Well, now we have it confirmed by Butcher, Dresden died at the end of book 12.

-From the online Q&A.

Now, the biggest question that remained for me, was what happens to his powers as the Winter Knight. Apparently you can't get out of a promise to Mab this easily.

So, he has at least some obligation to Mab remaining. And, he's dead.

Thoughts? Ideas on whats gonna happen?

This discussion is a bit big for keeping it in the Changes thread imo.

 

Too many options to choose from, really. Mab could get hold of him (or Lea, on Mab's behalf or otherwise). Lash could reappear. Aftermath could be about Murphy arriving at the Water Beetle just in time to see Harry go overboard.

One thing that's just occurred to me though. Butcher says Titania has a part to play. Titania probably wouldn't want a ridiculously powerful and badass wizard being the Winter Knight...

 

Assuming Mab saved him: Harry'll be some sort of Winter Lich kind of thing.

Assuming a Valkyrie collected him: He'll start working for Odin, but there will be some conflict with Mab.

 

Ghost Story - wherein Mortimer reveals himself as a major player. You (maybe) heard it here first, folks.

 

FYI, it was mentioned that Aftermath starts 45 minutes after Changes ends, 45 minutes after he gets shot in other words. He also said in an interview that the first words are "I can't believe he's dead".

 

I honestly don't think that Butcher will go with any of the more obvious ways for Harry to live. I think he'll get brought back alive in some way that we have yet to really see so far.

I mean, I honestly just can't see Odin bringing him back. Mab... is a possibility.

 

I really hope that Harry won't be able to weasel out of being the Winter Knight too easily.
After all, the main theme of Changes was that he was going to have to 'sell his soul' to save Maggie. It'd be annoying to find out that all worked out for him (apart from being dead, of course), and he won't even have to get his hands dirty.


I'm rooting for the "He's the Winter Knight and Mab arranged his death so he could serve her better from the shadows" theory. But it's too obvious, and Jim probably has something else prepared for us. Hopefully, something better.

Also, someone mentionned in another thread the idea that Harry could be the Ghost Story monsters tell each other in the dark. I really like that idea. Plus it goes well with the one-man genocide Harry committed in Changes.

 

I'm hoping he's elevated to Kratos status and has to escape whatever corner of the Nevernever he's sent to (which apparently contains any afterlife one might conceive of and more)...

 

Why are none of you thinking that he's just going to be a bog standard ghost? The next story is called Ghost Story, after all.

 

Too obvious.

Could be that Harry spends the next book trying to sort out a situation, without letting anyone know that he's alive...and balls it up, of course.

I also like the serves-Odin-as-hero theory.

 

I don't think he's going to be alive in the next book at all. I think the plot of the next book is going to be about Harry trying to become alive again.

 

Harry dies, and ends up a ghost. With Mister willing to be possessed, Harry has a temporary body - now he has to solve his most personal case: who killed Harry Dresden? And more importantly, where is his body?

That could be fun.

 

^ This is my new favorite theory. Mister!Harry solving his own murder, and planning his resurrection.

How much more dark could that sound, heh.

 

The trouble with that is that in book 3 it was established that ghosts are not really the souls of the dead but rather just "echoes" of what once was. I don't particularly want to read about something that is just a "copy" of the real Harry, especially since we already saw that in book 3 when Harry creates a ghost of himself to help out against Kravos.

I suppose Harry might end up as an exception or something due to his rather unique circumstances as a Soulfire wielding wizard Winter Knight bound to Demonreach with a Shadow of a Fallen in his head. If so maybe the "train" at the end of was something that basically pushed his soul away from the afterlife/whatever and now he is a non-corporeal soul floating around going "WTF!".

Has there been any suggestion that this is even possible? Any foreshadowing of real ghosts that are not just copies, can anyone remember anything?

I admit it would be pretty cool to see things from different perspective with Harry basically being a supernatural creature. I mean sun would probably hurt him, he could not go into houses or churches with thresholds, most people could not see him, etc.

 

I like Harry possessing Mister... Might make it easier to talk to Mouse.

Also like the idea of him only being able to talk to Mort Lindquist, and Mort refusing... and Harry pulling a Patrick Swayze from 'Ghost' and driving Mort 'round the bend with bad singing until he helps him.

 

I can't see Dresden actually trying to find some way to resurrect himself. It seems to me like that just doesn't click with his personality. If he is dead and comes back, then it will be either because he is forced to take the lesser evil of resurrecting himself rather than the big bad of the book or because some other party comes into play to bring him back to life a la cerberus.

 

I think it's pretty obvious who killed him: Mike the mechanic. It's all part of a larger plot involving a garage turf battle.

The Blue Beetle is no more, so he's out a steady income stream. Fix, the other Knight, is probably moving in on his turf, so Mike's set himself up against the Fae. (Little differences like Winter vs. Summer are like Ford and Chrysler--incidental at best). And don't forget that Thomas is Harry's brother--the same Thomas who doesn't even have his Jaguars fixed--he abandons them. Fucker.

I'm willing to bet that when they pry that bullet out of Harry's chest, they'll find it's got Mike's greasy fingerprints all over it.

[Edit: Hmm. I smell crackfic. Levity aside, this is about the best ending Butcher could make for fanfiction. It's basically a clean slate with everything in flux, much like post-OOtP Harry Potter.]

 

Yeah, I agree with Perspicacity on this. The ending of this book leaves so many different fanfiction possibilities open. I wouldn't be surprised to see a huge boost in Dresden fanfic, hopefully all by good authors.

Anyone else pissed that November is SEVEN MONTHS AWAY? Christ, first Changes now the Aftermath short story. Jim is God, the end.

 

Is it just me or am I the only one thinking that Jim is going to spending the next few months hopping around all the message boards laughing maniacally at the rage/wild theories over his cliffhanger?