Further proof that black magic is connected to Outsiders

[morriswalters]

perhaps there is a way for a queen to direct the mantle without it first being in the queen.

This makes sense is if you consider how Molly was prepped to become the Lady.  Lilly had been in close proximity to the Summer Knight for some time.  Molly was prepped for the mantle by her close association with the Lea. So you could say a similar thing happened to Lily.  The mantle went to her because  of her association with the Summer Knight.

[g33k]

...  But Aurora was always going to kill Lily and give the mantle to Slate so it wouldn't have mattered if Lily objected...

I'm not sure it matters to the larger point, but...

I don't think this was Aurora's plan.  It was just part of the lie she was telling Slate.

She was going to send the SK mantle into the Stone Table when Winter owned it, making the imbalance permanent.  Once the power passed to Winter, once the Stone Table passed to Winter... Aurora would have been out of the picture, a Summer witness to what happened next with Winterstuff.

I don't think the Knights can influence the Stone Table... part of the Knightly mandate is that they are mortal.  I think the only the Queens (and maybe other high-power fae?  Erlking?  Kringle?) can influence the magic flows of the Stone Table; so Slate couldn't have done it either.
 

[kbrizzle]

I think Aurora had been subtly preparing Lily to become a vessel for some time. Like @g33k says, her plan was to sacrifice SK Lily on the stone table after the Summer equinox when Winter is in charge of the table. Although I disagree with the assertion that only the Fae nobility can influence the table - I think anyone can (if they can find the table that is & are well versed in Fae magic).

I wonder how Aurora got Nfected - who would’ve been able to get to her? I understand Maeve was Nfected through Lea, who in turn was Nfected by the athame given to her by Cowl & co. I wonder who the Summer representative at Bianca’s ball was...

[g33k]

... I wonder how Aurora got Nfected - who would’ve been able to get to her? I understand Maeve was Nfected through Lea, who in turn was Nfected by the athame given to her by Cowl & co. I wonder who the Summer representative at Bianca’s ball was...

Well, damn.  There's an obvious answer, here; I don't like it much, but it looks pretty damning...

Nemfection is presumed (or known?  Do we have WOJ or unambiguous proof in the stories?) to be an Outsider thing.

Du Morne was into Outsiders.  He summoned a freakin' Walker to go kill an errant apprentice (which normally would be like a thermonuclear flyswatter (except Starborn)).

Du Morne spent a day messing with Elaine's mind (as prelude to taking Harry's mind too); a side-helping of Nemfection seems not only possible, but likely.  As soon as she got loose(ish) from the Enthrallment, she went straight to the Summer Court, asking the Summer Lady for shelter.  There's your vector.

Let's think for a moment.  Most of Harry's actual training came from DuMorne; I presume that includes much of what he learned about the Summer&Winter Courts; Elaine likely had the same training.  And Harry's gut reaction (deeply trained) to the Fae is that they are dangerous, deceptive, & untrustworthy.  Elaine was supposedly frightened and confused as she fled from the Harry-vs-Justin smackdown; not the time I'd expect her to turn to any Queen of either court -- even the most approachable (the Summer Lady) for succor!

Nevertheless, that's what she did... and shortly thereafter, Aurora was shown to be Nemfected.

Outsider-summoning Justin DuMorne, creating a tool out of Elaine Mallory, Nemfecting the Summer Lady.  It doesn't even call for Justin to be a knowing part of this; Nemfection can apparently be quite subtle, so it may have happened without him noticing.
 

[kbrizzle]

@g33k
Yup, that’s the most obvious vector, although the timeline seems wonky. If Elaine had Nfected Aurora for that long (almost 20 years between 16 yr old Harry & SK Harry right?), why did she only act now? Maeve & Slate had been incompetent at their positions for a while - surely Nfected Aurora would’ve been able to take advantage of this.
This is also my biggest problem with the Justin is Cowl theory - why wait 20+ years to begin acting in the open? Why not kill/ Nfect Harry prior to StF, given their history? However if Simon is Cowl, then the latter’s appearance a few years after his ‘death’ & cryptic comments about Harry in DB make a lot more sense.

I don’t think Justin said anything to Harry or Elaine about the greater supernatural world at large. I think Harry learned about the Fae from Lea - he has always been scared/ suspicious of her.

I also don’t think Elaine went to Summer, it was the other way around. Since Winter already had its hands on a Starborn (the Lea-Harry connection), it would be symmetrical for Summer to do so as well so as to not upset the balance. So when the freaked out Elaine ran away from Justin’s, she was likely ‘be-friended’ by some Summer Fae. That being said, Elaine & Summer/ Aurora seemed to have a strange relationship - almost like Aurora was Elaine’s older sister, but more complex.

[Bad Alias]

11 years.

[kbrizzle]

@Bad Alias
Is Harry really supposed to be 27 years old at the time of a summer Knight? I thought we would be in his early to mid thirties then

[CrusherJen]

There's a timeline over at the Official Jim Butcher site (here: http://www.jim-butcher.com/timeline) Priscellie started it, and lots of fans helped build on it, so I figure it's probably the best info we can get (besides WOJ.)

Discontinuities make it hard to pin down Harry's age, but the best guesses make him either 25 or 27 during Storm Front. Summer Knight takes place two years later in-series, so Harry's 27 or 29 years old then.

(I'm glad that resource exists, because I don't think I'd have figured it out on my own. And wow, if Harry was born in 1974, I'm two years older than he is!  )

[Yuillegan]

Elaine as the original infector of Aurora is an interesting idea. Would definitely make sense if she was infected...but Elaine doesn't seem to have the usual craziness associated with the infected. Although neither did Cat Sith, but he had only recently been infected it seems. But as I believe Elaine is probably a part of the Circle or associated with the real villains, it wouldn't surprise me if she organised Aurora to be infected.

Just to be clear - even if DuMorne did summon He Who Walks Behind, Harry realises in the most recent books (Cold Days I think, or Ghost Story) that quite probably Justin was the puppet and the student. If HWWBh went after Harry, it was because he wanted to. Not because Justin was in control. And it seems it was all part of the plan to make Harry into something. Strange as that seems.

Btw - in the Paranet Papers their are notes by Simon Petrovich that imply that Justin murdered people using mind magic. Who knows how much damage he has been doing, or done. Justin was a Warden, but clearly he had ambition and abilities that made him far more dangerous than the average Warden. Not to mention, it seems he quite on purpose neglected this part of Harry's education. He made sure he had an opponent with an obvious weakness to him. Then he loses a fire fight? Molly would have ripped Dresden's mind apart at 16... Just thought I would throw that out there.

[Bad Alias]

Based on WoJ about Priscellie and the timeline, it is likely more accurate than WoJ. For example, I remember a WoJ about how Michael and Harry started working together shortly before Grave Peril, but in Grave Peril, Charity says it's been "years" since she and Dresden have seen one another. I mean, they could have met long ago and only started working together just before Grave Peril, but that doesn't seem likely.