History Fridge / SkinGame

* Bit of Fridge Funny: how many times has Sanya praised Murphy by saying she's "tiny, but fierce"? Looks like he was saying that about the wrong tiny-but-fierce potential Knight of Faith, all along!

** And that retribution becomes all the harsher when you consider that [[spoiler: Harry, not Nick, got the artifact that the Denarians were ''really'' after]. Niccodemus did what he did ''for nothing''.

** God.

* On the other hand, Mab's already had one Lady steal her Knight's loyalty out from under her, and another Winter Lady go rogue. If Harry's spirit-daughter wound up looking like the ''new'' Winter Lady, might Mab's suspicions about Harry's own faithfulness been riled up...? Mab has license to peek at her own Knight's mind, and has done so to Harry before; she'd be able to see exactly how his subconscious pictures the baby spirit, and to know that her features reflect those Harry cares deeply for. If Mab thought of Molly as a potential competitor for Harry's obedience, she might well "retire" whichever of the two she considers more expendable, just to head off the potential for yet another Queen/Lady conflict at a time when Winter needs unity. Possibly the new spirit was being very, ''very'' '''smart''' to avoid raising such a potential point of conflict.

* On the other hand, Mab's already had one Lady steal her Knight's loyalty out from under her, and another Winter Lady go rogue. If Harry's daughter wound up looking like the ''new'' Winter Lady, might Mab's suspicions about Harry's own faithfulness been riled up...? Mab has license to peek at her own Knight's mind, and has done so to Harry before; she'd be able to see exactly how his subconscious pictures the baby spirit, and to know that her features reflect those Harry cares deeply for. If Mab thought of Molly as a potential competitor for Harry's obedience, she might well "retire" whichever of the two she considers more expendable, just to head off the potential for yet another Queen/Lady conflict at a time when Winter needs unity. Possibly the new spirit was being very, ''very'' '''smart''' to avoid raising such a potential point of conflict.

* On the other hand, Mab's already had one Lady steal her Knight's loyalty out from under her, and another Winter Lady go rogue. If Harry's daughter wound up looking like the ''new'' Winter Lady, might Mab's suspicions about Harry's own faithfulness been riled up...? If Mab thought of Molly as a potential competitor for Harry's obedience, she might well "retire" whichever of the two she considers more expendable, just to head off the potential for yet another Queen/Lady conflict at a time when Winter needs unity. Possibly the new spirit was being very, ''very'' '''smart''' to avoid raising such a potential point of conflict.

** On the other hand, Mab's already had one Lady steal her Knight's loyalty out from under her, and another Winter Lady go rogue. If Harry's daughter wound up looking like the ''new'' Winter Lady, might Mab's suspicions about Harry's own faithfulness been aroused? Possibly the new spirit was being very, very ''smart'' to avoid raising such a potential point of conflict.

** Taking this a step farther, Emperor Palpatine is very analogous to the fallen angels. He operates mostly through his knight (Darth Vader), a man he corrupted with the promise of dark power. Vader's redemption is realized by the destruction of Palpatine.
*** Made all the harsher by comparison to how Vader was redeemed. Vader chose to save his son from the Emperor, even at the cost of his own life. Nicodemus [[spoiler:sacrificed his own daughter, to further the goals of the Fallen.]]

** Maybe Nicodemus knows that TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is coming, and the reader has had plenty of hints about something like that too, but the simplest explanation is usually the best: Hades is better than a more traditionally Christian FireAndBrimstoneHell.

* Just as Harry is passing out in the resolution Uriel tells him Molly has just arrived. There are so many things that could have gone wrong here. Think if Charity had caught the hilt when Harry threw it to her. Charity's faith probably wouldn't have been able to reforge it in the way Butters did. When Molly arrived she would probably have found Butters dead in the street and her mother being forced to watch while Nicodemus burned the house with Harry, the kids and Uriel still inside. Or if Molly had arrived a few minutes earlier, Butters sacrifice play wouldn't have been necessary. Molly would have thrown down with the Denerians herself. One can only imagine the collateral damage of The Winter lady and Nicodemus having a grudge match in a suburban neighbor hood, seeing as how they are both functionally immortal. Then there would be no more keeping Molly's new title a secret. Plus some where down the line Sanya might need back up, only there will be no Butters and no lightsaber of faith.

* Nicodemus and the Denarians he leads are fighting Nemesis. When he says to Deidre that "You will be safe from The Enemy here." just before killing her, Dresden assumed that The Enemy was Satan. But why would the mortal vessels of the Fallen fear Satan's wrath? Especially when they apparently enlisted Satan's help just a few books previous. Much more logical to assume that he means the same Enemy that everyone was referring to as The Enemy in Cold Days.
** From Nicodemus's point of view, The Enemy would be God.

* The Parasite is described by in appearance of resembling Lash, Kim, Murphy, Elaine, Susan, and Ivy. Most people have taken this to mean people that were important to Harry, but Kim looks like an outlier at first. But that's where the piece fit in. They're not all the women that are important to Harry, or that he's loved. They're the women he's ''failed'', and he's felt guilty about them because of the harm that came of it. Molly isn't a part of the group because Harry isn't guilty about her, he's '''proud'''.

* The fact that Mouse terrifies Anduriel makes a lot of sense. Anduriel is not a front line fighter. He is the information gatherer, a master of manipulation and corruption of humans. Mouse is a Foo Dog. He is very much a front line fighter and his ways of thinking make manipulating or corrupting him impossible. You threaten his family, you die.
* Another reason why Anduriel might be scared of Mouse is because the dog is literally his bane. Anduriel is the spy-master of the Fallen and his most useful and insidious ability is being capable to spy on people through their shadows. Mouse is a Foo Dog, a guardian demi-god of celestial breed whose whole purpose is to sniff out subtle threats and eliminate them. Mouse is not a threat to him physically, but because he was pretty much bred to counter his type of power!

* Hannah Ascher mentions that she was good friends with the Fellowship of Saint Giles, who sheltered her and gave her financial support... meaning that she probably knew Susan, and might have been friends with her, and possibly Martin as well. Killing most of the Fellowship was bad enough, but if Hannah was friends with Susan, that would have hurt even more, knowing that Harry personally killed her to do it.
** Hannah probably didn't know Susan; there were a lot of Fellowship cells that didn't make direct contact with one another, for security's sake, and she never even mentions Susan's name during her MotiveRant. Plus, a ''good'' friend presumably wouldn't go plotting to murder her late friend's already-twice-orphaned daughter's biological and foster fathers, even if she ''did'' blame the former for said friend's death.

* More Fridge Irony than FridgeBrilliance: there are now ''two'' Knights of the Cross who aren't Christians, and the archangel-endorsed keeper of the third isn't one either. More proof that the Dresdenverse God isn't biased about ''who'' you believe in, so long as you believe in doing what's right.

* Kringle called the information he gave to Harry a belated Christmas gift. That means Harry has been good all year!

* More Fridge Irony than FridgeBrilliance: there are now ''two'' Knights of the Cross who aren't Christians, and the archangel-endorsed keeper of the third isn't one either. More proof that the Dresdenverse God isn't biased about ''what'' you believe in, so long as you believe in doing what's right.

** The squires who witnessed Butters's ascent to Knighthood? Nicodemus had surely brainwashed them since birth to consider all conventional religions to be based upon lies, so they'd think of the [=KotC=], the Church, and other holy opposing forces as the bad guys. But we know from Harry's conversation with Rosanna in ''Small Favor'' that the veteran Denarians don't follow or recognize modern pop culture, so it's entirely possible that the squires '''do''' acknowledge that ''Jedi Knights'' are good guys, because Nick never bothered to forbid them from going to movies or disavow a religion concocted for a scifi franchise. So seeing Butters wielding a lightsaber may have resonated with their preconceptions about who's the hero and who's the villain in ways that seeing Michael draw a holy blade never could.