The Dresden Files > DF Reference Collection
Reference: X compared to Y = possible Discrepancy?
Serack:
Molly Aged more than can be accounted for between books 8 and 9 (Proven Guilty and White Night)
Per the "Timeline Chick"
--- Quote from: Priscellie on January 18, 2007, 11:30:33 PM ---We haven't quite pinned down specifically what years these events take place, so let's say "Storm Front" and "Fool Moon" take place in the year 0, and every thing else is either BSF (Before Storm Front) or ASF (After Storm Front).
[/snip]
12 BSF: Molly Carpenter is born, according to WN and beyond. She's suddenly a year too old in WN, and the change is kept consistent for the subsequent stories.
(11 BSF: Molly Carpenter is born, according to DM and PG. She's suddenly a year too old in WN, and the change is kept consistent for the subsequent stories.)
--- End quote ---
Here are the relevant book quotes:
--- Quote from: PG ch. 7 ---"You're sixteen"
"Seventeen," she said, with sparks of indignation and another thick "s."
"Whatever," I said. "You're a juvenile. You should call your parents."
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: WN ch. 30 ---I stripped the glove off and held it up, in my fingers spread. It didn't look as horrific as it used to, but it was plenty ugly enough to make an impression on a nineteen-year-old girl. "This isn't a goddamn movie, Molly.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: laura118b on June 22, 2012, 07:55:32 PM ---Molly's age can be explained by the fact that some of the early books got published in a different order than written. Priscellie covered this at one time IIRC.
--- End quote ---
With that note, I'll put in a Doylist explanation of that "Discrepancy."
According to the following WoJ, the order for DB and PG got switched from their planned sequence. Since the discrepancy circles around how much time passed between PG and WN with respect to Molly's age, it can be assumed that for the overall plot, Molly was supposed to be Harry's apprentice for a few years WN.
--- Quote ---You planned out the 20 books and apocalyptic trilogy for the books and how much have you changed now that you have gotten into it?
Not a lot. I changed around the events of Proven Guilty and Dead Beat because Proven Guilty, the part with Molly was originally going to come first and I told my editor, "This one is going to be a little quieter, a little bit more personal than the one before, it's going to be focusing a little bit more on just a couple of people and stuff that's important to Harry." and my editor says, "well, you know, that might not be a good idea for this one." And I'm like "What?" "You might want to have a story that's a little bit bigger" "What?" "You might want to have a story that's a little bit broader and thicker. Something that people can really get their teeth into. Something that's going to be a little heavier and have more weight." I'm like "Wait a minute are you saying I'm going into hard cover?" She's like "That's not what I'm saying... I didn't say that!" Cause it was a surprise for me I suppose. So then I said, "Ok we've gotta go with zombies and ghosts and animated T-Rex for that one then."
--- End quote ---
Edit: I'll note here that when Priscellie confronted Jim about this at a signing, he recruited her to be a Beta. Something similar happened to Terri Bane when she punched Jim's shoulder at an interview for letting Harry not check up on Mouse's shoulder after the dust settled during White Night.
knnn:
Another possible discrepancy is that in Storm Front, Harry feels hopeless because someone got a piece of his hair, yet in Changes, Binder simply shaves his head and dips in the lake, removing all chances of Harry tracking him.
One can get around this by saying that in SF the spell was powered by a lightning storm so maybe that had the ability to target better?
Serack:
--- Quote from: knnn on July 02, 2012, 11:44:47 PM ---Another possible discrepancy is that in Storm Front, Harry feels hopeless because someone got a piece of his hair, yet in Changes, Binder simply shaves his head and dips in the lake, removing all chances of Harry tracking him.
One can get around this by saying that in SF the spell was powered by a lightning storm so maybe that had the ability to target better?
--- End quote ---
Meh, the magical system was still getting fleshed out. I always felt that mechanization for convincing Binder he had lost his tail was a rather unimpressive plot point for the reasons you just pointed out, as well as every other time old hair was used. I would rather lump that with any other instances of the explanations of how the magic in the series has morphed minutely as the series progressed.
Eleyctra:
Or he could say he learned a little more after Storm Front from Bob about the rules surrounding hair connections...you know, while writes down his case files after every book. ;)
Serack:
--- Quote from: Eleyctra on July 02, 2012, 11:56:31 PM ---Or he could say he learned a little more after Storm Front from Bob about the rules surrounding hair connections...you know, while writes down his case files after every book. ;)
--- End quote ---
This does a better job of following the spirit of this point in my OP than I was capable of while in the mindset of coming up with arguments
--- Quote from: Serack on June 22, 2012, 05:14:52 PM ---In the spirit of respect for Jim, and his fans, if you contribute to this reference, please try to do so in a manor that does just that, and that acknoledges that Jim has been able to do a great job of finding creative, cohesive ways to get such discrepancies to work quite well within the world he has created.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for doing such a great job of keeping our pontificating grounded. ;D
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