I was mostly joking with Merlin. But then who knows. Harry could be the original Merlin, he could be Cowl, he could dreaming all this! And what happened to Cowl's sidekick Kwhatever...I just re-read this too and can't recall! So who could SHE be/have been...
Merlin is actually one of the folks I had considered for Cowl. There's a relatively small set of heavy hitters who a) aren't dead and b) have gotten enough screen time to feel possible for Cowl. Most of the senior Wardens are on that list, as are most of the White Council. Any bad guys that we don't have bodies for (or equivalent evidence) are also up for grabs. Timeline check: could it have been the clerk, or had he fled by that point?
As far as the sidekick goes ... I think they're just a step above minion. Basically, bad ass enough to get a name. Not so bad ass that they come up again. I could be wrong though.
Kumori.
Dead Beat/Turncoat/White Night spoilers:
Considering that she was able to practically resurrect somebody, not to mention construct a veil well enough to get the drop on Harry and disarm him entirely, I wouldn't rank Kumori so far down the totem pole.
I'd say Cowl is definitely not Peabody. Peabody evinced no particularly destructive magical skills, relying almost entirely on fairly subtle mind manipulation.
I like Simon Pietrovich for Cowl. He was Justin DuMorne's mentor, so it's easy to link him to Outsider activity.
Cowl somehow knew Harry had Bob, Kemmler's former assistant, which everyone thought had been destroyed after Kemmler's death, but Justin could have confided to his old mentor, Simon, that he had recovered the skull.
Simon is a specialist on vampires, so his 'death' in the opening act of the war with the Red Court is very convenient for them. Also, in White Knight, Cowl shows up with Outsider involvement once again, trying to end the peace talks between the White Council and the Red Court by removing the White Court leadership serving as intermediaries for the negotiations.
I'm a little worried about Lacuna's dire warnings about feeding a lot of pizza to the Little Folk. She was going on about how dangerous it was to feed him like that, and Harry brushed her off without asking what she meant. Chekov's Pizza.
Lacuna insists on eating nothing but healthy food. In the manner of the Fair Folk, she probably saw a commercial or a book on healthy eating and took it to heart without understanding it. The fairies are obsessed with pizza presumably because of some kind of pop culture influence; Lacuna is obsessed with health food for the same reason.
Lacuna insists on eating nothing but healthy food. In the manner of the Fair Folk, she probably saw a commercial or a book on healthy eating and took it to heart without understanding it. The fairies are obsessed with pizza presumably because of some kind of pop culture influence; Lacuna is obsessed with health food for the same reason.
Oh no. Pizza is important to the Fae because of what's in it: bread and salt and meat and milk. Every time they eat a pizza, they're accepting those things from Harry, and effectively swearing fealty again. Every pizza binds the Fae a little tighter to Harry.
Regarding Toot-Toot's stature:
I think that he hasn't grown bigger and more powerful because of increased awareness of him (unless Butcher is doing a really meta fiction thing, since awareness of Toot in our world is the only place where awareness of Toot has grown), but rather because Toot has steadily increasing responsibilities. Create the Za Lord's Guard? A little bigger. Formally named its general? Bigger. Promotion to Major General? Bigger. The Za Lord becomes Winter Knight and increased numbers of Wild Fae flock to his banner? Bigger.
As Harry grows more powerful and increases the responsibility for the guard, Toot will keep growing more powerful himself.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
Toot is bigger because he keeps doing things in service to Harry out of proportion to his size. Like attacking the Skinwalker. And because he's hitched his star to Harry, so as Harry grows, so does Toot.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
I kind of hope he raps the romance plot up next book, but since he made a point of prolonging it just now I expect it to go on until Murphy gets killed the second after it's all sorted out just to kick things off for the big finale...
Just wondering, do we know of a definite number of books? Since you mention "Big Finale". And I can totally see the whole Murphy gets put out of commission right after everything gets resolved between them...
There are supposed to be 20ish case books then an "epic" trilogy finale. The final three are supposed to be named Stars and Stones, Empty Night, and Hell's Bells in some particular order. Personally I think it'll go Hell's Bells to be ring in the beginning of the end, Stars and Stones to finally reveal something about the importance of Harry's birth, and Empty Night to signify the end of the chaos that has building for so long now.
Regarding Toot, I believe that one of the books says that one way a Fae gets more powerful is striking bargains and deals. There have been a whooole lot of pizza deals through the series.
Personally, I think if the characters had spent too much time with the OMG Harry's alive thing, it would have taken a lot of time to further the plot. This one was classic in the laying out of multiple possible plotlines and creating the OMG WTF Situation that HAS to be dealt with within a crazy short amount of time.
I dunno about the Lash theories. The goodbye there was beautiful, poignant and gave me a "closure" impression. besides which, he'd have the symbol of the coin burned into him somewhere, no??
Mouse is still my favorite character. His greeting scene was priceless.
I totally want a short story to find out what the Molly/Svartalve story is...
My greatest disappointment was his not seeing Maggie...
And I'm kinda tired of the darker more cynical Murphy. She needs to get it together. Butters is Vanilla too, you don't see him falling apart.
I can't wait to see what the Carpenter family reaction is. And I'd love to see more of Daniel. Is it possible when he matures a bit he could take up his father's sword? And why the Heck is Murhpy so resistant to Esperacchius anyway?? Geez, it's a freakin' calling...
Personally, I think if the characters had spent too much time with the OMG Harry's alive thing, it would have taken a lot of time to further the plot. This one was classic in the laying out of multiple possible plotlines and creating the OMG WTF Situation that HAS to be dealt with within a crazy short amount of time.
I dunno about the Lash theories. The goodbye there was beautiful, poignant and gave me a "closure" impression. besides which, he'd have the symbol of the coin burned into him somewhere, no??
Mouse is still my favorite character. His greeting scene was priceless.
I totally want a short story to find out what the Molly/Svartalve story is...
My greatest disappointment was his not seeing Maggie...
And I'm kinda tired of the darker more cynical Murphy. She needs to get it together. Butters is Vanilla too, you don't see him falling apart.
I can't wait to see what the Carpenter family reaction is. And I'd love to see more of Daniel. Is it possible when he matures a bit he could take up his father's sword? And why the Heck is Murhpy so resistant to Esperacchius anyway?? Geez, it's a freakin' calling...
K, rant over,
Butters isn't in love with a man who died.
Murphy is resistant to the Sword of Hope because she's struggling to feel any hope these days.
Personally, I think if the characters had spent too much time with the OMG Harry's alive thing, it would have taken a lot of time to further the plot. This one was classic in the laying out of multiple possible plotlines and creating the OMG WTF Situation that HAS to be dealt with within a crazy short amount of time.
I dunno about the Lash theories. The goodbye there was beautiful, poignant and gave me a "closure" impression. besides which, he'd have the symbol of the coin burned into him somewhere, no??
Mouse is still my favorite character. His greeting scene was priceless.
I totally want a short story to find out what the Molly/Svartalve story is...
My greatest disappointment was his not seeing Maggie...
And I'm kinda tired of the darker more cynical Murphy. She needs to get it together. Butters is Vanilla too, you don't see him falling apart.
I can't wait to see what the Carpenter family reaction is. And I'd love to see more of Daniel. Is it possible when he matures a bit he could take up his father's sword? And why the Heck is Murhpy so resistant to Esperacchius anyway?? Geez, it's a freakin' calling...
K, rant over,
Lash
Well we know for a fact that Lash is still around because Jim has actually said so. He said there was a reference to Lash making an appearance in Ghost Story but wasn't mentioned by name. The branding of Lasciel's name being gone from Harry's hand likely has to do with the fact that Lash exercised her own will (possibly free will) instead of that of Lasciel and has severed her connection to the coin.
The bizarre and out-of-place conversation on homosexuality in this one makes me think Butcher would do well to make Daniel Carpenter gay, Michael not care, and True Love between whoever the boyfriend ends up being protect against white court vampires. Just to settle the issue.
That would just be more out of place stuff, since we can assume it would work anyway. We already have Harry's never ending (non) love life and emo Thomas that just finally got taken care of. We can leave out any more.
Echoing Fearbreed's explanation on Lash/the mark. It would make sense.
Also Butters hasn't been through 1/2 the stuff Murphy has, a big one noted by Gandalf.
He was losing his shit when Andi may have been dying, much less did.
That would just be more out of place stuff, since we can assume it would work anyway. We already have Harry's never ending (non) love life and emo Thomas that just finally got taken care of. We can leave out any more.
Echoing Fearbreed's explanation on Lash/the mark. It would make sense.
Also Butters hasn't been through 1/2 the stuff Murphy has, a big one noted by Gandalf.
He was losing his shit when Andi may have been dying, much less did.
Ok, did I miss a really big line here?
I recall Andi getting a head injury that left her dazed, but I don't recall her dying.
Or am I just misinterpreting what you said?
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
That would just be more out of place stuff, since we can assume it would work anyway. We already have Harry's never ending (non) love life and emo Thomas that just finally got taken care of. We can leave out any more.
Echoing Fearbreed's explanation on Lash/the mark. It would make sense.
Also Butters hasn't been through 1/2 the stuff Murphy has, a big one noted by Gandalf.
He was losing his shit when Andi may have been dying, much less did.
Ok, did I miss a really big line here?
I recall Andi getting a head injury that left her dazed, but I don't recall her dying.
Or am I just misinterpreting what you said?
The 2nd.
There may have been "Bleeding into her brain." ergo death. He was starting to panic over her concussion when they had to get a move on to save everyone's lives, including hers. If she straight did die he'd be a basket case probably worse than Murph.
I don't think we actually saw Andi after that, though, so...maybe he was right and she IS dead...or did we see her again?
McCoy taught Harry to respect the Laws of Magic, but more precisely, Harry reveres magic. He believes in it the way Michael and Father Forthill believe in God. Dresden repeatedly goes on a ranting tangent about how wrong and fucked up he thinks it is to pervert the creative force of magic to kill creatures with a soul.
McCoy does not give one shit about killing hundreds of living, breathing people with magic, despite teaching Harry otherwise for nearly a decade.
I don't know about that.
There's a difference between not giving a shit about killing, and recognizing that sometimes you have to do bad shit to save the day.
If he hadn't blown up Ortega and his crew, Ortega most certainly would have caused a shitload more problems down the line, far more than what damage Ebenezer caused by taking them out.
The red court was murdering their people at every opportunity, left and right. It was a sound decision, albeit one with casualties.
After doing what he's done for as long as he has, I'm sure it's gotten easier for him to do it, but I doubt he'd be doing it if it wasn't a job that needed doing.
I'm sure he wishes the council didn't need a guy like him to do their dirty work. But someone's gotta do it.
Changes was all about Harry learning this lesson the hard way.
Regarding Toot, I believe that one of the books says that one way a Fae gets more powerful is striking bargains and deals. There have been a whooole lot of pizza deals through the series.
Yeah, I figured he was getting bigger and more powerful because of his growing influence among the fae. He's still a pint sized twerp, but working for Harry has made him one of the most powerful twerps of his ilk, and his size has changed to reflect this.
Since the laws seem to be both political and metaphysical in nature, I imagine the Blackstaff itself "absorbs" the Dark Side consequences of violating them. So McCoy just has to deal with the mundane consequences; personal, psychological, etc. Which would be pretty intense given...
He straight up death-rays like 200 people in Changes.
Meh, he seemed just fine afterwards, though. And if he and others have been doing stuff like that for awhile you'd think the Council would know about the side affects (like the black stuff on his wrist).
But speaking of black magic and McCoy:
He dropped a satellite onto the vampires. He just moved it. He killed them with a big ball of metal, not magic. So was that black magic? I suppose the black wrist thing will come back up and we'll get more into this stuff.
The bizarre and out-of-place conversation on homosexuality in this one makes me think Butcher would do well to make Daniel Carpenter gay, Michael not care, and True Love between whoever the boyfriend ends up being protect against white court vampires. Just to settle the issue.
I think this is very unlikely given his reaction to the white court vamp near the beginning of Ghost Story. Can't remember her name right now.
The bizarre and out-of-place conversation on homosexuality in this one makes me think Butcher would do well to make Daniel Carpenter gay, Michael not care, and True Love between whoever the boyfriend ends up being protect against white court vampires. Just to settle the issue.
Yeah, that was a really weird conversation
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Yeah, the conversation about homosexuality was way out-of-place. I was sitting there thinking, "Really, Jim Butcher?"
On the one hand, I would appreciate him doing something that would make it retroactively relevant. On the other hand, it's possible such an attempt would just exacerbate the out-of-placeness.
It just felt like a guy trying to say why the gays should be free to do their own thing, and their own thing is having trashy anonymous sex in parks.
And yeah, that's a little ungenerous, but Butcher doesn't exactly have a great track record here re: Teh Gays
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
warbanWho the Hoof do you think we are?Registered Userregular
McCoy :
Even though McCoy is subverting the effects of black magic with the staff I still think hes going to end up paying the price of using the black magic. I see McCoy ending up with a fate worse than death before the books are over. I suspect that while the black staff has protected him from everything he has done with it, it's recorded somewhere and there will still be a cost at some point.
He dropped a satellite onto the vampires. He just moved it. He killed them with a big ball of metal, not magic. So was that black magic? I suppose the black wrist thing will come back up and we'll get more into this stuff.
I'd say that still qualifies as killing with magic, and therefore the council would see it as black magic had they not already sanctioned it. That said, since we're talking about the council, it's entirely possible that they might be more concerned about the actual letter rather than the spirit of the law, in which case I think it's just garden variety dropping something on someone's head.
re: the park scene: I think it was a case of Butcher trying to say that Harry doesn't care what people do with consenting adults and applying his usual level of finesse and grace to it. Going by how other issues have worked out, I'd expect that a second or third shot at it will end up working out fairly well.
Meh, he seemed just fine afterwards, though. And if he and others have been doing stuff like that for awhile you'd think the Council would know about the side affects (like the black stuff on his wrist).
But speaking of black magic and McCoy:
He dropped a satellite onto the vampires. He just moved it. He killed them with a big ball of metal, not magic. So was that black magic? I suppose the black wrist thing will come back up and we'll get more into this stuff.
He used magic to move that satellite to drop on the vampires.
He dropped a satellite onto the vampires. He just moved it. He killed them with a big ball of metal, not magic. So was that black magic? I suppose the black wrist thing will come back up and we'll get more into this stuff.
I'd say that still qualifies as killing with magic, and therefore the council would see it as black magic had they not already sanctioned it. That said, since we're talking about the council, it's entirely possible that they might be more concerned about the actual letter rather than the spirit of the law, in which case I think it's just garden variety dropping something on someone's head.
re: the park scene: I think it was a case of Butcher trying to say that Harry doesn't care what people do with consenting adults and applying his usual level of finesse and grace to it. Going by how other issues have worked out, I'd expect that a second or third shot at it will end up working out fairly well.
These are wizards. They get their jollies from adhering to the strict letter of the law, while dancing a merry jig on the intent. Just like the rest of the Nevernever crowd seems to.
All McCoy did was disrupt a piece of technology. It was certainly fortuitous that the physics involved afterwords dropped said piece of technology in the middle of a Vampire gathering, but not magical.
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NogsCrap, crap, mega crap.Crap, crap, mega crap.Registered Userregular
I think the main problem is saying that the Outsiders are actually behind everything just makes you go, "Well, ok, but in that case Harry's been schooling their ass ever since before book 1, so... Why are they a threat again?" It doesn't make them seem like a vast and frightening conspiracy, it makes them seem like the Cubs.
A thought that I've put absolutely no thought into:
What if Harry is a "carrier" for Nem--err, the adversary -- in the sense that he can serve as a vector for it to attempt infection (with varying degrees of success and/or failure)? In that case, the small fries like Victor Sells, Kravos, etc. have been intentionally sacrificed as pawns in the adversary's strategy to empower and elevate Harry, with the intention to either start infecting the major players through him (major players he probably never would have encountered without the series of events in the early books) or to try and seize final control of Harry's mind once he's reached the peak of his power an authority.
Harry is infected in a way, but because the adversary hasn't ASSUMED DIRECT CONTROL or whatever, Rashid wasn't able to detect it at the gates.
Likely candidates for communicating the infection to Harry in this scenario: DuMorne and/or Elaine.
i like this kinda
DuMorne infects Elaine which is what harry sees. The adversary had taken her over and thats why should looked all mind-controlled.
DuMorne summoned Walks Behind, and maybe Walks Behind implanted something in Harry.
But then Elaine runs away and is hidden where else but
Posts
Kumori.
Dead Beat/Turncoat/White Night spoilers:
I'd say Cowl is definitely not Peabody. Peabody evinced no particularly destructive magical skills, relying almost entirely on fairly subtle mind manipulation.
I like Simon Pietrovich for Cowl. He was Justin DuMorne's mentor, so it's easy to link him to Outsider activity.
Cowl somehow knew Harry had Bob, Kemmler's former assistant, which everyone thought had been destroyed after Kemmler's death, but Justin could have confided to his old mentor, Simon, that he had recovered the skull.
Simon is a specialist on vampires, so his 'death' in the opening act of the war with the Red Court is very convenient for them. Also, in White Knight, Cowl shows up with Outsider involvement once again, trying to end the peace talks between the White Council and the Red Court by removing the White Court leadership serving as intermediaries for the negotiations.
Oh no. Pizza is important to the Fae because of what's in it: bread and salt and meat and milk. Every time they eat a pizza, they're accepting those things from Harry, and effectively swearing fealty again. Every pizza binds the Fae a little tighter to Harry.
Regarding Toot-Toot's stature:
As Harry grows more powerful and increases the responsibility for the guard, Toot will keep growing more powerful himself.
He'll get a sword crafted with soul fire and winter ice. It'll be named "Icy Hot."
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Just wondering, do we know of a definite number of books? Since you mention "Big Finale". And I can totally see the whole Murphy gets put out of commission right after everything gets resolved between them...
I dunno about the Lash theories. The goodbye there was beautiful, poignant and gave me a "closure" impression. besides which, he'd have the symbol of the coin burned into him somewhere, no??
Mouse is still my favorite character. His greeting scene was priceless.
I totally want a short story to find out what the Molly/Svartalve story is...
My greatest disappointment was his not seeing Maggie...
And I'm kinda tired of the darker more cynical Murphy. She needs to get it together. Butters is Vanilla too, you don't see him falling apart.
I can't wait to see what the Carpenter family reaction is. And I'd love to see more of Daniel. Is it possible when he matures a bit he could take up his father's sword? And why the Heck is Murhpy so resistant to Esperacchius anyway?? Geez, it's a freakin' calling...
K, rant over,
Murphy is resistant to the Sword of Hope because she's struggling to feel any hope these days.
Lash
Echoing Fearbreed's explanation on Lash/the mark. It would make sense.
Also Butters hasn't been through 1/2 the stuff Murphy has, a big one noted by Gandalf.
Ok, did I miss a really big line here?
Or am I just misinterpreting what you said?
The 2nd.
I don't think we actually saw Andi after that, though, so...maybe he was right and she IS dead...or did we see her again?
I don't know about that.
If he hadn't blown up Ortega and his crew, Ortega most certainly would have caused a shitload more problems down the line, far more than what damage Ebenezer caused by taking them out.
The red court was murdering their people at every opportunity, left and right. It was a sound decision, albeit one with casualties.
After doing what he's done for as long as he has, I'm sure it's gotten easier for him to do it, but I doubt he'd be doing it if it wasn't a job that needed doing.
I'm sure he wishes the council didn't need a guy like him to do their dirty work. But someone's gotta do it.
Changes was all about Harry learning this lesson the hard way.
Yeah, I figured he was getting bigger and more powerful because of his growing influence among the fae. He's still a pint sized twerp, but working for Harry has made him one of the most powerful twerps of his ilk, and his size has changed to reflect this.
But speaking of black magic and McCoy:
I think this is very unlikely given his reaction to the white court vamp near the beginning of Ghost Story. Can't remember her name right now.
Flamma inferno
Igne cutis
Yeah, that was a really weird conversation
On the one hand, I would appreciate him doing something that would make it retroactively relevant. On the other hand, it's possible such an attempt would just exacerbate the out-of-placeness.
I don't have the book in front of me now, but I think I remember him being distracted at some point by her... feminine wiles.
Flamma inferno
Igne cutis
And yeah, that's a little ungenerous, but Butcher doesn't exactly have a great track record here re: Teh Gays
Haven't reread them in a year or so though, so I could be completely forgetting something.
Flamma inferno
Igne cutis
re: the park scene: I think it was a case of Butcher trying to say that Harry doesn't care what people do with consenting adults and applying his usual level of finesse and grace to it. Going by how other issues have worked out, I'd expect that a second or third shot at it will end up working out fairly well.
All McCoy did was disrupt a piece of technology. It was certainly fortuitous that the physics involved afterwords dropped said piece of technology in the middle of a Vampire gathering, but not magical.
i like this kinda
DuMorne summoned Walks Behind, and maybe Walks Behind implanted something in Harry.
But then Elaine runs away and is hidden where else but
Summer
right next to Aurora
who then goes insane.
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