Arthur Langtry

Arthur Langtry is a human wizard and a member of the Senior Council. Arthur Langtry holds the position of Merlin. He was first seen in Summer Knight.

Description
Arthur Langtry is one of the oldest and is most likely the single most powerful wizard on the White Council.

Appearance
Langtry is tall and broad-shouldered, and has cold blue eyes; he wears his hair long, and has a long silver beard.

His hair and beard is long, all snowy white with threads of silver, and perfectly groomed. His eyes are winter sky blue and alert, his features long, solemn, and noble.

Character
Ebenezar McCoy says about Arthur that: "as usual, he's half right half wrong, and all gutless."

Details

 * Both Harry and Carlos Ramirez have said that; "You don't get to be Merlin by collecting bottle caps."

Abilities

 * He is a master of Wards and defensive magic, yet he can also display some offensive power.


 * In Turn Coat, he talks mind-to-mind to the essembly at large, directing hundreds present what to do and not do during the Mistfiend attack. And, he tells Harry Dresden to capture Peabody who is escaping.

Magical gear and garb
In Turn Coat, he wears a blue robe and a silver circlet about his brow, and his staff is of elegant pure white wood, completely free of any marking.

In Changes, when he and Harry meet in the warden's Worry Room the Merlin of the White Council was dressed in simple white robes. He also wore a gunslinger's type belt of white leather hung at his hips. It looked something like the tactical gear made for Special Forces operators. Multiple potions vials rides in individual leather cases and the leather-wrapped handle of an anemic rod or a stubby wand pokes out of his holster. Several of the pouches were fastened closed, and looked as though they would contain bits and pieces of the standard wizard gear. He also bore a long, white staff, a simple wooden pole made of an unfamiliar wood.

In the series
In Summer Knight, Langtry held a conclave including the entire Senior Council in Chicago. His intent was to put all the blame on Harry for The War and get his wizard status revoked.

During the conclave, Arthur Langtry tried to railroad one of his cronies onto the Senior Council in Pietrovich's seat sans discussion so that he could control the vote. Martha Liberty called for general debate allowing the opportunity for Ebenezar McCoy to get the position. Langtry, LaFortier and Ancient Mai tried to get Harry stripped of his Wizard status on the White Council Which would allow them to turn Harry over to the Reds who would murder him.

In Dead Beat, Anastasia Luccio updated Harry on The War. Luccio said that Langtry went out into the field with the Senior Council, convinced to do so by Ebenezar McCoy. The Red Court attacked them on The Ways in Sidhe territory as they retreated with a great many wounded. The Reds called up Outsiders and Demons. Ebenezar McCoy and Martha Liberty came to their aid buying time for Langtry and the Gatekeeper held off an entire army of Red Court vampires and demons with a Ward while the Wardens escaped with the wounded.

In Proven Guilty,

In Turn Coat, while Listening, Harry learns that Arthur is the one pushing Listens-to-Wind to perform the ritual to find the real killer. Peabody takes Listens-to-Wind away for signatures. Harry approaches him, offers help in exchange for copies of Morgan's file. Arthur's condition is to find the traitor, the real killer, not simply prove Morgan's innocence.

At the end of Turn Coat, LaFortier's supporters claim Merlin ignored their safety and was negligent with security. Arthur decided to allow rumors saying that Morgan and Peabody conspired feeling that it was better to appear as having acted with deadly strength and power. This also allows those behind Peabody to know that the Council killed an innocent man and one of their largest military assets. The Merlin had asked Klaus Schneider to decline the Senior Council seat. The seat went to Gregori Cristos who threatened that he and all of his allies would secede if he didn't get the seat.

In Changes, Harry sees the Merlin in the Warden's Worry Room. Arthur doesn't buy into Gregori Cristos's currying up to Arianna Ortega for peace with the Red Court. But a lot of wizards on the Council do. So, Langtry is putting up a pretense with his own plot in the works and demands that Harry play along. He said that one child is not worth the lives of many hundreds of children. Harry disagrees saying that Langtry has it backwords—no life is worth less than that. Arthur subtly threatens Molly with his eyes, Harry leaves with Molly keeping himself between her and Langtry.