* "[[ShoutOut How about]] [[Film/TheWizardOfOz a little]] [[KillItWithFire fire]], [[ScaryScarecrows Scarecrow]]?"
* Dresden entering the movie theater with yet another movie reference:
--> '''Dresden''': [''kicks in the door''] [[ShoutOut AND I'M ALL]] [[Film/TheyLive OUT OF BUBBLE GUM!]]
** Turned [[Funny/ProvenGuilty Funny]] when he finds ''no one there.''
* To get Molly back, Harry, Murphy, Charity, and Thomas have to go through Arctis Tor. Arctis Tor is [[PhysicalGod Mab]]'s stronghold, and the heart of Winter. It’s protected by hordes of nasty winter fae. Harry is a wizard, Charity and Murphy are vanilla mortals, and Thomas is a White Court vampire who hasn't been feeding much. All they have is chainmail, a favor from Lily ([[GodsHandsAreTied who's been magically compelled to not help Harry]]), and the knowledge that Charity's daughter is being tortured there. ''They do it''. They storm the heart of winter, risking angering Mab, destroy the fetches who had Molly, and Harry attacks this fountain that turns out to be the wellspring of Winter, which due to circumstances allows Summer to go to the aid of the White Council and save the rears of everyone there.
* A villainous moment. Harry and team get to Arctis Tor aka the heart of Winter, only to find an unknown HellFire wielder has blasted a hole through every one of the defenses and left the entire contingent of Winter Fae stationed there except for the Fetches StrippedToTheBone. Harry's OhCrap is understandable.
* [[MamaBear Charity Carpenter]] at Arctis Tor. "You will never touch my daughter again!", indeed.
** A Moment of Awesome is also awarded to Daniel Carpenter, for attacking the phages that show up at the Carpenter home with nothing more than a fire poker and sheer balls. That it was ultimately futile does not diminish this in the slightest, particularly in light of the psychic beating he took on behalf of his family. Daniel actually ''kept punching the creatures so hard that '''his fists bled enough to create a small pool of blood''''', because ''[[BigBrotherInstinct like hell]]'' [[BigBrotherInstinct is he going to stand by and lets some monsters take his sister away]].
** He escapes the Hammerhead form Fetch via simple FridgeLogic. The creature has taken up a form which has sledgehammers for hands, which means no climbing is possible.
* Harry vs. the Merlin at Molly Carpenter's trial.
** There's also Ramirez [[CallingTheOldManOut calling the Merlin a senile bastard]] ''to his face.''
*** Then when Morgan has him give an OrderedApology, Ramirez does, but then politely reminds the ''entire White Council'' that he, Carlos Ramirez, '''has become the youngest Warden in the history of the WC''' ''through sheer talent, bravery, hard work and grit'', and '''''that demands respect'''''. Even Merlin gives in on the spot to that argument.
* Harry vs. DirtyCop Greene over Molly. Greene has Molly in interrogation, and Harry gets her out using some extraordinarily swift thinking, knowledge of the legal system, a nosy reporter, and about two metric tons of awesome. The poor cop never had a chance.
* At the horror movie convention, Harry takes on, [[CurbStompBattle and destroys]] a freaking '''[[Franchise/{{Alien}} xenomorph!]]''' Complete with quotes from the movie.
* Morgan got within YARDS of personally offing the King of the Red Court. Say what you will about his personality, the man is ''badass''.
** He didn't get that close by chance, either. While we don't get to see the fight, it was mentioned he had to cut his way through three Red Court Dukes, the sight of which was presumably what convinced the King to get his undead ass out of there. It says something about Morgan's level of badassery that not one character in the books doubts for a moment that he COULD have taken the King had he just gotten a little closer.
*** This is even further enhanced by ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', where we learn that the Red King's greatest minions are the [[PhysicalGod Lords of the Outer Night]] and that the Red King himself can survive getting his head blown off - meaning Morgan likely had to cut through ''at least'' one of those guys to get so close to the King, and is considered capable of not only beating the Red King but keeping him dead.
* Thomas's BigDamnHeroes moment.
--> '''Thomas''': Howdy. ''[shotgun blast]''
* Harry ''serving'' Maeve, the Queen To Be of the Winter Court.
--> '''Maeve''': Tell me, mortal. When was the last time flesh, new and strange to your hand, lay quivering beneath you, hmm? When was the last time you could taste and feel some little lovely’s cries?\\
'''Harry''': [[ExactWords Technically? When I killed Aurora]].
* Michael spends most of the entire book mysteriously absent and out of contact. He returns at the end for a BigDamnHeroes moment, during which it’s revealed he was off on a BigDamnHeroes mission for ''Injun Joe and [=McCoy=]'', who are both members of the Senior Council. [=McCoy=] says that if he hadn't shown up, no one would have survived.
** Give Michael another plug when the Merlin realizes that even the Senior Council would be unwise to confront the Knight who wields the Sword of Love by threatening his daughter.
** It's likely that the Merlin realized that Michael showing up just when he did was one of the DeusExMachina coincidences that shows that the Knights are "on the clock" for the Almighty. One crosses them only at extreme peril in those circumstances.
*** Moreover, the very fact that Michael ''did'' show up as a DeusExMachina, and under precisely such circumstances as to put the White Council firmly in his debt, is about as overt a WhatTheHellHero from ''God Almighty, Himself'', as the Merlin is ever likely to receive in even a wizard's lifetime. It's not easy to rattle the self-righteous rationalizations of the supreme high poobah of all wizardry, but that probably qualifies.
*** Keep in mind, Amoracchius has another name. Excalibur. Yes, ''that'' [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Excalibur]].
* When Harry is trying to get Molly to appear before the White Council for trial, Charity reverts to the mindset she's had when dealing with Harry in past books. She's hostile, argumentative, distrusting, and says point-blank that he's doing this to save his own skin. Molly quietly but firmly [[CallingTheOldManOut calls her mother out]] on this blatant lie, and lists off every action Harry has ever done in the service of Charity and her children, how he's suffered, risked his life for them, and is now once again willing to die for them. It gets Charity to stop, think, and apologize to Harry, realizing she had let her fear get the better of her. It shows the kind of strength Molly has in her, even at that age.
* During the trial towards the end of the book, there's a little moment that underscores just how powerfully Harry argued his point. Morgan, the same man who has been executing warlocks no older than Molly for decades in service to the Council, hesitates. For what we’re led to believe is the first time that this has ever happened for the man, Morgan hesitates to execute a warlock. And he's convinced by Dresden, a man who has spent most of Harry's adult life hunting.