1) Ortega calls Harry a self-righteous madman who will "destroy us all". What is he talking about? Harry might be self-righteous and has a few times been accused of being crazy, but how would Harry's actions destroy everyone? My guess is that the Reds don't want the end of the world, they simply want to be on top when it comes. Harry's early start to the war interferes with that plan and perhaps Ortega believes only the Red Court would have the power to control the outcome of the end times - an event or series of event that lots of players seem aware of that is imminent.
Yeah I’d agree with most of that
2) Martin believed Ortega was trying to delay the full war for another 20 years. It has almost been 20 years by our time, but lets say that Dresden is a few years behind us right now for various reasons. What happens in the next few years from Peace Talks? Book 20 for one and the end of the case files (maybe) and the beginning of the BAT. So at least according to Jim Butcher's original timeline for the series, why would the Reds want to wait until the BAT to start their war?
Well, I wouldn’t draw that conclusion from the 20 years thing - we’re at book 16, with a few more books till the BAT. I think the point of delaying was to build up enough forces/ forge deeper alliances that the White Council wouldn’t stand a chance in a war with the Ramps.
3) Nicodemus refers to his "schedule". This links with the whole BAT thing. I suspect he knew that the Shroud wasn't the "real" Shroud but he knew it had enough juice to do what he wanted.
Still don’t believe the link with the BAT here - I took Nic’s schedule to mean about the plague he was releasing & the things he needed to do to prolong it/ make it more effective. Yeah I’d wager he knew it was the fake Shroud too.
4) Mordite is first introduced. This is not an accident.
Yes. This is the first confirmation of the Outside.
5) Lord Raith is scared of Ortega. At full power I cannot imagine that Ortega would have been able to take a fully powered up Lord Raith. But I can understand why Lord Raith was afraid of Ortega in his weakened state. But I also wonder if this was more to do with who Ortega represented, Ariana for one, but perhaps the Circle? It seems likely that she was a part of it.
While Ortega was no doubt a formidable warrior, I agree that Raith Sr at his prime would’ve won handily - I think the point is that Ortega was a very dangerous man: he was the Ramp’s black ops guy - intelligent, brutal, ruthless & had the wealth/ manpower to accomplish his goals. Look at what he did at Archangel - that type of thing is probably was scared Raith most.
6) The connection between Maggie, Justin, Lord Raith, Ariana, Ortega and Nicodemus is hinted at over the books. And oddly enough but more subtly, Ebenezar.
I have a theory that they were the Black Council of their day - Eb was invited to join but didn’t
7) Denarians are definitely stronger in this book. Specifically they all use more anti-magic via their Fallen.
I think they were scarier because Harry didn’t know as much about them. It also seems like by SmF, a lot of the older coin-holders had died off, leaving newbies in their place - IIRC, Tessa, Rosanna, Nic, Deedee & Namshiel (dead by end of book) were the only ones left who’d likely had their Coins for centuries.
But I agree somewhat - Michaels says the KotC like to outnumber the Denarians 2 or 3:1 when they can help it, but by SmF they do pretty well individually.
8 ) Some odd continuity errors. Harry doesn't have his bracelet during the Duel with Ortega and he doesn't have it during the fight immediately afterwards. He even specifically notes that it is harder to create a shield without one, and then se in the following paragraph when the shield fails he says his bracelet began to burn his wrist. Obviously the Churchmice-Marcone buyer plot point is retconned in Skin Games. And Sanya claims that Michael's armor will not stop bullets - yet we know that Charity put ceramic and kevlar in. And of course the eye color change. Initially the Fallen's eyes are orange, and the host has green. But then it reverses mid book, in the same scene! Forever after the Fallen have green eyes. And by Small Favor the glyph/symbol of the Fallen no longer appears on the forehead of the vessel.
Agreed on most of these, except about Sanya not knowing that Michael had upgraded his armor - neither did Harry till he found out/ questioned Michael. This says some interesting things about Michael & his trust/ secrecy
9) Denarians release a contagion - a cocktail of every virus known to man and probably a few more that are unknown. However when reading this again I immediately thought of another thing: the contagion of the spirit spreading around the world. Nemesis.
Except that Nemesis is not like a virus that can multiply infinitely - it can only likely occupy a set number of beings at one time. I don’t think of Nemesis as a contagion in the plague sense of the word
10) In this book we learn that the forces of Hell get a power boost from destruction and mayhem. The plague will create an environment that makes them more powerful. We also learn later on that the Black Court of Vampires also gain power this way - see the WOJ on how the Black Court level up. Finally, a recent WOJ in response to a fan question about the Spanish Flu also implied that it was not merely a bad contagion, but was essentially a bio-weapon attack. My theory is that perhaps there is a link between the forces of Hell and the Black Court, perhaps they even work together. But more on that in another thread.
Hmm I think it’s a matter of degrees. In BR when Harry talks about this, he’s talking about the dark energy corrupting the neighborhood occupied by Mavra. Even Dracula only controlled a state within Romania at his peak (historically anyway). I’d imagine for the Nickelheads to get a power boost, they’d need something on the scale of the Spanish Flu (after all, they are responsible for the Black Death). I dunno about Hell & the BCV working together - I’m pretty sure the BCV has some sort of connection to the Outside. If this were true, I’d also expect to see the Nickelheads working in tandem with the BCV from time to time.
