Lord Raith is a White Court vampire, member of House Raith. He first appears in Blood Rites as the King of the White Court.
Description[]
Lord Raith is about six feet tall with dark, straight hair and pale skin. He wears a scarlet earring in his left ear and has long, spatulate fingers, broad shoulders, the eyes of a drowsy jaguar, and is handsomer than Thomas.[1]
Lord Raith is the King of the White Court,[2] also known as the "White King".[3] He is, however, currently an empty figurehead enthralled to Lara Raith.[4][5]
Lord Raith has a habit of killing his sons before they attempt to overthrow him. He keeps his daughters under tight control.[6]
According to witness testimony of several characters in the book Blood Rites Lord Raith has employed several special abilities over the years.
- Kiss of Death: feeding off and killing a victim with a simple kiss.[6]
- Magic immunity: he seems to be immune to magic.[7][8]
- Ritual: Lord Raith is skilled in the use of rituals.[9]
- Seduction: common to White Court vampires of House Raith
- Longevity: like all his peers he does not seem to age normally
- Psychic aura: he is capable of imposing his will on others, and glamour himself into seductive good looks.[10]
He is very vicious and always gets what he wants, usually working against his enemies in a round-about way. He uses his abilities of seduction to both seduce and capture. He has killed off many of his male offspring when they become a threat to him, and he feeds on and strikes fear into his daughters, forcing them to follow him.
Biography[]
According to Ebenezar McCoy, Lord Raith killed Margaret LeFay with an entropy curse.[7] In return, her death curse makes him unable to feed, which has seriously weakened him.[10]
In the series[]
Blood Rites[]
- Main article: Blood Rites
In Blood Rites, Lord Raith sends his daughter Inari to Harry Dresden's room at the Raith estate intending Dresden to be her first and always lethal feed. Inari knows nothing about what she is or is happening to her as her Hunger is triggered.[11]
Dresden sets out to show Lara Raith that her father is not invincible and just how weak he is. He promises to take him down so that she can take over if she will help him rescue Thomas.[12]
Lord Raith had abducted his son Thomas, and tied him to a stone table in the Deeps. With Madge Shelly actually performing the ritual, he intended to try to kill Dresden by sacrificing Thomas via a ritual entropy curse. His intent is to end Margaret's Death curse by killing both of her sons in one stroke.[8] He also has Murphy held captive and attempts to make her his thrall in a most insidious way.[10]
Lord Raith is overwhelmed by his daughter Lara, who takes the leadership of the White Court by enslaving her father, making him her thrall, but keeping him as a puppet leader. The reason that he was overwhelmed is that he is unable to feed due to Margaret Dresden's death curse, which was used to this effect since most magic will just slide off him.[4]
White Night[]
- Main article: White Night
In White Night, there is an attempt by the other Houses in the White Court to overthrow Lord Raith, stop Lara Raith's peace efforts, and seize control of the Court. This is being done by culling magic practitioners to show how easy it would be to destroy the White Council. If they challenge his authority openly, it would expose that Raith is powerless and then Lara would have to fight openly—once driven to that, she's already lost, she'd be seen as incompetent.[5]
Lord Raith was present at the White Court conclave of the three Houses held in the Deeps on the Raith estate. Lara pulled all the strings making him say and do everything that she wished while acting as the Head of the White Court.[13]
Skin Game[]
- Main article: Skin Game
In Skin Game, Lord Raith has a vault with his name on it, LORD RAITH—00010001, in the Capristi Building, John Marcone's mob bank.[14]
Peace Talks[]
- Main article: Peace Talks
In Peace Talks, Lara Raith hinted to Dresden her father might be dying soon as his hunger continues to feed on his life force. [15]
Word of Jim[]
Margaret LeFay's death curse on Raith did more than render him virtually powerless. It crippled the entire White Court by rendering its head executive suddenly unwilling to get aggressive. It took that same executive's focus and warped it from an outwardly-oriented expansionist agenda to one of frantic power-defense, paranoia, and infighting. Had she merely killed Raith, another vampire much like him would simply have stepped into his shoes. Instead, her curse sandbagged the entire White Court for two or three decades.[16]
References[]
- ↑ Blood Rites, ch. 18
- ↑ Blood Rites, ch. 19
- ↑ White Night, ch. 36
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Blood Rites, ch. 41
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 White Night, ch. 30
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Blood Rites, ch. 21
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Blood Rites, ch. 35
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Blood Rites, ch. 40
- ↑ Blood Rites, ch. 35 and 37
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Blood Rites, ch. 39
- ↑ Blood Rites, ch. 20-21
- ↑ Blood Rites, ch. 36
- ↑ White Night, ch. 37
- ↑ Skin Game, ch. 35
- ↑ Peace Talks, ch. 27
- ↑ Jim Butcher (December 11, 2006) "Re: DF: Death Curses", Forum