Dresden is supposedly one of the top 50 if not top 20 wizards in the world as far as power goes. That's not middleweight by any definition.

 

The number Dresden keeps throwing around is 30. In terms of innate wizardly muscle, he's in the top 30.

On top of that, he also has Soulfire, a connection to an incredbily powerful Outsider/eldritch abomination that a freaking leyline spawns from, and the mantle of the Winter Knight.

In terms of pure power by this point in the books, Dresden's probably on par with anyone on the Senior Council, just without their centuries of experience in using that power.

That said, he is a middleweight, at best, against most of his opponents in the series. He's debatably on par with Cowl power-wise, and is definitely on the top end of human power. Unfortunately, most of the antagonists are decidedly not human and are scaled up accordingly.

 

Like all of you, I could name a hundred awesome scenes or lines or images, but if I had to pick one that really hooked me on the series it would be a watershed event in an early book, namely Grave Peril. Bianca has Dresden trapped and half-dead, and Ortega as a witness. She offers for him to leave unharmed if only he'll abandon the half-turned Susan. She knows it'll break him but the alternative is, of course, war between the White Council and the Red Court.

Rereading GP right now and that still gives me chills. Pretty much sums up Harry Dresden's beliefs, and looking back is something the Red Court should /really/ have taken under advisement, if you've read Changes. Dresden says what he means, and by god he means what he says, bitches.

 

The bit where he blasts the Loup Garou through two or three entire buildings in Fool Moon. Not just because it's awesome, but because, for me, it's more or less where the series really got excellent. Storm Front is pretty cool, but that was the moment.

Speaking of Storm Front - weaponising the elevator, the lightning strike, and Bob. Just generally, Bob. In all of the books. Every single time.

The end of Death Masks, with Dresden, Marcone and Michael fighting the Denarians on top of a speeding train. What's not to love about that?

Blood Rites, although probably one of the weakest books in the series imo, does have that wonderful moment when a vampire gets killed by a frozen turkey.

The beach attack in Ghost Story. Also the moment when Mister greets Harry.

Lots more which I might edit in later, but yeah.

 

Ivy fighting the Denarians in Small Favor. Most scenes with Ivy in them actually.

Also this. This so much. Bob makes every scene he's in better

 

Dresden having Mouse kill Cassius in Dead Beat, his first ever execution. Definitely gave me shivers at "Mouse, Kill".

 

When I said middleweight, I meant overall, not just power. Dresden as a wizard can do some big things, but he isn't of a class with someone like McCoy or the Merlin or Cowl. Those guys rule the wizarding roost as far as I can tell.

 

Dresden is the most powerful a wizard gets without being a huge historical figure by power alone, which is the kinds of guys McCoy, Cowl, and Langtry are...

 

They just have tons of experience over him, which means in a straight up fight he's fucked.

Give Dresden a couple hundred years and he'll be one of them.

 

Presented roughly chronologically, with the first bit from Storm Front, and the last ones from White Night.



The world is getting weirder. Darker every single day. Things are spinning around faster and faster, and threatening to go completely awry. Falcons and falconers. The center cannot hold.

But in my corner of the country, I'm trying to nail things down. I don't want to live in Victor's jungle, even if it did eventually devour him. I don't want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I'd rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges and where elves don't come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p's and q's.

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I'm in the book.


Harry showing up to the vampire's party while dressed as a vampire. A cheesy vampire! Michael as a knight templar was good too.


Murphy cutting down the Chlorofiend with a chainsaw. Dresden using a lighter instead of his magic to set a monster on fire.

"I don't believe in faeries!"


The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault.


Harry leaving the Denarian host some pocket change to use a payphone. But not enough pocket change. Even Michael and Sanya found it funny.


"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Bowling for Vampires!"

"Not bad. For a virgin."

"Tonight you will be visited by three spirits, the ghosts of indictment past, present and future. They will teach you the true meaning of 'you are still a scumbag criminal.' "

 

When the Denarians try to get Ivy's position out of Dresden at the Aquarium.

“I wish I knew,” I panted. “That way I could exercise free will while telling you to go fuck yourself.”



Also... The ending of one of the Side job's story's where Harry is drunk and tries to bill God for helping him out.

 

Mirroring multiple peoples previous contributions and to name just a few;

- The initial reveal of the Denarians in Death Masks, it's something I'd never really sat and thought about before with regards to the 30 pieces of silver line and the twist is... well, I enjoyed it and the Denarians are by far my favourite antagonists in the series currently. To go with this I guess is the Knights aspects, again, something new that I just loved from the off.

- Carlos being a virgin, just for the lulz factor.

- Dresden's foray into the Fae war over the stone table in Summer Knight, although we get but a glimpse of both Queen's powers and the vast array of wild things at their command, to me it was an amazing view into the real... behind-the-scenes goings on of the Fae, behind all the riddles, half-truths and flirtation they're as deadly as Dresden made them out to be.

- Maeve and her flirtation with Dresden, poor Harry.

- Killing off Susan. I still don't really understand why she seems to be as hated as she is throughout the DF community, particularly here more-so than other places, but as someone said earlier, it's a real turning point for Harry. He knows what he has to do to save his daughter and his friends, to rid the world of the Red Court and it's that sacrifice that I think will give him... a more, well, if it's possible, a more threatening aura to the supernatural world now he's obliterated the Red Court on top of officially being the Winter Knight.

- Just his general interactions with Mouse, come to think of it. It's such a basic thing but Mouse comes across perfectly as the silent companion, comedy relief but overall badass when he needs to be.

Better cut it off there before this gets too long really, but yeah, there's easily several dozen more that I could go on about.

 

Charity in Proven Guilty. Thomas and Lara stopping the ghouls in White Night.

Has anyone noticed that the Harry-killing-ghouls scene from White Night's been mentioned about four times in the space of two pages?

 

Only one page... but yeah, I have to repeat that this is an absolutely amazing scene.

Storm Front, having to stay, naked, in the circle with Horny!Susan. I like this scene because I kept thinking "this cannot believably get any more ridiculous" and it kept happening.

 

One moment I thought was awesome was the Grey Council showed up in Changes because after that the violence/awesome ramps up way past 11.

From Ebenezar killing 200 guys with the same amount of effort we would use to swat a fly to Harry killing Susan and the line 'God forgive me'. Pretty fucking powerful.

Also, the silence after the Grey Council appears being broken by a guy shouting 'Remember Archangel' and trying to take out the Lords of Outer Night and the Red King with a fuckhuge explosion was fantastic.

 

Holy shit, a poster gets drunk and accidently starts a thread… two days later there are pages of responses to read through…

Awesome! … Anyway: My favourite moment is actually kind of small, sort of lost in the press of all Jim Butcher’s awesomeness. And it’s not even really a moment either. It’s a description of how Harry Dresden (who we mostly see only from his own point of view) is coming across to the rest of the cast…

A kind of sublime word painting maybe? of the character and his badassness.

'​

Karrin Murphy: Side Jobs: Aftermath

'
Also: the Gatekeeper's response to Harry having performed a
Sanctum Invocation on Demonreach, basically summed up as;
“Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell were you thinking?”​

 

So, in other words, Harry Dresden is Superman.

 

Except without Mr. Averis' super!dickish smile. Yeah!

 

Harry's line about being willing to let the world burn to save Maggie in Changes. Something to the effect of they'd roast marshmellows.

 

I understand the importance of Side Jobs as far as introducing the Fomor and setting readers up with some inkling of the dynamics of everyone post-Changes and into Ghost Story, but I gotta say I did *not* enjoy the piece. I am a fan of Murphy in general (her uber-bitchy portrayal in Fool Moon notwithstanding) and at one point would have preferred a Dresden/Murphy pairing, so don't think I'm anti-Murphy. My point, though, is that the entire quoted passage from SJ smacked of contrived fan-wank and Butcher essentially patting himself on the back or hitting readers over the head with an "I am a tough feminist but still in awe of that Badass-Geek-Stud."

All this is making me glad I'm slowly working my way thru the series again in anticipation of Cold Days.