None as yet, though the reveal that Fae can enter through a Threshold without an invitation as long as they intend no harm to the people living there/guests adds a few interesting possibilities. Mab and Lea would, of course, have no problem getting through Harry's wards in that case, and Lea could just as easily enter through her garden, if that's what it took.

The problem then though is that Bob would be there to witness it all. So unless someone or something knew enough to be able to keep him quiet (like Thomas did in Backup), it would have to be someone that could force Bob to forget.

Bob isn't a weak spirit, so it would have to be pretty damn powerful to make him forget without leaving any trace of it.

So, my bets are either on time travelling Harry (less probable given what we know of chronomancy now) or Lea, since she has the means, motive and plenty of opportunity.

 

Book 17 is supposedly going to be about time travel. I guess we might learn there.

 

I find the theory of Cowl being heavily involved with time travel interesting. But I think the book after Skin Game is gonna be the Black Court vampire Mavra using the Word if Kremmler and going after Drakul.

 

This was a thought that just occurred to me in the Skin Games thread and this seems as good as any to bring it up, as I've not done my due diligence in seeing if anyone already said it or if it's negated by WOJ.

Is Nemesis essentially free will? More specifically, is it the ability to choose one's own nature, based on the individual's capacity act?

While it's hinted that it causes beings to act outside their natures, there are literally things some of them cannot do. For faeries, that's lying. For beings like Ladies, Queens, and Mothers there are nebulously defined rules they have to follow. For mortals, it might be 'unnatural' thoughts, and, as such, more par for the course (e.g. Kumori asking why death has to exist).

Part of the basis for this is my own distaste for the plot point of evil-outsider-mind-virus makes you evil. It seems like a more elegant solution. After all, what happens if beings like Uriel or Mother Summer can decide to act outside their stations and destroy the planet in a fit of pique? It becomes a counterpoint to Dresden's constant positivity about freewill when it becomes too much of a good thing, even for something like Lash, who might be able to knock Harry out, but not control him like a puppet.

 

Maeve was able to lie pretty convincingly.

 

Except she wasn't. When Harry was trying to convince Fix he made a point of mentioning how unbelievable the things Maeve was saying would be if not for the fact that they knew she couldn't lie.

 

Fix wasn't saying "She seemed like she was lying". He was saying "The things she was saying were unbelievable". On top of that, Maeve was able to play Dresden like a fiddle while lying straight to his face.

Maeve was many things, but a bad liar was not among them.

 

Point, but how much of that came from the fact that Dresden knew she couldn't lie?

 

The established "fact" that she couldn't lie helped her sell pretty much everything, there's no getting around that.

You're talking about a Sidhe though, the people who practically invented lying through omission. She was able to lie, and good at it, before Nemesis ever got its hands on her. It just made her able to be more direct about it.

 

God, I need sleep. :facepalm /had completely forgotten that.

 

It's an important plot point that Maeve outright lied to Lily and Fix at one point.

 

Maeve being able to lie was one of my main points. In White Night, Bob talks about how Lash took a piece of Dresden's soul in order to decide for herself.

My question is whether Nemesis is freewill, or a perverted version thereof? Not necessarily a soul, but something that takes a sidhe, who probably have the capacity to be great liars, and gives them that little option.

It has implications for Lash, but we can also guess something from Lea's imprisonment and how she tried to go against Mab, something that should be unlikely or impossible given what promises and fealty mean to the Fae and the Winter Knight.

 

I believe Lash always had the power to decide and do what she wanted... Fallen Angels, and presumably their shadows, don´t have a a lot of limiters on them other than being in a coin. Lash valued/loved Dresden, and his freedom, more than herself which while certainly impressive is something to I think not connected Nemesis.

In my understanding Nemesis is something that destroys/corrupts the natural order of things. The Dresden Verse and all its inhabitants have to follow certain rules and limitations, Nemesis, a being that exists outsides those and thus not limited by them, simply gives that ability to its hosts.

 

So are we to assume Nemesis and the Black Council have been around since a bit before Storm Front since they apparently taught that Warlock and also had given the FBI people the wolf pelts soon after.

Everything we have seen has been around Chicago, I wonder how many other things around the world that they have had a hand in that no one realises is them, Chicago does apparently attract them due to Demonreach and being a nexus, but there mucst be other places they have caused shit.

 

There were mentions of Elaine and Carlos(?) working in Los Angeles. If they know anything about it, and even if they don't, they're probably stopping at least some of the schemes and collecting relevant data.

 

Topic swap. I was thinking. In Small Favor, is Mab afraid of Ivy joining the Denarians?

I'm kinda thinking she is, because she sends in both Dresden and the Hobbs to settle the issue (plus whatever other instruments she may have used that we did not see.)

I'm assuming that she knows about the BC influence on the Denarians and that she suspects Ivy knows her True Name.

The BC have already hit Arctis Tor, after all. Mab seems like someone they'd want to knock off. Any thoughts on the theory?

 

I think Mab was less afraid of Ivy joining the Denarians as she was afraid Nemesis would corrupt the Archive. It is highly likely that Nemesis' influence would be sufficient to break Ivy of the binds of neutrality forced upon her, and then Nemesis wins. Full stop.

Since Mab's purpose is explicitly to stop the Outsiders from getting In, she couldn't have that happen. Thus, the hobbs as a backup plan.

 

Yes. But the only way the Archive would really be a threat to Mab would be if she knew her name. Possibly if someone who knew the secrets of Demonreach wrote about it, too. But mostly that.

 

The Archive doesn't need to be a threat to Mab to let the Outsiders in.

Then Mab loses anyway.

 

The only way for them to get in, except if they're summoned slowly and one at a time, is through the outer gates. I'm pretty sure that if you call lots of outsiders into the world, there are powers who will notice and object. A lot.