The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Why didn't Drakul kill.....
Mira:
--- Quote ---Quite possibly, perhaps Drakul's weaknesses were being exploited. But in saying that...he seemed like he was enjoying himself. Maybe he was being a distraction for something else that was happening that we have yet to see. Or perhaps he doesn't turn wizards and using them for the stars and stones is some other goal. Perhaps part of a ritual for gaining power. I mean, likely Mavra and possibly Drakul have the Word of Kemmler (although I really hope it doesn't end up with Mavra as the big bad betraying her Master...that is so over used and also wouldn't fit with her having no real will).
--- End quote ---
I believe that Mavra does have the Word of Kemmler, Harry gave it to her at the end of Dead Beat because she was going to black mail Murphy. He also warned her not to try to get to him though his mortal friends again, that he also had read the book and since he did raise Sue, understood it, and knew how to use it.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on February 23, 2023, 08:32:46 PM --- I believe that Mavra does have the Word of Kemmler, Harry gave it to her at the end of Dead Beat because she was going to black mail Murphy. He also warned her not to try to get to him though his mortal friends again, that he also had read the book and since he did raise Sue, understood it, and knew how to use it.
--- End quote ---
Note however that he relied upon Lasciel's Shadow (photographic memory) to read the book for him.
We don't know how much of that info he retains. He almost-certainly no longer remembers Ghoul (iirc that's Sumerian) as he failed to recognize/understand it in the Deeps after Lash takes the psychic assault for him. By inference, he no longer remembers Etruscan (Whamp formal tongue).
I suspect he can reanimate animals as zombies -- he did that magic himself (even if the Shadow tutored him); dunno about human zombies, it may be different-enough that he can't (not to mention that'd violate the Laws).
But all the other stuff he got from the Shadow? I don't recall that we've seen any of it since the Deeps (only the music he played at the end of DB, and that just the once). In particular, we don't know if he still knows any of the rest of the Word of Kemmler. Per the text, Harry and the Shadow discussed it for "an hour or more," but that wouldn't be enough to convey the entirety of the book (I presume Harry didn't revisit the BigBadBook -- as taught by the Shadow of a Fallen Angel -- after that night).
Details of the Darkhallow, the generalities of how to use necromancy against BCV's, how to raise Sue, and the pain-relief practice. That's the specifics that he himself consciously worked with in his own mind, and presumably therefore still knows.
We know from the not-speaking-Ghoul scene that SOME of the info is gone; we know from Harry using the pain-relief that stuff he actually practiced (as his own act of will) he still has.
I think for the rest of it, it will depend on what Jim wants or needs later in the series. I suspect there will be some issues with Bonea, what she knows, how much of her mom is in her, etc.
And -- as I have WAG'ed before -- I think it's entirely possible (bordering on probable) that although "Lash" is gone, Lasciel's Shadow still lurks within Harry.
Mira:
--- Quote ---Note however that he relied upon Lasciel's Shadow (photographic memory) to read the book for him.
We don't know how much of that info he retains. He almost-certainly no longer remembers Ghoul (iirc that's Sumerian) as he failed to recognize/understand it in the Deeps after Lash takes the psychic assault for him. By inference, he no longer remembers Etruscan (Whamp formal tongue).
--- End quote ---
You are talking about two different things here in my opinion. Kemmler's book is a how to raise the dead book, Lasciel translated it for Harry, and he was able to raise Sue. Since Harry is very good a learning magic, it is my belief that he will remember the magic required. In the second case we are talking learning a language, something Harry admits to not being very good at, case in point, his Latin. There are things we learn to do from books that have been translated from another language. We learn the information very well though we may never be able to speak the original language the book was written in. The reverse can also be true, good at learning the language but not so good at learning the subject being written about.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on February 24, 2023, 04:31:30 AM --- You are talking about two different things here in my opinion...
--- End quote ---
This is a reasonable point. But it doesn't speak to my key issue, which is that Harry still retains some of what he learned from Lash and/or the Shadow, but not all of it; and any given bit of knowledge may or may not still be available to Harry.
Jim may have this issue thoroughly worked-out, over in his writer's notes. Or he may be winging it, with various "Learned from Lash" moments that he reserves the right to discover he needs, as the series evolves.
I don't think we, the readers, have enough info to discern the pattern definitively; nor if Jim has no pattern, and is just winging it.
Mira:
--- Quote ---This is a reasonable point. But it doesn't speak to my key issue, which is that Harry still retains some of what he learned from Lash and/or the Shadow, but not all of it; and any given bit of knowledge may or may not still be available to Harry.
--- End quote ---
I still think the chance is greater that he retained all of the Word. It isn't like Harry didn't already have existing talent, powerful talent, and as a star born to boot, I think he does retain all of the Word.. And knows how to use it. Consider this when Lash translated the Word for Harry, she wasn't dealing with a blank slate like she was when she translated Ghoul for him. Harry would have already understood all of the concepts, most likely knew them already save for the forbidden bits.
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