Who will be the next Blackstaff? (If Eb dies)

[b4utoo]

Carlos is too by the book to pull the trigger on a bus full of school kids for the greater good.

Luccio in a heart beat would.

Harry is done with Counsel.

My bet is the Black staff goes back to winter to balance a scale

[Snark Knight]

Depends whether the Blackstaff choosing the heir means the bearer, or the artefact itself.

If Eb is making the call, I don't he would want Harry to have it, because putting the staff with someone Mother Winter could order to return it to her means the end of the Blackstaff as an office of the Council, and he believes in the need for that. It would also force the fight between the WC and Harry that he doesn't want to see happen, and it's an awful lot of temptation to mix up with the Knight mantle.

If the staff is making the call, a lot depends on whether IT wants to go back to Mother Winter. I think in Changes Harry perceived that the staff wanted to be used, and for all her malice, Mother Winter seems pretty self-disciplined about rarely actually exercising direct power. If its semi-sentience extends to having more fun being used for magical war crimes on the semi-regular on earth than it would being kept on a tight leash for centuries at a time in the deep NN, it's probably going to avoid the Winter Knight like the plague, lest he return it. In that case, Carlos is probably a good call as he's in opposition to the Queens' instrument.

If it operates on a lower level without that much if>then reasoning, it's probably going to see the Winter Knight as a preferred candidate if he's nearby. And even aside from the mantle, it would like Harry because here's a guy who gets into lots of scraps and will probably use a tool of violence.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The return of the Blackstaff could win Harry an unravelling, which could cure Thomas of his demon, something foreshadowed with Susan

[Mira]

The return of the Blackstaff could win Harry an unravelling, which could cure Thomas of his demon, something foreshadowed with Susan

That could work, but would Thomas want to come back if Justine isn't there?

[Ed0517]

If Eb falls, Luccio is the easily-resorts-to-violence type it likes, and i think it can likely make up for most of the lower power, but it passed her over once for Eb. I think it goes to a name we never heard before, like Christos  getting the senior council nod, so we can speculate on Noname being Black council, like we do for Christos. 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

That could work, but would Thomas want to come back if Justine isn't there?

In the Dragoncon Q&A Jim told us we are going to learn more of Thomas motivation for the attack on the Swarteleves. He wasn’t in a position to so going into stasis, ergo he is going to be brought out and healed (my way have Molly on standby, he has tried twice to feed on her, third times the charm, but now she is immortal he can feed, and feed and feed, intense life force without killing her and paying off the rest of Lara’s markers with Mab or building up a big favour in return. Again foreshadowing, Thomas was always going to feed on Molly, and she was always going to let him.

Thomas can then track down Justine whilst she is unaware he is active, and Harry’s needs to rid her of nemesis. Aside from an unravelling, Harry has both the Shroud AND soulfire both known for resurrection. If nemesis makes good it’s threat to kill Justine and the baby he has potentially the means to reverse that, which may clear Justine of Nemesis and the Baby of its infant demon, giving an avenue for curing Thomas.

This way Harry would still retain a huge favour from Mother Winter, and break another Law of Magic (Gotta get em all), a favour from Mother Winter is absolutely nothing to be sneezed at, perhaps release of Harry or Molly from Winter servitude? You just know Jim is going to force that choice of Harry at some point, and you know he is going to choose Molly.

[Mira]

  Finding out what Thomas's motivation was, doesn't necessarily follow that he will be healed. 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

  Finding out what Thomas's motivation was, doesn't necessarily follow that he will be healed.

Jim is setting Harry up for an upswing in the second part of the next book, just so he can take it all away from him in Mirror Mirror. To do that would require Thomas to be healed, Nemesis dealt with and Harry to build his economic and political power base in Chicago.

I hesitate to be more specific, I don’t want to give Jim ideas on torturing Harry. He already has plenty.

[Snark Knight]

Again foreshadowing, Thomas was always going to feed on Molly, and she was always going to let him.

The idea is to heal him, not have him beaten and clawed the rest of the way to death.

[morriswalters]

Thomas is story meat kept in a freezer till needed by the exigency of the story. Butters learns magic and gets the Blackstaff. And maybe Granny Winter.

[Mira]

Thomas is story meat kept in a freezer till needed by the exigency of the story. Butters learns magic and gets the Blackstaff. And maybe Granny Winter.

Yeah, but he has to cure her of spitting first...

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The idea is to heal him, not have him beaten and clawed the rest of the way to death.

If this is in discharge of one or more favours to Winter, the Mantle will acquiesce, allow Thomas to feed, but not go all the way with Molly, leaving her once again frustrated, but this time fully Whamp frustrated. She will be worse than Harry in trying to work it off.