I think you've blown this so called "power over Outsiders" thing out of proportion.

IIRC, Harry doesn't have any special power over Outsiders. What he has is the ability to even touch them at all. That is to say, they're not immune to his powers. That doesn't mean that he has this big advantage over them. He still has to best them. It just means that the chance of winning isn't 0.

 

"Boobs are near the center of the universe until you turn 25. Which is also when young men insurance rates go down. This is not a coincidence."

 

There were just so many good lines through the novel, I can in no way choose any to quote here. Brilliantly writing as always!

 

This seems a rather big stretch, but I will be the first to admit it has some logical basis.

The concept here just seems way too far out there to be a reasonable thing. I mean all he'd have to do is call someone powerless and he can stomp all over them, and that just doesn't strike me as the kind of plot device Butcher would use.

It's definitely plausible, and I can't think of anything that contradicts it, but it doesn't seem very likely.

 

If Dresden can gain power over another by 'Naming' them, it doesn't seem like it'd be anything quite so blunt. Maybe by Naming someone, he is exerting subconscious influence over them to bring them more in line with his moral worldview?

 

I don't think it's so much power over them as it somehow grants them self-determination. Lash, Bob, Mouse, and Ivy all charted new courses for themselves after they got their name, but they all chose their own destinations. (and I've got a theory that Mouse is actually the spirit that interbred with the Foo Dog line those monks maintain that popped in in puppy form to try to protect his/her descendents and then decided to stick around after they were rescued, but that's a whole other story)

But you might be onto something. He's used naming offensively. Shagnasty and the Ick leap to mind.

 

I think you guys are maybe taking this Naming thing a bit far. From my perspective its not an overwhelmingly powerful thing, like you seem to be making it out to be. Maybe the fact that when he gives things a unique name (shortening an existing one, or just going with something more situational) he in someway limits its power over him rather than gaining power over them. I hope thats how it works anyway, cause if it starts to go the way of Naming in the Kingkiller Chronicles then it'll just be too powerful when combined with his already existing powers.

 

Like I said: stretch.

I'm going to have to go over all of Dresden's previous fights. If he only starts kicking ass after throwing out a snarky nickname, then we'll have an answer.

We do know that names are powerful, as demonstrated with the skinwalker, and reinforced by Uriel. I doubt it's a matter of just tossing out a nickname makes Dresden invincible...

And yes, HWWB wasn't trying to kill him. He was pushing Harry, trying to change him, and according to the line in SK, capture him. At that point, DuMorne didn't want him dead, just angry and confused; maybe getting him confused helped with the entrallment spell.

I'd love to see the actual fight between Dresden and DuMorne, with Lea on the sidelines...

 

Seems unlikely for a number of reasons, already mentioned by others, but also because knowing a Name means not only knowing the name itself, but also inflection and assorted complications. Considering that Harry did not know the Name of most of the critters mentioned as evidence for the theory, it's highly implausible that he had the power to shorten or change them. For Ivy and Lash, the course they charted and the change the act of renaming them seemingly beget, can be explained psychologically: I remember this scene where Luccio talks about the history of the The Archive and why Dresden shouldn't get too close to her - well, he did, and that might have changed her, but it wasn't wrought by the magic of naming her Ivy. Ditto, Lash: as a Fallen, I'm sure she was used to a certain kind of response from the people she inhabited that Harry did not exhibit. Also, remember that the duration of her stay in his head - and his resistance - was something even Michael considered remarkable.

On topic, my favorite line has to be:

I love that whole damn chapter. And pretty much all scenes with Molly, and yes, even the Star Trek thingy, although why she's reconstruct the 60's one and not the one that played through the 90's, I can't really explain.

Also, considering I'm rereading some books:

 

Naming stuff: Has Butcher been reading Name of the Wind?

Lines: During the Evil Bob fight: "Maybe you could clarify what you mean by a relationship. Because I gotta tell you, Bob, I've, uh...I've been hurt"

And immediately after, "I have a strict rule about dating older men."

 

Hm. When I read "Be." I scratched my head and thought "Ehh, wouldn't 'I am' be a better fit and more dramatic? 'Be' 'fits' just as much I think, but 'I am' is somewhat more dramatic/appropriate I think?"

Did anyone else feel that way? That is; they would have prefered "I am" instead of "Be"?

 

'I Am' is internal. 'Be' is external. He's imposing his will upon the world, not himself.

 

I AM would have also had religious connotations that would be misleading. Unless Dresden is going to turn into the White God at some point.

 

Christ, I hope not.

 

I'm now cringing at some final scene involving Harry meeting God and it turns out to be Jim Butcher who then has a conversation with Harry, author to character.

 

Fantastic Four did it a few years back, when they met Jack Kirby in Heaven.

As long as Butcher doesn't pull a King and write himself into the story at all, I think it'll be okay.

 

I think 'Be' fits much better than 'I am', although that could just be because I'm a bit of an Eddings fan. Feels more definite.

 

And before that Grant Morrison did it in his run on Animal Man and it was brilliant, but this was in story about fictional character learning he's fictional and meeting his god (writer). Pulling this in DF would be weird considering its current themes.

Also, didn't Joe do this at the end of The Hero Trilogy? I think I remember fic where something like that happened after story having nothing to do with this kind of twist.

 

Joe probably got the idea from Stephen King, from whom he was borrowing quite a bit in those days. :awesome