It is possible to run away and shout at your soldiers to do something at the same time, though. Oh well. Nicodemus had better kill the shit out of the guy the next time they meet.

 

On top of general survival instinct, I would point out that we're told in Skin Game that Nicodemus and Anduriel's greatest strength is their ability to gain and control information. Everything Anduriel and Nicky do, and the key to their success, is that they know their enemies. They don't win battles through raw power, but by knowing more.

When you know superior knowledge is your biggest advantage, and quite likely the only thing keeping you alive, nothing would be scarier than jumping into a situation where you knew you were missing critical facts.

 

On the topic of Nicodemus. I did some research about the The Spear of Destiny, also known as the Holy Lance or Longinus Spear.

Where does that story feature? Well, it's mentioned in the bible, though the soldier and the spear aren't named. But they're both on The Gospel of Nicodemus. (Yepp, those are a thing even if they're not catholic canon.)

So Nicodemus wanted the spear (or what is most certainly the tip of the spear.)

The spear shed the blood of Christ. As such, it might somehow be used as a focus to either target God, or to do something else relating to God.

Nicodemus himself says that "Love will be the downfall of God himself."

The ultimate expression of God's love is widely considered to be Jesus' sacrifice. Which ties it all together.

Now, I don't really think Nicodemus could whack God, or that anyone else could for that matter. What else might he wish to do?

Deirdre said they were fighting to save the world, and I'm sure she really believed that. After 1500+ years with Nicodemus, it feels safe to say she can't be taking him entirely on faith. She has to know some of the details of what they do.

Aaand here's where the theories should pop up. What do they want to do?

I'm thinking they might want to free Lucifer and the rest of the Fallen from Perdition.

 

Well i read somewhere that maybe they wanted the Spear to make a ritual and call the Anti-Chirst, but i don't think so.

Maybe they want it to kill some of the major powers infected by Nemesis (maybe an Archangel or someone too powerfull to take him on their own). If they needed blood of Christ (i don't think so, too old for do nothing) they doesn't need the spear for that, the thorns and the nails have it too.
So i think the knife have somewhat the power to kill an inmortal and they needed it. Maybe not just kill him but also take his power, but this seems less likely.

 

Why on earth would an archangel be beat by Nemesis? The Walkers are powerful, but Harry's beaten two of them. Whereas Uriel and presumably all of the Archangels are strong enough to tear galaxies apart.

Both the cup and the spear should be able to do the same thing, to be honest. Maybe in a different way. Both have been in contact with the blood of Christ. I rather doubt it's as simple as killing or driving away Nemesis.

The Anti-Christ thing, maybe.

 

To be fair, Maeve was pretty powerful, probably more powerful than Harry even now, and she got whammied. Sure, in a fight Uriel would probably curbstomp, assuming he was able to do so within his restrictions, but if he was taken by surprise...(not that I think this is even a likely scenario. Having Harry's more powerful allies taken off the board by brain-washing seems a little 'safe' for Butcher)

 

Even Maeve is an ant to Uriel. Hell, even Nemesis and the Walkers. I just don't think that Nemesis can jump in and corrupt anyone it fancies.

 

Basically this. Uriel and the other archangels exist on a level far beyond Maeve and Nemesis.

Ofcourse it was previously suggested that Nemesis might have been able to infect Uriel while Michael was running around with Uriels grace. Uriel was essentially powerless at that point afterall.

However even that seems unlikely, since its implied that Nemesis needs direct contact to infect. So unless Charity or Butters or someone who was in the house is infected, even that is not an option.

Besides, if Mab can heal someone from infection, then I see no reason why archangels could not. So even in the VERY unlikely situation where Uriel was infected, I see no reason why the other 3 could not just gang up on the infected Uriel and heal him.

Really, this would only work if the majority of archangels were infected, and if that was the case, the outsiders would already have won.

 

On a semi-related note, what's the chances of the Fallen having been infected by Nemesis?

EDIT: Or rather, one of the Fallen.

 

Considering it's implied that Thorned Namshiel (and possibly Tessa and Rosanna) are part of the Black Council, I'd say it's pretty damn high.

 

The fallen? No. The coin bearers? Absolutely. I just read proven guilty again and apparently the bc attack on arctis tor left thousands of dead. What the hell did they bring? Even all 30 denarians working in unison would not be enough and we know that nic was not there.

 

Thorned Namshiel was amongst the attackers, Mab says so at the end of Small Favor, and his bearer is nothing but a meat puppet. While possible, it is extremely unlikely that whether or not he's infected by Nemesis would mean anything. It's far more likely that the angel itself has been infected.

As for what they brought? I'd imagine Outsiders, among other things.

 

I suppose Outsiders, yeah... They'd still need a lot of them, but I guess that'd be the easiest way for them to get muscle.

 

This is far more plausible than any of the archangels. Thorned Namshiel is "merely" a normal fallen angel, so I figure he is not at the "blow up galaxies" level. He is likely easier to infect. And perhaps more importantly, he is essentially imprisoned in one of the denarian coins.

I could see the coins being a unique weakness that would make it easier for outsiders to infect the 30 specific fallen in the coins. Unlike with other angels (fallen or otherwise), the outsiders don't need to worry about trying to find an angel, fight and capture it and then keep it imprisoned long enough for infection to occur.

With the 30 "denarian" fallen, all an outsider would need is the coin, and they would basically have full access to the fallen angel within, and there is nowhere the fallen could escape to when the outsider started the infection process.

 

The 30 fallen in the coins were imprisoned partially because Lucifer didn't fancy having any rival with daggers behind their backs, as far as I know. They were the elite among those who fell with him. Anduriel his most trusted lieutenant. (Pretty sure there's Word of God on this.)

The Fallen aren't going to change. Lasciel wouldn't change. Lash, however, could and did. So I'll still call bullshit on Nemesis being able to corrupt one of the fallen. The person, as I said, that'd be the weak point.

It'd just be another voice in the coin-bearers head. One the fallen might not be able to forcibly evict. Either that or the Fallen are just working for others controled by Nemesis. Perhaps knowingly, perhaps not.

We have no word on what Cowl was doing during the battle and no idea who distracted Harry in Chicago, or why.

 

The Sidhe as supposed to be unable to change, but that didn't stop Nemesis corrupting Aurora and Maeve. As far as I can tell, the rules of the game change when it comes to Outsiders; they aren't part of the universe so they don't have to obey its laws.

 

Dresden Files seems to have two main categories of beings:

Free Will
Beings able to make completely free choices, i.e. choices that contradict their own nature. A murderer can choose to show compassion, an honest person can choose to lie, etc.

Constrained Will
Beings which have desires, make plans and can choose between different courses of action, but cannot act in a way that contradicts their fundamental nature. Fae cannot lie, ghouls cannot show mercy, etc.

Nemesis is able to corrupt both of these types of beings. It seems that power helps one resist, however.

However, angels don't seem to fit into either of these categories. They don't have plans of their own, they don't make choices on the basis of their own judgement. They don't have free will or constrained will, they have surrendered will: they are instruments of God's will, extensions of his power. I'd argue that for Nemesis to have power over an angel it would have to corrupt the White God himself.

Fallen angels, on the other hand, are a completely different kettle of fish. They've rebelled against God and seem to have free will, like humans. That makes them vulnerable to Nemesis, in theory.

In practice, I suspect that fallen angels are too powerful for Nemesis to corrupt. Angels are on the same level as Mab in terms of power. Yes, the Fallen (the ones in the coins) have limited power to affect the mortal realm, but that doesn't mean their essential being is reduced in power.

 

Is sheer power a factor in terms of Nemesis being able to possess someone though?

 

Seems retarded if it were otherwise. It has obviously started with weaker links. Aurora, Maeve, Cat Sith, Lea. If it were capable of corrupting Mab, it would have.

 

Yeah, Mab seems to have enough power to remove the "infection", going by what happened with Lea.