Is the White Council afraid of Harry Dresden?

[g33k]

... The White Council though never seemed to address why they had no record of Justin taking on Harry as an apprentice. They merely seem to accept he was Justin’s apprentice.

They apparently investigated enough to be clear that Justin had gone warlock, and was actively practicing black magic.  I'd expect a warlock would avoid "prematurely" exposing an apprentice to the White Council, and I'd expect the Council wouldn't think this odd.  And... where else would a 16-year-old kid get enough magical "juice" to take down a combat-veteran senior Warden?  One who was in on the kill of Kemmler himself, at that, so no slouch!
 

[Mira]

They apparently investigated enough to be clear that Justin had gone warlock, and was actively practicing black magic.  I'd expect a warlock would avoid "prematurely" exposing an apprentice to the White Council, and I'd expect the Council wouldn't think this odd.  And... where else would a 16-year-old kid get enough magical "juice" to take down a combat-veteran senior Warden?  One who was in on the kill of Kemmler himself, at that, so no slouch!

That is why the Council was so divided and still are.. Let us not forget that Eb had orders to kill his sixteen year old charge, if he noticed anything.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

And yet it’s quite clear Morgan’s faction at least we’re aware of Harry’s connection to Eb.

[Arjan]

The White Council shouldn’t know about the Walker, they think that it was a wizards dual between a fully trained former warden and an apprentice which the apprentice won.

The White Council though never seemed to address why they had no record of Justin taking on Harry as an apprentice. They merely seem to accept he was Justin’s apprentice.

I do not think the council keeps an administration about these things.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I do not think the council keeps an administration about these things.

Which is why it must be stopped. I think poor Carlos situation arose from being sexually abused by his Master, and the White Council wilfully ignoring it.

[Arjan]

Which is why it must be stopped. I think poor Carlos situation arose from being sexually abused by his Master, and the White Council wilfully ignoring it.

Most powerful wizards are a few centuries old. Now if a boy or girl is sexually abused we take it seriously, at least where I live. But the scandals of the past could continue for so long because people did think differently. They did not take the children's testimonies seriously and were easily cowed by people with authority.

The older wizards would not take these things as serious as we do and might think it more important to protect the wizard than the apprentice.

[BrainFireBob]

And yet it’s quite clear Morgan’s faction at least we’re aware of Harry’s connection to Eb.

Morgan was. I took his short story as an insight that his loyalty is not as monolithic as everyone thought it was. He has personal opinions. He made have thought Margaret a pure bad seed warlock- we don't know- but he also was willing to accept her request to guard her child and was angry at himself for failing an innocent boy.

Most powerful wizards are a few centuries old. Now if a boy or girl is sexually abused we take it seriously, at least where I live. But the scandals of the past could continue for so long because people did think differently. They did not take the children's testimonies seriously and were easily cowed by people with authority.

The older wizards would not take these things as serious as we do and might think it more important to protect the wizard than the apprentice.

This is a dark topic. I will only note that the romantic attachment felt by some early adolescent students toward their teachers was discussed by ancient Greek sources as something to be encouraged as an additional motivator to do well at their studies- the dark underbelly of Greek/Roman intellectual culture. I could see this being part of Carlos' background specifically.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I think this is a possibility because of how Harry treated Molly, there was a mutual attraction but Harry clearly stamped on it to be just a teacher to Molly. He was aware of the possibility of abuse in that relationship.

It also strikes me that Carlos in putting the moves on the Winter Lady must have known something like that would happen to him, subconsciously he must have anticipated and welcomed the attack, another excuse not to address his own underlying trauma, to find an external blame for his predicament, like his perpetual run on injuries, they are an excuse not to address it. Harry has has significantly worse and numerous injuries yet since breaking his back he has had relations with Mab and Murphy.

[g33k]

... I think poor Carlos situation arose from being sexually abused by his Master, and the White Council wilfully ignoring it.

That seems possible.
But it's also possible that he's just phenomenally unlucky in this regard.

I've known 20something & 30something virgins who hadn't been abused; and Carlos' "Latin machismo" facade mostly provides cover for something embarrassing (and some comic relief for Jim & his audience).

[Arjan]

There is nothing strange about it. Some people just have more social skills than others and there is some luck involved as well.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

It’s quite likely that Jim has written the character to allow the reader to draw their own conclusions about Carlos predicament.

However Carlos is supposed to be more polished socially than for example Harry, he is past 30 now, and yet does not seem to have developed a significant relationship with anyone. He is Roman Catholic by faith and upbringing which may account for this and still maintains contact with his family in LA, so his facade may be for their benefit.

It will be a waste if there isn’t some revelation about Carlos to explain this in the future.

[g33k]

Listening to Battleground this week I was struck by a "how twisty a twist can Jim twist" thought:  What if the White Council isn't afraid of Harry? What if the Senior Council has been trying to manipulate him via the series of threats they've posed toward him all these years...

I don't think the Senior Council is  at all  united in how the think about (and approach) Harry.

I suspect that there is at least 1 member who has a "manipulate Harry" agenda... which they sometimes work via their position on the Council, and sometime do it via other assets.

I suspect more than one member, actually -- I think there's a Black Council member (still, even after Peabody's unmasking) on the White Council, and I'm pretty sure the BC has a use-Harry agenda!  But I think there's likely at least one person pursuing their own personal agenda, that's at odds with both the B.C and the W.C.

It's entirely possible that *every* member of the White Council has their own personal agenda for Harry... because they're very-senior wizards (aka arrogant and self-confident to a very-nearly pathological degree).
 

[Mira]

It's entirely possible that *every* member of the White Council has their own personal agenda for Harry... because they're very-senior wizards (aka arrogant and self-confident to a very-nearly pathological degree).
 

Yes it is possible, I do think as a group they had an agenda for Harry, but their mistake was thinking
they could control him. 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Even Eb thought he could control Harry.

That worked out poorly. I wonder if Eb will try to reconcile with Harry in realisation that Harry WILL make his own decisions. We know that nothing at Christmas Eve had occurred, but Eb was badly injured and may still have been out of action.

[morriswalters]

The White Council shouldn’t know about the Walker, they think that it was a wizards dual between a fully trained former warden and an apprentice which the apprentice won.

The White Council though never seemed to address why they had no record of Justin taking on Harry as an apprentice. They merely seem to accept he was Justin’s apprentice.

Because they didn't have a record. They had Harry after the fact.  Morgan couldn't have known who took Harry unless he knew in advance who was suppose to. Is this not a valid interpretation? In the conversation in the parking garage Butcher has Martha Liberty tell Eb "You know what he was meant to be.", implying that they knew what Justin did and why he did it.

In the attack at the small store someone summoned the Walker.  The Walker was the test, but test was to see if Harry could fight back from the psychic attack. He didn't defeat the Walker he exploded the fuel tank. Butcher supports this in Peace talks during the fight in the parking garage.