Cowl Unmasked!

[dspringer1]

This is not about "who" Cowl might be.  There have been acres of threads on that topic and everything worth saying has been said at least thirteen times.

This thread is about "how" Cowl will be unmasked.  My assumption is that Dresden will realize the true identity of Cowl at some point and mayhem will result.   He is a detective and it makes sense that he will use what he learned and his intuition to discover the real identity of Cowl. 

Intuition based on what you ask?   Answer - intuition based on the facts that Cowl himself shared when he encountered Harry

General factoids that can limit the pool of potential candidates from thousands to perhaps a few score -- plus some number of presumed dead white council wizards as well whose bodies were not clearly identified. 
*  Cowl was seen at three specific points of time - Bianca's party, events in Chicago during Dead Beat and (indirectly) during the final battle in Raith cave vs the super ghouls.   Clear alibi's during that time slot could rule out many people -- or a lack of an alibi could seal the accusation
*  Cowl was clearly identified as male during Dead Beat when he met Harry in front of the book store.
*  Cowl's height was identified during Dead Beat when he met Harry in front of the book store.
*  Cowl has a female apprentice.  Wizards take apprentices pretty seriously and I doubt they would use the word when the true relationship is something else (like ally or minion) at the time of Dead Beat's events.   

Aka - half the wizards are male.  Probably a lot less than half of those males wizards have a female apprentice, with the rest obviously having a male apprentice or no apprentice at all.  If your pool is obviously mature/powerful wizards of the White Council, there cannot be more than a few thousand of those.  Probably no more than 15% of that number are male with a female apprentice.  The three score wizards remaining could probably be reduced in half again with some simply screening around the dates.    You now have a viable pool of potential candidates for Cowl that is of sufficiently reasonable size as to work with. 



Other factoids are more specific to Cowl and Probably are something that is best used to winnow the near final list to the real Cowl.   
*  Cowl expressed a preference for specific classical book authors when he met Harry in front of the book store.
*  Cowl used specific words when casting his spells.  Harry uses his words as one of his spellcasting "aids" and I suspect Cowl does the same.  This could easily be the "trigger" that causes Dresden to put everything together.  Ditto with spellcasting gestures, how he vanished, etc. 
*  Cowl's magical signature could have been memorized by Harry - but as this was never mentioned I assume that Harry did not pick up the skill to read magical signatures until Small Favor -- or he remembered to do so too late to be useful.
*  Cowls words implied that he is not -- or is not currently - a member of the grey council.  He speaks of them as if he is not a member.  This also implies that he is not completely "in the know" as to why the Council takes special care with regards to Dresden. 
*  Cowl cannot be the Merlin or Gatekeeper - simply because those positions are so powerful that the Outsiders would have already won if either had been held by their stooge. 


Any other clue I missed? 

[nadia.skylark]

Cowl has a female apprentice.  Wizards take apprentices pretty seriously and I doubt they would use the word when the true relationship is something else (like ally or minion) at the time of Dead Beat's events.   

He could have hidden his apprentice. I was under the impression that Justin didn't tell the Council about Harry and Elaine, so it's presumably possible to just not announce that you've got an apprentice if you don't want to.

Cowls words implied that he is not -- or is not currently - a member of the grey council.  He speaks of them as if he is not a member.  This also implies that he is not completely "in the know" as to why the Council takes special care with regards to Dresden. 

Wait, what? Cowl, a member of the grey council? Are you sure you don't mean black council?

[raidem]

I enjoyed reading the post.  I also am glad I returned to the board.  I've missed you guys and this topic was a great one to return to.  I'll have to think up some things.

Cowl appears to have many cut marks on his arms.  I say appears because there exists the possibility that they are illusioned, but I doubt they are.

[g33k]

*  Cowl has a female apprentice.  Wizards take apprentices pretty seriously and I doubt they would use the word when the true relationship is something else (like ally or minion) at the time of Dead Beat's events.   

I wouldn't count this one.

Kumori is a powerful wizard in her own right.  Maybe not the raw power of Dresden (few have his raw power!), but more skill and polish.  From the POV of the White Council (I presume she & Cowl are both members), I'd expect her to be a full-fledged wizard.
 
I suspect that Kumori has "apprenticed" to Cowl strictly from the Necromancers' POV, specifically to wibbly-wabbly learn necromantic "stuff."
 

[Kindler]

I enjoyed reading the post.  I also am glad I returned to the board.  I've missed you guys and this topic was a great one to return to.  I'll have to think up some things.

Cowl appears to have many cut marks on his arms.  I say appears because there exists the possibility that they are illusioned, but I doubt they are.

Welcome back, mon frere. I was actually just wondering why I hadn't seen you post in a while.

On topic: I like that Harry would fall back onto his PI stuff to deduce Cowl's identity. Though I'm not sure at all how he would then prove it. So say, for argument's sake only, that Cowl was Listens-to-Wind. He figures it out similarly to how you detailed, paring down the suspect pool until only one person fits. How's he going to actually convince people that this is the case?

Actually, does the White Council even know that Cowl is around? Luccio just kinda knows him as the guy who tried to do the Darkhallow once, not as an Orchestrator of Great and Terrible Deeds. (Side note: why hasn't Cowl tried to do the Darkhallow a second time, in the several years since? He could probably pull it off; there's a war going on somewhere, after all, and there should be opportunities to do something like that relatively unnoticed among the chaos of conflict).

[dspringer1]

Sorry I meant white council, not grey.   

I agree that apprentice could be misleading.   Perhaps Kumori is a former apprentice or a very recent apprentice (unlikely based on her skill) or simply a necromancy apprentice even though otherwise a full wizard (possible) or a hidden apprentice (unlikely as she is too experienced). 

But the point of any investigation is to narrow suspects.  By far the most likely use of the word apprentice is that she is his actual apprentice right now.   Apprenticeship is a big thing to wizards and they are not likely to use the word imprecisely like ordinary people might.   

However, if you find that all you suspects are cleared, then you can go back to challenge your base assumptions.  I would argue that apprentice is not one of the first to be challenged.   

"Thought to be alive" is probably a better one.   

Or maybe checking with Eb and get a precis of the spell casting style of the top wizards in the white council might be a good additional criteria.  Some wizards style of magic is simply so different that they can be excluded as suspects.  Not a lot perhaps because versatility is the hallmark of a white council wizard, but some can be excluded.   

[groinkick]

I enjoyed reading the post.  I also am glad I returned to the board.  I've missed you guys and this topic was a great one to return to.  I'll have to think up some things.

Cowl appears to have many cut marks on his arms.  I say appears because there exists the possibility that they are illusioned, but I doubt they are.

Glad to see you're back.  Where ya been?

I'm really wondering when Cowl will be unmasked.  Peace Talks would be a good book to do it but don't know if it will happen..  I guess it depends how big the reveal is, and how it ties to everything, and what secrets will be revealed.

[g33k]

I agree that apprentice could be misleading.   Perhaps Kumori is a former apprentice or a very recent apprentice (unlikely based on her skill) or simply a necromancy apprentice even though otherwise a full wizard (possible) or a hidden apprentice (unlikely as she is too experienced). 

But the point of any investigation is to narrow suspects.  By far the most likely use of the word apprentice is that she is his actual apprentice right now.   Apprenticeship is a big thing to wizards and they are not likely to use the word imprecisely like ordinary people might.   

However, if you find that all you suspects are cleared, then you can go back to challenge your base assumptions.  I would argue that apprentice is not one of the first to be challenged...

My point is that when the WC looks for apprentices, they won't see Kumori... she's not an apprentice!

At most -- at VERY most -- can look for ex-apprentices who are female.

Problem is, this "Necromantic Apprentice" notion may not even have Kumori studying under the same wizard who was her official WC master.  This may be another party, an entirely-different wizard.  He may have Darth-Sidious'ed her.  As far as the White Council is concerned, Kumori's master is that impetuous young Obi-wan Kenobi.
 

[kbrizzle]

I think it’s likely that Kumori is Kim Delaney - a minor witch while alive - powerful enough that she apprenticed under Harry for a bit, but not strong enough to be on the Council. After she dies in FM, my WAG is that Cowl (Simon) resurrects her & teaches her necromancy, which makes her strong enough to be on the WC if she wants.

It makes sense to me that Cowl is Simon because of timing (Cowl starts Operating openly after Simon ‘dies’ in SK), relationship with vampire courts (Simon was the WC vampire expert - Cowl is allied with Red Court, attempting to usurp White Court & likely trying to gain a foothold in the Black) as well as his comments about Harry (wanting to see what has the WC all riled up etc). Justin would likely be a lot more cautious in his fight with Harry in DB after how their last duel went...

[Eguzky]

Welcome back, mon frere. I was actually just wondering why I hadn't seen you post in a while.

On topic: I like that Harry would fall back onto his PI stuff to deduce Cowl's identity. Though I'm not sure at all how he would then prove it. So say, for argument's sake only, that Cowl was Listens-to-Wind. He figures it out similarly to how you detailed, paring down the suspect pool until only one person fits. How's he going to actually convince people that this is the case?

Actually, does the White Council even know that Cowl is around? Luccio just kinda knows him as the guy who tried to do the Darkhallow once, not as an Orchestrator of Great and Terrible Deeds. (Side note: why hasn't Cowl tried to do the Darkhallow a second time, in the several years since? He could probably pull it off; there's a war going on somewhere, after all, and there should be opportunities to do something like that relatively unnoticed among the chaos of conflict).

Can't Cowl not do the Darkhallow again because it required summoning the Earlking?
And it was Harry who did that, not Cowl, so Cowl has no idea HOW to do it.

[dspringer1]

Here is the sequence of events as I understand them

1) Lea is presented the Atheme by Bianca (book 2)

2) Lea is infected (some time afterwards)

3) Lea begs Mab to save Harry from the Necromancers in Dead Beat.    This is apparently how the infection expressed itself for Lea.  Mab explained this in cold days (I think). 

4) All we know in Dead Beat is that Lea challenged Mab and Mab punished her for that impudence.   Mab stated that Lea believed the Atheme would make the difference (aka - lead to successful challange). 

5) Mab was holding the Atheme at that time.  Presumably she had already cleansed the item. 

6) Mab's treatment involved imprisoning Lea in Ice, and probably some serious levels of pain/suffering.  Apparently Lea asked for this once she realized she was infected - or at least that is what Lea said.   Certainly in Cold Days, it was clear that Maeve would need to be willing to be cured. 

6) In Changes, Lea explained that she blames the Red Court for her infection (among others).  Lea has a big grudge she wants vengeance for.    In the normal course of business, Mab assigning Lea to help would have obligated Mab to owe Lea a big favor.  However, because of the grudge, Lea actually owed Mab a favor for her permission to get vengeance on the Red Court by helping Harry.   

[KurtinStGeorge]

Cowl may be, or once might have been, a member of the White Council.  For example, one hypothesis is that Cowl is the presumed deceased Senior Council member Simon Petrovich which would explain why I said Cowl might have been a member of the White Council.  If that is the case, or if Cowl is any other presumed dead member of the Council then Harry won't have the opportunity to meet Cowl at a meeting of current White Council members.

We know very little about Kumori other than she was on a quest to defeat death, the time when she had a one on one conversation with Harry, as part of their truce she took off some kind of bracelet or glove (I forget what the item was, I sure someone can find a description in Dead Beat.) and she was working for, and studying necromancy under Cowl.  I believe Kumori studied with Cowl for some time, that she wasn't a recent recruit, because she was quite certain that Cowl had survived many death curses before.  I don't think you don't can gain that kind of certainty unless you've seen it demonstrated repeatedly.  One more thing, the EMT Lamarr said Kumori is white.  He would have seen her hands and probably part of her forearms when she did her holding off death trick with one of Marcone's goons who was shot.
 
Of course one early and persistent hypothesis is that Kumori is in actuality Elaine.  While not unproven I think Elaine is something of a red herring as far as Kumori goes, but even if I am correct, Kumori could be in a similar position vis a vis the White Council as Elaine is.  She might not be a member of the White Council.  Like Elaine, Kumori may have kept her abilities a secret.  In fact I think that's likely or Kumori probably would have been recruited to fight the Red Court.

Harry may presume that Kumori is dead, seeing as Cowl was apparently injured by the Dark Hallow blowing up in his face and Cowl was probably much stronger than Kumori.   I think Kumori bailed out and opened a way to escape before the backlash occurred, but currently Harry has no reason to suspect that's the case.  Harry was too busy at the time to notice and even Bob presumed Kumori was blasted into atoms. 

So what does that leave us with?  Well, we have an idea of how tall Cowl is.  We know he was badly injured, but the last time Harry saw Cowl was how long ago?  How far back are the events in White Night?  That wizard healing thing means Cowl might not look quite as beat up as he did in the Raith's Deep.  Finally, we know the command word that Cowl used when he threw power at Harry, "Garoosh!"  Harry also got  a feeling for Cowl's magic.  Like Harry's it was touched with darkness, but not blatantly corrupt.  I think those last two items are the most important ones.  If he meets someone he doesn't know is Cowl, Harry should recognize the use of an identical command word and the feeling of Cowl's magic.

With Kumori, I think she made a big mistake allowing Harry to see the item she removed from her hand or wrist .  If Harry sees that item again it should be a huge clue for him.  Of course knowing Harry it will take him half a dozen or more chapters to put two and two together.         

[Kindler]

You know, Jim very rarely writes the incantations other wizards use. We get Harry's, one from Molly ("Harikii?"), and I think that's it. Every other spell is summarized as "snarled a word and clenched his fist" or something like that.

[g33k]

You know, Jim very rarely writes the incantations other wizards use. We get Harry's, one from Molly ("Harikii?"), and I think that's it. Every other spell is summarized as "snarled a word and clenched his fist" or something like that.

I'm pretty sure we hear some of Elaine's.
Which... may be telling?

I guess only the boy-wizards learn to snarl and clench?
(Anal-retentive lot, ain't they?)
 

[Kindler]

Hmm. I'm not sure it means anything more than Jim didn't feel like coming up with unique incantations for everyone, but wanted to for threatening villains or major characters.

I do think we hear one or two from Elaine, but I honestly can't recall in precise detail. Maybe the one she uses on Harry to paralyze him in Summer Knight?