I'm reasonably confident the reason that Rashid seems to know everything is that he's a time wizard and either he has been jumping all over the timestream or he found some way to get a non-linear perspective on linear time in the course of his duties.

The things he knows are far too specific to be from the vague foresight that Dresden gets. It's possible that it becomes more specific/detailed over time, but there's been no indication of that so far.

 

Maybe the title Gatekeeper comes with some benefits or that his power or bloodline is geared towards seeing major events. Like that metallic eyes of his perhaps?

 

One of the most intriguing a powerful wizards a soulless ginger? That would make me weep.

 

Have a look at the scene in Turn Coat where Rashid confronts Harry on the docks of Demonreach. It looks as though he uses his metallic eye as a focus for his future sight, which works in the same way Abby the Minor Talent's did in White Night; it sees possible futures based on the knowledge he has available. It's not perfect though, it can't take into account things he has no knowledge of, like Harry's link to Demonreach, which he had to demonstrate before Rashid could take it into account.

 

That was basically what I was aiming at. Rashid definitely has some way to divine the future, to a degree far beyond what has been implied as normal foresight.

The only question, in my mind, is how he does it. I'm partial to the "magic eye" theory myself, but there's definitely other possibilities (like he travels through time, or he established some kind of watch system over the Gates and it watches from a non-linear-time-perspective, etc).

 

I always thought he could see magic or magical connections in some way. Like, did Harry actually reveal/tell him he had that connection with Demonreach? I'm pretty sure he just jumped on the island and formed the link and had Rashid look at him again.

 

Remember that his reaction to Dresden's sanctum loci was "That wasn't supposed to happen yet!". That implies a fairly solid grasp of at least one potential future.

It's also possible he can do both; it honestly wouldn't surprise me at this point.

 

So from the cover information, I have a guess of what is to come.

Spoiler

WHile there are lots of long lived creatures, plenty die, so the target must something special. THere are three creatures this best suits, Dragon, Shapeshifter and denarian coin. My bet is the shapeshifter bounty hunter, followed by that dragon invited to the RCV party, those would be exceptionally impossible to kill. THe coin would be next to impossible. THe shapeshifter is Black council asset, so may have information.The dragon at the party as black council plots are often linked to that party. The coin because mab's tower was attacked.

Spoiler

The source of energy has to be demonreach, and wanna bet messing with the source of a magical lay line will kill alot of people, so threat to many. As he is now bound to it, it will really affect him.

My bet like in other HD book, hewill solve the two problems with each other, bad guys and evil magic, set it up so the magic ends up taking out the bad guys.

 

Took me a bit to grasp what you were trying to say Syed, and I have to disagree with most of your thoughts on

Spoiler

who the immortal Dresden has to kill might be. Ferrovax, the Dragon from the Red Court party is so far out of Dresden's league it isn't funny, and not even in an 'underdog still has a chance' way. The naagloshii, which is what I figure you meant by shapeshifter bounty hunter, doesn't fit the bill of immortal, seeing as Morgan successfully nuked one and Listens to Wind opined that he had a chance of taking one down.

Having a Denarian be the target, such as Thorned Namshiel, could be it though. He isn't exactly on Mab's Christmas list, and the properties of his coin do grant him a manner of immortality.

I disagree on Demonreach being inherently evil, although you're likely right that the two plots are linked in some manner. We also know that Margaret le Fay claimed it as her sanctum and that it comes with a certain mantle/responsibility, so we may find out more about that too.

 

@Tomato

There is a freeholding lord under the Unseelie Accords that is described as 'A semi-immortal shapshifter guru in Ukraine'. I'm betting this is what syed was referring to. Personally, I kind of doubt it as he/she/it is a member of the Unseelie Accords - and we all know how Mab is about keeping to her agreements.

 

Eh, it could conceivably be that this guru violated the accords one too many times and Mab wants to make an example of him, and at the same time demonstrate the effectiveness of her new Knight (like by reminding everyone that he is now on a very special list with only 3 names on it, one of which just happens to be Jesus).

 

Wait what? When did we find that out?

 

Inferred from the following passage from page 481 of Turn Coat:

"...seems clear that he had no idea of the island's original purpose. I sometimes can't help but think that there is such a thing as fate--or at least a higher power of some sort, attempting to arrange events in our favour despite everything we, in our ignorance, do to thwart it. The Merlin has demanded that we put the boy under surveillance at once. I think he's a damned fool.

Rashid says that warning him about the island would be pointless. He's a good judge of people, but I'm not so sure he's right this time. The boy's got a solid head on his shoulders, generally. And of all the wizards I know, he's among the three or four I'd be willing to see take up that particular mantle. I trust his judgement.

But then again, I trusted Maggie's, too."


I think I've come across reference to it elsewhere too, but I'm not 100% on that.

 

I don't think that means what you think it means. Or at least, you're reading an awful lot into that one line. It just seems a bit of a stretch to go from this to your conclusion.

It seems to imply more that Dresden's mom just did something colossally stupid, which seems to bear out with everything else we know about her.

 

I thought it was clear enough. Eb talking about Dresden claiming the island and how he's one of the few he would trust to do so, but then reflecting that he trusted Maggie to do so as well.

So it could either be a nod towards Maggie claiming Demonreach, or drawing deeper connections between the three of them before the revelation about their relationship in Changes.

 

I'm just not seeing a connection between Demonreach and Margaret there; it really feels like you're stretching it quite a bit to get there. Maybe it's just because the language here is something I would and have used, but I get a distinct feeling of separation between the Demonreach bit and the trust bit.

It's probably just a problem of perspective, most likely because I use that kind of language frequently and use it in the manner I've, hopefully adequately, described here.

That said, I would agree that if nothing else it's also likely a bit of foreshadowing towards their blood connection.

Also, wasn't Demonreach completely untamed before Dresden did his thing? I could be wrong, but I remember there being a brouhaha about how it went unclaimed and untouched after the settlers on it were driven out.

 

Eh, I'm more of the camp that he was merely questioning his judgement about trusting other people's judgement since he once trusted Margaret, who obviously did some monumentally dumb things in her time.

Edit: Agayek explains it far better than I could at this hour of the night. Damn ninja.

 

Demonreach is not evil, just dark. It had a purpose once. How ever if anyone tried to draw on its power, they could kill many people.
SOrt of how the halloween ritual could have killed chicago, or how the RCV spell wiped out the entire court, spells sone on nexus of power can kill on a nuclear level.

 

I disagree with TWT as well. I don't think that Margaret claimed the island as a Sanctum. That's just inferring to much from an intentionally vague statement.