Ok, what do we really know about this BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy)?

1. Cowl was Special K's first apprentice.
2. Monstrously powerful.
3. No compunction about breaking the Laws.
4. Knew Bob well enough to go out of his way to steal him.
5. Knew Dresden better than simple gossip about the new upstart.
6. Never allows his face to be seen. Why? Is he old even by wizard standards? Disfigured? Butt Ugly? Maybe, just maybe, burned?
7. Has raised an apprentice to be his enforcer/servant/toy.

Now I'm going to make a wild guess, but most of those points also apply to one other character in the story. Who else is/was powerful, broke the Laws with impunity, knew about Bob, knows/knew Dresden, and raised an apprentice to be his servant? Maybe someone we all thought dead? Burned alive in a fire that supposedly killed one other character later proved alive?

Who tipped the council off to Special K in the first place? Who knew where to find him? Who was the warden who lead the raid? Who used the chaos of the raid to steal the greatest research aid to ever exist? How did he know to look for it? Who tried to raise Dresden as the perfect enforcer? Who taught Dresden everything he knows? Who knew Bob was not destroyed all those years ago? Who knew Dresden had him?

Justin DuMorne is Cowl, Kemmler's apprentice, Dresden's teacher, and leader of the Black Council (The Circle as they call themselves in Winter Night).

Thoughts? Prove me wrong?

 

Butcher has said the DuMorne is dead, permanently irrevocably dead.

My theory is that Cowl is Simon Pietrovitch (sp?) We know that he was on the Senior Council so he had to be very powerful and very skilled. Also because he was on the Senior Council he would have heard all about Harry and his -- erm reputation. And he was also the Council's vampire expert so he would be the single biggest threat to the Reds in the war, so the first thing he does is fake his death and get rid of one of the biggest obstacles to his associates. So maybe Cowl keeps his face covered so that he won't be recognized? He was also the one who taught DuMorne so he could know about Bob.

Anyway just my .02... This has also been talked about a fair amount over on the official forums too.

 

Cowl is Alternate-Future!Dresden. That is all.

 

Cowl is one bad son of a bitch is who he is.


I say Cowl might be Simon. Either that or the Merlin.

 

Another question--one which might give us the answer to 'who is Cowl?'-- would be 'who is Kumori?' If she's Senior Council, and somewhat subservient to Cowl...it could go a long way towards identifying the son of a bitch.

 

Well if Cowl is DuMorne than Kumori could easily be Elaine. She could have been lieing about being controlled by DuMorne and honestly be serving him under her own power. Would also explain why she cloaks herself, and why she wasn't all bad. And Butcher could be lieing about DuMorne being 100% dead to throw us off track.

 

I dont know bout Elaine being Kumori. That just seems like too much of a stretch for me.


I honestly hope by the time Dresden faces Cowl one on one again that they are on more of a level playing field. Dresden has advanced alot since Dead Beat but still from the first impression of Cowl he would still kick Dresden's ass while having a cup of tea.

 

Yeah, I definitely don't like Elaine for Kumori, and it's really doubtfull that she's future-Molly, as funny as that thought is.

I know on the offical DF forum, there's a lot of speculation about Kumori being Ancient Mai or Luccio. That would be kind of cool, since Dresden trusts at least one of them. That could also open up an Injun Joe is Cowl theory, too.

I agree with Dranco, though, I'd really like the playfing field to be evened a lot, and maybe it will. Dresden's further abilities with the Sight are starting to come into play, and we still don't know the full potential of Soul-Fire, so yeah. We may end up with a nicely done, more powerful Dresden in Turn Coat and beyond.

 

Mai, Luccio, and Elaine are why to much of a stretch for Kumori. Dresden would be able to identify them through their voice, you know.

He's also said he recognizes her voice, and is positive he knows who she is. I seriously doubt its any of the three above. My guess would be someone he knew that has yet to be introduced.

Cowl, on the other hand, I think is ... Cowl. Probably someone like Elaine. A sandbagger who's part of the WC and sort of hanging back from notice. Or it could be Simon, but I somehow doubt it. If it is the WC traitor, then its the Merlin. Morgan and Injun Joe have been cleared. Mai is a woman, therefore cannot be Cowl. Which leaves only the Merlin.

 

No idea about Kumori -

I think the Merlin is too obvious a choice for Cowl. It's always someone that you don't expect or someone new. I'm going with 'someone new'. Maybe some 'thought dead' Blackstaff from the past that was an old friend of Ebenezier's.(sp) So he knew of Dresden 'back then' and thought he wasn't a threat.

I think the Merlin is just being used as a dupe because he's just a plain old generic asshole and easy to point the finger at.

Or

It could be Mister ... have you noticed how he's never around when Cowl is???

 

The Merlin makes some sense because we know that Cowl is much more powerful than Dresden and thats a rather short list. Dresden is already more powerful than Luccio but she would totally kick his ass through her skill.

 

Peabody, the wizarding secretary, has been mentioned before as a possible candidate for Cowl. He could have found the bootcamp's location through the records. Peabody was also the one compiled the book on the Erlking, specifically he was the one that included the summoning poem.

@Vash: He knew who Kumori was but he didn't do anything about it? I think the case was he found her voice familiar, but couldn't recognize it because of the hissing/rustling quality both Cowl and Kumori had in their voices.

 

Yeah I knew that. But I'm almost 80% sure he would have recognized Luccio or Mai. Mai is too old, as well. And he WOULD have recognized Elaine. He also said he thought she was in the white council, as well. Which eliminates Elaine.

 

Kalas it might be a possibility but I refuse to accept that one of the most badass villains in Dresden is named Peabody. I personally think Cowl might be the Gatekeeper. He's so damn mysterious and he always seems to know more about everyone then he should and he is one of the few people on the list that are much more powerful than Dresden. I think that hes doing the Cowl act to influence things in the way he wants them to go since its been confirmed he can or at least knows how to use magic to affect time.

 

Krogan, there's only one problem with the Gatekeeper as Cowl. The gatekeeper is even taller than Dresden, and we know there aren't many people he comes across that are his height or better. I can't remember a page number, so don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure Cowl was described as decent height, but not of Dresden's proportions. I could be wrong, but yeah.

 

Well I can only say two things to that, first where does it say that the Gatekeeper is taller than him? Then if he is taller then I figure how terribly hard would it be for him to make himself appear a few inches shorter with magic?

 

Ok, so while I'm still trying to find that reference, I've got to say it would be much easier if we had the Dresden encyclopedia...the wiki page is incredibly limited. I'll keep wracking my brain for now, but if anyone else comes up with the answer first, feel free to share. I want to say the description is pointed out when Dresden meets the Gatekeeper in the Nevernever. But yeah. No quotes, please.



Edit: Thanks Heather.

 

Summer Knight

Proven Guilty

There you go.

 

Kumori can't be Luccio. Wasn't she busy fighting the Reds during Dead Beat?

 

She also fought against the necromancers.