In my mind, the reason the FBI's building lead to the Erlking's hall, was because both places were "the center for those hunting Harry Dresden."

Remember that the FBI were suspecting Dresden and had been monitoring him and so forth. Also, when the vampires burst in, they were a true hunting party trying to hunt down and kill Dresden.

The Erlking's hall is a place where hunters gather, and it is known that the Erlking has a bone to pick with Dresden -- to the point that he offered a reward to anyone who'd bring him in. (I think this is in the short story Heorot? Well, whichever short story it is wherein Dresden helps Gard.) Mind, the Erlking and Goblins were not pursuing Dresden right that minute, but there was still some link there.

So, that's my thought on why the FBI building led to the Erlking's hall during Changes. The key was the idea and purpose of the buildings. Tthe fact that both were sorta tied to Dresden, might also have played a part.

 

I don't think it's so Dresden centric. I think it's just that both are involved in hunting.

 

Indeed, they were both places of hunting, pursuit, capturing, and, in some cases, slaying. One could probably make a good argument for the skills of the FBI and the Goblins having something to do with it, too.

Anyway, forgot to respond to this.

No, Mab said Demonreach could have reacted differently but chose not too and appreciated it--but that doesn't change the fact that Demonreach had been lossing to Meave and Lily, with pieces of it being blow away. Perhaps if it had made a fight of it, it could have taken several of the Sidhe down before being defeated, but it would have lost--we know that for a fact.

After all, the entire point was that if Dresden didn't stop them, Demonreach would have been blown up, remember? It's not even a debate over whether they would have succeeded or not--if Harry hadn't been there, they would have blown it sky high, because that was why everything had been going wrong in the first place; the explosion was building up due to ripples through time.

More then that, Nemesis whole plan and this entire book would have made no sense if Demonreach could have stopped them at any time.

 

No, we don't. He was standing there and doing nothing, and both of them with help from their men could barely make him slowly lose pieces of himself. If he started acting it probably wouldn't be even a real fight for him.

The Ladies weren't even plan B when it comes to blowing up Demonreach mission. More likely they were "if everything else fails, maybe they will be lucky enough to do some damage using all this distraction" plan.

 

Um, no, Demonreach was stopped in place the entire time and he couldn't act at all; not to attack the Ladies or to help Harry, and Harry said as much. He could have approached the problem differently, perhaps, but one Lady and their guard were enough to stalemate him and two could beat him; this was stated outright.

Again, you're wrong. The Ladies were plan A; everyone else was a distraction. It was stated that they would have succeeded, as well.

 

No, Dresden stated that Demonreach was busy holding off the Outsiders so he couldn't divert force onto the Ladies.

It wasn't that Demonreach couldn't swat them aside. He was just busy shooting the Vultures instead of swatting the flies.

 

Where was it stated that they would succeed? Did Harry state it? His lack of knowledge on Demonreach and the island was made very clear in the book. In this instance, he cannot be trusted to be right.

Have you considered the possibility that plan A was for Nemesis to manipulate Maeve and Lily into attacking Demonreach and promptly being blown to pieces or permanently locked up by the far more powerfull entity. This ofcourse would have meant that Winter and Summer both would have lost a big chuck of power, and Maeve herself states that the loss of the power of Winter Lady would ultimately cause Mab to lose the war against the outsiders, which is what Nemesis wants.

Demonreach was probably either warned by Mab of this, or smart enough itself to realise what would happen if it wiped out Maeve&Lily.

 

Um, that's not what he said at all. He said this:

Harry then went on to point out how their nature as Fae were giving them an advantage on top of that.

Only no, because then Nemesis would be a fucking idiot, because Harry can let prisoners out at will, and this entire plan would have been mindnumbingly dumb, because Lily would have been talked to and then let out and then Meave would have either been talked down at Mab's leisure or killed.

More to the point, it ignores that the Island was blowing up as a result of their success. They absolutely would have succeeded, because until Harry stopped them, they had succeeded.

Timey-wimey~

 

Wouldn't including a hunter spirit be the Erlking's thing anyway? He's The Faerie Hunter and has commanded the Wild Hunt on at least two occasions. That puts the belts even more in his realm than just plain transformation does.

 

He's one being associated with the Hunt, but by no means the only one, nor even the only in charge of the Hunt. Generally, he only rules Goblin's; it's not until the hunt is called that he summons the hounds. Given they show no reaction to iron, I don't think that's near enough to point at him, especially when it was said a wizard made the belts.

 

Yet he is still thematically linked to hunters and hunter spirits (also as a guardian/killer/psychopomp of children, but I digress), so it is not beyond belief to associate him with the belts. Also, could you remind me where it says that a Wizard did it? Fool Moon can't really be trusted as a source on this either, given that Harry was years away from even thinking about the Erlking.

 

A wizard was giving it to Denton in the soulgaze Harry had with him.

 

Actually, it doesn't mention a wizard at all.

Could have been anyone or anything.

 

And then he said:

Because he wrongly assumed that Demonreach is unable to attack them. Which is not the truth since Mab thanked him for not doing anything.

It wasn't stated that they would succeeded on their own. For all we know all that Harry needed to do that night was to stop the other three attempts (two that Marcone and Lara took care of and the boats' attack) and the island would be safe, because Demonreach would attack the Ladies when he decided that they were too close to actually doing a damage to the prison.

 

No, Mab thanked him for not acting differently, and Demonreach acknowledged her; that says nothing of what he could have done or it's success.

We know that's not it, though, because Demonreach always had defenses against the Outsider's rush on it's borders.

 

If they weren't a danger to Demonreach why even bother stopping them? Or two other rituals? Harry needed to stop them all, because any of them could destroy the island.

Anyway, neither you or I can prove what Demonreach could or couldn't do. You take some of things that Dresden assumes one way, I take them another. Maybe WoJ will clarify it someday.

 

I was talking about the Outsiders on the boats.

Anyway, not my own, but very cool idea for the next book. It's going to be a heist, right? Maybe something like Harry's Eleven. But you know what would be a really awesome target for it?

A modern dragon's lair.

 

"“Ten minutes to the marina. An hour and change to the island and back. Call it an hour for a service call.” I shook my head and snorted. “If we leave right now, that puts us back here in town right around sunrise, wouldn’t you say?”
“More or less,” she agreed.
“Mab,” I said, in the same tone I reserved for curse words.
“What?”
“That’s why the lockdown,” I said. Then clarified. “Mab closed the border with Faerie until dawn.”
Molly was no dummy. I could see the wheels turning as she figured it out. “She’s giving you time to deal with it unmolested.”
“Relatively unmolested,” I corrected her. “I’m starting to think that Mab mainly helps those who help themselves. Okay. Once Maeve gets to start moving pieces in and out of Faerie in the morning, things are going to get busy, fast. Also, I don’t want to be working with the magical equivalent of a reactor core the next time Hook and his band of minipsychos catch up with me. So.”
Molly nodded. “So we go to the island first?”
“We go to the island now.”"

Any reason that didn't summon her?

First I thought it was due to the lack of her title but later on in the book we read: "I lifted my joined voice and will and thundered, “Titania, Titania, Titania! I summon thee!”"
so clearly the title doesn't matter.

Is it because there is some time between the usage of her name? Does intent play a role? Maybe it's just a plothole?

 

Makes me think of the mysterious gift Bianca gave Ferrovax.