The Dresden Files > DF Reference Collection
Dark influences on Harry
dimpwnc:
-I don't know if it's too amorphous and un-magicky to count, but his kills in DB seem to haunt him during PG and beyond:
[Murph:]"You look like you're bleeding, somehow...you killed them. It's eating at you....You made the choice cold...[in reference to her own killing of Denton]...but it made me feel stained. To take a life." (PG, 99-100)
[Harry:]"I've never killed, man. Not like that. Cold."...[Michael, in response:]"You feel like nothing is ever going to be right again...you feel stained." (PG, 385)
-And I guess the obvious (if still unmagicky) one, manipulating/killing Susan in Changes: "One day I hope God will forgive me for giving birth to the idea that came next. Because I never will." (C, 415) "'It wasn't hard,' I said quietly. 'Just cold.'" (C, 425)
-And another unmagicky one where he doesn't perceive it, so this may be way too tenuous: his complete contempt for and utter brutality to ghouls. In terms of that counting as a stain, in a different context, he talks about how "Life's easier when you can write off others as monsters, as demons, as horrible threats to be hated and feared. The thing is, you can't do that without becoming them, just a little. Sure, Lasciel's shadow might be determined to drag my immortal soul down to perdition, but there was no point in hating her for it. It wouldn't do anything but stain me that much darker." (WN,276-277). Seems to me that's exactly what he's done with ghouls, despite his initial comments to Ramirez in the same vein as the quote above.
These nonmagical examples might not count; I'm not sure. I guess I never grasped why murdering by magic does more harm to the soul than just general murder. I get why invading someone's mind/free will does some terrible damage, but it seems to me that murder is murder, and it stains the soul, whatever the weapon.
DragonEyes:
And killing Slate on the Stone Table is about the same.
dimpwnc:
--- Quote from: DragonEyes on March 20, 2012, 11:56:01 AM ---And killing Slate on the Stone Table is about the same.
--- End quote ---
Yes, definitely, and it has the benefit of being less ambiguous. It is part of a rite that lets Harry gain magical strength:
"I was a man seeking power. For good reasons, maybe. But I wasn't going to lie to myself or anyone else about my actions. If I killed him, I would be taking a life, something that was not mine to take. I would be committing deliberate, calculated murder...I had no right to take his life, and it was pure, overwhelming, nihilistic arrogance to say otherwise....I just stood there...stared at the remains of the man I'd murdered, wondering what I was supposed to feel. Sadness? Not really....Mostly? I just felt cold." (G, 238-243)
The term "cold" seems to become as much an indicator of new damage to Harry's soul as the term "stain". I really hope that's not the case in Cold Days....
Cruness:
This one might be ambiguous, but Harry's exposure to the Hexenwulf belt in FM? It was a spirit of rage, and given its effect on him, I can imagine it left a mark.
Serack:
--- Quote from: dimpwnc on March 20, 2012, 12:09:59 PM ---Yes, definitely, and it has the benefit of being less ambiguous. It is part of a rite that lets Harry gain magical strength:
"I was a man seeking power. For good reasons, maybe. But I wasn't going to lie to myself or anyone else about my actions. If I killed him, I would be taking a life, something that was not mine to take. I would be committing deliberate, calculated murder...I had no right to take his life, and it was pure, overwhelming, nihilistic arrogance to say otherwise....I just stood there...stared at the remains of the man I'd murdered, wondering what I was supposed to feel. Sadness? Not really....Mostly? I just felt cold." (G, 238-243)
The term "cold" seems to become as much an indicator of new damage to Harry's soul as the term "stain". I really hope that's not the case in Cold Days....
--- End quote ---
This is a pretty good one. I was considering the taking of the Winter Knight Mantle, but I didn't know how to seg it. That quote works pretty well though. Thanks for including it.
--- Quote from: Cruness on March 20, 2012, 01:52:29 PM ---This one might be ambiguous, but Harry's exposure to the Hexenwulf belt in FM? It was a spirit of rage, and given its effect on him, I can imagine it left a mark.
--- End quote ---
I actually included that one into the 2ndary list.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version