Ebenezar McCoy is a human wizard that is over three hundred years young. McCoy is a short and stocky guy that mostly bald. He has tufts of white hair that match his white beard. He is a member of the White Council and even holds a position on the Senior Council within the White Council. Also as part of his duties to the White Council, he is the Council’s Blackstaff. More on that in a minute. He drives a ’37 Ford pickup that has rounded fenders and wooden sides on the bed.
Harry came to Ebenezar under the Doom of Damocles. Harry’s mother, Margaret Le Fey, died when he was a baby. His father died when he was six. He was eventually adopted by Justine DuMorne. DuMorne tried to kill Harry at around sixteen years old. Normal killing wouldn’t have blipped the radar of the White Council, but Harry used magic, and that blipped the radar. Killing with magic is strictly forbidden under the White Council. Ebenezar interceded on Harry’s behalf and took the responsibility of finishing to raise and to train Harry.
While in McCoy’s care, Harry certainly did learn how to use magic. McCoy made sure to drill into Harry the laws of magic. McCoy also focused heavily on personal responsibility, general good values, and making sure Harry had a stable life. McCoy’s nickname for Harry is Hoss. McCoy had been Harry’s mentor for years but in Changes, it was revealed that McCoy is Harry’s grandfather by his mother. This also means McCoy is Thomas’s grandfather. Beautiful. Ebenezar McCoy has seething, passionate hate for White Court vampires, which is what Thomas was.
Remember I said we would get to the Blackstaff bit in a minute? Do you also remember what I said about it being forbidden to kill with magic? The Counsel Blackstaff is a magical hitman. Ebenezar gets to kill with magic and not be killed because of it. This is scary for a few reasons. First, in the Dresdenverse, black magic stains your soul, and killing magic is black magic. Each time you use it, it seduces you more. Being the Counsel Blackstaff, he gets to use black magic when performing his duties as Blackstaff. and has been for more than a century that he has this job. Two, Ebenezar is POWERFUL. He pulled down a Russian satellite on some vampires. It was out in freaking space. Three, there is probably very little McCoy doesn’t know about magic. He has written a book on the subject. It is given to new wizards, Elementary Magic.
McCoy is fluent in Latin and often gives Harry grief about his bastardized version of Latin. Ebenezar is ranked 7th place as the most powerful wizard on the White Council. At over three hundred years old, many think he could best Morgan in a fight. McCoy specializes in terramancy (Earth magic) and kinetomancy (moving stuff with your mind). He is also well versed in the manipulation of gravity, force, and electromagnetism. McCoy can trace his teacher/student line all the way back to the Original Merlin. Therefore so can Harry.
Ebenezar is an interesting character. He is very much a strong and steady type. Though you wouldn’t accuse him of being a teddy bear by any means, he does have a softness. That softness centers around Harry and Maggie. Though I am still mad at him for allowing poor Harry to suffer as long as he did. Would a few years earlier have killed him? Or when Malcolm Dresden died? Why wouldn’t he scoop up his grandson then? What is your opinion? Let me know in the comments below. Until next week…
