Line #63 ShoutOut/DeathMasks


1	The Shout-Out per page ratio continues to rise in this, the fifth book of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. Caught between a vengeful Red Court noble on one side and the literal forces of Hell on the other, Harry needs all the Knightly help and pop-trivia references he can get.
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3	* Thomas wears a ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' T-shirt.
4	** To a duel where he hopes a vampire from a rival court will get killed, no less. Nice one, Thomas.
5	*** For (probably unintentional) bonus points, the audio book is read by Creator/JamesMarsters, who played the vampire Spike on ''Buffy.''
6	** Also, the [[VampireRefugee Order of St. Giles]] shares a name with Buffy's mentor and father figure.
7	*** Though it actually probably ''is'' exactly what the book states it to be--a reference to the patron saint of lepers and the diseased, as well as the famous leper colony named after him. [[GeniusBonus Bonus points]] when you realize that leprosy was once believed to have no possible cure, and most lepers were locked away in colonies to prevent them from transmitting the disease; in the books, being a half-turned vampire is incurable, and the members of the Order are basically isolating themselves from everyone in order to protect their loved ones from their curse.
8	** Earlier, Harry teases Thomas for dressing like the aging Music/ElvisPresley, possibly Music/MichaelJackson.
9	* When an enemy ''doesn't'' reveal his plan after capturing Harry, Harry later notes that the villain "must have read the EvilOverlordList."
10	* The Carpenters' house looks like something from ''Better Homes and Gardens'' magazine in front, and a Craftsman commercial in back.
11	* In contrast, the neighborhood where the Denarians keep Harry prisoner makes the Chicago of ''Literature/TheJungle'' look like something from ''Film/MaryPoppins''.
12	* There's a shoutout to David Eddings' ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}''[[note]]Jim Butcher says Eddings was one of the authors which got him started on fantasy[[/note]] 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.
13	-->"What about him?" I asked the Archive, and nodded towards Kincaid. "Can he be trusted?"
14	-->"Kincaid?" the girl asked, her voice whimsical. "Can you be trusted?"
15	-->"You're paid up through April," the man replied, his eyes still scanning the street. "After that, I might get a better offer."
16	-->"There," the girl said to me. "Kincaid can be trusted until April. He's an ethical man, in his way."
17	** Given that this is the ''Archive'' we're talking about, this is '''guaranteed''' to be an invoked example. Of ''course'' her voice was whimsical.
18	* ''Meeting'' the Archive reminds Harry of ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone\|1959}}'', specifically its adaptation of the short story "Literature/ItsAGoodLife".
19	* Harry to Thomas, about Raith Sr.: "Nice father figure. Him and Creator/BillCosby."
20	* Murphy mentions ''Film/TheExorcist'' when discussing demons and Fallen with Harry.
21	* Harry hears [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand "Sympathy For The Devil"]] in his head [[spoiler: when he's burying Lasciel's coin.]]
22	* Nicodemus asks Harry if he's read [[Literature/TheBible Revelations]]; Harry says he hasn't in a while.
23	* Harry Dresden: self-proclaimed Creator/BruceLee of fun.
24	** Unless you ask him to chew and smile at the same time. "Do I look like Creator/JackieChan?"
25	** He's not [[Film/{{Alien}} Tom Skerritt]], either.
26	* "I'm a disciple of the Tao of [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]". When Nicodemus doesn't get it, Harry notes that he "must be a Creator/DCComics fan".
27	* Molly quips "[[Film/TheWizardOfOz Surrender, Dorothy]]" when her mother scolds her.
28	* Harry sums up the troubles that are piling up on him in the style of ''[[ChristmasSongs The Twelve Days Of Christmas]]'', complete with partridge in a pear tree.
29	** [[WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964 Rudolph the Brown-Nosed Cop]] acquires his nickname in this book, in another holiday-song reference.
30	* In a rare departure from his usual ''Franchise/StarWars'' preferences, Harry raises an eyebrow, [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Spock]]-like, while talking to Sanya.
31	** He later compliments Sanya for not dressing like a Renaissance festival like Michael, and points out that his Kalashnikov gives him a very Creator/CharltonHeston look for a Knight.
32	* ''Film/JamesBond'' references inevitably arise, what with Harry running around in a tux at the art auction.
33	** Of course, he lampshades how Bond never loses a shoe when he kicks a bad guy.
34	** Being Harry, he slips a "[[Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors Feed me, Seymour]]" reference in among the spy gags.
35	** Also a [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings "my precious"]] quip, when they run into Marcone.
36	** Film/JamesBond comes up again later, when Harry calls Susan "double oh seven" after she checks the ''Blue Beetle'' for car bombs.
37	* Sending Bob to scout Marcone's operation, Harry tells him he doesn't have to "go all David Niven" about it. David Niven starred in several spy movies.
38	* Butters tells Harry and Murphy they're welcome to "[[Series/TheXFiles Mulder out]]" an explanation for the condition of the body he's been examining.
39	* Harry doesn't have the heart to smack his Mickey Mouse alarm clock, because he couldn't live with someone who would hit WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse.
40	* "[[NurseryRhyme One little, two little, three little Denarians]]" doesn't scan quite as well as "Indians".
41	* The method of dueling which the Archive selects for Harry and Ortega--forcing a ball of instant-death mordite back and forth with their minds--is reminiscent of that infamously campaign-breaking ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' artifact, the [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/artifacts/minor-artifacts/sphere-of-annihilation/ Sphere of Annihilation]], which could also be pushed around by willpower.
42	* Mort quotes ''Film/TheSixthSense'' on ''The Larry Fowler Show''. Harry, being less at-ease with being laughed at on-stage, finds himself thinking about ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' and ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}''.
43	** Fowler, an obvious {{Expy}} of [[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]--he's even ''called'' "Jerry" in an editing flub--is welcomed onto the stage with a near-identical name chant to ''The Jerry Springer Show'''s.
44	* Murphy is a monster-hunting [[Myth/NorseMythology Valkyrie]], according to Harry. Amusingly, this is the book in which an ''actual'' Valkyrie is introduced.
45	** One so glamorous, a ''Sports Illustrated'' bikini would look plain on her.
46	** And who plays "[[Music/RichardWagner Ride of the Valkyries]]" [[GenreSavvy on request]], no less!
47	* Harry quotes the ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' theme song at Shiro's BigDamnHeroes moment, then offers to switch to ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' when nobody laughs.
48	* Harry's snarky "yippee ki yay" is either a sanitized ''Film/DieHard'' reference or a cowboy song quote, possibly ''Riders In The Sky''.
49	* The voice with which Ursiel forces Harry out of the soulgaze is louder than a Music/{{Metallica}} concert.
50	** Harry uses a picture of Music/MeatLoaf as a potion ingredient.
51	** Returning to the Carpenters' house, he knocks on the door and snarks that it's Donny and Marie, filling in for Salt-N-Pepa.
52	** He quotes Music/{{Queen}}'s "Bohemian Rhapsody" while kicking the crap out of [[spoiler: Cassius]].
53	** And he calls British thief Anna Valmont "[[Music/SpiceGirls Larceny Spice]]". Harry's music savvy presumably fossilized around the time he started shorting out radios.
54	* Deirdre is described by Harry as "the demented love child of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Medusa]][[note]]Or perhaps the Marvel character who has prehensile hair[[/note]] and ComicBook/DoctorOctopus". He later calls her Madame Medusa to her face, but she's [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore far from impressed]].
55	** "Music/JoanJett hair" and "hairstyle by the [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Tasmanian Devil]]" are a bit more original.
56	* Deirdre and Snakeboy together get tagged "[[WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}} the Wonder Twins]]", and Nicodemus (presumably due to the trenchcoat) "[[Creator/HumphreyBogart Bogart]]".
57	** And Harry bluffs them by refusing to give them "[[Series/SesameStreet one, one detonator, ah, ah, ah]]", in an atrocious Transylvanian accent.
58	** Nicodemus later appears in a smoking jacket of [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Hugh Hefner]] vintage.
59	*** In their conversation, Harry asks him if [[Creator/MarquisDeSade Ortho de Sade]] or [[ThoseWackyNazis Smokin' Joe Mengele, [=DDS=]]] is his dentist.
60	*** At the end, Harry quotes the Lord's Prayer to reject Nicodemus's offer of [[spoiler: Lasciel's coin]].
61	* Susan quips about how she's taken up [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} leaping tall buildings in a single bound]].
62	* Harry calls Ortega's offer to make his home city a neutral territory "[[Film/{{Casablanca}} Chicago-blanca]]".
63	* The pistol Harry bought to replace one lost in the last book is, as he puts it, a Film/DirtyHarry Callahan number.
64	** Susan threatens to crash the car if Harry quotes Creator/ClintEastwood, so of course he does.
65	* He gestures [[Series/WheelOfFortune Vanna White]]-style to Michael and Sanya.
66	* He teases little Harry Carpenter that the toddler shouldn't be antisocial, or he might become a recluse and [[Film/CitizenKane wander around saying "Woahse-Bud"]].

Context ShoutOut / DeathMasks