He put come canvas or something around the handle to keep his hands from burning, didn't he?

 

He did? When? I remember him being slightly annoyed at the glow, but nothing as extreme as burning.

 

Additionally I don't think the sword would even have worked for Harry in the fight. It's clearly stated in DF-canon that the Knights of the Cross exist to save people (those possessed by Denarians, whores on street corners etc.) not destroy evil. As Harry would never fight Denarians in order to save them, going against the swords purpose, the sword would have been useless in the fight.

 

The knights do try to save people if possible, but the swords do not make them 100% braindead (only 50% ). There are examples in both DF canon and Shezzas universe of knights using their swords to strike down hostile denarians. If the denarian surrenders upon seeing the knight then great, however if the denarian actually attacks and tries to kill the knight then he is free to destroy them.

In this fight two of the denarians where insane/berserking. There was no chance of redemption there and as such the sword would have worked brilliantly. And even if the sword would have wanted Harry to try and redeem the 3rd one, it would hardly have left him defenseless against the incoming spells&attacks.

I would speculate that the only fight that the swords might refuse to take part in would be an unprovoked attack on someone non-evil by Harry. Aslong as Harry is the one being attacked, I would say the sword would do its best to help.

 

Eh? That's like saying that a guillotine can't kill innocents...which is quite untrue. Remember the Black Court vampire who was about to stick Amoracchius into some random girl? I don't remember any divine intervention...

Besides, Knights do kill Denarians. I don't think they have ever been very succesful in this whole 'redeeming hell-thrall'-business.

 

If you remember the Black Court incident, you should remember that Leanansidhe almost "unmade" the sword when Dresden attempted to wield it against her.

 

Leanansidhe didn't unmake the Sword. She obtained the sword because Dresden used it, who was and is not the proper wielder. Mavra almost unmade the sword by using it to shed the blood of an innocent -- the very antithesis of what the Knights stand for.

 

Yeah. Using the sword to kill someone who is innocent will unmake the sword. This has been discussed before. Denarians (especially hostile ones) however are far from innocent. The sword wont have any problems with them or any other hostile attacker.

And it was Mavra who tried to destroy the blade, not Leanansidhe. However apparently the only reason that Mavra could touch the blade was that Dresden had "corrupted" it by trying to use it to weasel out of a fair-deal. I guess the swords normally have some way of striking down "unauthorized" users.

 

...

What's this about the sword being useless in the context of this battle? It would have been great. The sword nullifies enemy magic, and cuts through unholy flesh like a hot knife through butter. No, it doesn't give him a sunburn, but he has to wear a thick glove or it will burn him...cuz he has unholy flesh. And he is perfectly able to wield it. It made its decision to bind itself to him because of his actions to save innocents or something. And the Knights exist to destroy the taint of the Lucifer upon the Earth, or at least keep the balance. Yes, the Knights are very well known, but not to the Wizarding World. Their association with outside magic is slim at best. They only know about the Council...

I think that's pretty much everything...

 

The swords are not useless in battle, that has never been said. What HAS been said is that the motivations one has for using the weapon have a direct affect on it's performance.

 

Where was this said? What chapter/book?

 

Someplace in The Dresden Files...

I remember reading it as well, but can't for the life of me bother to go through the summaries and figure out where.

 

Actually, in Death Masks Sanya says that he was redeemed and turned away from the coin. However, he also said that he did not want to just be a murderer and went in for the power so take that as you will. It's on page 298 if you want to take a look for yourselves.

 

Yeah, but remember the other un-coined Denarian. He didn't exactly become a better person after his coin was taken.

Knights have undoubtedly killed many times more Denarians than they have redeemed. Besides, they are not as righteous and good as everybody makes them sound like. Remember how they just let Dresden to torture the un-coined Denarian.

 

Oh I definitely agree with you that they killed many more than they saved (probably most,) I was just saying that every once and awhile they get someone that can be saved.

 

Does no one around here understand the concept of keeping the monkey LOCKED in the cage?



I got a banana for an update.

 

Absolutely spectacular story.

If i was forced to find anything at all wrong about it, the only thing I could come up with is the action scenes being slightly repetitive. However, that only glared at me from my second time through, so they are probably quite fine for a first read through.

Any possible negative is absolutely crushed by the fantastic character development in this fic, I have yet to find a fic with anywhere near the sophistication that you give your characters.

Back before, I read about some speculation about the pairings within the fic, considering we are what, 26? 27? chapters through, I do not believe that a Harry/Amanda pairing is possible within the next 3 or 4 chapters, it would seem far far too crammed. That is unless he ends it with a possibility, and starts a sequel to this one.

It's taken me a long time to find a story that I actually felt was worth posting about, but I felt it was worth taking the time out to acknowledge this fic.

/salute.

~Ellis

Edit: I just realized I may of dug this thread up from a long time ago, I am not aware of the rules for this on the forum yet, so i apologize if it annoys people.