You know... i've read that post 3 times now, the first two times I managed to resist commenting, but the third time broke me.

You have no idea how much that sentiment makes me grin.

God, I want to read each and every persons reactions to Dresden's genocide of the Red Court so much. I really really want too.

 

This. Especially the Merlin's reaction. Also, the 'ceremony' for Dresden's initiation as the Winter Knight made me wonder if Fix had went through something similar with Titania when he was made Summer Knight...

 

I doon't ever want to imagine Lily/Fix.

But yeah, I want to hear reactions. People like Marcone, The Merlin, Lara Raith, Nicodemus. They're bound to sit back and be all like... "Whoa".

Ramirez too, actually.

 

Yeah, definitely the people that are closest to Dresden, or the ones that we know the best will be the most satisfying.

However, I think Marcone will just be sitting back enjoying the fact that his plan worked out so well for him, Dresden just killed another one of the threats against him.

 

Not quite what I was thinking. IMO Eb was way to pissed off at Harry at the start of the book, going so far as to keep him from speaking - literally, to know what was going to go down. He changed his mind because, well family is family, and he seems to be of the same mind as Harry when it comes to that. Now more than ever perhaps.

But if we think back to all of those little, and not so little, unexplained things (Yes Proven Guilty I'm looking at you) that have occurred over the series that have always helped Dresden out ... I'd be willing to bet that one of the parties behind the scenes has actually been himself, it fits so perfectly in a lot of ways. And of course when he gets the last chance that he's ever going to get to burn a few more of those damned Red Court bastards, well he's never had a good control of his temper now has he?

And probably saying, "Well Shit what's it gonna take to kill this annoying not-so-little-anymore bastard", LOL.

 

Something just came to my mind...

This is the first book where Harry doesn't get his ass kicked in every fight until he gets some incredible power to beat the enemy in the end.

In fact he kind of kicked ass in the beggining and when he met the Red King he got mentally beaten... I loved the change.

 

I really want to know why Harry hears the sound of a train, as he sinks into the water...what a monstrous cliffhanger. Can't wait for Side Jobs.

 

He's got an appointment with Dumbledore and HP at Kings Cross before he can go and defeat Voldemort. Wait a minute..

 

That's what I was thinking! Or maybe Harry Potter, Master of Death, finding Dresden sprawled on the platform at King's Cross.

"You're not supposed to be here unless you're mostly dead, you know. You're just dying. Stop trying to jump the queue!"

 

I don't see why everyone is making a big deal about this. Fire is known to be very effective against the Reds and it only makes sense that someone of the Grey Council would toss around a couple of fuegos.

 

Yes, but calling up fire doesn't mean you have to call out Fuego! Dresden magic is nothing like HP magic in that language is just a method of insulating the mind against the harmful effects of channelling it. Two wizards can cast exactly the same spell, with the same effects and same amount of power used, but can use two completely different languages as the base for it. Take Morgan for example; all his spells are incanted in a Germanic language of some sort, including any fire spells he uses.

So the fact that someone else used Fuego hints that perhaps Harry had another part to play in the battle there, since the chances of one of the Grey Council using the exact same incantation for a fire spell is pretty damn low.

 

People are making a big deal about it because heretofore in the books no two Wizards have had exactly the same way of manifesting a specific elemental spell, let alone using the exact same words. Maybe it's not a big deal in Dresden-verse but from what we've seen so far it could be.

 

Anyone else get the vibe that the black council set the red court up for a fall? Massive vacuum with lots of chaos to fill, damage done to white council already and unruly hard to control allies with potentially dangerous links to you exterminated. Job done?

 

On the other hand, I am pretty sure that Fuego is not something that Harry just invented, but rather a word in another language. Wiki says its fire in Spanish. So while the possibility of time-traveling Harry is possible, it is probably more likely that it is another wizard with a liking for fire magic who just happened to pick the same word. It is bound to happen.

On the other hand, I wonder if it might not be a clue of a different sort. Where did Harry get the word Fuego? Did he just invent it, or was he taught to use that word by either Eb or Justin. If the latter, this might suggest that Harry and the other guy shared a teacher.

 

If I'm remembering my theory right, the words basically have to be somewhat familiar but at the same time something you don't really understand, so that you can attribute an effect to the incantation but don't really see it as your own language. It's the reason Harry doesn't just call out Fireball! whenever he wants a great gout of fire, since the language is too close to himself to provide adequate insulation against the magic itself (this includes made-up words since they only exist because of his imagination).

 

So basically, the word you use has to be something that you don't use regularly. Harry cannot use the word "Fire" for his spell, simply because he speaks english as his native language and that word is just too close to him and links to too many other concepts in his head(gunfire, fireplace, firing up the engine, putting a kettle on fire, Murphy was on fire(as in excited), Butters nearly got fired from his job, etc).

However using Latin would also be a bit risky since the official language of the White Council is Latin so he knows that language aswell (if not as well as english). However as far as I know, Dresden does not speak Spanish, he has no connection to that language or anything and as such he can easily use that word safely since the only link in his brain that leads to Fuego is the concept of summoning fire. He could just as easily have chosen another foreign language. He could yell "tuli" which is fire in my language, or "uguns" from Latvian. He just chose Spanish "Fuego" for some reason. Possibly chance or perhaps influence from his teacher or some other reason.

However, a spanish person could not use Fuego as his word for a fire spell, because for a spanish guy, that word is too closely linked to many other concepts. However, if a spanish guy did not speak english, he could indeed choose to use the word "fire" or "fireball" as his word focus. Because for him, "Fire" would be as alien, as "Fuego" is to Harry.

So basically, any english/american wizard who does not speak Spanish could just get a Spanish dictionary, check the translation for the word fire and choose the result (fuego) as his focus word. Heck, if Harry had picked up a latvian dictionary instead, he might be going around yelling "uguns" all the time instead.

Heck, had he been smart, he would he picked the word from Swedish (Eld) which would be faster to pronounce in battle.

 

Anyone actually read the passage, or just glance at the words? The voice says 'fuego', then all the human security forces - the Mexican, thus Spanish-speaking security forces - fire their guns. That's all that happened.

 

Fucking hell. I just reread it and you are right!

It IS someone on the wall yelling that, and right afterwards guns start firing on Harry. It has nothing to do with magic.

Now I feel really silly.