History ShoutOut / TheDresdenFiles

* Harry's name could also count, since he's named after three stage magicians (Harry Houdini, Bellamie Blackstone, and David Copperfield), which he explicitly points out. And while he doesn't mention it, it's [[MeaningfulName probably still notable]] that his last name is Dresden. As in, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II "Firebombing of."]]

* Harry telling Injun Joe in ''Turn Coat'' that he wants to die by being "stepped on by an elephant while having sex with identical triplet cheerleaders" is a reference to the ''{{Book of Amber}}''.

* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' (when referencing the Black Court vampires). In-universe, the book was actually comissioned to ''make the weaknesses of Black Court vampires know.'' But woe betide the wannabe slayer who's only seen the movies or assumed ''all'' the usual vamp tropes come from ''Dracula.''
* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (Harry tells Inari to "make like Buffy" when they're surrounded by Black Court vampire lackeys in ''Blood Rites'')

* ''{{Angel}}'' (before opening his own P.I. business, Harry worked at "Ragged Angel Investigations".)
* ''{{Firefly}}'' (Inari the almost-Succubus)

* ''HarryPotter'' (Dresden notes early on that he often gets calls from people who see his ad in the phone book and apparently just ''have'' to call just to ask if he's "really a wizard named Harry")
** Also, this is not to mention Darth Wannabe's group of "wizards", who come complete with Slytherin scarves.

* Thomas's boat is named the ''Water Beetle'', also a ShoutOut to Harry's beloved car, the Blue Beetle.
** The Blue Beetle itself being a shout out to [[BlueBeetle the comic book character]].
* " I follow the Tao of [[{{Spider-Man}} Peter Parker]]". When the addressed villain doesn't get it, Harry notes that he "must be a {{DC Comics}} fan"). Other Spider-Man references abound, as Harry is an admitted fan in-continuity. Harry himself closely resembles a version of Peter Parker that was bitten by a radioactive wizard instead of a spider.
* In ''Summer Knight'', Harry investigates the death of one Ronald Reuel for the Winter Queen of the Fae. Ronald Reuel is what the 'R. R.' in [[JRRTolkien J. R. R. Tolkien]] stands for. Reuel is also described as a "creator of worlds"/fantasy illustrator.
* During ''Proven Guilty'', the evil creatures mostly take on the role of generic horror movie monsters. One, however, is quite obviously the Xenomorph from ''{{Alien}}''. (Harry even intentionally quotes the movie at it during the fight.) Others are {{Captain Ersatz}}es of Freddy, Jason, Chucky, and Pumpkinhead.
* In ''Proven Guilty'', Harry avoids mentioning his little project because having a scale model of the city in his basement "projects a little too much of that evil, [[{{Superman}} Lex Luthor]] vibe."
* Murphy and Dresden quote a few lines from ''MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' at each other early in ''White Night'', much to Harry's [[GeekyTurnon delight and amusement]].

* In ''Small Favor'', Toot-toot does a full-blown parody of ''FullMetalJacket'': "This is my box-knife. There are many like it, but this one is mine."
** The original quote comes from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifleman%27s_Creed the Rifleman's Creed]] which apparently was/is a genuine part of US Marine doctrine. Toot-toot is probably more likely to have seen the movie though, particularly since Harry attributes it to the movie when he hears Toot-toot say it.
* In ''Small Favor'', a serious gut wound is [[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2187/was-super-glue-invented-to-seal-battle-wounds-in-vietnam sealed up with superglue]], with the victim mentioning that they saw it [[DogSoldiers in a werewolf movie]].
* Also in ''Small Favor'', Thomas refers to the White Council's attitude towards him as 'Leper, outcast, unclean', a reference to ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant.
* In ''Death Masks'', when an enemy ''doesn't'' reveal his plan after capturing Harry, Harry later notes that the villain "must have read the EvilOverlordList." Later, in ''Small Favor'', when said villain finds his operations compromised by his habit of cutting out the tongues of his followers, Harry sighs that he didn't read that list after all.
* In ''Small Favor'', Harry quotes ''ThePrincessBride'': "You rush a miracle-worker, you get rotten miracles."
** Bob tells Harry to "have fun storming the castle," in ''Grave Peril.''

--> ''Harry: Plan B. We need a Plan B. If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.''
--> ''Susan: We have a great big truck.''
--> ''Harry: Then why didn't you list it among our assets?'' (in a bad british accent)

* After a reference to the ''{{Alien}}'' movies goes unnoticed by a 2000-year-old demon in ''Small Favor'':

* In ''Fool Moon'' Bob purposely has Harry repeat the word werewolf so he can do the "There wolf. There castle." line from ''YoungFrankenstein''. He's then annoyed when Harry doesn't get it.
** The RPG makes the same joke. In the index, between the entries Wereravens and Werewolves, Classic.
* Obviously, ''LordOfTheRings'' references abound, but Harry refusing [[spoiler: Lasciel's offer of power]] by quoting Gandalf's refusal of the One Ring stood out as pretty awesome.
** There's a whole conversation in ''Changes'' about [[GenreSavvy which member of]] [[LordOfTheRings the Fellowship]] everyone is. While we didn't hear the final decision for everyone, we do know that Thomas is Legolas by virtue of [[{{Bishonen}} prettiness]], Sanya the sword-wielding descendant of kings is ''[[CaptainObvious clearly]]'' Aragorn, [[HeroicDog Mouse]] is [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Gimli]] (shortest, stoutest, and hairiest), and, much to Harry's annoyance, [[spoiler:the Leanansidhe]] got to be Gandalf ([[spoiler:Best spellcaster in the group, and appropriately [[TheFairFolk ancient and inhuman]]]]). Harry, they decided, is Sam: things rarely go his way, but [[{{Determinator}} he never gives up]], and he's the ''real'' hero of the story. [[spoiler:Oh, and Thomas labels Martin-- the well-intentioned traitor who dies for their cause-- as Boromir.]] And lo, there was FridgeBrilliance.

* Harry's famous battle cry in ''Summer Knight'', "I don't believe in faeries!" is a shoutout to PeterPan. Really funny because the source material says that every time someone says that, a fairy drops dead somewhere. Perfect war-cry.
* Lampshaded at the end of ''Summer Knight'' when a character remarks that he can't believe they just had an entire faerie adventure and no one had referenced {{Shakespeare}}. A mistake that was quickly corrected.
* Harry quotes from ''StarWars'' during the LukeIAmYourFather moment in ''Blood Rites'', too.
** Not just there, either.

** And he calls Molly "padawan" a lot.

** Let's face it, there's a ''ridiculous'' amount of Star Wars references.

* Harry actually calls Molly "[[KungFu Grasshopper]]" more often than "Padawan".
* There's a shoutout to David Eddings' ''{{Belgariad}}''[[hottip:*:Jim Butcher says Eddings was one of the authors which got him started on fantasy]] when Harry asks the Archive -- the living repository of all written and spoken information, in the body of a seven-year-old girl -- if her bodyguard Kincaid can be trusted. It's almost an exact quote.

* Harry says his skull must have gotten an [[{{X-MEN}} adamantium]] upgrade, considering that it's still intact despite all the beatings he's taken.
* [[{{Zork}} "Maybe it was a grue."]]
* Nothing beats mocking a vampire by doing an impression of [[SesameStreet Count von Count]].
* Harry telling Injun Joe in ''Turn Coat'' that he wants to die by being "stepped on by an elephant while having sex with identical triplet cheerleaders" is a reference to the ''{{Book of Amber}}''.

** A more obvious one in Changes: "This is ridiculous. I look like the Games Workshop version of a Jedi Knight." Explains the armour better than the preceding couple of paragraphs...

* In ''Blood Rites'', [[TheWizardOfOz Harry and a little dog fight flying monkeys.]]

* ''Dead Beat'' references ''AliceInWonderland'' several times. Morgan's sword even goes ''snicker-snack''.

* Harry advertises the exact opposite of what John Wellington Wells does in ''[[GilbertAndSullivan The Sorcerer]]''.
* In ''Changes'', when Thomas comes to the rescue, Harry responds "[[TheVentureBros Go Team Dresden!]]"

--> Toot's body practically convulsed in excitement. Had a giant yellow exclamation mark appeared above his head, I would not have been surprised. "A ''Major-General''?"

* ''EvilDead'': Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' (when referencing the Black Court vampires), acknowledged in-universe,

* When we're first introduced to Harry's rather humble home he uses the phrase "Basement of [[SuperMan Solitude]] ".

* When we're first introduced to Harry's rather humble home he uses the phrase "Basement of {{Superman Solitude}}".

* When we're first introduced to Harry's rather humble home he uses the phrase "Basement of [[Superman Solitude]]".

* Three parts of Harry's name could also count. Harry (''HarryPotter'') Blackstone (After the American magician, Bellamie Blackstone) Copperfield (''DavidCopperfield'') Dresden.

* In ''Storm Front'': "There came a knocking, a rapping, at my chamber door." is loosely paraphrased from Edgar Allen Poe's ''The Raven''. It even happens during a thunderstorm (which you might call dreary) while Harry feels terrible (weak and weary).

* In ''Storm Front'': "There came a knocking, a rapping, at my chamber door." is loosely paraphrased from Edgar Allen Poe's ''The Raven''.

* The RPG books include a great number, both in Harry, Bob and Billy's margin notes and in the index. Including:

* The RPG books have several references to, among other things, MarvelComics, in the liner notes. One notable example is a note written by Harry next to the Might skill which reads "HulkSmash!"
** Similarly, the section describing the Sixth Law of Magic ("Never [[TimeTravel swim against the currents of time]]") has a note from Billy in the margin that says, "This is all very ''DoctorWho''." Harry responds that he liked [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Tom Baker]] best.

** A margin note in the RPG about Cassius's favorite spell:

** Harry responding to an example where a PC leaps out of the shadows to attack a mook with "Totally {{Batman}}."

* A margin note in the RPG about Cassius's favorite spell:

*** I recall them calling to ask if he is really a ''wizard,'' without specific mention of the name Harry. That would be a good bit, though.

** There's a whole conversation in ''Changes'' about [[GenreSavvy which member of]] [[LordOfTheRings the Fellowship]] everyone is. [[spoiler: This ends up being significant, as a Knight of the Cross labels one of their number as Boromir.]]

'''Harry:''' That is why you fail.
** Let's face it, there's a ridiculous amount of Star Wars references. Which is good, in some respects, since you can pretty much count on anyone reading these books to have at least watched the movies. But still, there's so many . . .

* There's a shoutout to David Edding's ''Belgariad'' (Jim Butcher says Eddings was one of the authors which got him started on fantasy) when Harry asks the Archive -- the living repository of all written and spoken information, in the body of a seven-year-old girl -- if her bodyguard Kincaid can be trusted. It's almost an exact quote.

** Not to mention the sequence with Malcolm Dresden. Harry asks him for a vorpal blade, but all he's got is a snickers snack.

* The captured woman in the short story ''Hereot'' is named [[XMen Elizabeth Braddock]].

* ''Angel'' (before opening his own P.I. business, Harry worked at "Ragged Angel Investigations".)

* The Blue Beetle itself being a shout out to [[BlueBeetle the comic book character]].

* In ''Small Favor'', Toot-toot does a full-blown parody of ''FullMetalJacket'': "This is my boxcutter. There are many like it, but this one is mine."

* In ''Small Favor'', Harry (mis)quotes ''ThePrincessBride'': "You rush a miracle-worker, you get rotten miracles."
** Bob quotes ''ThePrincessBride'' in ''Grave Peril'' when he tells Harry to "have fun storming the castle."
** There's also a bit in ''Changes'' that's from ''ThePrincessBride''; Murphy and Harry are discussing the next bit of the plan and Harry says, "What I wouldn't give for a wheelbarrow." Murphy mentions that she's got some bit of equipment that will help out and Harry then says, in a British accent, "Well why didn't you list that among our assets!"
*** No, he's talking with Susan. he says, "Now if only we had a wheelbarrow." Susan says, "We have a great big truck." Harry says, "Well why didn't you list that among our assets" (in a bad british accent)

* Not to mention Harry's description of the potential results of the Darkhallow; they'd get [[{{Disney/Aladdin}} "Phenomenal cosmic powers and all the living space they can grab."]]
* [[MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Monty Python and the Holy Grail is mentioned in one book]]. Run Away!
* Harry's famous battle cry in ''Summer Knight'', "I don't believe in faeries!" is a shoutout to PeterPan. Really funny because the source material says that everytime someone says that, a fairy drops dead somewhere. Perfect war-cry.

* Harry says his skull must be adamantium-plated, considering that it's still intact despite all the beatings he's taken. Adamantium, of course, is the fictional, indestructible metal that coats Wolverine's claws and bones.
* And another gem straight in ''Changes'' from ''ThePrincessBride'':
--> ''Harry: Plan B. We need a Plan B. If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.''
--> ''Susan: We have a truck.''
--> ''Harry: Then why didn't you list it among our assets?''

* There's a whole conversation in ''Changes'' about [[GenreSavvy which member of]] [[LordOfTheRings the Fellowship]] everyone is.