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Black Council

Samuel Peabody is a male wizard, working for the White Council. He first appears in Summer Knight

Description[]

Samuel Peabody is a wizard working for the White Council in a secretarial and record keeping capacity. In charge of paperwork, he acts as a stenographer during official council functions.[1]

Bespectacled and balding, he has dark hair and beard, streaked with white, and dresses very conservatively.[2]

While not on the Senior Council, he was often in their company and was present at both the Council's Conclave in Summer Knight[3] and Molly Carpenter's warlock hearing in Proven Guilty.[4]

Peabody compiled the book Die Lied der Erlking on Erlking lore, sometime "early last century" (presumably the 20th).[5] He either does not speak German or is very bad at it, as he published his book Die Lied der Erlking with a grammatically incorrect title. He called German an "untidy language".[1]

In a conversation with Ebenezar McCoy, Harry Dresden calls him a "bureaucromancer", to which McCoy comments that a war can't be fought without clerks.[6]

In the series[]

Summer Knight[]

He's present at the Council's Conclave.

"War Cry"[]

In "War Cry", he performs the spell required to bind the shoggoth to Catherine Taylor, over her objection. He later reports about its destruction, defining it as a temporary setback; a new weapon will be found in its stead.[2]

Proven Guilty[]

He's present at Molly Carpenter's hearing.

Turn Coat[]

In Turn Coat, when Donald Morgan was accused of the murder of senior council member Aleron LaFortier Dresden hid the fugitive Morgan from the Wardens. Harry Dresden arrives to White Council headquarters to secretly get more information. While there, he notices Peabody flitting between Senior Council members getting their signatures for this or that like an annoying gnat.[7] He even tried to get Dresden's signature and became quite incensed when Dresden refused.[1]

At Morgan's trial, Dresden accuses Peabody of being the real murderer who framed Morgan, manipulated the younger Wardens and subtly influenced the minds of the Senior Council. Ebenezar McCoy and Carlos Ramirez searched his rooms and found that the inks he used to gain signatures contained alchemical substances that allowed Peabody to manipulate persons to do his bidding.[8]

Ultimately, in order to escape, Peabody smashes an ink bottle that freed a Mistfiend laced in Mordite and using pre-implanted trigger phrase "the end is nigh" to immobilize the young Wardens as he fled.[8] Harry Dresden gives chase though the Hidden Halls of Edinburgh. He freezes Wardens at all of the checkpoints repeating the phrase. Peabody opened a way to the Nevernever, then he overpowered Dresden and was about to kill him when Donald Morgan shot Peabody twice in the head with Anastasia Luccio's gun, killing him.[9]

Notes[]

According to Rashid, Harry Dresden was virtually the only young warden who Peabody didn't get a chance to exploit with his mental manipulations. Dresden might notice something wrong since the other young wizards like to associate with him. Peabody likely pushed Anastasia Luccio into Dresden's arms to keep tabs on him and possibly take him out should it have been necessary.[10]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Turn Coat, ch. 17
  2. 2.0 2.1 "War Cry"
  3. Summer Knight, ch. 5
  4. Proven Guilty, ch. 45
  5. Dead Beat, ch. 7
  6. Turn Coat, ch. 14
  7. Turn Coat, ch. 14–16
  8. 8.0 8.1 Turn Coat, ch. 47
  9. Turn Coat, ch. 48
  10. Turn Coat, ch. 49
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