WAG Theory: Three Eye, the Fomor, and the Oblivion War

[ClintACK]

Part I: Three Eye
In Storm Front, Victor Sells was producing and distributing a magical drug called Three Eye, which gave some users the Sight, temporarily. (Wild Speculation: It only opens the Third Eye of those who have at least a modicum of magical talent.)

We've seen that his other big thing -- the heart-wrench spell -- was a test run for the massive ritual in Changes. Could Three Eye also have been the test run for something? Another plot of Cowl's "Circle"?

Part II: The Oblivion War
The Venatori are waging war on ancient evils by erasing the memory of them. In order to survive, those evils need free-willed humans to know about them and (speculatively) have a strong emotional attachment -- be it belief (Santa Claus) or fear (Shagnasty).

Part III: The Fomor
The Fomor are a loose collection of fallen creatures -- fae and slimy sea creatures and ancient half-forgotten evils. Those who are losing the Oblivion War.

Their "big move" in the wake of the Circle's big move smashing the Red Court and the White Council has been to gather up people with low-tier magical talents.

Why?

WAG Theory
The Fomor are giving low-level magical talents Three Eye and showing them half-forgotten Ancient Evils.

Like when Harry Saw Shagnasty the first time in Turn Coat, the captives are overwhelmed by what they see -- terror, awe, cthuluesque madness. These permanent, strongly-emotional memories are a huge power-up for the monsters.

Ancient Evils are clawing their way back from the brink of Oblivion -- and will make an appearance in Peace Talks.

[Snark Knight]

I still lean toward the Fomor kidnapping minor talents to consume their power (WOJ was that a way exists "and it's horrible"), but this is a compelling possibility.

[ClintACK]

That's definitely the parsimonious theory of why the Fomor are kidnapping talents -- either directly eating their power or turning them into fomor servitors.

I backed into the other theory trying to understand how Three Eye could relate to the overall plot of the series.

[kbrizzle]

@ClintACK
Interesting theory - I actually posted a WAG a while ago that had a different take on 3eye. Here’s how I see it:
The Outsiders want in, however the various supernatural powers of our world have made a series of agreements (Unseelie Accords) to stabilize it & prevent infighting that would be detrimental to the fight against Outsiders. When Winter is strong it is able to guard the Gates effectively, preventing Outsiders from getting in.

As a result the Outsiders are forced to smuggle in a spy inside whose goal is to destabilize the Unseelie Accords, causing enough chaos for Winter to be distracted long enough so that the Outsiders are able to breach the Gates. Several books show a change in leadership hierarchy amongst various Signatories (White Court, Red Court, Winter Court, Summer Court, White Council, Denarians), where Nemesis is attempts to insert its own agents into positions of power but (seemingly?) fails.

On a different note, Harry notes quite a few times how much the supernatural world wants to avoid the attention of ordinary people. As JB points out, no supernatural creature wants to face an army of 20,000 villagers with pitchforks (now we have nukes), especially with a random wizard or KotC as part of the mix.

3eye is therefore an attempt by Nemesis to destabilize the mortal world. If ordinary people are able to perceive the supernatural & shown how much of a disadvantage they are really at, it would make them want to exterminate that which they hadn’t been able to notice before. Not to mention the drug’s addictive properties, which would allow Nemesis to control vast swaths of mundane folks in addition to its other forays into the seats of powers at other supernatural courts. This would destabilize the world enough for Winter to lose the war at the Gates.

@Snark Knight
I took the snatching of minor talents to be even more sinister. If the talents are minor without chance of improvement, they are devoured/ used by Fomor for bodies. If the minor talents can be enhanced further, they are used to call in the Outsiders we see coming up every now & then.

[Kindler]

I think you're onto something, though I'd speculate that the Fomor are supporting a particular Old One/Elder Thing rather than all of them en masse. No idea which one, but I think it most likely that they're supporting one in specific.

I do really like the thought of Three Eye actually being relevant, because it's outright stated as being sponsored by the Circle/Black Council, but the motive is totally unclear from the text. So I'll take pretty much any justification at this point, but this is particularly fun.

[groinkick]

Cool theory!

I think the Three Eye is being spread around the world to the most vulnerable people (drug addicts, homeless people ect) with the purpose of spreading knowledge of the Old Ones..  Harry, and the White Council have been so busy with the Red Court war, and the instability it caused that it's gone completely unnoticed. 

I think those magical talents being kidnapped by the Fomor are going to be "changed", and becoming soldiers for the Fomor. 

[Kindler]

I think those magical talents being kidnapped by the Fomor are going to be "changed", and becoming soldiers for the Fomor.

I wonder if that's what's happening. I can see it. I also wonder if the Fomor haven't figured out how to perform some kind of weird magical surgery. Like, for instance, being able to transfer Georgia's ability to turn into a wolf to an existing Fomorian Servitor. Or if they're just doing some kind of ongoing Darkhallow-type thing, where they're converting their supernatural power to energy and consuming it for a power boost.

[Paviel]

Do we know that anyone besides Sells ever created ThreeEye? I'm pretty sure all of his stock was destroyed the night he died.

[g33k]

Do we know that anyone besides Sells ever created ThreeEye? I'm pretty sure all of his stock was destroyed the night he died.

I don't think we know it, no.

But I think Harry was pretty convinced that Sells was a small-time talent who had been given Big Boy toys to play with... storm-fueled magic, heart-explode-from-chest, demon-summoning... and Three-Eye.

If so, whoever gave Sells the method could have run the same play in other places, with other small-time talents.  Or done something else with it... something more subtle, more dangerous.

Odds-on bet "whoever" is the Black Council.  That doesn't necessarily rule out the Fomor, though I think they stayed away from Chicago until Harry went "missing" (but since the Black Council seems to have been playing games at the Mab-and-Nicodemus level, I think the Fomor are their bitches, not their partner (unless the Fomor are themselves Nemfected?)).
 

[kbrizzle]

I don’t see how 3Eye would be useful to show mortals the true forms of the Old Ones.  As it’s pointed out, this usually drives people insane. What use would an insane mortal be?

Besides the Venatori would be going into overdrive fighting an epidemic of drug addicted old Ones believers if this were the case. Not to mention the likely things a drug addicted 3Eye user would come across would be more everyday creatures like little Fae, vampires etc - where would these people get a chance to see the Old Ones being that it is likely difficult to do this.

I’ve always liked the theory that Sells was being sponsored by Lord Raith. The naming convention of Raith’s businesses have the prefix Silver in them, just like Sells’ previous employer. Being magically impotent, Raith needs to act through mortal sorcerers that he cultivates (not unlike what he did with the pornstars in BR).

@Paviel & g33k

I don’t think anyone else is making 3Eye since the White Council would have become involved. They didn’t need to in Chicago because Harry shut Sells down before he became a serious threat.

[g33k]

I’ve always liked the theory that Sells was being sponsored by Lord Raith. The naming convention of Raith’s businesses have the prefix Silver in them, just like Sells’ previous employer. Being magically impotent, Raith needs to act through mortal sorcerers that he cultivates (not unlike what he did with the pornstars in BR).

There's a lot to like in that theory (especially the "silver," a nice touch and IMHO very persuasive!) .

The ultimate origin of ThreeEye -- and Sells' other high-grade magic -- is still unknown (where did Raith get it??!?); but I suppose that could all be hand-waved as something he got as spoils in conquering some prior practitioner(s).  Or maybe he was secretly Black Council (or their pawn) and got it from them.

[kbrizzle]

@g33k
It’s a theory that’s been floating around on the forum for a while (& fairly persuasive). My guess would be that Raith got the formula from his Outsider “sponsor”

[Bad Alias]

I like your theory, but think it is wrong because Jim has said something to the effect that Harry isn't going to be involved in the Oblivion War.

because [three eye is] outright stated as being sponsored by the Circle/Black Council, but the motive is totally unclear from the text.

Where is that? My recollection is that it is heavily implied that three eye came from whoever was Victor's sponsor, but I'd still say we don't know who that was. I'd say it was someone from the Black Council, and the only confirmed members are Cowl, Kumori, and Peabody. (For how I think about the terms Black Council, Circle, and Nemesis see: https://www.paranetonline.com/index.php/topic,52610.0.html).

[kbrizzle]

@Bad Alias
I believe Kindler is referring to when Lily reveals the existence of the Adversary to Harry in CD - she mentions Sells (not by name) as an example of Nfection.

As an aside, what if 3Eye came from Margaret sr? We know that she was always try to find the legal gray area in the Laws of Magic to show the Council their limitations. What if she came up with a drug similar to 3Eye since it doesn’t technically break any of the Laws?

Maybe Raith Sr. gets it from her while they’re together & then uses it when he sees the best opportunity.