I always saw this as sort of a Harry really really REALLY wants him to be stone dead and never coming back but he knows that Nicodemus is a millenia old psychopathic master planner with one of Lucifer's captains living in his skull so he's keeping himself ready and open to the idea Nick somehow survived so that he can't catch him off guard.

Just my own interpretation though.

 

Too obvious.

 

Then again if everybody thinks that it wasn't Black Council, because it's too obvious, what a surprise it will be if it was them.

 

Well, given that most of the antagonists in the series seem to be connected to the Black Council either directly or indirectly, they probably are involved somewhere along the line. Doesn't mean the shooter is a member of the Black Council

 

Also because the Black Council's modus operandi so far has been to stick to the shadows for all bar potential endgame moves and try not to make themselves well known.

 

I have always had this insane little idea in the back of mind since I finished Changes. We know Harry survives being shot or comes back from the dead as Butcher has said multiple times that there will be 20 or so books. We also know that the mantle of the Knight is supposed to go back to the Queen when the knight is killed. Supposed someone decides that Dresden is simply too powerful and dangerous or that he gives Mab too great a boost. They kill him so he is no longer the knight, but bring him back or make it possible for him to be brought back.

I doubt this is what happens but this idea has been bouncing around since I finished changes.

 

So someone killed Harry to remove the mantle, but had no intention of really killing him? Like it was a friendly killing?

<_<

>_>



Yeah, i could buy that.

 

Well, there's one slight snag in that theory. Harry may not have been the Winter Knight at the time that he was killed. Remember that his bargain with Mab was to have the power to defeat the Red Court and save Maggie then he would become the Winter Knight. Albeit Mab likely gave him pretty much the same powers the Knight would have, just for simplicity's sake, but that doesn't change the fact that the wording of the bargain makes for an uncertain conclusion to Changes.

 

...

Well, I'll be damned.

Goes to read Changes again.

 

No, not in anyway shape or form. Say someone wants him to be around but doesnt want Mab to have him as Winter Knight. Say someone like Uriel, Vadderung, Drakul, Nicodemus, Titania, the Archive(in which case Kincaid makes perfect sense), or the Church. They may not give a shit about Dresden himself, but dont want Mab to have such a powerful Knight. Or they do give a shit about Dresden and dont want him under Mab's influence. Or they want him to be more of a free agent who does work for several people.

Once again this is a half insane idea that wouldnt be correct in a million years.

Then what was the point of having sex with him? He used the power of Summer in proven guilty without having sex with anyone. And Toot point blank says that Harry is the new Winter Knight.

 

This. I think (although I could be wrong, of course) that the bargain was that he doesn't take up his duties as Winter Knight until he's rescued Maggie, not that he doesn't have the power. Doesn't he specifically want the power of the Winter Knight to take on the Red Court?

 

So... what are the odds of Mab being pregnant?

 

I hadn't even considered that. Although probably a little too similar to Changes.

 

It's be the perfect way to gain more control over Harry. Yes, he still owes her a debt and he's now her Knight and all that. A child with him would pretty much seal her control over him though.

 

I thought that favor disappeared when he took up the mantle of Winter Knight?

 

True, a child would be the ultimate way to control Harry, well, control in the figurative sense, but still, I think that seems a little stale by Jim's standards.

Harry learns he has a kid in Changes, then in Ghost Story finds out he's the father of the next Winter Queen following Maeve? Somehow I just don't see that happening, nor would Maeve be all that happy with it given her current feelings towards Mab.

Still, it's an interesting angle, makes me want to go back & read the Denarian series again.

 

Harry's killing of Slate combined with sex with Mab pretty much solidifies his role as the Winter Knight, I think. And as Ragon mentioned, Toot confirmed Harry was the knight.

 

No. He still owes a favor; the Winter Knight thing didn't interact with his debt at all.

 

Page 438 of Summer Knight.

 

That was in Summer Knight. That deal could have been restricted to that one offer. Aren't the Fae known for worming their way around deals like that?