The Dresden Files

I haven't kicked around the Dresden Files fandom much lately, mostly because I always scratch my head over how it slowly became weirdly unwholesome over the decades even though Jim Butcher and his mods always seemed decent people. Like, usually "the fish rots from the head" but Butcher doesn't seem asshole-y, so I don't know why so many of his fandom forums/subs have had weird behaviors. Hoping I won't run into that here, but we'll see.

Anyway, I keep wondering to what end Mab is "breeding" cambions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambion

We had Harry's mother involved in the White Court which made Thomas, who isn't much of a wizard. And Harry's mother was under Mab's influence. Then we have Mab shoving Harry and Lara together, presumably to make an ultra-high-power cambion that inherits Harry's wizard powers. And although I don't recall the books hinting at it, I think there's the possibility that Maggie might somehow be paired off with a child of Thomas', if Mab can finagle it down the road.

Is she trying to recreate Merlin? Who, in mythology, is the son of a mortal and a incubus? Is she just repeatedly trying to smash Harry's line into the White Court to make...something?

And if she is, why?

I suspect it has something to do with whatever made Merlin so special the head of the WC position was named after him, but why is she trying so hard to recreate this?

Can a really strong White Court Wizard...I dunno, "eat" outsiders? Can they feed on them, and thus act as a deterrent or protection?

Started rereading Storm Front and I had forgotten how much the tone was different. Dresden is such a nice cute puppy that you want to scratch under chin, all while trying to maintain that "noir detective" vibe. And trying to stand everything up while trying to keep the vibe of "some of these characters know each other". I like it, but it is obviously Dresden very early in his career.

Edit

The perspective is much more binary with less shades of grey and the characters are all much more "one note". Murphy is the character that is much more schizophrenic in that regard - in one scene she is hammering on Dresden, the next she is tucking him in with a blanket and teddy bear. The story structure is overall similar to the later Dresden stories, a primary villain and a support "obstacle", but the presentation is much more muddled in comparison to the later stories.