Master of the Future? The Fugitive...

[Mira]

  Interesting, good to see Cowl again, he has a title is seems, "Master of the Future."  I take that to mean in the BAT this is who Harry will be fighting, among others.  It also looks like he is trying to take Harry out while he is emotionally and somewhat physically vulnerable.  He also has serious connections if he can spring a monster from Hades. Also an interesting tidbit, Cowl says there are four powers in Chicago who could take the Nemean Lion out, wonder if meant himself as well?  Apparently Mouse is one of them, at least he managed to kick Cowl's ass.. Harry, yes, when he is fully himself again. Lara? No doubt, and that may be why Mab wants that marriage so badly.. And though Michael is retired, the Holy Knights, i.e. Butters also lives there. 

Back to Cowl, no real light was shed on who he is, clearly though he is from the future or is a "Master of the Future," he is mortal, or has the same vulnerabilities of an ordinary man, after Mouse shattered his staff, he nearly bit his arm off...  Mouse and Cerberus, very good dogs indeed..

[LostInTime]

But, he also doesn't have Kumori with him. Maybe she actually is dead? Seems like it would be an anticlimax. I'd rather it be a dangling plot thread.

[Mira]

But, he also doesn't have Kumori with him. Maybe she actually is dead? Seems like it would be an anticlimax. I'd rather it be a dangling plot thread.

He didn't have Kumori with him the last time we saw him, in the Depths of the Rath estate in White Night.. He retreated into the Nevernever that time also.

[g33k]

He didn't have Kumori with him the last time we saw him, in the Depths of the Rath estate in White Night.. He retreated into the Nevernever that time also.

n.b. he had a different sidekick, Vito.

Kumori was doing necromantic stuff, and evidently it was a passion of hers.  That was when Cowl had a Kemmlerite-facing plan.

Vito was his sidekick for his Whamp-politicking plan.

He may have multiple such, but keep them largely "silo'ed" for their appropriate tasks, until/unless he sees an advantage in some sort of "cross-pollination."

Maybe each of them died in their respective climactic fights (Vito seems likely to have died... but Cowl could have saved him, if he chose to).

But (q.v. various "Who is Kumori" WAGging) I'm guessing she (at least) survived.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Cowl shows a degree of familarity with Harry here not previously shown and his scheme here is petty and personal, he isn’t advancing his long-term schemes to sow chaos and disorder in the supernatural world, he is kicking Harry when he is down.

This would indicate that Cowl has recently been thwarted personally by Harry and he is getting his revenge.
The timing would indicate it is around the time of The Law, Harry had thwarted Nameless embarrassing him professionally before Marcone and Mab and the rest of the World and used his ‘pet’ Laplander to do so. Nameless has the power to raise the Lion, (his Otso was misused by Laplander) 

“There are at least four wielders of Power in Chicago who might have banished you. Continue questioning me and I will do so myself.”

Harry and Mort have the power and will, Mouse did, the fourth? Nameless and Laplander could but wouldn’t, Nameless is either Cowl or would enjoy the discord, and Laplander is under his control in either event. Molly could but would the restrictions and duties of Winter prevent her? Marcone/Namshiel could but does Cowl know about them? Butters might do worse than banish with the sword of Faith in its current form.

“Master of the Future” doesn’t necessarily imply that Cowl is from the future, it can imply that Ash is aware of plans by Cowl to assume control of reality. We are aware that Cowl has sought to become a god via the Darkhallow (and Nameless worked with Kemmler) but what if his ultimate plan is to become God, to usurp or replace the White God? He has worked with Fallen and Outsiders, both enemies of the White God. If you are going to be the villain of the series, you had better think big.

I am doing a complete read through and there are many apparent instances of Cowl working behind the scenes principally disrupting the Accords and seeking to undermine Mab who we know later as protector of the Outer Gates. He is likely the one who summoned Outsiders in Proven Guilty, Cold Days and Peace Talks, suggesting he is mortal human enough to do so (Nameless is half mortal human, a scion), he trained the sorcerers in Storm Front, Grave Peril and Blood Rites as disposable flunkies (abduct the puppies). He gave the FBI the wolf skin belts in Fool Moon.

Cowl would have had to have some involvement in every one of Harry’s major cases to some degree, either directly or indirectly. In the Law we learn of Nameless links to Kemmler and his suspected role in the attack on Arctis Tor. Suddenly we have a character who has links to the Cowl arc AND the Maeve arc, creating a possible connection and adding a potential Cowl involvement to the likes of Summer Knight (Nameless was part of Winter at this time, and in a position to manipulate both Maeve and Lloyd Slate as a member of Maeve’s Court). All the issues involving Winter can be laid at Cowls door, the nemfection of Lea, Cat Sith and Maeve, the distrust engendered in Lily of Winter and the Fae courts dispute effect on the White Council/Red Court war, the attack on Demonreach by Maeve.

An argument that I have raised about Nameless is that following The Law he dare not risk Mab’s wrath by embarrasing Winter, so no attacks on the WK, his company car and the Castle, now an outpost of Winter, is a barracks for Winter Troops. Maggie is protected as well as the daughter of her Vassal. His friends? The Alphas live with Butters and the Carpenters are under the White God’s protection. Mac? Former Angel with a Placard working at Accorded Neutral Territory. Thomas? Safely in Demonreach, Eb ? If he knows he might not want to take on the Blackstaff. Max? Or his clienThat would immediately signal Nameless was responsible.

That leaves Harry’s pets for a revenge attack. Mouse is with Maggie all the time which rules out revenge on Mouse, but Mister ? Mister rambles outside the Castle and is fair game. Guess what, the lion hit Mister just after he got out again. Both Nameless and Cowl have the same limited options for revenge against Harry at the moment.

How Nameless must chafe under Winter Law.

By having Mouse as the point of view Jim was able to bring Cowl directly into the narrative without communicating this fact to Harry, and this is the first time Mouse has met Cowl (he has never met Nameless)  he didn’t identify a scent so Cowl is someone Mouse has not previously met, and he has been to the White Council with Harry which eliminates a whole slew of potential Cowls as being a current wizard of the White Council. If Mouse meets Nameless he should be able to identify whether of not he is Cowl.

[vincentric]

I am more and more convinced that Justin is Cowl.

[prince lotore]

If cowl was from the future why does he start fights that he loses so badly. Though it has the ring of an outsider title

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I am more and more convinced that Justin is Cowl.

The only problem with that is the Justin would have had to be working with Kemmler at the same time he was a Warden.

And that Jim has said he is dead.DED

And he had no access to Winter, necessary for the attack on Arctis Tor, the manipulation of Lloyd Slate, Sarissa, Winter Changelings and of course Maeve.

[vincentric]

The only problem with that is the Justin would have had to be working with Kemmler at the same time he was a Warden.

And that Jim has said he is dead.DED

And he had no access to Winter, necessary for the attack on Arctis Tor, the manipulation of Lloyd Slate, Sarissa, Winter Changelings and of course Maeve.

Justin could have been Kemmler's mole in the council and only turned his coat when he saw that this last time was going to be the last time. We know he had contacts with the Outsiders and that could be all he needed to get contact with the Slate and the rest.

Jim has also said that Cowl was someone we'd seen before as himself. Not as some nondescript extra in the background of one scene. Which WoJ is a lie then?

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Justin as working for Cowl is entirely plausible, having him steal Bob as the repository of Kemmlers research makes sense as in Dead Beat Cowl knew exactly what Bob was and what he contained. Nameless of course would have been in an excellent position to make Harry disappear into the system.

As pointed out Jim slips things in which we don’t get the relevance of until later on in the narrative. Having had a background character be Cowl who we don’t realise until much later fits in with that. Cowl is trying to hide from scrutiny.

Philip Denton, FBI agent and Victor Sells, a trader at SilverCo both came across Cowl and got power from him, Nameless a high powered lawyer would move in both of their circles, Justin wouldn’t

[vincentric]

Another hint in the Justin is Cowl idea.  Cowl is wearing gloves in every appearance, even when sitting in the farmhouse here. Why? Because he's been severely burned and needs to keep himself covered.

Cowl also sees Mouse and says "Harry is a pain", not Dresden. Both are correct but using Harry seems to make him much more familiar. As if he knows Harry from conversations and interactions beyond what we've seen in the books. I don't think someone who's only been in adversarial interactions with Harry would casually refer to him by his first name.

[Mira]

Another hint in the Justin is Cowl idea.  Cowl is wearing gloves in every appearance, even when sitting in the farmhouse here. Why? Because he's been severely burned and needs to keep himself covered.

Cowl also sees Mouse and says "Harry is a pain", not Dresden. Both are correct but using Harry seems to make him much more familiar. As if he knows Harry from conversations and interactions beyond what we've seen in the books. I don't think someone who's only been in adversarial interactions with Harry would casually refer to him by his first name.

Excellent point and a good catch.. I need to do another read through.  Also interesting that he seems to know that Mouse belongs with Harry, as far as I know Cowl shouldn't know that Mouse is Harry's dog, he has never seen them together. 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Another hint in the Justin is Cowl idea.  Cowl is wearing gloves in every appearance, even when sitting in the farmhouse here. Why? Because he's been severely burned and needs to keep himself covered.

Cowl also sees Mouse and says "Harry is a pain", not Dresden. Both are correct but using Harry seems to make him much more familiar. As if he knows Harry from conversations and interactions beyond what we've seen in the books. I don't think someone who's only been in adversarial interactions with Harry would casually refer to him by his first name.

Because he is paranoid about keeping his identity secret and thus leaving his fingerprints everywhere? In a City where the cops are better clued in than normal? In addition, his cowl is enspelled like Harry’s Duster, so presumably it (and the gloves) provides further protection as to his identity his aura could not be ascertained by Lea for example.

Here’s a thought, Cowl would have been around when Colin Murphy killed himself, but Colin ended up working for Uriel. Did Colin inadvertently put someone’s finger prints in the system CPD, FBI etc he shouldn’t have, and the Library of Congress have them?

If he was burned then would have been many years before, if Harry was born in 1974, he would have been 16 in 1990 when Justin burned. It is now 24 years later, and Cowl is even more powerful than Harry, with a a stronger healing factor, so he should have healed in the nearly quarter of a century since Justin went up given Harry’s progression since his own injury.

Of course Cowl could just be a habitual nail biter and his mother is trying to break him of the habit. “He’s not The Master Of The Future, he’s a very naughty boy!”

Because he is aware that Harry ticks off Marcone by calling him John? Which he would know working for Marcone.

[vincentric]

I'm assuming you mean Nameless here but in his only shared scenes with Harry and Marcone, Harry did not call him John. He did not even refer to Marcone by any name. And i doubt Marcone grouses to Nameless about Harry in any off-screen time.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I do not doubt that at one point Nameless called Marcone “John” and was told in no uncertain terms not to by Marcone and either Gard or Hendricks warned him only Dresden does this deliberately to annoy Marcone. Nameless has been working for Marcone since after Small Favour, so bound to have happened.

Nameless is a Demi-God, a wizard and worst of all a lawyer, in his arrogance he will have presumed himself Marcone’s equal or more (it’s his arrogance which drew Miss Laplander) and of course names have power.

Harry nicknames and uses familiarity to cut his adversaries down to size in his own mind which boosts his confidence in his own magic against them, therefore Sir Baron John Marcone becomes the much less scary  “John”, and John knows this.