No sooner does one novel of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' hit the shelves, than fans start speculating about the next one. All Wild Mass Guesses about Jim Butcher's next entry in the series, ''Peace Talks'', belong here.

Warning: '''Unmarked spoilers''' for ''Skin Game'' and previous novels.

!!!Pre-Release [=WMG=]s:

[[WMG:The Peace Talks will involve the Fomor, and Dresden's job will be to scuttle them]]
* In Bombshells, the Svartelves were on the verge of signing a peace treaty with the Fomor, and Lea arranged for Molly to show the Svartelves that the Fomor cannot be trusted. This would have been a disaster, as if one nation signed a nonaggression treaty with the Fomor others would rapidly follow. This time it will be a broader 'peace effort' by the Fomor, with a less honorable nation than the Svartelves and without their diplomat having as tight a grip on the VillainBall. Dresden will have to sabotage the titular Peace Talks while maintaining plausible deniability about Mab meddling in other nation's affairs. As far as a nation to sign on with the Fomor? The White Court under Lara. Both will be convinced they're playing each other: it's a match made in heaven, and Lara is specifically getting 'scary' by even Thomas's standards.
** This has been confirmed by word of God; the Peace Talks are more or less the Fomor sponsoring a summit to redraw territorial lines in the wake of the Red Court's demise.

[[WMG:A new home, lab and toys for Dresden]]
* He has a lot of money after Skin Game, so no reason not to get a house close to the Carpenters, where Maggie will be close to them, and a proper lab to develop some excellent new toys.
** Possibly even just down the street from the Carpenters, in the home Molly plans to buy. It fits together perfectly - he can be more of a father to Maggie, spend time with two of his best friends (Mouse and Michael) - and the Winter Lady can certainly order the Winter Knight to protect a certain group of mortals.
** Nixed by word of God. According to Jim, Harry is still rooming with Molly, and he's been too busy getting used to dad duty to get back on the horse with wizard duty. This might indicate that he's not put a new lab together, or merely that his wizardly lab efforts have been focused on restoring the tools he's lost, rather than developing new ones.
** [[spoiler:Actually happens at the end of ''Battle Ground'', since Marcone moves the Chicago Alliance out of the castle headquarters he built for them over where Harry's old apartment building stood, and lets Dresden have the place for himself.]]

[[WMG:We will finally get to meet the other members of the Accords.]]
* This includes Drakul, the Jade Court, and others only mentioned but never actually shown.
** [[spoiler:Well, Drakul does show up, but it's not until the big fight in ''Battle Ground''.]]

[[WMG:Any romance will be put on the backburner.]]
* Bonus points if Harry and Murphy do finally get somewhere within the book only for the plot to provide a convenient moment killer, literally and figuratively.
** Yet another idea Butcher shouldn't read. He'll do it! By this point even the Blue Beetle has blue balls.
** Alternatively, Harry and Murphy have LOTS of times they ALMOST get somewhere, but get interrupted to the point of running gag...with the scenarios getting more ridiculous as the book continues.
* Alternatively, romance has blossomed just fine between books, and Harry and Maggie have moved in with Karrin, if only for her mothers' cooking at holidays.
** No luck. Butcher said Harry's still rooming with Molly... but I'd just bet that Karrin is falling into the role of unofficial adoptive mom, if I may speculate.
* Alternatively alternatively, Murphy is still sidelined from her injuries in ''Skin Game'', and [[Literature/ColdDays Harry's previous experience]] with physical therapy is heating things up, with the book opening with another BaitAndSwitch where it ''seems'' like they're mid-romp...only for it to be them mid-physical therapy session. Bonus points for any jokes by Team Dresden about Harry being "magical" in the bedroom.
* Confirmed. Murphy dies, and now Mab has decided to marry Harry off to Lara to establish a political connection with the White Court. He's not all that thrilled with the idea.

[[WMG:The sub-plot with Listens-to-wind that was pushed over from Skin Game to this book will involve Listens-to-wind mentoring William Borden/Alphas.]]
* So many of Harry's group have gotten upgrades since Changes. Harry and Molly have gotten Winter Mantles, Murphy started sparring with vikings and leading Justice League Chicago, even Butters got his hands on some serious firepower. The Alphas have been all but absent since Ghost Story. With the exception of Andi who appears alongside Butters in Cold Days. Aftermath and Ghost Story seemed to hint that there were some major developments brewing with the Alphas. Billy was made the Lancer of Justice League Chicago, Georgia was pregnant with Billy's child, Billy and Marcy mentioned that they had been experimenting with new applications for their magic, and in Ghost Story they seem to be the main patrol force of the Chicago Alliance. Then in Cold Days the only appearance of the Alphas is with Andi being a Damsel-in-distress and the others barely even being mentioned when one of their own is assaulted and kidnapped. None of them even appear in person in Skin Game with Butters mentioning that Billy and Georgia were seriously wounded between books. All in all it must seem to The Alphas that they are falling behind that their meager talent might not be enough to make a difference anymore. Enter Listens-to-wind, the world's expert on shape-shifting and healing magic, an acquaintance of both their former mentors (Tera West and Harry Dresden), and perfectly positioned to play the role of Yoda and complete their training.

[[WMG:Mavra will make a reappearance at the peace conference as the new Black Queen.]]
* She's had Kemmler's book for years, and we know from Harry's threat to her that its contents can be used against Black Court vampires. Plenty of opportunity for her to smack all the other powerful blampires into submission and claim the title.
** Dead Beat states that Mavra wouldn't be able to use the magic learned from the book.
** She does return in ''Battle Ground'', but not as Queen.

[[WMG:The Summer Court will be an antagonist in this book.]]
* Well, it's about time, isn't it? Titania is going to be very annoyed at Summer Lady #2 being killed, and there has just been a series of imbalances involving Winter gaining a lot of power.
** I feel like this has a lot for it. I don't think its going to escalate into a confrontation, though. I think it is going to either A. result in Harry being pulled all the way into the Oblivion War (I highly doubt this, that seems more like the hook for the Apocalyptic Trilogy) or B. Mab will release Harry from the role of Winter Knight. I lean more towards the latter because Harry is the only person that Hades feels should use the relics of Christ. That is too big of a boost for the Winter Knight to go unnoticed by Summer. So either Harry has to turn those to the front lines and be null and void for the balance struggle, or Harry has to not be the Winter Knight. If Peace Talks happens in October, its almost assured that Harry is gonna lose the power of Winter, at least in my eyes.
** Jossed. They're fighting the Fomor and their new leader.

[[WMG:Harry will ask Klaus the Toymaker to make a body for his spirit-daughter]]
* The [[JustForFun/TropeOverdosed only trope]] the Dresden Files ''doesn't'' have is the RobotGirl. Also, Klaus is too awesome not to use.

[[WMG:Harry will spend quite some time deciding on a name for his spirit-daughter]]
* Naming and nicknaming powerful entities is something that Harry does. Bob, Lash, Ivy... But since this is his daughter and he wasn't really involved in the name-selection process for Maggie, he'll take his time deciding on what to call his new one. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't come up with a name until the very end of the book.
** Nah, it's obvious what her name has to be. A female (yes, I know technically she's neither male or female, but Harry sees her that way) spirit of intellect who sprung from his head? And with Skin Game's Greek mythology motif? How could she be named anything but "Athena?"
** Except that Harry will presumably want her to develop as human-like a personality as possible, not a god-like one. Much easier for her to relate to people if she thinks like a mortal, so an ordinary human name would be more practical. This troper's hoping for "Ashley", because it shares the first four letters of her mother's name, with a y on the end for "Harry", and she arose like a phoenix from the ''ashes'' of her mother's HeroicSacrifice. Plus, it'll give Harry the excuse to make a stupid Pig Latin joke.
*** I'm betting on this one. She will be her mother wished she was.
*** Why would you think that? She's ''not'' human. Besides, spirits of intellect take on the personality of whoever's holding their container, so she'll have a human personality regardless. I mean, unless it's Cowl. Then she'll be treated like a research tool.
*** True, but only when someone ''does'' have claim to their container. If the new spirit winds up in a similar position to Bob's in ''Dead Beat'', when Cowl set him down and he got to choose for himself whom to follow, it's her name that will have the deciding influence over her nature then. Names have serious power in this Verse.
*** It's also possible that Bob only has to obey the holder of his container because that's how the container was built to work. It's quite possible that with a bit more time (and some better lab equipment), Dresden could figure out how to make a different container that doesn't have that stipulation in its magic.
*** I think she'll need to have someone keep her under control, at least for now, for the same reasons it would have been a disaster if Harry had died and she'd been "born" with no one to guide her. She might have every intention of helping, but wouldn't have the judgement to make good decisions. Remember what Harry said about his daughter gaining a very dangerous imaginary friend? Whether it's possible to create a container that can only pass from control of one person to another by conscious choice, instead of automatically, would be an interesting question, though!
*** I like Ashley and your reasoning, but I don't think that's going to happen. Harry has a certain way of naming things that's a little at odds with the power he knows names have. If you're an enemy, you get named with a sophomoric insult that'll make him laugh. (Not knocking it!) But the allies he's given names to? It's almost been *shrug* *pick something random that just floated by his subconscious* Done. He's given names like Bob. Mister. Ivy. Mouse. All simple. While this one will be more important to him, I still think he's going to go in the direction he usually does, which is KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). He won't be one for baby name books (although that'd be funny), flowery names, or even names with many facets with deep meanings. The facets may happen, but I don't think it will be because he specifically chose them.
* Keeping the Greek aspect in mind, and the nature of her, I think that "Sofiya/Sophia"-wisdom-would be an excellent name for the spirit-daughter.
* I like Ashley too, especially since it also sounds like Lash. But I'm still going to go with the head splitting associations and a more human name than Athena: Minnie, short for Minerva. It fits with names like Bob and Mr, and it still refers to her nature and origins as a spirit of wisdom. Plus, we know he's read Harry Potter: how does Minnie [=McGonagall=] Dresden sound?
* While all of the above are excellent possibilities, we've gotten word from Jim on this.... He's calling her 'Bonea'... because it has 'bone' in it. Also, it familiarizes to 'Bonnie', and 'Bonnie the Skull' isn't far off from 'Bob the Skull'. Apparently Harry can't spot an obvious mythological allusion if his life depended on it.
** Do we have a definite word on ''when'' Harry decides on the name? Because it might be a side gag for him to be puzzling over possible names for the entire book.
*** If Butcher sticks to the usual roughly-a-year between books, then there's no way Harry wouldn't have named her long since. However, it could still be a running gag that his friends razz him about the name! "Dresden, you wouldn't know an obvious mythological reference if it sprang fully-formed from your forehead!"

[[WMG:Harry Dresden will finally throw down against the Senior Council]]

* From the beginning of the series, Harry's had (at best) tenuous relations with the White Council. While he has a following among the younger members of the council, Harry is in direct opposition to the Council's political old guard. These relations hit a low -- if not the proverbial rock bottom -- in ''Changes'', when Harry tried to rally the Council against the Red Court to rescue his daughter, Grigori (a Senior Council member) told Harry to bugger off, and the rest of the Senior Council refused to help him.\\
\\
While Harry and Molly are most likely no longer subject to the Council's political jurisdiction, I don't think Senior Council members are going to forget the number of times Harry has disobeyed, embarrassed, or crossed them. Plus, at least a couple probably still think Harry's a warlock with plans for world domination. Some of the most powerful wizards in the world have ample reason to fear, dislike, or hate Harry Dresden.\\
\\
In ''Turn Coat'', the Gatekeeper implied that Harry will do battle with the Senior Council in the future. I suggest that future is in Peace Talks. When Peace Talks rolls around, Harry will be more powerful than he's been in a long time. He will have the Winter Mantle at his disposal. He will have the power of Demonreach, should someone be foolish enough to confront him on his island. The parasite will be out of his head. And with his recently earned fortune, Harry will have the ability to bring to bear any number of magical toys. So Harry will be ready to rumble.\\
\\
Thematically, this also makes sense. Jim Butcher plans twenty books, plus a big apocalyptic trilogy. Peace Talks (Book 16) will be the perfect place to clear away the old order and begin building whatever new order will confront the coming apocalypse.\\
\\
Final prediction: Like Delenn with the Grey Council in Series/BabylonFive, Harry will break the White Council and move to form a new governing body for the world's wizards, possibly with him in charge of it.

** This troper wouldn't bet on it happening in ''Peace Talks'', if only because there's so much more that's bound to happen with the various dignitaries' scheming against one another that there may not be room. Plus, Harry is reportedly going to interact with Listens-To-Wind in this novel, which probably means he'll be taught how to better cope with the Winter Mantle's aggression and/or how to shapeshift: two developments that will also need to pre-date the BAT if Harry's to be at the peak of his powers when all Hell/Outside breaks lose. But ''Peace Talks'' may lay the groundwork for Harry's break with the White Council, to be resolved in the next two or three books.

*** Hmm. Do we know the parties for the peace talks yet?
*** I think that all we can safely say at this point is it won't involve Denarians. That and we haven't seen Ebenezer for 3 books.

** If anything, Harry gained a little ''more'' respect for the Senior Council in "Changes," seeing that the Merlin was finally done playing defense and was ready to wipe out the Red Court. They had very different priorities, but Harry could at least understand where the Merlin was coming from.

** Well... he fights Ebenezer, and is basically against them by the end of ''Battle Ground'', since they've essentially turned on ''him''.

[[WMG:Ivy will be appearing in this book.]]
Given the title, her previous roles as a mediator seem a natural fit.

Moreover, she'll be about sixteen or seventeen years old, and a teenaged Archive is just the thing to annoy Harry with.
* Better yet, she'll be able to meet Harry's new daughter and become fast friends, because they have a ''lot'' in common.
** And The Archive being a kid playing around with the carved, glowing wooden skull making girl talk with a fallen angel will be the most adorably creepy thing in the universe.
* And she has yet to play with Mouse (She met him in Small Favor, but didn't have the opportunity to play with him like she has Mister).
* Ivy's presence is '''Confirmed''', by WordOfGod at a book signing/talk.

[[WMG:Peace Talks will prominently feature the White Court of vampires.]]

* I even have a formula to figure this one!
** Book One / Eleven - evil wizard antagonist.
** Book Two / Twelve - Harry puts on a set of new, dark, predatory powers to overcome his adversary.
** Book Three / Thirteen - super ghost antagonist.
** Book Four / Fourteen - fairy princess antagonist.
** Book Five / Fifteen - A demon tries to steal a sacred relic from an underworld figure.
** Book Six / Sixteen - White Court vampires (specifically the Raiths).

* Furthermore, dealing with Lara is on Harry's to-do list, as per Cold Days.
** Isn't Harry on Lara's to-do list, but in a different [[IncrediblyLamePun sense]]?
* Given that Butcher has a numeric theme going, with the White Court vamps showing up after the Denarians, and it feels right that the vampires will be prominent in this one. Also, Lara Raith once said, "I love peace wizard....I will kill your folk with peace, wizard. I will strangle them with it. And they will thank me while I do." With the title, this seems very strongly to be in play.
** Sells wasn't a wizard, he was a sorcerer. And Nicodemus stole the Shroud from the Church, not an underworld figure.
*** Nevertheless, Sells was still a mortal practitioner as the antagonist of the first book. Close enough according to the Laws of Magic. And Nicodemus didn't steal from the Church, some expert thieves were hired to do so (technically underworld in the mortal realm) and Nic was set at odds against Marcone (VERY much so criminal underworld) over who got the Shroud.
* I like the formula, but Not the White Court Part. Instead:
** Book Six / Sixteen - Harry's family is threatened.
*** Not necessarily his daughters, either. Even if his relationship to them and Thomas stays quiet, there's still Ebenezar. What if someone else figures it out? Maybe there'll need to be a new Blackstaff by the end of the book...
* If [[https://twitter.com/longshotauthor/status/562521733366677504 this]] actually is the first line of Peace Talks and not a [[TrollingCreator joke]] then the book will most likely focus on the White Court. (Warning, possible major spoilers and WhamLine in the link).

[[WMG:Peace Talks are between Winter and Summer.]]
* It has been awhile since we did the whole Stone Table change of seasons thing.
* There have been alot of high-level shake-ups.
** Word of Jim suggests it's about a conference between representatives of the various supernatural nations, to discuss the aftermath of the Red Court's demise and establish new territorial boundaries.

[[WMG:It's Molly's Debut]]
* Point 1: Based on Summer Knight and Proven Guilty, we can extrapolate that the Summer Lady and Winter Lady may act on their own. Point 2: Molly can be very idealistic. Point 3: It's likely that Molly now understands what, exactly, is at stake with the Outsiders. Point 4: We've seen previously that that Winter and Summer, or at least the Knights and Ladies, can act in concert, if they choose. (Fix said the "frenemies" situation is "kind of traditional.") Speculation: Molly, in her capacity as Winter Lady, will call the peace talks in Chicago. Molly wants the supernatural factions to reach some kind of peace, with an eye toward an eventual alliance against the Outsiders, perhaps even the Fomor. Thanks to her actions in "Bombshells," Molly already has personal credibility with two factions: The svartalves and the White Court of vampires. Her position as Winter Lady gives her an official title and ex officio standing to call the peace talks.
* Sub-speculation 1: Molly first goes to Mab and Sarissa for support for these peace talks. Mab, as a major entity, will remain officially noncommittal. Sarissa, meanwhile, will try to lend the Summer Lady's credibility to the talks.
* Sub-speculation 2: Molly will ask the Winter Knight to provide security at the peace talks. Mab will give Harry a directive either to keep Molly out of trouble or to sabotage the peace talks in some way.
* Sub-speculation 3: Fix is going to be gunning for Harry.

[[WMG:Murphy growing older]]
* One subplot of the book will be about Murphy having to accept that she was wounded in ''Skin Game'', with some permanent damage, and is becoming older and therefore will not be able to fight as well as before. This will probably put a strain on her and Harry's relationship for a while (as she mentioned in an earlier book that this was one of the reasons she never got together with him) as she has to realize that there are things other than front-line combat that she can do.
** Possibly she and Butters will trade roles: he's taking the field as a Jedi Knight plus Batman gadgets, whereas she'll be shouldering the responsibilities of a tactician, analyst and Team Dresden's new computer-geek.
*** Maybe she'll take a page from Butters and his batman routine with Harry's "parasite" daughter as a co-pilot.
** Given A) the Bat-Butters act, B) her background and injury, and C) the series's love affair with shout-outs, how could she ''not'' become Oracle?
*** [[spoiler:Murphy's new role is established by the end of ''Battle Ground'': she's dead and become an Einherjar, who can only return to Earth once she's faded from all living memory.]]

[[WMG:Murphy will get herself killed because she tries too hard]]
* As said above, Murphy's not getting any younger (she's 41-42 in Skin Game, since Harry is 40 and she's a little bit older than him) and according to the doctors she'll never reach 100% mobility again. Now Murphy has a threefold little-man complex: she's small, so she overcompensates by training her ass off to fight big people; she's a lady cop with a solid moral compass, so she overcompensates by being the best cop around so the corrupt cops have to keep her on the force; she's a vanilla mortal, so she overcompensates by training with paranormal folk so she can compete on their level. But it's not enough, and it's never going to be enough. It doesn't matter how fast you can draw if the other guy is immune to bullets, it doesn't matter how hard you can hit if the other guy is too fast to be hit, and it doesn't matter what you do with that holy sword if your heart isn't in the right place. She isn't going to be content standing on the sidelines, coaching and information-gathering. She wants to be on the front lines, and her fears of being seen as weak keep her from turning down an offer to fight even if she stands no chance. Murphy's going to hit her wall - this is the point at which she can no longer compete, but she will of course refuse to acknowledge that and compete anyway, and it'll get her killed. And Dresden is going to blame and hate himself for it, because in his mind, no matter how much she says "It was my choice to come with you", he will have allowed her to face danger he knew she wasn't up for.
** [[spoiler:Killed, yes. Because she tries to hard, no. She's shot by a panicking and deluded Rudolph.]]

[[WMG: Butters will be the one to die]]
* After several almost-deaths his luck will finally run out and his brains and awesome training won't be enough.
* Or at least he'll suffer a severe setback to show that being a Jedi Knight isn't all fun wish fulfillment
** Jossed. He lives.

[[WMG:Vampire Courts and Amoracchius]]
* Since the white council was at war with all the vampire courts, the destruction of one of the courts would not be sufficient to end the war. Technically, the war against the vampire courts is still going on. Mavra or Lara (most likely the latter) will approach the council for peace talks, ostensibly in order to Enemy Mine against the Fomor. Since, technically, Harry started the war (by technically violating the accords) and then completely genocided one of the factions, Mavra or Lara (most likely the former) will insist on Amoracchius as reparations. And Cristos will likely put pressure on the council to force Harry to hand Amoracchius over. Mavra is likely to be Black Council as IIRC she was involved in giving the corrupted dagger to Lea and Cristos seems like Black Council as well. Harry will likely be sent on some errand to kick some Fomor ass, but will still end up having to hand over the Sword to the vamps. Harry will use the ambiguity of the demand to give the Sword to Thomas making him a Knight of the Sword and he will lop of Mavra's head when she is too stunned to resist. This would all have been orchestrated by Lara (as part of her Venatorii duties) in order to wipe out the black court.
** Problem. The root of the sword's name is "love". Thomas is a being whose biggest rule of existence is DO NOT EXPERIENCE LOVE because you will end up like the guy who drank from the wrong cup in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Tossing him the physical manifestation of love is just going to leave him melted, burned, blown up, or all of it.
*** There's already precedent for ''Amoracchius'' suppressing its vampire-burning properties for the sake of a worthy wielder in ''Changes'', however. If it can exempt a half-Red from being burned by it inherent holiness, possibly it can also spare a White from being hurt by Love.
*** Love-protection against Whites has to derive from mutual love ''between equals'', according to [[WordOfGod Word Of Jim]]. ''Amoracchius'' is wielded in Love's name, but it's not necessarily representative of the right ''kind'' of love to affect Raiths: if anything, it embodies God's love for mortals, which is hardly a relationship between equals, no matter how pure. So it may be harmless for Thomas to touch it, the same way he could touch Justine back when he was still treating her as a favorite doe, not a life partner.

[[WMG:Harry is going to take Molly's virginity.]]
* We know that as of "Proven Guilty", Molly was still a TechnicalVirgin, and since then we only have records of one or two dates, rendering it very unlikely that she's been deflowered since then. In addition, considering the fact that she was and still is deeply in love with Harry, I can see her saving herself for him. Furthermore, Harry is now, to quote Mab, "Consort to the Queens of Winter", and we know that Slate and Maeve slept with each other, as did Fix and Lily. Molly is no longer Harry's apprentice, nor a child, but his Lady.
** Speculation: This will likely occur midway to 2/3 through the book, after Harry and Molly both call on their mantles to overcome a major foe. We saw how Harry got around Maeve when he went too deep into the Knight's mantle. Now imagine that mental state inflicted on both Harry AND Molly in a moment when both are weary. How much could they resist the power of Winter? If Harry and Murphy have become a full-time couple by the time ''Peace Talks'' starts, this will create one heck of a complication.
*** I actually speculate that the catalyst won't just be a major fight, but a major emotional hammer-blow for Dresden. Namely, the death of Murphy. Molly will be there to comfort him, and their mantles just kind of take over from there.
*** Oh dear God no. Someone get this down before Butcher reads it! ''He'll get ideas!''
*** I'd contend that while Harry has control, Molly hasn't had the best history with conrolling her emotions or powers and a situation like this might lead to Mind Rape. The Winter Knight is meant to be the Consort of Winter.
** If they DO do it, considering Maeve and Harry's past... chemistry, likely it'll make Susan and Harry's little Fifty Shades scene look like a chaperoned soda shop date by comparison.
** Jossed for now by the short story "Cold Case", which reveals that each of the Fae Queens represents one of the three stages of womanhood (Maiden, Mother and Crone, represented by the Ladies, the Queens, and Mother Winter and Summer, respectively). For the Ladies, this means having sex with a man would destroy the mantle of the Lady, so the Winter mantle will defend itself by maiming whoever she tries to sleep with. However, this also implies that if Mab dies and Molly ascends to the rank of Winter Queen, ''then'' she can safely sleep with someone.
*** Actually, what Mab said was, "You are the Maiden, Lady Molly, and for you to be otherwise, to become a mother, would be to destroy the Mantle of Power you wear. The Mantle protect[s] itself, as it must." So, it's not actually having sex that would destroy the Mantle, it's if Molly were to become pregnant. Since no method of birth control is 100% effective, the Mantle acts any time the possibility arises, even a minuscule one. This raises some horrifying possibilities for how an enemy might try to destroy the Mantle of one or both of the Ladies...likely much less voluntarily than Harry and Susan's scene...
*** Strictly speaking, there are forms of sex with 0 rate of pregnancy (same-sex coupling, for starters), but all of them would derail the character and kill the tension.
*** It also adds a new undertone to Maeve bargaining for Harry to father a child on her in ''Summer Knight''. Was she trying to kill Mab's agent and blame it on her Mantle, or did she actually hope to destroy the Mantle itself?

[[WMG:Harry will ask Butters attend the titular peace talks in his new Jedi Knight status...]]
...and he'll refuse, taking some jabs at the Star Wars prequels.
* "Well you were right about one thing, Dresden. The negotiations were short."

[[WMG:There won't actually be any peace talks]]
* Instead, there will be [[DestructiveSavior random acts of destruction.]]
* Or maybe the Accords' version of peace talks is perfectly in [[IncrediblyLamePun accord]] with aforementioned acts of destruction.
* Either way, somebody's place is going to burn down.
** ...and it won't be Harry's fault.
*** In fact, he'll be using the Winter Mantle's ice powers to ''stop'' something burning down, and his friends will be very, very confused by this bizarre twist.
* It's likely that ''someone'' in the supernatural (or natural, ''Marcone'') community will take the golden opportunity to blow the heads off as many factions as possible. Particularly if Nemesis decides it wants to weaken the Winter Court at a vital time (possibly leading to a major incursion by the Outsiders).
** Or more likely at this stage, if the Fomor decide they'd rather not just wait around for all the other factions to decide they're overreaching upstarts that need a good kicking.
* It's a shell game. Molly, could, potentially call the talks. More likely, someone else will. Lara probably (she DOES so hate her humans being hunted). Ivy gets called into mediate. Mab commands Harry "Make. Peace." She's damn well aware of what the Fomor have been doing, and Will Not Have it. But she's gotta have plausible deniability. Harry fails? Eh, Winter Knight went crazy again. Some fallout, but Maeve picked the last one, and ain't around to not take the blame for Harry too. Harry wins? Her hands are clean as hell, a reasonably sized power is... not an issue now, and the Accords stand.
** Maeve may have picked the last Knight, but remember, all of Winter got to see exactly who picked Harry and how he was given the Mantle!
** Essentially confirmed. They just barely started when Ethniu steps in and basically declares war on the Masquerade.]]

[[WMG:The Carpenters will find out what's happened to Molly]]
* Harry will probably somehow get stuck in the position of having to tell them, and Charity may actually physically lunge for him. In any case, no matter how Mom and Dad find out, crap? Meet fan.
** What makes you think Michael doesn't already know? He had Uriel's Grace, which offers intellectus, and all he has to do is wonder to himself "Why does that statue look like Molly?" to know the answer.
*** That would be using Uriel's jumbo jet, which Michael promised not to. And if Uriel's intellectus extended to Hades' vault, he would've taken one look at the Gate of Blood and [[spoiler: realized what Nicodemus was going to do in time to intercede]].
** Michael turned out to already know about Lasciel's coin, through the usual Knight of the Cross/Sword coincidence. Question is, does that power extend to matters of the Winter Court? The protection extended to his family obviously doesn't include keeping Molly out of trouble once she's an adult and making her own choices, but he could still have found out about the Winter Lady thing somehow. Or, perhaps he or Charity will figure it out for themselves, perhaps triggered by seeing Molly ''not'' messing up a cell phone or computer. Now that Molly's out of the house, doubtless her younger siblings will be taking advantage of modern tech as fully as any other teens!
** Kinda-sorta. The Carpenters turn out to have figured it out God (and them) alone knows how long ago, and accept it with their usual combination of deep love and zero freakouts.

[[WMG:Peace Talks will be the Empire Strikes Back of the series.]]
* Things have been going too well for Team Good Guys in the last few books. Outsider corruption of the Winter Court has been purge, Denarians have been decimated, holy artifacts have been obtained, new Knights have been chosen. It's time for some pushback. Something major will go terribly terribly wrong by the end of Peace Talks. Possibilities:
** The White Council will split, or even go outright hostile against the Winter Court and Harry?
** Major character death? Major character corruption?
*** The death of a character (unknown if major or minor) has been comfirmed as [[https://twitter.com/bookouroboros/status/501551435759505409 his editor]] warned his readers on twitter that she had given him a suggestion about killing of a character. [[https://twitter.com/longshotauthor/status/501590035226169344 His response (to her and later on twitter) was an evil laugh]].
*** I hate to say it, but it seems to me that the major character most at-risk for getting killed off may be Murphy. With her injuries, her usefulness is at an all time low, but her emotional connection is still high, so killing her off would put Dresden in a very dark place.
*** Though it doesn't say that it's one of the ''good guys'' that will be killed off. It could be Lara or Mavra or somebody like that.
*** Oh! What if it's ''Marcone''? That would make for some interesting repurcussions.
*** Or what about if Ivy died? She is bound to be there as the neutral party and she has no child for the Archive to pass down to. How would that go down?
** Huge power up for the Outsiders?
*** All signs are that it's going to be ugly - the short story "Christmas Eve" mentions that despite Harry's best efforts, there was a major battle, tens of thousands were injured, and thousands more died. Molly, Mouse, Maggie, Mab, Michael and Kringle are all alive though.
*** Ugly confirmed, [[spoiler:seeing as how the Fomor's backer basically declared war on the Masquerade and the next book is all one big fight, with Murphy dead and the White Council having effectively declared Dresden an enemy.]]

[[WMG:Alternatively, Peace Talks will be the HopeSpot]]
* (Or, to continue the Star Wars analogy, think ''[[Literature/NewJediOrder Edge of Victory]]''.)\\
\\
Starting with ''Changes'', there have been a lot of, well, ''changes'' going around the world -- big political shake-ups with the Reds, Marcone, and the Denarians, the cast growing into new roles (Winterfae, Knight of the Cross...), and so on. Harry in particular has been bouncing around so much he's almost grown callous about it. (After all, he's already ''died'', not to mention seeing how much he's hurt Molly. How much more can he really be made to suffer?)\\
\\
In keeping with Butcher's usual MO for his characters, the obvious thing to do is set up a status quo that looks, if not peaceful, at least solid and defensible: give Harry more resources, allow him to make real progress setting up counters to the Outsiders, and have his allies make in-roads with the other non-murderous factions. Give his complicated family life a little positive resolution. Let him survive the climax by something other than the skin of his teeth. In short, let Harry build up goodness in his life.\\
\\
It should go without saying that all of this goodness is so that he has something to lose in the next few books...
** Completely agreed. The best way to show how bad things are is to have done your best, made serious preparations, stabilized things, done more than you thought possible...and then when the shit hits the fan you find out it WASN'T ENOUGH.

[[WMG:The peace talks will be for a truce between Summer and Winter.]]
* Ordinarily, Summer and Winter oppose each other in everything, but they team up at the Outer Gates, and there are hints that in sufficiently dire circumstances they will work together in this world as well. Specifically, it is stated that Summer and Winter banded together to drive the Formor into the seas, and I'm guessing that with the Formor returning (plus all the chaos the Black Council is stirring up), Mab and Titania will agree to suspend their conflict and work together to destroy the Formor and other invaders once again.
** If combined with Titania being furious over the death of another Summer Lady, this situation could put Harry in a very dangerous and awkward situation. Possibly mirroring his "do or die" directive back in Summer Knight.

Interesting. Maybe we will learn that they were Tuatha De Dannan-I bet Mab was Morrigan, Titania Aine and Mothers's one name is Danu/Modron/Dea Matrona.
* The thing is Mab is already a figure in Irish myth, Medb. This gets wonky since Maeve is the Anglicization of Mebd. Bob did mention the Tuatha though.
* While interesting, this has been nixed by Word of God. The Peace Talks will be dealing with the Fomor.

[[WMG:Harry will have to fight a duel.]]
* Not a skirmish or glove drop, not a battle with enemies...a formal, PROPER duel with a faction champion. As part of the titular peace talks, Harry - in his capacity as Winter Knight - will disagree with another faction, and it will be done in such a way as to force a duel between him and a champion of another side. Bonus points if it answers the "who would win, Harry or xyz" that we usually don't see due to them usually being on the same side - for instance, Gard, Kincaid etc.
** Even more bonus points if it's the White Council he disagrees with, and he has to fight Ebenezer...

[[WMG:Harry will hire a therapist.]]
* There's no financial reason not to, and he ''really'' needs one.
** And his ''therapist'' will no doubt need a therapist after their third or fourth meeting at the latest.

[[WMG:Elaine will be involved somehow in whatever's going on.]]
* So far Elaine has shown up twice: Once in book 4, and once in Book 9. 4 is 2 squared, 9 is 3 squared, and now 16 is 4 squared. Plus it will allow Harry to find out how the war against the Formor has been going while he was dead/convalescent/stuck Parkouring through the Vault Of Horrendous Doom.
** And it will give Butcher the opportunity to throw yet another wrinkle into Harry's relationship with Murphy, as Elaine is a) someone Harry has slept with, which he hasn't yet done with Murphy, and b) a wizard, which means that she shares Harry's power and, more important, his lifespan.
** Jossed. She's completely absent.

[[WMG:Harry and Murphy will Soulgaze for the first time. During Sex.]]
* And it will be glorious. There will be weeping. [[CallBack Possibly Violent]].
** Harry's mentioned numerous times that he's already Soulgazed Murphy prior to ''Storm Front''.
** Jossed[[spoiler:; he soulgazes her as she dies.]]

[[WMG:Fix is going to die or otherwise cease to be Knight Of Summer, and Murphy will take up the Mantle.]]
* Ever since we met her, one of Murphy's self-imposed duties is to keep an eye on Harry, and the Summer Knight's primary job is to police the Winter Knight. In addition, if the Winter Mantle could cover a broken back, Summer's Mantle should be able to cover Murphy's damage from Nicodemus, and possibly will also grant a wizard's lifespan.
** Jossed; Fix is alive [[spoiler:and Murphy died and became an Einherjar.]]

[[WMG:Mavra will be the BigBad, and working with the Fomor.]]
* The Fomor are an alliance of the survivors of supernatural races and nations who have been driven to the edge of existence by others. Now remind me, what's happened to the Black Court since ''Dracula'' was published?
** Mavra doesn't show up in person, though it's revealed that even Vadderung has lost track of her recently.
** Jossed; Mavra joins the people fighting the Fomor and Ethniu.

[[WMG:Demonreach will eventually start giving (or trying to give) advice to Mab]]
Harry just named it Alfred. Alfred means 'Elf Counsel'. Names have power.
* I thought it meant Elf Friend not Elf Council, which it kindof already is. Though friends do give advice so either way really.

[[WMG:Sanya will die and Esperacchius will pass to Harry's care]]
It has already been alluded to if not confirmed that someone will die in Peace Talks. The other two Swords have already passed through Harry's hands. It only makes sense that the third would as well. By the time we get to the apocalypses all three Knights of the Cross will have been chosen by Harry. Best guess:
* Faith - Butters (already in his possession)
* Love - Thomas (The irony of a White Vampire wielding the sword of Love is almost too much to pass up)
* Hope - Murphy (It has already been HEAVILY alluded to that she will become a Knight of the Cross, it is possible she has just been waiting for the right sword. As it is the sword of hope, it is likely she will not take up the sword until the very last book during the darkest hour)

** {{Jossed}} so far, though it may still happen in ''Battle Ground''.
*** Jossed, Sanya survives ''Battle Ground''.

[[WMG:Ivy, now a 18-19 year old, is going to ask Harry to be the father of her children]]
Why? Because it's [[TheSpock perfectly logical to her]]: Harry is one of the very few people she can actually trust, he sees her as ''Ivy'' in opposition to "The Archive" and just like Michael so eloquently put it in ''Skin Game'' "things did not turn out well for the last monster who raised his hand against [Harry's] child. Or any of his friends. Or associates. Or anyone who worked for him. Or for most of the people he knew", which is a cautionary tale that should keep most supernatural troublemakers the hell and half away from their potential kids.

Also, because Harry's supreme awkwardness and Kincaid's being a PapaWolf as a result of such a request is just [[HilarityEnsues too amusing a mental image]] for words.
* Except anyone who knows ''anything'' about Harry Dresden, let alone ''everything'' he or anyone he knows has ever written about him, would surely realize that the '''last''' thing he'd want would be for ''another'' of his kids to become a pawn in yet another millennia-old entity's ruthless agenda, whether that agenda is making them a HumanSacrifice or host to some inscrutable, dehumanizing synthesis of all mortal knowledge.

[[WMG:Thomas will die.]]
In Christmas Eve we are informed that Harry has empty places in his heart where people should be, so we are guaranteed at least one death of someone Harry loved. We also know that [[spoiler:Molly]] survives and makes payment of [[spoiler:medical bills for tens of thousands and funeral expenses for thousands]]. [[spoiler:Michael, Molly, Mouse, Mab, and Kringle]] are also shown to have survived. We aren't told who dies, but given that Jim admits to trying to write whatever is worst for Harry, and Jim tweeted that [[spoiler:Justine is pregnant]], the most devastating way to torture Harry is to take his brother from him.
** [[spoiler:Jossed; he's trapped in Demonreach to keep him alive.]]

[[WMG:If Murphy dies, she'll take up Gard's offer.]]
Gard has previously made the offer to Murphy that she would make a good Valkyrie, or at the very least, an Einherjar. Butcher tweeted that he was writing Murphy's funeral at one point, and while this may be a case of TrollingCreator, Murphy's too much of a badass to just let fall out of the story completely. Plus it would give her and Harry an opportunity to be together.
* [[spoiler:Confirmed. But she can't return to the living world until she's faded from all living memory, so she's essentially out of the plot for now.]]

[[WMG: Harry and Murphy haven't gotten physical yet.]]
The trailer for the book seems to show Lara putting the whammy on Harry, which is something that can't be done to someone who is in love and loved in return. The protection seems to depend specifically on whether or not the people in question have had sex, as the protection vanishes when Harry and Lucio get together.
* {{Jossed}}: Harry and Murphy get physical during the story, and the scene of Harry and Lara being intimate from the book trailer turns out to be an illusion.

!!!Post-Release [=WMG=]s:

[[WMG: Ebenezer enthralled Thomas into attacking Etri.]]
* It's been repeatedly noted that Thomas's attacking Etri makes ''absolutely no sense'', both because Thomas had no reason to want Etri dead and because Thomas is an incredibly lethal combatant and would probably have succeeded if he'd been trying. Enthrallment would explain both, since Thomas would probably be fighting the compulsion and not operating at 100% capacity.
* From a purely strategic point of view, it's a brilliant move for Ebenezer. Have Thomas assassinate Etri, and you simultaneously get him out of Harry's life and cause a massive diplomatic incident for the White Court, which has been getting disturbingly powerful lately. Better yet, there's at least a chance Lara might try and save Thomas, in which case the White Court would get shredded by the combined powers of the other major supernatural factions.
* This might also explain why he was so focused on killing Thomas after Harry rescued him. If Harry has a chance to look over Thomas, he might discover Ebenezer's tampering, which would cause the whole thing to blow up in the White Council's face.

[[WMG: ''Fidelacchius'' transmuted itself into a lightsaber specifically in preparation for fighting Ethniu.]]
* It's noted that Ethniu's physical form is armored with Titanic Bronze, a metal of such potency that only the mightiest supernatural powers can penetrate it. It's possible that even the angelic power invested in the Swords would not be enough to overcome her defenses, at least with their previous distribution. ''Fidelacchius'', however, has just rebuilt itself into a form that is even more effective against supernatural threats, and it would be exactly the sort of apparent coincidence that the Almighty is always using in this series.

[[WMG: Kincaid will have a BigDamnHeroes moment.]]
* It was noted that Ivy is present at the Peace Talks, but Kincaid is not. Ivy, with her knowledge, at least knows something bad is about to happen and has kept Kincaid in reserve.
** Jossed; he doesn't appear in either book.

[[WMG: Murphy is not completely gone.]]
Yes, she has been picked up by a valkyrie, and taken to become an einherjar. And yes, they require the hero to fade from living memory. However, this is failing to consider two things.

* One, Murphy was not norse in her belief system; she was catholic. Therefore, even if the Allfather can't override that "not in living memory" requirement, with Murphy, it's not really it's his call. It's in the hands of someone even more powerful and fundamental... who specializes in coincidence for those of faith.

* Two, Murphy is not content to sit ''anything'' out. I suspect that, along with the catholic belief system, her sheer determination will find her way back to earth despite the restriction. And if the Allfather doesn't like it, well, he'll just have to learn what Harry already knows.


[[WMG: Murphy will be able to return early via memory manipulation.]]
In ''Literature/GravePeril'' Mab is able to remove Susan's memories of Harry while leaving the rest of her memories intact. Murphy can't return until she has passed from all living memory. Mab, or someone like her, will remove all memory of Murphy, allowing her to return as an einherjar. The rules don't explicitly say she has to ''stay'' forgotten, only that she must be forgotten to return. Once she's back, Harry's memories (plus or minus everyone else's) can be restored.
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