I don't think Butter's sword would work on a Red Court Vampire the same way it would on a White Court. Red's ARE monsters once they turn and human before with a sickness. White's are apparently human with monsters attached.
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daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
Yeah, so finished Brief Cases. Good stuff, I do like it when he writes from other characters' points of view. He's not super duper the best at it, a lot of them do seem to come off as similar to Harry in some way or other, but the characters are unique enough that it still works.
The thing with Molly and her mantle being particular about her sex life is kind of derpy and stupid, but it's the sort of derpy and stupid that's pretty on-brand for the Fae in this setting. Nearly murderizing Carlos seemed a bit excessive since a knee to the groin and then throwing him through the nearest wall would have done as well, but Winter's gonna Winter I guess.
The zoo trip was good fun, but it's kind of disturbing that there's an entire ecosystem of phages that prey on children and no adults know anything about it. Also, Mouse seemed a tad dumber than what his dialogue in Changes implied, but that might just have been the french fries.
Whoever created the Dresdenverse has some 'splaining to do, because it seems like their solution for protecting the material world from the Outsiders was to create a buffer space that is marginally more friendly than 40k's Immaterium and then populate it with the predatory sex maniacs of Winter in order to provide unlimited troops for the meat grinder. Then they slapped in slightly less predatory Summer types to protect humanity from the Winter Fae. I assume that Summer Fae eating gorillas were in the mix at some point, but didn't make the cut.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
that reveal in brief cases about Molly really made me question the previous Winter Lady actions and i'm not sure everything lines up consistently.
Yeah, I don't think that's something Butcher had planned out from the beginning. Like a whole lot in the series. Worst case scenario you can invoke Nemesis to try and handwave things away.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
I don't think Butter's sword would work on a Red Court Vampire the same way it would on a White Court. Red's ARE monsters once they turn and human before with a sickness. White's are apparently human with monsters attached.
I was thinking infectees, not fully-committed Reds.
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
I don't think Butter's sword would work on a Red Court Vampire the same way it would on a White Court. Red's ARE monsters once they turn and human before with a sickness. White's are apparently human with monsters attached.
I was thinking infectees, not fully-committed Reds.
Butters Sword:
If there's any sense of consistency, the sword will be able to kill the demon in Thomas's kid (thus saving Justine) as white court vampires don't turn until their first feeding and can be 'freed' if their first feeding is with someone who they share the True Love buff with
Thomas and Lara couldn't be saved anymore than a full Red Court. They made their "choice"
I don't think Butter's sword would work on a Red Court Vampire the same way it would on a White Court. Red's ARE monsters once they turn and human before with a sickness. White's are apparently human with monsters attached.
I was thinking infectees, not fully-committed Reds.
Butters Sword:
If there's any sense of consistency, the sword will be able to kill the demon in Thomas's kid (thus saving Justine) as white court vampires don't turn until their first feeding and can be 'freed' if their first feeding is with someone who they share the True Love buff with
Thomas and Lara couldn't be saved anymore than a full Red Court. They made their "choice"
Sort of.
But the Hunger is still always described as a separate entity, unlike Red Court vampires.
I don't think Butter's sword would work on a Red Court Vampire the same way it would on a White Court. Red's ARE monsters once they turn and human before with a sickness. White's are apparently human with monsters attached.
I was thinking infectees, not fully-committed Reds.
Butters Sword:
If there's any sense of consistency, the sword will be able to kill the demon in Thomas's kid (thus saving Justine) as white court vampires don't turn until their first feeding and can be 'freed' if their first feeding is with someone who they share the True Love buff with
Thomas and Lara couldn't be saved anymore than a full Red Court. They made their "choice"
Sort of.
But the Hunger is still always described as a separate entity, unlike Red Court vampires.
Yeah, that's why I don't expect any actual consistency
Yeah, that's why I don't expect any actual consistency
To expand on this thought, I want to add that while I would truly love for the whole of the Dresden Files to be internally consistent and have a satisfying experience with every outing that leads to a breathtaking and well-earned conclusion.. it's just not going to happen. And while that's disappointing, it's something that I have to accept to continue enjoying the series.
Stephen King couldn't do it for the Dark Tower and he had more resources and less pressure to work with than Butcher will have in his entire life.
Sir Terry Pratchett ended up writing an entire novel lampshading the many times he had failed to keep Discworld consistent.
So while I may grouse and complain about whatever happens next, I don't need to grade Butcher too harshly. If anything, I get much more apoplectic about things that Butcher's editors should have caught.
Harry still doesn't know that Thomas and Lara are Venatori, even though he called out the cover organization Venatori Umbrororum with Lovecraft specifically in the book.
Lara also engaged Harry's services from Mab before Harry or the reader knew about Thomas' attack on the Svartalves, and possibly before the attack took place. Her motivation for that was never explained, if I recall correctly.
This seems to leave open the possibility that what Thomas did was motivated by the Oblivion War in some way.
Harry still doesn't know that Thomas and Lara are Venatori, even though he called out the cover organization Venatori Umbrororum with Lovecraft specifically in the book.
Lara also engaged Harry's services from Mab before Harry or the reader knew about Thomas' attack on the Svartalves, and possibly before the attack took place. Her motivation for that was never explained, if I recall correctly.
This seems to leave open the possibility that what Thomas did was motivated by the Oblivion War in some way.
A good point - there wasn't any reason for her to cash in favors from Winter for Harry specifically if she didn't have reason to think she'd want his help on stuff. Harry did seem to have half caught on to that though, pointing out that Lara making requests of him directly gives Mab plausible deniability.
Harry still doesn't know that Thomas and Lara are Venatori, even though he called out the cover organization Venatori Umbrororum with Lovecraft specifically in the book.
Lara also engaged Harry's services from Mab before Harry or the reader knew about Thomas' attack on the Svartalves, and possibly before the attack took place. Her motivation for that was never explained, if I recall correctly.
This seems to leave open the possibility that what Thomas did was motivated by the Oblivion War in some way.
A good point - there wasn't any reason for her to cash in favors from Winter for Harry specifically if she didn't have reason to think she'd want his help on stuff. Harry did seem to have half caught on to that though, pointing out that Lara making requests of him directly gives Mab plausible deniability.
Harry still doesn't know that Thomas and Lara are Venatori, even though he called out the cover organization Venatori Umbrororum with Lovecraft specifically in the book.
Lara also engaged Harry's services from Mab before Harry or the reader knew about Thomas' attack on the Svartalves, and possibly before the attack took place. Her motivation for that was never explained, if I recall correctly.
This seems to leave open the possibility that what Thomas did was motivated by the Oblivion War in some way.
I think Butcher's plan was for Harry to never be in the loop on that particular conflict if just because of how it operates as basically Seventh Law Squared and its relatively slow pace. If that's the case working it into the main storyline would probably get more than a little awkward.
not only have at least one common interest between them - in a setting where blood ties can be a Big Deal, mind - but also know that if they went hostile against one another it would be an "immediate existential crisis for one or both" kind of mess. It's in both their best interests not to piss each other off too much unless someone crosses a line, which is what Lara thought Harry did on Demonreach.
(Also, I suspect they simply like each other more than they're politically able to admit.)
not only have at least one common interest between them - in a setting where blood ties can be a Big Deal, mind - but also know that if they went hostile against one another it would be an "immediate existential crisis for one or both" kind of mess. It's in both their best interests not to piss each other off too much unless someone crosses a line, which is what Lara thought Harry did on Demonreach.
(Also, I suspect they simply like each other more than they're politically able to admit.)
I'm still not entirely happy with the Demonreach bit. It really wasn't necessary to have that whole suffering part of sealing Thomas.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Eh.
There's no way that she'd agree to it, even though it's a good plan. He's literally beyond her reach now.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Harry specifies Thomas is to be held in stasis until he returns to release him, and he isn't corrected by Demonreach over that. He could probably just order him released.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Harry specifies Thomas is to be held in stasis until he returns to release him, and he isn't corrected by Demonreach over that. He could probably just order him released.
I don't think Harry can be wrong. Pretty sure the intellectus applies.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Eh.
There's no way that she'd agree to it, even though it's a good plan. He's literally beyond her reach now.
I don't think I agree.
If he isn't on the island then the entire White Court is gonna get fucked politically. The thing with the island is it so severely fucks with divination that nobody will know he is there. If he has to be on the island then he's going to get eaten alive by his demon if he isn't in stasis. Lara knows that Harry isn't going to let her send out some cattle for him to kill. The only other option would be for her to let Thomas feed on herself and I don't think she's willing to put herself in such a vulnerable position to her brother.
It's a shit situation with no good choices but Harry's plan appears to be the best of the bad choices. Lara should have realized that. I also have trouble believing that Lara has absolutely zero clue just how fucked she is regarding fighting on the island. That does not seem like something she'd overlook to gather intel on.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Eh.
There's no way that she'd agree to it, even though it's a good plan. He's literally beyond her reach now.
I don't think I agree.
If he isn't on the island then the entire White Court is gonna get fucked politically. The thing with the island is it so severely fucks with divination that nobody will know he is there. If he has to be on the island then he's going to get eaten alive by his demon if he isn't in stasis. Lara knows that Harry isn't going to let her send out some cattle for him to kill. The only other option would be for her to let Thomas feed on herself and I don't think she's willing to put herself in such a vulnerable position to her brother.
It's a shit situation with no good choices but Harry's plan appears to be the best of the bad choices. Lara should have realized that. I also have trouble believing that Lara has absolutely zero clue just how fucked she is regarding fighting on the island. That does not seem like something she'd overlook to gather intel on.
There aren't that many people who've seen Harry pull that kind of stuff, or even know what the island is to begin with.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Eh.
There's no way that she'd agree to it, even though it's a good plan. He's literally beyond her reach now.
I don't think I agree.
If he isn't on the island then the entire White Court is gonna get fucked politically. The thing with the island is it so severely fucks with divination that nobody will know he is there. If he has to be on the island then he's going to get eaten alive by his demon if he isn't in stasis. Lara knows that Harry isn't going to let her send out some cattle for him to kill. The only other option would be for her to let Thomas feed on herself and I don't think she's willing to put herself in such a vulnerable position to her brother.
It's a shit situation with no good choices but Harry's plan appears to be the best of the bad choices. Lara should have realized that. I also have trouble believing that Lara has absolutely zero clue just how fucked she is regarding fighting on the island. That does not seem like something she'd overlook to gather intel on.
There aren't that many people who've seen Harry pull that kind of stuff, or even know what the island is to begin with.
So I'm working with two assumptions here: Lara was all about that intel as a source of power and influence and she's hired a freaking Valkyrie. If she doesn't have an intel dossier on the brother of her brother and major wizard of her home town she is pretty stupid. While I do think not lots of folks know a bunch about Demonreach I think it is known enough about that she should have a good idea it is serious juju. She went after Harry with a knife. It was just her being stupid because the book needed that scene. It wasn't earned and it didn't do much of anything except insert some pointless tension between Lara and Harry.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Eh.
There's no way that she'd agree to it, even though it's a good plan. He's literally beyond her reach now.
I don't think I agree.
If he isn't on the island then the entire White Court is gonna get fucked politically. The thing with the island is it so severely fucks with divination that nobody will know he is there. If he has to be on the island then he's going to get eaten alive by his demon if he isn't in stasis. Lara knows that Harry isn't going to let her send out some cattle for him to kill. The only other option would be for her to let Thomas feed on herself and I don't think she's willing to put herself in such a vulnerable position to her brother.
It's a shit situation with no good choices but Harry's plan appears to be the best of the bad choices. Lara should have realized that. I also have trouble believing that Lara has absolutely zero clue just how fucked she is regarding fighting on the island. That does not seem like something she'd overlook to gather intel on.
There aren't that many people who've seen Harry pull that kind of stuff, or even know what the island is to begin with.
So I'm working with two assumptions here: Lara was all about that intel as a source of power and influence and she's hired a freaking Valkyrie. If she doesn't have an intel dossier on the brother of her brother and major wizard of her home town she is pretty stupid. While I do think not lots of folks know a bunch about Demonreach I think it is known enough about that she should have a good idea it is serious juju. She went after Harry with a knife. It was just her being stupid because the book needed that scene. It wasn't earned and it didn't do much of anything except insert some pointless tension between Lara and Harry.
Aren't knives, like, Lara's thing? Like Murphy and her P90.
It's not necessary, but also makes sense given the place is, as stated, a prison for really bad things. I don't think Lara cared about or even knew about the pain part, either. The entire sequence suffers from the problem it have taken all of 3 seconds to tell her what he planned, but then she can't attack him.
I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Harry specifies Thomas is to be held in stasis until he returns to release him, and he isn't corrected by Demonreach over that. He could probably just order him released.
Demonreach:
Harry specifically has thoughts about Demonreach keeping things from him. So it being silent means nothing. Not that you're wrong either, we just lack the information to tell at this point.
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Demonreach, Peacetalks
What if Alfred was Nemesis infected all along!
Though we do know that Dresden has now given the island two names, and that naming things can change them/has power. Would Demonreach be able to protect itself if Harry wasn't a starborn and was infected?
Actually, does what we've learned about the starborn jive with all of the Nemesis stuff from Cold Days? Why does Mother Summer warn him about attracting the attention of Nemesis if he's immune?
WhiteZinfandelYour insidesLet me show you themRegistered Userregular
Peace Talks
I wish Lara had responded a bit more intelligently to seeing Thomas more or less get disintegrated (from her perspective) but I can rationalize that by saying that she'd had a long and physically/emotionally taxing day of getting beat to shit by the Einherjar, conducting the rescue, being confronted with an emergent existential threat in Ethniu, and giving Thomas much of her energy on the boat so he would recover.
It's a recurring theme in the book for powerful and normally controlled characters to hit an emotional trigger and make a bad decision. Ethniu said the right things, then Mab lost her cool and (IIRC) just ran straight at her in a blind rage and got fucked up. Ebenezar's past traumas regarding the White Court Vampires were so strong that he tried to kill Lara+Thomas, lost control, and did accidentally kill Harry's body-double. Lara, at the end of a long shitty exhausting day, saw Harry vaporize the brother she had more of an emotional tie to than she liked to admit... and just bumrushed him on his home turf. It fits. I don't entirely like it, but it fits.
Though we do know that Dresden has now given the island two names, and that naming things can change them/has power. Would Demonreach be able to protect itself if Harry wasn't a starborn and was infected?
Actually, does what we've learned about the starborn jive with all of the Nemesis stuff from Cold Days? Why does Mother Summer warn him about attracting the attention of Nemesis if he's immune?
He's immune to getting whammied by Nemesis mind bullets.
But he's not immune to getting real bulleted by people mind-whammied by Nemesis.
I wish Lara had responded a bit more intelligently to seeing Thomas more or less get disintegrated (from her perspective) but I can rationalize that by saying that she'd had a long and physically/emotionally taxing day of getting beat to shit by the Einherjar, conducting the rescue, being confronted with an emergent existential threat in Ethniu, and giving Thomas much of her energy on the boat so he would recover.
It's a recurring theme in the book for powerful and normally controlled characters to hit an emotional trigger and make a bad decision. Ethniu said the right things, then Mab lost her cool and (IIRC) just ran straight at her in a blind rage and got fucked up. Ebenezar's past traumas regarding the White Court Vampires were so strong that he tried to kill Lara+Thomas, lost control, and did accidentally kill Harry's body-double. Lara, at the end of a long shitty exhausting day, saw Harry vaporize the brother she had more of an emotional tie to than she liked to admit... and just bumrushed him on his home turf. It fits. I don't entirely like it, but it fits.
The action is not the problem, though: (Peace talks)
It's the setup leading to it. Of which there was none. Harry didn't mention this at all during the plan? Lara would totally agree to "Safe and out of reach for awhile or death.". Even if she didn't like it.
I wish Lara had responded a bit more intelligently to seeing Thomas more or less get disintegrated (from her perspective) but I can rationalize that by saying that she'd had a long and physically/emotionally taxing day of getting beat to shit by the Einherjar, conducting the rescue, being confronted with an emergent existential threat in Ethniu, and giving Thomas much of her energy on the boat so he would recover.
It's a recurring theme in the book for powerful and normally controlled characters to hit an emotional trigger and make a bad decision. Ethniu said the right things, then Mab lost her cool and (IIRC) just ran straight at her in a blind rage and got fucked up. Ebenezar's past traumas regarding the White Court Vampires were so strong that he tried to kill Lara+Thomas, lost control, and did accidentally kill Harry's body-double. Lara, at the end of a long shitty exhausting day, saw Harry vaporize the brother she had more of an emotional tie to than she liked to admit... and just bumrushed him on his home turf. It fits. I don't entirely like it, but it fits.
The action is not the problem, though: (Peace talks)
It's the setup leading to it. Of which there was none. Harry didn't mention this at all during the plan? Lara would totally agree to "Safe and out of reach for awhile or death.". Even if she didn't like it.
Are we all forgetting the part where Lara's first thought is she is actually not OK with this obvious plan by the insidious Harry Dresden to have leverage over her and basically link his continued survival to Thomas'?
she fed on that guard during the rescue, even if she passed energy to Thomas i don't think she was starved or out of control. At least, the way it is written it came across, to me, that butcher needed lara and harry to be antagonistic to each other, instead of cooperative and circumstances landed that way. Events didn't naturally build to it.
I wish Lara had responded a bit more intelligently to seeing Thomas more or less get disintegrated (from her perspective) but I can rationalize that by saying that she'd had a long and physically/emotionally taxing day of getting beat to shit by the Einherjar, conducting the rescue, being confronted with an emergent existential threat in Ethniu, and giving Thomas much of her energy on the boat so he would recover.
It's a recurring theme in the book for powerful and normally controlled characters to hit an emotional trigger and make a bad decision. Ethniu said the right things, then Mab lost her cool and (IIRC) just ran straight at her in a blind rage and got fucked up. Ebenezar's past traumas regarding the White Court Vampires were so strong that he tried to kill Lara+Thomas, lost control, and did accidentally kill Harry's body-double. Lara, at the end of a long shitty exhausting day, saw Harry vaporize the brother she had more of an emotional tie to than she liked to admit... and just bumrushed him on his home turf. It fits. I don't entirely like it, but it fits.
The action is not the problem, though: (Peace talks)
It's the setup leading to it. Of which there was none. Harry didn't mention this at all during the plan? Lara would totally agree to "Safe and out of reach for awhile or death.". Even if she didn't like it.
Are we all forgetting the part where Lara's first thought is she is actually not OK with this obvious plan by the insidious Harry Dresden to have leverage over her and basically link his continued survival to Thomas'?
Because, again, there was no set up. If there was that wouldn't happen either.
I just been relistening to Proven Guilty and Murphy accuses Harry of loving to dance around questions and withhold information when he knew something that other people didn't and he responds it's like heroin for wizards. I just wonder if Jim is playing off that so that it comes back and bites Harry in the ass
she fed on that guard during the rescue, even if she passed energy to Thomas i don't think she was starved or out of control. At least, the way it is written it came across, to me, that butcher needed lara and harry to be antagonistic to each other, instead of cooperative and circumstances landed that way. Events didn't naturally build to it.
Just like
The Warden confrontation
and the
Blackstaff having a fucking hissy fit.
There is just so much of it in the book that feels baseless. I suppose Battlegrounds could reveal this to be A Thing but even then....I dunno.
McCoy losing it was at least built up some. Even if the end of the fight was a bit clunky, it at least started from a base that was established.
The Blackstaff isn't even wrong. Lara is going to fuck him over sooner or later. Thomas is (probably) unique in being able to trust a White. And even he gets iffy if he gets Hungry.
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The zoo trip was good fun, but it's kind of disturbing that there's an entire ecosystem of phages that prey on children and no adults know anything about it. Also, Mouse seemed a tad dumber than what his dialogue in Changes implied, but that might just have been the french fries.
Whoever created the Dresdenverse has some 'splaining to do, because it seems like their solution for protecting the material world from the Outsiders was to create a buffer space that is marginally more friendly than 40k's Immaterium and then populate it with the predatory sex maniacs of Winter in order to provide unlimited troops for the meat grinder. Then they slapped in slightly less predatory Summer types to protect humanity from the Winter Fae. I assume that Summer Fae eating gorillas were in the mix at some point, but didn't make the cut.
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Yeah, I don't think that's something Butcher had planned out from the beginning. Like a whole lot in the series. Worst case scenario you can invoke Nemesis to try and handwave things away.
Butters Sword:
Thomas and Lara couldn't be saved anymore than a full Red Court. They made their "choice"
Sort of.
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Svartalve time.
Yeah, that's why I don't expect any actual consistency
It's easier to call out the oglafs that are SFW.
Stephen King couldn't do it for the Dark Tower and he had more resources and less pressure to work with than Butcher will have in his entire life.
Sir Terry Pratchett ended up writing an entire novel lampshading the many times he had failed to keep Discworld consistent.
So while I may grouse and complain about whatever happens next, I don't need to grade Butcher too harshly. If anything, I get much more apoplectic about things that Butcher's editors should have caught.
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I am now picturing shenanigans that make the TV show a canon Alternate Universe, and I think I'm here for it
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Lara also engaged Harry's services from Mab before Harry or the reader knew about Thomas' attack on the Svartalves, and possibly before the attack took place. Her motivation for that was never explained, if I recall correctly.
This seems to leave open the possibility that what Thomas did was motivated by the Oblivion War in some way.
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Slightly tangential, but
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Well, the book following Battle Ground is going to be called
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(Also, I suspect they simply like each other more than they're politically able to admit.)
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I'm kind of wondering if there's even a way to release prisoners and if there is what does it entail. You wouldn't want to make it easy to let anything out of that place.
Eh.
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I don't think I agree.
It's a shit situation with no good choices but Harry's plan appears to be the best of the bad choices. Lara should have realized that. I also have trouble believing that Lara has absolutely zero clue just how fucked she is regarding fighting on the island. That does not seem like something she'd overlook to gather intel on.
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Demonreach:
Though we do know that Dresden has now given the island two names, and that naming things can change them/has power. Would Demonreach be able to protect itself if Harry wasn't a starborn and was infected?
Actually, does what we've learned about the starborn jive with all of the Nemesis stuff from Cold Days? Why does Mother Summer warn him about attracting the attention of Nemesis if he's immune?
It's a recurring theme in the book for powerful and normally controlled characters to hit an emotional trigger and make a bad decision. Ethniu said the right things, then Mab lost her cool and (IIRC) just ran straight at her in a blind rage and got fucked up. Ebenezar's past traumas regarding the White Court Vampires were so strong that he tried to kill Lara+Thomas, lost control, and did accidentally kill Harry's body-double. Lara, at the end of a long shitty exhausting day, saw Harry vaporize the brother she had more of an emotional tie to than she liked to admit... and just bumrushed him on his home turf. It fits. I don't entirely like it, but it fits.
But he's not immune to getting real bulleted by people mind-whammied by Nemesis.
The action is not the problem, though: (Peace talks)
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
Because, again, there was no set up. If there was that wouldn't happen either.
Just like
There is just so much of it in the book that feels baseless. I suppose Battlegrounds could reveal this to be A Thing but even then....I dunno.
The Blackstaff isn't even wrong. Lara is going to fuck him over sooner or later. Thomas is (probably) unique in being able to trust a White. And even he gets iffy if he gets Hungry.