Malcolm Dresden

So I've been thinking a lot about this, and something always just.....bugs me about Malcolm Dresden, Harry's father and Margaret's lover.

I know that Malcolm is just a normal guy, he's a stage magician. But something always just.... nagged at me. There's a series of events that line up in a weird way that makes me think that Malcolm is more than just a stage magician.

Like first off, I find him significant on the merits of who he attracts. With all the fingers in pies that Margaret La Fey had and all the friends and enemies she made, it seems weird that...one guy, one magician is able to get her attention and have a kid with her. Like, she had a kid with the White Court Vampire King a handful of years ago. She knows the Erlking, so she knows some interesting people. Like.... Malcolm seems kinda lame in comparison, and from what we know of Margaret La Fey she lives on the wild side. So unless the sex was as literally magical as his stage shows, Malcolm should have literally been a flash in the pan friendship.

Second, we know (or at least suspect) that Malcolm's death was not natural. Up until Fool Moon, Harry was under the impression/assessment that his father died from an aneurysm in his sleep. But we heard from Chaunzagorroth that Malcolm's death wasn't natural. Granted, I will concede, it's rather unclear if Chaunzagorroth was actually lying to get Harry's last name or not. However, we do have another source to indicate that perhaps Chaunzy is telling the truth.

We end up finding out in Blood Rites that Lord Wraith actually has proficiency in Entropy Curses and that Margaret was killed by an Entropy Curse levied at her by Lord Wraith. So.... Chaunzagorroth was actually correct about some things about Margaret. Her death was not natural, and her past was rather checkered.

The Microfiction Journal is an excerpt from Donald Morgan's journal entry before he dies in Turn Coat talks about how he worries that Malcolm Dresden was intentionally murdered by some being of some sort. So if Morgan the Paranoid is concerned about something that might have ganked Malcolm, perhaps there actually is something amiss about Malcolm's death and perhaps something amiss about Malcolm's past as a whole to facilitate the need to murder what was supposed to be a simple stage magician.

Third, Dead Beat. We know that it was actually Malcolm talking to Harry when he was having those mental low points and that he could "Only now talk to him" which means that Malcolm has some capacity for the supernatural, he also seems very nonchalant about the fact that his son is an honest to goodness wizard. Maybe that's because he's aware his lady friend was supernaturally inclined or maybe....just maybe he was tipped off already before he even met Margaret La Fey.

Then a little slight throwaway line from Ebenezer in Peace Talks "Your mother is dead, your father is dead, the mother of your child is dead and you're the common denominator" just seems odd that he specified that Malcolm being dead is something to consider about why Harry is just a magnet for bad news of the big, bad and supernatural variety.

I think it's something to consider that Malcolm Dresden might have been a member of the Venatori Umbrorum.

Look, we know that people who on the surface know diddly about the supernatural are sometimes members of the Venatori Umbrorum. Wyatt Earp in A Fistful of Warlocks was Venatori, Dr. Fabio in I was a teenage bigfoot was Venatori. HP LOVECRAFT WAS VENATORI for crying out loud. And we know that the Umbrorum went into an alliance with the Council in Proven Guilty to help them fight the war against the Red Court so we know that generally speaking the Venatori Umbrorum acts independent of the council and is otherwise left well enough alone. We also know that members of the Umbrorum are well hidden until they do something or say something that tips someone off.

Now I think it's something to consider that Malcolm actually figured out what killed Margaret (either determining that it was an entropy curse, or figuring that it was Lord Raith somehow) and he used the fact that he was a travelling magician to keep himself and Harry constantly on the move to keep Harry away from whatever got his mother.

I also think that Malcolm taught Harry the sleights of hand that he knew because he knew that Harry would become a wizard that would get in dangerous situations and that most supernatural threats wouldn't prepare for simple stage magic. Like, consider the stunt Harry pulled in Peace Talks. What Harry did was basically a small scale version of David Copperfield disappearing the Statue of Liberty. It was misdirection.

I think Malcolm Dresden was a member of the Venatori Umbrorum, and that made him a target because he was a mortal connected to Margaret who potentially knew what killed her.