What the heck was Justin *UP* to??!?

[Regenbogen]

Yes, I thought it was foresight. And Rashid didn't tell Harry about the specifics (even if he knew), in order to not disturb the upcoming events leading to Harry entering Arctis Tor. Also I think it was about Harry learning stuff and making choices with certain powers (including the Gatekeeper) not allowed to tell him directly and not to be involved directly. Their involvement would need to be balanced and so on. This would complicate things too much.

... and also there would've  been a lot less books needed to tell the story. 

[morriswalters]

Uriel couldn't protect Molly since she was a victim of her own choices.  He was involved obliquely because of a more direct action by someone else.

Mab's involvement was a product of having Lea on ice. She was protecting Harry. Which of course is what the whole book is about.

The Korean is brought to Chicago to get Harry in the mood to climb on his murder bus. That's what all that puking and retching is about.

Yes, I thought it was foresight. And Rashid didn't tell Harry about the specifics (even if he knew), in order to not disturb the upcoming events leading to Harry entering Arctis Tor. Also I think it was about Harry learning stuff and making choices with certain powers (including the Gatekeeper) not allowed to tell him directly and not to be involved directly. Their involvement would need to be balanced and so on. This would complicate things too much.

... and also there would've  been a lot less books needed to tell the story. 

I like that last line.  A lot of truth there. However if foresight was involved the question would be foresight about what? By the time the letter reaches Harry Molly has already done the dirty.  But you come by the idea honestly, Butcher feeds it to you, implying that nothing has happened yet.

“Meaning that it’s possible nothing has happened, yet. But that he wanted to put you on your guard against something that’s coming in the immediate future.”

Since you know Molly had already done Black Magic the question is foresight about what?

However this digression doesn't really speak to g33k's point about Mab.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Uriel couldn't protect Molly since she was a victim of her own choices.  He was involved obliquely because of a more direct action by someone else.

Mab's involvement was a product of having Lea on ice. She was protecting Harry. Which of course is what the whole book is about.

The Korean is brought to Chicago to get Harry in the mood to climb on his murder bus. That's what all that puking and retching is about.I like that last line.  A lot of truth there. However if foresight was involved the question would be foresight about what? By the time the letter reaches Harry Molly has already done the dirty.  But you come by the idea honestly, Butcher feeds it to you, implying that nothing has happened yet.Since you know Molly had already done Black Magic the question is foresight about what?

However this digression doesn't really speak to g33k's point about Mab.

Uriel sees the bigger picture, which is why Molly would be swept up in the wider action involving Michael. Foresight not only of the event, but it’s proper timing in relation to Harry.

Lea was already on ice well before Proven Guilty, so it isn’t a question of protecting Harry, she has no obligation in that regard. The outcome we know from The Law is that it resulted in Nameless getting booted out of Arctis Tor, an established fact. That is why I suggest Harry and Molly were used as a pretext, another apparent attempt by Mab to recruit him through putting Molly in peril, (but also to get a good look at Molly) to do so meant pulling her forces away from Arctis Tor leaving Lea lightly guarded in the hope someone else would take the bait.

The Korean was brought to Chicago to punish Harry, he had refused to hunt down such kids as a Warden, setting a bad example to the younger wardens. That was turned against the Merlin when Michael appeared with Eb and the baby wardens, leading to a second warlock to survive the White Council’s wrath.

[vincentric]

Actually Mab was required to protect Harry. It's part of that liege taking on vassal's obligations while they are unable to carry them out thing. Remember Lea took on Molly while Harry was ghost walkabout in CD.

[Mira]

  Back to regular scheduled programing, "what the heck was Justin up to???

Curious lines in Cold Days after Justin asks Harry to put on a straight jacket.. Harry asks an important question, "Why?" To which Justin answers;

Justin remained calm.  "You don't have the knowledge you need to understand boy.  Not yet. But you will in time."

Before that on the same page Harry asks Justin what is going on?  And Justin answers;

"I'm making plans, Harry," he said in a steady, quiet voice.  "I need people I can trust."

Then in the next chapter after the review of what happened after he fled.. Lea says, he was raising you two up to be enforcers.

So from the above I surmise that Justin had real delusions of grandeur, who knows, by that time he may have been infected and Nemesis was controlling him.  So if Harry and Elaine were to be enforcers, just what was it they were going to enforce? But one real possibility, if Justin was infected, in the process of enthralling Elaine, she got infected, and when she ran away to the Summer Court, this is how Aurora got infected.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Actually Mab was required to protect Harry. It's part of that liege taking on vassal's obligations while they are unable to carry them out thing. Remember Lea took on Molly while Harry was ghost walkabout in CD.

Harry was not a vassal of either Lea or Mab at the time. He was in Ghost Story.

[Mira]

Harry was not a vassal of either Lea or Mab at the time. He was in Ghost Story.

 Actually he was, he was Mab's Winter Knight as of Changes, that didn't change while he was mostly dead in Ghost Story.

[morriswalters]

Harry was not a vassal of either Lea or Mab at the time. He was in Ghost Story.

I frowned. "You locked her away somewhere, but you're keeping her promises?"

Something cold and haughty flickered through Mab's eyes. "Promises must be kept," she murmured, and the words made wave, wind, and stone tremble. "My vassal's oaths and bargains are binding upon me, so long as I restrain her from fulfilling them."

"Does that mean that you will help me?" I asked.

"It means that I will give you what she might give you," Mab said, "and speak what knowledge she might have spoken to you were she here in flesh, rather than in proxy."

She was keeping Lea's promise to protect Harry in Dead Beat and in  Proven Guilty.

[vincentric]

Harry was not a vassal of either Lea or Mab at the time. He was in Ghost Story.

Harry was not a vassal but Lea was and it was Lea's obligation that Mab was fulfilling. Thank you @morriswalters for saving me the search for the quote.

[Mira]

Harry was not a vassal but Lea was and it was Lea's obligation that Mab was fulfilling. Thank you @morriswalters for saving me the search for the quote.

I tried to help, but misread the quote at five this morning on one swallow of coffee...

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Harry was not a vassal but Lea was and it was Lea's obligation that Mab was fulfilling. Thank you @morriswalters for saving me the search for the quote.

And which obligation would that be?

Lea had no general obligation to protect Harry except to Margaret when Harry was a child (and god did she suck at that) she owed no obligation to protect adult Harry, she was if anything his stalker, trying to bind him to her.

[morriswalters]

I have no idea what the deal was between Lea and Margaret but as of Changes it was still in effect.

I frowned. “But . . . you sold my debt to Mab.”

“Precisely. At an excellent price, I might add. So now, all that remains twixt thou and I is your mother’s bargain. Unless you would prefer to enter another compact, of course . . .”

This is Lea speaking to Harry about the Garden on the other side from Harry's lab where the Primrose Path and the caterpillar live. The one she used to guard that portal.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Ah! I see the confusion, Harry owes Mab a debt, Mab does not owe any obligation to protect Harry, because that consideration is passed. To claim Mab’s protection would be to do as Elaine did, take refuge in The Court and swear fealty to her so you owe the Queen an obligation.

Mab only now has an obligation to protect Harry where as a member of her court he is acting as a representative of Winter and she might still pay the wereguild instead.

Mab is hardwired through her Mantle to require something in return, she is purely transactional, she has to have something in return for whatever is given, even If it is a promise of future service. Harry could have begged for Mab to protect him, but she would have required him to become Winter Knight

[morriswalters]

Lea had an obligation to  protect Harry, not just as a child but as an adult. Butcher uses this to motivate Mab's actions in PG.  She must act for Lea since her restraint of Lea is keeping Lea from fulfilling her promise to Margaret.  That is straight out of the text and I've already quoted it.

g33k's original theory is about who is working for who. Butcher will have to supply that detail if he ever gets to that point.  Maybe he will plot it the way that g33k predicts, I have no idea.

I now have an idea about about where the paradox in the story is. Events had to play out so Harry's apartment would be empty when it was. Harry couldn't be allowed to use LC before it was fixed. If he finds out too early that Molly is the source of Black Magic the apartment never gets vacated and Harry dies when he attempts to use it

[Conspiracy Theorist]

That quote merely states (1) that Harry’s debt to Lea, his obligation to her has been sold to Lea and (2) all that is left is Margaret’s bargain, and (3) she is open to making another bargain with Harry. We are not told Margaret’s bargain but the WOJ is that when Harry finds out he will want to kill Lea. The bargain most likely was “protect my child until he is of age and you may have the firstborn female of my bloodline when she is of age.” Not “protect Harry for his entire life in return for something, something….” Lea clearly has NOT protected Harry for the entirety of the files from Restoration of Faith onwards when he would have been 22 or 23 i.e. of age in most cultures.

On neither side is this an open-ended commitment, Wizards live over 400 years, as with Elaine there is an end point to the bargain . Lea is long past protecting Harry, she has performed her side of the bargain  and she hasn’t yet collected on her part of the bargain. Ever wondered why Lea accompanied Harry in Changes to Chicken Pizza ? She was protecting the fruit of her bargain, not Harry, Maggie.