The Dresden Files > DF Reference Collection
The Answer(hopefully) to Who Fixed Little Chicago (FULL SPOILERS)
jthwilliams:
--- Quote from: GWPfark on July 09, 2011, 12:47:49 AM ---Mac is Connor Macleod of the Clan Macleod after winning the gathering in 1985.
/there can be only one.
--- End quote ---
Mac is Rand Al'thor after surviving the last battle and travelling to a different shadow of the wheel to retire.
Orbweaver:
--- Quote from: AcornArmy on July 11, 2011, 04:01:59 AM ---No, Bob didn't say that LC now matched the power flows in the real Chicago, so the problem was solved; he said that LC had a power flow set up the wrong way the last time he looked at the model, but that now, when he was looking at it, the power flow was correct. One scenario involves the real world changing but the model staying the same, while the other involves the world staying the same and model changing between one viewing and the next. If the real world had changed, Bob and Harry wouldn't have had any need to go through the part of the discussion in which they talked about how someone would've needed to get past the wards, examine Little Chicago, and realize how to fix the problem. Bob would have known the difference and we would've had an entirely different mystery to think about.
--- End quote ---
Proven Guilty, page 471, paperback:
"I found something wrong with Little Chicago's design." I swallowed. "Oh. Wow. Bad?" "Extremely. We missed a transition coupling in the power flow. The stored energy was all going to the same spot." "That's ... like a surge of electricity going through a circuit breaker, right? Or a fuse box." "Exactly like that," Bob said. "Except that you were the fuse. That much energy in one spot will blow your head off your shoulders." "But it didn't." I said. "But it didn't," Bob agreed. "How is that possible?" "It isn't," he said. "Someone fixed it." "What? Are you sure?" "It didn't fix itself," Bob said. "When I looked at it a few nights ago, the flawed section was in plain sight, even if I didn't recognize it at the time. When I looked at it again tonight, it was different. Someone changed it." "In my lab? Under my house? Which is behind my wards? That's impossible." "No it isn't," Bob said. "Just really, really, really, really, really, really difficult. And unlikely."
The issue that I'm taking with Bob's statement is that he never stated where the transition coupling was at on LC. Kind of odd, considering that he's the one who brought up the conversation. Altering the power flow out in the real world so as not to have Dresden blow his head off his shoulders, even if it was only a momentary alteration, would have been much easier as opposed to someone going into Harry's subbasement. And Bob knows that. Bob being locked in Harry's basement doesn't exactly lend itself to his noticing a momentary flux in the power flows around the city, ya know? After all, Bob didn't notice the mishap until a few nights later- even though he saw it hiding in plain sight the first time he looked at it- so he therefore wouldn't have been looking for any shifts in the power flows around the city to begin with. (Simply put, whomever kept Dresden from going kablooey acted by momentarily taking the circumstance out of the cards, rather than risk a fix in front of Bob.)
On top of that, we have Bob stating that in all likelihood, no one did get into Harry's basement to fix the issue. It was fixed elsewhere first, and in the basement after the trial run.
I've also generally found that the either/or principle applies when we have all the information. We don't know why Bob missed the transitioner, even though he said he could see it.
As for how someone else knew LC was messed up- if they were running their own version, they probably noticed when all those small chinks and nicks appeared in the buildings, roads, etc. and took care to fix the model, lest they end up having to fix a much, much bigger problem.
AcornArmy:
--- Quote from: Orbweaver on July 11, 2011, 04:44:27 AM ---On top of that, we have Bob stating that in all likelihood, no one did get into Harry's basement to fix the issue. It was fixed elsewhere first, and in the basement after the trial run.
--- End quote ---
But during the conversation you quoted, Harry didn't even know there was a problem until Bob told him so at that moment. So Harry didn't fix the model. And Bob is telling him that the model was broken a couple of days ago, but it's fixed now, during their conversation. So it still wasn't Harry who fixed it, because he didn't even know there was a problem, and Bob apparently still didn't see the fix happen.
As far as I can see, your theory doesn't eliminate the need for someone other than Harry or Bob to fix the model, it only adds the potential mystery that someone could have altered the flow in Chicago itself so that using LC wouldn't kill Harry. Which would be a novel approach-- especially since they apparently had to enter his lab anyway to fix Little Chicago, too.
Still, it would be kinda neat if that's what happened.
laura118b:
--- Quote from: Orbweaver on July 11, 2011, 01:42:14 AM ---Lea stated in Changes that it was her role, as Harry's godmother, to protect his spiritual self. With the Sidhe, distinctions like that one are very important.
Is there any evidence to suggest that if Little Chicago had blown up, it would have affected Harry spiritually?
--- End quote ---
Yes, but Changes is the first time that is spelled out. In SK Lea makes it pretty clear she's agreed to protect Harry's life, and then points out the old neighbor "calling the cops" and the sirens outside of Wal-Mart as two times she's done it. In DB Mab gives Harry the info to try to save his life because Lea has to aid him. And I think magically blowing one's head off counts as needing help from someone who can fix it. :D
AcornArmy:
--- Quote from: Orbweaver on July 11, 2011, 01:42:14 AM ---Lea stated in Changes that it was her role, as Harry's godmother, to protect his spiritual self. With the Sidhe, distinctions like that one are very important.
Is there any evidence to suggest that if Little Chicago had blown up, it would have affected Harry spiritually?
--- End quote ---
Actually, something just occurred to me: Mab is the Queen of Air and Darkness, etc. etc. She's the ruler of one of the most powerful supernatural groups in existence. Is there some reason that she couldn't step over and tweak a magical construct if she felt like it? Some rule that would prevent her from doing so, if the urge took her?
I know she can't kill a mortal directly, at least one that's not connected to one of the Courts, but by fixing Little Chicago she'd be doing the opposite, so that restriction wouldn't come into play. And even if it did, until Harry performs his last favor for her, he literally belongs to her. She said as much in Small Favor, and proved it by causing him to move a few steps away without remembering it or intending to do so. Mab could harm Harry if she chose.
But that may be incidental, because I can't think of any reason Mab couldn't just cross over and mess with LC any time she felt like it, regardless of Harry's metaphysical link to her. Can anyone else think of a reason Mab couldn't mess with the model if she wanted to?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version