Who are the four?

[g33k]

Chapter 27 of Blood Rites I'm don't think a Blampire can make a fine thrall.

I'm pretty sure they can, because "Fine Thrall vs. Renfield" was part of one of Jim Butcher's early infodumps Bob's tutorial's for Harry.

Unable to go to my books for the cite right now, but I'm pretty sure I've remembered correctly.
 

[Bad Alias]

The info dump is that Mavra has "rough thralls" and "Renfields." Mavra specifically can't make a fine thrall because she doesn't have the empathy necessary. How does Bob know this? Because Mavra is a Blampire and Blampires are too inhuman to make a fine thrall, imo.

[isoycrazy]

I wondered if Loki was one of them, but Odin had him detained.

Important to note, also, as that these mercenaries all operate on such a level that A) Nic could hire them and B) Nic couldn't hire them away from their current jobs.

That, alone, is pretty badass.

Not really.  The Supernatural world takes commitments deadly seriously.  If I hire Jack to impersonate Jill for the next month, Jack will do it, and if Nicodemus comes along in that month with a job that would make it impossible to do my job, Jack would have to decline or be an oathbreaker to me.  I would tell everyone from the mountain top Jack's loyalty can be bought with cash and he will betray you for the right price.  His name would be ruined.

If these two were on contract, they would risk their entire reputations on leaving one job early for another.

[kbrizzle]

All this talk of mind control has me thinking - the best way to do this would be Corpsetaker-style. He seemed extremely adept at taking over people’s minds, including Molly’s who had become fairly formidable by GS. So any wizard/ sorcerer with strong mental magic capabilities (like Molly) could technically be a candidate. So perhaps 1 of the 4 is a warlock?

@Bad Alias
While it’s true that Blamps likely can’t create fine thralls, I think that Mavra may be the exception to this rule. Her nuanced understanding of human emotions is what has allowed her to be one of the very few bad guys to successfully manipulate Harry to get exactly what she wants & walk away unscathed.

[Bad Alias]

I think that Mavra may be the exception to this rule [Blamps likely can’t create fine thralls].

Not according to Bob, so until we have textual evidence saying otherwise, I'm going with Bob (who is admittedly fallible).

[Snark Knight]

All this talk of mind control has me thinking - the best way to do this would be Corpsetaker-style. He seemed extremely adept at taking over people’s minds, including Molly’s who had become fairly formidable by GS. So any wizard/ sorcerer with strong mental magic capabilities (like Molly) could technically be a candidate. So perhaps 1 of the 4 is a warlock?

@Bad Alias
While it’s true that Blamps likely can’t create fine thralls, I think that Mavra may be the exception to this rule. Her nuanced understanding of human emotions is what has allowed her to be one of the very few bad guys to successfully manipulate Harry to get exactly what she wants & walk away unscathed.

Perhaps the key part here is that Kringle was specifically talking about mercenaries, because their loyalties are uncomplicated. The issue might not be so much that roughly enthralling the accountant would have made him forget the PIN as that Nic wouldn't trust a blampire. Given his apparently sincere pitch to Harry about why they had a common interest in exterminating the Red Court, I'd be surprised if the same reasons didn't motivate him to help and exploit the purges during the Stokerlypse, but that would leave anybody who is anybody among them carrying a grudge against him.

Similarly for human warlocks, the skill threshold might be such that only the Circle has anyone that good, and they're even more likely antagonistic to the Denarians than the Blampires are. Fast-training a magically capable host themselves (like Hannah's pyromancy lessons from Lasciel) would probably run sufficiently afoul of Uriel's purview to protect free will that they don't want to risk giving him a balancing action like teaching Harry advanced magic. Not to mention, the ability to do that for any middling warlock in a matter of a month or two would make the Fallen way too OP from a Doylist perspective.

[Avernite]

Not really.  The Supernatural world takes commitments deadly seriously.  If I hire Jack to impersonate Jill for the next month, Jack will do it, and if Nicodemus comes along in that month with a job that would make it impossible to do my job, Jack would have to decline or be an oathbreaker to me.  I would tell everyone from the mountain top Jack's loyalty can be bought with cash and he will betray you for the right price.  His name would be ruined.

If these two were on contract, they would risk their entire reputations on leaving one job early for another.

Or, you know, Nic could hire them off their employer.

[isoycrazy]

Or, you know, Nic could hire them off their employer.

True.  Which makes me think Kringle was the one who hired them or had them hired by a proxy and the proxy wasn't going to release them from their contracts. 

So to continue my Jack and Jill scene, Peter hires Jack, but Peter is paying a debt to Paul, who is doing a favor for Mary, who is taking orders from Odin.  And Nicodemus only knows right now Peter is the contract holder and he won't budge.

[g33k]

... Or, you know, Nic could hire them off their employer ...

What if they're "on assignment" from their employer... Monoc Securities.

Because, you KNOW he's got the best mercenaries around.

(I wonder if that's why GG came so cheap, too -- because Monoc was paying his REAL salary)
 

[GWPfark]

I would assume one is tied up under a snake as an assignment....

[exartiem]

Jim likes to give us his interpretations of myths. 

What about a Doppleganger?  One operating on the level of, say Cat Sith or Eldest Gruff?

[g33k]

Jim likes to give us his interpretations of myths. 

What about a Doppleganger?  One operating on the level of, say Cat Sith or Eldest Gruff?

Oh, yeah.

Jim explicitly says, IIRC, that "some version" of almost every myth, including modern "urban legend" and overt fantasies like LOTR, Earthsea, &c ... are all true, somewhere in the Dresden'verse.

So a "Doppelganger" -- whether in the older myths, modern urban-legend-y tellings, or overtly D&D-esque -- is almost certainly a real thing in the Dresdenverse; maybe more than one (he did it with Vamps, after all!).

Nice suggestion BTW!