Wild Mass Guesses about characters from The Dresden Files: their origins, identities, motives, etc:
- (Summer Knight) Lloyd Slate, the Winter Knight, doesn't make such an impressive showing of himself as those rereading the series would think. Maybe it can be chalked up to the Winter Mantle and his wizardly powers, but Harry seemed to believe there was a non-zero chance he could take on Maeve by using the Winter Mantle at the end of Cold Days, and Fix exhibits physical prowess that would have embarrassed Slate—who got his ass beat by a scrawny, wrench-wielding Fix even before the latter became the Summer Knight. Perhaps the extra mileage Harry gets out of his mantle could be explained away by waving hands and saying "Wizard", but unless you believe that the Summer Knight is supposed to be significantly more powerful than the Winter Knight (which seems unlikely, considering balance part of the nature of the courts), the only thing that explains Fix's extra power is his changeling heritage.
- (Blood Rites) When confronted about his heritage, Kincaid tells Harry "I'm as human as you are"—but Ebenezar makes it a point to tell Harry that Kincaid is a Scion, the progeny of a human and a supernatural entity. Perhaps we're meant to believe that Kincaid was lying, but that seems out of character; he has no problem telling Dresden the means he would use to kill him, why would he outright lie about his status?
- Because telling Dresden he'd shoot him from a distance doesn't tell Harry anything that makes Kincaid himself more vulnerable. Telling Harry about his own nature is entirely a different matter, because Harry could potentially use that knowledge to take him out.
- Perhaps Kincaid believes that Wizards are more than human? One could consider Harry to be half human, half wizard, thus just as human as the half human, half something else Kincaid.
- (Changes/Cold Days) Probably more books could be referenced here, but the important thing is to point out the relationship Harry's mother had with the Fey. Not only is his godmother one of the Winter fey—in fact, THE Winter Fey, second in power only to Mab (and presumably Mother Winter)—but Margret spent enough time in Faerie (and presumably conversing with the Fey) to be nicknamed "Le Fey" and to construct, as far as has been revealed, the most complete record of the Ways to exist in the mortal world. Molly, by contrast, spent perhaps a year or so under the Leanansidhe's tutelage, and that was enough to make her into a vessel of Winter potent enough to receive the mantle of the Winter Lady. How much more strongly would Margret have been affected?
- In summary: It's more than reasonable to think that Margret Le Fey Dresden had been somehow changed by her association with the Winter Sidhe, and that Dresden inherited some of that, giving him superhuman potential above and beyond what he already had (wizard powers, being Starborn). His dealings with the Winter Court in the meantime have only strengthened that aspect of him, allowing him to make more use of the Winter Mantle than a mortal wizard could. This part is even more shaky conjecture, but considering what we know of Mab's duties and her disposition, it seems not just possible but likely that Harry becoming the Winter Knight is something she's planned since long before his birth. Setting things in motion so that the Blackstaff's daughter becomes involved with Winter (bonus points if the Blackstaff is indeed Mother Winter's walking stick?), perhaps even arranging things so that her son is a Starborn and has a reason to make a pact with the Winter Fae not long after coming into his power? Despite her act to the contrary, all this eventually gives her someone perfectly suited to be her Knight: the most powerful wizard of his generation, who among all of the magi is one of the few who can hurt Outsiders with his magic, and who because of his heritage can make far better use of the Winter Mantle than any non-changeling mortal.
- This potentially explains something else that has been bothering me: why Mab hasn't given Harry much (if any) explicit instruction on way the mantle works and what powers it gives him. She knows exactly what she's created, and wants to make sure that he's not going to go off the rails unless it suits her purposes before she unleashes him completely.
- They're supposed to be ridiculously tall
- Uriel takes a reeeeeallly personal interest in Harry
- Uriel is stated to be subtle; Harry often does things no-one is able to predict
- Harry is unusually resistant to temptation
- The dream conversations Harry has with Malcolm involve Malcolm hinting to Harry that dark times lie ahead (archangels have intellectus!) & that Harry has the power to push back against fallen angels
- Harry is entrusted with holy swords & seems to be very sensitive to dark magic (unusually so, for a wizard)
- While I don't necessarily buy into this, it is interesting that Harry's actions at the end of Changes seem to mirror that, When Harry sacrifices Susan for the bloodline curse, destroying the Red Court, an act of evil for a greater good.
- In Ghost Story, after Molly confirms Harry's identity with her Sight, she asks him, "Have you come to take me away?" Many depictions of angels involve them scorting souls to the afterlife.
Refinement on the theory : Harry's Dad was a Graceless Uriel
- We know Uriel can shed/loan his grace, and is then fully human, as Jim stated Harry's dad was.
- If Jesus is any indication, he'd still be both fully Angel and fully Human, allowing the Angel properties to be passed on to Harry
- Nephilim were supposedly bad news because of too much power with human free will. Being concieved gracelessly, Harry did not have a lot of power to start with, and is mastering his power slowly and responsibly.
- Harry got to talk with his Dad, who said some prerequisites had to be met, right after Uriel was allowed to interefere in Harry's life.
- Depowering himself for a calm decade or two so as to put a piece on the board that would be crucial for the apocalypse seems like the kind of gambit Uriel could make.
- Uriel, an archangel, ekeing out a miserable living by doing stage magic is way too funny an idea to not get used.
- Not exactly compelling evidence, but Uriel is seen with a fire in his hand and wields a sword of fire as the guardian of Eden. And not only is Dresden very good with fire, Uriel gave Dresden Soulfire. Not exactly a sword, but something for Dresden to use in order to protect his own "paradise", his loved ones and friends.
- I agree that Demonreach had at least something to do with Harry's birth. Though what he knows about the island (the bad step, the back door getting stuck in the rain...) the first time he arrives is to much for just some old vague memories. The only explanation for that is that the genius loci was letting him access it's intellectus before he made a pact with it, which makes this theory even more likely.
- This was explained in the book, as Harry's precognitive abilities (which all wizards develop to some degree) beginning to awaken.
- That could also be Luccio blowing smoke. The older Wardens have never been square with Harry.
- It also could be a side effect of the long-predicted "Harry's going to break another Rule of Magic and time travel and thus knows the island even if he doesn't know it yet," or the "Harry's a reincarnation of Merlin (and thus would know Demonreach well on some level, even if he can't quite remember it)" theories being true at some point. Either way, we're going to see
- If Harry was born on Demonreach, how did he get to the hospital where Malcolm came to claim him a few days later? Margaret's death in childbirth is well-established, and it's unlikely that Malcolm would've been able to prove he was Harry's father to Social Services' satisfaction, if Lea or some other ally had dropped the baby off at the clinic anonymously. (Paternity testing was extremely limited in the 1970s.) If anything, Harry might possibly have been conceived on the island, if the Dresdens had gone camping there, although it would've been a pretty miserable place to visit at the start of February.
- She was killed by Poppa Raith with him being in range of her death curse, so probably not via his heart ripper ritual. It's entirely possible for her to have given birth on the island, had Lea port her from there to a hospital because of complications, telling them she had delivered before she could get there. Raith finds out she's weak in a hospital, goes to kill her, gets smacked by her death curse. Poppa Dresden gets there after the fact, takes potato harry.
- Harry specifically states that his mother died in the delivery room in Blood Rites. If she'd been rushed to the hospital after delivery, she'd have been treated in the ER or a surgical theater, not the delivery room.
- I reckon Demonreach has something to do with Maggie Sr.
- Cold Days reveals that Demonreach has something to do with Merlin. As in, the original. Whether it's also connected to Margaret is unclear, although it's apparent from Turn Coat that McCoy knows something about its significance.
- McCoy, and by extension Harry, could very well be a direct blood descendant of the original Merlin. Magic travels through the blood lines, And parents tend to teach their children. McCoy has Merlin's journals, one would expect something that important would be a closely guarded heirloom, or secured at Edinburgh.
- If you're assuming Demonreach's manifestation from Turn Coat was all in Harry's head, it's been Jossed by Cold Days. Demonreach manifests and interacts with Lily, Fix and Maeve, even in Harry's absence.
- Well as long as we're going with things that make absolutely no sense here, I say you haven't gone far enough. Harry is Kemmler. Yeah. Wrap your head around that one, if you can.
- I see your theory and raise you one: Harry is amnesiac Kemmler. It's why he's so destructive.
- I'll raise you even further. Killing Kemmler was considered an outright impossibility, so the White Council (and possibly Harry's mom and the Winter Court) pulled some shenanigans to get him reincarnated as a new person instead.
- Potentially jossed: Changes seems to indicate that he picked up his tendency to use Dog Latin for incantations from Ebenezar McCoy, since he's shown using such incantations himself (even using Harry's signature "Fuego").
- Farther jossed by a flashback in Ghost Story; Harry only manages to light a candle when he comes up with his own incantation "Flickum bicus" as opposed to him trying to use Justin's "Sedjet".
- Not only that, but it reveals that Harry adopted "Fuego!" because he was taking Spanish class at the time he first used that effect. If anything, Ebenezer probably picked up "Fuego" from Harry, perhaps because it's quicker to say than whatever he'd used prior to that.
- Except that wasn't McCoy, but a random voice from the Gray Council.
- Mix this with the Gatekeeper = Future Harry WMG from above, and assume he is one of the Gray Council and was at the battle at Chichen Itza in Changes - and that was Harry himself using his own signature spell in the background.
- More likely one of the Big Bads of a future book time travels to this fight to try and change the outcome, and Future!Harry comes back too to oppose them.
- Or one of the younger wizards who
thinksrealizes Harry's badass incarnate is using Harry's incantation as a sign of respect. - Or, you know, one of the mooks ordering the other mooks to fire. Harry does say that immediately after hearing somebody scream "fuego", people started firing weapons. They are in Latin America, after all.
- The quote isn't someone in robes, it was someone "on the wall." And, as per several people on the Dresden forums, "Fuego" is, in fact, the Spanish word for "fire" as in "Ready, aim..." So that seems to be it.
- Except 'fuego' is Spanish for 'fire' in the sense of flames, not shooting. That would be 'disparar' or 'tirar.'
- You're not wrong per se but "Fuego" can mean shoot in spanish, in this context at leas. I'm telling you as a guy from a spanish speaking country.
- Farther jossed by a flashback in Ghost Story; Harry only manages to light a candle when he comes up with his own incantation "Flickum bicus" as opposed to him trying to use Justin's "Sedjet".
- If that's the case, then who the heck was the Walker that Lord Raith summoned?
- Harry is Harry, not a Walker or Kemmler or whatever. He's bartered portions of his True Name with Chauncy, been flattened by Ferrovax using part of it, and invoked his name to compel Sharkface to reveal his identity. None of those things could have possibly worked if he wasn't really Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden.
- Harry doesn't know - He thinks. In Cold Days, he mentions this as a theory, and the only reason he believes it is because he's just found Mab's original copy of the Grimm fairy tales, with the personalized text 'For Mab.' He further elaborates that Mab would never do anything without a reason, and so he has to assume the reason is she want's the fairies to be remembered forever. Its a long way from an old book to the Oblivion War.
- He doesn't say he's ugly. He says he's less pretty than Thomas. Everyone is less pretty than Thomas. Jokes about his appearance are nearly always in a Thomas-related context. And I think it's more that Susan wrangled a date out of him...
- If the cover of the books are any indication, then Harry is obviously quite attractive. Also, the way he describes himself probably stems from lack of self confidence due to his lack of social skills. Accentuate the Negative
- He's not bad-looking in the comics, which Word of God says capture him spot on.
- His lack of confidence in his appearance also probably ties into his difficulties with hygiene - having to shave blind and with cold water probably doesn't fill one with a whole lot of confidence about their appearance.
- In the novelette 'Aftermath,' Murphy describes Dresden as other vanilla mortals see him, and as he appears while . Typically, he holds his limbs in close, moving with 'the exaggerated caution of someone who was several sizes larger than normal' and speaks softly, 'as if apologizing for the resonant baritone of his voice.' This, combined with his avoidance of eye contact because he doesn't want to soulgaze dudes causes him to come off as quiet and somewhat autistic. Contrast that with his full wizard mode where he just sort of unfolds and starts shouting Latin and throwing fireballs everywhere. Murphy herself feels completely threatened by how dangerous he is- to the point where she describes her gut reaction to that level of threat as 'kill it, immediately.' Of course, in the next paragraph she woefully laments not getting to hit that before the end of Changes.
- Being in the business of a wizard hero saving the world on a semi-regular basis, Harry has acquired many allies and some friendly enemies over the years, many of them female. Being the chivalrous if old-fashioned powerhouse who won't hesitate to put his life on the line for doing the right thing that he is, not to mention having good-standing relations with most if not all of the said female colleagues, it isn't hard to imagine a lot of them liking him for more than professional reasons.
- Case in point, when Lara thought that she and Harry would surely perish when the explosives were about to go off near the end of "White Night", she kissed him with a burning passion unseen before, even before Harry finished telling her why the kissing would be relevant in securing their bodies coming out whole. Another example would be the subtle (the fireplace at his apartment) and not-so-subtle (the laundry room scene) moves Anastasia put on Harry throughout "Small Favour", and even though we later (regrettably) find out that the attraction was supposed to be purely based on mind control, it is absurd to think that she would do so without at least thinking of him as more than a capable and heroic warden after the many grim situations they had faced together.
- to be fair, Lara is White Court, believes she's about to die, and has had her advances snubbed by Harry repeatedly. Plenty of reasons to let her hair down even if she wasn't especially drawn to him beforehand.
- It's stated that there had to be something between Harry and Anastasia for the influence to build upon. Luccio found Dresden attractive, and Peabody enhanced that attraction to the point of her making a move she normally wouldn't have indulged in. That's part of what's so tragic about their relationship — it's just possible something might have happened on its own eventually if Peabody hadn't pushed it, but now Anastasia's resistance to being pushed, and fear of still being influenced, had poisoned any chance they might have still had.
- Let's be fair. Most men would probably have self-esteem issues if they hung around Thomas "weapon of mass seduction" a lot.
- Case in point, when Lara thought that she and Harry would surely perish when the explosives were about to go off near the end of "White Night", she kissed him with a burning passion unseen before, even before Harry finished telling her why the kissing would be relevant in securing their bodies coming out whole. Another example would be the subtle (the fireplace at his apartment) and not-so-subtle (the laundry room scene) moves Anastasia put on Harry throughout "Small Favour", and even though we later (regrettably) find out that the attraction was supposed to be purely based on mind control, it is absurd to think that she would do so without at least thinking of him as more than a capable and heroic warden after the many grim situations they had faced together.
- You missed out Demonreach.
- Mouse is significantly more than a dog.
- The name Mouse fits. Mice are tiny animals that can scare the crap out of giant elephants. I remember some magical entity reacting to Mouse's presence with great fear.
- Elephants don't actually care about mice.
- It's kinda been proven that elephants are in fact cautious of mice.
- The name Mouse fits. Mice are tiny animals that can scare the crap out of giant elephants. I remember some magical entity reacting to Mouse's presence with great fear.
- Who says this is a power only Harry has? It's possible that any mortal has it...and Harry's been the only one who has delved so deeply into irreverence to nickname God's creatures.
- Ghost Story spoiler: Maybe? He calls Uriel by a nickname, which terribly angers - and terrifies - the archangel. The "-iel" on the end of an angel's name is important. My guess, a nickname leaving out that bit lessens and angel in some terrible way. Only time will tell if Harry did permanent damage. (Harry is forgiven, of course, and the two come to an agreement on the name of "Mister Sunshine.)
- I kinda figured it had something to do with the "-el" meaning "of God" or "God is". Saying an angel is the "Light" or "The Light" could be blasphemous on an extreme level, because the last set of angels who dropped the pretense of being "of God" are the Fallen. Just food for thought
- Calling an angel "The Light" could also be a reference to calling them "the morning star" or similar...a euphemism for Lucifer, if this Troper recalls correctly.
- It goes a bit beyond the "Morning Star" name being used for Lucifer - "Lucifer" itself comes from Latin - and means "light bearer". Dropping the "of God" part of Uriel's name, given that and what we've seen with how much of an effect nicknames can have on supernatural beings, could be downright disastrous.
- It doesn't have to be that Harry has extra Naming powers, it could just be, and based on Uriel's reaction most likely is, that Names have a lot of power, and nicknames are names just as much as the ones on birth certificates. More so, in fact, because it's repeatedly mentioned that humans especially change their Names a lot.
- Moreover, "Uriel" is probably not the archangel's true Name, but more of a title that he went by among the Hebrews. Supernatural beings don't hand out their true Names to mortals lightly, and God's black-ops guy definitely wouldn't have let his real Name be passed around all over the planet by the Bible.
- Actually, I'd bet that it is. Remember the bookends of Storm Front? "Conjure by it [Harry's true name] at your own risk," he says. And Harry's just a mortal wizard and a Noob at that point. Uriel is considerably more.
- Reading somebody's name doesn't grant you any power over them; you have to hear how they, themselves, say it. The novels are widely considered to be Harry's personal journals, much like McCoy's.
- Moreover, "Uriel" is probably not the archangel's true Name, but more of a title that he went by among the Hebrews. Supernatural beings don't hand out their true Names to mortals lightly, and God's black-ops guy definitely wouldn't have let his real Name be passed around all over the planet by the Bible.
- You are forgetting one more incredibly powerful magical being who Harry has nicknamed: Lea. And we haven't seen any distinct personality changes in her yet. But if the pattern sticks, she should be watched closely..
- We didn't meet the Leanansidhe until long, long AFTER Harry met her and began calling her Lea. Any changes there are long done.
- Moreover, "Leanansidhe" is already a title, not her real name. Harry admits he doesn't know her real name in Grave Peril, the book where she's introduced.
- Word of God is that everyone has the power to change someone by giving them names but it happens more to Harry due to the amount of magical power he has and because of his tendency to give out nicknames to people without thinking about the consequenses.
- Uriel was angered and frightened by Harry omitting the "-el" at the end of his name (Uriel means "Light of God", the -el being the "of God" part). Anger, sure, but fear? The only way I could see Uriel frightened of anything is if it were a massively damaging thing. Harry's habit of nicknaming threatened to damage either Uriel, or something important in the universe. The important thing is, Harry has already nicknamed an angel of sorts: Lash (Lasc) is certainly missing the "-el". Could it be that Harry Naming the Shadow of Lasciel was the very thing that made her independent of Lasciel? Could it be that Harry will be doing that very thing to the Fallen herself?
- Expanding on this, it's quite possible that the vague power he has over Outsiders can be applied to angels as well. This would go a great way to explain why Nicodemus wants Harry to join him, and why he fears him so much. Nothing would make a war on heaven easier than someone who can shoot angels out of the sky, and if Harry knew precisely what he could do, he could probably tear through the Denarians with ease.
- The problem with this is Uriel had a good reason to be mad, not only did he drop the part that means Of God, the rest of his name means light. So normally he's the Light of God, but with Harry's nickname it becomes Light, which happens to be a bit too close to Lucifer, the Light Bringer.
- Of course, if Harry's contraction, 'Uri' were Uriel's true name it would lend a new (and terrifying) slant to the line in Genesis where God's first act in the universe is to conjure Light.
- Moreover, it's only true Names that have that kind of power, not nicknames or aliases. Is it really likely that "Uriel" is the archangel's real Name? Would the Bible's authors have been permitted to spread the true Name of God's black-ops agent all over the planet?
- Well, there would be advantages. One of the powers a true name has is to draw the attention of the name's owner. If you want to act against him, you have to avoid naming him unless you want him to know about it. See, for example, the adversary in Cold Days.
- In addition to the above, perhaps the angels themselves can be tempted to fall? The fallen angels of the Denarians certainly have, and I believe Lucifer was mentioned in the first novel Uriel appeared in. Both are associated with light, and Uriel has done some less than pleasant things, like killing the firstborn of Egypt, as Heaven's "black ops" guy. Perhaps he fears not any power of Dresden's, but rather the implication that he is not "of God's".
- This is one of the reasons DuMorne was interested in him. Black Magic tends to take away Free Will. He was interested in using magic the way he wanted to without The Dark Side telling him what to do. (This doesn't make him any less evil.) This is also why he couldn't be more subtle when he tried to control Harry via Elaine.
- Jossed. See below.
- This Troper personally took them to be from the brain damage caused by Lash's death in the first place. If not that, then perhaps residual damage from Mab's messing with it in Small Favor.
- Probably a mixture of these, especially since Butters confirmed that, when Lash kicked it, she took a major part of Harry's brain with her. Either Butters or Bob did this.
- The sheer number of supernatural entities who have gone prowling through Harry's psyche, starting with Molly and working up to Mab and Uriel, I think the man is entitled to have the occasional migraine.
- This Troper seems to recall reading a statement by Butcher that we haven't seen the last of Lasciel. Take as you will.
- He has said this about both Lasciel the Fallen and Lash the shadow on different occasions. Remember what they say about a woman scorned.
- This particular troper thinks that, because of Harry's tendency to name things, calling Lasciel's Shadow "Lash" and treating it like an individual gave it a completely separate identity. In sacrificing itself for Harry, it earned the redemption that the Knights always sought for... and possibly even Uriel took notice of this fact, allowing it to return to heaven.
- If the above view is correct, and Lash did appear in a new form in Ghost Sotry, what if Lash was the Angel of Death harry met when Forthill was injured?
- Remember, wizards cells make perfect copies. Presumably, this happens even with brain cells, which just die in normal humans. The Headaches are from his body making perfect copies of something that just isn't supposed to do that, even more so than everything else.
- The first time Harry complained of an ache in his head was after receiving his mother's "insight," which looked suspiciously like the gem of knowledge she left with Lea we saw in Changes. He always says that acquiring knowledge has a price. Could be a contributing factor.
- This Troper remembers at least two mentions of them in Turn Coat, before Harry was given his inheritance.
- Cold Days confirms that the headaches are being caused by a "parasite" that will kill Harry unless it's removed. No word on if it's Lash or not, though.
- This parasite was used to keep Harry alive, implanted or empowered by Mab. Still gives leeway for it being Lash.
- Confirmed, kind of, in Skin Game; her sacrifice was what led to the creation of her daughter, a spirit of intellect gestating inside Harry's skull.
- Jossed.
- Jossed.
- Possible, but on the other hand, it's only after Death Masks that Harry sets aside his monomaniacal attempts to find a cure for Susan and gets back to improving his own skills. Just ceasing to obsess over a futile task would account for much of his growing knowledge and capabilities, as would the realization that, hey, there are scarier things than vampires or fey out there that he ought to bone up on.
- Near the end of Ghost Story, Uriel shows to Harry that it was a fallen angel who had influenced Harry's decision to call upon Mab for power, but I doubt Uriel would know the difference between Lasciel's shadow (Lash) and Lasciel herself, when they were(are?) two different entities, the former because Harry gave Lash free will and a portion of his soul. I think it was Lash who whispered in Harry's ears, and even though the action might had seemed cruel at the time, a lot of things turned out for the best.
- I agree. By whispering those seven words into his ears, Lash pretty much ensured Harry's survival and enabled him to annihilate the Red Court as a whole. I don't think she had fully thought out the consequences of the power void left behind though, so it's reasonable to conclude that her motive was to simply ensure her host's standing among the magical world. All of this makes her similar to Lea in the sense that both of them want to protect Harry, but the actions they take to produce that outcome might come across as Blue-and-Orange Morality to mortals.
- Except we see the entity that whispered the seven words to Harry, and it looked like a shadow. Now, which Fallen do we know of that manifests as a creepy moving shadow, and has ample reason to want to get back at Harry for beating the living tar out of its host in Small Favor?
- Counterpoint: Anduriel, while powerful, wouldn't support Uriel's actions. Uriel is about balance. He only gave Harry Soulfire when Lucifer gave the Denarians Super-Hellfire. For Uriel to be the one to give Harry those words, an equal but opposite force must be the one who lied to Harry. So it would have to be Lucifer who did it. This idea taken from Dresden wikia on the Angel page.
- We see what she's able to put together so far. She's still weak, and Harry's still brain damaged. Harry's Wizardly healing is going to be slow and Lash very well could be trying to force his body to heal his brain faster, so she can fully manifest again. that speeding up could very well be the cause of his headaches.
- Changed for the better, yes; as of Skin Game, definitely dead.
- Harry will be a Knight of the Cross, the Winter Knight, the Summer Knight, wielding Soulfire, with the power of a redeemed Denarian in him, probably still holding the coin...and he will STILL start the book by getting his ass kicked!
- The Summer Knight thing is Jossed JB said that one person holding both mantles would cause something like a matter-antimatter explosion.
- ...Which gives a new depth to just how insane Slate actually was, as he specifically stated that he was planning to take on both mantles.
- You can't redeem a Denarian. Fallen Angels are immutable - he could change Lash because she's the shadow of Lasciel in his head, but the Fallen are older than time and lack free will. It's less that the Fallen are the incarnation of ultimate evil than the fact that humankind had to invent the word "evil" to describe the Fallen.
- Like Merlin, he will take on an Obi-Wan role for a group of Badass Normals, maybe Knights of the Cross, maybe Einharjar, or maybe ex-police security consultants.
- Like Merlin, he will be betrayed and imprisoned by someone close to him at the end of the story.
- Like Merlin, his powers of foresight will become far more developed than they are now.
- As mentioned in Changes, Merlin: Wrote the laws of magic; Founded the White Council; Was custodian for one of the swords, and Established a stronghold for the White Council. Harry: Will break all the laws of magic; Founded the Gray Council; Is custodian for two of the swords; will do something equivalent to finding a stronghold, for either the White or Gray Council. Maybe both.
- Err... except that Harry neither founded the Gray Council, nor was he even a founding member. Ebenezer inducted him sometime after its creation; the Blackstaff may or may not have been the founder.
- He has founded the Paranet though.
- As of Cold Days, we can add Harry acting as the Warden for and preserving the integrity of Demonreach, which was built as a prison for malignant supernatural entities by Merlin, its first Warden.
- Yet another parallel: a lot of Harry's fellow wizards keep assuming he's some sort of latter-day Antichrist. Merlin was allegedly the son of a demon, and has been depicted as an Anti-Anti-Christ in numerous works of fiction.
- As of Battle Ground, Karrin is dead. It could still happen with a new love interest though. Or maybe familial love also works and Maggie will save him.
- Lara is a monster. An Affably Evil, incredible attractive monster, but a monster. Why would Harry want to be with her?
- As of Battle Ground, Murphy is indeed dead and Mab has arranged a marriage between Lara and Harry. Harry is not happy with this however.
- As above, Marcone is an Affably Evil Noble Demon. He's still a bad guy. Harry absolutely loathes himself for making the deal with Mab, and that was to save his daughter's life. He'd rather die (again) than work for him.
- And he'll say it in a poor imitation of Carlos' accent.
- Why does it HAVE to be someone special? It's been intimated she ran away from the Dark Powers and met one of the truly nice people in the world and fell in love. Ever thought of that?
- All things considered, that alone is enough to render Dresden, Sr. someone special.
- Read "The Warrior", then come back and argue that a 'nice normal guy' isn't "special" enough to be awesome.
- Maybe Harry's father was a changeling who Chose human. Margaret could have met him at the Winter Court back before he Chose to give up his Fae side and become a vanilla mortal.
- Don't forget that Kincaid, who is probably half-something-else, once says that Harry is "as human as he is."
- There is very little that we know about Malcolm Dresden. What we do know comes from Ebenezar (who has hidden the truth from Harry on multiple occasions) and from Harry's memories and dreams. He died when Harry was very young. (Six years old, IIRC) Not to say that Harry's an Unreliable Narrator, but memories are sketchy stuff, especially a six year old's. There's no proof that Malcolm Dresden had any magic abilities, (if Ebenezar is to be trusted, but then again he's already lied multiple times to Harry) but there's also no proof for the opposite. He could have had magic, but it simply withered away like Charity's did. Hell, for all we know he could be a changeling who chose to be mortal (which might account for the 'as human as Kincaid' bit).
- Just how trustworthy is Kincaid, anyway? In one scene in Blood Rites, he says "I'm as human as you are", but in that very same scene, he also claims to be a vanilla mortal. Which is a lie. Who's to say he didn't lie about the "as human as Harry" part?
- Even if Malcolm had been "something special", how the heck would Kincaid know about it?
- Kincaid's been around a long time. It's not inconceivable that Malcolm could have genuinely been a nice, kind person...who wasn't entirely, or at all, human.
- ... one of the as-yet unmet Denarians. It could have been a ploy to create another powerful Denarian like Deirdre, only as an ally for the father, or an act of rebellion against Nicodemus, or even kept a secret from him by Harry's mother, as part of setting up the 'special circumstances' of his birth. My guess as to why this father hasn't shown up yet in Harry's life is because the body was killed some time before his actual birth, and has been stuck in coin form ever since. Bonus points if Harry's mother arranged that too.
- I thought his ability to hurt Outsiders was explicitly defined as being from the arrangement of his time of birth (Halloween for starters)?
- No, it's been strongly implied that it's his mothers bloodline that lets him hurt outsiders. It's why she was so powerful.
- I think it was a whole bunch of things. From Lash: "There was a complex confluence of events, of energies, of circumstances that would have given a child born under them the potential to wield power over Outsiders." Someone clearly went to a lot of trouble to arrange things so that Harry could beat up Outsiders, and having an angel as a father could have been a part of it.
- The fact that Outsiders and their agents call him "child of the stars" or "starborn" suggests astrological symbolism has a lot to do with it.
- Also, I forget which book, Kincaid states that he is as human as Dresden. Shortly afterwards it is revealed that Kincaid is the Hellhound and decidedly NOT human.
- It's in Blood Rites, IIRC, and yes, he did say that he was as human as Dresden. He was also claiming that he was a vanilla mortal, which is a big fat lie. He's not someone whose words we can trust, since he's a merc and capable of telling lies, unlike the fae.
- Moreover, so far as we know, Kincaid isn't in any position to know such secrets about Harry's parentage. Indeed, if he knew jack-squat about Harry's background, he wouldn't have been so surprised that Harry chose McCoy as a wheelman in Blood Rites.
- Then again, Kincaid might not need to know about Harry's past to figure out he wasn't all human. Since it's strongly implied Kincaid has some kind of super-senses. During the fight with the Black Court he claimed to see infrared beams and identified a bomb by scent.
- If Harry's father was an angel, he wouldn't exactly be human. He would be one of the Nephilim.
- And what are Nephilim known for? Being giants. And depending on the Bible verse in question also being 'the heroes of old'.
- Given how Uriel is still possessed of Grace, not Fallen, he's forbidden to act in ways that contravene mortals' free will. Impregnating a mortal is an act that would seriously impact her future choices, as well as the choices of every other mortal who ever interacted with her or her child, thereafter. Probably not something a Dresdenverse angel is at liberty to do, without an exhaustive explanation to the woman of what she's getting into and/or a direct command from God.
- Heh. Maybe Skin Games wasn't the first time Uriel's set aside his Grace to accomplish goals in a roundabout fashion.
- Although if he has become mortal before, he did an awfully good job of pretending he hadn't, e.g. not realizing he'd lost his intellectus until somebody asked him to fetch supplies and Uriel, to his own surprise, had to ask where they were.
- Heh. Maybe Skin Games wasn't the first time Uriel's set aside his Grace to accomplish goals in a roundabout fashion.
- her name - she changed it from McCoy to Le Fay when she found out.
- how she was a "wizard" in the first place - it's explicitly stated that magic is passed down from the mother, but Word of God said Margaret's mother was a plain vanilla mortal. "Mother" could mean "biological mother"...or it could mean "woman who raised her".
- Remember now, Molly and Mab both were explicitly mortals before taking up their mantles, if not necessarily vanilla.
- Actually, I believe it was said that magic "usually" passes down through the maternal bloodline, but didn't have to be. I could be incorrect and I can't find the passage in Proven Guilty regarding it, aside from his comment to Michael, where he's likely covering for Charity. But I recall there being another, more specific conversation about it.
- The practitioner-killers in White Night were targeting females to try to reduce the population of wizards over the long term, but that doesn't necessarily mean that only females can pass on the "wizard" trait. It's more likely that female bloodlines were simply easier for the Whites to trace reliably, White Court vampires being very much familiar with the fact of Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe.
- If magic were only inherited from the mother, Uriel wouldn't have made that "even a wizard's lifetime" comment about Maggie in Ghost Story.
- Word of Jim doesn't mean this theory is wrong. In Cold Days, Mab says "I was human once." Remember how Molly used to be human? You can go from human to Fae. Margaret could be a changeling that Chose human. That would have meant that when Margaret was born, one of the queens was still human, and Margaret became a changeling later, when her mother turned to Fae, but, well...Magic.
- her proclivity for working with fairies - that deal with Lea.
- Heck, maybe Lea IS Margaret's mother. That would make Lea Harry's grandmother, would explain why she was the one who Margaret turned to when she got into trouble, and why she would be willing to make her Harry's godmother.
- This would certainly explain why Thomas was burned when Lea kissed him in Grave Peril at the party. If she knew that she was his grandmother, and she loved him, the burn is inevitable.
- Parental love for a child doesn't shield against Raiths, because it's not love between equals. A grandmother's love for a grandchild wouldn't cut it either.
- Ebenezar is short and stocky. Harry's height isn't coming from him. Lea, on the other hand, is super tall.
- Heck, maybe Lea IS Margaret's mother. That would make Lea Harry's grandmother, would explain why she was the one who Margaret turned to when she got into trouble, and why she would be willing to make her Harry's godmother.
- her status as a sort of outcast, exploring the Nevernever alone — changelings are often not really accepted by either humans nor faeries.
- her questionable morals - have you met any faeries recently?
- the "special circumstances" surrounding Harry's birth that give him whatever Outsider-related power he is revealed to have. The son of a changeling and a human? That's gotta be rare.
- Kincaid's "human as you are" comment.
- No, the question is "Do we know of any cases where Harry's mother told an outright lie?". Because if she did, she can't be fay.
- No, the question is still "How many people knew?" because nobody ever said CHANGELINGS can't tell lies. Fey can't, but Changelings can - at least, they can until they Choose. Assuming Margaret never chose, or chose Human, she still could have lied. In fact, she all but had to have never Chosen or stayed human, because if she'd Chosen and become a Fey, Harry would be a changeling. Based off our experience with Changelings so far, Harry's as much a changeling as Murphy.
- No, the question is "Do we know of any cases where Harry's mother told an outright lie?". Because if she did, she can't be fay.
- As of Cold Days we learn that Changelings can barter a refusal to Choose. Perhaps Maggie did the same thing with Lea, offering her a godparent slot. Giving your child to one of the highest of the Winter Sidhe to protect him makes sense too, especially after seeing what poppa Raith did to Thomas.
- Can we really trust a Fallen, though? Furthermore, it's not always incorrect to use "oldest" and "youngest" in a set of two, especially "oldest", and especially when the actual set size is left vague. This editor is his mother's parents' oldest male grandchild, and there are only two male grandchildren.
- If you want to be a Grammar Nazi about it, it's incorrect to use a superlative (oldest, youngest, etc) when comparing only two things. However, that's not to say that people don't do it all the time anyway.
- Nicodemus wasn't using "youngest" as a superlative adjective, he was using it as a noun. No comparison involved, just a designation.
- Considering the fact that we aren't entirely sure how old Margaret Le Fay really is (only that she's young enough to have been tutored in magic by a guy who fought in the French and Indian war and fathered by him, but that doesn't really add any significant minimum considering how old McCoy is), or if she's had any less emotionally-invested relationships than with Malcolm Dresden apart from Lord Raith, Harry could easily be a seventh. A whole mess of volatile power combined with living for probably at least a while before decent non-magical medicine and having something to do with the Fae could account for five children (death by being born, bartered/stolen [possibly as part of a deal to prevent any death occurring during the birth], living in the Nevernever with the other parent, etc.).
- Not to be crude, but we know from Luccio's remarks that female wizards' extended lifespan does not entail much extension of their child-bearing years. Margaret LeFay couldn't have been born back in the 18th or 19th centuries, because her ovaries would've shut down long before Thomas or Harry were conceived.
- I'm betting on at least one changeling sibling; she's called "Le Fay" for a reason, after all. I'm also betting on a brother named Richard.
- Tom, Dick...and Harry. Oh God. If Margaret was anything like her sons it's possible.
- Combining this with the "Johnny Marcone isn't his real name" theory elsewhere on this page, I'm going to have to suggest that Marcone is yet another lost brother. Margaret just didn't leave a message in his head for Harry...though there's no saying she didn't leave one in Harry's head for Marcone. Maybe why he hasn't had our beloved wizard killed yet?
- Jossed, Jim has adamantly stated that Harry has NO OTHER SIBLINGS (emphasis his).
- Doesn't mean Margaret couldn't have had more siblings. (In fact, given that Marcone is a fair bit older than Harry, he's not out of the running for this, although I'm not betting more than a nickel on it.)
- Ooh, I like the idea of Harry having cousins. And he could have them on either side, too!
- Jossed, Jim has adamantly stated that Harry has NO OTHER SIBLINGS (emphasis his).
- Based on a comment made by Justine about the strength of his Hunger in the novelette Backup, I think Thomas has some major juice. She implies that his Hunger is even stronger than Lara's, which could mean that his demon could overpower anyone's. Whether he'll use it to become the White King, I'm not sure of. Before the Trauma Conga Line that was Changes, I wouldn't have seriously considered it for Harry's brother, but now I'm not convinced that any relationship is safe.
- Given that he's found the means to safely make love to Justine again, it's likely that Thomas could automatically win any sex-off challenge with another White Court vampire: if he has sex with Justine first, then if the challenger so much as touches him, they'd get burned!
- Why would he want to? People-for a given value of "people"-would be trying to backstab him all the time.
- Given that he's found the means to safely make love to Justine again, it's likely that Thomas could automatically win any sex-off challenge with another White Court vampire: if he has sex with Justine first, then if the challenger so much as touches him, they'd get burned!
- I thought the same thing! During Changes, while he does act more savage at times, he does resemble the old Thomas. So that's interesting. Grey Council spy, perhaps?
- Possibly. But for that to be true... hmmm... that gives me an idea! (See Below)
- In Changes, Thomas's eyes were completely blue. The sign of a well-fed white vampire. (It greys out as they get hungry)
- Well duh. Seriously, readers have to be as dense as Harry to miss this. Thomas practically spells it out multiple times. That said, he's still being much more White-Court-y than he used to be, and is feeding again. He may not have lost his moral compass, but he's certainly buried it under a heavy layer of rationalization.
- My theory, from below: Read what he says carefully. All he decided to do was go back to playing ball with the other Raiths. He said that he was tired of playing mortal. He specifically stated he wasn't going to kill anyone, and clearly kept his scorn of vampires. Yes, he attacked Molly, but he'd just been brutally tortured. He was in a Hunger-Frenzy. During Changes, he's had the time to cool down. Thus, he's back to normal, if still hanging with the family.
- I think he wanted to go full on White Court at the end of Turn Coat, but his love of Justine gave him an anchor to his more human side. For a while after the skinwalker played with him, he was letting his predator out to play, until the end of Changes, where he went into full depression over Harry's getting shot. Then, Justine figured out how to let him feed exclusively off her again. After that, he's not lying to himself about what he is anymore, or really feeling any more shame over being White Court.
- Thomas's remark to Harry about Justine becoming a "dietirian" confirms that he is feeding off other people again, just with her approval and non-fatally.
- Cat Sith got possessed during the book, though, and there wasn't much time between when he was incommunicado due to being in the process of conversion and when he died.
- Moreover, we don't yet know how Nemesis gets into its victims. Not saying it's not possible it might be transmitted via indebtedness, just that it's a bit premature to make assumptions about when, how, or who it can get ahold of.
- We didn't really see much of Thomas in Skin Game, did we?
- We find out near the end of Changes that Harry's mother - Margaret LeFay - was McCoy's daughter and, therefore, Harry is McCoy's grandson. When McCoy confirms this, he tells Harry about how at some point in the past Margaret came to him along with Lord Raith of the White Court, so he obviously knew about their relationship. Odds are that if he knows THAT much and knew that Harry was his grandson this whole time, he probably kept tabs on any other children that were born of his line.
- McCoy is also clever enough to have put two and two together as to what it would take for someone as naturally distrustful as Harry to partner up with a White Court vampire on a regular basis.
- He definitely acts like he doesn't know in Turn Coat, but then again it's not like he hasn't lied to Harry before. Word of Jim says that Harry doesn't know either way, and if McCoy did know, it would be "very bad" for Thomas. On a related note, who else knows about Harry and Thomas? Remember that Luccio found out while she was under the influence of the Black Council. It might have gotten back to anyone without her even knowing.
- Jossed as of prior to Peace Talks. Harry had to tell him, and he... didn't take it well.
- Might explain why Harry's met every queen besides Titania...
- Cold Days. He meets Titania.
- Nope. Jim said that Harry's maternal Grandmother was a plain old vanilla mortal.
- Jim said that Harry's grandmother was a plain old vanilla mortal; he didn't specify whether paternal or maternal.
- Where did his nonhuman heritage came from, then? Kincaid says that he's as human as Harry, and Kincaid is definitely part nonhuman.
- Yeah, either Jim's got his facts mixed up, or he's lying. That would explain why Mab wants him so badly. What better way to stick it to your mortal nemesis than getting one of her descendants to be your right hand man? Totally something Mab would do.
- Or Kincaid was lying. Why would Kincaid tell Dresden the truth? The truth of Kincaid's lineage could easily lead to finding a weakness of Kincaid's, so if anything Kincaid's going to take every opportunity to insist he's just a plain old human.
- Or maybe his nonhuman heritage comes from his father's side somehow. Alternately, his maternal grandfather might not be full human either.
- Kincaid didn't know enough about Harry's background to expect McCoy to turn up as wheelman in Blood Rites, so how could he know if Harry has nonhuman ancestry? Or even care enough to find out? Kincaid's a cool calculating mercenary; so long as he gets paid, he has no motive to pry into his clients' family history, and Harry wasn't even a client yet when he said that.
- Why is no one speculating that Ebenezar isn't fully human? Even if Harry's maternal grandmother as Sidhe is Jossed, that doesn't mean there's no fae magic on that side of the family. Suppose that a changeling who has not yet chosen has a child with a mortal - will the resulting child be a changeling as well? If yes, then everything can still work out.
- Jim's exact words were "Well, she was a mortal. That's about it." Perhaps you recall Mab's words at the end of Cold Days? "I was mortal once, you know."
- She was not, however, mortal in Ebenezar's lifetime. She and Titania took up their offices as Queens centuries before McCoy was born.
- In Cold Days Harry meets Titania, and if he has any Summer heritage whatsoever, she doesn't acknowledge it.
- 1. Harry has never met Titania, nor seen her, nor has any character described her to him
- 2. Margaret has serious connections with the Fae; being a high-ranking changeling could explain her connections to them
- 3. Margaret is stated to have a different morality system than most human wizard; the Sidhe are Blue and Orange Morality
- 4. Ebenezar never mentions Margaret's mother, ever
- Yeah, but Word of God is she's a vanilla mortal.
- Remember now, Molly and Mab both were explicitly mortals before taking up their mantles, if not necessarily vanilla.
- Yeah, but Word of God is she's a vanilla mortal.
- 5. Maeve, Mab, and the Fae in general seem to take an unusual amount of interest in Harry; if Mab (and possibly Maeve) knows, they could want him as a chesspiece, and the other Fae could be interested by his odd aura
- 6. Harry has an unusual affinity for force, fire, and finding things—all stated to be Summer's things
- 7. Harry is passionate about, basically, everything—a 'Summer' trait
- 8. Harry found himself empathizing with and completely understanding Aurora, to the point where he could predict how she'd react to his attacks; if they were more alike, then they could be related
- 9. Kincaid's 'human as you are' line, which leads to the next WMG.
- As of Cold Days, Titania has met Harry and given no indication they're related, though theoretically she might just not want to acknowledge her daughter's killer as kin.
- Symmetry is a strong thematic element with the Sidhe. It's mentioned in Cold Days that Harry being tasked to kill Maeve is a sick form of symmetry, considering he took out Aurora. If you consider that symmetry in greater scope, assuming that Mother Summer and Mother Winter are indeed different aspects of the same being, then that being had two daughters. It's known that Mab had two daughters, and the need for balance between the two courts would necessitate the idea that Titania had two daughters as well. If you then consider that, Harry kills Aurora at the end of Summer Knight, it is thematically appropriate that, if Titania is indeed the mother of Margaret 'Le Fay', Harry technically killed her as well, in childbirth.
- Except it was Lord Raith whose entropy curse actually killed Margaret. If the White King had caused the death of Titania's own daughter, wouldn't she have done something to get revenge on him, years ago? Like, say, tell Ebenezar that Raith's protection is the work of an Outsider, so he could ask Rashid for help in bypassing it and/or use the Blackstaff's Seventh-Law exemption to break Raith's link to He Who Walks Behind?
- It is also possible that Ebenezar and Titania met up and conceived their child prior to Titania becoming the Summer Queen. It's not stated how old Margaret Le Fay is, but that she did spend a good deal of time in the Nevernever. Several times, events in the timeline have been affected by time-dilation while Harry is in the Nevernever, such as Harry and company take back Molly from Arctis Tor, where a full day passes in the human world, and when Harry and Susan escape the FBI HQ into the Erlking's court, where a few hours pass. It seems reasonable to state that, if Ebenezar is a fairly old wizard, he could have had a child with Titania, and considering her skill at traversing the Nevernever, she could spend a good deal of time with her mother as well, taking the name 'Le Fay' as a nod to her heritage.
- Titania has almost certainly been a Queen for over a thousand years; she and Mab last spoke at Hastings.
- McCoy's been the Blackstaff for centuries; he's got plenty of practice at fucking with people's heads
- McCoy is the only authority figure Harry seems even mildly obedient to
- I somehow doubt it's normal for wizards to have conversations with their subconscious
- It could partially explain why Harry is so angry at Luccio when she stops contacting him; she got cured, he didn't
- Harry is never comfortable around magic-users unless he's more powerful or dominant.
- What about Listens-to-Wind? He's pretty comfortable around him.
- Or maybe she or Harry Carpenter will grow up to marry Will and Georgia's kid, whose gender is unstated as of Cold Days.
- Skin Game indicates that Baby Borden is a girl.
- Olive, as a reference to her wooden home and Athena.
- 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 Heroic Sacrifice. Plus, an ordinary human name will help the new spirit develop a more human-like personality ... and it'll give Harry an excuse to make a bad Pig Latin joke.
- Or maybe 'Shiela' for her mother. For now I'm just calling her 'Little Lash' which admittedly sounds kind of S&M.
- Surnames that share a name with a city usually belong to families from that city, meaning that Harry Dresden's ancestors most likely came from Dresden, Germany. While he got his magic from his mother's side, he got his affinity for fire in particular from his paternal ancestors having survived a firebombing.
- Sam- Harry. The real hero of the story, who will go to the ends of the earth to help his friends and never give up no matter how much crap the universe throws his way. And while
- Legolas- Thomas, due to prettiness.
- Gimli- Mouse. Shortest, stoutest and hairiest.
- Gandalf- Lea. An ancient, powerfully magical being who may look human, but isn't.
- Aragorn- Almost certainly Sanya. He's a warrior of the forces of good, wielding a sword that's prone to bursting into brilliant light in battle, a king without a kingdomnote .
- Boromir- Almost certainly Martin. He betrays the group out of good intentions and dies to further the cause.
- Susan is Frodo. She's in hip deep bearing a heavy burden which could consume her if she slips up, rather than just along for the ride at first, like Merry and Pippin were. Harry is her Sam, and she is the most damaged from her experience. And like Sam unable to relieve Frodo of the Ring but able to support him, Harry supports Susan and tried to give her all the help he can. Murph is Merry if only for the Nazgûl/Lord Of Outer Night comparison.
- That leaves Pippin for Molly. As she's the youngest and least experienced, that makes perfect sense.
- Especially considering that both she and Pippin got themselves into trouble by messing with mental magic, she by using it to "fix" her friends and examine Luccio's mind, and him, by snooping at the Palantir.
- I'd put down Susan and Murph as Pippin and Merry, respectively. Both relatively young and inexperienced in the beginning, but who come into their own as fighters against evil, and act against it independently of the main plot. That leaves Molly, a young persom who comes into a great and terrible power through inheritance, and must struggle against it, to not give it control over her very being, as Frodo. Hmmm...
- But the "Fellowship" revolves around the current crisis, not overall, and Molly isn't the central character involved. Now, which of them is forever changed by the resolution of the crisis, and unable to rejoin the world with the others? Right, Susan. Going by this interpretation, it might mean that Martin is in fact Gollum, but that raises the question of who's Boromir?
- Martin was assigned Boromir in the book. And Gollum isn't even a member of the Fellowship.
- Gollum wasn't a member of the Fellowship, no. But he was following the Fellowship fairly closely, or at least Frodo and Sam, for nearly the whole journey—and of all of Dresden's fellowship, who's the only one who he doesn't really know personally? Also, it was Gollum (Martin) giving information to Sauron (the Red Court) that sets off the events of the book, and Gollum's (Martin's) last-minute betrayal that lets the good guys win...by way of Frodo (Susan) killing Gollum (Martin).
- Or maybe Ebenezar is Gollum. He wasn't part of the original party, he's older than anyone in the group except Lea/Gandalf, he started out working at cross-purposes to Harry when he initially warned him not to attempt a rescue, and he shows up at the end to become a Spanner in the Works for the bad guys. Plus, we don't yet know how much of a corrupting effect his use of the Blackstaff and/or of black magic may have had on him.
- Murphy is Aragorn. Think about it. She has a magical sword but doesn't feel ready to use it- kind of like Aragorn's blade that needs to be reforged. Being chosen by the Sword but not taking it up (yet) is similar to Aragorn being the true king but not being crowned until the third volume. She also has many of the heroic qualities that Aragorn posseses. Have any more doubts? Read when she kicks major ass in Changes.
- Except Murphy's also someone who's had to struggle for status as a cop, despite being small and female. Merry's a better choice for her, as he and Eowyn had to struggle for their chance to fight on the battlefield, despite one being small and the other, female.
- Of course, let's not forget that there was another member of the group all along, whom only Harry knew was there until they actually got to the battle-site. So how does Bob fit into the Fellowship scheme? What was he, the pony?
- Considering how Kemmler owned Bob in the past, how both the White Council and Mab want him destroyed, and how his hidden evil side's nearly killed Harry several times now, possibly Bob was the Ring...
- That leaves Pippin for Molly. As she's the youngest and least experienced, that makes perfect sense.
- Murphy is practically confirmed as Batman.
- I'd place Harry as Superman. The whole team depends on him and his powerful and versatile skillset. They are all terrified of him going to the dark side.
- Mortimer Lindqust as Aquaman. Often times made fun of but just as powerful as Superman in his area of expertise.
- Butters is the Flash. The nerdy but brilliant scientist of the group, who gets powers to become a fully fledged badass in his own right.
- Except that they have sex as well.
- Good lord, people, the Arthurian imagery and associations in this series are burning holes in my retinas. Let me explain:
- Harry is Merlin. He's the strongest wizard of his generation. He's implied to be not entirely human (in the Arthurian mythos, Merlin's daddy was a demon). It is strongly implied Harry is decended from the first Merlin (McCoy's journals and their trend of training their descendants).
- Therefore, Demonreach is Harry's Avalon. A somewhat scary prospect.
- Per Cold Days Deamonreach may be Avlon.
- As above, Murphy is Arthur.
- Molly is Nimue. Merlin was her teacher, she had a epic thing for him - in some tellings it's mutual. Given that Molly has been slowly sliding down the slippery slope, this could be a very Bad Thing.
- Ramirez is Galahad. Virgin. Need I say more?
- You forgot Margaret Le Fay. Also, more obscurely, Arthur has siblings. One of them is his half-sister Elaine. These two reasons are part of why I think that Harry is more of an Arthur than a Merlin.
- Le Fay was probably a name she just took up. Her real full name is Margaret McCoy.
- Elaine is Morgan le Fay. She's Harry's opposite number, hangs out with fairies, and in Summer Knight, she put him in a tree.
- Harry is Merlin. He's the strongest wizard of his generation. He's implied to be not entirely human (in the Arthurian mythos, Merlin's daddy was a demon). It is strongly implied Harry is decended from the first Merlin (McCoy's journals and their trend of training their descendants).
- I've always figured Harry, and Marcone made a better Merlin and Arthur team. Marcone has a better medieval ruler vibe to him. That would put Murphy in solid Nimue territory which let's face it Murph is totally Harry's apprentice in monster hunting.
- In the absolute first Dresden story, "A Restoration of Faith", Dresden tracks down a runaway, only to find that his clients decided to declare their runaway daughter to have been kidnapped - with the investigators they hired described as the kidnappers - so they don't have to pay up. At the end of the story, Dresden and his then-employer leave a then-Officer Murphy with an unimpeachable witness to their innocence in the Faith Astor kidnapping - Faith Astor herself. The embarrassment Karrin caused the very wealthy and influential Astor family when she brought in proof that they deliberately filed false felony charges against two men under their employ (Which is a serious crime in and of itself) must have rankled, and eventually they decided to put some of their money and influence into getting rid of the person they blamed for their self-inflicted scandal.
- Murphy was a beat cop in "Restoration of Faith", not yet a detective let alone a lieutenant. If the Astors had succeeded in sabotaging her career in retaliation, why would she ever have been promoted above patrol in the first place?
- In the short story "Day Off," when Harry turns on his Sight, he says that Mister doesn't look any different than normal. No magical aura, nothing. Perhaps he is some sort of anti-magic creature.
- Relevant quote:I opened my eyes and immediately saw the thick bands of power that I'd laid into the very walls of my apartment when I'd built up its magical defenses. Further layers of power surrounded my lab in a second shell of insulating magic, beneath my feet. From his perch atop one of my bookshelves, Mister, the cat, appeared exactly as he always did, evidently beyond the reach of such petty concerns as the mere forces that created the universe, though my dog, Mouse, was surrounded by a calm, steady aurora of silver and blue light.
- We've never seen Harry use his Sight on other ordinary animals before, so there's no telling whether Mister's lack of a distinct aura is typical of mundane animals or not.
- Relevant quote:
- I don't think Mister is an anti-magic creature. Rather, I think that his magical aura is akin to Adam's aura from Good Omens. To wit: You can't see his aura for the same reason you can't see England from Trafalgar Square.
- When someone asked Jim on the forums whether Mister makes it to book 13, his reply was:
- Mister is far too cool. We haven't really run into anything that could kill Mister at this point.
- If you take it at face value, then considering some of the dangerous things that have appeared so far (He Who Walks Behind, Mab, the Erkling, the Archive, Cowl, the Merlin, Ferrovax, Nicodemus, the Red King, the Skinwalker, Mother Summer and Mother Winter), Mister has to be some kind of crazy powerful cat.
- Ghost Story spoilers: There's definitely something in this. Mister is able to interact normally with ghost Harry, feeling perfectly solid and strokable to Harry's incorporeal hands.
- Well, the explanation given there is that that's just a cat thing, rather than Mister in particular.
- Seeing and interacting with ghosts is a cat thing. Pumping thirty pounds of running momentum into a ghost and coming to a dead stop? More of a grey area, and probably not a normal cat thing.
- Even if Mister is anything other than a very large tomcat, Mouse doesn't seem to be aware of that. He rushes to defend the cat from an out-of-control werewolf without hesitation in "Day Off", even though doing so provokes even more trouble when the other werewolf tries to defend her companion from him. Not the sort of thing that Mouse, who's so often the Only Sane Dog of the household, would want to do if he thought Mister could defend himself.
- However, Mouse has shown a general wish to protect everybody. Even if the only way to do so is by putting himself at risk in their stead(I.e. taking a bullet for a certain apprentice). He certainly knew that the werewolves were generally friendly, kind people. It wouldn't be out of character for him to put himself at risk of a few bites rather than letting the friendly Alphas get immolated or vaporized or devoured by a wrathful Mister. Besides, Mouse and Mister probably set the whole thing up so Luccio would buy the "wacky hi-jinks" excuse and hopefully help their pet wizard get some.
- Given his most notable trait, he's likely a bakeneko.
- Or it's the other way around: Malks are so powerful because they're Mister's descendants. Mister will go back in time when Harry breaks the no-time-travel law, and wind up siring the entire race of malks.
- Who says time travel is necessary for Mister to be the progenitor of the Malks? Many powerful Fae are clinically immortal and some are shapechangers. Harry could be Mister's pet human, the latest one in a long line. It also makes him a candidate for the "non-human" part of Harry's possible ancestry. Mister is taking his leisure from a possibly distant descendant which he regards as his right.
- Mister was a kitten when Harry found him. Too young to have sired anything, much less an entire race of fey felines. Plus, you'd think Harry would've noticed a long time ago if his cat got burned by contact with ferrous metals.
- Mister is a Changeling, but being part cat intead of part human means he gets to cheat. Cats don't do rules.
- No, Mister will never die because he is a cat. Cats, however warm and fluffy, are the ultimate Slytherin:they will not stick around to fight, they will never make a Heroic Sacrifice, they will run to save their own skins, then come back when the battle's over to comfort the wounded by distracting them from their pain with cries for food.
- Mister doesn't need to be powerful to have Plot Armor, he just needs to be the living embodiment of Rule of Cool. Which Butcher says he is, so he's not going to die.
- So... an upper-level god once thought it appropriate to use Harry's dress robe as a litter box?
- Yes. Because it knew Harry had a Council meeting coming up and knew it would be fucking funny to see him go in the flannel.
- In Discworld, Carrot's sword is noted as being one of the very few things on the Disc that contains no magic whatsoever, which means that it's a whole lot more real than anything else on the Disc as well. Considering that Mister looks exactly the same when viewed with the Sight as he does when viewed mundanely, and that Butcher has stated that "we haven't seen anything that could kill Mister", it seems quite possible that the same is true of him.
- We haven't seen Harry look at any other non-magical animals with his Sight yet, so we don't know if looking exactly the same to the Sight is unusual or if it's just normal for mundane animals.
- Ferrovax is a creature that (according to Word of God) can throw down at Mab's level. And he is a natural shapeshifter. And he seems to have a natural talent for True Names (which, as Mister he would have heard Harry say). So he takes the form of a cat, and uses his vast power and Harry's name to make the disguise stick even under the Sight. Sure, Ferrovax seems antagonist when he first appears, but that was just to guard his cover.
- Harry has HWWB's shadow on him, which is how HWWB tracks and marks his prey - we learn this back in Storm Front... don't you think its a bit serendipitous that Butters and Bob manage to find Harry in Ghost Story?
- Bob is a creature of the Nevernever....who is completely and utterly helpful; and understands human priorities. (He'll comment on not understanding human motives, but he's never hurt Harry in a Blue-and-Orange Morality way). He's.....too good to be true.
- In Cold Days, Demonreach meets Bob, and doesn't seem to sense anything malignant or Outsider-ish about him. Considering Demonreach is a prison for Eldritch Abomination godlings, you'd think it would at least display some suspicion about having a chunk of one visit the island.
- In Skin Game, we learn how spirits of intellect can be created, and it's got nothing to do with Outsiders.
- Jossed repeatedly by Word of God.
- As of Cold Days, Molly probably won't have any need for lasers, because as Winter Lady she'll have sufficient power to fight in Harry's league.
- Assuming that that's the only way for a spirit of intellect to be created. There could be other, unknown ones.
- Presumably the human one would be Etienne the Enchanter. But I agree with the previous tab; we don't know enough about intellect spirits to assume his birth was necessarily like Bonnie's.
- The Knights are heavily implied to all be descendants of kings. Who better for a Jewish Knight?
- Jesus?
- Plus, he had like a dozen wives and concubines, and his son had like a thousand wives and concubines, and that was thousands of years ago.
- Though, with that logic, there probably are very few people who can't find lineage to some form of royalty.
- I liked Solomon for his ancestor, because he's a geek. Which by extension would also make him a descendant of Solomon's father, David. Butters does like his music.
- In theory, every Jew is a descendant of Abraham. Solomon and David are descendants of Abraham so.......
- "Butters" is a Scottish name, not Jewish. Waldo's royal blood doesn't have to date back to biblical times; he could easily have royal ancestry from Fife or Perthshire where the name originates.
- Mouse is a Foo Dog. Foo Dogs traditionally gain their power from their temple's threshold, but Mouse cheats. If the Carpenter's threshold was enough to let him go toe to toe with a Denarian, just imagine what he could do with the threshold for the entire universe. Makes you wonder if Harry would be redundant at that point.
- In Cold Days, when Harry talks to Titania she explicitly calls Mab her 'sister'. Not only that, but Maeve refers to Aurora as her cousin. This cannot this be possible if Mother Winter is mother to Mab, but not Titania. (And vise versa) And they can't both be the biological mothers to both Queens, if they are separate.
- The Mothers could be sisters, then the Queens would be cousins, and the Ladies second cousins at best. But it would work if the Mothers were somehow the same being.
- Or if there was a cross-Court shift in the line of succession, same as how Mab's daughter Sarissa wound up being the new Summer Lady.
- When Mother Summer talks about the names Harry used to summon Mother Winter she says "But you've only guessed one of her masks - not our most powerful name." Like many Tropers have guessed, the most likely name for both of them at this point seems to be Fate.
- At the end of Cold Days, Mab admits that she herself was mortal once. This suggests that Mab ascended to her position from that of Winter Lady, rather than being born to it as Mother Winter's child, and that the family structure of the Queens in general is more metaphorical than literal.
- Given the revelations that A) that all fae are changelings (at least in one interpretation of what was said) and that B) there weren't always fae courts (once upon a time, some other group(s) were in charge of holding the line against the Outsiders) it follows that the Mother is a quite literal title. All the fae were mortal once, so Mab's 'revelation' doesn't really say anything either way.
- At the end of Cold Days, Mab admits that she herself was mortal once. This suggests that Mab ascended to her position from that of Winter Lady, rather than being born to it as Mother Winter's child, and that the family structure of the Queens in general is more metaphorical than literal.
- Maybe not all. Mother Winter at least is older than time. And we know life was forced to restart few times because of Faeir's wars. Their name could be Danu, Don, Dea Matrona, Modron, Mother Nature and Baba-Yaga.
- Well, iron teeth, baby-eating, limpness and such have perfect match with Baba-Yaga.
- Could it also be possible that the mothers' most powerful name is YHWH?
- The fact that Vaddergung and Kringle share a body has no legal or metaphysical bearing on the fact that they are two people. It's likely that this works in reverse as well, with the Mothers being one person in two bodies.
Further fuel to this fire is something that everyone knows, but no one thinks about. Mab and Titania aren't cousins. They're sisters. They were born of the same mother, which can't possibly be true if Mother Winter and Mother Summer are two separate beings.
- It would be possible for Mother Summer and Mother Winter to each call their respective under-Queen "daughter" if the Mothers share the lesser faeries' shapechanging powers, and one temporarily became male. If Skuld is one of Mother Winter's alter-egos, then she's a part of Norse mythology, which already has a precedent for Gender Bender reproduction in Loki's birthing of Sleipnir.
And to tie in with Baba Yaga theory, Baba Yaga was made up of 3 sisters, rules nature, wisdom, fate, magic-faery like, death, afterlife, otherworld-Winter, life, households and rebirth-Summer. There are 3 riders-day,Sun and Night. One for each Mother, symbolising their aligment ( original MS maybe prefered light over fire aspect), and in some 2, sky and Earth-riders for positions
- Same as above. They are at turns Kali, Venus, Ishtar/Ereshkigal. Summer Mother is the lifegiver, and Winter Mother is the lifetaker.
- (Original poster here.) Not quite [[Jossed]] by the latest book. But this theory and Skin Game lead to a better one:
- It is implied that Hecate and Hades are friendly, as are Mab and Hades (the latter pair are at least on scheming terms, anyways).
- One of the members of Nick's crew (Valmont, I think) thought the twin statues of the Queens WAS Hecate, who is known for being a goddess of three aspects.
- It stands to reason that if the statues are both Hecate AND the queens, then the three queens of each court form a triad, a three-faced entity.
- Back to the theory that Mother Winter and Mother Summer are the same entity. If so, then the two TRIADS are two halves of the same entity.
- Jossed by Skin Game, as Mab sets up a much worse punishment for Nicodemus than merely killing him. Don't screw with Mab, her Knight, or her Accords, Denarian dickheads...
- Though the "She cannot allow Nicodemus to screw with her and get away with it" bit is confirmed.
- Doesn't mean she still won't get around to ordering Harry to assassinate him at some point. Mab's pretty close to omniscient, but she doesn't know everything. Maybe she thinks Nicodemus can't be killed. Remember, Harry discovers on his own the fact that the noose itself is dangerous.
- Doubt it, though-even with everything he lost in Skin Game, he's still personally dangerous enough that she probably wouldn't want Harry to go after him. After all, if they went to the mat, there's no guarantee that it would be Harry who walked away.
- Probably for his child. After all, sleeping with him is the first thing she did, and Maeve has been getting a bit uppity. Hello New Winter Lady.
- Jossed by Cold Days. Mab already had a candidate for new Winter Lady available in Sarissa, Maeve's still-mortal twin sister. And later, a backup candidate trained by Lea: Molly.
- If by "before he'd really started getting more powerful", you mean that he had managed to sneak through an army, disable several of Summer's strongest warriors and then kill a fairy Lady, the first time anyone had managed that in centuries, then yeah. He was weak enough to single-handedly devastate Mab's archrivals at that point. It's not like that's one of the main skills she'd want in her Knight. There must be another reason for her to chase him.
- It's been stated that the Knights tend to not last that long. Consider what Harry's been through. Victor Sells, werewolves, the Nightmare, the Summer Lady, Nicodemus (TWICE), do you really need me to re-list the big bads? Harry can beat opponents way out of his weight class. And that's when Harry was running off good old Human-level magic. Add to the damn near Super Saiyan strength of the Winter Knight? You've got yourself a One-Man Army, right under Mab's personal control. As of Changes, she's holding the reigns on one of the most potent destructive weapons in the Dresdenverse, and what she has said (via Lea) flat out states that she's going to flick those reigns, point her finger, and yell "giddy up."
- That, and Harry seemingly has an endless supply of sheer dumb luck, and Mab wants to capitalize.
- Except that Harry isn't the type to respect authority and the chain of command. Especially given Uriel's Seven Words.
- We know that Harry has power over Outsiders which, while unspecified, required a large number of factors to coincide (requiring a presumably equivalent number of Gambit Roulettes by his mother) to acquire. Margaret 'Le Fey' Dresden hung out with the fairy courts, Maab learned what she was up to, and wanted to capitalize on someone else's hard work.
- It's been stated that the Knights tend to not last that long. Consider what Harry's been through. Victor Sells, werewolves, the Nightmare, the Summer Lady, Nicodemus (TWICE), do you really need me to re-list the big bads? Harry can beat opponents way out of his weight class. And that's when Harry was running off good old Human-level magic. Add to the damn near Super Saiyan strength of the Winter Knight? You've got yourself a One-Man Army, right under Mab's personal control. As of Changes, she's holding the reigns on one of the most potent destructive weapons in the Dresdenverse, and what she has said (via Lea) flat out states that she's going to flick those reigns, point her finger, and yell "giddy up."
- Cold Days shows that Winter provides the bulk of the troops that man the Outer Gates and protect reality from Outsiders. Though it's not outright stated, Harry's ability to have power over and against Outsiders therefore looks like the primary reason Mab would want him on her side.
- Add to that, Harry refuses to bow to Mab, giving her two threats to her life in a matter of minutes. Mab's response? Happy with Harry's actions. She wants a Knight who thinks for himself and would not follow one side blindly. and, if need be, kill her if she became infected with Nemesis.
- Possible, although one would think Andersen's account of "The Snow Queen" would be a lot more derisive towards the title character if Titania had anything to do with his works.
So, who fits the bill? Titania. Summer has been giving Harry cleaning service in the form of brownies for years. They're perfectly positioned to spy on him and on whatever he is doing in his basement. Anyone who could order them around - like, oh, a Faerie Queen - would have all the information she'd ever need on Harry, his projects and everything else he's doing. Titania is also one of the few people who just might have the metaphysical oomph to cross over a threshold(even though it's a weak one, it's still a threshold) and perform magic. Extremely complex magic is likely not a big deal for her - it would not be a problem for her to perform within minutes or hours something that took Harry months to do.
Because, really, what do we know about Titania's opinion on Harry? We only have guesses and enigmatic statements at best. For all we know, she could be an ally.
- I had always assumed it was Uriel that did it.
- Huh, I had always assumed it was Lashiel, or at least that she had somehow shielded Harry from it going kablooie.
- Uriel? Maybe. However, remember that at the time, Harry was still Denarian-infected. For all Uriel knew, Harry could turn into a monster that time next month. After all, this is not Michael we're talking about, it's Harry. Lasciel seems unlikely as well. Wouldn't she basically go - "You know, I saved your life, see how helpful I am? Now be a nice guy and take the coin"? Why would she hide the fact that she saved his life when she was trying to tempt him?
If you mean that the real Lasciel did it, not the shadow-Lasciel then wouldn't Lash at least offer a suggestion "You know, it might've been my greater self that saved you"? - On further thought, a good candidate might just be good ol' Leanansidhe. She *is* the only one with access to the Nevernever side of his apartment, after all. However, if it is her, she missed a good moment to crow about it when she was talking to him about the defenses she had put in place.
- That's practically impossible. Lea was imprisoned in Arctis Tor when Little Chicago was fixed. There's a possibility that it was Mab who fixed it, because Mab had taken on Lea's duties due to imprisoning her.
- Uriel? Maybe. However, remember that at the time, Harry was still Denarian-infected. For all Uriel knew, Harry could turn into a monster that time next month. After all, this is not Michael we're talking about, it's Harry. Lasciel seems unlikely as well. Wouldn't she basically go - "You know, I saved your life, see how helpful I am? Now be a nice guy and take the coin"? Why would she hide the fact that she saved his life when she was trying to tempt him?
- Huh, I had always assumed it was Lashiel, or at least that she had somehow shielded Harry from it going kablooie.
- Sidhe influence is doubtful. I'd always thought Thomas, but Lash is a (remote) possibility.
- Thomas is a self-proclaimed hack when it comes to magic. He probably couldn't do something as complex as fixing Little Chicago.
- My guess is either Ebenezar or a time traveling Harry.
- May be Uriel, may be not, but the fact is an Angel of some kind is most likely if only because Harry was using Little Chicago at the time to help the Carpenters, putting him in to Deus' personal ex Machina that he keeps on hand for Michael.
- Cold Days makes it plain Titania isn't about to do Harry any favors, even though she no longer seems to actively want him dead (she pretty much proved she could kill him with minimal effort, but didn't go through with it).
- Maybe the brownies who clean Harry's apartment fixed it just because it needed it, without any specific orders from Titania. Keeping things tidy and in good repair is their job, after all.
- Word of God said here says that Maeve's and Sarissa's father was a gifted Austrian composer who died young.
- That would make Sarissa REALLY old. She's a changeling, not a full Sidhe. She's not immortal; she does age.
- She's also made a deal with Mab to stall her Choosing. Maeve mentioned that she was a trashy soap actress, and Sarissa flat out said it was "Before Harry's time." She's also Maeve's *twin* Making them the same age. I would say Maeve and Sarissa are at *least* a couple hundred years old.
- Why assume that Butcher was talking about an historically famous Austrian composer? For all we know, he could have been a 1930s Big Band leader, hence Maeve's choice of dance club motif during her first appearance in the series.
- Wait... gifted Austrian composer... died young... and Fairies are known to grant gifts to mortals in exchange for lifespan... Sounds like Mozart...
- Probably Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Schubert was an extremely prolific composer who died at 31. The fact he composed Der Erlkönig (the Erlking) makes him a likely suspect and drawing parallels between his hypothetical relationship with Mab and his song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey) would make your head spin.
- Well, Maeve did want Harry's child in Summer Knight. Maybe it was for more reasons than to support the cliche?
- Cold Days gives no indication that Mab is pregnant or was recently, though being Mab she probably could have concealed that if she really wanted to.
- Well, crap. I wrote something similar on the Plot WMG without realizing this one was here. Now I can't claim credit for an original conspiracy theory.
- Bear in mind, she had just absorbed Susan's memories and love for Harry; very possibly, it was that. She may have been testing whether or not Susan and Harry had True Love.
- Also, that athame drove the Leanansidhe insane, and is doing the same to Mab who thought (wrongly) that she could control it.
- Maybe it's like the 30 Denarii, the question is what/who is inside it? While the nickleheads can dominate a mortal, the Leanansidhe and Mab are among the strongest willed beings in the books to date. Maybe it's Satan inside a reworked spear, maybe once held by a soldier by the name of Longinus.
- A spearhead could be reworked into a dagger pretty easily. Furthermore it would tie into the whole Apocalyptic Trilogy Ending Butcher has planned. Ol' Scratch was bound to show up sooner or later.
- Maybe it's like the 30 Denarii, the question is what/who is inside it? While the nickleheads can dominate a mortal, the Leanansidhe and Mab are among the strongest willed beings in the books to date. Maybe it's Satan inside a reworked spear, maybe once held by a soldier by the name of Longinus.
- Alternatively, Lea's on the outs because she thought the Antheme would give her enough power to usurp Mab, and she was crazy for the same reason that every other winterfae went crazy, Harry used Summer Fire in the heart of winter, which being the inherent opposite power drove the winterfae into a frenzy, Lea included. Given that this all unfolded in the wake of Tessa and the Black Council attacking Arcis Tor, it's highly possible that Lea is/was either a member or agent of the Black Council and the whole thing was one large coup attempt.
- As of Changes, Lea is back in favor. She is out from under the mountain of ice and Mab refers to Lea as her handmaiden.
- Or as the books say, Lea is on the outs because she thought the Antheme gave her enough power to face That Which Stalks Us All. Which given it's name is probably an Outsider sealed away in the Never Never. Needless to say it didn't work and Mab had to smack Lea down hard. Hence why Mab was curing Lea as opposed to punishing her.
- "That Which Stalks Us All", to me it seems a very pretty way to refer to Death, or an Outsider claiming a similar title? "He Who Walks Behind" also carries similar connotations, maybe Lea all this time was trying to kill yet another thing gunning for Harry's head?
- For the record, nobody said "That Which Stalks Us All", it was simply "that which stalks us all". The phrase wasn't capitalized, so was not a title.
- In Cold Days, it's revealed that Lea had been infected by Nemesis, which turned her against Mab. Mab figured it out, and on some level Lea was resisting, which made her curable, so Mab froze her up as a means to drain Nemesis out of her. In Proven Guilty she was only halfway cured, hence her being rather bipolar when Harry talks to her. By the later books, she's back to normal, and thus is back to being Mab's handmaiden and second-in-command.
- From Turn Coat:Harry: "It's a mode of existence for a very few rare and powerful supernatural beings—angels have it. I'm willing to bet old Mother Winter and Mother Summer have it. For beings with intellectus, all reality exists in one piece, one place, one moment, and they can look at the whole thing. They don't seek or acquire knowledge. They just know things."Morgan: "A being with intellectus does not understand, for example, how to derive a complex calculus equation—because it doesn't need the process. If you showed him a problem and an equation, he would simply understand it and skip straight to the answer without need to think through the logical stages of solving the problem."
- And then in Changes:"Toot," I said. "How is it that you speak Russian?"He blinked at me. "Harry," he said, as if the question made no sense at all, "you just speak it, don't you. I mean, come on."
Also, Cold Days has Toot say something very similar to that effect concerning Winter Law.
After all this, this Troper is now convinced that Toot Toot has some form of intellectus. Which may explain his pull over the other Little Folk, up to being defacto leader of all in the Chicago area.
- Toot-toot didn't have an special influence until Harry made him the go-to guy for access to pizza, however. It's more likely that all fae, or at least all dewdrop faeries, have an innate language-translation ability and an instinctive grasp of faerie law.
- It's possible that the above is a very low-key level of Intellectus.
- Toot-toot didn't have an special influence until Harry made him the go-to guy for access to pizza, however. It's more likely that all fae, or at least all dewdrop faeries, have an innate language-translation ability and an instinctive grasp of faerie law.
- You could be mixing up cause with effect. After all, just because all the faeries Toot Toot commands like pizza, doesn't mean every faerie likes pizza.
- "Lacuna" is an actual word meaning a void or gap. Could she be named after the gap left when a child's tooth falls out?
- Moreover, the three foods she does express approval for - celery, cheese, and green tea - are all good for your teeth. Crunchy foods like celery help knock plaque off your crowns if you can't brush, cheese is rich in calcium and phosphates, and tea has antibacterial properties. She even specifies green tea, not black, which stains tooth surfaces. Not so random after all, Harry?
- Going on my love for The Gargoyles, his summer equivalent will be Puck.
- Could be that he's taken on his son's divine portfolio as well as his own, to eke out whatever dwindling supply of faith the Norse Pantheon may still receive in the form of humans' story-telling and academic interest. Alternately, "Fatherson" may be a metaphor for how he's no longer the honored and dreaded figure he once was, but a latter-day version suitable for post-medieval generations (i.e. not your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's Odin).
- It seems just as likely that Thor would have inherited the All-Father's position - being the eldest son, if illegitimate - and having carried out the same rituals as Odin, sacrificing his eye and all that.
- As for the Santa connection, don't forget that Santa's sleigh is drawn by eight reindeer. One for each of the eight winds which Sleipnir's legs represented.
- Not so wild as you might think, since this is pretty much built into Santa Claus by default. Santa Claus is derived from an amalgamation of folkloric figures, many of which come more or less directly from Odin. Still, Odin played it a little straightforward with Harry during their meeting, so its hard to imagine him as a Sidhe. (Compare Odin's demeanor with, say, the Erlking)
- Considering what we've learned about the Wild Hunt and Halloween, He probably had a few really good years of trick or treating his contemporaries to gather enough power to build the Santa Mantle.
- Multi-Tasking. He's a Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie; doing a balancing act between his deity status, his Fey-lord status, and being Santa Claus.
- If he is Santa he is not the Winter King. The RPG rule book holds Santa as the leader of a Wild Court on par with the Erlking.
- See the Headscratchers page for the series. Santa is the Winter King, and leader of a Wild Court on par with the Erlking (who is the Summer King). It's complicated.
- Actually, in one of the books, the one where Harry is almost sold on Ebay, states that the Erlking is a Winter Fae. He is leading the other Winter Fae to attack Harry when Harry melts the fountain thing with Summer's Butterfly.
- That'd be Proven Guilty. And I always saw that as the Erlking either tagging along with the Winter Fae or trying to keep them from stealing his kills. Wasn't his only appearance his horn blowing, anyway?
- The Erkling and Santa Claus are the leaders of the Wyldfae, each analogous to Titania and Mab. Erkling is the Wyld Summer King and Santa is the Wyld Winter King. This information is the Word Of Jim. He explained it at either a book signing or a convention that someone recorded and I watched online.
- This has Fridge Brilliance implications, if you consider the types of minions the Erlking and Santa respectively have. The Erlking leads the goblins and packs of predatory creatures, which are rather nasty beings by Summer standards ... hence, a perfect choice to be Wyldfae, left outside Summer's formal hierarchy. With Santa, it's just the opposite: the nicer creatures of Winter hang around at the North Pole (or its Nevernever reflection) with him, staying Wyld and avoiding the political snake-pit that is Mab's Winter Court.
- Pretty much confirmed as of ''Cold Days''.
- Souls grow back, names are important, and enough time around Humans can change the unchangeable (especially if that Human is Harry Dresden). These three things we know. So what happens when a Fallen breaks off part of her soul, and sticks it into the mind of a wizard who while roguish, snarky, and generally chaotic, is still completely moral and refuses to break? Maybe that piece of soul starts to grow back, influenced by her host. She creates an illusionary presence as a potential love interest. He gives her a new name. She tutors him. She cares for him. And ultimately she sacrifices herself for him. But maybe enough of her soul had grown back for her to exist as a complete entity. If so, could not that Heroic Sacrifice have ascended her as a separate entity? Lasciel the Fallen still exists in her coin, but now so does Lash the Redeemed. And what better job/test for the new angel than to watch over the mortal she loves without revealing herself to him, or going to far in protecting him?
- In Skin Game we learn what became of Lash's psychic remains: they've merged with bits of Harry's own psyche to create a spirit of intellect.
- If Aurora had a sister, Titania would've probably arranged for her to be near the Stone Table to receive the Summer Lady's mantle instead of Lily. More likely, if one Faerie Queen has more offspring than the other, the extra child would be encouraged to choose mortality so the balance is maintained.
- We've seen that beings can hold multiple mantles. And one of them was Kringle, the Winter King, who doubled as a god associated with ice. Symmetry (Jim does love his Symmetry) dictates that the Summer King must double as a god associated with fire.
- They're both obscenely tall, armored warrior kings.
- Hades has a suspicious connection to the Fae queens.
- Both of them would have ample reason to dislike Harry, but they always seem more intrigued/amused by him than actively planning to destroy him.
- Does this mean Titania will become adorkable?
- "Christmas Eve" shows that the movie Frozen does exist in the series.
- Mab refers to him as the White God. Belobog literally means white god.
- This would be a hard sell after Skin Game. Giving up your incredible power, even temporarily, to help other people out isn't exactly "bad guy" behavior, nor is trying to protect the Carpenters when he was just a normal human, outnumbered and outgunned.
- How can Uriel exist if his Boss doesn't, though?
- Why shouldn't he? Is this theory is correct, he simply lies (or relies on some technical truth) now and then when speaking about the Boss.
- How can Uriel exist if his Boss doesn't, though?
- How this meshes with the Mantels is a bit of a puzzler, but both have a heavy emphasis on triune imagery.
- Hey, it's Wild, right? But why introduce this only in the TV show? Even moreso than Bob, there's no reason for it! Plus, they set up for Bianca's hatred for Dresden...So they were TRYING!
- But why introduce this only in the TV show? Does it really need to be asked?
- Okay, yeah. Just about Jossed: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,11473.msg494075.html#msg494075
- New assumption? Allows her to be 'ancient' while having a young actor.
- Okay, my idiocy has been uber-jossed: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,2033.msg41636.html#msg41636
- " "No, so [the Red Court} never knew it was coming. Period. We will no longer wage a war with that filth, cold, hot, or otherwise. We're going to destroy them root and branch". He lifted his chin slightly as his voice turned to frost. "We're going to exterminate them." "
- Alternately, he was preparing a Batman Gambit, with the letter from Luccio being disinformation and the order to not involve himself being a deliberate choice to push Harry to attack the Red Court (becuase he knows how Harry responds to direct commands). He knew Harry probably had a decent shot at taking out the Reds if he went in by himself, without Council support, but if he failed, his attack would both weaken the Reds and eliminate Harry from his list of problems. Then the Merlin could follow up with his own assault and wipe the Reds off the map.
- Sounds more like a Xanatos Gambit, in that Langtry wins no matter what the outcome.
- He might not have been planning Harry's specific involvement, or at least not counting on it. The curse could potentially have been triggered by any attacking force. It's possible his original plan was to reverse the directionality of the curse so it went down instead of up and trigger it with the Red King, or alternately to just grab a random relatively young vampire and wipe out the Lords of the Outer Night, the Red King, and most or all of the nobles. There's several possible ways this could have ended up playing out. He might have been planning to round up the Wardens, the Senior Council, and a bunch of assorted powerful wizards for a straightforward assault that got derailed by the disease. His preparations might have been a distraction, and he was really planning on going in with the Grey Council, taking advantage of Harry's attack. At the extreme, the entire situation in Edinburgh may have been an elaborate deception; he and Lea might have planned on her dropping the lighting gate and leading the Grey Council through from the very beginning before Harry even knew about the situation, with the Merlin unleashing a conveniently nonfatal disease to make it look like the White Council had been paralyzed and then having a number of Wardens "imprisoned" to cover for them joining the attack. I would note that Listens-To-Wind, the person most likely to counter the disease, got infected with it despite being kept away from the person who supposedly spread it, while McCoy was with her on the dais and did not get sick. Certainly plausible but also extremely convenient.
- As the Fridge page notes, he always has a plan, a backup plan, and an ace in the hole—his plan was to fight the war out to a stalemate and thus a peaceful draw, his backup plan was to exterminate them, and his ace in the hole was another hotheaded wizard who could be relied upon to act as a patsy. In this case, Harry.
- Probably most wizards do that.
- He's from England and implied to be of noble birth. Dumbledore had 4 personal names, and it's more or less a norm in such circles, so this Merlin's full name could be something like Arthur Bruce Alfred Ronald Vernon Langtry.
- We can assume that if some of his decisions were sub-optimal for how he proceeded, he was genuinely blindsided by Peabody.
- Plus, it's worth bearing in mind that the books are told from Harry, who has understandable reasons to paint the Merlin in the worst possible light.
- Which would deepen her confusion and frustration after that whole brainwashing with the killing and the hot monkey sexing thing. And it'd make "I saw you dance in Naples" a lot more interesting...
- I took the "I saw you dance in Naples," thing that way, as in yes, Luccio has played for both teams, all across the field, down the court and possibly some street hockey. "Your tastes used to run differently," indeed.
- Ditto. I was stunned that this was actually in here: it's not ambiguous, it's nearly out-and-out stated.
- Bear in mind that Luccio was a young woman in a time and place far removed from 20th Century Middle America. I don't know enough about Naples a couple centuries ago to say what it was like then, but it's possible that bisexuality (or at the very least, experimentation) was not only accepted, but expected in that time and that place.
- I took the "I saw you dance in Naples," thing that way, as in yes, Luccio has played for both teams, all across the field, down the court and possibly some street hockey. "Your tastes used to run differently," indeed.
- Result in the most pain, you say... Howsabout Mab being pregnant? Harry would have to watch his child grow up in the Winter Court, being twisted and warped every which way by dear mom, knowing he can't do diddly squat about it because it's the Queen's right. Wouldn't that rub the wrong way.
- Considering Harry's modus operandi boils down to "You're the one hurting people, I'm going to punch you in the face now even though you're a million times more powerful than me", I think he'd do more than diddly squat. Still - it'd be one way for him to escape the Winter Queen. "Let me take my kid with me and I don't drag Winter Wonderland down around your ears!"
- I have always thought that Luccio likes and cares about Harry more than she let on, so it's entirely plausible that she had his child, but did not tell him because it would be too painful for the both of them (and we all saw how she was even more determined to help him after Harry subtly told her that Maggie is his daughter in Changes.). One thing that I do not agree with you however is Luccio's supposed Old World mentality, for Lara casually mentioned in Turn Coat that Luccio played for both teams, suggesting a woman in touch with her sexuality centuries beforehand, and the fact that the Wardens are the most technologically advanced faction within the White Council.
- Probably the biggest reason to doubt this theory is that Butcher's already used that plot once, so why re-hash it?
- In addition it doesn't fit with Luccio's "no attachments" policy. Luccio's probably the kind of person to have an abortion or take those morning after pills. A relationship being used against you is one thing, a baby is ten times more dangerous and more likely to be emotionally compromising.
- Bob explicitly says he doesn't know what Merlin looked like, and used Alec Guinness as a model.
- That aside, though, there's no reason this shouldn't be true. Rashid clearly knew Demonreach's purpose, despite being the Gatekeeper rather than the warden, and presumably the Gatekeeper is granted immortality(age-wise) so he doesn't die of old age and leave the defenders up shit creek without a paddle. It does bring up the question of how he went from being Warden to Gatekeeper, though.
- Also the question of how/why someone who's seen the actual Holy Grail later saw fit to convert to Islam.
- King Arthur was in England in the 5th/6th century; Mohammed was a 6th/7th century prophet. Merlin could have run into him after the whole Camelot thing was over (especially sine he's a time traveller), and liked the cut of his jib.
- Also the question of how/why someone who's seen the actual Holy Grail later saw fit to convert to Islam.
- Or Rashid employed the same ritual Odin himself had used to acquire those precognitive powers, which required each of them to forfeit an eye at Mimir's Well as per Norse myth.
- Made exceedingly unlikely, though not completely impossible, by Cold Days. Odin, as Kringle, is involved in the battle at Demonreach, while Rashid was at the Outer Gates. The only way he could really have done both is if the Mothers inverted the time ratio between the mortal world and the Outer Gates, so Rashid could participate in the Demonreach battle and only miss a couple seconds of the Outer Gates battle. While Proven Guilty demonstrated it is under the control of the Queens, if they could do it with regularity you'd expect them to abuse it to no end, compressing the battle when there's trouble elsewhere limiting reinforcements and expanding it when everything is going smoothly. They're having far too much trouble there for that to be likely.
- Rashid's job: to keep the Outsiders' foot soldiers from invading Reality and bringing about The End of the World as We Know It(tm).
- Harry's job: to keep the Bad Things under Demonreach. Presumably, at least one of said Bad Things is a big badass of an Outsider. In fact, Demonreach as much as says there are outsiders in the prison.
- Harry and Rashid are going to team up in the future to help eachother out - this fits with Rashid's "You ARE the help" line. Harry is meant to help Rashid, and vice versa.
- Listens-to-Wind says he's the only real American ("not like the rest of you Johnny-come-latelies") but this still works if she was brought over through the triangle trade.
- Or they could have even met when he was in a beast form out in the wilderness and Listens-to-Wind used his shape shifting magic to beat him down and keep him away from mortals. Come morning, they talk.
- Other possibility... McCoy's Staff is Mother Winter's lost walking stick. Wouldn't THAT be interesting...
- The above ideas are not mutually exclusive. Mother Winter is not a nice being; her walking stick needn't be either.
- Mab, who is in charge of the Winter Court's battle at the Outer Gates, has put a piece of that mirror in Rashid's eye, allowing him to see evil. This allows him to detect Nemesis, Outsiders who have slipped past the gate, or both.
- The mirror supposedly freezes the hearts of the people it lodges itself inside of. If it did the same to eyes, it would explain why Rashid's eye is crystalline and white.
- Mab has been suggested to be involved in many of the fairy aspects of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. I contend she was also the basis for The Snow Queen.
- I decided to put this here instead of under "Crossovers" because while it crosses over with other works, it does so in a way that Jim has already sanctioned in-series.
- I figured this was pretty much a given. Even without all the factors mentioned above, adoption isn't exactly quick or easy, and Harry makes it sound like Justin just picked him up one day and left with him.
- Yeah, yeah, Jim says he's D-E-D dead, but as of Changes, he's saying the same thing about Harry. Despite the fact that Ghost Story is told from Harry's POV.
- That aside, think about it. The first time Harry meets him, he mentions that Cowl was distorting his voice somehow, and chalks it up to him being an insider in the White Council and not wanting to give himself away. But it could have just as easily been because he didn't want Harry to recognize the voice of his old mentor.
- On top of that, he knew about Bob, or the-air-and-knowledge-spirit-currently-known-as-Bob, at any rate. Not even Grevane, favored Disciple of Kemmler, knew about Bob, or at the very least never thought to use him. What's more, Cowl knew exactly how to get the spirit to teach him the Darkhallow ritual, previously thought only to be contained in the Word of Kemmler. And besides Harry and Kemmler, only one other person has ever owned Bob and known how to make use of him: Justin DuMorne, the Warden that pulled the skull from the wreckage of Kemmler's most recent lair.
- Grevane's ignorance may be an indication that he's a Small Name, Big Ego; after all, it's been decades since Kemmler himself was around to remind Grevane how little he thought of him.
- Also, we don't know who owned Bob's skull before Kemmler; it seems pretty obvious that Bob, if not the skull, has been around a lot longer than Kemmler, although the fact that he resides in a skull does, admittedly, point in the direction of it being created by someone who doesn't value human life all that highly.
- In Skin Game, we learn that spirits of intellect gestate inside someone's brain, suggesting that it's natural, not creepy, for Bob to prefer a skull as a home.
- If Michael had been with Harry when he was confronted at the end, Michael would have sat and prayed with Marcone to save the woman in a coma.
- There's also Fridge Tearjerker in this, but the fact in Small Favor Ms. Demeter is still working for Marcone, still damaged, and has transplanted what maternal feelings she has remaining, implies that the Shroud didn't work. But in Skin Game Harry grabs what is likely the real Shroud of Turin from Hades's vault. So my wild mass guess is that that will be used to wake up and heal Persephone Beckitt.
So somewhere down the line, he's going to have one hell of an Oh, Crap! moment when he realizes this precaution he's taken has backfired.
- Contrariwise, there is also the possibility of someone going to all the trouble of tracking down Marcone's birth name, using that and having an Oh, Crap! moment because it didn't work.
- Alternately, his real name is John Franklin Smith. Harry used this name as an example of how True Names are unique, back in Storm Front, and it'd appeal to Jim Butcher's fondness for dropping hints of future developments to include Marcone's real name in the same novel where the crime boss is introduced. Plus, "John" is such a common name that a John who's adopting an alias can carry over their original first name without much of a risk.
- Or Demonreach meant Harry's choices led to another fae being in his presence. The first being Mab.
- Bob is an air spirit, not a faerie. Moreover, Demonreach recognized that Bob was a memory-spirit immediately, even though Ghost Story showed that his skull can serve as a sanctuary for any sort of sunlight-fearing spirit.
- Or Demonreach meant Harry's choices led to another fae being in his presence. The first being Mab.
- Jossed; "ANOTHER ONE" was Demonreach referring to the baby spirit of intellect growing in Harry's brain, aka "the Parasite".
- Semi-Jossed by Ghost Story. Harry pulled a Thanatos Gambit and had Kincaid shoot him to try to get out of being the Winter Knight, which didn't work. I really doubt that Kincaid would have been the one in the Chrysler, but it's not impossible.
- Not impossible, but unlikely unless the incident was only intended to scare Harry. Kincaid's skills as an assassin are such that he probably knows exactly how to make a hit-and-run lethal. Rather, given that it's specifically identified as an old Chrysler, this troper suspects it was one of the wizards at the execution, who'd short out a newer model of vehicle.
- Harry himself speculates in Cold Days that the Chrysler's driver, as well as the person who planted a bomb under Murphy's Saturn in White Night, was most likely Ace, trying to ingratiate himself with his Redcap father by killing someone Maeve hates.
- Seems unlikely, the 30 pieces of silver are supposed to either be, or represent, the 30 pieces Judas got. There's no way the Denarians were bound in their coins at that point in time. If Nicodemus is Judas, the coins predate the whole 30 pieces of silver thing. And in that case, there could be far more than just 30 Denarians.
- Why would that be the case. Judas is given the coins, then sells out Christ, which grants the opening for 30 Fallen to enter said coins, then goes to hang himself... the timeline works out.
- Because simply betraying Christ wasn't enough? The Blackened Denarius's were created through powerful magic, they didn't just spontaneously become fallen-angel-filled-coins. A lot of the ritual probably relied on the betrayal, but it wasn't enough to have happened just from that.
- No, but that doesn't rule anything out. Think of it this way; the Devil is looking to capitalize on Jesus' sacrifice, and finds that the way it is to play out works well in his favor. Judas is given the coins, which are then used for the ritual on the basis of him being given potentially the most powerful of all the Fallen. He'll have little need for thirty silver pieces with that kind of power, which accounts for them all being taken from him. So, ritual goes through, which involves said cutting and turning from grace, which has the added benefit of laying the power over the noose. In this case, things click rather well.
- Considering their origin and symbology, the Denarian relics are almost certainly Faith magic, albeit turned inside-out and hideously corrupted. We know that the rules for Faith are different than other magic- hell, one of the Swords of the Cross was fully restored from destruction, even improved, with only a sufficiently large act of faith. Saying that the Denarii and the Noose had to have been purposefully constructed like, say, Little Chicago, ignores the context, and the power of that context, of their creation. ...that said, there probably is some bit of story or in-universe logic that we're missing that explains why the Fallen specifically were joined to the coins, and they didn't just become more garden-variety cursed objects.
- Why would that be the case. Judas is given the coins, then sells out Christ, which grants the opening for 30 Fallen to enter said coins, then goes to hang himself... the timeline works out.
It's very heavily implied that Nicodemus was the very first of the Denarians. He's deeply contemptuous of God and the good side, so to speak, but he also has an intimate understanding of what makes them tick. While this could just be experience, it seems to run deeper. Meanwhile, the biblical Nicodemus is a shadowy figure, a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin who discussed Jesus' teachings with him, he stood up for Jesus and reminded the Sanhedrin that the law required that the accused be heard, and he helped Joseph of Arimathea prepare Jesus' body for burial. Isn't it entirely possible that he met Jesus, liked what he was saying, believed in him, and when he saw Jesus die a horrible death after being betrayed for petty motives by one of his own disciples and condemned by his [Nicodemus'] peers against their own rules, became utterly disillusioned? Anduriel could quite easily persuade him into darkness after that.
- Alternately, Nick stores his coin inside the noose.
- Both jossed. Nick briefly sets his coin aside while goading Murphy into breaking Fidelacchius in Skin Game, and his Fallen-possessed shadow flows onto his upraised palm, congealing into a denarius.
- Not necessarily. It's been confirmed repeatedly that most of the Denarians do not get along very well. Nicodemus has his group of 4-8 or so, Tessa has her group of 6-10. That leaves almost a third of the order unaccounted for. We know they don't work together well, if at all, as pointed out by Forthill when Harry brings up Lasciel. Lasciel and Nicodemus work at cross purposes much of the time. It's entirely possible that the 'missing' Denarians have their own plots going on, or that they're just not very evil at all.
- Every, or at least almost every, coin not in use by Nicodemus and Tessa in Small Favor is in Church custody. Micheal and Sanya were very clear on that point.
- I think you're underrating his team. Ursiel is apparently not very smart, but his monster-bear form was more than holding his own against two Knights, and Saluriel is very good at ritual magic. If anything, Tessa's team seems to be the noisy and incompetent distraction. Kincaid takes several of them out with a gun, Magog was dumb enough to try to take on Eldest Gruff, and they're explicitly noted to go through hosts like paper cups. The strongest members of the order seem to be the ones where the hosts and Fallen are cooperating, and only two of Tessa's team seem to be like that.
- Except that Sanya had taken up the coin fully, so Magog's shadow would have gone back to being part of the original. Now, it's possible Magog left a second shadow when he realized Sanya was about to give up the coin, but that would require quick, creative thinking- which doesn't really seem to fit Magog that much, does it?
- Moreover, we never see Nicodemus try to order Magog's shadow to paralyze Sanya from within, the way he tries to incapacitate Harry at the end of Small Favor. And Nick is taken completely off-guard when Harry starts moving again, which implies that such an order has never, ever failed to take effect in the last 2000 years.
- Unlikely. In Small Favor it was said he helped Nicodemus twice by giving him Uber-Hellfire. As Harry has been Warden and only he could bind forces things in Demonreach and hasn't yet done so, it seems unlikely Lucifer could be bound there.
- Why would Merlin put Lucifer in minimum security, next to the Naagloshii?
- Alternatively, that prisoner is Merlin himself.
- The latter Jossed by Word of Jim.
- Nope. Thomas is also an anchor. Both of them have to die for the White King to regain the ability to properly feed.
- Ghost Story spoiler: Harry was never quite "dead" in the sense required by magical law and rules. Removed from his body, yes. Sent to the in between place, yes. However, Demonreach and Mab were keeping him very much alive physically and helping his body heal. All so he was still bound by his oath.
- Plus there's Harry's daughter Maggie. Actually, considering the timeline, it would have been hilarious if in Blood Rites Raith kills both but still finds he cannot win, and then Lara destroyed him.
- There's no reason to believe that Margaret's death curse was linked to her sons' descendants as well as her sons. Not all curses are bloodline-based, and those that we've seen that are (loup-garou, heart-ripper), affect their victims' offspring rather than their caster's.
- Confirmed, though we don't know if she was at the dinner. Probably she wasn't, otherwise Eb would have mentioned her, though it's not impossible.
- Mostly, but not entirely, Jossed by Battle Ground
- Except that Bob explicitly mentions that the whole bloodlust thing is part of how the basic hexenwulf method of transformation works, back in his massive werewolf Info Dump at the beginning of the book. Which doesn't mean Peabody didn't create the belts, but the whole ramble through Die Lied der Erlking doesn't mean much one way or the other.
- Bob was citing past instances when hexenwulf belts have been constructed. Who's to say the makers of those weren't also imitating the Wild Hunt? They had to get the idea somehow, after all.
- Wasn't that Harry's name for him, and Cowl just went "why not?" We also have that as a trope. Anyway, I, for one, would gladly use "Cowl" as a pseudonym.
- I don't think Cowl even went 'Sure why not' so much as 'Not dignifying that with a response.'
- Having just read the part of the book where Harry meets him, he actually introduces himself as Cowl. So it's definitely the name he uses, but it's almost certainly a false name.
- Humans are more creative than that. The average human would probably choose a common name, like "John" or "Daniel".
- And for a guy who goes around draped head-to-foot in identity-concealing robes, a normal-sounding name would be a little bit... odd. If he's concealing his identity, might as well go whole-hog with an obviously fake, and yet descriptive, pseudonym. It's not like he's renting an apartment using the "Cowl" identity or anything (at least, that we're aware of).
- Kumori's name sounds "namey" but not "normal".
- Disregarding all name discussion for now, Harry explicitly calls Cowl's voice "not human".
- Yeah, but he says that Cowl's magic is definitely human. The voice is just some sort of distortion effect to conceal his identity.
- Which could mean that he's someone another character (or Harry) could recognize.
- Yeah, but he says that Cowl's magic is definitely human. The voice is just some sort of distortion effect to conceal his identity.
- Some connection to Faerie actually is implied in the way Cowl asks Harry to hand over the book three times, in a sequence that closely parallels Harry's binding of Grimalkin in Summer Knight. Unless Cowl thought Harry, himself, was a sidhe or changeling, that's not something you'd normally expect a human to do.
- Nah. Three is a magic number. As the Fae are magical critters, it's a bigger deal for them than for humans, even wizards. Doesn't make it meaningless among them, however. And it's possible that the ritual thrice-asked-and-done is part of the reason Cowl was able to seem as powerful as he was.
- And The Gatekeeper is both of them in the future. He's only allowed to time travel in order to help his past self stop his less-past self, and keep things happening in order. Kumori is a post-Heroic BSoD Molly, who provides disguise for all three-ish of them and is trying to keep Cowl from going full darkside. The time travel is how and why she revived that exact person.
- Why do people think the Gatekeeper is Harry from the future? That makes no sense. One, the Gatekeeper is a little Indian guy, not a tall white guy. Two, Harry has never shown any ability with time magic. Three, I don't think he could have lasted on the White Council. Harry himself stated that he was not so subtle and quick to anger, the gatekeeper is the exact opposite.
- "Little Indian Guy"? You're probably thinking of Listens To Winds. Rashid is middle eastern and is the only guy taller than Harry. Still no obvious connection.
- He's taller? My bad, well, even though it is possible, i don't quite see how. Fer instance, he's taller, and he is Indian, and I mean Asian indian, not native Indian, major physical differences. But, because i'm such a good sport, here is my argument from the other side: Maybe that salve that lets people see through veils is some kind of time paradox. The reason the gatekeeper has it is because he gave it to harry and Harry eventually got better at making it.
- The Dresden Files wiki describes Rashid as being Middle Eastern with an English accent.
- He occasionally uses expressions consistent with a Muslim upbringing, too.
- Molly or Thomas will end up raising this point in a future book as a joke, and while this wont be true, Cowl will hear about it and attempt to convince Harry of it as a way to give him a headache.
- Why would Cowl (future Harry) need the instructions to summon the Erlking? Harry had already committed the ritual to memory and had performed it once. Unlikely he would forget something as important as this and need to go attack his past self to get the book.
- Cowl and Kumori were the only necromancers who weren't looking to claim the book, only to prevent their rivals from finding it. At least, that's what Cowl claimed, and Kumori's suggesting that Harry simply destroy it rather than hand it over suggests it's true. (Of course, if Cowl's in the Black Council, he wouldn't need the book because the author, Peabody, is also a Black Council member and could just tell him the instructions if necessary. So this doesn't prove whether or not he's Harry.)
- Why do people think the Gatekeeper is Harry from the future? That makes no sense. One, the Gatekeeper is a little Indian guy, not a tall white guy. Two, Harry has never shown any ability with time magic. Three, I don't think he could have lasted on the White Council. Harry himself stated that he was not so subtle and quick to anger, the gatekeeper is the exact opposite.
- A little more evidence: at the end of White Night, Harry calls Cowl "Darth Bathrobe". Remind me, what did Harry wear to the Council meeting in Summer Knight...?
- And yet he never comments on Cowl or Kumori being very tall, even though he routinely mentions if a person is of above- or below-average height when he describes them. Both he and Molly are very tall, enough-so that you'd think he'd have said something about if Cowl and Kumori were, too.
- Well, Kumori is at least tall enough to comfortably hold Dresden with a knife to his throat, and Harry's gigantic.
- Harry actually mentions that she must be pretty contorted to be pulling that off, so she might not be that tall.
- And yet he never comments on Cowl or Kumori being very tall, even though he routinely mentions if a person is of above- or below-average height when he describes them. Both he and Molly are very tall, enough-so that you'd think he'd have said something about if Cowl and Kumori were, too.
- I don't actually think this is true, but to entertain the notion... Harry is above all famous for giving a tremendous amount of snark to anything and everything he encounters. After being called 'Dark Master of Evil Bathrobes' and asked for a name, doesn't responding 'Call me Cowl' seem like the trademark Dresden snark rendered dryer by age and necromancy?
- Or Molly is in fact Kumori. Following Dresden as Cowl isn't too far out of the picture for Molly, given her crush for Dresden and Molly's habit of breaking the laws of magic. Also Kumori is a Japanese sounding name, and what language does Molly use for her spells again?
- Further supported (in this troper's opinion) by Kumori's name: Molly Carpenter said with a Japanese accent=Mori Carpenter. Switch the names around to proper Japanese order and it's Carpenter Mori. Take the first name to just an initial and it's C.Mori. Said phonetically...
- According to the RPG, Kumori is Japanese for "cloudy." Hmm, cloudy as in concealment, as in veils, as in Molly's specialty...
- Doesn't Molly cast in Japanese?
- On the other hand, "cloudy" also implies "gloomy", which isn't a bad choice of alias for a not-so-psycho necromancer in any case.
- As of Cold Days, Molly is the Winter Lady. Presumably she can't become Kumori in the future unless she can somehow shed that mantle; else, Kumori's arrival from the future would have sent both Summer and Winter into a five-alarm freakout, thrown into a panic by this sudden appearance of an extra Faerie Queen. Same problem, if Cowl is Harry: Mab would definitely show up demanding an explanation if a second Winter Knight was running around Chicago.
- Borrowing the Alpha Timeline concept from Homestuck, the Gatekeeper and Cowl could both be Harry. From different timelines. Cowl is from a timeline where things went wrong, very wrong. Cowl may even be a Harry that accepted every dark deal, bargain owed, etc. Kumori is much kinder as she is Cowl's Molly who followed into the past. When they encounter Harry, she is reminded of her old Harry before whatever went wrong happened.
- Expanding upon this. Cowl is Harry gone down a dark path in one timeline, come back deciding he needs to go even darker to make it work this time. Gatekeeper is from a timeline where he was less of a wild card? He fought Demonreach in that timeline, in this one Harry made it his sanctuary. So that is why Rashid was surprised.
Building off of the above evidence, Cowl himself being a Mirrorverse Harry fits the facts better than any other theory.
Cowl has been there longer than any villain except the Outsiders. Him being Harry gives him a great place in the villain pantheon; the epitome of Harry's fears of falling to the dark side. All the unneeded details dropped about him in Dead Beat add up to him being a human, a Well-Intentioned Extremist, and most likely, Harry.
The evidence in order:
- Harry notes that his magic has a human signature, despite its great strength. He's not a fae or a god or anything else.
- He consistently maintains that he's the least of the assorted evils, expresses personal distaste for "the madman Kemmler", and refuses to kill Harry multiple times. He's visibly showing restraint where none of his peers do, and he really means it.
- Finally, there are too many similarities to Harry to count. He keeps up with him verbally where people usually falter. He's outclassed by his enemies and uses clever solutions to stay ahead. And he immediately brushes off the Senior Council since he thinks they're too slow-thinking and restrictive.
On top of all this, his attitude towards Harry is distant and yet weirdly personal. He mentions wanting to see what has the Council riled up about him, but not because he's actually a challenge. He threatens to kill him multiple times, yet never actually finishes it. And he mentions that the party at Bianca's has consequences that Harry specifically won't realize for years, but as far as we know only did one thing that affected Harry directly (giving the athame to Lea).
This could be typical villainous mystery, but it fits pretty well for an alternate-universe double observing his counterpart, and feels more deliberately personal than any other villain. Reading it with this perspective gives a whole different vibe.
The probable picture painted is that Cowl is a Well-Intentioned Extremist Harry who's been pulling the strings in Harry's world. A running theme of the series is that even the worst bad guys have human motives. Cowl turning out to be Harry but darker fits very well.
- Jim Butcher is a master of Chekov's Guns and wouldn't throw lines around for no good reason. I was recently rereading Dead Beat and at the climax Harry orders Butters to keep using the drum and the conversation goes... "keep that drumbeat going." ... "Right...if I stop, no more Dinosaur." "No... If you stop, the dinosaur does whatever the hell it wants to." This could explain why Cowl wants to use the Darkhallow, using it will bring him back to life, the immortality might even just be a bonus.
- He died offscreen and they never found a body.
- He disguises his voice not because Harry might recognize it, but because someone else on the council (who did know him) might.
- He used to be Justin DuMorne's mentor, meaning that if the two stayed close...
- He would have known about Bob.
- He might have been behind Justin adopting Harry and Elaine and trying to corrupt them.
- Martha does explicitly say Simon's death curse took out a bunch of vampires. Given that Archangel had fallen only shortly before the meeting, I doubt that she'd declare him dead unless she saw the body or was really sure it was his death curse.
- Technically, it's said that he's "presumed to have" taken out a bunch with his death curse.
- Would it be too outlandish to assume that the supposed death curse could instead be some sort of necromantic spell-working? Considering how powerful Cowl is mentioned to be in the books, it seems a legit possibility.
- Technically, it's said that he's "presumed to have" taken out a bunch with his death curse.
Victor Sells and the Hexenwulfen were deliberately chosen and trained for this purpose. After this, Harry had gotten too powerful to deal with minor talents created for the purpose of training Harry, so they began to manipulate events from behind the scenes to force Harry into conflicts that they knew he'd just barely be capable of surviving. This would necessitate Mab herself either being in league with the Black Council, or manipulated by it. I'm not sure which option is better.
- I opt for the notion that the Black Council is out to get Harry, there might be an infiltrator that is on Harry's side that's manipulating the Council into giving Harry just enough that he can handle.
Now, at the end of Blood Rites, He Who Walks Behind is summoned again by the White King, and he makes it clear he still had a grudge against Harry for defeating him when Harry was a teenager.
The pendant is one of Harry's possessions. It contains his magic within it, maybe allowing him to be tracked. And in Small Favor, Mab removed Harry's knowledge of his blasting rod from his mind, and Harry never even thought of using it.
So, He Who Walks Behind still has it in for Harry, and took the bear belt buckle as a means of tracking him. Harry doesn't realize it, because his memories were obscured just like his memories of his blasting rod. When He Who Walks Behind makes his next appearance, the bear belt buckle will play an important role.
- While not ruling it out, it could be that Harry simply decided not to use the buckle again, since the one time he did he dangerously overextended himself because the energy boost affected his mind and made him overconfident and utterly helpless when it wore off.
- Someone asked Jim Butcher what happened to it. His response implies just that:
He used it, and then it left him semi-comatose, so it's not the kind of thing you want to rely on in a life and death situation. - Or after Dead Beat, he might have given it to one of the junior Wardens, who need all the help they can get to survive.
- Bob told Harry that the failed Darkhallow had disrupted every enchantment within a mile. If Harry was wearing the belt buckle at the time and just hadn't had the opportunity to use it, it could've gotten depowered at that point.
- While not ruling it out, it could be that Harry simply decided not to use the buckle again, since the one time he did he dangerously overextended himself because the energy boost affected his mind and made him overconfident and utterly helpless when it wore off.
- Everthing the walker has done to harry has been to prepare to fight the outsiders because some of the outsiders don't want to destroy reality at all
- As to why he uses modern slang - Merlin is known to be a time traveler; he might have picked it up and chosen to speak in way most suited for Harry.
- Fridge Brilliance: In some versions of the myths Merlin is said to live backwards going from age to youth and remember the future.
- This ties into Arthurian mythos very well. In a lot of the versions, Merlin is screwed over by his apprentice, who attempts to kill him by locking him into a crystal, which is located within a well of powerful, magical crystals. Literally, the Crystal Cave. Death is not achieved, because Merlin is powerful enough to knock it down to stasis instead. And if this is where Butcher is heading, it doesn't bode well for certain people - the apprentice that attempts to kill Merlin is Nimue, a woman who began as an innocent, but intelligent mortal. She pesters him into teaching her magic, something he is not willing to do until he realizes that she'll learn it no matter what, and he'd might as well be holding the reins. The years of denial turn her inhuman and bitter, which Merlin only learns when her plans come to fruition. Sound like a path someone's on?
- In some versions of the Arthurian legend Nimue imprisoning Merlin was less cold-hearted betrayal and more dealing with a creepy stalker with epic magical powers instead of restraining orders. It would be kind of amusing if quite possibly the greatest mortal wizard was done in over something so comparatively banal.
- Really, this feels like less a WMG and more just putting the pieces together.
- Seemingly Jossted by Word of Jim, who points out that the English spoken 1,500 years ago would be unintelligible.
- Although, he does have to reach for the expression 'piss off', like someone speaking a second language they're not entirely familiar with, and the anguish he hits Harry with would be very well explained by being betrayed by your nephew and everyone you know dying.
- Seemingly Jossted by Word of Jim, who points out that the English spoken 1,500 years ago would be unintelligible.
- Anonymity isn't really part of the Knights' approach, however, and they want people in need to be able to seek them out for protection. Binder can use a cell phone and could have accessed photos of Chicagoans-of-interest via the Paranet, purely to learn whom he should avoid antagonizing.
- Jossed.
Too young to be Lord Raith's at only twenty in Skin Game era, she would have been ten when he was disposed. She doesn't seem to have a parent around to tutor her in White Court business at all (which we see from other cases is the general way to do things) - with Lara having taken her under her wing and picked up that slack instead, ensuring her protection and ensuring certain lessons are known.
Some point in his days as Darby Crane, it is easy enough to speculate that Madrigal got somebody pregnant and didn't realise/recognisethat with how he is.
Tania herself doesn't know the father is Madrigal, officially being a Raith bastard of uncertain heritage that was found and reclaimed by the House some point after his death when/her later becoming a vampire. Having been found and brought into the fold later on as opposed to growing up part of the family, this factors into her immense inexperience/naivety, as well as how she seems determined to assert/prove herself in Jurt Duty.
- ...no. Checking Celtic Mythology strongly suggests Mac is the minor Celtic god Accasbel, founder of the first pub in Ireland and a deity of wine, beer and mead. Which explains why his brews taste divine.
- Hard to explain why a god whose entire portfolio is centered on booze would miss the fact that his beer'd been tampered with, however. Mac doesn't spot the maenad's tampering in "Last Call".
- Maybe, since the maenad is also (semi)divine, she was able to conceal what she did?
- Mac is Uriel.
- Jossed in Cold Days because Mac continually said he was "out". Uriel is still very active.
- He could well be Merlin. Mac Annaly's has wood paneling, and the myths of Merlin has him being entombed in a living tree... Staying close to Demonreach might also be a good plan - if he's the 'Watcher', that's something worth watching. Also, the number 13 in his pub reflects the 12 knights of the round table + Arthur himself.
- Except Mac had apparently only been running his pub for a few years prior to Storm Front, suggesting that he started his Watching just in time to watch Harry himself. If he were keeping tabs on Demonreach, he should've been in town a lot longer.
- Nothing says he couldn't have been doing something else in Chicago before Harry arrived. He just opened the pub to make sure he had a way to run into Harry fairly frequently without making it seem suspicious.
- Ironically or maybe not, there is a reason God Was My Copilot exists.
- Mac's response seems to be a warning to watch out for three Walkers. If Mac himself is a retired Walker, he'd have to be a fourth one, since he's no threat to Harry.
- Well, if he's non-hostile Walker, he surely must know of He Who Walks Elsewhere.
- "he's no threat to Harry"... or IS he? Remember, a lack of malicious intent does not make someone "no threat".
- Jossed as of Battle Groumd He Who Walks Beside is...something quite different.
- My God, Butcher is just twisted enough to do that, too.
- That would be so very awesome. WANT.
- That... actually seems likely. Or at least that Mac is a lot more powerful and badass than the books have let on so far.
- More support: Harry talks about the way beings that see into the future, or have other forms of supernatural knowledge must be very careful about what they say - and Mac barely speaks complete sentences.
- Alternatively, Mac is short for Michael....Michael Callahan
- ... I don't get it.
- Series of short stories, and a few novels, by Spider Robinson concerning a rather strange bar, run by Michael Callahan. Good series.
- ... I don't get it.
- It does seem like he knows everyone and everyone knows him.
- Word of God is that we probably won't learn on Mac's nature and origins until the apocalyptic trilogy that takes place after 20 books in the series are written.
- Possible spin-off theory: Mac is God... but not Jehovah God. Neither is he Jesus. Mac is quiet and barely speaks, but when he does it's always straight to the point, meaningful, and you better listen up. He's the Holy Spirit.
- Dear lord, it's so obvious now! He runs a bar. Alcohol = spirits. And his beer is just about godly. Stealth Pun!
- [Head explodes]
- The most likely serious candidacy on these lines is the Celtic deity Accasbel, a god of wine, beer, and mead who opened the first pub in Ireland. Evidently, he emigrated to the new world at some point.
- Or, given what we know about the angels, Mac is Uriel. Mab does say Uriel is the only one capable of subtlety.
- Cold Days makes it plain Mac is something, and may have once been something called a Watcher or gone by that name.
- There's a group of supposedly fallen angels that goes by 'The Watchers' or Grigori.
- The Grigori were the angels who fell into lust with human women and fathered the Nephilim, becoming Earth-bound as punishment and triggering the Great Deluge (Noah's flood). Now recall Mac's speech on the power of parenthood in Changes.
- There's a group of supposedly fallen angels that goes by 'The Watchers' or Grigori.
- Mac could be Lucifer. I mean, Lucifer himself hasn't actually shown up, hasn't he? Mac said he's been "sitting out." He could be like the Sandman version, only running a bar instead of being a lounge piano player.
- Lucifer has shown up indirectly, he's all but confirmed to be the one who popped Marcone's safehouse open in Small Favor. Harry rails about it in the chapel.
- When Sharkface barged into Mac's pub, he talked to Mac like he KNEW him, called him a Watcher, and accused him of taking the wrong path. My theory is that Mac was once an outsider, and abandoned his wierdness to become human, at the cost of being able to involve himself with anything supernatural, especially when it comes to sharing the knowledge he gained as one of the monsters. Thus the little-to-no-talking, and why he managed to get Accorded Neutral Territory status.
- Whole their conversation sounds like there's much more to Outside, than just Walkers' side. Maybe he's from a different camp of Outsiders, who position themselves as... well, as Mac positions himself with his pub. But he actually chose side - Earth, so he now must stick to it.
- I think this was more or less confirmed by people who got to hear JB read the next few chapters. The evidence certainly stacks up that way. We'll know soon enough.
- Confirmed by Ghost Story.
- Confirmed (at least partially) by Word of Jim
- "Because"? That's a pretty poor argument. The Margeret=daughter of Titania makes sense, Troper, especially with our Lying Creator, but that doesn't mean that Kincaid is Drakul's grandson as well. Would you please give us your theory, OP?
- This Troper has a theory. He's not Drakul's grandson... he's Drakul's SON. Does it ever say Dracula was Drakul's only son? However, Kincaid is relatively recent (by supernatural standards) and is Dracula's younger brother. He hit the low point in the genetic lottery though... he only got some of his dad's badassedness.
- The historical Vlad II Drakul had four children that I know of, besides Vlad III, and if he were immortal he could easily have had more. What puzzles me is why the some of a Romanian nobleman would call himself "Kincaid".
- Except that Ebenezar didn't recognize the name "Kincaid," implying that that isn't his real name. "Jared Kincaid" is probably a name he's picked up over the last century in order to fit in.
- The historical Vlad II Drakul had four children that I know of, besides Vlad III, and if he were immortal he could easily have had more. What puzzles me is why the some of a Romanian nobleman would call himself "Kincaid".
- Alternatively Lea is his mother. He is implied to be half something and that nickname would imply its half dog. Lea turns mortals into hounds to protect them and how many others are gona birth a half dog?
- And Laschiel's his mother? Or did Nicodemus' Fallen father Kincaid with a mortal woman?
- Perhaps being possessed by one of the most powerful Fallen for so long actually altered Nick on a genetic level, enough that any children he might have wouldn't be fully human. Interestingly, this might also include Deirdre, though what precisely that would mean for someone who's already a Denarian I'm not sure...
- Nicodemus is human. Deirdre and any other children he has are (mostly) human. Anduriel is his fallen. Anduriel would have to be the one to father Kincaid for this scenario.
- And Kincaid didn't seem to hate Nicodemus all that much until after the guy dared to mess with Ivy. Indeed, if he'd already been that hostile, Ivy probably would have brought a different bodyguard to the negotiations, to ensure Kincaid's enmity didn't become a hindrance to diplomacy and to avoid putting him in a situation where his professionalism might be compromised by bitterness.
- There are few things that are known about Kincaid's parentage. The big thing is that he's "as human as Harry." Many took this to mean that Harry isn't wholly human. However, it could be that Kincaid actually is fully human and is simply working for the Erlking in the same vein as a Summer/Winter Knight. Let's look at what we know about Kincaid: Insanely fast reflexes and accuracy with weapons, prefers long range weaponry to close combat, fiercely protective of at least one child, and has been noted multiple times to have a predatory personality. The physical abilities can be explained easily by the "Hunter's Mantle" (For lack of a better name >.>), his penchant for big bore rifles and shotguns are shared by most big game hunters, the Erlking is known to be a protector of children, and finally, well, his personality would just seem to click with the way a mantle changes a person.
- Hendricks is also a Germanic surname, and who else is German? The Norse!
- With that in mind, it's possible that when he dies, he will become an Einherjar. Heck, he's got a Valkyrie hanging around him all the time, ready for the moment he dies — and, as a bodyguard, he will go down fighting, which is how people get into Valhalla.
- The latter is confirmed by Battle Ground
- Harry has a history of allowing his disdain for some people to cloud his judgment of their motivations (Turtleneck and Martin stick out as examples). He attributes Rudolph's vendetta against himself and Murphy to his Jerkass personality and fear of the unknown. However, compare Rudolph's behavior in Grave Peril to Changes: in the former, he threatens to kill Harry if he lets anything happen to Murphy, while in the latter he allies himself with the Red Court just to make trouble for our heroes. Sure, it happened over eight books, but it's not a minor transition. Maybe he's just a cowardly Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, but what if someone is manipulating his mind, spotlighting his grudge like in Molly's example?
- Adding to this, we know the way Nemesis works is they take a person's negative aspects and exaggerate them while downplaying their positive aspects. And considering that Rudolph has been implied to be working for someone, and that he hit his worst point when Nemesis was masterminding Ethniu's invasion of Chicago, it is quite likely that Rudolph, willingly or through brainwashing, serves Nemesis.
'There is no wrath like love to hatred turned.' It fits
For starters, we know that Rudolph ended up in SI to begin with for "sleeping with the wrong congressman's daughter". For another, it would explain why he's initially so overprotective of her in Grave Peril and hostile to Dresden, who's close to her at that point (if nowhere near as close as they would get), and he gets closer to her over the course of Grave Peril and especially in Summer Knight.
It would also explain why, if he got shot down (as he would have done), his approach was so It's Personal to Murphy, and latterly Dresden, in Changes, when they were clearly an Anchored Ship at least.
- Lash is confirmed dead in Skin Game, as her Heroic Sacrifice wouldn't have produced a baby spirit of intellect (aka "the Parasite") if she'd survived.
- Demonreach is a prison of wizard making.
- No reason why both can't be true. The prison was made by Merlin but who better to guard Outsiders and other nastiness than one of their own? Clearly, Merlin created the prison, and summoned Demonreach to guard it, since only Outsiders would be immune to Nemesis.
- Outsiders are, by definition, entities from outside the known universe and alien to it. How can a Genius Locus, which embodies a place in this universe so comprehensively as to call itself a "where" rather than a "who", be an Outsider? If anything, Demonreach is an Insider: a consciousness that's more deeply rooted in this universe than we ephemeral mortals are.
- In Storm Front, he puts a tight three shot into someone who betrayed Marcone. The only other people who do those that we've met are cops or other law enforcement. Also, someone's been keeping the CPD informed about Marcone's movements and plans.
- Note that this doesn't mean that Marcone doesn't know.
- Or maybe Hendricks just trains a lot and is a naturally good shot. Being a good shooter != being police.
- This is incredibly flimsy reasoning. By the same logic, Kincaid is an undercover cop too.
- Why couldn't Kincaid have been a cop at some point? Doesn't mean Hendricks isn't. Also, this is Wild Mass Guessing, it doesn't NEED substantiation.
- No, but it really oughta have something a little less tangential and flimsy. It's only slightly more evidence than saying, "Hendricks has red hair, so he might be Irish. Murphy is Irish, and she's a cop. Therefore, Hendricks is a cop."
- If the path of logic you used to arrive at your destination is faulty, we are perfectly within our rights to call you on said faulty logic.
- I fail to see how it's any flimsier than some of the other WMGs on this, or any other, page.
- Except a cop would hardly be authorized to commit first-degree murder as part of his deep cover, would he? Because that's what that "perfect three-shot" you're citing would rate as, under the law. Undercover cops are given some slack for crimes committed to maintain their pretense, but not for homicide.
- Not to mention cops rarely, if ever, go undercover for more than a week or so. Go in, get the evidence you need to make a case, get out.
- Indeed, if Hendricks were an undercover cop, he'd surely have gathered enough information and evidence against Marcone to prosecute him by now. Either that, or been found out and wound up at the bottom of Lake Michigan, years ago.
- He is always amazed at his work and goes into some length about it. The guy got parts for an old hearse like it was no thing or as if he could casually pick them up using the Nevernever in an amazingly timely manner.
- Maybe he's a svartalf. They seem to be quite good at maintaining mechanisms that are used by wizards, given how well-equipped Molly's apartment is in Cold Days.
- She is getting older and with Harry and Molly's role in the Nevernever expanding it is possible for a decent timeskip to take place. We know the the Archive mantle passes down the mother/daughter line and that the mother is left as a shell. Since Lash has composed herself as part of Harry's soul, she could presumably take over Ivy's empty shell. Could explain away her not being able to do so with a normal brain death as there being some remanent of personality left, but an archive transfer would be a complete wipe. Souls regenerate. Presumably Lash could grow her own from Harry's.
- Jossed by Skin Game; Lash is definitely dead, although her Heroic Sacrifice did leave Harry with Someone To Remember Her By: a spirit of intellect, now occupying the spare sanctum Harry'd crafted for Bob.
- When she first shows up in Dead Beat, she's connected with a bunch of Cahokian artifacts on loan to the Field Museum.
- And when we see her "true form" in Ghost Story, she's described as having facial tattoos. Not exactly a European custom.
- Think about it. We know Justin Du Morne put some kind a mental whammy on her, and Harry always assumed it was just regular run-of-the-mill black magic, but what if it wasn't? We know that Justin was somehow connected to He Who Walks Behind, an outsider, so it's not a huge leap of logic that Justin could have been infected by the Walker, and then passed it on to Elaine in order to give the outsiders an infected Starborn. This makes even more sense if we consider the first major player we know to have been infected: Aurora. If Elaine was infected by Justin, this would give an excellent link to explain just how Aurora got taken, and from there potentially how Maeve was infected.
- While it is possible Elaine is possessed by Nemesis, she wasn't the one who infected Maeve. Lae did that. Also if Elaine was a puppet of Nemesis, she wouldn't have helped Harry in the battle against Aurora. She would have dropped the thorns on him and watched as Aurora killed Lily.
- Jossed by Peace Talks, which implies that Starborn are immune to Nemesis.
- Interactions with the Merlin in Proven Guilty seem a lot more adversarial and hostile versus his appearances in earlier books, wherein he tends to, at least to this troper, seem to be more annoyed than anything. In particular, the scene where Molly is on trial as a warlock, having broken the fourth law of magic, Merlin originally stands alone, the other Senior Council members being engaged elsewhere. When The Gatekeeper arrives, I find their interactions particularly telling.
- The Rent that Goodman Grey is paying is a previous debt incurred to Harry's mom. He only asked for a dollar for compensation so it would make some sense if he was paying off a long standing debt.
- I personally thought that Rent was short for Parent. Grey needs to pay his progenitor something for some reason, but it cares more about how he gets the money than what or how much. Given that they revel in causing misery and suffering it seems like having a hand in causing Nicodemus's agonizing fate would be be enough to satisfy the pain-loving Naagloshii.
- I always read that as indicating that Grey had to be paid for some metaphysical reason, but that it didn't matter how much he was paid. Perhaps the fact of being paid for doing things helps him keep his demonic nature under control?
- In Turn Coat it tells us that Naagloshii were once messengers for the "holy people" their selfish refusal to leave earth after their work was completed is what corrupted them into their present form. The rent is to stay on earth uncorrupted. It's payed by constantly being "in service" to someone. Thus why he never breaks a contract and why he charges so little.
- A possible variant: There are several varieties of a myth in which the penitent angel/fairy/whatever must do deeds of service for worthy mortals, never taking more than a single coin from any one person in payment. Then when he has collected a thousand or five thousand or whatever number of coins in this way, he can literally pay the price for his sins and receive atonement. Perhaps Gray is working for redemption in such a manner.
- We all know that Jim Butcher is a big fan of The Law of Conservation of Detail, so it seems likely.
- In Peace Talks, a lot of fuss is made over the fact that Grendel and the Forest People are related, but in the process they explicitly state that Beowulf was Vadderung. Then throughout the festivities, Ferrovax and Vadderung are framed very clearly as mirrors to one another, contrasting figures, counterparts or rivals. In the original poem, Beowulf and the Dragon kill one another, but in the Dresden universe "Beowulf" is still quite alive. So, it's not much of a stretch to conclude that the dragon survived as well and remains a fairly powerful figure and a rival to "Beowulf", whatever his name may be.
- Rudy the brown-nosed cop-cop had a thing for Murphy. Bear with me, it makes sense. We know that Rudy ended up at SI because he couldn't keep his pants up, sleeping with the wrong City Councilman's daughter. We know that in Grave Peril, he is fiercely devoted to/protective of Murphy, giving Dresden an If You Do Anything To Hurt Her speech that Dresden brushes off. We also know that by his next appearance, he's acting like she's poison and loathes her - and Dresden - to an irrational degree. Now, part of it is probably just because he reacted very badly to the supernatural. Part of it, though, might have another explanation. When he finds Dresden and Murphy tangled up in a hug and having fallen over in Changes, he snarls that he always knew that there was something going on there. Conclusion: Rudy had a thing for Murphy, asked her out, got overprotective, and got put firmly in his place. From there, he went from loving her to loathing her. With Dresden, his hatred was magnified because he saw Dresden as the competition who had 'stolen' the object of his affections.
[[Summer Knight Ronald Reuel is actually the real JRR Tolkien]]
- The real-life Tolkien was certainly an illustrator and creator of fantasy worlds, and his White Council bears a certain resemblance to Butcher's, meaning that in-universe, Tolkien found out about the White Council and modeled his on it (which may have been a subtle jab at Langtry if he deliberately modelled Saruman after him). Since a normal human would've been getting on in age, he faked his death and moved to America, figuring that no one would put two and two together through simple refuge in audacity.
- Even better? In real life, Tolkien died in 1973. Reverse that, and those are the numbers from the Ring poem. Conclusion? Tolkien deliberately chose that year to fake his deah.