History Literature / DeathMasks

* EmissaryFromTheDivine: The Knights of the Cross, Michael Carpenter, Shiro, and Sanya, can be considered emissaries acting on behalf of God.

* CurbStompBattle: Shiro believes that [[spoiler:the Red Court wanted to use the war to break the White Council in a matter of months. They'd been planning it for years, but Bianca and Harry kicked it off way too soon. The purpose of the duel is to sue for peace, and then in another twenty years launch another surprise attack and completely obliterate the Council once and for all.]]

* BadassNormal: Armed with nothing but conventional weapons and testicles the size of Mars, Gentleman Johnny Marcone [[spoiler:joins a wizard and two holy knights in facing down two powerful demons.]]

** They're after the ShroudOfTurin.

** Gentleman Johnny Marcone shows this [[spoiler:by shooting Nicodemus three times, each time in a spot that will not harm the Shroud of Turin Nicodemus has draped around his shoulders like a cape, and all while standing on top of a speeding train.]]

* KryptoniteFactor: Flowing water disrupts magical power. It is harder to toss a magical spell over water than dry land. Even standing in it is a deterrent to proper casting for a human mage. [[spoiler:Thus Nicodemus ties Harry up under a stream of running water so he can't use magic.]]

* TemptingFate: After seing a magically murdered corpse in morgue, Harry remarks to Murphy the Fallen aren't allowed to do something like. And he gets attacked by a Fallen ''right outside the morgue''.

* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: Bob is a spirit of knowledge and logic. That is his domain. As such, areas involving faith (such as the Shroud) are outside his jurisdiction because such items don't have a rational basis to them. He's not keen on poking his nose into matters of faith for fear of angering angels, fallen or otherwise.

** Nicodemus mentions almost every previous book reminding Harry's quite impressive killing record (three [[Literature/StormFront fellow]] [[Literature/GravePeril magicians, a Red Court's noble]] and [[Literature/SummerKnight a fairy queen]]).

** [[spoiler:Nicodemus should not have agreed to trade Harry for Shiro. He knew perfectly well that Harry could screw up his plans. Not only did Harry stop him, Harry realized the Judas Noose did not protect Nick from being strangled by it. Even the Denarians' "victory" in eliminating Shiro didn't accomplish much, as the old Knight was already dying]].

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Michael and Sanya can't help but laugh over Harry's final gift to Cassius.

** [[spoiler:Ortega had no intention of honoring his side of the deal regarding the duel. He not only brought a gun to the fight to shoot Harry, but if Harry won his men would still kill Harry's friends and loved ones]].

** [[spoiler:Ortega had no intention of honoring his side of the deal regarding the duel. He not only brought a gun to the fight to shoot Harry, if Harry won his men would still kill Harry's friends and loved ones]].

** Ortega [[AffablyEvil regretfully]] promises Harry, should he refuse to accept this duel, he will have his men and mortal assassins go after his friends, loved ones, and every living client from the past five years.

** Ortega does a very good job of pretending to be one, and even makes Harry think that he's responding to the crisis [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure far more reasonably]] than the [[ObstructiveBureaucrat White Council]] has, but it's [[FauxAffablyEvil all a front]].

[[TheOneWith The one with]] [[ArtifactOfDoom evil]] [[ThirtyPiecesOfSilver coins]].

* NotSoDifferent:

** BigBadDuumvirate: Unlike all the other [[spoiler: Denarians]], Nicodemus and [[spoiler: his Fallen Angel Anduriel]] are equal partners, [[spoiler: rather than either Nicodemus in control and the Fallen Angel acting as counsel or the Fallen Angel breaking his will and having full control over the body. Though later books suggest that the partnership isn't quite as equal as Nicodemus thinks it is]].

* BigBadDuumvirate: Unlike all the other [[spoiler: Denarians]], Nicodemus and [[spoiler: his Fallen Angel Anduriel]] are equal partners, [[spoiler: rather than either Nicodemus in control and the Fallen Angel acting as counsel or the Fallen Angel breaking his will and having full control over the body. Though later books suggest that the partnership isn't quite as equal as Nicodemus thinks it is]].

* GambitRoulette: Nicodemus throwing a coin near a child and having Harry intercept it instead by putting his hands on it could be this. Given the importance of these coins, Nicodemus would have been quite screwed if Harry simply stepped on it, grabbed the child, or used any method to stop the kid from picking up the coin ''other'' than grabbing it with his bare hand (or if the child simply showed no interest in the coin at all). Also, did he drive to Michael's house and wait outside just in case this rare situation with Harry and the child were in perfect position occurred?

Sometimes being Harry Dresden really sucks.

* AdorablyPrecociousChild: The Archive. She's not even a preteen, is powerful enough that she sets off Harry's wards before she even arrives, talks like an adult, and mostly acts like one, too. But the moment she sees Harry's cat, she reacts like any girl her age would, which Kincaid finds very [[CreepyChild creepy]].

* BoundAndGagged: Harry's reunion sex with Susan, after Susan's vampiric hunger threatens to get the best of her. [[note]]This is Butcher's response to a challenge/dare that you could not write a bondage sex scene and make it plot important.[[/note]]

** The demon Harry calls Chauncey gets a mention [[spoiler:when Harry is considering going to him to figure out Nicodemus' plot]].
** Harry mentions the chlorofiend's attack to Susan.
** Nicodemus mentions almost every previous book reminding Harry's quite impressive killing record (three [[Literature/StormFront fellow]] [[Literature/GravePeril magicians]], [[Literature/GravePeril a Red Court's noble]] and [[Literature/SummerKnight a fairy queen]]).

** [=MonOc=] Securities is introduced.
* ChekhovsGunman:

** Miss Gard of [=MonOc=] Securities is introduced.

* CurbStompBattle: Shiro believes that [[spoiler:the Red Court wanted to use the war to break the White Council in a matter of months. They'd been planning it for years, but Bianca and Harry kicked it off way too soon. The purpose of the duel is to sue for peace, and then in another twenty years launch another surprise attack.]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The Archive, repository of human knowledge, introduces herself to Harry by means of setting off his ward candles to show she is a major power while a distance away. After discussing the terms of the duel with Harry, [[spoiler:she sees Mister, cries "Kitty!" and goes to pet him]].

* FakingTheDead: While he was seriously injured and in no position to fight, [[spoiler:Shiro, Knight of the Cross]] did this and overheard crucial facts to the big bad's plot.

** Nicodemus calls Harry [[spoiler:Maggie's youngest.]]
** Molly Carpenter mentions "fun time handcuffs" and suggest using restrains to make sure Susan couldn't harm him if they had sex. [[spoiler: That's exactly what happens, only using [[ItMakesSenseInContext magical handcuffs]] instead of "fun time" ones.]]
** Harry casually mentions to Ortega that killing every vampire on the planet would save many lives. [[spoiler: Come ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry '''exterminates''' the majority of the Red Court vampires to save his daughter and relatives]]
** An entropy curse is mentioned to been used against Harry. A much more powerful version shows up in later book and is considerably more important to the plot.

** [[spoiler: Shiro sacrifices himself to save Harry's life. That Shiro was soon going to die of cancer gives it an interesting edge, but considering how horrible his death was...]]

** [[spoiler:Harry Dresden knowingly picked up the coin of the Fallen Angel Lasciel to save Michael's son Harry from touching the cursed coin, knowing he could end up much like Ursiel's host and trapped inside his own body]].

** When Bob sees the sigil of Ursiel Harry has drawn on a piece of paper, he tells Harry to burn it then and there.

* LittleMissBadass: The Archive, despite being a young child in body, is not one to mess with in a fight. She could easily take Harry out. [[spoiler:She used mordite, which kills at a touch, against some vampires who attack her near the end of the book.]]

** Harry casually mentions to Ortega that killing every vampire on the planet would save many lives. [[spoiler: Come ''Literature/Changes'', Harry '''exterminates''' the majority of the Red Court vampires to save his daughter and relatives]]

* BigBadEnsemble: Ortega comes to town to challenge Harry in a duel. In the meantime, he gets called in to recover the recently-stolen shroud of Turin, and that has many more players attached to it than Harry is comfortable with.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Bob[[note]]Who is a spirit of intellect and doesn't really get the whole good/evil thing[[/note]] is ''terrified'' when he sees a sigil of a Fallen and warns Harry to burn the piece of paper Harry drew it on.

** Shiro [[spoiler:makes a promise to not fight or try to escape for 24-hours if Nicodemus gives up Harry and not pursue him. Knowing Nicodemus plans on violating his end once Harry was away, Shiro keeps his word and does not fight even knowing he was about to be tortured]].

* SecretKeeper: Harry discovers Marcone's deepest secret. [[spoiler:A young 20-something woman who is in a coma. It is for her Marcone acquired the Shroud in hopes it could revive her from her long coma.]] Marcone tells him if he ever tells anyone this, he will kill him personally.

** Shiro also holds that Harry is [[spoiler:someone Nicodemus is scared of. To get Harry at odds with the Knights, he went to great expense to stop second half of an angelic prophecy. He even offers Harry a coin or die to try and stop him. In the end, Nicodemus was right to fear Harry as it was Harry, not any of the Knights, who pieced together the crucial data, knew where the Denarians would strike, call in favors with the Police to shut down plan A, and call in Marcone to help stop plan B. And in the end, Harry realized Nicodemus' noose may protect him from any harm, but it wouldn't protect Nicodemus from the noose itself being used to choke him.]]
* SpotTheThread: Harry finally realizes [[spoiler:the man he knows as Father Vincent is not him because the man lacks the tattoo of the Eye of Thoth.]]

** Molly Carpenter mentions "fun time handcuffs" and suggest using restrains to make sure Susan couldn't harm him if they had sex. [[spoiler: That's exactly what it happens, only using [[ItMakesSenseInContext magical handcuffs]] instead of "fun time" one.]]

** [[spoiler:Harry considers summoning the demon Chauncey to gain information, knowing the demon is likely to ask for the last part to his Name, and thus have power over him]].

* IGaveMyWord: Shiro gives this [[spoiler:to Nicodemus and in it he promises to not fight or try to escape for 24 hours. In exchange, Nicodemus promises to release Harry and not pursue him. Nicodemus agrees.]]

** Shiro notes that while many vampires he has had dealings with do honor their word when they give it, Denarians are not so. They have no honor. [[spoiler:True to this, Shiro knows Nicodemus will not honor their agreement and tells Harry to run once freed. Nicodemus does just this]].
** [[spoiler:Ortega had no intention of honoring his side of the duel. He not only brought a gun to the fight to shoot Harry, if Harry won his men would still kill Harry's friends and loved ones]].

** Gentleman Johnny Marcone shows this [[spoiler:by shooting Nicodemus, missing the Shroud of Turin Nicodemus has draped around him, and and all while standing on top a speeding train.]]

* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler:Cassius gives up his coin willingly and claims he has seen the error of his ways. The Knights can no longer touch him, despite guessing these words are all bull. Cassius even says it is, but because he surrendered they cannot do him harm. [[AntiHero Harry]], as he isn't a Knight, has no such restraints and takes a bat to Cassius' knees.]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Harry does this to [[spoiler:Cassius by beating him (breaking most of his limbs in the process) with a baseball bat.]] He then gives him a quarter and tells him he can call for an ambulance from the payphone at the other end of a wide parking lot. [[spoiler:The path to the phone involves him crossing broken glass]]. And the punchline?

** When Bob sees the sigil of Ursiel on a piece of paper Harry has drawn, he tells Harry to burn it then and there.

* MarkedChange: Susan has a Maori-esque tattoo running from her face down to one foot and along one arm. It's normally too faint to see, but becomes more and more visible as she gets closer to losing control of her bloodthirst. (Martin, also a half-vampire with the same group, presumably has a similar tattoo.)

** Just as Harry is planning a potential HeroicSacrifice to summon the demon Chauncey to gain knowledge of [[spoiler:Nicodemus' plan]], Father Forthill[[spoiler:'s sleeve just happens to fall just right to reveal his old tattoo]], the information attached gives Harry the clue he needed to piece the situation together himself, rather than summoning the demon. As Chauncy has three fourths of Harry's True Name, and that would be...unhealthy for Harry if a high ranking demon or a rival practitioner ever asked Chauncy for it.

* NauseaFuel: In-Universe. To combat the addictive saliva of the Red Court vampires, Harry whips up a potion to ruin the bliss the heroin-like saliva gives. With a base ingredient of stale coffee, Harry added hairs of a skunk for scent. Some sandpaper for touch. A photo of Music/MeatLoaf for sight. A rooster's crow for hearing. He used powdered aspirin for taste. For the mind, the surgeon general warning on a cigarette pack. [[spoiler:It works so well, the saliva only makes him itch.]]

** Ortega offers to turn Dresden into a vampire rather than kill him in a duel, claiming they are not so different. Dresden fishes until he establishes that Ortega preys on children as proof that they are.
** At one point another villain, Nicodemus, actually says "We are not so very different, you and I..." to Harry. That said, Harry's response on how they aren't is pretty accurate.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The backstory of the Archive given here differs from what is established in later books. The Archive tells Harry that her mother is an empty shell with no mind, a "persistent vegetative state", because everything she knew passed to Ivy when she was born, as had happened to her mother before her.