Just to say, but Daniel is just 1 year younger than molly, and just like that he has no magic? Also in which point its said that if you stop using magic their children will not inherit it? I don't recall something like that.

 

I believe it was in Proven Guilty. Charity had repressed her magic long before Molly was born. By the time Daniel was conceived, Charity had lost everything so nothing could be passed down.

 

Butcher has explained it at some convention, Gaoth.

 

Uriel's 7 words were "Lies, Mab cannot change who you are." That doesn't mean that Harry won't change, just that Mab can't force him into being someone he's not. That fundamentally the choice will always be his in whether he wants to remain as he is or become a monster.

That's why Harry complains about the mantle, because it's effectively stacking the deck against him, making it more likely that he will become the next Lloyd Slate.

Also, Harry threatened to imprison Mab within Demonreach, but he knows it's an empty threat. Imprisoning Mab would effectively rob the Outer Gates of its Commander in Chief, place Molly as the Queen Who Is without the mantle and create a major imbalance between the Faerie Courts.

In other words, it would fuck everyone over, including Harry and his friends/daughter if he did it. So yeah, empty threat.

Inner Dresden explains the parasite thing; unborn children have been called that and much worse, and Demonreach isn't exactly built for social situations. Likely as not Mab called it a parasite first and Demonreach just used the word because she had.

Nicodemus lies. All. The. Time. He's also working with Harry Dresden himself, the guy who almost killed him with his own noose. Nicodemus is one to hold grudges, but he's not one to let that blind him to the possibility of working with others, especially when he can combine the two into one handy package.

Tessa is the perfect example of this; they hate each other in a way that only millennia of grudges can achieve, but they both know that they need the other at certain points. Tessa is a major league sorceress, possibly even White Council material, so when Nicodemus needs a powerful magical ally, he goes to her. He expects that she'll betray him, just like she expects him to, but that doesn't stop them working together because before that they can both stand to achieve their own goals.

The Spirit of Intellect was a great reveal for me because it made perfect sense. Harry and Lash had a moment of intense personal intimacy in a way that is impossible for regular mortals to have. It has been established already that love/sex in the Dresdenverse is an intermingling of two peoples' souls.

In this instance, the intermingling when Lash took a part of Harry's soul and used it to Choose to die, well, that was them having sex. The Spirit of Intellect is the result of that.

I'm with you on the lightsaber though.

This has been explained by Word of God.

Molly was born basically within the year of Michael and Charity getting together. While at that point Charity had been actively working to reduce her talent at magic, it hadn't fully set in, so Molly was conceived, developed and was born to a mother that had a decent talent. By the time Daniel was conceived Charity had all but destroyed her talent and so Daniel developed/grew up as a regular mortal, as did the rest of the Carpenters.

Secondly, magic tends to manifest in the teenage years. Harry manifested his when he was around 13, jumping way too far in the long jump competition at school. Elaine manifested about the same time and the two were quickly found and adopted by Justin DuMorne. So if Maggie is magical she'll show it in a few books time.

However, Maggie wasn't born around magic. She has the potential in there due to her father, but Harry wasn't around when Susan was pregnant, when Maggie was born or during her early years. That reduces the likelihood of Maggie displaying any talent.

Thomas' demon reduced his ability to do magic. He can perform a few simple spells, which is shown in his side story (Backup), but he's more on the level of the Ordo Lebes than any of the majorly magical characters in the series.

I absolutely disagree with this. Everything in this book, barring the few new things that were introduced like the Grail, the Genoskwa and Goodman Grey have all been direct consequences of actions taken in earlier books. From the big things like Harry being the Winter Knight to the cultists' tongues being removed were established prior to Skin Game.

The Council already knows he's alive. Rashid mentioned that he'd help with the paperwork back in Cold Days. Also, the Council doesn't really do fear of the undead. It just sends them back to where they belong. Usually by setting them on fire.

Also, it's Edinburgh and 'immortal'.

We will likely see Harry with some new gear come Peace Talks. It's going to be the most supernaturally violent book so far, apparently, so Harry's going to need every advantage he can get in that regard.

 

Oh, I'm pretty sure Dresden is going to walk into White Council HQ stacked to the teeth with magic gear and scaring the shit out of fucking everyone.

No idea how you can call Cold Days the best book of the series, Gaoth, but I suppose I cannot fault taste. Actually, yes, I can. HOW CAN YOU CALL THAT THE BEST BOOK?

As for Charity's gift. Seems to me magic would either be in your dna or not. Just like, maybe you were fit as hell when you were young and had an easy time maintaining fitness, but got fat as you aged. That wouldn't really matter to your offspring.

We'll just have to assume magic doesn't follow the rules.

 

What is then your favorite book? I mean in CD explain a lot of things, happens a lot more and totally battle mayhem!!! I mean, all can be reduced to two things:

"kitty! Kitty! kitty!" for calling cat sith for comedy.
"I AM HARRY BLACKSTONE COPPERFIELD DRESDEN!" against sharkface for totally badass.

 

Turn Coat still ranks top for me. Much of it is personal preference of course.

 

I continue to maintain Small Favor as the best in the series, but that's mostly just cuz the Denarians are the best villains we've seen thus far IMO.

 

The writing is sloppy, full of word repetition and other stuff that the other books just don't have. The pop culture references are painfully fucking lame sometimes and everything other than the really awesome moments (and yeah, they are among the coolest in the series) is really fucking boring.

So. Highest highs in the series, for sure, but some of the dips were really horribly low, too.

I think that I'd also go for Small Favour over Turn Coat as the best book because Denarian and Mab. <3

 

Still a Dead Beat fan, myself.

Completely unrelated: I've recently been marathoning some shows, including The Wire, True Blood, Breaking Bad, Sopranos and Game of Thrones.

And it occurs to me that, aside from all the violence, the one thing they have in common is perfect opening sequences.

So, given that Jim recently announced the TV rights have been sold again, I found myself wondering what a good opening sequence for the Dresden Files would look like.

I'm not throwing one out - I'm asking what others think it should look like.

Long, short? Theme song, instrumental? Title card with voiceover?

 

Depends when it's set. In the middle of the Vampire War? Long, with a view to showing off the characters involved. Beginning of the series? Just a short one would do; maybe take a bead from Supernatural and have an intro scene followed by the title logo, then immediately back into the show.

Theme song would have to be something noir-like, possibly some blues since it's set in Chicago.

 

Let's not forget Dexter. Dat opening sequence. No idea how to do the Dresden one. I never liked the opening of the tv show.

 

A short montage of Dresden's defining moments throughout the series, set to the backdrop of a GoT-esque theme. Then end with a shot of a journal being snapped shut with the words "The Dresden Files" stenciled across the cover. Simple and sweet.

 

It has to end with him standing somewhere epic with his coat flapping in the wind.

 

To be honest I was thinking of the Firefly opening when I thought about a Dresden Files TV show.

 

That's exactly what I'm arguing. It irritates me that people are assuming Maggie will start kicking ass and taking names just because she's related to Harry.

Is there something wrong with living a peaceful, normal life? Maggie is serving the purpose as Harry's humanity. It would be irritating if you tried to pretend that a thirteen year old girl could pick up a revolver and start shooting people just because. She's not going to be magical, because magic flows down the female line, not the male, and she'd be showing symptoms by now if she'd picked up anything from gestating in the womb of somebody who was half-turned into a Red Court vampire.

Why can Maggie not just be normal? Why can't she simply serve as a contrast what Harry and Murphy are forced to do, to remind them of what they are fighting for? What's wrong with that?

Because being the Winter Knight is a terrible thing. Harry thinks so. Summer thinks so. The White Council thinks so. Archangels and Gods think so. Everybody with so much as a bit of common sense thinks so. According to Sarissa, the only difference between Harry and Slate is time. Harry can fight it, for a time, just like he fought Lasciel, for a time, but human willpower is not infinite. If you weren't paying attention enough during Changes or Cold Days to see it, I don't suppose you would have appreciated it being mentioned during Skin Game. But it's there. You might want to reread some of the books, because it sounds like you've been missing some things.

That's an awfully shallow thing to nitpick about if you want to argue about inconsistencies. Demonreach is an elemental being that's probably older than some civilizations. It used the word that Mab used for it. It's as simple as that.

If you wanted to cry about Skin Games being bad because muh inconsistencies, you'd bring up why Nicodemus couldn't brainwash a cultist from birth to pull the lever for him. We assume it's because it has to be a blood relation of yours, but that's never actually stated. We're left to assume that either Jim is implying that no cultist no matter how brainwashed would willingly die and pull the lever for Nicodemus after death, which a lot of us have a hard time swallowing, or that Jim intended it to be that only a blood relation can pull the lever for you, and he simply forgot to mention it.

First of all, Nicodemus and Tessa absolutely hate each other. They've also been confirmed to work together with their intentions align. They both fully expect to be betrayed by the other at some point, but they're pragmatic enough to use each other so long as they're both working for the same purpose.

Secondly, Nicodemus and Anduriel don't know exactly who has betrayed them. At least one mortal-fallen pair in the Knights of Doritos Locos Tacos has betrayed them. Nicodemus believes that there are quite a few of them. We don't expressly know if Tessa is one of them, and neither does Nicodemus. We only know that he suspects everyone, even his own daughter, of potentially being a traitor. That's why he remarked that it is ironic that one of the only people he could trust to not be under Outsider influence is Dresden.

I also personally suspect this is one of the reasons he wanted Dresden to join the Knights so badly, as well as the reason why he used Lasciel's coin to do so. It's because he wanted someone to work with him that he could trust to not be under the sway of Nemesis. Lasciel has been inactive for centuries, so the treachery couldn't come from her, and Nicodemus either knows Dresden is Starborn or at least suspects it. He wanted Harry with Lasciel because he needed an accomplice, a right-hand man. Someone he could rely on and depend on to not be working for the other side.

You really need to read the books again. You're missing some important details. Start with Ghost Stories, and take your time. Most of them are actually better the second time around, particularly Skin Game, though Ghost Stories does admittedly lose it's biggest punch when you know the twist.

I don't like promoting myself because it always seems terribly arrogant to me, but I'd appreciate it if you'd find the time to read this. It addresses what you're talking about.

Okay, now you're just getting your facts wrong.

Read the side stories.

The eight years comment was in context of "it will be eight years before Harry or Michael would even consider letting Maggie participate." Eight plus ten is eighteen.

She can't have magic. Not like Harry does. Everyone can do a little bit of it, but the ability to naturally use magic like Harry or a White Council-tier wizard travels down the female line, not the male one.

Thomas does have magic. He can and has used it, though he isn't very good at it and his talent is mostly limited to finding people if he has something that belonged to them. He's slightly more capable than a normal person in Thaumaturgy, which is Harry's speciality.

Even though Thomas does have magic, we can't say for certain if it's because he's Margaret's child. We were explicitly told that Red Court and Black Court vampires CANNOT use magic the same way wizards and normal people can. It's not the same thing. They tap a "dark power" that is intrinsic to their nature to achieve similar effects. According to Harry, "the skills, knowledge, talent, and knack for it are interchangeable," though, which is why it's such a bad thing if a Wizard is turned. They don't become a vampire that can use magic, because there's no such thing. What they do become is a ridiculously badass vampire that can do a lot of crazy bullshit, because the knowledge and ability transfers over.

That's why the Wardens would fight to the death and even take their own lives if it came to that. They would refuse to be taken alive, because they didn't want to be turned against the Council. They knew what a threat one of them that was turned could represent.

So even though Thomas does have some ability with the arcane, and even though he probably can do it because of who his mother is, we can't actually be sure if they're the same thing, because we don't know if the same rule holds true for White Court vampires, or if it's just a Red and Black Court thing. I personally suspect it does hold true, because otherwise we'd see a lot more sorcerers in the White Court, considering how long they'd have to nurse their talents and become truly dangerous.

So Thomas does have some talent from Margaret, and it even works on the same principles that Harry has the greatest knack for, even though it probably isn't the same sort of magic that Harry uses.

And the Carpenters don't seem to have magic (yet) because Charity killed her own talent by giving it up completely. Whether Molly will remain the only one to have the talent though remains to be seen.

And it's not like they'd all have it even if she hadn't given it up. There would be way more wizards around if it worked like that.

He's been keeping it in mind just fine. You just seem to have missed quite a bit, is the problem.

As to liking all of them, eh. Turn Coat, Dead Beat, Skin Games, Death Masks, and Small Favor. I'm not sure why I like Small Favor as much as I do, actually, because I know why I like the other ones, but it's one that I keep coming back to. It re-reads well.

Just like one of your Japanese animes, right?

 

It's pretty much common knowledge that I dispise 99% of all anime, so no. It'd just be awesome. I'm actually thinking more along the lines of the intro to Angel.

 

The new daughter is sure to be a game changer, I am betting not only does she know everything harry knew knowingly or not, but she has a vast amount of knowledge inherited from her mother. Look at how powerful bob is and his abilities, and it is said she will be even greater than him.
I doubt she has everything that the fallen knew, but everything that a mortal can know and comprehend, definite, with episodic knowledge of her memories. I am guessing she is a creation of soulfire, which means there are likely a vast variety of enttities vulnerable to her power including the denarians. They will always remain so much greater than her, but they will retain a vulnerability, like how the queens are vulnerable to their knights.
unlike other advantages that harry has come accross, this one is of greater utility. knowledge is a powrful weapon to a wizard.

 

Read again, because Demonreach specifically say that he made a bargain with the "parasite" to not let Harry know his true identity. What was that for? Forget about calling her a parasite, that doesn't matter. And if you say that for Demonreach is the same thing, i remind you that he has meet Bob. Since Dresden and Lash daughter is the same type of entity as Bob, then how is it a parasite now? Can't he just tell him "Like the little spiritu you brought".

I'm not that sure of that. Maybe she has lots of raw power (spirit power or whatever) but i don't think he inherited the knowledge of his parents. Maybe Harry's, since she has been on his head a long time, but not from his mother. You have to remember that Bob is actually powerfull because he has been living and helping wizards for 700 years or so, not because he is a spirit. He dont forget anything of the knowledge the wizards showed him, but he hasn't born with that.