The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Harry's lack of research

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Yuillegan:
I know we have a lot of information Harry doesn't, but it really astounds me for a guy who is meant to be a big knowledge seeker (as a Wizard) that Harry does so little. He spends so much time fighting, which is interesting, but at some point wouldn't you make a list of all the weird stuff you might need to know?

For example, one of the biggest mysteries is Harry's mother. Who she was, what she did, what she was a part of etc. Harry has been told repeatedly of her dangerous activity, her disregard of the council, her anarchist/activist nature and that she was involved with some really bad people (Lord Raith, Justin, Lea, Nicodemus, Ariana etc). But he has done almost no research into this. Why not call up Lea and say "Hey I need to know about my mother etc?"

And there are many more: What is a Starborn? Why do I have power over Outsiders? Maybe ask Mab a bit more about the Outsiders. He certainly should be having a larger chat with the Gatekeeper about all of that. Definitely some research into Kemmler would likely prove fruitful. What about asking Ebenezer about Drakul, Kincaid, how the supernatural nations hitmen work? And he really needs to read Merlin's journals, and maybe all those other ones. Which likely for plot reasons will only happen when Eb dies. How about the really weird mystic anomaly in Ghost Story where the "Shade" of Dresden is able to appear on Holy Ground, when others cannot e.g. Kravos. I think that the current theory is because Harry was not actually a "shade" but part "soul" as well. But still never explicitly answered.

I do understand that all will be revealed in time, plots need to form there own way. But surely you would ask more of these questions as it seems to affect just about everything you do?

Anyone got any other areas Harry should be researching?

Bad Alias:
A lot of that is explained by Harry's lack of introspection. A lot of it might be that he doesn't want to know. What if his mother was a horrible person? He probably wouldn't want to pay whatever price "people" are asking.

If it was me, I'd be digging for all sorts of information. For example, when he still had Bob, I'd be forcing Bob to read all sorts of science text books. I'm sure a thorough understanding of science and engineering would help with new and interesting magic. If I'd ever figured out how much information is on the internet, I'd find a way to use the internet, probably through Bob.

Yuillegan:
Well true. But he did want to know his past in Ghost Story. Lots of Clues in that book. But he chose to ask about his current problems - classic Dresden style. He sees a problem and goes straight at it, and think barely two moves ahead. No real sense of the long game. Which is incredibly weird for a Wizard, especially one in his forties. But then again, that is who he is.

Another mystery that hasn't been addressed from Ghost Story, for instance, is who the enemy are. When Dresden first is in Between (which we don't really know what that is), he sees an angel called Amitiel. Jack tells him that is a clue to who cheated in order to kill him. Dresden responds with actual Fallen angels, and Jack says
--- Quote ---Not exactly. But if you want to think of it that way, it works. Sort of. What you need to know is they're the bad guys
--- End quote ---

So what the hell does that mean, pun intended. The opposition to angels should be the Fallen, and yet are not. But it is something very similar. Is he implying it was the Denarians or the Circle or something else? And I can assure you, if someone/thing was messing with my life like that, I would be pretty keen on finding out who tricked me into killing myself. But Dresden hasn't even approached that, and likely won't for some time.

The only correlation I can think of is Nemesis/The Enemy. Jack says to Harry (when referring to those that compromised his death) "You were getting in their way. They wanted you gone. They broke the law to make that happen". Rashid in Cold Days says something similar "Unwittingly or not, virtually your every action in the past few years has resulted in a series of well placed thumbs in the adversary's eye"

Harry has a lot of the information he needs to solve the puzzle, but more people on these boards have connected the dots than he has.

Bad Alias:
I agree. I'd at least try to figure everything I could out that was directly relevant to me.

But Harry really wants to know this stuff, then never looks into it. After Chauncey says that Harry has family and his parents were murdered, Harry chooses to ignore that information until he stumbles across his brother, his mother's murder, and later his grandfather. Seriously, what the fudge man.

He's still never looked into whether or not his dad was murdered and by who after all the other information turned out to be true.

Yuillegan:
I know. I mean obviously that is just how Jim is drawing out the story, but I guess after 20 years a few things get lost. I just think he needs to at least have a passage with Harry putting together a string diagram trying to piece it all together.

Another mystery, in Cold Days Maeve says that Mab is mad and and intends to unleash chaos and destruction not seen since the fall of Atlantis. Like I know the guy is busy, but wouldn't you go "hey, might be time to ask what happened to Atlantis" to someone who would have the true story.

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