History TheDresdenFiles / TropesAToM

** Soul Fire, which burns the soul itself - and no soul means no life. [[spoiler:Nice thing about the soul, though: It's a renewable resource.]]

* CasualHighDrop: Gard charges straight off a thirty-foot ledge in her berserk eagerness to attack the grendelkin in the short story "Heorot", landing unharmed with AnAxeToGrind.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: The Forest People, Svartalves, and Dogmen have increasingly become this as the books go on. On the one hand, they're all clearly ''not'' human in the most obvious sense, with the Forest People being a race of {{Bigfoot}}, the Svartalves are basically the Dark Elves/Dwarves of Myth/NorseMythology (though they look more like TheGreys than anything else), and the Dogmen all look like [[{{WolfMan}} Wolfmen]]. However, they're also all shown to have aspects that were previously thought to be only availble to mortals, such as having free will, [[spoiler:being able to host one of the Fallen (with the Genoskwa in ''Skin Game'' taking up the Coin of Ursiel)]], and being able to Soulgaze a mortal wizard. It's possible that they're a HumanSubspecies gifted with supernatural talent millennia back... but nothing's made explicit one way or the other.

** Maeve tried to ruin Billy and Georgia's wedding by having a friend take Georgia's place. During the RaceAgainstTheClock Harry tries to figure out when it would be to late to stop it. At the vows? No, it's the kiss what seals the deal.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the short story "Aftermath," Murphy helps a woman who's being abused by her landlord, and she gives Murphy a tip which leads them to Marcone. When Murphy and Billy confront Marcone, Murphy lets out that she figured out the woman from before was one of Marcone's gangsters undercover. While Marcone carries on unperturbed, his Hendricks gives Gard a sidelong look, Gard rolls her eyes and gives Hendricks a twenty. Hendricks looks rather pleased with himself, and Marcone gives no sign of knowing what went on literally behind his back.

* FreeLoveFuture: ''Viciously'' deconstructed and PlayedForHorror by House Raith of the White Court. Through the porn industry, they're triyng to manipulate modern Western society into encouraging promiscuity and the eschewing of monogamy in society. However, what makes this bad is that the Raiths see "consent" [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil as a funny little delusion]] that only "morons" like [[TokenGoodTeammate Thomas]] [[spoiler:and Connie Barrowill]] care about, and are trying to stigmatize meaningful romance so as to lessen the prevalance of their KryptoniteFactor (TrueLove). Appropriately enough for a faction of {{Horny Devils}}, they're remarkably sex-negative when you get down to it, as seen in how Lord Raith fetishized female homosexuality while stigmatizing male homosexuality at the same time [[EvilIsPetty due to his own personal tastes]]. In short, the Raiths are only encouraging promiscuity and "love without boundaries" so as to both eradicate love itself and further spread their powerbase.

** Later on the series another becomes known: the island of Demonreach, a [[spoiler: magical prison containing a truly incredible amount of nasties. The magical equivalent of body heat that these prisoners give off is so powerful that it's created its own ley line, and in order to prevent them from ever getting free, the prison has a failsafe in case of a breakout. Said failsafe (a magical explosion [[TimeyWimeyBall set to explode on Halloween]], when most of the prisoners would be rendered mortal) would reduce the majority of the middle of North America to a crater, and is still stated as being a method to pnly slow the few survivors.]]

* ExtradimensionalShortcut: Nevernever can be used this way by those who know the proper Ways to take. That said, if one takes the wrong path it can take hours, if not years, longer to reach one's destination.

** For starters, [[SpiritWorld the Nevernever]], which is described as having a surface area roughly equivalent to ''Jupiter''. The closest part is Faerie, which is a huge place inhabited by monsters and fey creatures. Further on are also dozens of locations that doesn't appear to exist outside of mythology, including at least one underworld. Even further out is the homes of demons, many of which never even notice the physical world.

** Demonreach is an exceptionally powerful GeniusLoci located on an unnervingly creepy and uncharted island in the middle of Lake Michigan. Notably, it's not just one already, but it's also [[spoiler:a massive ''prison'' for these things - enough that according to Vadderung, if its inmates "the Sleepers" ever escaped, it would be "the end"]].

** ''Peace Talks'' alludes to the major peace negotiations going on in Chicago over the novel's course along with Harry's struggles to tastefully manage his personal life without pissing off some ''very''' powerful people. It also serves as a CallBack to how Lara Raith privately threatened Harry that she "loves peace" and she would "kill [wizards] with peace" following the FinalBattle of ''White Night'', alluding to how Lara has a noticeable CharacterFocus in this book.

** ''Death Masks'' could refer to the Shroud of Turin, which is what sets off the entire story and is believed by some to be the burial shroud imprinted with the face of Jesus Christ. It could also reference how various characters are masking their intentions on either killing someone ([[spoiler:Ortega, Martin, Nicodemus]]) or accepting their death(s) ([[spoiler: Shiro]]).

** [[invoked]] Harry himself often falls prey to this as well. Any new male character is often described in a sentence, maybe two or three if they're important characters. Almost every female character Harry meets is described in such detail that it fills over half a page, often with Harry missing important details because of this. It's obvious enough that characters in-unverse have commented on it. WordOfGod has explained that this is partly a nod to classic noir detective works, which gave women similarly disproportionate levels of attention, and partly because Harry is ''really'' sexually repressed.

** [[invoked]] The scene in the first book that pits both [[HesBack Harry]] and [[MagnificentBastard Marcone]] against [[spoiler:a traitorous gangster.]][[PunctuatedForEmphasis Not. Even. A. Page.]]

* CosmicHorrorReveal: ''Cold Days'' reveals that [[spoiler:'''reality itself''' is under a constant siege from the forces of terrifying {{Eldritch Abominations}}s hailing from somewhere literally ''outside of our universe'', and the current defenders of the universe are TheFairFolk]]. Suddenly, the stakes are raised to levels so high and vast that it's not even funny.

* BlackMagic: Killing someone using magic, mind reading, necromancy, mind-reading using MindControl and summoning an Outsider are the main forms we have seen. ForcedTransformation and TimeTravel are likewise forbidden. Addictive, and the use of such magic incurs a death penalty if you get caught. WordOfGod states that every time a {{Muggle}} is killed with magic, indirectly or otherwise (as in throwing someone off a building using a magic gust of wind), it breaks the first law and makes the forces of darkness even stronger. If the RPG is correct (and it has enough WordOfGod on its side to say it is), even ''seeking'' information about '''anything''' beyond the Outer Gates is a no-no. Exceptions probably exist for the Merlin and the Gatekeeper, and definitely exist for the Blackstaff (that ''is'' his purpose). [[spoiler:The Blackstaff that acts as his mark of office absorbs the corrupting effects of his Lawbreaking so he does not become addicted.]]

** The micro-fiction "Job Placement" has some interesting implications for this. Irwin, a scion of the Forest People, [[note]]basically, he's half-Bigfoot[[/note]] and Connie, a White Court Vampire, have been in a relationship for several years [[spoiler: (the short story ends with them getting engaged)]] and [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex have sex both frequently and with great enthusiasm]] without any issues of the kind that [[spoiler: Justine and Thomas]] suffer (it probably helps that Irwin's capable of feeding Connie's Hunger all by himself with no ill effects). Connie has wondered about the implications of this; Irwin thinks it's because neither of them are completely human. So whether the trope may only apply to those fully human, or because Connie was in complete ignorance about her magical nature until after she and Irwin became a solid couple without hurting him (i.e. YourMindMakesItReal) is an interesting question.

* FinalSolution: The war between the White Council wizards and the Red Court vampires [[spoiler:ends with Harry using a DepopulationBomb that had just been primed by the Red Court to KillEmAll.]]

** The White Council has a grand total of seven laws: ThouShallNotKill (no magic to kill your fellow humans, weapons are fine, though that doesn't mean "no consequences"); Thou Shalt Not [[BalefulPolymorph Transform Others]] (because in a nonhuman body, the mind would [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody slowly change]], effectively killing the victim given enough time); Thou Shalt Not Invade the Mind of Another (looking through the mind of another is a light form of MindRape); Thou Shalt Not Enthrall Another (mind control, and full-on MindRape); Thou Shalt Not Reach Beyond the Borders of Life (no [[{{Necromancer}} necromancy]], though its benevolent cousin is "ectomancy", and that one's okay); Thou Shalt Not Swim Against the Currents of Time (no TimeTravel and places heavy restrictions on divination, doing either can result in a TemporalParadox, and is incredibly dangerous to the user and the fabric of reality); and finally Thou Shalt Not Open the [[EldritchLocation Outer Gates]] (no [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow looking for knowledge from the Outside]], no talking to [[EldritchAbomination the Outsiders]]. Period.).

* BadPowersBadPeople: The White Council believes that using any magic that breaks any of the Laws of Magic (Killing humans with magic, [[BalefulPolymorph transforming others]], MindControl, Necromancy, TimeTravel and Summoning (or even seeking knowledge about) {{Eldritch Abomination}}s) is addictive. So anyone who does any of that, even if for a good reason, is likely to do it again, more frivolously, or to do another one of them, and must therefore be executed. Only another wizard putting his own life up as surety against repeated Lawbreaking can see a stay of execution.

* BlackMagic: Killing someone using magic, mind reading, necromancy, mind-reading using MindControl and summoning an Outsider are the main forms we have seen. BalefulPolymorph and TimeTravel are likewise forbidden. Addictive, and the use of such magic incurs a death penalty if you get caught. WordOfGod states that every time a {{Muggle}} is killed with magic, indirectly or otherwise (as in throwing someone off a building using a magic gust of wind), it breaks the first law and makes the forces of darkness even stronger. If the RPG is correct (and it has enough WordOfGod on its side to say it is), even ''seeking'' information about '''anything''' beyond the Outer Gates is a no-no. Exceptions probably exist for the Merlin and the Gatekeeper, and definitely exist for the Blackstaff (that ''is'' his purpose). [[spoiler:The Blackstaff that acts as his mark of office absorbs the corrupting effects of his Lawbreaking so he does not become addicted.]]

* MainliningTheMonster: The Red Court, whose saliva is addictive and a fairly powerful narcotic, use this to hold onto political power in Latin America.

** [[invoked]] Taken UpToEleven and mildly [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in ''Skin Game'' with [[spoiler:the possibility that Anduriel is listening and watching ''[[ParanoiaFuel at any time]]''. Harry has to do a book-long, solo version of this, which strains his interactions with his friends since he isn't telling them anything.]]

* FightsLikeANormal: The Knights of the Cross. Michael seems like "only" a BadassNormal with a Holy Sword (taken UpToEleven), but being on a literal MissionFromGod also means he's surrounded by {{Contrived Coincidence}}s. Though of course his greatest weapon is also being TheHeart.

* FollowTheChaos: Taken UpToEleven in ''Cold Days'', where Murphy immediately realizes Harry has [[spoiler:''come back to life'']] and quickly locates him just from hearing about some of the shenanigans he inevitably causes within a few hours of his arrival.

* MaleGaze: Pretty much constant, and not exclusive to Harry's narration either. Even when ''Murphy'' is the viewpoint character, mention is made of a female werewolf having 'curves that drew the eye'.

* CreepySouvenir / BattleTrophy: Downplayed, but by the end of the war with the Red Court both Harry and Ramirez had started collecting vampire teeth.

** ''Grace Peril:'' [[spoiler:A BigBadDuumvirate between the ghost of Leonid Kravos and Bianca [=St. Claire=] of the Red Court, with the former [[TheHeavy personally antagonizing]] Harry as "The Nightmare"]]. Harry's fairy godmother, the Leanansidhe, is a secondary threat as she tries to turn him into her hound.

* FantasyKitchenSink: [[invoked]] Though a strictly ''Fantasy'' Kitchen Sink, as no elements of science fiction have appeared in this series. Furthermore, almost all mythologies and religions showcased have a Western focus[[note]]primarily Myth/ClassicalMythology, Myth/CelticMythology, Myth/NorseMythology, and [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} the three]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Abrahamic]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} religions]][[/note]] (with the notable exception of [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology the various Native American belief systems]], which have gained an increasingly prominent role in the series over time), as Jim Butcher has freely admitted that he doesn't want to write about religions/belief systems that he has little familiarity with (i.e., Hinduism) so as to not run into any UnfortunateImplications.

* AnchoredShip: Harry/Murphy. [[spoiler:The anchor looked to be being pulled up right at the end of ''Changes'', but [[TheHeroDies subsequent events]] again put the end destination in question. ''Cold Days'' rattles the anchor chain like crazy. In ''Skin Game,'' it finally, legitimately moves forward, and is 100% official by ''Peace Talks''...which sadly only lasts until Murphy's death in ''Battle Grounds''.]]

* MurderMakesYouCrazy: The reason for the First Law of Magic. Magic is an expression of will given form, so using it to kill someone is particularly warping. Plus, magic is consistently referred to as the power of life, or coming ''from'', life, meaning you're warping the power of life to cause death.