Character theta proof of the eta product ($\eta (\tau )=\frac{1}{2}{\sum }_n{\chi }_{12}(n)q^{n^2/24}$)

Take the even primitive Dirichlet character ${\chi }_{12}$ whose values at $1,5,7,11$ modulo twelve are $1,-1,-1,1$. Its Gauss sum of a Dirichlet character is $\sqrt{12}$. The displayed series $A$ has $A(-1/\tau )=\sqrt{-i\tau }A(\tau )$ and $A(\tau +1)=e^{\pi i/12}A(\tau )$. Thus $A^{24}$ is the normalized weight-twelve modular discriminant. It has no interior zeros by the valence formula for the modular group. Its logarithmic derivative equals $E_2/24$, so integration gives the Dedekind eta function product. The odd character modulo four similarly produces a series $B$ with $B^8=A^{24}$ and leading term $q^{1/8}$; consequently $B=A^3$.