Wild Mass Guesses about deceased/vanished characters from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':

[[WMG: Murphy *is* dead and *has* been taken by Odin to be an Einherjar.]]
But! We'll see her again, one of three ways. Either:
* Murphy is pregnant with Harry's baby and Odin gives her 9 months back on Earth to deliver the child. Whilst it's entirely possible for a woman in her early 50's (I'm assuming this is the current age range of all the Dresden alum who started the series already as adults) to conceive a child naturally it is a pretty massive cliché. Butcher, however, isn't averse to using massive clichés so long as he's able to hang a lampshade on it so large that it's basically an ornate French chandelier.
* The big apocalyptic trilogy is going to feature an apocalypse so big and a battle so desperate that all of Odin's forces are going to be called into play. Even those Einherjar who's legacy hasn't passed out of all mortal memory. Murph will save Harry from something that's trying to squish him, just in the nick of time. With a bazooka. Hendricks will be covering her back.
* The downer ending: The final scene of the Dresden Files will reveal that we, the reader, have been reading through the eyes of Murphy. The year will be roughly 2350 and Harry, the longest-lived mortal who will remember her, has died of natural causes aged 390. Murphy and Molly will have been in Harry's study reading his journals, at which point Murphy turns the last page and says her goodbyes to Harry.
* Way #4: Murphy will return as a spirit, partnering with Carmichael once again, out of Uriel's ghost-precinct. Any subsequent work she might pursue as an Einherjar would have to wait anyway, so why not spend those intervening few centuries building up her resume, first?
* Way #5: Molly will hasten Murphy's return as an Einherjar by blocking the memories of her in everyone who still does have those (starting with Harry of course), thus fulfilling the required conditions. Then after Murph is back, Sarissa, per her duty as the Summer Lady, will undo the "harm" done by her Winter counterpart - with the latter's help. As a bonus, Hendricks can be brought back alongside Murphy this way, especially given that Molly will most likely require Marcone's cooperation as well.
* Way #6: Keep in mind that Murphy was Catholic. Her deity was not Odin, but the Christian God. Also, remember that her symbolism when Harry looked at her with the Sight was that of an angel. Now, while Odin might not be able to override the "Living Memory" restriction, who's to say the Almighty can't? He could claim his faithful believer and dedicate her to another calling... say a guardian angel? Heck, if Molly can become a Fae Queen, there's not really anything stopping Murph from angelic apotheosis.

[[WMG: Murphy isn't actually dead]]
NeverFoundTheBody is in effect here. And what's more, Harry is going to be the one to save her. He hasn't gotten around to breaking the Sixth Law of Magic, and WordOfGod is that he's going to do it someday. Being kicked off the White Council means he's going to care far less about it... especially if it means saving a loved one.

[[WMG:Justin Dumorne is Kemmler]]
It's an oddball, but hear me out. Justin was one of the Wardens who took Kemmler out of the picture. The very fact that he grabbed Bob proves he was on site for it. Now, Kemmler had three disciples, one of whom being the Corpsetaker, who is known for body switching. I'm getting the feeling that at the last second, Kemmler switched with the real Justin. Kemmler's body was then killed, Kemmler as Justin grabs Bob and begins trying to create a group of disciples again with Elaine and Harry. The big thing that tells me this is that Butcher states many times that Justin is dead....but not WHEN he died. And it just seems funny that the second the greatest necromancer in the world is killed, one of the old guard Wardens begins acting extremely strange.
* Wouldn't Bob have known?

[[WMG: The Eebs are alive.]]
* The Eebs stated that they were less respected because they were not [[strike: Chupacabras]] descended from the 'First Maya' and given how the bloodline curse works... They also killed Harry, to avenge their lord, or just following their last orders, or for the evlulz.
** Did you miss the bit where the Eebs were devoured by the goblins with the rest of their team?
** Considering the Erlking said some of the goblins were wanting to make full use of all the rooms (torture and such), I imagined that they were all being kept alive for as much fun as possible.
** The blood curse even wiped out the vampire side of the Order of St. Giles folks. I think it's safe to say it wiped out ''every'' Red Court vampire, even if they weren't "pureblood."
** The Eebs were probably referring to the fact that they hadn't been ethnic Maya ''before'' becoming Red Court vampires. No rule says that murderous junkie vampire blood-cultists can't be racist jerks, too.
** Although the killing Harry bit has been Jossed by ''Ghost Story'', it's been mentioned that curses lose most, if not all, of their power crossing between the real world and the Never Never, so its possible that the Eebs and their companions survived.
*** Eeeeeexcept that Harry's narration is explicitly saying that they're all being devoured once he wins the trial by combat.
** Not even close. Both Esteban and Esmerelda were seen in without their fleshmasks: Esteban when he was fleeing Harry's office building, and Esmerelda when Harry burned the fleshmask off her with his mother's pentacle. Red Court all the way.

[[WMG: Kemmler is still around.]]
* Be he Cowl, [[EpilepticTrees Rashid]], or even a character shown (or at least implied) not to be human. Evidence for Kemmler being Cowl is that Cowl knows about what Bob is and what Bob knows, and only Justin (and now Harry) have reason to know that (unless one of Kemmler's disciples managed to do some spying). It explicitly took most of the White Council (not the Wardens, the ''White Council'') to take him down, and even then they NeverFoundTheBody.\\
Additionally, we've only got the Heirs' word and Bob's reverted form to tell us that Kemmler was a complete psycho. It's quite possible that he managed to pull off a cure for Dark Magic addiction and withdrawal, and can now use dark magic with no side effects worse than getting lazy. Unlikely, but possible.
* Never found the body? To paraphrase Bob, they killed Kemmler twice, seeing as he came back the first time, and were "real careful the second time."
** "[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Made sure there wasn't]] [[OurLichesAreDifferent a body]]" if effectively NeverFoundTheBody is you're dealing with a... Well, with Kemmler. Reread ''Dead Beat'' and get back to me once you remember the implications from one of Kemmler's specialties being in "not staying dead" and the heirs were (and as far as we know, possibly still are) mostly small fry compared to him.
*** The fact that he came back at least once means that the White Council became aware that he was able to and presumably took steps to prevent it. Rereading the passage in question, Bob assures Harry that Kemmler is gone, saying that the Wardens took him out in the 20th century, and then the entire White Council got in on the act to keep him down.
*** Corpsetaker was one of his disciples wasn't she? Who's to say he wasn't the one who taught her that little trick of hers?
*** Kemmler being still around is perfectly possible. Cowl being Kemmler is jossed - if it was him, he wouldn't need Bob and his knowledge to enact Darkhallow - you know, being the guy who actually came up with the whole concept and all.
*** Could just be leading people off the scent.
*** Seeing as Corpsetaker was only a small fry compared to Kemmler himself, and nearly managed to pull off a revive despite being blown to kuck by the Darkhallow, I'm fairly sure Kemmler is probably still alive. Harry, being Harry, will rectify this issue in the next books.
*** Let's suppose Kemmler managed to swap bodies just before his death at the hands of the Council. Which body would he take? Perhaps someone who wouldn't present that much of a challenge, would be too young and inexperienced to be prepared for it. Obviously someone from the Senior Council is out of the question, but what if there was some foot soldiers present, perhaps taking records. Maybe even someone who would have access to the inner workings of the Council, able to be present in their meetings and nudge their vote in the directions he wants them to go. He would also have complete access to Council-exclusive information and materials, and would be in the right position to spread his knowledge. Of course that person would be a traitor in a perfect position to start getting together a Black Council. In essence, everything '''Peabody''' was. Kemmler also sounds capable of fabricating or containing mordite, which ''drains the life energy of what it touches''.
*** Or maybe a young Warden who practiced black magic in later years? If Kemmler took Justin's body, it would make sense that "Justin" would take Bob with him after the battle - Bob would be about the only important thing that Kemmler owned. With Bob, Kemmler could recreate all of the rest of his work, apparently up to and including the ''Word of Kemmler.''
*** You don't bring "young and inexperienced" wizards to fight the worst dark wizard on the face of the planet. According to Jim Butcher, Bob's exaggerating when he says the whole White Council showed up to the fight--it was just those wizards who would've actually been worth something in a fight.

[[WMG: Cowl is Justin [=DuMorne=]; Kumori is Elaine]]
Justin was in possession of Bob, who knew the Word of Kemmler since he helped write it; Justin also would've known that Bob was owned by Kemmler (since that's where he swiped the skull). Cowl didn't outright kill Harry since he thought that he may willingly join forces with the Circle/Black Council, but realized after their first fight in Dead Beat that Harry was hopeless. The Circle seems to have ties to Outsiders, as pointed out in White Night; the same book informs us that He Who Walks Behind, whom Justin summoned and sent after Harry, is an Outsider as well. We've also never seen the actual fight in flashback between Harry and either HWWB or Justin, which means there might be a clue in his subconscious that Jim is waiting to spring on us.
As for Elaine being Kumori, this is why she raised that man from the dead and why she saw necromancy as she did - she is still Justin's thrall, and thus has to do what he says. However, he also can benefit from allowing her to retain her original personality (creating a mole to send into Harry's life, time and again), and thus she will allow her power to be used for good.
* That doesn't explain her debt to the summer court in Midsummer Knight.
* Justin is (notice the tense, and that [[Tropers/JET73L I]]'m fairly certain the quote was released after Cowl's introduction) [[WordOfGod D-E-D dead]]. It could be Justin's corpse, but it's not Justin.
* I like Elaine for Kumori. Kumori was the one who tried keeping Dresden and Cowl from fighting (which would be expected to end in Harry's death.) If we accept Cowl's assertion that he isn't a Kemmlerite, then there's no good reason he should know about Bob, unless one of [=DuMorne=]'s apprentices spilled the beans. Pretty easy guess that Harry would scoop the skull out of the ashes. We know that Elaine has the ability to cheat the White Council's tests of power, so she could have been hiding a greater talent when she had skin contact with Harry in Summer Knight and White Night. Kumori recognized Harry's ring as an item of power, which makes sense if either A) he made it when he was an apprentice or B) she knew he wouldn't wear jewellery (other than the pentacle.) And somehow she managed not to kill Harry when she had a knife to his throat.
** I don't think so. When Kumori is talking with Harry outside of "Shiela"'s apartment, the very last question she asks is "Why?" and Harry says basically that fighting evil is what he does. Elaine knows Harry better than anyone living, and she wouldn't need to ask why Harry's going to go get back involved in the fight. It's just who he is, and anyone who has ever soulgazed him would know that.

[[WMG: Cowl is Kemmler]]
Cheating death was Kemmler's specialty- who's to say his methods didn't keep advancing along with the Council's methods of destroying him, and he deliberately left Bob out of the loop so that ''no one'' would be able to rat him out. The process, however, cost him part of his memory and/or part of his power, so he needed to steal Bob back and perform the darkhallow to get himself back to full strength. The fact that Cowl says he has nothing but contempt for "the madman Kemmler" could just be a lie, or it could be that Cowl/Kemmler was once mad but is now sane(r) and looks back on his previous efforts with distaste. In any case, if this is true we've probably seen barely a hint of what he can do, and he may well wear the cloak and cowl to hide an undead body beneath it.
** This is based on the fact that Cowl is by far the strongest necromancer in ''Dead Beat'', beyond even Grevane, who was supposedly Kemmler's favorite, and because Kemmler got a bit ''too'' much build-up to just be a historical footnote important only for his spellbooks as far as Harry's concerned, methinks...
** Biggest problem with this, of course, is Cowl ''also'' was after the Word of Kemmler. If he ''was'' Kemmler, you'd think his life's work would be something he'd remember.
** Unless his most recent resurrection also damaged his memory, so that he remembered ''what'' he'd done, but not ''how''. Ties in too to why he went after Bob.
** But wouldn't Bob have been transformed back into his "Killer" personality, instead of his subservient blue-eyed form?
** Moreover, if Cowl were Kemmler, wouldn't he have just ''ordered'' Grevane and Corpsetaker to cooperate against Harry and the Wardens, while he claimed the Darkhallow's benefits for himself? They'd been Kemmler's apprentices, after all.
** it's pretty clear in dead beat that cowl doesn't need the erlking book and Harry only assumes that he needs bob to do the darkhollow spell. the only part that Cowl directly gets involved in is drawing the funnel of death to himself. in fact it looks like grevane cast the spell and cowl planned on hijacking it. cowl may have just taken bob back because, as kemmler, he felt like bob was his. the main reason for following harry around had nothing to do with bob but to make sure the erlking escaped.
** You're also forgetting that Harry ordered Bob to forget all his memories of Kemmler. You're also forgetting something else; Bob goes out of his way to make sure Harry understands that Kemmler is a world-class necromancer, on a planet of over 6,840,507,003 people. Sure, it was less during World War Two, but that's still a hell of a lot of people, and chances are more than a decent chunk can use magic. For Kemmler to be badass enough to require a whole bunch of superpowerful wizards to take him down good and proper, pretty much any single Warden would likely be simple for him to take over.
** Think about this for a moment - EVERYONE capable on the Council went after Kemmler. Including THE MERLIN, who is the most powerful wizard on the PLANET, and it was still a fair fight when there was only Kemmler, his disciples, whatever demons and undead he could dredge up versus the entire damn White Council and every ally they could buy, borrow, cheat and steal. Consider this, then tell me you don't think Kemmler could have taken over one of the guys who came to punch his ticket, swooped back to their seat on the council, and then had another go at preforming the darkhallow after buddying up with the Red Court, who Bob also states he was buddies with. In other words, Kemmler is Cowl, and it's pretty much proven by Bob.
** More like ''dis''proven, as Bob tells Cowl how the Darkhallow tornado is "exactly as the master described". ''Not'' "exactly how you described". And as Bob's evil side was shaped by contact with Kemmler's personality, he'd surely ''recognize'' that same personality, however diminished, if it came back again.
* I have my doubts. Yes, it's possible Cowl could be lying about having nothing but disdain for the madman Kemmler, but it doesn't really fit with his personality. Cowl seems largely to think himself so far out of Harry's league that he has no reason ''not'' to tell Harry the truth. He tells him that more happened at Bianca's party than meets the eye and largely ignores the possibility of Harry's death curse because he thinks Harry can't touch him or ruin his plans, even if left alive. Lying about something trivial like his opinion of Kemmler doesn't fit, IMHO. All he would have to say is "Kemmler was a great wizard." He wouldn't be lying and he wouldn't risk revealing his existence to the council.

[[WMG: Justin is alive]]
* WordOfGod says he's "D-E-D dead". That's missing the A, so thus it's only ''mostly'' dead, [[Film/ThePrincessBride and mostly dead is slightly alive]].
** Alternately, he ''is'' dead... but is still active, on account of being [[OurLichesAreDifferent a lich]] or the Dresdenverse equivalent.
** Or a Black Court vampire, Red Court being jossed as of Changes.

[[WMG: Justin Du Morne isn't dead, and is still messing with Harry's life.]]
We've already seen one character come back from the fire that supposedly killed him. Who's to say that he didn't survive, as well? Supposing he survived, but had massive burns that took a long time to heal, how might he disguise himself? Maybe by wearing a hooded robe...otherwise known as a Cowl.
* Yes, I'm aware that this is implied above, but I don't recall seeing it explicitly stated in this manner. If it is, This Troper apologizes.
** I think you're half right. That is to say, Justin Du Morne is very dead, but is still messing with Harry's life.

[[WMG: Elaine is possessed by the ghost of Justin [=DuMorne=]]]
* Justin is D-E-D Dead, by Word of Jim. In the Dresdenverse, what could be more D-E-D Dead than a ghost? I'd be happy to describe Harry in Ghost Story as "D-E-D Dead."
* Ghosts are shown to have many powers, among them the power to overshadow a willing host. Let's suppose that at the time of Justin's death, there was a host nearby who was unable to keep a powerful ghost from taking control of her body because she was, oh, let's say enthralled. Then Justin (who I suppose technically isn't Justin, just a shadow of his mind in his last moments) could continue to be a mover and shaker in the world of magic with no one the wiser.
* No one has soulgazed him. The only wizard he has come into contact with is Harry, ''who has already soulgazed Elaine and can't do it again.'' And then she refuses to go see the council because she knows someone there is going to insist on soulgazing her and the jig will be up.
* Except Harry calls Elaine back to herself in ''White Night'' using her True Name. If "Elaine" was actually Justin, it either wouldn't have snapped her/him out of the Skavis's despair, or would have most likely broken her free of both the despair ''and'' the possession.

[[WMG: Grevane makes an uncredited cameo appearance in ''Ghost Story''.]]
He and Corpsetaker were killed within minutes of one another in ''Dead Beat'', and we know that Corpsetaker's shade survived as [[spoiler: the Grey Ghost]]. While Grevane was a proficient necromancer, his area of interest seems to have been zombies rather than ghosts, so he probably wasn't all that well-prepared to cope with waking up as a shade, himself ... the moreso, in that even ''dying'' took him so much by surprise that he never thought to invoke his death curse. In contrast, when Corpsetaker bought it, her own familiarity with ghost minions and years of experience at [[BodySurf adjusting to new bodies]] allowed her to ''very quickly'' get comfortable with being a disembodied spirit. Spotting Grevane's still-disoriented shade soon after they both arrived in Spirit World-Chicago, she ambushed and kicked the unliving crap out of her old rival's ghost, until his every memory was stripped away and he became a wraith under her control. One of the wraiths she sends to threaten Mort's residence, to attack Harry, and/or to torment Mort in ''Ghost Story'' was actually (what's left of) ''Dead Beat'''s late zombie-master.

[[WMG: Malcolm Dresden's ghost works for Uriel.]]
Malcolm appeared in Harry's dream only ''after'' Lash started "cheating" by [[spoiler: masquerading as Shiela]], which is similar to how Uriel only starts getting involved in Harry's life after the Fallen do something that shouldn't be allowed (empowering the Denarians' giant Signs, whispering the seven words). While Malcolm wasn't the sort of hands-on fighter against supernatural evil that Carmichael or Collin Murphy were, so wasn't [[spoiler: hanging around the afterlife-precinct with the cop shades]], Uriel makes it clear in "The Warrior" that ordinary human interactions can be just as important in the ongoing struggle against darkness. Harry describes his father as a compassionate, gentle man whose feeble income was mostly a result of putting others' needs before his own. The very things that made him a loser in life could make Malcolm an asset for Uriel's cause, when a gentler hand than Carmichael's is needed to help guide souls to their destinies. True, Harry didn't meet his dad in ''Ghost Story'', but Uriel probably knew that reuniting with his father only to return to Chicago alone would be needlessly painful for both Dresdens.

[[WMG: Mab captured [[PunnyName Cat NemeSith]] when Harry blew him into Lake Michigan.]]
Cat Sith is an important enforcer, and if there was any chance of saving him instead of giving Nemesis another buddy, Mab would probably take it. She needs every advantage she can get, after all, and she managed it with Harry. Some time in the next book, when Harry is at Arctis Tor, he will discover Cat Sith frozen in the Fountain again, being 'cured' of his Nemesis infection.

[[WMG: The original Merlin is [[KingInTheMountain in a chill chest under Edinburgh]].]]
Like the Avalon myth, but for wizards instead of Britannians. For bonus points, the preservation chamber is a mirrored cave. If this is true, it will most likely subvert the ChekhovsArmory of the series so far.

[[WMG:Grevane is still around]]
Just like it says. We've seen 2 of the 3 major Kemmlerites from Dead Beat come back; Cowl reappears in ''White Night'', and [[spoiler:the Corpsetaker shows up again in ''Ghost Story'']]. So it stands to reason that Grevane survived the Darkhallow in one form or another and is waiting to get his revenge on Harry.
* More likely he'd want to get revenge on ''Ramirez'', since that's who actually killed him.
** Perhaps the plotline for a future short story, done from Carlos's POV? How Carlos killed Grevane for good this time, plus maybe setting up a nice girl to rescue who could help poor Carlos with all that teasing from that lying, evil White Court vampire?

[[WMG: Merlin is that British sounding guy in Demonreach's prison.]]
Merlin broke the 6th Law. He broke it hard. And given the way BlackMagic corrupts an individual, he realized he couldn't be trusted any more especially with his power, but couldn't just commit suicide, likely because it would cause a TemporalParadox. So he opted to seal himself away until he could finally be let out.

[[WMG: Aristedes will return with a grudge against Butters.]]
Because [[spoiler: every Knight of the Cross ought to have a personal evil nemesis]].


!!!Confirmed:


[[WMG: Nicodemus isn't dead.]]
* Well, this may not be as wild as some of the others, but my stance is that we don't know for sure he'd dead until you crucify him upside down, decapitate him (possibly by magic that would turn the Noose into razor wire), and then burn the body and head in separate locations, at least 100 miles apart. THEN, you throw the ashes of the head into a volcano, and send the ashes of the body into deep space. Yes, that's [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill overkill]], but with Nicodemus, I think it's justified.
** But back to my original point. We assume he's dead, and my theory isn't so much that he survived, rather that he died, and Lucifer interfered again and revived him. I mean, who says the only way Lucifer can interfere is by powering a greater circle?
*** And as for his Coin, my theory is that Nick either pulled a Davy Jones and put the coin in where his heart should be, or it's in some other location within his body that's just as difficult to get to. Possibly above the roof of his mouth?
** There is no kill like overkill. But yeah I have to agree... the last we see of Nick, Dierdre and his goons are fishing him out of the lake; that's enough to qualify for NeverFoundTheBody for me. If he's dead, I'm pretty sure [[DeathIsCheap they can fix that somehow]]; otherwise he'll be back later. Either way we could be in for some MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning.
** Bah. This is ''The Dresden Files.'' If they're going to kill Nicodemus, it isn't going to be through some silly quaint way like burning his body to ashes. They're just going to nuke him. Repeatedly.
** Wait, what? Believing that killed Nicodemus would be rather like thinking Gandalf actually died fighting the [[strike:Balor]] Balrog, or that Anakin died at the end of Episode 3. We've seen him live through far more deadly things, there's no way that killed him.
*** The only reason he survived those more deadly things was because they ''weren't'' the one thing that could ''actually harm him.'' Harry was strangling Nicodemus on that noose of his for quite a good while before Dierdre caught up to them.
*** Except we've seen many Denarians live through quite a lot more damage, especially before they suddenly became cannon fodder in the Oceanarium. If they were that easy to kill, then Ivy probably could've beaten the entire group without breaking a sweat or putting Harry at risk.
* Going by the general consensus in the Dresden Files forums on Jim Butcher's website this isn't implausible enough to qualify as a [[WildMassGuessing Wild Mass Guess]]. Hell, the opposite is more implausible. Look at Tessa, Nicodemus' wife, who was shot through the chest with a bar of fire that was so dense it was nearly a solid object. Almost no one on the forums believes she is dead.
** She was in Denarian form at the time, I believe it's already been stated that while in demon form they've got all the benefits of such including increased resilience and stamina and possibly some regenerative capability, so no big surprises that no one thinks she's dead. Also another case of NeverFoundTheBody: after Harry blasts her we never see her again. On the other hand, we've NEVER seen Nick's Denarian form, as he's always been plenty badass in human form with his LivingShadow.
* WordOfGod states that Nic is alive, and is now terrified of Harry.
** Fears Harry? He should fear IVY. I dare say the Archive is allowed to act in self defense, against a foe that has broken the Accord and attacked her to usurp the Archive against it purpose. Exactly how much does Nicodemus' occasional destruction of the church's records help against her? She knows all about his preferred mode of operation, history, safe houses, his fake aliases, his hidden wealth in secret bank accounts, the identity of his worshipers and in all probability exactly where he is right now...
*** Yes, that's fine and all, but Harry is the one person that's came the closest to killing him.
*** Denarians live off-the-grid anyway. The ones who got off the island intact are probably being very, very careful to ensure that any paper trail they leave is disinformation. It's never been stated that the Archive automatically knows what written information is objectively ''true'', after all; Ivy probably has to correlate data from multiple references to determine that.
*** Bet Nick's crew are even less happy about that tongue-removal practice now, eh? Better hope the squires are good at sign language, because no more writing down reports to the bosses...
*** Has Harry written down what he discovered about how to kill Nicodemus? Has he told Sanya? The White Council, Marcone, the Church, Karrin, Will and Georgia? He should be shouting it from the mountaintops, putting classified ads in all the papers, and writing best-selling fantasy novels with a character named Nicodemus who can be killed by strangling him with his own noose....
* This troper a little confused as to why this is here...Did I miss something in ''Small Favor''? Was there ever a doubt that Nicodemus hadn't died?
** Dead, probably not. [[spoiler: Paralyzed and/or brain-damaged, maybe.]]
*** Of course he's alive. He can only be killed using the noose itself. Once Harry lets go of it and drops him into the lake, the noose slackens and he would presumably die of drowning...only he can't be killed by drowning.
* As of Jim's preview of the first four chapters of ''Literature/SkinGame'', it has been confirmed beyond any doubt that Nicodemus survived. He is described as having a rougher voice than before, presumably the result of permanent damage from the strangling, but is otherwise alive, kicking and backstabbing.

[[WMG:The one who said the seven words wasn't Lash]]
* It makes a fair amount of sense for it to be one of the Denarians who said it. One of their sorcerers, Tessa maybe, under a veil? Ultimate goal: get Harry to commit suicide. Suicide is a sin and gets Harry condemned to Hellfire and Damnation for all eternity.
* Alternately, could have been Mavra under a veil. I need to go back and look at the exact wording of Harry's conversation with Uriel, but I don't think Uriel ever explicitly says "Denarian" or "Fallen." IIRC, he speaks pretty obliquely about who exactly did it. Could be Mavra doing the revenge thing.
* Harry sees a shadowy form whisper the seven words. Don't we already know which of the Fallen always manifests as a living shadow? It was Nicodemus's, surely.
* [[spoiler: ''Skin Game'' strongly implies it was Lasciel that whispered the seven words, possibly with Anduriel's help to link her up with the right shadow.]]

!!!Jossed by later books and/or WordOfGod

[[WMG:Lashiel's shadow is alive]]
When Harry became the Winter Knight, one of his conditions was that Mab would heal his damaged body. If she healed his brain damage, and if some remnant of Lash remained, then maybe she was healed too. At the end of ''Ghost Story'' Demonreach mentions a "parasite", so it's possible.
* The last part at least seems to have been {{Jossed}} by ''Literature/ColdDays'', since the parasite is pretty clearly not Lash in that book.
* [[spoiler: Jossed as of ''Skin Game''.]]

[[WMG: Lash whispered the Seven Words]]
* First, consider what might have happened if Harry hadn't heard those words.
## He becomes the Winter Knight, but doesn't arrange his murder. Everything goes off the same way, except he's in no position to stop the Corpsetaker in ''Ghost Story'', and without Uriel's words, he eventually becomes the monster Mab wants.
## He doesn't become the Winter Knight. Maggie is killed, the ritual kills Harry, Susan and Ebenezer, maybe more.
## He becomes the Winter Knight, and arranges his murder. Everything happens the same way, but without Uriel's words, he becomes the monster Mab wants.
Because of those words, a few things happened. Harry is pushed to become the Winter Knight, giving him a chance of saving Maggie. He arranges his death, and since it happened because of those words, he's sent back, and not only stops the Corpsetaker, but is able to be revived. And it gave Uriel an excuse to remind him, at the perfect moment, that Harry can choose not to be corrupted by Mab. All in all, this resulted in a positive change in Harry's life. There is one issue with this theory at first glance; Lash couldn't have known Harry's body would survive the gunshot. Except one moment before the shot hit, Harry stumbled. It's entirely possible that Lash saw the shooter, and "tripped" Harry with an illusion, saving his life.
* [[spoiler: Jossed -- mostly. Lash is dead; ''Lasciel'' whispered the seven words.]]

[[WMG:Lash was redeemed by her sacrifice and is coming back]]
* Lash was formally a "clone" of an angelic being capable of holding favor in the Heavenly Court so there is something about her that was capable of being up there. Lash died in an HeroicSacrifice which is one of the hallmarks of those who are able to move on up. If she actually died there is a chance that that particular sentient shadow could have been sent to Heaven. Add that to the recent turn of events that seem to show that the higher forces of light are taking an interest in Dresden and they may decide that she could be sent down to act as a guide and assistant to him in his coming trials.
* Shadow Lasciel and "Real" Lasciel will have a confrontation, since Lasciel's coin was presumably among the 11 that Harry [[Main/HostageForMcGuffin lost.]]
** Harry turned in Lasciel's coin at the end of White Night but it was mentioned the Denarians get a lot of the coins back from the church through simple temptation. So the idea still stands that Lasciel-empowered Denarian may get to face down Lash-empowered Harry especially with the fact the WordOfGod stated he plans to end the series with an apocalyptic trilogy.
*** That is such an [[Main/RuleOfCool immensely awesome concept]] that this troper, quite a Lash fan, is now rooting for it to happen.
*** At least two other tropers are in agreement that this is very cool and hope it happens.
*** This troper not only agrees it's also cool, but thinks it fits. The purpose of the Knights has always been to redeem the holders of the Denari rather than just kill them. It would fit then that the Denarians themselves may have a chance at redemption if a pure enough heart were to redeem them.
*** this troper loves the idea, but would like to point out that Harry doesn't exactly have the purest heart out there, though he was very strong-willed, the time period of years he spent with Lash is what changed her, and not the purity of his heart.
** I think similar types have been exposed to them in the past 1980-ish years since the J man died. Plus, you know, Harry has been repeatedly pointed out as 'not all that pure'.
*** Harry may not be pure, but he is generally a good guy. Lash even pointed out that a human such as himself holding out for such a long time with the shadow but not taking up the coin was practically unheard of. Lasciel the full true fallen angel is too great for a mere mortal to alter, but the shadow of her Lash has to be flexible to try to talk Harry in picking up the coin. She can be changed and redeemed.
*** Harry's not 'pure' in the saintly/Galahad-esque sense, true. But he does have a good conscience - and seems very strong willed/unusually resistant to temptation. (Also, Harry wasn't who Lasciel was trying to possess. She probably avoided people like him; I severely doubt she's ever faced up to a will like Harry's.)
*** While this is all true, you're forgetting the reasons ''why'' the Denarians rebelled in the first place. We haven't been told in the books, but Fallen Angel rebellions usually vary pretty widely. It's possible they were all evil and hated God, but it's also possible they balked at some order god gave them and were cast out for refusing it.
* Lasciel is a rebellious rebellious angel. Who is to say that one of Uriel's ulterior motives could be to "upload" Lash's personality into the true Lasciel? We would have an [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind Battle In The Center Of The Coin]] going on here.
* Okay, while all this speculation is neat, at least part of it has been Jossed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXJMGtIpSXg Lash didn't 'go to heaven'.
** Lash got a bit of Harry's soul. Even if she didn't go to Heaven, she can be sneaking about as a spirit. Especially since being killed by the psychic attack of an outsider probably counts as 'dying before your time'.
* Ghost Story spoiler: [[spoiler:Half right. Lasciel's shadow is the opposition that broke the rules, by saying the right seven words to Harry at exactly the wrong time. She's at least back enough to do that, but she still counts as the opposition.]]
** That part of Ghost Story doesn't specifically mention [[spoiler:which fallen angel was the "shadow" whispering to Harry. Anduriel or one of the other Nickelheads makes much more sense than Lash]]
*** No, no it doesn't. [[spoiler:Uriel specifically mentions that it's a Fallen that ''knows Dresden'', and knows him well enough to know exactly when a little white lie will push him over the edge. Lasciel is the ''only'' one of the Fallen who can be said to know Harry at all intimately.]]
*** Re-reading Ghost Stories, [[spoiler:Lash makes the most sense. Any of the Fallen would know the rules, and know that Uriel would be able to use this to help Harry eventually.]]
** It's unclear whether that is enough to count [[spoiler:as breaking the rules, since Harry already let the shadow into his head by choosing to pick up the coin. Lasciel herself may have been the whisperer, though my guess would be Anduriel (getting probably-dead is a good motive to want Harry gone). As for "knowing Dresden well enough", Dresden isn't so hard to figure out, especially for beings that old. More evidence against Lash trying to kill Harry: her possible role in keeping Harry's body alive (if you buy that she's the "parasite" that Demonreach mentions).]]
*** Do you even have to WONDER? I don't mean to be rude, but it's ridiculously obvious who it was. [[spoiler:Who has thousands of years of experience with Humans? Anduriel. Who is a living shadow, such as the one Uriel shows Harry whispering in his ear? Anduriel. Who would love to see Harry take a dirt nap? Anduriel. Also, as the above troper states, Harry willingly allowed Lasciel into his head. It's not breaking the rules for her to whisper in his ear - she's been doing that for years. In addition, her mission was to corrupt Harry into taking up the coin, not kill him, and Lash said multiple times that she didn't want to die, and that Harry's death would mean hers as well. Finally, Lash might not even be strong enough to make a shadow and whisper in Harry's ear, considering that Bob, who is a being of Spirit and Mind, couldn't sense her anymore, and her sigil was gone from Harry's hand. Anduriel is our man. Angel. Shadow. Whatever. Are there any more questions, class?]]
*** Yeah, there is one big huge question there. [[spoiler: How in the literal Hell would Anduriel ''be able to do that at all'' when it is both locked inside a Blackened Denarii ''and'' Harry is inside holy ground? Because its kind of a big deal that the Fallen can't do anything without their mortal hosts' help, and Nicodemus wasn't anywhere near the cathedral]].
*** We know that [[spoiler: Anduriel can see through any shadow, anywhere, and that the church has been compromised by the Fallen. And it's not like we haven't seen Anduriel manifest its presence outside the coin when in play by Nicodemus. It doesn't seem... ''toooo'' much of a stretch that it could manifest itself through a shadow, even on Holy Ground.]]
*** Or maybe it wasn't either of them. [[spoiler: Could just be The Devil himself. Satan. Old Scratch. The Morningstar. Unlike Anduriel, Lucifer is not bound to a coin. Unlike Lash, Lucifer won't die if Dresden does. The whole "rules being broken" thing to me implies a mover-and-shaker above and beyond the Denarians, as they already have their opposition in the Knights of the Cross. If it was a Denarian who did the whispering or broke the rule, it would be the Knights that have to fix it. But Lucifer is a being on par with Uriel, so for Uriel's sense of balance to be restored, it must be him that has to fix the error. An Archangel broke it, an Archangel fixes it. Which is what happened.]]
* [[spoiler: Jossed. Lash was destroyed by her HeroicSacrifice, although she did leave Harry with Someone To Remember Her By: a spirit of intellect, aka "the Parasite", growing in his brain.]]

[[WMG: Lash was never redeemed or destroyed.]]
She's still there, in Harry's mind, and simply refuses to respond to him. Moreso, she was never redeemed. The whole thing is a long con intended to convince Harry that he had managed to redeem her and that she had sacrificed herself for him, making him more vulnerable to her subconscious suggestions.
* 'Ghost Story'' spoiler: [[spoiler: I'll argue over the redemption part, but I think it's pretty clear she's not gone: "MAB GAVE YOU BREATH. HERE PROVIDED NOURISHMENT. THE PARASITE MAINTAINED THE FLOW OF BLOOD." Given Lash's demonstrated ability to finely control individual bits of Harry's body, I have trouble imagining "the parasite" being anything but Lash, sitting down at the end of the vagus nerve, pushing the systole/diastole button over and over and over again.]]
** No. [[spoiler:"The parasite" is that thing that Harry notes as working like an IV.]]
*** No. [[spoiler: The IV is how the island provided nourishment.]]
*** Also: [[spoiler: Word of Jim stated, that Lash would have a presence in Ghost Story.]]
* I'm willing to go with the possibility Lash never left. But if Lash never left, and moreso was never redeemed EITHER, then that begs the question... why didn't she respond to Nicodemus in Small Favor?
** Lash decided that Nicodemus/Anduriel wasn't the boss of her any more, and refused to co-operate. She also didn't talk to Harry because she knew that would freak him out and spook him when he needed to be focused.
* [[spoiler: Jossed. She's dead, the parasite is her daughter.]]

[[WMG:Lash is still in Harry's head and is coming back]]
One of Harry's dreams during Small Favor runs as follows: "I was having a dream where I wasn't hurt, and no one was kicking me around. The walls where white and smooth and clean, lit only by frosty moonlight, and someone with a gentle voice was speaking quietly to me." Sounds like one of the illusions Lash used to pull on harry to tempt and later to sooth him. But there's more: "But my right hand had broken into fierce tingling, all pins and needles, and sleep began to retreat." Harry's got a celestial host at this point centered in his hand which probably wouldn't approve of the shadow of a fallen angel vying for Harry's subconscious copilot seat. Finally, in an earlier book, Butters notes that wizards regenerate damage completely, making a perfect copy of the damaged cells. Including brain cells damaged by a psychic bullet, maybe?
** Who is to say that Uriel was trying to suppress Lash. In Small Favor, Satan interferes twice (Harry points this out at the end of the book), and so Uriel gets to interfere twice, the first of which he uses to give harry access to soul fire. The second time he gets to act is when the Archive gets put in that big magic circle, which should be just about the same time Harry got the dream. Uriel might have used this chance to revive Lash. After all Harry has a lot more to learn, and "the burned hand teaches best."
* On the other hand, in Turn Coat (well, the preview chapters posted), Harry has been experiencing migraines. Could it be that like his hand, a wizard's brain can regenerate when it shouldn't normally have been able to? And, incidentally, that Lash might be coming back, or at least, have a place to come back to?
** This troper thought that Harry's migraines were an aneurysm or something of the kind, as a sort of delayed reaction to Lash's death.
*** Mab did something to Harry's mind at the end of ''Small Favor'', we just don't yet know what. But that's all the explanation you need for crippling migraines.
* There is that thing at the end of ''White Night'' where Harry starts playing guitar, and he hears a sort of whisper of a voice. Maybe its a very, very weak Lash, or maybe its just his head.
* Possibly supporting this theory, at the end of Changes: "''Hush, now,''" whispered a woman's voice. It sounded familiar.
* After reading the end of Ghost story [[spoiler:This troper noticed something that Demonreach mentions, it says that Mab gave Harry breath, the island gave him nourishment and "THE PARASITE" kept his heart pumping...]]
* Or maybe [[spoiler: "the parasite" is ''Harry's mother'', whose spirit has been concealed inside him all along. We know she left a message within him and Thomas, so it's possible she left more than that. And there was a semi-familiar female presence in his dreams in ''Death Masks'', that banished his nightmares '''before''' he'd picked up Lasciel's coin. So maybe it's Margaret who's hiding, and who'll be coming back for the grand finale, not Lash; indeed, maybe her hidden presence is part of what imbued Lash with the capacity to stop being a villain.]]
* Another thing people forget with Harry: He's got wizard genes. He heals 100% of the damage given to him over time. It just takes a LONG time to fully heal. He actually suffered brain damage when Lash was taken out, and it's entirely possible that she's still in there, but weak, and trying to speed up the repairs her "home" so she can manifest fully again. Thus the migraines, she's forcing the healing the happen faster, like overclocking a processor and the stronger she gets, the more she's forcing it. "Some discomfort is necessary my host, to make sure you have my talents at their fullest for our coming battles" and so on.
* [[spoiler: Semi-Jossed, depending on whether you count Lash and Harry's spirit-of-intellect ''daughter'' as a part of Lash. ]]

[[WMG: More than one of the above "Lash" theories are true.]]
Lash is going to reappear in Harry's mind for the reasons mentioned and find, much to her surprise, that her self-sacrifice has at least partially restored her normal angelic status. Incredible amounts of joint badassery follow.
* Redeemed Lash + Uriel's power = AWESOMENESS ?
* Hang on, what if the soulfire didn't come from Uriel at all - what if it came from Lash? What if Lash was only weakened by the psychic trauma instead of destroyed; as is hinted at the end of Small Favor.. The act of turning away from Lasciel and embracing free will, then sacrificing herself for Harry may have been enough to redeem herself. That would change the power Harry has access too; divine instead of infernal. She's simply been too weak too manifest herself until the end of Changes - she's "vaguely familiar voice" Harry hears after he's been shot.
* I think there is a real potential for this to be true. In Changes when Harry begs Uriel for help, Uriel tells him that he already has helped Harry in a way that he cannot yet reveal, this was not cleaned up by the end of the book and may indeed have been him repairing the damage to Harry's brain and resurrecting Lash.
* If it's likely to help Harry in the apocalyptic trio then Lash will probably come back, maybe allowing him to use Hellfire and Soulfire in tandem...?
* Lash is the "parasite" that Demonreach mentioned, her sacrifice put her in an effective coma but redeemed her back to angelic status. The problem is that Lash is "reforming" back to coherence in Harry's mind but a human brain (and skull) cannot contain the might of an angel for very long. Thus the migraines which are a warning sign from Lash for Harry to remove her before its too late. When they do get the parasite out, it turns out to be Lash in her full angelic glory...
* [[spoiler: It's not Lash in Harry's head, it's a spirit of intellect ''conceived'' by Lash's self-sacrifice.]]

[[WMG: Lash is currently in the service of the "Za Lord's Guard".]]
When Lash 'died' some of Harry's soul went with her, and there were soon fairies everywhere. It's not really inconceivable that she made herself a fairy body and disappeared in the crowd.
* Jossed.

[[WMG: Cowl is what's ''really'' left of He Who Walks Behind.]]
See above, including the "D-E-D dead" bit. Harry didn't kill HWWB and get its shadow stuck to him, he [[DescendFromAHigherPlaneOfExistence de-powered]] it and didn't notice the little splotch of nigh-powerless Outsider that was left in the ruins of Justin's mansion.
* Except that HWWB was summoned in ''Blood Rites'', and while I don't recall exactly what it said, it certainly implied that it had been banished but had now returned. That said, it hasn't shown back up yet, and it probably [[ChekhovsGun will]].

[[WMG: Justin [=DuMorne=] is Grey Cloak.]]
* In the released Chapter 5 of ''Ghost Story'', a man to whom Harry refers as "Grey Cloak" is introduced. He a) is D-E-D dead, b) recognizes and despises Harry, and c) has some sort of evil Bob with him. Coincidence?
** ''Ghost Story'' spoiler: [[spoiler:it's the ghost of Corpsetaker, who retained her ability to swap minds after death. Evil bob is just that - Good Bob lopped off the part of him that contained the knowledge of necromancy, and that fragment became Evil Bob.]]
** Grey ''Cloak'' is what Harry called [[spoiler: Vittorio Malvora]] in ''White Night'', actually. The Grey ''Ghost'' is what he calls the BigBad from ''Ghost Story''.

[[WMG: Lash has been Lasciel all along]]
* Harry put Lasciel's coin in a hole in his basement and locked it inside a circle. The noise in his head cuts off abruptly, indicating that the circle worked and Lasciel is truly trapped in the coin, inside the circle, for good.
* Then Harry goes and pours concrete into the hole. We all know what happens when matter crosses a circle.
** Crosses a circle ''with mortal intent''. Magic works by willpower; the matter is just a conveyance for will. If Harry didn't ''want'' the concrete to breech the circle, it couldn't.
** The very first time we see Harry use a circle, back in ''Storm Front'', he draws it in the dirt and then covers it up with leaves so Toot-toot won't see it. So long as he keeps it affixed in his mind, the circle remains viable and traps Toot just fine.
* Lasciel is posing as Lash (since she's the temptress and is known by reputation for subtlety and deceit), to turn Harry and claim his soul. She's just pretending to be mutable and redeemable so Harry invests time and energy into his dealings with her and he listens to her. She's pretending to be gone while subtly affecting his decision making capabilities.
* I'll even go one step further here: Harry's more primitive urges after joining the Winter Court? Lasciel. Not Winter.
* [[spoiler: Jossed by ''Skin Game''. Lash's HeroicSacrifice had to be a genuine act of love, not a deception, because nothing less would have conceived the spirit of intellect (aka "the Parasite") that's been growing in his head, causing his headaches. Lasciel confronts Harry near the end of the book, and demonstrates ignorance of what he's been up to since Lash died.]]

[[WMG: Cowl is TheWormThatWalks.]]
He wears the cowl to make it easier to appear humanoid, and his voice sounds inhuman to Harry.
* Cowl uses human magic, which is only possible for someone that's at least mostly mortal. The voice may be an intentional distortion to hide his identity; Harry already suspects he's White Council based on the way he speaks, and Cowl doesn't want Harry recognizing his voice properly.
* Harry gets a glimpse of Cowl unmasked in ''White Night'', and he looks like a human.

[[WMG: The voice Harry hears at the end of ''Changes'' is:]]
Not actually Lash, it's his Mother, speaking through the gem Lea gave him. While he is dying, he's following one of her Ways somewhere, probably somewhere other than regular old death.
* I thought about it before, and it doesn't seem to work. Remember when Harry first heard Margaret's voice: during his soulgaze with Thomas. Soulgazes, like any other Sight-based memory, ''never, ever fade''. (''Turn Coat'' shows us a lot of this, since every time Harry remembered Shagnasty, it was just as shocking as when he first saw him.) Thus, Margaret's voice could never just "sound familiar"; Harry would recognise it instantly, no matter what.
** That would depend on how badly his perception of the voice at the end of ''Changes'' was distorted by his imminent blackout when he heard it, wouldn't it? If his senses were fuzzy for that reason, even ''Murphy's'' voice might not have been recognizable to him.
** He doesn't put a name to Cassius's voice, even though he surely hasn't forgotten who said "die alone" as a death curse. Harry is probably just too out of it from blood loss to recognize ''anything'' at that moment.
** Note that soulgazing and Sight are (technically) not the same power. Harry has to consciously activate his Sight, whereas a soulgaze can and does happen by accident sometimes.
* As of ''Ghost Story'', the idea that his mother's voice was guiding him somewhere ''other'' than death is Jossed: Harry winds up in the ghost-world with Carmichael and Murphy's dad. Even if it was Margaret Dresden's voice, she wasn't leading him anywhere.

!!!New examples go at the top, not here under "Jossed"