Morgan Micro Fiction

[morriswalters]

@Mira
Not much of this is new.  Lea tells you in Ghost Story that Harry was being taught to kill with magic.

Quite. Because convincing a young mortal to believe that it is right and proper to use magic for violence is a delicate process and one that cannot be rushed.

Martha Liberty tells you in Summer Knight when speaking to Eb that the Senior Council is afraid of Harry.

Martha shook her head. "You know what he was meant to be. He's too great a risk."

The only things new in the journal are that Morgan knew Margaret on some level and that he was watching Harry while he was still with his father in an effort to protect him, and that he was aware of Nemesis and Eb's relation to Harry. And quite frankly everybody and his brother seems to know that Eb is the Blackstaff and that Harry is his grandson.



 

[Mira]

The only things new in the journal are that Morgan knew Margaret on some level and that he was watching Harry while he was still with his father in an effort to protect him, and that he was aware of Nemesis and Eb's relation to Harry. And quite frankly everybody and his brother seems to know that Eb is the Blackstaff and that Harry is his grandson.

Which is really weird for a couple of reasons, 1] both facts came as a huge shock to Harry.  He and Eb soul gazed so either Eb was great at hiding it or sixteen year old Harry just didn't know what he was seeing. 2] You'd think that someone would either object to Eb defending his grandson, or it would come out in the trial that Harry was his grandson..  One thing more somewhere in the books I believe it had been clearly stated more than once that all but Eb's inner circle had no clue that Margaret was Eb's daughter.

Martha Liberty tells you in Summer Knight when speaking to Eb that the Senior Council is afraid of Harry

Yes, but many think Harry is still a warlock and they also fear he was like his mother.  No mention of the Enemy.. 

Not much of this is new.  Lea tells you in Ghost Story that Harry was being taught to kill with magic.

No, not really, she says he was being trained as an "enforcer."   If Harry had been trained to kill he wouldn't have needed to go to Lea to get a "confidence boost" before he returned to Justin.  Also instead of running he could have tried to kill Justin on the spot instead of run when Justin tried to get him into a straight jacket.  Harry got lucky with HWWB..  So while Justin was tough on him, I don't think he got to the killing part yet.  Partly I think in self defense, he didn't want his pair of hand grenades to blow up on him.   I do think once he got them both enthralled the killing by magic part would have been taught.  But then again, to what purpose?  Because if either did kill by magic the wardens would have swarmed pretty quickly as they did when Harry did kill Justin.  Which begs another question, if they didn't have Justin's little family under surveillance, how did they get there so quickly?

Margaret does apologize for what she's done to Harry in the SoulGaze with Thomas

She is talking about the burden of his birth, Malcolm also apologizes when Harry has his dream/vision of him.

[SerScot]

Also excellent pick up on the Washington D.C. detail. That was definitely a hint for keen observers. I wonder what is in D.C. that Margaret Le Fay hid or did? I am sure it wasn't mere sight-seeing with Malcolm. Too coincidental in my opinion, especially considering that is where the Library of Congress is (which if you remember, is the home of the vanilla mortal authorities charged with fighting the supernatural by the U.S.A).

Where is the DC tidbit from?

[morriswalters]

The (by Priscellie) timeline.  I speculated that it could a place where Margaret could have met Morgan safely.

26 BSF, some time between August and October – Malcolm Dresden and his heavily-pregnant wife Margaret visit the Lincoln Memorial.

If not that then something.  It sticks out like a sore thumb.

[SerScot]

The (by Priscellie) timeline.  I speculated that it could a place where Margaret could have met Morgan safely.If not that then something.  It sticks out like a sore thumb.

Thank you.  I think, now, it is a reference to a photo in one of the earlier books.

[Con]

*siigh* I have the same reaction I had when everybody including JK Rowling and Harry Potter forgave Snape for being a prick.

Not willing to forgive him so easily.

[Dina]

Agree

[Mira]

Agree

  I also agree, that is why I have real problems with this effort to rehab Morgan.

[Bad Alias]

if they didn't have Justin's little family under surveillance, how did they get there so quickly?
...
She is talking about the burden of his birth, Malcolm also apologizes when Harry has his dream/vision of him.

Because whatever he was doing to hide them ended when he died. Either because he died or the spell burned up in the fire. That's my guess.

Mira, do you mean being born at all, the circumstances of his birth, or him being a starborn? Anyway, here is the quote: "I was so arrogant. I laid too great a burden upon you to bear alone." What is Harry's burden? Would Harry have been alone if she hadn't died, stated another way, is this a "to be ring bearer is to be alone" situation? If she had chosen better protectors, would Harry still be alone? That's all up for debate because we can only guess as to what she's talking about or what a starborn is beyond rare and having power of Outsiders.

Snape was a prick because he hated James. Morgan was a prick because he had to determine if Harry was a destroyer before killing him. This honestly makes Morgan make more sense. Morgan didn't want to execute Molly. He was never as hardcore as Harry thought he was. And Morgan probably came to truly dislike Harry because Harry can be a real smart ass.

[g33k]

*siigh* I have the same reaction I had when everybody including JK Rowling and Harry Potter forgave Snape for being a prick.

Not willing to forgive him so easily.

  I also agree, that is why I have real problems with this effort to rehab Morgan.

I don't see this as "forgiveness" or "rehab."  Insofar as that happened -- or didn't -- I think that was several books ago.

Harry came to see Morgan as more like a burnt-out cop, still "Fighting the Good Fight" but having lost too many individual battles, seen too many tragedies and horrors.  Morgan diverted from Necromancer-hunting to rescue the kids.  When Harry and Eb were discussing the Grey Council, and who to recruit, Harry spoke quite firmly that Morgan wasn't a Black Hat; e didn't think Morgan could be trusted, but only because he thought Morgan himself was too trusting, and would blab about GC to the Merlin and others.

I hope y'all savor the irony, there:  he thought Morgan was too trusting.

Go ahead...

Let that roll around on your palate, so the flavors develop:  hardcase Donald Morgan, too trusting...

===

But no, there's no "rehab" in that piece.  Morgan kept pushing and pushing on Harry, trying to stress-test him to the breaking point.  The problem with that strategy is that it never stops.  You can be impressed that he suffered <X> tribulation, but still not trust him enough, so you subject him to even-worse <Y>.  Then Z.  But you can't yet be CERTAIN, of course, so you go to Alpha/Beta/Gamma/etc, and then one of the Aramaic alphabets, or Cyrilic, and so on.

You can never be sure, so the "testing" and the torments never stop.

Just in case.

Not seein' the rehab there...
 

[Bad Alias]

Morgan, who thought he might "have become paranoid and mad," is too trusting in Harry's opinion.

If there is rehab in this story, there was rehab in almost every story in which Morgan appears. In Storm Front, he saves Harry from death and the Doom. In Dead Beat, Harry realizes Morgan doesn't hate him, he's just seen too much, and Harry wonders if he'll end up the same. In Proven Guilty, Morgan is sickened and hesitant in having to execute Molly. In Turn Coat, Morgan admits he was wrong about Harry and never turns Molly in.

[noblehunter]

There's a difference between forgiveness and offering empathy and compassion. The narrative has been pushing empathy for Morgan fairly hard (probably to make his death more of a tragedy). It asks the readers to understand Morgan and why he acted as he did. I don't think it asks us to forgive him.

There are characters I've felt empathy for who've behaved worse than Morgan. All that means is I respect and understand the protagonist's choice not to the person flogged to the river and thrown in. I'm still not going to forgive him, though I will hate the author of that particular conflict a little bit more.

[Mira]

Morgan, who thought he might "have become paranoid and mad," is too trusting in Harry's opinion.

If there is rehab in this story, there was rehab in almost every story in which Morgan appears. In Storm Front, he saves Harry from death and the Doom. In Dead Beat, Harry realizes Morgan doesn't hate him, he's just seen too much, and Harry wonders if he'll end up the same. In Proven Guilty, Morgan is sickened and hesitant in having to execute Molly. In Turn Coat, Morgan admits he was wrong about Harry and never turns Molly in.

Yeah,  the vibe I got when Morgan saved Harry in Storm Front, is he is a good cop.  There was  nothing personal about it,  he realized that Harry wasn't behind the 3 Eyed business and the murders after all.  He wasn't going to just let him die. 

[forumghost]

Yeah, the main feeling that I find invoked with regards to Morgan and his role in the later parts of the story is pity, not forgiveness.

Pity for a man that I think was probably once Noble and Good, but had fought too long and too hard against too many awful things, made too many compromises in the name of what was 'right' and found himself twisted and embittered by them. He is sympathetic, and pitiable, because imho he's a potential endpoint to the path that Harry has placed himself on.

He is also, however, a massive butthole.

[Mira]

Yeah, the main feeling that I find invoked with regards to Morgan and his role in the later parts of the story is pity, not forgiveness.

Pity for a man that I think was probably once Noble and Good, but had fought too long and too hard against too many awful things, made too many compromises in the name of what was 'right' and found himself twisted and embittered by them. He is sympathetic, and pitiable, because imho he's a potential endpoint to the path that Harry has placed himself on.

He is also, however, a massive butthole.

I think that just about sums it up...  In fairness to him, not always easy to follow the Law, to be the executioner.   If one questions one cannot do that year after year, yet he carried on.