I am 99% sure that Cowl is Dresden from the future

[Marconesque]

So yesterday I have been on my 2nd listen of Dead Beat and noticed a very interesting connection

In the first conversation Harry had with Billy (after Billy implied that something is wrong with him)
Harry replies "If I am going mad, would I be able to tell"


Then later, Cowl tells Dresden

"I do not perceive myself to be mad. But if I were truly mad, would I be able to tell?"


I shivered. Probably from the rain and the cold.

He shivered probably because he (subconsciously) made a connection that he is Dresden from the future (by making a connection between what he said and what Cowl repeated)

Of course there are more clues to this, but this stuck to me the most.

[Mira]

Well, if Cowl is Harry from the future, he lost quite a bit of height at some point.  In the description of Cowl, no where does it mention that Cowl is even a tall man, let alone 6'9".

[Marconesque]

Well, if Cowl is Harry from the future, he lost quite a bit of height at some point.  In the description of Cowl, no where does it mention that Cowl is even a tall man, let alone 6'9".

Maybe he learned body morphing magic, or something happened to him which made his body shorter.

[Regenbogen]

I'm not sure what to think. Several theories sound plausible to me. I still put my money on Justin or Kemmler or Kemmler in Justin's body Corpstaker style, but this is not the point here.

But @Mira: has his heighth ever been mentioned? I seem to remember this having been a discussion point somewhere. That usually Harry mentioned how tall someone is, when describing the person. His not noting Cowl's heighth could be that he somehow veiled it.

@Marconesque:
The phrase is not uncommon. I've read that several times in completely unrelated writings. Sometimes not in English, so I believe this is coincidence.

[Marconesque]

I'm not sure what to think. Several theories sound plausible to me. I still put my money on Justin or Kemmler or Kemmler in Justin's body Corpstaker style, but this is not the point here.

But @Mira: has his heighth ever been mentioned? I seem to remember this having been a discussion point somewhere. That usually Harry mentioned how tall someone is, when describing the person. His not noting Cowl's heighth could be that he somehow veiled it.

@Marconesque:
The phrase is not uncommon. I've read that several times in completely unrelated writings. Sometimes not in English, so I believe this is coincidence.

The exact same phrase is used only several hours in between. What is more important imo, is when Dresden got shivers when Cowl said it.

[Mira]

However,  Cowl also says in their first fight.

"Disappointing," he said. "I'd hoped you were ready for the heavyweight division."

Seems to me if Cowl was future Harry he'd know exactly how ready he was for a fight.  Cowl also says he wanted to see for himself as to why the wardens were nervous about Harry.  If he was Harry, he'd know why.

[Marconesque]

However,  Cowl also says in their first fight.
Seems to me if Cowl was future Harry he'd know exactly how ready he was for a fight.  Cowl also says he wanted to see for himself as to why the wardens were nervous about Harry.  If he was Harry, he'd know why.

Unless his memory was wiped for whatever reason

Also, it is in Harry's essence to say something like that (heavyweight)

[Conspiracy Theorist]

If an argument has to rely on more than one presumption it is a bad argument, future Harry AND mindwipe.

[Marconesque]

If an argument has to rely on more than one presumption it is a bad argument, future Harry AND mindwipe.

Alright, then we can assume he is 100s years old and has a vague memory of the competence in his younger days

[Mira]

Alright, then we can assume he is 100s years old and has a vague memory of the competence in his younger days

However Harry remembers Cowl from Bianca's party and says what happened still gives him nightmares and Cowl said a lot more happened that Harry is unaware of.  So no, no mind wipe.

[ClintACK]

I assumed the shivers were because, "If I were mad, how would I know?" is a statement worthy of some shivers -- especially given the Sheila/Lash subplot.

Remember when Harry meets "Sheila" and Bock sees him talking to her and gives Harry a look. There's a whole paragraph on how much it hurt Harry's feelings. Then he steps outside and meets Cowl.

[Mira]

I assumed the shivers were because, "If I were mad, how would I know?" is a statement worthy of some shivers -- especially given the Sheila/Lash subplot.

Remember when Harry meets "Sheila" and Bock sees him talking to her and gives Harry a look. There's a whole paragraph on how much it hurt Harry's feelings. Then he steps outside and meets Cowl.

Well, yeah, Harry was talking to someone who wasn't there, so he'd get a "look."   Harry was sure she was there until Butters set him straight.  So "if I were mad, how would I know?"  Rings very true, Lasciel had taken him on a very good ride, including taking him to a condemned apartment building and making him think it was a nice place.  It took all of the doctoring skill Butters had to make him see it was an illusion.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Harry’s subconscious was alerting him that something was wrong, it takes conscious Harry some time to catch up.

[The_Sibelis]

This is one of my go to theories... Buuuut, Nicodemus actually says this to him in SmF... So it could well have been Nic and Deidre...
*I thought cowl was mentioned as indiscriminately around Dresden's height?

[peregrine]

Said argument also assumes that despite the few times we've seen Cowl attack Harry, he wasn't REALLY trying to kill him, otherwise he'd be committing suicide.  And so Cowl seems like he's been trying pretty hard to do so.

Also, the multiple people making comments about collecting bottle caps, and I think Mab and Harry had a phrase they shared.  This all comes from the mind of one person, who writes everyone's dialogue.  He's got only a finite number of phrases he can draw on, there's bound to be repeats.