You assume nemesis always assumes full control. We do not know if that is the case

 

Right. Cat Sith was almost able to kick Nemesis out by himself, and after Nemesis took over completely it no longer had access to Sith's full powers.

 

Lea was infected, and she retained enough awareness and sense of self to seek help from Mab before she was completely possessed. It seems powerfull entities can resist to some degree.

Not to mention that while Uriel did not have his grace, the angelic guardians around the house did. Uriel did say that he had essentially taken Michaels place, which means those angels were protecting Uriel from all supernatural threats (including Nemesis) while Michael was running around with Uriels Grace.

Not to mention Nemesis seems to need a vector for infection (such as an infected object or another infected person) anyway. Even ignoring the protections in place, there is no plausible way for Uriel to have been infected in the first place.

 

We are talking hypotheticals, but you make a good point. Then again, Nemesis is insidious. If he was riding co-pilot with Uriel for long enough I would bet good money that he could cause Uriel to Fall, whether by outright corrupting him or by tempting him to act in aid of people he isn't allowed to.

In another hypothetical situation, if Uriel was infected while without his Grace, Nemesis may have the ability to take over his mortal body and then receive the Grace with no input from archangel!Uriel needed. That's absolute worst case scenario though.

 

Speaking of which. This is a prompt thread. For discussions about Nemesis, go elsewhere.

(It's sorta fine to discuss AND provide a prompt.)

 

Alright... hypothetically, we don't know Uriel didn't leave the house. Maybe they were running a little short of spelt flour of something, and Charity took Mr. Sunshine on a tour of modern living before he strapped on his apron.

An archangel trying to understand warning labels and exact change could potentially be hilarious:

"This is what I'm trying to protect? You people are insane."

 

I vote for forgetting the whole Grace thing... I just screams of Supernatural to me and seems so incredible stupid, especially combined with how idiotic Uriel behaved without it.

 

Yeah, it reminded me waaaaaay too much of Supernatural. And quite frankly, I hate how that show handles Angels.

 

He had to act without nigh omniscience. I'm pretty sure that takes some getting used to. But anyways. I doubt what he did ever happens again. If it does, it'd suck.

 

Actually, more than that, he had to act with post-nigh omniscience while still under restrictions. He could act, but only within limits, which is why he runs into problems like someone asking him to go get the towels, at which point he turns to go get them and then stops because he's not supposed to know that.

Uriel was mortal for a day which let him do a lot of things, but he kept a lot of baggage, too.

 

Okay. A story set right after Skin Game. The heist gang that aren't trying to shoot one another go out for drinks. Hijinks ensue.

 

Since I finally finished Skin Game a few days ago and have been getting caught up with all the spoiler-y talk in here since, have a smexy prompt.

Dresden/Hannah, however many words necessary. Might be interesting to have Lasciel be the one reeling him.

 

We can be sure. The Warrior is canon, so the official line is that we've seen God doing stuff all the time. It's just subtle, and the narrative has never really followed it. It's ripple effects.

 

Actually, that only proves that the archangels act. Besides, God's shtick in the DF is free will, which generally means that he doesn't interfere, and likely means that when he does it's through his messengers.rw

 

I'm sorry, but at no point in that entire story did Uriel, or indeed any archangel, 'act.' Uriel didn't do anything. Him not doing anything was the reason Harry was pissed about it. The story gave plot and canon information, yes, but the point of the story was the conclusion, the wrap-up, where Harry railed at Uriel.

"I can understand it if you don't come to my aid, I'm a terrible fucking person. I've done dark things that I don't honestly regret. I'm not the kind of person who God acts through. I'm not the kind of person who gets saved. But you owed it to Michael, goddamit! He's done more for you and your cause than anyone else I've ever seen! Where was God acting to help him when his daughters were kidnapped? Where the hell were you? Where the hell was God?"

And of course, Uriel answers him. He points back at all of the events that Harry participated in throughout the story, things he thought nothing of, and said "that's where God was. He was acting through you. He was acting through Michael. He was acting through the both of you, and everyone else who was around you. God was there the whole time, making the best He could out of all the choices everyone was making for themselves."

Uriel even implies that it was God's doing that Harry was involved in the first place. Michael, forced to choose between the right path and taking revenge for his children being harmed, was placed in a position, perhaps one of the only positions he has, where he could have made the wrong choice. Where he could have broken one of the swords. But Harry was there to stop that, perhaps being the only person who could have stopped it. And not with violence or magic, but with words.

That was literally the whole point of The Warrior as a story, to show that. That's why it's important. It exists as part of the canon to explain where God is in the Dresdenverse, namely, three feet behind you and slightly to the left, shifting dice and flexing the wings of butterflies. Side Jobs is on my shelf, I could get you the exact quotes if you want.

[EDIT]

I reread the whole thing. To quote Uriel, "God isn't about making good things happen to you, or bad things happen to you or other people. God is all about you making choices, and exercising your free will."

Trying to see God in the Dresdenverse by counting up how many evil asses have been kicked is completely missing the point, because that's not where God is and it's not the primary thing He concerns Himself with. God works through the little things, like when Harry saved Michael by stopping him from murdering Father Douglas. Or when he helped to break a cycle of abuse three hundred years old. Or when he saved a man and a girl's life and set in motion events that would bind them closer together as a family than they ever had been before. Harry didn't realize he'd done any of those things. He was just present in the right place at the right time, and said a few words or did a simple thing that wound up changing people's lives.

Harry didn't see any of it as being that big of a deal. But according to Uriel, not only is it a big deal, it's the biggest deal. The everyday battles matter just as much as the apocalyptic ones. Arguably even more so.

Trying to find God by reading the Dresden Files and combing for cameo shots like looking for Lash in Ghost Stories is doomed to failure from the start. He's been there since book one, he'll be there through to the end, and the odds are good that, besides the things that happen to Harry specifically and personally, we won't ever get to see how anything God was doing plays out. God nickles and dimes the world towards being a better place. Big sweeping changes like what Nicodemus called up when he powered the circle to entrap Ivy aren't really in the cards. The swords themselves are about as overt as God personally ever gets.

If you're expecting Harry to end up eating nachos with Jesus or talk with God directly or something, you're better off reading Iron Druid.

 

Did you even read my post? That's exactly what I said.

 

As I read it, you were saying The Warrior was proof that the archangels were the ones pulling all the subtle strings. If that wasn't what you meant, I'm sorry, but The Warrior isn't proof of any sort that archangels act, because Uriel does nothing in it, nor does any other archangel. Again, that was part of Harry's bone of contention, that they seemed to leave Michael swinging in the wind.

 

Uriel acts by talking to Harry, reaffirming his trust in God and providing all the support he can without expending any power. Like you said, God doesn't have to act in big ways to have an effect on the world, and neither do the Archangels. I mean, 7 words turned Harry from suicidal to cautiously optimistic about his future.

God may or may not act in mysterious ways, but at the end of the day it was Harry's choices that made the difference between a good ending and a bad one for each of those people. God may have put him in the position to do those things, but he couldn't make him do them. That's the entire point of the 'good' side in the Dresden Files; free will is absolute and having power means having responsibilities in measure to that power.

 

Needs to happen. So much.

As for the discussion about Angels and how they use their powers. Uriel's thing is that he's subtle. Whereas Raphael, according to Mab, solves problems by his own hand. So presumably, the angels can act to a certain degree. They just elect not to.

 

As much as he was definitively Best Turtle in the old side-scrolling arcade games, and as much as I'd agree that he solves things by his own hand, I don't think Raphael is the person you're looking for, there.

Michael, perhaps. And we've already seen how he "solves things with his own hand." He wasn't exactly subtle in Changes.