The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
[BG spoilers] A defense and requiem for my favorite character . . .
bigdangmoose:
--- Quote from: Bad Alias on November 03, 2020, 04:57:00 PM ---1. I don't really see that. 2. I think it would have been easy enough to find a role for her.
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You have to remember how she was in the first three books. She was a thorn in Harry's side, being an obstacle for him to work around, or a distraction. It wasn't until book 4 that the dynamic changed.
As for finding a place, she was losing pace to the rest of the group. She wasn't getting a power up. And she was black balled from any law enforcement agency, which was who she was to the core of her being. She lost her job for Harry, which the trade off for losing it was her being able to have a relationship with him. So no job, losing step to the supernatural group, no powerup to work with, there really wasn't a place for her anymore that was in the main part of the story. She was just slowing Harry down.
Avernite:
--- Quote from: bigdangmoose on November 03, 2020, 06:43:32 PM ---You have to remember how she was in the first three books. She was a thorn in Harry's side, being an obstacle for him to work around, or a distraction. It wasn't until book 4 that the dynamic changed.
As for finding a place, she was losing pace to the rest of the group. She wasn't getting a power up. And she was black balled from any law enforcement agency, which was who she was to the core of her being. She lost her job for Harry, which the trade off for losing it was her being able to have a relationship with him. So no job, losing step to the supernatural group, no powerup to work with, there really wasn't a place for her anymore that was in the main part of the story. She was just slowing Harry down.
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She should've signed up with Monoc pre-death.
Bad Alias:
--- Quote from: bigdangmoose on November 03, 2020, 06:43:32 PM ---You have to remember how she was in the first three books. She was a thorn in Harry's side, being an obstacle for him to work around, or a distraction.
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I think it was just the first two books. I can see an argument for a distraction in GP, but I disagree.
Murphy has served a functional role in every story she appears in. I just don't think there's a whole lot that she's done that Butters, Stallings, or Rawlins couldn't just as easily have done on the CPD side of things, or Michael and Thomas could have done on the muscle side of things. And now we have more options for that, so it's easy to imagine Jim could have introduced another character to fill these roles. Bradley is better at being muscle than Murphy. Murphy never beat him in a match. He'd also be a good character to have around for people starting the books at this point. Same goes for Tilly.
I just don't see how Murphy has been a foil for Murphy. I really think she was more like Harry than different from him. Butters (before he became a Jedi), Michael, Marcone, Nicodemus, and maybe even Carlos are all better foils for different aspects of Harry's character than Murphy was. I'm not big on literary analysis, so I could be missing something. I prefer a more Watsonian approach.
--- Quote from: bigdangmoose on November 03, 2020, 06:43:32 PM ---And she was black balled from any law enforcement agency, which was who she was to the core of her being.
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People change, especially when they have to.
--- Quote from: bigdangmoose on November 03, 2020, 06:43:32 PM ---As for finding a place, she was losing pace to the rest of the group. She wasn't getting a power up. ... So no job, losing step to the supernatural group, no powerup to work with, there really wasn't a place for her anymore that was in the main part of the story. She was just slowing Harry down.
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Murphy's physical prowess was never what made her a threat to the supernatural. They all had her beat physically. It was her willingness to admit the supernatural existed and then deal with it intelligently. Jim could have easily moved her into a command and control position instead of a combat position. She would have been perfect for helping Harry run whatever group he's planning on going with if she could have adjusted to not being on the front lines. She had done that in plenty of books. Sure, she was moving away from it by BR, but she was still filling a largely non-combat role as late as TC. She was also being more of a leader than we've ever seen her be in GS. The groundwork was all there for a difficult, and maybe failed, transition from a front line soldier to a leader.
I know I said I didn't care what Jim did with her the last time we had this debate, but I'm starting to think her trying to make the transition, failing, and then dying as she takes the field would have made a better end to her character arc than her never really trying in the first place.
I'm still undecided on whether her trying and succeeding would have been a better or worse story choice than what we got. It probably would depend entirely on the execution.
Phygers:
--- Quote from: Bad Alias on November 03, 2020, 08:02:22 PM ---Murphy's physical prowess was never what made her a threat to the supernatural. They all had her beat physically. It was her willingness to admit the supernatural existed and then deal with it intelligently. Jim could have easily moved her into a command and control position instead of a combat position. She would have been perfect for helping Harry run whatever group he's planning on going with if she could have adjusted to not being on the front lines. She had done that in plenty of books. Sure, she was moving away from it by BR, but she was still filling a largely non-combat role as late as TC. She was also being more of a leader than we've ever seen her be in GS. The groundwork was all there for a difficult, and maybe failed, transition from a front line soldier to a leader.
I know I said I didn't care what Jim did with her the last time we had this debate, but I'm starting to think her trying to make the transition, failing, and then dying as she takes the field would have made a better end to her character arc than her never really trying in the first place.
I'm still undecided on whether her trying and succeeding would have been a better or worse story choice than what we got. It probably would depend entirely on the execution.
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I think Her trying and failing to make the transition only to fall into a some form of depression or desperation that would have her seek a way from some faction to get back in the field and have Harry and Karrin having to deal with the fact that like Harry being the WK, she would have someone that would give her orders that may put her on opposite Harry would have been better then what we got with the almost lazy way Murph's death was done and Harry brushing off the hurt and grief of her death off BS after Butters snaps him back to his senses. That Butcher gave us in BG
I'm just wondering how Jim killing Murphy is going to hurt his fan base and yes he pleased the Murph-haters, but was it worth the cost I wonder have had a lot friends that are not happy and feel like Butcher wasted their time and money for 17 books only to get a giant middle finger.
Mira:
--- Quote ---I think Her trying and failing to make the transition only to fall into a some form of depression or desperation that would have her seek a way from some faction to get back in the field and have Harry and Karrin having to deal with the fact that like Harry being the WK, she would have someone that would give her orders that may put her on opposite Harry would have been better then what we got with the almost lazy way Murph's death was done and Harry brushing off the hurt and grief of her death off BS after Butters snaps him back to his senses. That Butcher gave us in BG
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Her trying and failing, dying trying to save someone might have been better. The Mab "blanket" suddenly making her pain going away, and somehow bringing back strength to muscles weakened by months in a cast and repairing other ligaments and tendons etc that needed another operation that would only get to to fifty percent if she was lucky, contrived.. Her motorcycle just happened to be "protected," so she could come zooming to the rescue, also contrived... Then the bazooka, she just had one in the saddlebag? Her bringing down a giant with it when everything else seemed to fail.. Odd Marcone's men didn't think of a bazooka? Only to be shot in the neck, dead, by a jerk with poor trigger habits in the process of soiling himself in front of Harry, just a bit much.. I guess one has to look at it as Gard did, the whole of her life, but I wouldn't call it death with dignity..
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