"Hooded one" is hood. Odin is Cowl.

[Cthoniq]

First of all I know Cowl's identity is a well worn question, but after looking around the forum I didn't see this seemingly obvious idea put forward: Odin is Cowl.

So who is cowl and what do we know about him? He's a dude named for his attire, a cowl. His magic "feels" dark and powerful but mostly mortal. All the direct actions we've seen him take are doing one of three things:
1. Killing people or trying to kill people.
2. Stealing power and knowledge.
3. Manipulating the politics of various nations.

Who is Odin and what do we know about him? He's a dude nicknamed after his attire, a cowl (One of Odin's most famous names is Grimnir, from the Norse story Grimnismal. Grimnir means "hooded one". Dude's nickname is literally Cowl). In the dresdenverse he used to be a God, but became killable to stay involved in the mortal world (WoJ), so presumably his magic is "mostly mortal". All the things we've seen Odin do (and the things he does on 99% of the stories about him) are one of three things:
1. Killing people or trying to kill people (and titans).
2. Stealing power and knowledge (in the sagas Odin has like 5 separate stories about stealing power and knowledge, and he kills people in most of them. In one, mead flies out of his butt, at least according to Niel Gaiman.
3. Manipulating the politics of various nations.

Jim has said that some of the characters we think are nice are gonna wind up as traitors. That was pre-BG, so he could have meant Justine, but I'm always asking myself why one of the most sinister explicitly "black wizard" figures in mythology is portrayed as a really nice helpful dude in dresden files. Odin will seduce you then murder you because he wants to steal your dad's stuff. Dude is literally a necromancer. He isn't a nice guy. Also starwars fan Jim chose to use "Vader" in Odin's public persona.

A couple times Jim has said that giving readers clues is tricky, because sometimes he thinks things are super obvious, but reads miss them. I wonder if having a black wizard named "hooded one" out of mythology and having him disguise himself as a black wizard named "hood" is one of those.

"But wait," I hear you say, "Odin claims that he and Uriel have lunch once a year, and  One Eye's use of the Mr. Sunshine nickname supports the idea. Odin could be lying, but I'd he's telling the truth it implies Uriel would associate with an evil power!" Mab. Uriel worked with Mab. If you believe Bob, the archangels have even worked with Lucifer post-fall on Job. I admit that his association with Uriel is a big flaw, but it's not inconceivable to me that either the angels are more old testament than dresden realizes, or Dresden drawing a line between the Black Council and Nemesis is in error, the way Rashid's take in TC was.

[g33k]

Cowl is way, way, way underpowered to be Odin.
Like... multiple orders of magnitude.

Cowl isn't even in Ebenezer's weight-class.

Unless, of course, OdinCowl has been pulling his punches... acting a threat to help folks see the damned obvious right under their noses but always (just barely) failing.

Which seems like it'd actually be pretty Odin-esque, TBH.

[Mira]

Cowl is way, way, way underpowered to be Odin.
Like... multiple orders of magnitude.

Cowl isn't even in Ebenezer's weight-class.

Unless, of course, OdinCowl has been pulling his punches... acting a threat to help folks see the damned obvious right under their noses but always (just barely) failing.

Which seems like it'd actually be pretty Odin-esque, TBH.

My question is what is the point? They may appear very much alike, but if Odin is Cowl why is he undercutting himself?  Last I checked they don't play on the same team.. Of course that may be the point.

[The_Sibelis]

Possibly?
My current meta on Odin, is he's also GK and a few other masks besides Odin and Kringle.
I figure either they're all the same consciousness masquerading as different masks of identity. Or, because of the way I think the creation of DR cements the trunk of the timelines. They're all the same person from a slightly different reality threaded through itself into one.

[EBRIEN]

If this follows as true, then Cowl/Odin performing the Darkhallow was meant to regain his godhood.

Reminds me a bit of Gaiman's American Gods. Won't spoil it, but there's that scene...

[Mira]

If this follows as true, then Cowl/Odin performing the Darkhallow was meant to regain his godhood.

Reminds me a bit of Gaiman's American Gods. Won't spoil it, but there's that scene...

Was it to regain his godhood?  Or to gain godhood?  There is a difference.

[g33k]

My question is what is the point? They may appear very much alike, but if Odin is Cowl why is he undercutting himself?  Last I checked they don't play on the same team.. Of course that may be the point.

If my WAG about this is correct, "Cowl" isn't a threat at all -- "Cowl" exists solely as a shadow to train-up Harry, to shake up the White Council, to get various powers-that-be and individuals off their duff's and into action.

Because there really IS a hidden threat; it really HAS been working for years; and Odin wants folks alert to it, opposing it, and ready to fight when the Big One happens.

[Mira]

If my WAG about this is correct, "Cowl" isn't a threat at all -- "Cowl" exists solely as a shadow to train-up Harry, to shake up the White Council, to get various powers-that-be and individuals off their duff's and into action.

Because there really IS a hidden threat; it really HAS been working for years; and Odin wants folks alert to it, opposing it, and ready to fight when the Big One happens.

Could be, hard to tell even at this point.  Though it appears that Cowl was at Bianca's party and had something to do with Lea getting the infected knife.  Of that is true, he is hardly harmless and I doubt that he shows up with the purpose of training up Harry.

[The_Sibelis]

Heh, so just thinking about the parallels with the Dark hood makes me laugh. I
Thinking on it tho, I could basically see "cowl" as his dark avatar. Someone who does in fact have elements of outright evil but is helmed underneath by someone good...
The proper set up, with mirroring.. would be GK is Odins Dark counterpart(much to be said for him being... Thoth?, the Egyptian moon guy idk) tho, GK is inherently good. Makes me wonder... Look at it this way, if GK's role tho dark is inherently good then Odin as mirror though inherently Light would actually be Evil?
Anyway back to the cowl thing.
Mentioned is Odin and Uriel are in similar lines of work. See... This is telling to ME, because Uriel is clearly curating timelines to succeed using his interdimentional knowledge and reach. Odin is also doing similar from within his individual power. If Mab CAN be aware of her other selves I'd bet dollar's to donuts Odins the guy with a council of himself in the multiverse trading stock of information back and forth. When Cowl said he didn't see the possibility of no one getting the power of the Hallow he was being literal. As the timeline went that wasn't a possibility. What Harry did was an act of Fate(heh, big metaphor behind Bob enabling it and later working with a KotC i think) changing the timeline... Or at least changing when the Hallow was to be done and by whom, cause cowl was certain it was happening that night.
I could see Odin using a dark identity to enable good. That's inside his shtick and knowledge of how to maintain balance within reality.

[g33k]

Could be, hard to tell even at this point.  Though it appears that Cowl was at Bianca's party and had something to do with Lea getting the infected knife.  Of that is true, he is hardly harmless and I doubt that he shows up with the purpose of training up Harry.

Arguably, this too could have been Odin working to challenge everyone, train Harry, etc.

Nemfecting the Faerie Godmother of a Starborn Wizard, and the right hand of the Outer Gates' chief guardian??!?

Well... yes...  If Odin felt that Mab had grown too complacent, too self-confident.  Odin might have felt that WinterQueen + Starborn were sufficient guardrails upon a known Nemfection... a "calculated risk."  It is, admittedly, a very cold-blooded and calculating sort of action; but I think it hardly beyond Odin's strategic grasp.

And although Mab lost her daughter, it's worth noting:  Mab's contingencies were, in fact, sufficient to contain the mess!

[Mira]

Arguably, this too could have been Odin working to challenge everyone, train Harry, etc.

Nemfecting the Faerie Godmother of a Starborn Wizard, and the right hand of the Outer Gates' chief guardian??!?

Well... yes...  If Odin felt that Mab had grown too complacent, too self-confident.  Odin might have felt that WinterQueen + Starborn were sufficient guardrails upon a known Nemfection... a "calculated risk."  It is, admittedly, a very cold-blooded and calculating sort of action; but I think it hardly beyond Odin's strategic grasp.

And although Mab lost her daughter, it's worth noting:  Mab's contingencies were, in fact, sufficient to contain the mess!

Maybe not beyond his grasp, but still rather doubtful.

[g33k]

Maybe not beyond his grasp, but still rather doubtful.

Oh yeah!  It's a VERY longshot sort of WAG!
But Odin's the kind of guy who'd be willing to do it, if he thought it needed doing.

[Mira]

Oh yeah!  It's a VERY longshot sort of WAG!
But Odin's the kind of guy who'd be willing to do it, if he thought it needed doing.

  Reminds me of a line from an old movie called, "Laura."  Two women are talking about the
murder of another woman and whether a man they were mutually interested in had done it..
One says to the other that the man wasn't capable of murder, but while she didn't do it, she, herself was capable of committing murder... In other words just because Odin is capable of doing it, and no one is disputing that, but that doesn't mean he'd actually do it. At least not as a training exercise for Harry.

[g33k]

... In other words just because Odin is capable of doing it, and no one is disputing that, but that doesn't mean he'd actually do it. At least not as a training exercise for Harry.

No; I'm saying he's more than just "capable" of doing it.

If he thought it needed doing, he'd be entirely willing, and would not flinch.

(I don't think he did; but I think it's intriguingly-possible)

[Mira]

No; I'm saying he's more than just "capable" of doing it.

If he thought it needed doing, he'd be entirely willing, and would not flinch.

(I don't think he did; but I think it's intriguingly-possible)

I guess I define capable differently than you do... To me if you are capable of doing it, you are also willing to do it and not flinch.. However none of that says that it would be smart to do it.  Odin isn't a stupid god.