ok... reading so many posts with mentions of the darkhallow and genocide of the red court together gave me an idea.... could Dresden have used the genocide of the RC to power the darkhallow? WK + darkhallow = don't fuck with me Dresden AU... and since the darkhallow alone would put Harry equal with the queens of fairie, then that PLUS the WK powers could make him some kind of... Winter King...

 

This is a new top fucking idea. Genocide of RC to power Darkhallow... Pretty sure he'd loose being the WK though, he'd be too powerful to truly control.

Of course, reading Mab-level Dresden would be pretty boring. So it could be a decent one shot or something, but yeah.

 

For some reason I get a feeling that using the bloodline curse to fuel the Darkhallow wouldn't work.

It'd be like Dresden evocating a load of fire, then using the energy in the spell to cast another spell. It's cheating <_< He's already expended that power.

The deaths of the RC were the result of a spell; I don't think you could then use them as a source of another one.

Unless, of course, you can, and we've just uncovered a pretty awesome way of being a kickass wizard. Cast a load of spells, recover the energy you've used and use it again. Expend energy killing someone, take the energy from their death to recover/kill more people.

 

Just finished reading Changes. Holy shit, did it live up to its title.

Maybe Dresden is worrying too much about Maggie's safety. I mean, the last time someone abducted her, he killed their entire species. Everyone else would be eying off Maggie, considering the complete lack of a Red Court these days, and thinking better of it.

I'm also curious how the Council are going to react, or even if the (White) Council will survive to the next book. From the sound of things, it really could fall apart, Ramirez and the younger wardens signing up with the Grey, and most of the rest going to the Black. Also, it'll be interesting to see how the Council view Harry now. They already thought he was a loose cannon, but now he's a loose battleship, with a deranged admiral (Mab) giving orders.

 

The interesting this is, without the Red Court, and with the Circle not officially recognised as an enemy, the White Council should now consider itself at peace again. White Council business should go back to how things were done in the first few books. Without an outside threat, most of the momentum behind various divisions in the Council should disappear - though of course, its always going to be political.

 

Not really. The bird is out of the bag, so to speak, and can't be so easily contained.

The senior council knows that there is a group of people out there with the power to infiltrate and fuck them up. That denial in book 11 was issued because Merlin believed it was politically expedient. So the senior council is going to be pretty paranoid and divisive, especially concerning Dresden. We've already seen the issue of Harry polarizing them: it is going to continue and exacerbate.

Amongst the junior members, as Eb said, there is quite a bit of distrust and fear. Depending upon how the senior council decides to play Dresden's genocide, it could go a number of ways. If they find out and reveal his status as winter knight, things will get even more complicated. But I don't really see the paranoia engendered by Peabody dissipating anytime soon.

 

I have seen the suggestion of Harry using the Darkhallow to consume the Reds twice now. I don't think the Darkhallow actually works like that. According to Mab, the rite does not work on living things, but rather on dead spirits. The spellcaster "eats" those spirits, not the living persons, and gains power from them. The more spirits you eat, the more power you gain. Perform Darkhallow in the Sahara desert, and you will gain virtually no extra power at all. Perform it in a big city with lots of ghosts, and you will become a god.

That was why summoning the Erlking was so important, the presence of the Erlking caused ancient hunter spirits to arise and return to the world, and those spirits would then be drawn in and consumed by the Darkhallow. Without the Erlkings presence, or some other way that would cause lots of ghosts, the Darkhallow would consume only the average random ghosts around and be a much smaller power boost.

The reason that it kills so many people was apparently not because the Darkhallow itself kills them, but because eating all those ghosts creates somekind of vacuum that draws in life to try and fill the empty place where the spirits used to be. That life is drawn from the life in surrounding areas near the rite.

The only way using Darkhallow&Reds would work, if Harry somehow managed to cause LOTS of dead spirits to rise up around the area near the Red stronghold. He could then eat up the power from those spirits (which by itself would be pretty evil to be sure), and presumably the life-vacuum would then be filled by the lives of the reds, rather than humans.

However it should be mentioned that even Grevane and Cowl, both far more experienced in necromancy, needed to perform the rite during Halloween, and to prepare the way for the rite in advance by both doing it in Chigaco and doing other stuff in advance(Performing black magic around the city, disrupting the power to spread fear amongst the people, etc). I wonder how could Harry possibly have done the Darkhallow quickly enough to make any difference in saving Maggie? And without the Erlking too.

 

I really don't get why everyone thinks that Harry is just ridiculously more powerful than before...

I mean, apart from being the Winter Knight, he hasn't advanced in any hugely meaningful way since Turn Coat. Sure, he may be better at controlling Soulfire, can do veils ,but thats it.

Anything big and flashy he did, gravity bomb spell or killing the red court for example, was done through a preexisting well of power.

 

Mayhaps. But being the winter Knight, he has the potential to advance quicker than he would otherwise. That, IMO, is the the huge power surge.

 

It's been a little while since I read Dead Beat so I might be wrong in this.

If I'm remembering correctly the Dark Hallow would absorb all of the energy in its range, including the normal people. The reason that they wanted the Hunt there that night was because getting the chance to take all of those spirits energy as well would just boost the spell that much more (Erl King is in Fae Queen power league after all). Even if the Hunt hadn't been there that night they still would have gotten all of the energy from the million odd people (my understanding/recollection was that it was any spirit alive, dead or whatever else) that it would have killed, they just wouldn't have been able to go toe to toe with Mab but would still have been about as bad ass as bad ass comes.

Also for using the Dark Hallow to kill all the vampires ...

Seriously, think about that for a second. To kill all the vampires you would have to affect the entire world at once with the Dark Hallow. That would have the minor side effect of exterminating every living thing on the planet. IMO we can call that plan b, mmmk? And before someone says just use it at the pyramid, once again that would kill everything in the area, including his daughter, plan b once again.

 

White Night:

Oh, what Lara must be thinking.

 

I wish I hadn't read the fucking book now. >_<

Too many damn changes, and I don't get to find out how far-reaching they are for years.

*Goes off to rage*

 

I'm on my second read through and just got to the grey council's rather sudden arrival. This stuck out to me far, far, FAR more than it did the first time.

Yea, something else is going on right there.

 

Loved the book, loved the Changes there were a lot of them but I loved each one speacially the dead of Susan.

I like cliffhangers, but I don't know if I like this one, specially considering that we will have to wait 'till October at least to get some answers.

I don't think that Harry is dead, but a shot to the heart... Did Kincaid do it? He's the only char that has ever told his strategie to kill Dresden and it has something to do with a shot from far far away.

 

I would like to know the consequences of harry being on the stone table. I think I remember Lea saying never let mab bring you here. She really won big in this book.

 

I think all that was meant by it has already occurred. Namely, Harry is now the Winter Knight.

 

I figure what she meant was that being there with Mab was risky because if Mab were to kill him on the table, his magical power would be given to Mab. This is obviously something that would be tempting for Mab to do, which is why Lea told Harry to avoid the place. In Changes though, Mab wanted Harry as a knight more than he wanted his magical power so Harry managed to escape with his skin intact.

 

That does sound pretty strange, actually, and it would explain why Ebenezar did change his plans to help Harry. He knew what was going to go down thanks to a bit of time travel on Dresden's part and how vital his help would be to it. So he brings the Grey Council in to help, but keeps their faces covered so that when someone starts throwing around Fuegos it won't be immediately obvious that someone has sent themselves back through time.