Well you can't beat god.

 

In a straight-up fair fight, one on one with no sneaky tricks and no back-up on either side, there are very few people that could hurt Mab.

But tell me: does that description match any fight in canon, ever?

 

True, and if anyone is going to be able to do it it'll be Thorned Namshiel. He's the top spellcaster for the Denarians and seems to have control almost on par with Ivy herself, what with his multi-frequency spells and the likes.

 

If he didn't hurt her physically, he offered her one of the greatest possible insults. That certainly doesn't help with the whole "anger management" thing.

 

She did wink at him immediately afterwards though, didn't she? She was one of the statues hanging around the place, and she just let him use Summer Fire right in front of her. That says to me that she knew what was going to happen, or at least had a decent idea of how Harry would go about getting to her fortress.

Damn does Mab confuse me. She seems to operate on so many levels that it's difficult to grasp even a semblance of a plan. 'Why Harry?' is the big one, followed by 'who injured her?'. At best I can tell that she doesn't like the Denarians much, and that she thinks Harry is more than worth waiting for to become her Knight (ooh I bet it stung when Changes happened).

(Also, found the Word of Jim that applies to this, here.)

 

Mab and Dresden actually have a conversation about that at the end of Small Favor. They're discussing Uriel and how both he and Mab wanted Thorned Namshiel dead. She says something about how she repays all her debts, and Harry's convinced she means she's going to avenge the insult of the Summer Fire thing.

I do agree though, that she knew what was going on in Proven Guilty and Dresden's assault was at least working in her interests. I just can't imagine Mab letting slide an act that enraged every Winter fae in existence.

 

Could Mab be the main target of the Black Council, and the White Council just an obstacle along the way?

She does seem to be uniquely at the centre of things, over and over again.

She also seems to be historically dominant, at least for the last few thousand years. It was Mab who came up with the Accords, for example.

 

I think it all goes back to Harry's mom. She had some sort of deal going on with the Winter Court that could very well have transcended Leanansidhe's involvement. The other option is that when Mab assumed Lea's debts, she got wind of whatever Lea was planning for Harry and decided to take over for her subject. Either way, the result is the same. Mab opposes whatever the 'Black Council' is doing on a large scale, and believes that Harry is the perfect weapon to use against them. Naturally, she does what she can to manipulate and control him.

 

I'm surprised no one as mentioned this yet.

After the duel against the Ebbs in 'Changes', Harry and Susan are offered places in the Wild Hunt.

/Discuss.

 

For some (stupid) reason Harry accepts, which makes him some kind of subordinate to the Erlking for the hunt. Erlking hates Harry and kills him. The Dresden Files ends.

Terrible idea is... pretty terrible.

 

He's already the Winter Knight at this point (arguably). What's the point in joining the Wild Hunt? Besides which, the Hunt only appears once every four years or so, meaning it's unlikely the Erlking is going to have a handy host of ghosts to call to himself at the last moment.

 

More to the point, does joining the Wild Hunt have any benefits besides them not killing you? I mean, Thmas mentions something about his senses in PG, but...

 

I've been dreaming up a story but as of now it's just a summary that I need to put down for memory's sake as much as for criticism.

It's a HP/DF storyline. Dresden is approached by Hermione, who has been busy hiring every supernatural sleuth she can find to find our dearest Harry Potter. Apparently Harry disappeared right after an attack/accident (no one except Harry knows really). On the Department of Mysteries in London, that's lead to the entire city to be engulfed in some sort of impenetrable time-looping bubble. Hermione wants to find Harry because he's possibly the only one who knew what happened and how to stop it. He also has three little artifacts that would be quite useful in that quest (read:Hallows).

The story is basically Dresden tracking Harry across America while Harry himself is looking for a piece of the Veil for some reason. Dresden eventually catches up with Harry but sees that, even with the loose descriptions he's picked up over time Harry Potter isn't really Harry Potter. Something is working through him. That something confesses to being the one that caused the explosion/entombing of London. As protection for the city until it could get to it for it's objectives. It needs to reunite the Veil in the DoM, with the Key, which is being bounced around an archaeological show in America and the Elder Wand. All of which are components in the Gate required to tunnel into the True Dark. Basically all the beings from the Outside exist on it's fringes, created by the Four, master beings who hibernate after being denied access to the Dresdenverse by God after a bitter struggle with the Big Man himself. The being, who we realise is a dread knight woken by the Black Council during their constant summonings and spells to the Outside took over the vessel that had the most connection to the Gate and sought to free it's masters.

But Dresden finds some inconsistencies; why the dome over London? No one knew about the Gate, who did it need protecting from? Since when did summoning other creatures in the Outside automatically release some Big Bad Beast?

Meanwhile, the White Council has come to the independent conclusion that the HP mages are responsible for this, in violation of the Treaty of Atlantis and see it as an act of war. The European ministries are walking backwards away from the whole disaster and Muggle officials are tearing their hair out.

A huge section of the NeverNever corresponding to London has just been completely destroyed and the respective faerie in charge ( I still haven't decided which Fae is closest to London's culture and position or to just invent one.) Throwing the balance out of whack. So depending on which fae has had it's landmass reduced Mab is also a land-mine to navigate wanting to accelerate or hinder Dresden search for her own reasons.

Basically the centuries-spanning political equilibrium of the DFverse is dead.


At the end, after the Dread-Harry leads an attack on the WC headquarters in Edinburgh with his own private beastie squad he's stopped, but the Elder Wand and the Last Key have disappeared, in the middle of WC territory. And London is still under the dome. And the newly saved Harry Potter keeps insisting he can see the future and they need to burn the city and three more like it to the ground.

Goddamit, releasing that plot-vomit from my brain stream-of-consciousness style felt good. Now all that remains to be seen is if it's a viable plot idea.

 

This thread has been dead for ages and since my post was the last and could be said to have killed the thread I'll try to resuscitate it.

A simple plot this time, with no universe-bending problems.

Molly is mixing a potion when Thomas comes to meet Harry and like every cliched sci-fi movie ever, the wrong beaker hits the floor and after the rubble has settled. Harry finds himself in the body of his brother and Thomas in his (or, if I go the crack!fic route Thomas ends up in Molly).

As humorous as the idea may sound there are some clear and present dangers:

1- Harry can't use magic.
2- Harry has the Hunger.
3-Thomas, a subject of the White Queen, now has a very valuable talent (not to mention face).
4- Harry and Thomas can't be seen together that often because, y'know there's a war, and he's already had way too much contact with the WC.
5- The fact that he and Thomas Freaky Friday'd each other instead of him and Molly is some proof that he has a greater sympathetic connection with Thomas, which all wizards will take to mean that he's under Thomas' power.

Harry and Thomas have to try and wait out the spell somehow, but considering that Thomas, whose had an entire lifetime to learn to control his Hunger barely keeps it together, and that he is as good as magic as a newborn babe, and he's trapped with a very Hungry vampire. He's in some deep shit.

Not to mention Harry, who'll probably go mad either way. He feeds, he goes mad with guilt. He doesn't feed he goes mad with Hunger. At which point he feeds and goes mad anyway.

(And I'm not speaking literally, let's just say they'll be lots of angst)

Not to mention that Thomas may not be so eager to jump back in his two-tenant bodysuit.

 

Thomas can use magic. Not to the extent that Harry can, sure, but he whipped up a little bit in the Backup short story. And it's very arguable whether the White Court Hunger and wizard magic alike are either part of the body or part of the soul.

 

I'd go with magic being part of the soul, especially with a body snatching that was a part of modus operandi of Corpsetaker.

And a little idea that I have - after the end of the world, Harry decides to take the last gamble and go back in time to prevent it. In theory he should merge with his old self, but in practice something goes wrong (he ends in time when he is "dead"). He is still Harry, but this time around his name is Harry Carpenter.

By the way, am I only person who is pretty sure that it will be Harry Carpenter to become third Knight of Cross once he is old enough (probably by the time of Apocalypse Trilogy).

 

Backup...yes, the worst short story. I might strike that from canon. On that note I've always thought that the Hunger was the reason for WC vampires not having any particularly powerful magical talent for whatever reason, maybe just for balance. But that's here nor there.

What matters is that Thomas magic was incredibly weak, he would have no reason to learn stronger defensive spells like Harry. Not to mention, any disorientation or mercy to Harry will end with him getting gobbled up.

Magic can go either way methinks, we see different bodies have different magical strengths and talents. Although this does not necessarily mean magic as a whole is based on the body and doesn't just manifest differently, I think it gives me enough wiggle room.

Celestin: Please God no, Thomas being a Knight is already a nightmare proposition for me. Some kid we haven't seen for the first half of the series becoming one makes me want to puke.

 

Also consider Luccio - she was switched into the body of a complete mundane and can still throw magic around. Not as well, and it's going to take her ages to refine herself back to the level where she can make those Warden swords, but she's still able to kick some arse.

 

How do you know she was a non-practitioner? She could have been a weaker mage/wizard.

EDIT: But even with his skills Harry is in some deep shit, especially if Thomas is acting like he did in Changes. Not to mention he has no way of asking for help outside Bob, considering how he can't explain what Thomas was doing there.

He'd be better off if his dick was magically sealed in Ariana's ass.