The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
WAG: Mirror! Mirror!
g33k:
Half-Ramp Harry... now that'd be something terrifying indeed.
So the WAG would be Bianca half-turns Harry, and ... I dunno, maybe Thomas/Michael rescue him before he fully-turns?
So Mirror!Harry gets some o' that St. Giles training (that uber-practical "hard choices must be made" St.Giles training)? From a theorycrafting perspective, being emotionally out-of-control is bad for both wizards and half-Ramps; more than once, Harry has "expended" his emotion on magic. Could he do the same and get Ramp-urges under control? Go from all-tattoos to none, via one emotion-fueled spell?
Maybe learning-to-Ramp alongside Susan?
I still think a living Susan would be all kinds of fuck-with-his-mind & torment for Harry-Prime, so I expect Jim will do that thing (and several other f-w-h-m torments, of course).
I like this theory! This moment -- the Bianca showdown -- is actually my #2 pick for Harry's choice/decision point, though I can point to a bunch more maybe-this/maybe-that choices.
I still like that latter on-the-beach-with-Susan moment even better, because it's all about love (and loss), with no violence or combat clouding the issue; also, it's the very-very end of the book. As we increasingly see as the series develops, "Love" is a critical element of the Dresdenverse, possibly THE critical element (possibly alongside Free Will).
So, a choice made strictly and purely around the issue of "Love" has enough metaphysical weight to create a whole new parallel...
123Chikadee:
Exactly! And a definite game changer. Yeah, I think Michael and Thomas do get to brute force heir way in for a rescue. So Mirror!Harry is half-ramp.
Yeah, but I feel like it'd be a retread, narrative-wise, if both Susan and Harry were vampires together and enhancing their negative natures. So either Harry rejects a fully turned Susan, tries to save her by finding a cure(just in a more mad scientist way if he gets Butters' help), or he ends up killing her to save Justine.
My WMG is that Harry may or may not get to hang out with the Fellowship. Michael and the Church helps Harry out with this and that's what keeps both the fey and the vamps at bay.
I agree that having a Susan living and happy would wreck Harry in all kinds of ways, but I'm not sure how Jim can swing that if it's a diverging point so late in the book. So I just transfer that idea to Molly instead.
That beach scene is wonderful. I dunno, maybe Harry does manage to cure Susan and that's how she gets to live.
wildone654:
" All I had to do was let Michael die, laim the protection of hospitality for Susan, and walk out."
This is the decision. He chooses to let Michael attempt to reclaim the sword on his own
He gets himself and Susan out.
What happens from there? I have no idea. Michael might die, maybe he gets the sword back anyway and kills Bianca and the Nightmare on his own. Maybe he does just walk out but it sets him on the path to making sacrifices for what he cares about. Michael vs Susan. Killing tonprotect himself and those he cares about. And after all, if you have to kill to survive isn't it better to kill YOURSELF, especially when you hate yourself as much as Dresden does after ma and ing that decision.
And thus Harey falls down the slippery slope, willing to gather power and make sacrifices as needed. As he often reminds us, the bad guy rarely sees himself as such. Just like Nicodemus is the hero of his own story.
g33k:
--- Quote from: wildone654 on December 05, 2019, 09:48:23 PM --- " All I had to do was let Michael die, laim the protection of hospitality for Susan, and walk out."
This is the decision...
--- End quote ---
I don't think so, because the WoJ says it's the decision "at the end" of the book.
I expect your chain of logical and emotional consequences is pretty close to spot-on, though; whichever the actual choice-point is.
dspringer1:
There are only two decisions at the end of the book that were "major".
1) Did he say "I love you" to Susan when trapped in the room
2) Did he accept or refuse the vampire's offer at the end "to walk away" at the price of leaving Susan behind.
Both would most likely have led to Susan's death (or becoming a blood thrall) and both would likely have delayed the war with the Red Court. In the first Susan's death would have made it acceptable for Dresden to accept an adjudicated settlement and the chance for later revenge. The 2nd required that same outcome.
No war would have prevented the mass extermination of Wardens and delayed the actions of the Kemlerites quite a bit. So the events in Dead Beat would not have happened and Harry would never become a warden. As his warden status and relationship with Lucio went a long way to reconciling Harry with the White Council, it is easy to speculate that Harry's interactions with the council get worse rather than better, especially with the "negotiated settlement" likely to really piss Harry off. Enough worse that when Molly exhibited power, he would not have trusted them to judge her correctly.
And at some point the war with the Red Court will start up -- with Harry's help- but this time the White Council really will blame Harry.
At that point, I suspect plots have diverged significantly and I will have to wait for Mirror Mirror to see what ended up.
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