is the first true villain that Harry ever fought--he's ingrained in Harry's mind as capital-E Evil.

Well actually, it might confirm that he didn't break the first law initially - but it doesn't rule him out of breaking the other laws. He definitely used Necromancy (which while he didn't break law technically - I am not sure the after affects will care much), he also quite likely killed some humans during his battle with Bianca (which he won't look into because he is scared of what he might find).

I don't think he really thinks of this as Law-breaking. In his mind, I feel like finding out that he didn't kill Justin would be a kind of absolution.

[kbrizzle]

@nadia
Agree with your argument about why it doesn’t make sense for Justin to be Cowl, although I disagree about point #2.

For all we know, the black magic or dark taint other wizards sense on Harry is HWWB - remember what the 3 eye user in the police station says to Harry in StF. Also in GS we see that Harry is able to get away from HWWB because he blows up the gas station (perhaps other people die in this blast)

@Cozarkian
True, people have speculated about this before - everything from Justin was body snatched by Kemmler to Simon used it at Archangel to fake his death as realistically as possible.

@g33k
While I believe that Cowl is likely a former SC member or just below, I think it is also possible that he is publicly regarded as an average wizard, a la Peabody & Elaine.
If the theory that Cowl is a Fomor mantle (like the Knights or Blackstaff) is correct, then perhaps he is an average practitioner who is being juiced up by the mantle

[nadia.skylark]

For all we know, the black magic or dark taint other wizards sense on Harry is HWWB - remember what the 3 eye user in the police station says to Harry in StF. Also in GS we see that Harry is able to get away from HWWB because he blows up the gas station (perhaps other people die in this blast)

I agree. I just don't think it would occur to Harry--he thinks of himself as "tainted by black magic" not "tainted by Outsiders and black magic" so in absence of black magic taint, I don't think it would immediately occur to him to consider Outsider taint as a reason, and by the time he would have a chance to ruminate on it he would already have dismissed the possibility of Justin being alive.

[ClintACK]

Re: "tainted by black magic"...

I've always assumed this is his temper issue. Channeling his fear and rage into fire magic with the intent to kill a human being (Justin DuMorne) carved a groove into his soul, increasing his tendency to channel fear and rage into fire in the future.

When we see him do things like the "pyrofuego" in Grave Peril or smashing the trash cans in White Night, he's doing the same -- channeling pain and anger into fire magic.

... the despair, and the self-loathing and the helpless fury... set me on fire. Fire in my heart, in my thoughts, in my eyes. I burned... burned in places I hadn't known I could hurt... I remember reaching for that pain... I reached for fire -- and fire answered me... The fury in me grew. It swelled and burned and I reached out to the fire again. -- Grave Peril

My raw anxiety and rage lashed from the tip of my blasting rod in a lance of blinding scarlet fire. -- White Night

This is the black-magic taint of a first-law warlock. He's powering his magic with his rage.

Heck, in White Night, he even brackets the event with references to Yoda, just in case you missed the fact that anger is a Dark Side emotion.


Good as he is, and as much as we like him, Harry Dresden *does* have a black magic problem. He's fighting against it. Eb taught him to control it, mostly. But Morgan wasn't wrong to think Harry has always been on the edge of Warlockry.

[Snark Knight]

Paolo Ortega (likely Nfected) led the charge to destroy Archangel. Simon had excellent relations with the vampire courts - Cowl is allied with Red Court & interferes in the White. Mavra clearly didn’t want Cowl (or the other 2) becoming necromantic gods.

Paolo Ortega is actually pretty high up on the list of characters I'm confident wasn't N-fected. His agenda in DM was to kill Harry so the Reds could say they'd avenged Bianca and disengage from the war. He wanted short-term peace to provide a window for a few more decades to build numbers and position so his nation could win decisively when they were actually ready to fight the Council.

Nemesis' agenda was the opposite, for the war to drag on in the short term, degrading both sides and causing chaos to cover their apocalypse preparations.