I thought it might be a good idea to take advantage of whatever renewed interest there might be following the release of Battle Ground and see if an act of High Necromancy might be possible to revive the fandom. So, drop your thoughts on stories, ideas, pairings and such that you'd like to see right here.

Obviously, spoilers for Battle Ground may show up here, so read at your own peril, etc.

I'll start off with a few of my own.


1. Dresden and Lara. With the ending and Mab's decision that marriage is totally a thing that's going to happen, the fic about it also needs to happen. Because seriously, how would that ever even work? I think the answer is, it likely wouldn't. The opportunity for snark is too high for us to waste this one.

2. Dresden kills Rudolph before Butters and Sanya can stop him, or if you want to go darker, kills Sanya and then there's Butters vs Darth!Dresden.

3. For comedy, someone should write scene I feel like Butcher intentionally set us up to expect for the ending to the book, where Molly comes home to explain she's now a Faerie Princess, while Charity and Michael fully expect her to tell them she's dating Harry (and possibly pregnant out of wedlock or some such crazy stuff.)

4. I feel I'm also obligated to suggest that someone write the marriage between Mab and Lara. Actually, no. Fuck ya'll that one's mine.

 

1) The wedding planner from hell: From either Molly or Lara's POV, the multiple, petty ways Molly tries to ruin Lara's wedding day without going against Winter or affecting Dresden.

2) The conversation Murphy has in the afterlife, realizing she's been taken in by Odin (vs. her Catholic beliefs) (Saw this scenario suggested somewhere, can't remember if it was here or reddit).

3) Back to School: Dresden's first day under River Shoulders' tutelage. Or maybe under Bob, who for some reason is taking Harry more seriously now? Or regardless of who he's learning from, parallel with Bonnie learning from Bob.

 

Why do Mab when you could have Lara marry Mother Winter?

I'd actually love to see it done as Harry and Bonnie learning alongside each other, maybe from a range of mentors. Use Bonnie's presence to really make Harry go back and revisit his basics, figure out what the fuck he missed out on that Ramirez is walking into battle casting self powering molecular disassembling spells and Harry's still chucking fireballs like a magical Neanderthal. Have Harry call up every source of knowledge he can get his hands on, River Shoulders and Bob are good starts, but I'm sure there's plenty of beings out there that wouldn't mind being owed a favour by the Winter Knight in exchange for some tutelage.

As for plot bunnies of mine...

1) Butters negotiates with Mab after he saves her life, doesn't accept a simple "you may call on me in a time of need", he drives the bargain up to a full on favour. And then uses that favour after the battle to get Harry released from the role of Winter Knight.

2) The paranet goes national and gets organised, and Harry hosts their first annual conference in his new castle.

 

1) An amusing version of the BG. The battle of Chicago happens, everyone is pretty sure what their plans are, and then there is this random neighbour guy, a master of mystical Kung Fu, probably called Jackie, who starts beating down all the bad guys while confused who they are.

2) Dresden figures out that the only way to get away from marrying Lara is finding what exactly is stopping Mab from taking his place and doing something about it. Turns out that all the restrictions don't matter as long as these two share a True Love's Kiss. To make it happen Harry and his friends need to transform Mab and Lara's life into a modern fable. Musical numbers included.

 

Some Dresden Files plot ideas that occur to me off the top of my head. As a warning, I'm writing these down as they occur to me, so expect varying quality / feasibility.

1) Murphy doesn't die, and the story explores how that affects the rest of Battle Grounds moving forward.

2) An AU story exploring Murphy as an Einherjaren. Could be done as a short story "Training Day" style, or as a longer work if Murphy's path intersects with Harry's again.

3) As a far out there idea, an AU take of Battle Grounds leaning into the Arthurian elements of the setting. Amoracchius aka Excalibur comes into play during Battle Grounds, with Mab having subverted the mantle of the Lady of the Lake. The Merlin shows up and either serves as the titular Merlin, which is as much of a Mantle as a position, or Harry ends up inheriting it somehow. As for the actual King Arthur figure, it would probably be someone pretty unexpected and this is a pretty far out idea as it is as anyway, so perhaps Fitz (from Ghost Story) ends up as the new wielder of Excalibur?

4) A short story / scene where Harry decides to trust Ramirez at the point he was considering it earlier in BG, with the two probably getting into a massive argument, and Ramirez being conflicted on what to do. Could be used to explore an alternate take on the final Ramirez conversation towards the end, with Ramirez perhaps being more understanding / regretful.

5) On the topic of Einherjaren, some kind of short story / novelette exploring Hendrick and Gard's relationship. Told as a series of snapshotted scenes, and perhaps Hendricks coming back as an Einherjaren.

6) Short story exploring the immediate aftermath of Battle Grounds, with Harry participating in the recovery process, attending Murphy's funeral, coming into his own as a leader among the Chicago magicals, setting up his new old digs, etc.

7) AU followup to Battle Grounds with the Masquerade fully coming down and exploring the fallout and consequences of that not just for Chicago, but the world as a whole. Could end up any number of highly messy ways, but as one possible outcome, perhaps humanity becomes an Accorded Nation? (Not that that solves all the problems by any means, but it could be an interesting take on it) In terms of who represents it, as interesting as it would be for Harry to act as the go-between, his ties with Winter would make that impossible due to the massive conflict of interest. Murphy is probably the most narratively positioned there as a full normal and extensive experience with the supernatural over the years.

8) Some kind of Avengers style mashup and retake of the final Ethniu battle with the Senior Council of the White Council in full force in Chicago. Alternatively, or as an add on for a fun short story, recall Thorned Namshiel stole all those Denarian coins in Small Favor, and he's now bound with Marcone. Perhaps Marcone brings out the literal forces of Hell into the field, with 11 Denarians entering the fray...

9) Mab ends up dying due to the Eye of Balor, and Molly becomes the new Winter Queen. Harry recalls the promise Mab made him give, and he briefly considers it before tossing it aside. The story would explore the aftermath post-Battle Ground of Molly as the new Winter Queen, trying to acclimate to her circumstances and vastly expanded responsibilities, and the effect it has on Harry and her relationship, both in terms of lord and vassal, and all the other ways their relationship is complicated.

Some crossover ideas:

1) When Murphy dies, Harry completely breaks not out of rage, but pure despair, and his planeswalker spark ignites from the loss. He planeswalks across the Blind Eternities, ending up in Innistrad just before the whole Shadows over Innistrad mess. Could exploring Harry traversing the planes as he tries to figure out how to travel the Blind Eternities to return back home. Perhaps at some point he gets some lessons with Ugin re: using soul fire?

2) Alex Verus from the Alex Verus series circa the latest book (Fallen) navigates Elsewhere to accidentally end up in the Nevernever and through it into Dresden Files Chicago during Battle Grounds. This would mainly exist to see how Alex and Dresden play off each other, as somewhat similar but ultimately very different people.

 

Gary. Crazy, paranoid Gary.

 

1. Dresden is turned into a Black Court vampire by Drakul.

2. With the barrier between the moral realm and the Nevernever wearing thin (which normally only occurs on Halloween), and with so many spiritual beings present and weakened from the fight... as a last resort, Dresden Darkhallows in the middle of the battle.

3. Post-BG, the White Council dispatches a Warden to Chicago to take Dresden out. A wizard vs. wizard battle of the wits with Harry having to go deep into esoteric and arcane knowledge to pull a victory out of the bag.

4. Harry is facing down Ethniu, in the moment of the battle where she first notices him... and calls in her debt. Because he did the Fomor a massive favour when he eliminated the Red Court.

 

Gary is a perfect character to be a lot more than he appears, but I would make him into a major villain if there was any hidden side of him. The fact that he would live in the same city as one of his main enemies and their interactions would be a complete accident. He would find it very amusing and at least for now had no intention to use it against Dresden. He would even help him just to mess with these from the Black Council he dislikes.

 

That'd be great, but we need Randy as the new vanilla mortal sidekick.

 

I fully expect Randy to show up in the future books as one of the main people in Dresden's faction whatever it will be called. He's also a perfect guy to get a sword for one fight before it finally finds a new Knight.

 

1) Actual peace talks.

2) Harry interacting with the beings on demonreach.

3) Cowl is future!Harry. Post-BG!Harry learns of it.

 

The Warden Files.

A series of monster of the week style short stories based around Harry going back to school with Bob as said above while diving deeper into his role as Warden, investigating Demon reach and finding out more about the prisoners there.

Key element would be Demonreach's ability to let Dresden experience how the creatures were fought and caught in living interactive memories.

Though as the memories are from the prisoner's POV, each event would seem more twisted and nightmarish.

 

The scene where Harry and River Shoulders go out to save his neighbors, from the POV of the neighbors who just got saved from a bunch of monsters by their not-so-crazy/not-so-dead after all old neighbor who used to go around calling himself a wizard, and his buddy Bigfoot. Or just general bystander/mortal/minor league talent POVs of the apocalypse coming to down

 

You sick fuck!

Another few ideas:

1. I'm amazed and disappointed in the smut-writers of the Dresden Files fandom that there isn't yet a fic dedicated to Molly trying to get around the limitations of the mantle. It could make for comedy, tragedy or just straight up porn. xD

2.

Peace Talks done in the style of Model UN, with all the gloriously passive-aggressive, childish antics going on, while Mab and Dresden try to keep things from devolving.

3. Perhaps something featuring Harry and Ramirez putting aside their angst and buddying up to save Chandler or hunt down Yoshimo and Wild Bill? Or just burn down the vampires who turned them.

 

You... Didn't read anything beyond the title did you?

 

Since we're apparently getting Dresden doing wrestling I was reminded of an old prompt I think I dropped for Secret Santa aaaages ago that wasn't written.

1. Dresden is in London, England and is hired by a football club to investigate why they are, irredeemably, shit. Bonus points for included Premier League players/coaches as supernatural creatures just for the hell of it.

 

The nervous Cockney before me kept glancing over his shoulder as if he'd expected us to be followed. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Listen man, I got a good look at the board like you asked. I'm sorry to break it to you but Daniel Levy isn't a Demon of corruption."

His eyes widen but I cut him off before he starts into a rant. "No man, look. Seriously. As far as I can tell through every tool at my disposal, of which there are many, Spurs are just shit. It's about time you dealt with it."

 

Hah Awesome stuff