The Dresden Files > DF Reference Collection
Reference: X compared to Y = possible Discrepancy?
Rasins:
Also, don't forget that some inconsistencies can be attributed to Harry just being wrong. His understanding of moving between our world and the NN early on may have been in err. He's had a lot more experience at it now, and he has a "map" in the ruby his mother left him.
Actually, I'm thinking it's kind of a combination of both fixed and fluid. The fixed are based on experience, and the fluid are much more influenced by imagination, desire, and intent.
knnn:
Other examples:
- In SmF, Nico says that Harry shouldn't try running to the NN from Demonreach because of what is on the other side. How does he know where Harry will open a portal to? Possibly because maybe "all roads lead to ruin" from there.
- In CD, Harry threatens to open a portal to the RW to kill a Sidhe. Potentially, he could have done that back in PG to escape At instead of trudging back to the place Lily was holding open. Answer is maybe it takes a "lot" of power to open a portal in At.
- Similarly, how about the portal that the Fetches used? Harry seemed to believe he'd end up at the same place without problems.
- Ditto following into the ghost demesne back in Grave Peril.
redwizard:
The NN appears to function in two ways, at least with regards to opening Ways.
The first is the standard fixed point where two geographic locations are linked, i.e. the shed in Chicago and the one at the White Council headquarters. These are so easy even a caveman could do it. They are also the most common ones.
The second, is the type described by the quote in the first post in this thread. They are what I think of as directed Ways. They depend on all of the qualities Harry mentioned as well as a significant investment of will. The one opened to CI for the Grey Council, the one Mab opened to send Harry back in Cold Days (this one took a large amount of power as well), and the one sending the raiding party back from CI to Chicago as well. I would also think when a summoning happens a direct way is used.
I don't see it as much a discontinuity as a plot device. Just think of it as when a wizard reaches a certain point they have access to the DF version of a transporter.
Phaeton Seraph:
--- Quote from: UncommonSense on July 12, 2013, 02:00:03 PM ---I feel like there are set doors and paths that can be used on a (semi)consistent basis. Which would explain how Harry's mother's ruby can impart that kind of knowledge. Gatekeeper alludes to something similar in CD:
That's why when Harry pops through a specific alley wall, he gets to Edinburgh. But, like you said, if he randomly opens a way then all bets are off. Also, I thought I remember reading in one of the books some character stating that the ways change over time? Maybe I'm misremembering or thinking of a different series.
--- End quote ---
Of course the Ways change over time, the mortal world does too. If you pave paradise to put up a parking lot, the park or empty lot no longer has a connection with what it used to be connected to. If a bad neighbourhood is gentrified, then the neighbourhood will lose its kinship with a dangerous part of of the NN. Likewise if a nice area becomes run down, or seedy.
wyltok:
I've always felt that when it comes to entering the Never Never, there's gates and then there's Ways. From how they are used, it appears that Ways behave differently from Gates in that an established Way works the same for everyone, whereas a Gate is trickier.
When it comes to defending his house from Never Never incursions, it seems Harry's method was to try to avoid making his house the exit of a Way. Instead, he seems to have relied on the inherent instability of Gates (this could be one possible explanation for why Harry's place lead to different Never Never locations in Grave Peril and Changes) to make it harder for his enemies to attack him (since they would have to spend the effort to find out what new spot in the Never Never corresponded to Harry's house at the time of their attack).
Meanwhile, both Lea and Corpsetaker appear to have relied on the opposite strategy: turn the Never Never side into a Way, and fortify it as much as possible. Harry's hideout appears to be a compromise: since he's hardly ever there, he deemed it better to have a stable Way that lead to one of the safe paths through Winter used by the Council.
Of course, just because Gates are not as stable as Ways, that doesn't mean that one cannot find a path to their target in the real world. Both Thomas and Cowl accomplished it in White Night. I suggest that both followed a similar method, namely, using a tracking spell on someone on the Real World to lead them.
I've always considered Proven Guilty a good example of a story with both Gates and Ways. The closed cinema theater was a Way that always lead to a spot close to Artic Tor. Meanwhile, the mirrors used by the fetches in their other attacks are merely Gates, which means that when they escape into the Never Never, it's harder for other people to follow them.
The question is, what turns a Gate into a Way? We don't know for sure, but I would offer this: it shouldn't be that hard for the same beings that opens a gate in the same place in the real world (or vice-versa) to end up at the same location in the Never Never (or vice-versa) every time. Do it often enough, and you weaken the barrier between the Never Never and the real world (this is how Harry describes it in Changes) and a Way is made. This could explain why Harry managed to open the same Way she did, since I think it's fair to say Harry was more in common with Cowl than with Agatha.
P.S. I suspect that Fae can discern from the real world the type of place a Gate (or a Way) will open to. It's something we see Lily do in White Night, and it's the only thing that would explain why Tiny the Gruff (considering how injured he was) would dare jump into the Never Never from the train station in Turn Coat without being worried about reaching the same place in the Never Never as the hobs.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version