The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Major Opens in the Series
Lost Merlin:
--- Quote from: Rasins on February 15, 2018, 05:47:16 PM ---
As to Toot-toot, I think he's in the process of establishing another Wyld-fae court.
--- End quote ---
I know that the fairy that toot was before was to little to take sides (maybe?) but isn't he more decidedly winter now that Harry is the Winter Knight. Now of course if Harry slips the Mantle then I guess that could change things.
Talby16:
--- Quote from: Kindler on February 15, 2018, 02:42:33 PM ---For fun, I tried to figure out how much money Harry made off of Skin Game. I calculated using realistic, optimistic terms, as far as I know.
1. We know that the diamonds were split into "brand new, metal cash boxes." I pulled what looks like an average, cheap one from Staples to get dimensions: https://www.staples.com/MMF-Industries-STEELMASTER-Cash-Box-with-Locking-Latch-Sand-4-H-x-11-W-x-7-3-4-D/product_916553
2. This cash box is 4x11x7.75 inches, giving it a total volume of 341 cubic inches. I'm assuming that the box is at least half full, because I doubt Anna managed to get enough to fill five, but judging from Charity's reaction and Harry's brief, inexact description, I'm assuming that it's somewhere around half. I'll round down to be more pessimistic. Assume Harry has 150 cubic inches of diamonds in his box. This is then halved again, down to 75 cubic inches, as he shoves them into two knotted off socks (which is super romantic).
3. Diamond weight by volume is 2.03 ounces per cubic inch. That gives us a staggering weight of 152.25 ounces, or 9.52 pounds (they're obviously very dense, so the weight-to-volume ratio is pretty dang high).
4. 1 carat=.200 grams. If the above assumptions are right, Harry has—wait for it—21,591 carats worth of diamonds.
5. Prices for diamonds vary by things like clarity, cut, and the value-per-carat is affected by how many carats remain in the finished diamond. For highest pessimism, I'm going to assume that they are the WORST clarity, and raw diamonds. Commercial rough diamonds retail, on average, for $1,500 per carat. I am going to further assume that Harry can get 35% of that value, because I assume he's bad at negotiating.
6. This returns a value of... $11,335,275.
Even if I'm off wildly, I think I'm within 50% of the total value. Harry has, at a bare minimum, five million dollars worth of diamonds, and so does Murphy. It's likely considerably higher than that.
All he has to do is stick into a high div-yield stock. Say he bought $1 million of AT&T, which has a historically high dividend yield per share. Harry can have recurring income, every quarter, of $12,500, and that's with no additional investment. If he reinvested for, say, twenty years and just lived off his cash assets? Harry will never have to work another day in his life. Even the ludicrous lifespan of a wizard. Simple compounded interest on that amount of money, assuming inflation holds below 1.5%, will ensure that he can basically retire if he so chooses.
Do I think he's likely to invest it wisely in safe, boring assets? No. I think Harry is going to start spending money on insanely expensive, but insanely cool magical gear. Plus, with all those diamonds, I'm sure he can find uses for them as focus items. He will have the blingiest foci of any wizard of his generation.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I don't think he'll open up shop again. He doesn't have to (though he might want to), and, honestly, that line of work was bad for his health (not that Winter Knighting is any safer), and he's got a couple of daughters now. I think he's going to try to live quietly (ha!), and spoil Maggie rotten with all of the things he never had. I expect bouncy castles. And Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots. And teddy bears that double as bodyguards. And a tracking anklet that alerts Harry to changes in Maggie's heart rate. And...
Anyway, you get the joke. I do still want to know how he's going to live, but the amount of money Harry made (off of what I consider to be Harry's first total, unimpeachable, straight-up victory in the series) in Skin Game, he's got the option to do pretty much whatever he wants.
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Nice work-up on the diamond value. I admit that I was curious at the end of Skin Game. Harry is going to do some interesting things with the money, unless he donates it all or sticks it under his mattress.
KurtinStGeorge:
--- Quote from: dspringer1 on February 14, 2018, 05:48:36 PM ---4) Harry is supposed to get trained in shapeshifting
--- End quote ---
Is he? I thought LTW offered to train Harry how to handle anger issues. Maybe he'll get some training in shape shifting as well, but I don't think there's any guarantee that will happen.
Plus I'd add a couple of personal issues.
What has happened to Elaine in Harry's absence? I would assume she took greater control of the paranet but she was already running things on her side of the country before Harry's untimely, if not permanent, demise. She was definitely hiding something from him in White Night, so that would be a second question: What was Elaine hiding from Harry? (Reread the scene where Elaine gave Harry a massage after he fell through the ice if you don't know what I'm referring to.)
The second personal issue goes back to before the series started.
How did Harry's father die? To put it more bluntly and to the point, who killed Malcolm Dresden and why; and does anyone else know what really happened and has withheld this information from Harry? I could see Lea, Mab, Ebenezer, and maybe some of the other Senior Council members knowing the truth even if they were not responsible for the crime. One or more might have even known it would happen beforehand and decided it was for the best to let Malcolm die. There's a reason this issue has been with us since book 2 when it was introduced by Chaunzaggoroth. I think the repercussions when Harry eventually faces this issue and learns the truth will be enormous.
wardenferry419:
My first thought is that Justin did it with a weak version of exploding heart spell.
raidem:
--- Quote ---How did Harry's father die? To put it more bluntly and to the point, who killed Malcolm Dresden and why; and does anyone else know what really happened and has withheld this information from Harry? I could see Lea, Mab, Ebenezer, and maybe some of the other Senior Council members knowing the truth even if they were not responsible for the crime. One or more might have even known it would happen beforehand and decided it was for the best to let Malcolm die. There's a reason this issue has been with us since book 2 when it was introduced by Chaunzaggoroth. I think the repercussions when Harry eventually faces this issue and learns the truth will be enormous.
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Well, my theory with Malcolm as being a redeemed/2nd chanced Nicodemus is that Malcolm only gets so much time on this world. So, no one kills him really. His time was just up. Or, Anduriel finds out and is finally able to take action against Malcolm as Heaven's final balancing act ran out.
Other theories for Malcolm is that he is descended from Nic but not Nic. Another guess is that he is descended from some "Corwin" bloodline, which may, again depending on Mac's identity, be related to Mac.
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