@kbrizzle
I need to clarify something for myself before we continue. Exactly when do you think the attack took place? I've already offered you an explanation.
I'll clarify. Bringing Molly to Arctis Tor throws suspicion on Mab. It makes her look mad. Which is the narrative that Maeve will sell until she is killed. Mab is looking for footprints that will lead her to the person who got the attackers in close to Arctis Tor. She knows Lea was compromised and she suspects others. Aurora was her first shock, then Lea and finally the attack at Arctis Tor. She needs to know so she lets it play out at her fortress. Her one active move, if you believe she was behind it, was to feed Harry information through a source who Harry trusts. After that she would see it all. The attacks at the Fool Moon garage and at the Con. The phages attack on Michael's home, the location of the portal and Maeve's actions. My guess is that this is the moment when she realizes that Maeve has been compromised. There are others but for this I'll go with this.
Hmm I’d say with the passage of time being heavily manipulated in Faerie, it’s very difficult to nail. I’m fairly certain it happens after Mab takes Lea’s place in DB since she seems to be in relatively good spirits (until the mention of Kemmlerites), & before Harry travels to Arctis Tor to save Molly. For all we know, it was done in concert with the Outsider attack on the WC facilities in Oregon at the early middle of PG.
If the attack happens during DB, why does Mab send away her troops to the Summer border for nearly a year after the assault? It would make more sense that the attack happened more recently than that. Also why the Summer border? (Unless Mab has been duped into believing that the next Black Council attack will come from that direction).
At a high-level view, here is what I think likely happened between DB & PG.
The Black Council mounts a complex 3-part campaign to upset the power balance in the supernatural world. The first part of the plan is to neutralize the White Council through a blitzkrieg - hence Luccio talks about how the Ramps broke every rule of war; called up Outsiders, mortal sorcerers & vanilla mercenaries to attack, including going into the hospitals to off the wounded.
This would leave the White Council in a state of shock & temporary paralysis while it recovers from the savagery & unexpectedness of the attack (& its participants). Taking advantage of this, the BC mounts plan number 2 soon after (3 days as you point out) - have one of their own become a necro-god - Cowl.
This would upset the balance of power in supernatural world - there is a newly created god who might’ve become even more powerful than Mab. Plan 3 was to have the necro-god spearhead the assault on Arctis Tor, followed by WC HQ in Edinburgh. Since part 2 failed, I imagine the timeline of part 3 would have to be altered to accommodate this.
Parts 2 & 3 fail because Harry and Mab are able to defeat the BC sorties. If you want mirroring - perhaps Harry in DB eventually triumphing through luck & skill(after getting beat up) mirrors how Mab is able to rout the attackers in PG. Hell, both their houses get attacked with the thresholds/ wards being breached.
Regarding Maeve bringing Molly to Arctis Tor to make Mab look more crazy/ guilty - knowing what we do about what Molly becomes & the interest Sandra Marling has shown in her, do you really think Maeve would want Molly to be in Mab’s hands at all? It makes more sense to me that Mab had Molly brought to the winter garden to kill her if she had been Nfected or if not, to remove her from the clutches of the BC.
If Maeve has control of Eldest Fetch & free run of Arctis Tor, why didn’t try to free the Nfected Lea?
