The way I've understood it, is that it has as much to do with how a mortal views himself as anything else. Not sure where I read that, but I vaguely remember it somewhere.

If so, think about it. Not only does Harry now think of himself as a father, but he also thinks of himself as the murderer of his kid's mom. Pretty heavy psychological trauma as well. If anything could change his name, it'd be that.

 

Spoilers ahead if there's still anyone left who hasn't read Changes...

Except she ran from her troubles and spent a large amount of the intervening time in Fairyland, where according to legend mortals are more-or-less crystallized in time, whereas Harry faced his and grew. And seriously, if murdering the woman you loved who is also the mother of your child in a black magic ritual to commit magical genocide while also being the Winter Knight doesn't shake your True Name, then I don't know what would.

Except maybe being killed.

Oh, wait, that's happened too.

Seriously, Chauncy has nothing to work with now.

 

Im going to guess that she did it in the same way that Ferrovax did it. Speaking of Ferrovax I want him to come back, I feel sure he will come back as a bad guy and I wanna see who is going oppose him.

And although Elaine had made appeared more than once, I would really like it if she came back on a permanent or semi permanent basis.

 

True enough, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here, and saying that Jim almost certainly wouldn't have put something like that out just for kicks. He's not the type of author for something that big to be forgotten, especially since he has mentioned this in interviews.

 

I really hope so. Twenty(ish) books is a massive commitment, and I'd hate for there to be plotlines still hanging by the end.

 

Im wanting to say that Butcher has said he has the whole series mapped out. So I dont see any of the major plotlines left hanging. But the beauty of this series is that if Butcher for some reason forgets something small he can always fix it in a short story or novella because there is literally tons of time to play with in the series. The novels take place a year apart generally and cover only a few days. So its not like he couldnt go back in fill in something he left hanging as long as it was minor.

 

Did they? I got the impression that the BC was wiped out because of a clever little bit of literary warfare by Bram Stoker and the WC. They published all their weaknesses and let hunters go to town. Or are you talking about the future.

But I don't know,I always thought the Big Bad were the BC, not necessarily just Cowl, who wanted to rule and realised that if they were gonna they needed to neuter everyone the WC kept in check as well as the WC themselves, although that seems a bit simplistic even to me considering just how much they fuck with the world. Maybe they're softening up the world for the Outsiders?

 

Nah, that was just the beginning. The White Court had Stoker publish his book and set the mortals on to the Blacks, then everyone else joined in to help take them down, since they were major, major bad news. For everyone.

For reference, the 30 Elders together could have taken on Mab, according to Jim.

Seems a bit simplistic to me too, and besides, as far as I can tell there really isn't much of a Black Council to begin with. The only confirmed members so far are Cowl, Kumori and Peabody, though there are suspect former members in the White King, Arianna and Margaret LeFay.

 

Are Cowl and Kumori really confirmed as Black Council? I think Dresden suspects it, but I don't recall a big sign saying "BLACK COUNCIL HERE" over their heads (metaphorically speaking).

EDIT: Goddamn it, you people ruin all the fun.

 

There being two Harry's in Changes was thrown around a bit shortly after it came out, but the following paragraph makes it clear that the person saying fire was ordering the gunmen to begin firing, not actually using it as a spell.

 

Not necessarily. I mean, it's not like it could be future!Harry shouting Fuego! and the mercenaries responding by shooting at him, right?

 

A bit late into discussion, from the things I'd like to see again:

-Kincaid and his origins

-Titania. The only fairy queen we've yet to meet. (btw, didn't Butcher said we'll see her somewhere around the trilogy??)

-those wolf belts (hexenwulf belts?). Butcher said that some guys on his forum guessed right who created them and for what purpose.

Small Ghost Story spoiler:

Spoiler

During one of the recent -cons Butcher said that Harry IS dead, but not quite 100% dead. He'll have an opportunity to see the world from the other side, If I remember correctly:
Dresden: Ghosts going through walls... Why do they do that It hurts!

There's also the curious case of Murphy's Hawaii holiday with Kincaid - I think Butcher wanted to write a short story about that, or was it a plot for another graphic story like Welcome to the Jungle?

 

It's far more likely the big bad is the BC or whoever is leading the BC then Marva. The BC has been linked to all (most) books and Marvas been in a couple. Unless Marva is the big bad of the BC (highly unlikely) then I doubt shes worthwhile at all.

Still, some good points were made in support of her. I just hope it isn't true, I am hoping for someone/thing far more cooler and with ass-kickery then a pathedic vampire. A queen or a god or something would be nice.

About the alliance with the vampire courts and the fae to stop the black court, what book was that in or where did you find that info? I can't remember it at all.

 

Think of it this way; the only times Mavra has appeared have been because she has wanted to be seen. In Grave Peril she was Bianca's teacher, in Blood Rites she proves that she's a formidable threat (by being too powerful for Ebenezar Fucking McCoy to close down - she was seemingly wearing an all but perfect veil the entire time she was there, and under the sight she looks like 'the corpse spectre of Death himself), in Dead Beat she gets what amounts to the handbook of how to use necromancy against the Black Court, as well as knowledge of how the Darkhallow works, and since then... Nothing.

That doesn't say anything good to me. Nothing good at all.

I'm not saying that they aren't a big deal, I'm just saying that Mavra has the potential to be larger, and besides, the Black Council could be working for Mavra. It would give them a motive: become the Lords of the Outer Night in the newly revamped Black Court to her Black Queen.

 

Not kool, posting before I save my edit change.

But on the potential for Marva to be larger, then yeah thats true. But pretty much the same with anyone. It's far more likely to be a queen, which I doubt, then it is to be Marva.

It's definitely plausible, I just hope not.

 

That do you?

Also, the whole theory relies on the idea that Black Court Master Vampires gain power as their converts kill people. If it doesn't work that way the whole idea falls apart, but if it does work that way the Black Court have the potential to become a major power overnight. Possibly literally. Remember that Mavra survived Bram Stoker's book and the ensuing pile on, so she's cunning. Very cunning. And crafty. Very crafty. If she saw a real way to bring the Black Court back to power, with her at the head, I know that she would do it.

The only problem facing that plan is that everyone from Mab to Little Maggie would be after them within the day, so what would you do in that situation? Eliminate the competition? Set them against each other so that they're too busy to notice Mavra working her magic in the background? Engineer a war between her erstwhile allies and the only group capable of wide scale necromancy? Get details on Kemmler's necromancy and Darkhallow so that the knowledge is both removed from circulation and given over to her for study and adaption to Black Court magic?

It makes a lot of sense to me that the ones you have to look out for are not the baddies showing up every couple of books personally, but the ones in the background that work quietly and efficiently without being in any danger themselves.

 

Gotta disagree with Mavra being the Big Bad. Currently, she's not even close to powerful enough to be pulling off the major stuff that's been going on. The blitz on Arctis Tor, Faerie Queens going crazy, subverting Denarians, getting Lucifer involved, etc., etc. She doesn't have the kind of power base to be engineering the big stuff going. She's nowhere near the leagues the big boys are playing in. She's closer to a normal wizard in power, like Dresden said in Dead Beat. Tricking Ebenezer doesn't make her all powerful, just crafty, which we already knew. Odin wouldn't need to involve himself if it was just a bampire.

Mavra will definitely resurface at some point, perhaps with substantially more power (which she'd need to take on Dresden now), but I doubt there's much chance of her being the final villain. We're looking at an apocalypse, and that doesn't seem to be Mavra's game.

 

I've no doubt that Mava is up to something, but at most she'll be a Big Bad, not the Big Bad. Like Sol said, it just doesn't fit.

 

I think I'd be slightly disappointed if it turned out that Mavra became the Big Bad. A Big Bad, sure. I'd also enjoy it if it turns out she's part of the Grey Council, just to see how it would frost Dresden's balls. The justification would be something along the lines of "The Black Council's goals would be bad for me or for the Black Court."

But then, it depends on what the Grey Council actually is. If it's an organization of independent-minded good guys, obviously Mavra wouldn't fit. If it's an alliance of good and bad guys, working together to prevent something that's in none of their best interests, that's a different story.