And morality, love, friendship, and possibly life after death (God exists, after all).

 

I wonder what happens to a changeling's soul if they choose to go with the non-human side. Would it be sent straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect eternal paradise? Burned into dust (metaphorically speaking)? Be judged as with any other soul?

 

Maybe it just runs out? (is that what you meant by burned to dust?)

When Dresden uses soulfire it eats up his soul, and if he uses too much he dies. Maybe when a changeling chooses to go non-human, the soul just.. runs out, ceases to exist, but they continue to live on as a non-human.

I don't think the soul would goto hell. Since they're no longer human, they wouldn't be eligible for heaven or hell... right? If it did go to hell.. well then they're not really choosing to become whatever, they're choosing to die, and some person with their memories now lives on in their place as a non-human.

Maybe on choosing to go non-human, the soul they had just converts to whatever it is the sidhe have? Or is used to fuel the change or something.

 

I think what happens is that the soul is destroyed when they choose the Sidhe. We know that only humans have souls, so whatever happens, after the choice is made, they no longer have one.

 

That's incorrect. We know for sure that angels have souls. Also, Nevernever is called "the spirit realm" for some reason.

 

Now, I've only read Storm Front to Blood Rites plus White Night, but I'm pretty sure they don't.

Harry's conversation with Lash comes to mind. If they had souls, they would have Free Will, and the capacity to change.

and later

I'm pretty sure it's also Bible cannon that only humans have souls.

And nothing in the Denarian series has led me to believe things are different in Shezza's work.

 

Given that you haven't read all the books, your surety is rather premature, don't you think? Especially as we're told explicitly that Angels not only have souls but are made 100% out of soul (either in Small Favour or Turn Coat, one of the two).

Here it is, Small Favour:

With regards to Lash's comments about how she couldn't change:

1. It's clear from the context that it's not a matter of she can't change so much as she won't change. The older a person (or thing) gets, the more set in its ways it gets. Life changing experiences are life changing because they overthrow all your previous beliefs/knowledge/assumptions etc. A being as old as time has a lot of prior experience that would need to be overthrown in order for it to change.

2. Lash was obviously wrong, given that she did change.

Secondly, we know the Fallen do have free will - it was the exercising of this free will that got them chucked out of heaven.

 

True, but not really relevant.

The point is, Fae do not have souls. It's stated multiple times throughout the books, and so we know that once a changeling chooses the Fae, they cease to possess a soul. What happens to it is never mentioned, though.

 

Tarue, thanks for the response. This really changes how I see the Fallen. I'm going to have to get Small Favor now... Well, I should probably read up to it first, but...

 

Majority of people will go to hell after death and so I wouldn't exactly call it a benefit. Besides, fae seem to be almost immortal. I would trade eternity in hell for a millenia as Sidhe.

Also, what makes you think that faeries cannot love?

 

Why?

DF's White God seems to be pretty accepting. The present Knights of the Cross contain an atheist.

EDIT: Also:

 

Love is a human emotion. Faeries aren't human. Therefore they cannot love. (Or am I wrong?)

 

Nope, you hit the nail on the head.

 

Rather than taking up space and making people think that there's important discussion related to the story going on, either get back on topic or create a new topic for the discussion of Faeries and such.

 

Monkeys can love. So can dogs, cats, dolphins and so on... Love is not only a human emotion.

Fae can certainly feel lust and we have seen them get angry and afraid. Why couldn't they love?

 

Could be that it's the soul that gives humans the capacity to 'love' and that non-humans simply can't feel the same range of emotion that we can. It would explain why the Fae are so amoral, they just can't work up the feelings of horror or affection that make humans so ethical. Or maybe the soul gives us the ability to feel empathy, rather than love. Everything I've read about the Fae in Dresden implies that the vast majority feel nothing other than narcissism.

Also, before anyone brings up Aurora, it has been implied that she was being controlled by the Black Council into going contrary to her nature (or at least becoming obsessed with the 'pain' in the world and a way to 'fix' it).

 

Er... what?

 

Depends on your notion of 'Love'. Are we talking about sex? Reproduction? Are we talking about emotional attachment? The general christian notion is that only those with souls can love.

 

I'm not sure DF canon says so. We've seen Aurora who was an idealist and died for a cause. We've seen Toot-toot who was loyal enough to try and defend Dresden from a naagloshii. Of course, there is Mab who is as utterly inhuman as some humans are. Then, we have Lily, a changeling, behaving just like other Sidhe queens.

From my point of view, it's all about culture and nothing about nature.

 

Not sure if this is considered "love", but several species of birds of prey only have 1 mate for their entire lifespan. A nursing female badger, a male swan patrolling his pond, chimpanzee mothers carrying around the remains of a dead child...

Maybe these can be argued as evolutionary instincts built into their psychology to protect the next generation, but in some of these cases if one partner dies the other follows soon after.