Hmm... I wonder if you're making too big a deal about the thing. From the chapter it seemed to me that Harry was only so affected because the thing was so darned ugly when looked at with the sight. That indicates evil, yes, but not necessarily power/freakishness.

I don't think its an Outsider. I just think its a normal thing which happens to be very evil.

 

I say he knows exactly what it is. He has seen it before or read bout it in one of his books or heard about it from the skull.

Outsider no. A Drakon?

 

That's just what I came up with to differentiate HP dragons from Dresden Files' dragons for Shezza's Denarian Renegade series.

Not canon.

 

okay well still the same idea. We saw that one dragon back in grave peril. Michael killed his brother or something.

 

We saw Ferrovax. He basically squished Harry to the ground with a thought, slapped the shit out of him by saying his name, and then vanished away. He also gets something from Bianca in a small box, assuming gold, but I don't think it would be that simple.

Rereading the books now, on Summer Knight.

 

I think it was a very large, think palm-sized, gem Mid. As for the horrific apparition I think it's fair to say Black Council, probably Denarian.

 

I still think its probably an outsider or at the very least a super strong demon.

It is so strong it mostly blocked his Sight and is so wrong that Harry could barely stand. He has opened his Sight around other pieces of black magic and never had any reaction other than getting sick. Besides the reaction wasn't because it was evil but because its wrongness. As stated earlier he couldn't even see the thing so it couldn't have been how ugly it was.

 

Yeah, that's starting to scream Outsider now. We know from Death Masks that matter of the Outside is anathema to anything inside the universe so the sense of wrongness fits pretty well.

Dragon doesn't seem to fit as well in my opinion. From what we know there's nothing 'wrong' with dragons, they're just extremely powerful beings that hoard gold and could crush Harry like a twig if they focused enough. So basically like every other bad guy he's ever faced.

 

I meant how ugly its sight-presence was.

Also, from Dresden's perspective, does not evil and wrongness coincide?

It seems a bit early in the game for an Outsider to be making an appearance. My money is on a black-council something, possibly related to necromancy.

My theory is rather than being a "wrongness" an Outsider wouldn't appear in the sight at all.

 

If it was an outsider I doubt it was He Who Walks Behind cause if it was Harry would either have been dead or in a major fight as He Who Walks Behind has a major bone to pick with Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Also if it was an outsider I would bet money that Cowl summoned it.

 

Not necessarily. The Sight shows things as they truly are, without glamour, prior perceptions or falsehood. It could show nothing when confronted with an Outsider but a more likely (in my eyes) explanation it would see something that just does not belong in this universe, hence the sense of wrongness he feels.

From an out-of-book perspective we know that Jim likes to keep things balanced, what with soul/hellfire, good/bad of the Sight, Seelie/Unseelie Courts. We also know that there are counters to Outsiders (Harry being one and the Swords being the others), but both of them appear to have a hint of divine intention sown in amongst them. Actually, at several points in the books it's explicitly said that divine intervention is occuring.

Thus we have a God that actively interferes with the world at large and an author who has a slight obsession with balancing things out. So what happens when we look at wizards, who only have a few people out there who can fight the extremely powerful Outsiders (remember He-Who-Walks-Behind was defeated only because Harry had raw power on his side at the time) on an even playing field and probably even less with the raw power to actually win in that light? There's an imbalance. So I would like to assume that in the interests of balance Jim gave the wizards at least some kind of defence against them, and because he has emphasized the importance of setting the odds in the wizards' favour (root origin of the word being 'wise') what better option than to give them forewarning of an Outsider attack?

Of course that only works if you're not driven insane by looking at it, but I'm sure we'll see that explained in the course of the book.

 

If I remember right, when Ferrovax talked to Harry at Bianca's party, he said that the very sight of his true form would be enough to drive Harry insane. I think that this instance is pretty close to insane for Harry, since we have never seen him react this violently to a presence in the Sight before, unless it was Mab.

Also, I think that it being a dragon would fit in quite nicely with Jim's style since he usually mentions things in the earlier books, like the Outsiders, Black Court, Jade Court (which I am still waiting for),and brings them into center stage at a later book. Since Grave Peril, there has been only one more mention of a dragon, and that was Sirthovax and Charity's history with magic.

I guess we will figure out more next Tuesday...I hope.

 

I think it's either a Lucifer type entity, since the archangel was there at the end of the last book (I cringe now at that bullshit soulfire hand magic crap now after reading from book 1 how Harry gets built up does cool shit while staying believable, but he can now summon up giant hand extensions)

Or Drakul. Both were mention before in one way or another, or maybe a future Harry that's bonded with Lasciel.

 

Seeing Drakul, would be, for lack of a better word, fucking awesome (okay, two words, but "awesome" doesn't describe the awesomeness of this possiblity.)

Drakul some how manipulating Morgan, or being connected to the death, would be a little random, but I am sure that Jim could pull it off and make it awesome.

 

There is a quote from Jim from the spoiler section for chapter 4 on his site about the length of sample chapters also at the end about a spoiler for what I would guess would be the entity we just came across in this chapter.

Spoiler

The review in question talks about a Skinwalker which from Jim's comments I'm going to assume is what has just scared Harry shitless. The skinwalker could be an outsider and i'm going to assume will be the big bad for most of the story along with whomever hired it. I'm just wondering if the skinwalker is stalking Harry because of Morgan or if Harry is next to be set up.

 

Doesn't the writing style strike you as if he's regressed a couple of books?

 

Yes.

And if that's the big bad... fucking lame.

Spoiler

The TV show already did that. Corpsetaker didn't drive him batshit insane either. I dunno if he looked at her with the sight or not, but if it is a skinwalker, it should be similar enough to not be crippling crazy to sight.

 

Spoiler

Skinwalker wins it

Damn its strong too. Taking on Billy, his group, and Dresden and then escaping.

 

I don't think it's regressed so much as entered a period of... I want to say transition. After White Night and Small Favor, it seems there's going to be a bit of build up to the next super!awesome book, I expect.

Spoiler

As for the chapter itself, I doubt that the skinwalker is the big bad here, but rather just an agent. I find it curious that it's a Native American baddie. That casts some suspicion on Injun Joe, now doesn't it. He's Senior Council, so he could do it. I really don't mind it being a skinwalker. Dresden is a detective. This should have equal parts action and noir suspense.