Headscratchers for Battle Ground
"Exact Truth" versus "Metaphorically True"
- So, at one point Mab tells Harry, "Let me put this in a way you can understand. Destiny is a cold-hearted bitch."
Admittedly, I suspect that saying "in a way you can understand" opened up a few possibilities for phrasing, but what if Harry was quick enough to say "No" right when Mab said that? How else could she have phrased it?- She actually said "HOW can I put this...", but if she had said "let me", it wasn't a request. The Queen of Air and Darkness does not make requests of her knight, nor does he allow her to speak, or try to deny her the same. At least, not if he wants to keep breathing. Even if she were to say "let me," it would very clearly be understood as rhetorical.
Ebenezer v Harry, post Peace Talks
So, at the end of Peace Talks, Ebenezer kills Harry('s doppelganger). But in this book, which is part of the same day, not only are they talking to each other, Ebenezer can still occasionally smile at Harry, and they can pat each other on the shoulder in appreciation. WHY? I think Harry, at least, would be a bit mum around his grandfather.- Eh, sometimes amongst family you need to do some rough-housing to clear the air. In ordinary families, that's pillow-fights or wrestling or really intense games of Scrabble; in magical families, that's wizard duels. Both of them were explicitly stated to be holding back (especially since, if Eb had been going full-out, the only thing left of Harry would be a smear on the pavement), they both know that the other was holding back, and given the potential Armageddon literally several miles away, it seems they've both decided to bury the hatchet.
- Also, Harry has had dozens of people and things and people-things actually, genuinely, trying to murder him in cold blood. In fact, he actually has been killed before (even if he was Only Mostly Dead). After all that, his doppelganger getting accidentally killed is really not as big of a deal for him, since he knows that Eb wasn't gunning for him and he's pretty much used to trauma.
How did Fidelaccius stop Harry?
- Harry decides to murder Rudolph for killing Murphy. Now, even though he's the Winter Knight, he's still mortal, so he gets to kill people. As a mortal, he has free will so he gets to decide to kill people. The number one rule is that angels don't get to interfere with free will. So how the hell did the angel empowering Fidelaccius burn Harry to dissuade him? And why didn't that violation of God's Law unmake the sword and cause the angel to fall?
- As several of the Knights have said, it's not their job to kill evil people. It's their job to save them. It would seem rather obvious that Harry at that moment is letting his anger, fear, and grief override his innate goodness in attempting to kill Rudolph by embracing the powers of the Winter Knight. Butters, using *Fidelacchius*, is attempting to save Harry from himself. The pain helped bring him to his senses and let him release the dangerous emotions.
