History Literature / PeaceTalks

* TheWorfEffect: Ethniu makes her presence unambiguously known [[spoiler: by smacking down Mab and then saying that they must destroy TheMasquerade. Mab's defeat immediately demoralizes everyone present except Ferrovax, and she even manages, by force of will, to choke him mentally so he can only speak when she allows it]].

* YouOweMe: Lara's part of the plot kicks off with her calling in this to Mab. She did somethings impressive enough to be owed ''three'' favors from the Queen of Air and Darkness. She is being paid back two of them with Mab enforcing Harry to fulfill them.
-->'''Queen Mab:''' I expect you to show her respect for my Court and my resources. I expect her to ask nothing of you that she would be unwilling to ask from me. Within those constraints -- yes... [If she asks you to steal, then] I expect you to acquire it...[If she wants you to burn down a building, then] I expect a mountain of fine ash... [If she wants you to kill, then] I expect their corpse to be properly disposed of."

* ShipperOnDeck: Despite the fact that it gives him a magical protection that burns her to the touch, Lara is genuinely pleased to learn that Harry and Karrin have finally [[WillTheyOrWontThey gotten together]]. [[spoiler:It lends to the fact that she's genuinely shocked by Mab's callousness when she immediately arranges a marriage between Lara herself and Harry in the next book, even though Murphy had died in the previous days' events.]]
* SpannerInTheWorks: Ethniu [[spoiler: is a god above Mab and more powerful than the entirety of the White Council as well as other Unseelie Accord members put together. There's no possible way to fight her and doing so is a BolivianArmyEnding everyone agrees to. The thing is ''she'' doesn't know that Harry has access to both the Athame and placard stolen from Hades, or Demonreach.]]

* SurprisePregnancy: White Court Vampires aren't totally infertile, but they have a hard enough time conceiving that nobody was really expecting Justine to get pregnant[[note]]And considering that screwing both each other and humans almost ''constantly'' is their hat, it speaks to how often they have to have sex in order to conceive at all[[/note]].

* WebcomicTime: Due to the six years between the release of ''Literature/SkinGame'' and ''Peace Talks''. The previous books occurred more or less in real time, released yearly with in-universe intervals lasting between six months to roughly a year. In the book trailer, Harry and Murphy are shown sitting cosily on the couch together, with Karrin's left knee still wrapped in bandages from her injuries in ''Literature/SkinGame''. Harry says that he's been a full-time dad to Maggie for "over a month." This together implies that it's only been six weeks or so since ''Literature/SkinGame.''

** All the guests and attendants to the Peace Conference are expected to abide by these rules. Those who don't will suffer Mab's displeasure. Harry realizes that as Mab's Knight, he will be her man in dolling out that displeasure unless the person is out of his league. So, when [[spoiler:a sidhe noble uses a charm whammy on Warden Yoshimo with his fiddling as another tries to claim no actual harm had been done, Harry kicks the charmer into a stone wall, breaking many bones, and then flash freezes him. If he survives being an ice sculpture that night, Lady Molly will have his title stripped and he will be banished from Winter's domain for his actions]].

* FriendlyFireproof: In its new form, ''Fidelacchius'' is incapable of harming mortals (with both inanimate objects and monsters remaining fair game). While this means Butters can swing it around pretty freely, it also means that, like the Carpenter house, he's vulnerable to attacks from vanilla mortals (whether working for the bad guys or not). It has the added benefit of giving a benediction to allies, meaning fortifying their morale or actually clearing physical obstacles like muck or a bent helmet from their eyes. [[spoiler:When Harry goes full Winter Knight and briefly loses touch with his human side as he tries to kill Rudolph in ''Battle Ground'', Butters desperately and tearfully has to fight Harry. Harry, thinks the blade is completely harmless, but gets a length of his forearm charbroiled and the Winter Mantle temporarily disrupted, since he was fully under the control of the Winter Mantle at the time. (And the angel in the blade probably understood that disabling the mantle would get through to Harry what he was about to do.)]]

* InstantTurnOff: Harry and Karrin get frisky while he's visiting her early in the book, only for their movements to inadvertently aggravate one of the injuries she incurred from Nicodemus's beating in the previous book. Harry's arousal vanishes almost instantly. (They try again at the end of the chapter and apparently have no further problems.)

* NeverTrustATrailer: ''Peace Talks'' was billed as the bloodiest entry in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' to date. [[spoiler: No one dies "on screen," and the only named character who dies is introduced in this book and has only a single, relatively unimportant scene.]] This is probably because the book grew too long and was split into two, with the latter half being the one the trailer refers to. [[spoiler: And the ''implied'' bodycount of unnamed, offscreen civilians is immense.]]

** Harry notices that [[spoiler:Alfred Demonreach shows concern when Harry decides that he will need the Spear of Destiny and Placard of Christ to fight Ethniu]].

** While the vote hasn't happened yet, there is a very strong chance that Harry can suffer this from the White Council and be stripped of his title of Wizard in because of his various actions in the past books, including a fear of his dual loyalty to the Council and Mab as her Winter Knight.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Harry ''really'' should have picked an earlier moment to tell Ebenezar that the White Court vampire he's so trigger happy towards [[spoiler:is also his own grandson]]. On the other hand, given Ebenezar's hatred for White Court vampires, which Harry repeatedly compares to his own regarding ghouls, he might not have reacted very well at ''any'' time.
* PowerIncontinence: It comes up via Lara sparring with Harry that while she can turn ''on'' her lust-induction power whenever she wants, she can't turn it ''off'' when it's unwanted.
* ThePowerOfLove: Harry learns that [[spoiler:his sex with Karrin early in the book has cloaked him in Love's protection, which Lara finds out when she is burned by him when breaking Thomas out of Marcone's cells. This also means that Karrin has a similar protection now too]].

** The GiantFootprintReveal comes back in the next book. It ended up belonging to a [[OurGiantsAreBigger Fire Jotun]]. [[spoiler:One of the ones that nearly kills Harry, and indirectly ends with Rudolph manslaughtering Murphy.]]
** Harry and Lara are, at worst, foulweather enemies on friendly terms. Partly because of the Winter Mantle ([[SarcasmMode probably]]), they are ''noticeably'' friendlier in this book. Later on, Freydis provides cover for Harry and Lara during their rescue of Thomas, [[spoiler:by conjuring an illusion of them getting busy in the gym of Marcone's castle. An Einherjar sees it, and Freydis mentions that the rumor mill will have it that they're an item before the end of the peace conference.]] This turns out to be quite prophetic, but not in the way that's expected. [[spoiler: At the end of ''Battle Ground'', Lara requests that the Winter Court of Fae and White Court of Vampires enter into a formal alliance. Mab agrees, and in the spirit of her Feudal sensibilities, says that the pact will be sealed [[AltarDiplomacy by marriage]] between Lara and Harry immediately. Everyone present freaks out: Molly because she still loves Harry; Harry by the suddenness and the fact that Murph is barely cold; and Lara for the same reasons as Harry. After some fussing and outrage, Molly, Lara, and Harry renegotiate, but Mab will delay the matter, and only by one year.]]

* GoLookAtTheDistraction: Harry recalls that Malcolm once told him the key to a good illusion is the magician needs to make a great distraction. This will draw the attention of all the people and away from the sleight-of-hand Malcolm does. When Harry [[spoiler:is preparing to sneak Lara, an unconscious Thomas, and Freydis out through the party while using the obscurity potion, he tosses a second potion onto Rameriez's cloak. This creates a gale-force wind and throws him about. It draws everyone's attention save Ferrovax and Vadderung, but before the former can reveal the trick Vadderung draws his attention with an unspoken message, "Reveal them and I will fight you." This allows the group to bypass the pair]].

* SurprisePregnancy: White Court Vampires aren't totally infertile, but they have a hard enough time conceiving that nobody was really expecting Justine to get pregnant.

** Considering the whopping number of characters for whom TheBusCameBack, it’s worth noting that this is the first full novel without an appearance of Bob the Skull.

* ShipperOnDeck: Despite the fact that it gives him a magical protection that burns her to the touch, Lara is genuinely pleased to learn that Harry and Karrin have finally [[WillTheyOrWontThey gotten together]]. [[spoiler:It lends to the fact that she's genuinely shocked by Mab's callousness when she immediately arranges a marriage between Lara herself and Harry, even though Murphy had died in the previous days' events.]]

** Harry and Lara are, at worst, foulweather enemies on friendly terms. Partly because of the Winter Mantle ([[SarcasmMode probably]]), they are ''noticeably'' friendlier in this book. Later on, Freydis provides cover for Harry and Lara during their rescue of Thomas, [[spoiler:by conjuring an illusion of them getting busy in the gym of Marcone's castle. An Einherjar sees it, and Freydis mentions that the rumor mill will have it that they're an item before the end of the peace conference.]] This turns out to be quite prophetic, but not in the way that's expected. [[spoiler: At the end of ''Battle Ground'', Lara requests that the Winter Court of Fae and White Court of Vampires enter into a formal alliance. Mab agrees, and in the spirit of her Feudal sensibilities, says that the pact will be sealed [[AltarDiplomacy by marriage]] between Lara and Harry immediately. Rvrtyone present freaks out: Molly because she still loves Harry; Harry by the suddenness and the fact that Murph is barely cold; and Lara for the same reasons as Harry. After some fussing and outrage, Molly, Lara, and Harry renegotiate, but Mab will delay the matter, and only by one year.]]

* TheDeterminator: While naturally a part of Harry's character from the beginning, this book actually takes a long time to both {{reconstruct|edTrope}} as well as {{reconstruct|ion}} what it means to be one for Harry. Both his allies and enemies are stunned that Harry is perfectly willing to die for someone that they think is a FriendlyEnemy at best. [[spoiler: Not realizing that Thomas is Harry's brother.]]

* FriendlyFireproof: In its new form, ''Fidelacchius'' is incapable of harming mortals (with both inanimate objects and monsters remaining fair game). While this means Butters can swing it around pretty freely, it also means that, like the Carpenter house, he's vulnerable to attacks from vanilla mortals (whether working for the bad guys or not).

* ShipperOnDeck: Despite the fact that it gives him a magical protection that burns her to the touch, Lara is genuinely pleased to learn that Harry and Karrin have finally [[WillTheyOrWontThey gotten together]].

[[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-1 The]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-2 first]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-3 six]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-4 chapters]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-5 have]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-6 been]] made available to read on jim-butcher.com, which also has an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F17zuaRJG0U official trailer]] for the book. You can also read an excerpt from a later chapter [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/posts/2020/peace-talks-cover-revealed here]]. It released on July 14, 2020, and is part of a duology. The second part, ''LiteraturLiterature/BattleGround2020'', released on September 29.

[[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-1 The]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-2 first]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-3 six]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-4 chapters]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-5 have]] [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/peace-talks-16/peace-talks-chapter-6 been]] made available to read on jim-butcher.com, which also has an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F17zuaRJG0U official trailer]] for the book. You can also read an excerpt from a later chapter [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/posts/2020/peace-talks-cover-revealed here]]. It released on July 14, 2020, and is part of a duology. The second part, ''Literature/BattleGround'', is due out September 29.

* TwoPartEpisode: With ''Literature/BattleGround''. Apparently, one of the reasons ''Peace Talks'' took so long to be released was that the initial draft turned into a Creator/DavidEddings level {{Doorstopper}}. The publisher gently suggested to Butcher that perhaps it would be better served as a two-part story. Butcher split up the character developments, came up with a second Action Plot and re-wrote both parts into the final ''Peace Talks'' and ''Literature/BattleGround''.

* ContrivedCoincidence: {{Lampshaded}}. Wouldn't you know it? Hours before a major gathering of Accord members, Sanya's plane is delayed in Chicago ... '''seven times'''. Surely he won't be needed. (No, the Knights of the Cross are not Accord signatories.)

* SensoryOverload: When up against enemies that have an echolocation similar to bats, Harry briefly stuns them with a spell he'd been saving to prank Butters: the sound of a ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'' roaring the tune of "Happy Birthday".

** When he's summoning Molly, Harry uses a teen pop magacine, a can of Dr Pepper, a watermelon Ring Pop, a jar of Nutella and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers sandpaper]]. It stands out as weird... until you remember that her surname is ''Carpenter''.

* DestructiveSavior: Ferrovax is still a major power. [[spoiler: When he joins the alliance, he notes that he’ll need to contain his own power or he’ll wipe out more of the city than Ethniu and the Fomor will simply by showing up.]]
* TheDeterminator: While naturally a part of Harry's character from the beginning, this book actually takes a long time to both {{Deconstruct}} as well as {{Reconstruct}} what it means to be one for Harry. Both his allies and enemies are stunned that Harry is perfectly willing to die for someone that they think is a FriendlyEnemy at best. [[spoiler: Not realizing that Thomas is Harry's brother.]]
* DirtyCoward: Marcone asks Carter [=LaChaise=] if he is one and states if he and his kin [[spoiler:run, hide, and refuse to honor the Accords' mutual defense pact]] then he will be seen as one to the entire Supernatural community.

** Harry arrives back at the svartlaf embassy and finds the place on fire and his daughter still inside.

** Ebenezar can't comprehend that a vampire of any Court can be anything other than a scheming monster. He'll kill one at the slightest excuse, [[spoiler: even his own grandson.]] [[JustifedTrope In fairness,]] [[AlwaysChaoticEvil 99% of the vampires we meet are scheming monsters.]]

** Ebenezar can't comprehend that a vampire of any Court can be anything other than a scheming monster. He'll kill one at the slightest excuse, [[spoiler: even his own grandson.]]
** Odin's employees view all of the Forest People as monsters because Grendel was one of the Forest People who took to war against them. River Shoulders at one point takes an Einherjar aside (implied to be Literature/{{Beowulf}} himself) and tells him Grendel was a loony and that the rest of the Sasquatch bear the Norse pantheon no grudge over it.

** Assuming the man survives [[spoiler:the sidhe noble who places a mental whammy on Warden Yoshimo will suffer this assuming he lives from his injuries and being made into an ice sculpture by decree of Winter Lady Molly]].

* ShoutOut:
** When Mab loans Harry out to Lara, Lara notes she finds his stubbornness appealing like a rare meal that is quite the delicacy, Mab tells Lara Harry is still of her house and [[{{Literature/Goldilocks}} should she taste the porridge, unlike Goldilocks, Lara will find it neither cold, nor hot, nor just right. The bears would kill her]].
** The cornerhounds are creatures created by Creator/FrankBelknapLong called the Literature/TheHoundsOfTindalos. They're [[WeirdAlEffect attributed to]] Creator/HPLovecraft by Harry, though (Lovecraft did mention the Hounds in ''Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness'', however).
** Early on, Harry expresses belief that eventuating events have the potential to become a {{Film/Sharknado}}.

** The cornerhounds are creatures created by Creator/FrankBelknapLong called the Literature/TheHoundsOfTindalos. They're [[WeirdAlEffect attributed to]] Creator/HPLovecraft, though (Lovecraft did mention the Hounds in ''Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness'', however).

** The cornerhounds are creatures created by Creator/FrankBelknapLong called the Hounds of Tindalos. They're [[WeirdAlEffect attributed to]] Creator/HPLovecraft, though.