Not necessarily. It's implied back in Summer Knight that Changelings are the exception rather than the rule. On top of that, we know about the is/is not Changelings of all of 4 Sidhe so far (Sarissa, Maeve, Lily, Mab), 5 if you include Molly. There's billions of the things, 4 is not a representative sample.

That said, it may be a requirement for the one/any of the Mantles that the bearer be, or have been, human.

 

Just had a thought; how fucked up would it be if Harry and Karrin finally get together, but doing so is the thing that drives Molly over the edge?

At first she wants to be happy for them, but a little seed of jealousy gets in there, and she slowly cracks as Mab tries to reassure her it's better this way, really, or to just be patient, she can have him once Karrin is dead...

Though it is so strange that the Winter Lady be denied, especially by her own Knight. But, it's for the best, really.

Strange, though, that Dresden would love someone so plain... and of course some of the Sidhe are talking about what a dorrmat the new Lady is, but as long as Dresden is happy...

Etc., and end with Molly essentially arranging for Karrin's assassination.

Would it start a Winter civil war, Lady vs. Knight? If Molly was over the edge, she'd probably be able to kill him, though I bet Dresden would hold back, despite everything. Would Dresden try to save her? Would Mab cackle madly and enjoy it, assuming they'll both come out stronger than before, or would she secretly hope that one would kill the other?

Would Harry save Murphy, or be too late? Would Michael and Charity get involved? Would Molly ever have an epiphany and come out of it? Would Nemesis be the cause, or would Molly's sensitivity and apparent borderline sanity be enough to start the downward spiral?

So much fun thinking about torturing characters...

 

It would be a good idea, if it didn't read like something done countless times already. I expect something more surprising from Winter Lady Molly.

But feel free to write it as a fanfic, Jim.

 

While I get your point, free will is more than being able to lie. It's the ability to choose, period. The Fae have that ability. Mab chose Harry to be her Knight. Lily chose to meet Harry. They can tell the truth or deceive people They can take action without Fate dictating their every move. It would be accurate to say that while humans have total free will, the Fae have limited free will. They have some rules they have to follow, but are otherwise free to choose their fate.

 

I just found this lovely passage from Storm Front

Toot streaked out over Lake Michigan's waters again, a miniature silver comet, and vanished in a twinkling, just like Santa Claus. Though I should say that Santa is a much bigger and more powerful faery than Toot, and I don't know his true name anyway. You'd never see me trying to nab Saint Nick in a magic circle, even if I did. I don't think anyone has stones that big.

 

I'd like to see a fic where current Dresden tells some of his adventures to Harry from the first book.


"I once trapped Erlking in a magic circle. He was not amused," said future Dresden.

"You did what?"

"And few years later I summoned Titania. She wanted to eat my heart."

"What?!"

"That's nothing. When I summoned Mother Winter she wanted to cook a stew using my whole body. Funny times... Hey, younger me, are you feeling well?"

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Mother Winter mention that it's possible to resist the mantle's sway? The way she phrased it seemed to indicate that it had happened before and could happen again - and if anyone can resist a force of nature it's probably Dresden. As for disappointment regarding the mantle as a metaphysical threat...well that doesn't preclude the possibility of another internal struggle eh?

I think it's safe to say that Dresden is already wondering what parts of his actions are mantle influenced or just his baser instincts being amplified. For that matter the Harry/ Molly angle is probably going to come into full force now. According to Maeve (who is not exactly a reliable source...but hey got to go on something right?) the WK and WL usually have some sort of relationship - which seems to jive with the way Harry's mantle reacted to her's (en garde - double entendre!).

I think it's also worthwhile to ask ourselves how much of Maeve's actual personality we've seen. I mean, we learn about her mostly through her interactions with Harry right? So what if the personality she's been presenting him with isn't strictly in line with what the mantle normally forces her to be? Just some thoughts.

As for the Mac debate...I'm leaning to him being an ex-practitioner and possibly ex-knight. I mean, he clearly understands magic but doesn't possess any himself. IIRC if a practitioner gives up their magic it takes the mantle with them. So I'd wager that Mac could have been a lot like Harry once upon a time, he dropped his powers and set up a bar to keep an eye on novices who didn't know what they were doing. As for the outsider angle, seems black and white to me - Mac fought them at some point when he actually had magic. The vitriol Sharkface throws at him suggests to me that Mac might have even been able to harm outsiders at some point.

Anyway that's pretty much rampant conjecture which is likely garbage.

Tl;dr I am a walrus.

 

Scouting reactions to your plans for the next book, Jim? Shame on you...

 

Hell all things considered now Harry has a significantly better story to tell Maggie at Christmas time when she wants to know about Santa. "Well sweetie Santa would have brought you presents himself but Daddy sort of punched him in the face a lot at his last birthday party so Daddy is having to put them under the tree himself, maybe once Santa finishes hunting down and killing enough things next Halloween he'll mellow out enough to start bringing them himself again."

 

Hasn't Molly been tortured enough already? Yikes, someone give the poor girl a hug already.

On the whole free will deal. Both Lily and Fix went against Titania's orders when they tried getting around her compulsion. Shouldn't that count?

 

They went up against the letter of her geas, which is a very Fae thing to do.

 

Fix is still a mortal, so his free will was never in doubt. As for Lily, from what Word of Jim we've gotten it sounds like her free will was gradually undermined by the Summer Lady mantle over the course of several years, so presumably she hadn't completely lost her free will yet in Proven Guilty.

Of course, that's assuming absolute obedience is part of the Summer Lady mantle in the first place. It's entirely possible that Summer Lady and Summer Queen can both be acting within their natures, and still come into conflict/disagreement, especially since their natures are so emotionally driven.

 

From the explanation Jim used about how Uriel could not have helped Harry -- about how it would have severe consequences and implied that the last Angel to do so was Lucifer -- it seems like the "apocalyptic consequences if you go against this" applies firstly to supernatural beings.

Basically, a Fae Queen or Angel could be stuck between a "do your job, or Rocks Fall Everybody dies." A human being is more likely to be faced with something like Chichen Itza or the Darkhallow -- horrible challenges and consequences on perhaps a global level, but not 'cosmic responsibilities'.

 

Damn it, Dovaekin.

Stop making sense with your damn logic and stuff. You're ruining my denial.

 

You sure? I thought WoJ said that both Fix and Lily made their choices when they got their respective mantles. Both were changelings with the potential to choose to be either mortal or sidhe. Fix, upon becoming a knight, chose to be mortal. And Lily, upon becoming lady chose to be sidhe. I seem to remember Jim even saying that Lily was in denial in SK, when she claimed she had not yet made a choice.

So basically, Lily made the choice to be a sidhe when she became lady, even if she did not fully understand what she was doing. I remember another WoJ where it is said that if an offspring of a mortal and supernatural creature does not know everything about the choice, their actions may make the choice for them (I guess they choose subconsiously or something). This presumably happened to Lily.

So Lily basically gave up her mortal Free Will the moment she became a lady. Whatever choice or freedom she had from then on was the kind of choice/freedom that all sidhe ladies get, but she had lost the full free will package that mortals get. I would presume this may have happened with Sarissa too. Then again, Sarissa is obviously far more knowledgable about this whole choice thing so it may be that unlike Lily, she is experienced/aware enough not to make the choice and remain a changeling, even as a lady.

And ofcourse it remains to be seen how all that works with Molly, who is not a changeling at all and who therefore should not be able to make a choice to become sidhe, knowingly or otherwise. Unless the mantle really has the ability to literally alter her physically to the point where she becomes a totally different species (which seems extreme), then she really should still be a human, just a human with the mantle of a lady.

 

Well, we've already seen one Fae made item that can literally change a person's species. The hexenwulfen belts are heavily implied to be of either Erlking or goblin make, so it's not beyond reasoning that a much more powerful mantle could change the holder's physical form. It would do terrible damage to them, of course, but then the only thing they've got to lose is their soul...

 

No outright source, but here's the theory.

The hexenwulfen belts turned their wearers into wolves (obviously) and forced the thought processes of a predator on them too. When Harry wore the belt he felt the need to hunt, to prove his strength and to kill his prey. This is somewhat, but not totally, similar to what the Erlking made him feel when Harry tried to trap him in the circle during Dead Beat.

On top of that, the people who got hold of the belts were FBI Agents based in Chicago. During Changes we found out that at least part of the FBI building leads to the Erlking's Hall.

The theory is that the steward goblin (I keep remembering his name as Wormtongue for some reason >_>) made the belts and passed them on to the FBI Agents for reasons currently unknown. Given what we found out in Cold Days I'd not be surprised if the goblin had been infected by Nemesis; he seems to be fairly high up in the Erlking's court. If he is infected it would also explain the malice and addiction that came with the belts, rather than just the predator instincts.

 

They do that because of the way the belts work, though--they cause a type of Hunter spirit to possess the wielder and take over all the little things that people otherwise have a hard time doing. Like learning how to walk on four legs, use suddenly increased senses properly, attack with one's teeth, etc.

Note how the Alpha's, for example, had to spend years learning how to do all this, much like a baby has to learn to walk.

So on the plus side, way easier to do. The downside, of course, is that a Hunter Spirit is riding shot gun in your head. Not a faerie though, just black magic.