Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Literature / BloodRites

Go To

1[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dresden_06_3083.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:249:Pornomancy.]]
3
4'''''Warning!''''' [[LateArrivalSpoiler All spoilers for previous books are unmarked on this page]]!
5%% And please no spoilers for future books.
6
7Harry Dresden never thought he would have to go undercover at a porn studio. However, with the director convinced he is under a curse, and his girls dying left and right, Harry poses as a production assistant and tries to find the culprit, at the request of a flirtatious and metrosexual vampire ally named Thomas. However, the biggest surprise has little to do with curses...
8
9''Blood Rites'' is book #6 of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. Not to be confused with [[VideoNasties the gory exploitation flick]] of [[Film/BloodRites the same name]].
10----
11!!''Blood Rites'' provides examples of the following tropes:
12
13* AbusiveParents:
14** Karrin finds out at ''her family reunion'' that her ex-husband is now engaged to her sister, something that obviously causes a lot of emotional distress. Her mother not only knew about it, but chooses to use this public occasion to chastise her for not being a good enough wife for the man. This utter disregard for how Karrin would perceive this development, dismissal of her feelings, and criticism of Karrin's life choices all in the same moment would usually be considered emotional abuse.
15** Lord Raith is a truly monstrous example, [[spoiler:feeding on his own daughters to break their will and [[OffingTheOffspring killing off his sons]] to keep them from overthrowing him]].
16* AccidentalMisnaming: Trixie Vixen is so self-absorbed and vapid that she cannot remember Harry's name (though she [[SkewedPriorities never forgets that he never got her a latte, which she never ordered]]). This works in Harry's favor near the book's climax, as [[spoiler:when she tries to frame him for a murder, she does not get his name right, allowing him to drive to the Raith household and stop the entropy ritual that the bad guys are doing.]]
17* TheAllegedCar: The first thing Murphy asks when she sees Ebenezer's car, which seems to have been manufactured sometime during the 1930s, potentially older, is if it ran on coal.
18** Meanwhile, the running gag of Harry's not-blue Blue Beetle gets even crappier: it loses its upholstery as a result of ''mold demons''.
19* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler:Somewhat parodied. The White Court of vampires has owned the sex industry for centuries at a minimum. And Arturo is a threat to that with his new ideas.]]
20* AncientGrome: Arturo is described as looking Mediterranean, and he has dual citizenship with America and Greece. However, he talks to Harry about ''stregas'' (witches) and the ''malocchio'' (the Evil Eye), both of which are Italian folklore.
21* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Mouse, though a puppy, is moving around, barking, growling, playing with toys, and generally aware of his surroundings, indicating he's at least a few weeks old and weaned off his mother. He also spends a chunk of the book riding around in Harry's coat pocket. However, dogs the size Mouse becomes are already [[http://www.dogspot.in/puppies/images/1329917304.jpg much larger at that age]]. Mouse would only have fit in Harry's pocket if he was hours or days old. Possibly a JustifiedTrope considering the mystical nature of Mouse's heritage.
22* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: All three of Arturo's ex-wifes.]]
23* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Lord Raith is the King of The White Court vampires and is clearly the most powerful of them, physically and magically, [[spoiler: despite being weakened]].
24* AwesomeMcCoolname: One of the younger actors only recently finished his first film, and has not yet picked a stage name. Bobby considers names like "Rocko Stone" or "Rack [=McGranite=]". Finally, at Jake's suggestion, he goes with "[[PunnyName Gowan Commando]]."
25* BatmanColdOpen: The novel begins in a burning building, and what goes on there is not ''directly'' related to the rest of the story, but it is where Harry finds Mouse, who becomes a big character throughout the rest of the series.
26--> The building was on fire, and [[RunningGag it wasn't my fault]].
27* BeenThereShapedHistory: [=McCoy=] is an old wizard who cut his teeth during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). So, he's been here and there. Two notable events mentioned he witnessed [[spoiler:and as the assassin of the White Council had a hand in ''causing'']] the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa destruction of the island Krakatoa]] in 1883 and TheTunguskaEvent, the meteor strike in Russia 1908.
28* BerserkButton: When Emma explains that the severe scars left on a survivor of the entropy curse will stop her from acting in porn again, Harry says that "It could be worse", meaning that she would have died if Harry hadn't been right on hand. Emma interprets this as 'she doesn't have to do this awful job anymore', blows her top and starts ranting about how porn is no less a legitimate profession than any other.
29* BigBad: Lord Raith.
30* BigBrotherInstinct:
31** Thomas puts his own life on the line to protect Inari. [[spoiler: He later admits that this is the reason he's been helping Harry over the past few years.]]
32*** Inari actually gets a chance to turn this back on him by [[spoiler: smashing Harry over the head with his blasting staff after she thinks he shot her older brother]].
33** [[spoiler: Lara honestly loves and cares about her younger siblings, but at the start of the book, she isn't willing to go against her father to protect them. Once Harry's shown her Lord Raith's comparative weakness, and baited him into admitting that he considers her expendable, she's willing to move against him to protect Thomas.]]
34* BigScrewedUpFamily: House Raith. Based on the below, Lord Raith [[SarcasmMode is clearly Father of the Year Material.]]
35** First, [[spoiler:Lord Raith generally kills off every one of his sons to keep them from being a threat.]] Thomas has been avoiding this just barely the past few years.
36** Second [[spoiler:Lord Raith rapes and feeds on his daughters to dominate and break their wills, making them his slaves.]]
37** Third [[spoiler:Lord Raith forbids his children on pain of death from telling their younger siblings that they're vampires, to ensure all children become incubi/succubi by killing their first lover during their first vampiric feeding, before they understand what's going on.]]
38** Finally [[spoiler:Lord Raith sees his broken daughters just as disposable as the sons if they become too troublesome. Even his most loyal and devoted Lara would be killed if he needed it to happen.]]
39* BilingualBonus: Inari (稲荷) is the Japanese fox god, and there are lots of stories about [[AsianFoxSpirit shapeshifting fox-women]] seducing young men and sucking out all their marrow. Also, her favorite food is fried tofu. What sort of pizza topping does [[MeaningfulName Inari]] offer Harry?
40* TheBodyPartsThatMustNotBeNamed: Harry is on the phone with Murphy, updating her about the client he's been hired to work for, who happens to be a porn mogul. At this point in the series, Harry has not gotten over his chivalrous streak, so when he has to tell Murphy about the porn mogul's propensity for using women with natural breasts instead of those with fake breasts, he stumbles on how to convey it to her without actually saying the word. Murphy then gleefully fires off as many synonyms for breasts as she can until Harry is a blushing, flustered mess and begs her to stop it. [[ShipTease She then calls him "cute"]] and they move on with the conversation.
41* BoundAndGagged: How Harry and Murphy discover Thomas after he's [[spoiler:kidnapped by his father for use as a ritual sacrifice]]: stripped, gagged, staked out in a magic circle and viciously beaten for good measure.
42* BrainlessBeauty: Trixie Vixen. Her being unable to get Harry's name right is [[spoiler:a ChekhovsGag later in the book where it turns out that since she either is not smart enough to remember or just does not care, when the time comes for his name to be vital (in framing him for a murder) she gave the police the wrong name, when Harry had been scared that the police were going to be on his doorstep any minute.]]
43* BreakThemByTalking: Harry gives Thomas a downright nasty one of these after Thomas seemingly kills Justine by feeding on her.
44->"Harry."\
45I stopped. His (Thomas's) voice was raw with emotion, and sounded like he was trying to speak through a throat full of bitter mud. "I wanted you to know. Justine... I tried to stop in time. I didn't want to hurt her. Never."\
46"Yeah." I said. "[[SarcasmMode You had good intentions. That makes it all right.]]"\
47He folded his arms over his stomach, [[StressVomit as if nauseous]], and bowed his head. His long hair veiled his face. "I never pretended I wasn't... [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a predator]], Harry. I never claimed she was anything but what she was. Food. You knew it. She knew it. I didn't lie to anyone."\
48I had a bunch of [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech vicious answers I could have gone with]], but I went with "[[KirkSummation Before she went to you last night]], [[DyingDeclarationOfLove Justine asked me to tell you that she loved you]]."\
49Short of shoving a running chainsaw into Thomas's guts, I don't think I could have hurt him any more.
50* BrickJoke:
51** A crude one about Murphy and her motorcycle.
52--->'''Dresden:''' It's not my fault all women like motorcycles, Murphy. They're basically huge vibrators. With wheels.
53** Later, [[spoiler: After Harry and Murphy survive jousting with a truck on her bike,]] Murphy is laughing hysterically.
54--->'''Dresden:''' What? Why are you laughing?\
55'''Murphy:''' I think you were right about the vibrator thing.
56** When Jake Guffie asks what Harry is doing on set, as Harry prepares to defend the location from the dark forces and Harry explains, Jake notes it's like feng shui. After the climax, [[spoiler:Jake, Bobby, and Inari go to California to start a feng shui consulting business.]]
57* ChekhovsGun:
58** From the previous book, Harry and Susan having some kinky sex. Because of this [[spoiler:and their act of love and trust qualifies as an act of True Love, Harry is protected by it from the influences of the House Raith vampires]].
59** A minor one. When Harry wakes after the night of Mavra's first attempt on him, Harry has already planned on hunting the vampire down. He mentions making two phone calls and leaving messages on machines. These calls would be to [[spoiler:Ebenezer and Kincaid]].
60** After a fight, Harry [[spoiler:learns about the White Court reserves and how stressed a vampire must be to risk using it and the fact even after using the emergency reserves they aren't back to even a decent fighting level. Comes in handy with plotting Lord Raith's defeat.]]
61** Unlike Harry, [[spoiler:Arturo is not affected by Lara at all. Harry realizes later it was because he is genuinely in love with a woman.]]
62** When Harry first meets [[spoiler:Madge]], he doesn't consider the fact [[spoiler:she is carrying lots of plates and cups, so she couldn't even shake hands, a big deal]]. At the end, he realizes she is a decently powerful practitioner. If they had [[spoiler:touched hands]], he would have known that about her.
63* ChekhovsGunman:
64** Lara mentions House Skavis and House Malvora in passing. They become much more important in ''Literature/ProvenGuilty'' and ''Literature/WhiteNight''.
65** Lara and Thomas also discuss Madrigal and Madeline Raith. Both would become key plot points later.
66* TheClan: Clan Murphy makes an appearance with their family reunion and in it Harry meets Karrin's siblings, cousins, and her mother. [[spoiler:And Karrin's soon to be brother-in-law, her second ex-husband.]]
67* CombatPragmatist:
68** Kincaid shows this in most of his plans. Black Court Vampire trouble? Kincaid's suggestion is to toss gasoline in the place, burn it down, and then burn whatever remains. Got a wizard need taking out? [[spoiler:Death by sniper rifle from a long distance away, so sudden and quick there is little chance of a Death Curse in retaliation]].
69** [=McCoy=] has some similar tendencies [[spoiler: as Harry realizes he dropped the satellite on Ortega in the last book, likely from a safe distance]].
70* CompensatingForSomething: After looking between his broken blasting rod and Kincaid's large, high-tech vampire blasting spear, Harry flat-out says, "My dick is bigger than your dick."
71* ComplexityAddiction: Pretty much the only reason [[spoiler: Lord Raith]] lost. Why still rely on an elaborate, taking a long time to cast, ritual to murder your enemy who conveniently delivered himself straight into your hands already? Just smash his skull, preferably at the moment when he can't see his death coming! You'd still have [[spoiler: Murphy]] in your hands to do all the EvilGloating you want ''after'' your power is restored. The book even lampshades the fact that he's acting like a [[BondVillainStupidity movie villain]].
72* ContinuityNod:
73** Harry returns the Temple Dog puppies to Brother Wang in the chapel at O'Hare. The airport has completely redecorated it after it was desecrated and used for a blood ritual in [[Literature/DeathMasks the previous book]].
74** The Snoopy doll Dresden used against the loup-garou in ''Literature/FoolMoon'' shows up when he visits the SI offices. You can barely notice the bloodstains anymore.
75* ConvectionSchmonvection: Defied. Harry attempts to block a flamethrower blast with his shield, causing the hand attached to his shield bracelet to get so badly burnt that it takes ''years'' to get better, and that's only because wizards have superior healing ability and Ebenezer manages to restore some blood flow soon after.
76* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Averted, unlike previous incidents in the series. The CPR risks makings things worse, is so exhausting it takes two people switching off, and doesn't really do much over all.
77* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Several women around Arturo suffer these, one included being hit by a car ... while water skiing. [[spoiler:Harry saves another girl from being slammed by a frozen turkey falling at terminal velocity by transferring the target to a Black Court vampire.]]
78* DeadMansTriggerFinger: Happens to one of Raith's bodyguards [[spoiler:after Murphy puts a few bullets in him for trying to kill Harry, Lara and the others]].
79* DeadPersonConversation: Harry speaks to his mother this way, though she’s not a ghost.
80* DeusExMachina: Thomas finding Kincaid's business card in Harry's clothing, realizing that Harry needs to pay the man (how did Thomas know how much Harry owed him anyway?), and using pretty much all of his life's savings to pay off the debt conveniently saves Harry from being killed by Kincaid for reneging on a debt.
81* DidntSeeThatComing:
82** [[spoiler:A frozen turkey falling at terminal velocity nearly killing a Black Court vampire]] is one such incident. It brought the fight to a momentary standstill just because of its implausibility. It's specifically mentioned that, even by the standards of the semi-immortal, that is ''not'' a trick you see twice.
83--->'''Harry:''' For my next trick: {{anvil|OnHead}}s!
84** A case of two persons not seeing just where Dresden has connections. [[spoiler:Kincaid and [=McCoy=] know each other and Kincaid is generally scared of the old wizard. Considering [=McCoy=] is pissed at him for a previous contract and the first thing he does is nearly kill Kincaid on sight, fear is appropriate. Both are shocked Harry knows the other and called them in on the mission]].
85** None of the entropy-curse conspirators seems to have even ''suspected'' that [[spoiler: it was average-looking Joan whom Arturo had fallen in love with]], which means that [[spoiler: ''none'' of the curse-induced "accidents" could have achieved its intended purpose]].
86* DidntThinkThisThrough:
87** Harry hiring a cold-hearted mercenary to help him take out some vampires despite ''knowing'' he can in no way afford the man's services, and the mercenary will almost certainly kill him if he gets stiffed. Made especially worse considering the man is risking his life for Harry when Harry is essentially lying to him about payment. It might have been better if Harry had made ''some'' kind of effort to obtain alternative allies or sources of cash to pay Kincaid.
88** As Ebenezar pointed out, Mavra has the power of a wizard, so is theoretically also capable of the Death Curse, and Harry has taken no precautions against it. Harry has to admit he didn't think of it.
89* DiseaseBleach: [[spoiler:Justine]] after barely surviving [[spoiler:being fed on by a near-death Thomas]]. When she's seen afterwards, she's in a wheelchair and can barely speak.
90* DistractedByTheSexy: Bob has always had this trait, but it's lampshaded in this book. As Harry says, "a pretty face can inspire even a bodiless spirit of intellect to dizzying heights of idiocy."
91* DoubleEntendre: All over the place, especially during the fight with Lord Raith and his [[spoiler: [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything inability to *ahem*]] "feed".]]
92* DramaticChaseOpening: The book opens with Harry being chased by demonic chimps that fling incendiary poo.
93-->The building was on fire [[BlatantLies and it wasn't my fault]].
94* TheDreaded: It may not have stuck around long, but one of Harry's greatest nightmares has returned--[[spoiler: He Who Walks Behind]]. And it remembers him.
95* DressHitsFloor: Lara does this after [[spoiler:Lord Raith's EngineeredPublicConfession that he never cared about his daughter Lara and that he's lost his ability to feed. Lara resolves their differences in the traditional White Court manner. Namely, cranking up her Succubus powers to rape her father into submission just as he had been doing to her. Harry and company see as far as this before they have to run for it to keep their own minds.]]
96* TheDutifulSon: Lara Raith is this towards her father, always there to help him take care of some of his problems. [[spoiler:When she learns even she is considered disposable genetic stock and her father has been hiding a debilitating curse that keeps him from feeding, so his vampiric energy reserves are depleted, she doesn't kill him but makes him hers to command and rule the house as a Puppet Lord]].
97* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: This is the book where we get our first look at He Who Walks Behind. Harry's fearful descriptions of it in past books are now totally understandable.]]
98* ElectrifiedBathtub: An actress is nearly killed when a huge industrial light falls into the puddle created after a burst of scalding water causes her to fall through and break a glass shower door.
99* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Discussed at the beginning of the book when Harry talks about about two previous cases in ''Literature/SummerKnight'' and ''Literature/DeathMasks'' in which he prevented the next ice age, and then stopped what would have been a very nasty plague.
100-->'''Harry:''' I helped to do it and lived to walk away. But there was an unhappy ending.\
101'''Thomas:''' What?\
102'''Harry:''' I didn't get paid. For either case. I make more money from flaming demon monkey crap. That's just wrong.
103* EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler:After fighting Lord Raith to the point he needs to use his reserves to not be killed by Harry, Harry goads Raith into admitting Harry's mother cursed Raith so he could no longer feed and he had just tapped his last bits of reserve. This may make him more than enough for a weary Harry, but Lara, who heard this, is beyond him now and she will make sure he knows it.]]
104* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When Harry is rushing out with the box of puppies, one of them with a notch in his ear is standing up against the side barking his head off at the demons chasing them while all the other puppies are staying low. That little puppy would be an unnamed Mouse.
105* EvilDetectingDog: Harry saves a litter of them at the start and one decides to stick around with him. Even at a young age and small size, the pup can sense evil actions, like Black Court vampires or when a White Court is feeding.
106* EvilIsPetty: The entire motivation of the main villains.
107** [[spoiler:Lord Raith wants to discredit Arturo because he's interfering with the White Court's monopoly on the porn market]].
108** [[spoiler: The three women Raith's working the entropy curse with are all Arturo's ex-wives who want to kill the woman Arturo wants to marry so they can keep their full shares of his alimony checks and will. However, on closer inspection it's even more petty than that, because their killing of women around Arturo is pretty much guaranteed to drive him into bankruptcy when the production fails, rendering their checks and his will virtually worthless. It may have ''started'' being about money for the ex-es, but it's pretty clear they're '''really''' out to get back at him, his new girlfriend, and/or one another. They also can't be bothered to make certain of their target before they start killing, resulting in the deaths of several women who have nothing to do with their dispute, almost including Inari, which would have been the end of those ladies.]]
109* FateWorseThanDeath: Invoked by [[spoiler:Harry's mother Margaret with her Death Curse. She couldn't kill Lord Raith, so she prevented him from feeding, leaving the man crippled. And if he were to ever reveal the truth he would be turned on by his own "loyal" family]]. Further noted by Butcher [[spoiler:had she just killed him, another would have taken his place but this single act turned his expansionist agenda back to total defense and fear of infighting. None of the Court could advance far because the King wouldn't permit it]].
110** Becoming a Renfield under the control of a Black Court Vampire is undoutably this. Unlike other thralls, a renfield is a permanent servant of a Black Court vampire and no amount of ThePowerOfLove or IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight will save them. Even if you destroy their master, they will simply be an EmptyShell becoming more violent and insane as time goes on. In order to make a Renfield - the perfect, permanent, obedient slave a Black Court Vampire needs - they essentially destroy a person's mind and sense of self while leaving nothing but a desire to serve their master. They can't be fixed because there is nothing of the original person in there. Even worse is that it's only mentioned that personality is destroyed but nothing specifically about memory. The violent madness may be a product of having the memories of their life but not the realization or understanding of what they are seeing or experience. Like a phantom limb that aches.
111* FearIsTheAppropriateResponse:
112** Kincaid is a badass, as seen in the previous book. He is cool under pressure and knows how to handle a wizard's death curse. That said, he is [[spoiler:terrified of [=McCoy=], the personal hitman of the White Council]]. Considering the one he fears [[spoiler:dropped a satellite on his enemy's fortress and who knows what other dark magics for the greater good]], and swore to kill Kincaid if they ever crossed paths again, his fear is not unfounded.
113** Kincaid even notes that a raid on a Black Court lair is nearly suicidal. Despite that, he comes up with enough military-grade hardware and a plan worthy of a spec-ops team that could take them out with relative ease, even if he's rather blasé about hostage casualties.
114* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling:
115** Youngest child Lisa is the foolish one to her elder, and eldest sibling, Karrin Murphy. Karrin is the hard-nosed cop with a strong drive. Karrin describes Lisa as being a very loose woman with no real focus.
116** To House Raith, Lara Raith is the responsible one as she continues to serve her father and do his various jobs. Thomas appears to be an aloof fool.
117* {{Foreshadowing}}:
118** After talking Murphy through her worries about her family reunion, Harry mentions that he wishes he knew what his mother's voice sounds like. [[spoiler: He gets his wish.]]
119** Harry's entire internal monologue about how otherwise rational people turn crazy when their families get involved is both this and HilariousInHindsight considering the fact that [[spoiler: he drops everything in order to help take down Lord Raith ''the second'' he finds out that Thomas is his half-brother.]]
120* TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: Harry notes that practitioners of magic, in particular decently strong to White Council level, can feel the magic in another person by shaking their hands. [[spoiler:For this reason, Madge is careful to not shake Harry's hands when they meet]].
121* FreudWasRight: Obvious in the final chapters of the book, to the point that it was even Lampshaded by Harry in the narrative.
122--> And with that, [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty Murphy still pinned on his knife]]--[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic don't miss the symbolism there, Doc Freud]]--
123* GirlOnGirlIsHot: [[spoiler:Because Lord Raith said so. Through the medium of the porn industry, most of which he controls, his desires and sexual fetishes have slowly influenced the world's view on beauty and attractiveness]].
124* GlamourFailure / TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: Literally in the case of the White Court; there are hints that their supernatural beauty and psychic allure don't translate through film or mirrors.
125* GunsAkimbo: Lara Raith's first fight scene involves her wielding two very small pistols and a lot of lingerie.
126* HeroismWontPayTheBills: What does Dresden consider the great tragedy of both Literature/SummerKnight and Literature/DeathMasks after all is said and done? After saving the world twice he didn't make a dime off of it.
127* HitlerAteSugar: Used by a [[{{Mook}} minor villain]] to justify their killing of a young single mother with two kids.
128-->'''Harry:''' For god's sake [[spoiler:Trixie]], she's got kids.\
129'''[[spoiler:Trixie Vixen]]:''' [[ArtisticLicenseHistory So did Hitler.]]\
130'''Harry:''' No, he had ''dogs''.
131* HitmanWithAHeart:
132** Upon learning Mavra and her scourge are in town, Kincaid's suggestion is to toss gasoline in the place, burn it down, and then burn whatever remains. [[spoiler:He even says this when told there are likely hostages inside. But when the battle is over, and he sees the hostages are young children, some younger than five years old, he admits that the less efficient raid Harry wanted might have been a better choice.]]
133** [[spoiler:Ebenezer "Blackstaff" [=McCoy=] is the personal hitman of the White Council, with the power and full authority to break any of the seven laws of magic. He usually only did it when inaction and adherence to the strict laws would end up making the world a worse place]].
134* HolyBurnsEvil: Of the three courts, the Black Court suffers worst from this. Harry keeps holy water balloons in his car to use against ambushing vampires.
135* HonestCorporateExecutive: Arturo. When he realizes something bad is happening, he seeks magical help. When told he could try to save others by shutting down production, he considers it. [[spoiler:He uses all natural footage, no digital or surgical enhancements of any sort, and uses people of any age and size. This in fact is one of the biggest issues the BigBad has with him, as these practices are against the norm but are making waves and changes to the porn industry.]]
136* {{Hypocrite}}: Harry is furious at the revelation [[spoiler:the man who took him in after killing Justin and taught him to respect the Laws of Magic is the one person in the Council with the authority to violate the laws as the Council's hitman]].
137* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Lord Raith tries this on Murphy, but [[ActionGirl Murphy]] being [[CuteBruiser Murphy]] throws a wrench into his plans.
138* InMediasRes: As the book opens, Harry is escaping a burning building carrying a box of puppies while being chased by winged monkey demons flinging incendiary poo.
139--> The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault.
140* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Arturo's three ex-wives]] specifically targeted all the young pretty women on the movie set because [[spoiler:they saw them as the most likely candidates to fit Arturo's tastes, and thus be his new wife, who was their actual target]]. At the end of the book, [[spoiler:said new wife]] turns out to be [[spoiler:Joan]], the ''one'' woman they didn't bother to target due to [[spoiler:her average appearance not matching what they thought were Arturo's tastes]].
141* ItsAllAboutMe:
142** Trixie, ex-wife #3, is this ten times over.
143** [[spoiler:Lord Raith's view to his family. His children are there to service him and his needs. See BigScrewedUpFamily for more details.]]
144* IWantGrandkids: Mama Murphy would really like her eldest daughter to have some kids by now. It's one of the things they fight about.
145* KillItWithFire:
146** Kincaid's go-to method to dealing with a scourge? Bomb the nest, burn the remains, put fire out and burn the rest. [[spoiler:Hostages be damned.]]
147** [[spoiler:Some of Mavra's agents wield flamethrowers at Kincaid, Harry, and, Murphy. Harry's shield blocks the actual flames but Mavra guessed, correctly, that it wouldn't block ''the heat'' of the fire and results in Harry baking his own hand]].
148* KillItWithWater: Because Harry and Murphy nix the killing with fire idea, Kincaid plans ahead and hands Harry [[spoiler:a paintball gun filled with rounds containing holy water and garlic. Safe against humans but would devastate a Black Court vampire]].
149* [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Knight Templar Big Sister:]] Played with in regards to Lara Raith. She's violently protective of her younger siblings... [[spoiler: to the point where she's willing to kill Thomas to protect him from their father's wrath.]]
150* LittleStowaway: A small puppy from the litter Harry saved decided to stay with him and climbed out of the box in his car and hid under a seat.
151* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Fear that this trope may strike during filming is why Bobby reacts badly to Harry's "stunt man" joke.
152* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Thomas is Harry's half-brother.]] Another one makes an appearance in the book, but Harry doesn't know it yet.
153* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Thomas Raith is Harry's half-brother.]] {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Harry:
154--> A half-hysterical chuckle slipped out of my mouth. "Wait, I've seen this one before. This is where you say, 'Search your feelings; you know it to be true.'"
155* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Because Harry is protected [[spoiler:by the laws of hospitality, Papa Raith can’t just snap his neck, so, he sends his young, maturing daughter to Harry in hopes her Hunger will awaken, causing her to drain Harry dead]] and the White Council will get a sad apology for this tragic accident.
156* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Considering what a monster among monsters her father is, Lara considers just shooting Thomas to stop his attempted coup]].
157* MexicanStandoff: Harry ends up in one with [[spoiler:Lara Raith. Both know secrets of the other, Harry being Thomas' brother and Lara being the power behind the throne, that should be revealed would be the destruction of each other. So they agree to not reveal them for a few agreeable terms.]]
158* MindRape: Thomas mentions to Harry that his father uses this, mixed in with [[RapeAsDrama the regular kind]] to establish dominance and solve family disputes. ''Yes, [[VillainousIncest family disputes]],'' though Lord Raith sticks to females. [[spoiler: It's also how Lara deposes her father, and turns him into her slave]].
159** Lord Raith attempts one on Murphy in the climax, and it nearly succeeds. [[spoiler: If he'd still been able to feed and not living off reserves, then he would have definitely broken her.]]
160* TheMissusAndTheEx
161** Murphy deals with this, with her as the Ex, and her second husband being engaged to [[spoiler:her sister]]. She is not pleased with this fact.
162** [[spoiler:Arturo has three ex's he works with, and one lady he plans on wedding who truly makes him happy. They don't approve, as she would have power of attorney over his estate, and thus could get in the way of their handsome alimony checks. So they try to kill her.]]
163* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [[spoiler:Lara has known her father is a horrible monster. Years of rape and domination at his awesome power made her fearful to try anything against him. However, upon learning that even she, his most loyal of his daughters, is considered disposable to him and he no longer has the power to feed and is now has used up his reserves, leaving him just over empty, she finds it much easier to break from his control and become the dominating person in the family.]]
164* MoodWhiplash: The nauseating description of the entropy curse coupled with some of the members of Mavra's scourge attacking Harry, Thomas, Lara, and Inari in the parking lot is sandwiched in-between the hilarious randomness of Harry channeling the entropy curse to [[spoiler:drop a frozen turkey from a passing airplane on one of the Black Court vampires]].
165* MurderTheHypotenuse:
166** [[spoiler: The MO of Arturo's ex-wives is to kill any woman near him before he can marry one of them, as a new Mrs. Genosa would deny them alimony and would control his property in the event of his death.]]
167** [[spoiler: Madge also murders Arturo's other two ex-wives, Lucille by ritual sacrifice and Trixie by casting a spell that suffocates her slowly until she's unceremoniously dumped into the Deeps pit. Far too late to preserve her marriage to Arturo, but still a belated example]].
168* MurphysBullet: A gun goes off in a struggle between Harry and a crazy porn star, hitting a random bystander in the hallway. Of course, this was the result of a very powerful and targeted bad luck curse as well.
169* TheNeedsOfTheMany: The White Council lives by the Seven Laws of Magic that help govern and control the wizards from doing black magic. But there are times when an enemy will use the rules against them [[spoiler:so at times like this, when following the law is the worst option, the Council calls on the Blackstaff (the current one being Ebenezer [=McCoy=]), the assassin of the Council, who has the full authority to break the sacred laws]].
170* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Jake. He tells Harry that after working in the porn business for so long, it's not as much of a dream job as Harry would think.
171* NotSoDifferentRemark: Harry comes to the conclusion [[spoiler:his mentor Ebenezer is not that different from monsters like Kincaid or Ortega as he is the hitman of the Council with full jurisdiction to violate the Seven Laws of Magic if adhering to them would not be for the common good]].
172* ObfuscatingStupidity:
173** Harry. Harry. Oh, and Harry. He is much smarter than he lets on. [[spoiler:Referenced by Lara Raith when she realizes she was being played by Harry to perform a coup d'etat on her father and got her father to reveal all of his weaknesses in an EngineeredPublicConfession. She is most impressed by this action.]]
174** This is how Thomas has survived so long in the House Raith. He played the fool to not arouse suspicion. Lara figured it out, and now he has to employ the opposite (Obfuscating Cunning?) with her, making vague comments that makes it sound like he knows more than he does.
175* OhCrap: Harry has a moment like this when he realizes that the entity behind the entropy curse is [[spoiler: [[EldritchAbomination He Who Walks Behind]]]].
176-->'''Harry:''' [[BrownNote Hell's holy stars and freaking stones shit bells.]]
177* OldMaster: Ebenezer [=McCoy=], Harry's second mentor, easily over 200 years old, is a powerful combat mage when the need arises. [[spoiler:He is also the White Council's personal hitman with full discretion to break the laws and someone Kincaid actually fears. Had he known Dresden called the old man to the job, Kincaid wouldn’t have agreed to it]].
178* OrificeInvasion: [[spoiler: How the unbound, gaseous He Who Walks Behind kills Madge. Horribly.]]
179* OutOfCharacterAlert: [[spoiler: Harry realizes that Murphy is pretending to be enslaved to Lord Raith's will when she calls him "Mr. Dresden." She usually calls him "Harry," or "Dresden" if she's annoyed with him, but almost never "Mr. Dresden."]]
180* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Murphy realizes that Ebenezar is not someone to be messed with and is ''not'' just some harmless old man when ''Harry'', of all people, who has absolutely no respect for anyone in authority, calls him "sir".
181* OutOfCharacterMoment: Harry has spent the whole series up to this point trying to prevent his allies from helping him with his dangerous work out of concern that they will get hurt in the process. In this book, he deliberately hires the services of a man for what is going to be ''very'' dangerous work knowing that he almost certainly will not be able to actually pay the man, yet lies about his ability to do so anyway.
182* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Lord Raith not only rapes his daughters, he feeds on them, to break them even more]].
183* ThePowerOfLove: It is one of the strongest forces in the world. It is so strong the White Court vampires cannot eat or even touch a person who is in love and is loved in return. [[spoiler:Thus forever protecting Justine as Thomas loved her enough to risk his own life and stop feeding off of her when he needed it the most. Sadly, this means he also can't touch her from now on without getting horribly burned]].
184* RageAgainstTheMentor: Harry becomes furious at his former mentor when [=McCoy=] reveals that [[spoiler: he is the Blackstaff, the Council's hitman who can violate all the Laws.]]
185* RapeAndRevenge: Type I: [[spoiler:Lord Raith was known for "conditioning" his daughters into his [[BrokenBird loyal servants,]] who would do any task he set forth. When Lara learns her father can not longer feed and is severely weakened, she responds by first sending an intense level of lust and seduction at the old man. What happens later, well it isn't described. All that we know is that the White King became a puppet with Lara pulling the strings.]]
186* RealityWarper: Of a ''very'' limited version. When someone invokes the entropy curse, they shift the laws of probability toward a person's death. However, while they have no control over the particulars of the death, the caster's mindset will change how the death comes about, from a car striking a woman while she's water skiing under an overpass when the caster is a scatter-brain to stray bullets striking the victim perfectly in the heart and forehead when the caster has a serious, focused mind. As a result, some of the effects displayed were quite... ''unique.'' And of course when [[spoiler:Harry momentarily channels the curse to save a victim it plays out like [[DidntSeeThatComing a Looney Tunes gag]]]].
187* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: During the fight with the black court vampires Dresden, Kincaid, and Murphy find hostages, unfortunately there's a trip mine with a laser tripwire, and Kincaid and Dresden are too big to fit under and disable it. Kincaid even tells her to unclench her butt to get underneath, and Murphy says she has, prompting Kincaid to remark, "Great ass, then." Murphy ends up having to ditch her pants to fit under, she is not amused. Even better, since she's already under the lasers and can't move around much ''Kincaid'' has to take them off for her. ''And'' she has to stay like that the rest of the fight because her pants get destroyed.
188-->'''Dresden:''' Pink panties. With little white bows. I wouldn't have guessed that. They really go with Kevlar and the gun belt, Murph. Shows you're a woman with her priorities straight.
189* TheReveal:
190** Harry's mentor [=McCoy=] [[spoiler:is the White Council's hitman with all rights to break any of the seven laws to take down people as needed.]]
191** Mother Murphy explains to Harry [[spoiler:that her husband used to run the equivalent to the SI department back in the day. However, Karrin is not aware of any of this.]]
192** [[spoiler:Thomas is Harry's half-brother by Maggie Dresden.]]
193** Karrin is quite shocked, and angered, to learn her baby sister's new beau is [[spoiler:her ex-husband]].
194* ScaryStingingSwarm: The entropy curse's first victim, Arturo's driver, was killed by a swarm of bees which inexplicably turned up in the trunk of a car.
195* SecretTestOfCharacter: When Harry introduces Murphy to Kincaid, Kincaid first dismisses her and tells her to leave the talk to the grown-ups, getting more and more insulting the longer she stays in place. Finally, she slams him down on a table and threatens to break his arm. Kincaid is highly impressed and explains he insulted her to see if she lived up to her reputation.
196* SexuallyTransmittedSuperpowers: {{Inverted}}, [[DiscussedTrope in theory]]. The youngest Raith sibling, Inari, has yet to feed on a human to unlock her full power as an EmotionEater White Court vampire. She also has a human boyfriend, Bobby, whom she leaves Chicago with at the end of the book. Harry theorizes at the end of the novel that, since White Court vampires are [[ThePowerOfLove harmed by attempting to feed on someone who is in love]], Inari might be able to become fully human if she has her first time within a loving relationship.
197* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend:
198** Harry continuously asserts that the pup that wandered off from his littermates is not his dog. No one really buys it.
199** A straighter example, this book marks the beginning of Harry and Murphy insisting that [[EveryoneCanSeeIt they are not in a relationship]].
200* StealthInsult: After being convinced that Kincaid isn't human, Harry had asked Kincaid several times what he was exactly. Just before leaving, Kincaid mentions that he's just as human as Harry is. Not long after, [[spoiler: Ebenezar tells Harry Kincaid is a Scion, half-human, and the other half is presumably demonic]]. Knowing Kincaid, though, his statement might have actually been a stealth compliment.
201* StudioEpisode: This installment focuses on Harry being hired by Thomas Raith to investigate an adult film studio run by the Raith family, which is being affected by a curse that's causing its performers to die in bizarre accidents.
202* SupremeChef: Mother Murphy, Karrin's mother and matriarch of the family. When Harry bites just a simple burger she cooked, he nearly melts and considers marrying Murphy just to eat this level of cooking on Thanksgiving.
203* ThreatBackfire: The [[DyingCurse Death Curse]] Harry could lay out if he was killed is something most in the supernatural community take seriously. Kincaid, who tells Harry if he fails to pay for the job he will be killed, is unimpressed and tells Harry that he would snipe him with a supersonic bullet from over 1000 yards away. Too fast and too quick for Harry to conjure the curse. Harry realizes this could work.
204* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Murphy to Harry, "Get on the bike, bitch."
205* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Murphy pretty much has to be a tomboy to survive in the Chicago PD, even cutting her hair shorter than she'd like. However, it turns out under it all, she's wearing pink panties with little white bows.
206* TomeOfEldritchLore: Played with. When discussing the mechanics of ritual magic, Harry explains that the White Council had, at times, pushed to have dark ritual books published and distributed to as many people as possible. When Murphy (understandably) asks why the ''good guys'' would want to do that, he tells her that summoning dark powers through rituals is like water coming out of a pipe. If you have thousands drawing from the same line, it loses all effectiveness because there is not enough power to go around. Hence, the only rituals in the Dresdenverse with overwhelming power are the ones that are kept secret.
207** Bram Stoker's ''{{Literature/Dracula}}'' is also like this to the Black Court, considering it contains everything that someone needs to kill a Black Court vampire and is a major reason why they're the smallest of the three vampire courts.
208* TheUnseen: Harry never does meet [[spoiler: Arturo's second ex-wife Lucille]] alive, although he comes very close when [[spoiler: she tries to murder him with a blowgun]].
209* VegetarianVampire: Inari is both a straight and literal example, as she hasn't yet fed on anyone ([[spoiler:thus not having turned from human to succubus]]) and eats no meat.
210* WaterGunsAndBalloons: Harry carries a pack of filled water balloons in the Blue Beetle. They are filled with holy water. It's a nice surprise for several supernatural nasties.
211* WeHaveReserves: [[spoiler:Lord Raith's general view about his children, even Lara. He can always make more if need be. Lara does not take the reveal well and responds accordingly when Harry gets him to reveal he isn't as strong as he once was and can no longer feed to recover his strength.]]
212* TheWeirdSisters: The villain for Arturo's case is [[spoiler: actually a trio, all three of his ex-wives attempting to use a ritual curse to murder their ex-husband's possible suitors to protect their alimonies]]. A magical ritual traditionally requires at least three participants to work properly, and Dresden notes that this is where the Weird Sisters "[[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} three witches cackling around a cauldron]]" stereotype comes from.
213* XanatosGambit: The White Court does these as a standard operating procedure. Naturally, [[GambitPileup several of them drive the plot]]. [[spoiler: Thomas brings in Harry to protect Arturo and his business, and to throw a monkey wrench into his father's plans. Lara ''thinks'' Thomas is being more clever, possibly even planning to stage a coup, though she's loyal to her father out of self-interest. Arturo's ex wives are using magic to keep him from getting married, which could deny them alimony. And ''their motivation'' was manipulated, and are being sponsored by Lord Raith, who is trying to keep Arturo under his thumb, and quickly adapts his plans to kill Harry to keep him from interfering, and later Thomas when he learns they're siblings, which would free him from their mother's curse]].
214** Good thing for Harry that he's really good at being the [[DidntSeeThatComing monkey wrench in people's plans]], and that he pretty good at XanatosSpeedChess when the situation calls for it. [[spoiler: He upsets Raith's plans, saves Arturo's new wife (if not his business), and succeeds in a BatmanGambit by manipulating Raith into confessing that he's been weakened and that he sees even Lara as disposable. Too bad for him Lara was there to hear all of it]].
215* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Murphy tells Dresden's mentor, Ebenezar, to get out of the driver's seat so she can take the wheel and get them to their destination before people die. She is ''not'' polite as she says this. Harry sighs, and asks Ebenezar to take her lead, slipping in the word "sir." Murphy drops her jaw, and everything she is holding at the time, and calls Harry out on this. After a second, Murphy asks Ebenezar again. This time, she is ''very'' polite when asking.
216** When [[spoiler:she's under Lord Raith's control]], Harry realizes that [[spoiler:she's faking it]] when she calls him "Mister Dresden".
217* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: As soon as Trixie isn't needed anymore, Lord Raith throws her into an abyss in the Deeps. Particularly because she wasn't terribly useful to start with.]]
218* YouPutTheXInXY:
219-->'''Harry:''' I put the 'ick' in 'magic'.

Top