Lara and Harry sitting in a tree.......?

[BrainFireBob]

That seems odd, in that apparently Lara was behind this move, and she presumably has acccess to everything pere Raith knows, and to the (in)famous Raith library.

OTOH, I wouldn't put it past her to set it up with the intention it would fail, knowing that when the "herd-cull" got to Chicago (and involved Thomas & Harry) the plan would be ended with extreme prejudice (and (with any luck whatsoever!) ancillary damage to houses Skavis, Malvora, & any others among her whamp enemies).  So, maybe not so odd...

Maybe.  It seems like a horribly existential risk to take, since (once the plot was launched) her ability to guide it was minimal; what if they'd moved to Europe, or stayed bi-coastal & avoided the midwest, etc?  What if they hadn't gotten sloppy-enough to get noticed, just blew through Chi-town before Dresden (or Thomas) picked up the scent?  Lara being suicidal seems really out of character!

Depends on relative house size and rivalries. If Lara got the young Skavis heir to start doing this, she encourages the other elder Whamps in other houses to- however reluctantly- move against Skavis. If Skavis is her only really serious rival, then it's worth the risk.

It's an idea, but Lara's a risk-taker and a gambler; more bold than is normal for White Court.

[Fcrate]

Didn't one of Lara's sisters signal their support troops at Demonreach with magic? It was always my view that whamps could use some limited forms of magic, equal or less than a mid level sorcerer.

[Arjan]

Didn't one of Lara's sisters signal their support troops at Demonreach with magic? It was always my view that whamps could use some limited forms of magic, equal or less than a mid level sorcerer.

I think magic and whomp powers can sometimes get similar results but they are different things. Vampires are far more specialised. I think an added wizard talent will give more options.

[Mira]

I think magic and whomp powers can sometimes get similar results but they are different things. Vampires are far more specialised. I think an added wizard talent will give more options.

Which might be part of the bargain Lord Raith made because he seems to have magical powers.. But it might have been those very powers that Margaret turned against him in her death curse.

[Ed0517]

Ah, the wedding. WHOLE LOT of Wamps all tgoether, politically needed...

...if Mab is peeved at the WC for something....

red wedding?

[g33k]

Ah, the wedding. WHOLE LOT of Wamps all tgoether, politically needed...

...if Mab is peeved at the WC for something....

red wedding?

This will be the first big Whamp shindig (AFAIK) since the debacle at the Raith Deeps... where Skavis and Malvora got most of their top ranks wiped out; they're fringe players now, I think.  The Raiths own the White Court now, until another House gets some of their mid-tier powers older & more puissant (and simply fill out their numbers a bit!  They don't have enough members to implement credible schemes & threats)  IIRC, whamp's can't breed very fast (and terror/despair are hardly the reproduction-enhancing emotions for feeding that lust is!).

I don't think Mab has any grudge against the Raiths; if she did, she likely wouldn't be ordering her Knight to marry a princess of Raith... and that's doing them an honor.

It's very possible that she suspects (or even knows with surety) Nemfected Justine has put some further Outsider-mischief in place among the Raiths, and  that  is her objective (or rather, one of her objectives).

[Basil]

My reading of the end of Battleground is that Harry and Lara (and Molly) agreed to the marriage and the year's wait simply as a means of buying time.

I can easily envision a scenario where Harry and/or Lara object given the inability of safely consumating the marriage.  I wonder then if Mab will intervene by making it so that Lara and Harry can have "normal relations." 

After all, the Leansidhe was able to quell Susan's hunger and Mother Winter offered Harry an "unravelling," that could have cleansed Susan.  Since the White's "parasite," seems to be more separate from the host than the Red's "hunger," I imagine it might be easier for Mab to quell it situationally. 

[Mira]

My reading of the end of Battleground is that Harry and Lara (and Molly) agreed to the marriage and the year's wait simply as a means of buying time.

I wouldn't say they agreed. Putting it off a year for Harry to mourn was as much a stall tactic as anything.  Molly wasn't happy at all about it, Harry understands where Mab is coming from, but he isn't happy about it either.  I don't even think Lara is happy about it.  I'd have to go back and reread the conversation Harry and Molly had in her limo at the end of the book, but if there is a way out of it, it looks like the two of then are going to try and find it.

[Ed0517]

After all, the Leansidhe was able to quell Susan's hunger and Mother Winter offered Harry an "unravelling," that could have cleansed Susan.  Since the White's "parasite," seems to be more separate from the host than the Red's "hunger," I imagine it might be easier for Mab to quell it situationally.

I am not saying Mab CAN'T, but Mother Winter is (at least ) an order of magnitude above Mab. She's close to Uriel level. I would not judge what Mab can do by what MW can.

[forumghost]

I mean we know from WoJ that Mab can straight-up rip the hunger out of a Wampire (though she'd be to brutal to leave much of the fleshbag part intact) so she could probably put one to sleep yeah.

Though I'm not sure if she'd bother. She might just go:

"I've made it clear to Miss Raith the consequence of her outright eating you Wizard, if you are so weak that you can't handle her taking a little off the top then you're obviously too weak to be of any further use to me. Are you telling me that?"