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I'm thinking the betrayal will be Ramirez. He and Ebenezer are the two people from the white council who would cause Harry the most pain, and Butcher loves to make Harry suffer.

I think Eb will play the role of the older mentor who dies later in the series.

 

My long running guess

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for the big traitor in the Council is Listens to Wind, but he won't out himself by backstabbing Harry. I think it's a few books too early for it to happen yet, but I think that when he does it'll be by killing McCoy. He strikes me as the perfect traitor, simply because he really is a good character. Both in the amount of care and effort Jim has put into him, and in the sense of being portrayed so strongly as one of the good guys. There's also his backstory of having to choose between upholding the ideals of the council or involving himself in mortal affairs to protect his tribe, and choosing the council is such a fitting setup for him to have become more and more disillusioned with the council when he rose through the ranks and saw time and again that it does not live up to that sacrifice, every time petty politicking and person gain is placed above the ideals he sacrificed everything for, being a slap in the face. It's not hard to imagine the scene when he's exposed to Harry, trying to make him see, that with all Harrys experiences with the council he has to be the one who can understand how betrayed LtW feels. Throw in a callback to how Harry felt when he found out about the Blackstaff, and just what McCoy really is. Serious guess, because we pretty much know McCoy has to bite it at some point, and this feels

As for the immediate

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issue of just who is going to be sticking the knife in while Harry is distracted by his expulsion from the council? For giggles, I'm going to take an absolutely wild stab in the dark and say that Lara has gotten to someone, maybe Karrin. Because come on, when has Jim ever given us reason to expect him to let Harry off as lightly as Carlos turning traitor? Also plays well into McCoys distrust of Thomas, Thomas being set up as the initial suspect, and the big reveal to McCoy of just why Harry trusts him. That's a wild stab on Karrin being the knife, bit stronger guess on Lara being the one holding it. Something about Skin Game, it just really felt too much like an ending to her story for Karrin to survive this book.

 

I mean, we could always be hopeful and guess that

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the betrayal is Molly killing Karrin.

That would work, right?

 

Would work for me.

 

I think what Jon is referring to as a possible Red Herring is

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McCoys theory that the reason their enemies want Harry distracted by council politics is to stab him in the back. Which is a good point. Even if it isn't about Harry himself, it's just common sense to take his potential interference into account if they're going to be doing anything in Chicago, and make plans to avoid it. It wouldn't even be the first time either, Harry spent Changes thinking he was the one Arianna was after too.

Also, sorry Seratin, while that would be one hell of a plot-twist, there's one very important thing to consider that makes it impossible for me to subscribe to.

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That shit would sink my ship harder than the Titanic.

 

Nah @Psychotic Cat Harry would be understanding about it. The mantle made her do it.

 

You know the most amazing backstab? Maggie being replaced by a changeling who then stabs Harry in the back.

 

Maggie was a Thalmor spy all along.

 

He made it from a tree on Demonreach and it glows with the same color as Alfred.

 

So, what you're saying Ched is that...

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after Cold Days, Murphy developed a taste for that sweet sweet fairy blood? God, imagine the next conversation between Mab and Harry after that. Talk about awwwkward

 

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It's pretty much a given that Murph dies right? What with her being based on Jim's ex wife and being oddly absent in the post Battlegrounds short story set at Christmas.

 

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She can't come back as a Valkyrie if she doesn't die.

 

I'd completely forgotten about that and it hit just as hard this time around. Even more excited now.

 

Is that confirmed as being after both of the next two novels? It was published back when we only knew about Peace Talks (not doubting, just been super out of the loop).

Since we're on the subject, there are 4 microfictions that got published to Butchers website, you need to scroll a bit but all of them are at - https://www.jim-butcher.com/?s=Microfiction&searchsubmit=

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The Morgan one is ... revealing. I really hope this shows up in the main series