No matter where you go, there you are

[groinkick]

Harry asked Uriel to tell him something useful, and that's what he told him.  It popped up in an earlier book as well, Fool Moon.

Harry was sleeping, and his subconscious was talking to him.  When Harry tried to avoid him, he got the same line.  Do you think that Jim just wanted to use the line, or do you think they are connected at all?   

[Mira]

Harry asked Uriel to tell him something useful, and that's what he told him.  It popped up in an earlier book as well, Fool Moon.

Harry was sleeping, and his subconscious was talking to him.  When Harry tried to avoid him, he got the same line.  Do you think that Jim just wanted to use the line, or do you think they are connected at all?

  They are connected in my opinion because it means you cannot change who you really are no matter where you go.  If I remember correctly that is what the debate between Harry and his subconscious was all about.  That is what Uriel was also telling him,  Mab can do all kinds of stuff to him but she cannot change who he is.

[Arjan]

  They are connected in my opinion because it means you cannot change who you really are no matter where you go.  If I remember correctly that is what the debate between Harry and his subconscious was all about.  That is what Uriel was also telling him,  Mab can do all kinds of stuff to him but she cannot change who he is.

Oh you can change who you are, that is the point of free will. Otherwise the knights wouldn’t try to help the denarian hosts for example. This is the councils view who definitely think one can not change oneself and so kill warlocks on sight.

This is about free will, it won’t change if you are in a different situation. You are still responsible for your own choices. Harry still has choices to make and those choices are what changes you.

That is how Uriel thinks about it.

[Salusen]

I think that Jim was foreshadowing future events in Harry's life.

That line in Fool Moon was a foreshadowing of Harry's struggles with the Winter Mantle in later books. And I think it ultimately points to a greater sacrifice in Harry's life.

I mean, come to think of it, Jim's made a few spider-man references in the Dresden Files. And it got me thinking that maybe the reason Harry's getting all these sudden huge power-ups and finding out these revelations about his parents and the circumstances of his birth mean that he's got this huge responsibility that he has to fulfill somewhere in his future. With great power comes greater responsibility and all that.

So Uriel tells Harry that, because at some crucial point in a fight somewhere he's supposed to remember those words and make the right choice.

WYDT???

[Mira]

Oh you can change who you are, that is the point of free will. Otherwise the knights wouldn’t try to help the denarian hosts for example. This is the councils view who definitely think one can not change oneself and so kill warlocks on sight.

This is about free will, it won’t change if you are in a different situation. You are still responsible for your own choices. Harry still has choices to make and those choices are what changes you.

That is how Uriel thinks about it.

No, you can move, where you go, that's free will... But who you really are?  No, that's part of your DNA.   The Knights are not trying to change who the Denarians are, they are trying to free them to make better choices.. 

[Bad Alias]

I remember that the line was used twice, but I don't remember the exact context, which would be necessary for proper analysis. I do remember that Harry said the quote was from Buckaroo Banzai, and Uriel corrects him stating it is from Confucius (I don't think it actually is). Point being, it's a pretty common saying.

[Arjan]

No, you can move, where you go, that's free will... But who you really are?  No, that's part of your DNA.   The Knights are not trying to change who the Denarians are, they are trying to free them to make better choices..

Who you are that is your soul and your choices change that soul and your nature. They are in effect trying to change them because what you are is a consequence of your choices. That is what Harry's soulgaze of Molly meant in proven guilty. Molly had still a lot of choices which would have led to different changed Molly's.

[Mira]

Who you are that is your soul and your choices change that soul and your nature. They are in effect trying to change them because what you are is a consequence of your choices. That is what Harry's soulgaze of Molly meant in proven guilty. Molly had still a lot of choices which would have led to different changed Molly's.

  I don't think it's that so much, more like your choices can cost you a bit of your soul.

[morriswalters]

I remember that the line was used twice, but I don't remember the exact context, which would be necessary for proper analysis. I do remember that Harry said the quote was from Buckaroo Banzai, and Uriel corrects him stating it is from Confucius (I don't think it actually is). Point being, it's a pretty common saying.

That exchange is from Ghost Story.  Just before he wakes up on Demonreach.  Harry is questioning Uriel about what happened and why and getting nada.  Harry then asks Uriel to tell him something useful. It's a truism.

[Bad Alias]

It's more the context from Fool Moon that I can't remember at all.

Who you are that is your soul.

As Uriel said, you are a soul; you have a body. (I think that's the exact line, but I didn't look it up). It was in response to Harry saying that the events of Ghost Story taught him at least one thing for sure, that you "have a soul."

[peregrine]

Secretly, both Uriel, Harry, and all other characters are all the same person!  And that person is Jim, who will sometimes reuse phrases that he likes.

[Mira]

It's more the context from Fool Moon that I can't remember at all.

As Uriel said, you are a soul; you have a body. (I think that's the exact line, but I didn't look it up). It was in response to Harry saying that the events of Ghost Story taught him at least one thing for sure, that you "have a soul."

That is exactly right," you are a soul, you have a body.."   Which is tied up in your humanity, so Mab who was human once has lost almost all of her soul as the Winter Queen.. 

[raidem]

Well for me, I believe the IdHarry from Fool Moon arose partly from some future timeline where that "no matter where you go, there you are" has some temporal/alternate dimension meanings.  I believe Uriel, by virtue of the fact that IdHarry used same exact phrase in a dreamscape looking like a future Harry, is hinting that there are temporal shenanigans in store for Harry.  And Harry will have some understanding from this phrase on one of his time travels.

Added circumstantial evidence of a temporal/alternate dimension link for the phrase is Harry's reference to Buckaroo Banzai, a movie about travel to an alternate dimension to stop alien invaders from conquering Earth.

[morriswalters]

In Ghost story, IMO, Uriel in effect told him exactly where he was going when he passed on.  Which was what Harry was asking him.