About Titania

[seanham]

We know that Titania's main purpose is to protect the world from Mab, but what does she do on a day-to-day (or century to center) basis. We know that Mab spends her time plotting, gaining allegiances, and gaining power all to help at the Outer Gates, but what does Titania do? Because the Summer Court is so much smaller than the Winter Court, does she need to work that much harder to protect her people and all the mortals? Or, to keep the balance for every ally or ability that Mab gets, does Titania need to get an ally or ability of her own?

[Griffyn612]

I would imagine there's a lot of fine print in the contracts between the Sidhe and others. To the point that Titania might not have to account for everything Mab does; she might only have to account for Mab, the other Queens, and the subjects of Winter.

For example, the Erlking shows up in service to Winter in Proven Guilty. He might have an Agreement with Mab to act in defense of Winter against non-Sidhe invaders. A similar agreement might be in place for him to help Summer. But he wouldn't necessarily get involved if Summer tried to invade Winter, or vice versa. Maybe he didn't get involved in Summer Knight because that was internal politics, and he's explicitly excluded from that.

The same could be true for all contracts with other factions. Mab can have a deal with Anduriel, which has nothing to do with Sidhe politics, but there could be a clause that is enforced by Word that Mab will not ask him to involve himself in politics, and he won't involve himself in politics.

That way Mab can have a larger power structure to call on to fight the war against the Outside, but Titania doesn't have to match all of it.

[Yuillegan]

I think it's fairly clear that Mab and the Winter Court have no issues exploiting, torturing, terrifying, and killing mortals as part of who they are. If mortals get near them it's just what they do. They do it because they like it, because they think it's the way of things, because that's just part of who they are.

I'd imagine Titania and the Summer Court spend a lot of time countering the elements of Winter that go off and attack mortals. Like Faerie police of a sort. Mab's troops need to be harsh and wild and savage. So they're going to eat/maim/kill/scare anything that crosses them. Titania and the Summer Court are there to stop that happening as much as they can. It's probably a big job.

I don't know that it's a relationship of equals though. If Mab gains more power, Titania should too (at least in terms of personal power enough to take on those of Winter NOT at the Outer Gates). But she isn't handed it. She is expected to go and get it. She is a reactionary to Mab's actions. But it's Mab who has to be proactive about gaining more power, more allies, more favors etc. Remember, Aurora could have upset the balance of power between the Courts by sacrificing the power of the Summer Knight to Winter. Titania wouldn't have had an automatic boost in order to realign things back to equality. It is feasible for Mab, and the Winter Court, to become stronger than Titania and her Court. That's what made the threat in Summer Knight so real. It isn't all that likely though as Mab clearly only gets more power if she needs it, and Titania probably spends a lot of time making sure that sort of thing only happens the right way so she isn't caught out.

[Mira]

  I think that Titania is plenty strong on her own, also capable of seeking revenge and getting it, as Harry found out after Aurora died.  Isn't there a WOJ out there or something in one of the books that Summer and Winter flip roles as far as guarding the Gates are concerned every millennia or so?  Both are forces of nature, and Summer can be every bit as cruel and indeed more violent than Winter.  While Mab is cold and calculating, Titania is emotional and volatile, not good to cross either one of them..

[morriswalters]

Yeah, Mother Summer just dropped a Covid bomb and has other diseases  waiting in the wings.

[Mira]

Yeah, Mother Summer just dropped a Covid bomb and has other diseases  waiting in the wings.

Yeah, before refrigeration become widely available, people used to get sick and even die from something called "summer complaint.."  I believe today we call it food poisoning.

[vincentric]

Yeah, Mother Summer just dropped a Covid bomb and has other diseases  waiting in the wings.

We know that the biblical disease Wormwood is on her shelf from Cold Days. The Mothers represent Nature which is beautiful and bountiful but also viscous and cruel.

[Mira]

We know that the biblical disease Wormwood is on her shelf from Cold Days. The Mothers represent Nature which is beautiful and bountiful but also viscous and cruel.

Yes, there are beautiful spring days and autumn days, then there are blizzards, artic freezes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, blistering heat..   

[Yuillegan]

  I think that Titania is plenty strong on her own, also capable of seeking revenge and getting it, as Harry found out after Aurora died.  Isn't there a WOJ out there or something in one of the books that Summer and Winter flip roles as far as guarding the Gates are concerned every millennia or so?  Both are forces of nature, and Summer can be every bit as cruel and indeed more violent than Winter.  While Mab is cold and calculating, Titania is emotional and volatile, not good to cross either one of them..

Of course she is. But the question is about what she spends her time doing - and the answer is countering Winter's aggressions to the mortals. She doesn't have to counter everything Winter does, as Griffyn says. Summer only has to counter the stuff that threatens mortals. That being said, I believe it was Fix who pointed out that if Harry was doing Mab's work it was his job to counter it (particularly because it might be a bad thing for humanity - even though he didn't actually know that).

I am not so sure about the WOJ...but I would be surprised if it were true. It makes sense for Winter to be the guards. They're literally bred for the purpose. Mother Winter describes herself as the unmaker, the destroyer. Logically it follows then that Mother Summer is the maker, the creator. Doesn't mean she can't kill but that isn't her role. Summer isn't more violent than Winter though. Summer can be as violent but it doesn't spend it's time trying to murder everything, including humans. Which is basically what Winter does.

Do you remember where you heard the WOJ?

[Mira]

Do you remember where you heard the WOJ?

 It was here, but years ago..

[BrainFireBob]

  I think that Titania is plenty strong on her own, also capable of seeking revenge and getting it, as Harry found out after Aurora died.  Isn't there a WOJ out there or something in one of the books that Summer and Winter flip roles as far as guarding the Gates are concerned every millennia or so?  Both are forces of nature, and Summer can be every bit as cruel and indeed more violent than Winter.  While Mab is cold and calculating, Titania is emotional and volatile, not good to cross either one of them..

I think you're conflating two.

The seasons change as the Sidhe courts swap influence and dominance. That's an old WoJ.

A separate WoJ: The "every millenium or so" referred to changing the guardians of the Outer Gates- the Sidhe have always been the foot soldiers, but they weren't always the guardians. The Norse gods were once, the Greek gods, etc.

[KeyMasterOfGozer]

Of course she is. But the question is about what she spends her time doing - and the answer is countering Winter's aggressions to the mortals. She doesn't have to counter everything Winter does, as Griffyn says. Summer only has to counter the stuff that threatens mortals.

I'm only partially disagreeing, but I see Titania doing the same kinds of deals with all the other powers as well.  Mab does these deals to increase her power, which (possibly incidentally) gives her more ability to defend the gates.  Titania will be doing the same sorts of machinations to also increase her power, which (also possibly incidentally) helps her keep the balance against Mab.

[morriswalters]

They're running the climate and balancing their domains.  Making sure the world turns as it ought. Opposing winter storms with summer storms so to speak.  If winter gets too powerful the glaciers come to visit and if Summer gains the upper hand crops die and drought becomes the rule of the land.

The Mother's appear to be watching the various branches of reality play out.

[Yuillegan]

I'm only partially disagreeing, but I see Titania doing the same kinds of deals with all the other powers as well.  Mab does these deals to increase her power, which (possibly incidentally) gives her more ability to defend the gates.  Titania will be doing the same sorts of machinations to also increase her power, which (also possibly incidentally) helps her keep the balance against Mab.

Oh I imagine that Titania does plenty of her own deals just to keep up or even get ahead. It's like cops and criminals, everyone is always having to adapt to get the upper hand. Sometimes Titania has the upper hand, sometimes Mab. I think the Mothers are more concerned about balance in a holistic sense for Faerie, Mab and Titania are too busy to be worried about the downsides of if they get the upper hand.

They're running the climate and balancing their domains.  Making sure the world turns as it ought. Opposing winter storms with summer storms so to speak.  If winter gets too powerful the glaciers come to visit and if Summer gains the upper hand crops die and drought becomes the rule of the land.

The Mother's appear to be watching the various branches of reality play out.

Agreed. Yes, I think the Mothers are less concerned with the physical world (things like storms and droughts) and probably only get really interested in bigger events. They're similar to Uriel in that the focus on micro actions because they can see the ripples, so when something massive happens they really appear to get interested (probably because it's a bit deafening to them compared to a smaller view). Ice Ages (or the opposite) are those sort of events.

It was here, but years ago..

I think BFB might be right as I had a bit of a dig in the WOJ section and can't find anything that says that.

[Mira]

A separate WoJ: The "every millenium or so" referred to changing the guardians of the Outer Gates- the Sidhe have always been the foot soldiers, but they weren't always the guardians. The Norse gods were once, the Greek gods, etc.

But who commands the Sidhe, but the Queens ultimately, this millennia it it Mab calling the shots.