The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
I just had a funny idea (serious spoilers for BG, just in case)
Mira:
--- Quote ---I wouldn't be 100% shocked if our time line's Marcone someday ends up as a Knight. The more so because he has a Coin, oddly enough.
--- End quote ---
I can see that, and have said the moment he took up the coin, Marcone likes to be calling the shots, and contrary to what he might have been told, he won't be calling the shots. However the magical power he gains by the coin maybe too great an advantage for him to give up... Or he will end up like the poor soul crucified by his choice that Harry saw in that accidental soul gaze of a Denarian back in Death Masks..
--- Quote ---We had a discussion on the old forum about the problem of Murphy's height once, I remember. Believability of her combat abilities was already straining because of her stated height. Size and strength absolutely do matter in a fight, contrary to movies and TV, and Karrin's ability at aikido and related skills was already pushing the WSOD of some readers.
High martial arts skill or not, in the vast majority of cases, if a woman Karrin's size fights a man Hendrick's size and power unarmed, she is going to lose. Badly. Possibly cripplingly/lethally. Training and skill and experience can offset that...some. But only to a limited degree.
--- End quote ---
When she went up against Nic in Skin Game, he wiped the floor with her.. Now it is possible that Andruiel gave him added strength etc., but then in Peace Talks she is beating up Valkyrie and she had just removed her cast, herself only hours before. As I said when Murphy was a tough professional cop she was great, when she left that job, the character started to go down hill. I don't think most things Jim tried to do with the character really worked, there was no power up so in the end with every physical confrontation with the supernaturally strong etc. as she aged had many of us rolling our eyes sighing to ourselves, "give me a break!"
--- Quote ---True, training, skill, and will can overcome limits of size and strength and age...to a point. To a very limited point.
--- End quote ---
As you say, if Jim had shifted her role to accommodate that reality it could have worked better, but he didn't.
One more point on that, much of the appeal of Murphy over the years was the fact that she was a plain vanilla human. Extraordinary skills maybe, but still an ordinary vanilla human, so to keep her that way, no power ups. Fact of life for ALL ordinary vanilla humans, time takes it's toll, ordinary vanilla humans age, we see that on the athletic field all of the time! No matter how great, how in shape, how trained, how naturally gifted, eventually steps become slower, the punch or hit less hard, the jump not as high, and eyesight not as keen.. So if the timeline is right and at the time of her death, Murphy was in her mid-fifties and with every Super Woman move, some of us rolled our eyes..
LaraBeck:
--- Quote from: Mira on August 12, 2024, 12:03:21 PM ---if the timeline is right and at the time of her death, Murphy was in her mid-fifties
--- End quote ---
The official timeline puts Harry as being born 26 years before Storm Front (which happens in March, we know his birthday is in October), and Murphy as being born 29 years before Storm Front (we don't know when her birthday is). That makes Murphy around 3 years and maybe a few months older than Harry is.
BG takes place 14 years after Storm Front, so, Karrin was in her early 40s in Battle Ground, she was 43 if she had a birthday before July.
And just for reference: Harry is turning 40 that October after Battle Ground, Thomas and Butters are 45-46, and Michael is somewhere between 57-60.
Mira:
--- Quote from: LaraBeck on August 12, 2024, 07:56:14 PM ---The official timeline puts Harry as being born 26 years before Storm Front (which happens in March, we know his birthday is in October), and Murphy as being born 29 years before Storm Front (we don't know when her birthday is). That makes Murphy around 3 years and maybe a few months older than Harry is.
BG takes place 14 years after Storm Front, so, Karrin was in her early 40s in Battle Ground, she was 43 if she had a birthday before July.
And just for reference: Harry is turning 40 that October after Battle Ground, Thomas and Butters are 45-46, and Michael is somewhere between 57-60.
--- End quote ---
Yes, but if the books continue to reflect real time, and Jim is averaging one every three to five years, Harry would be 43 to 45 the next book, still considered quite young by wizard standards, but menopausal 48 year old Murphy is in middle age, and the next one would put her over 50, by the time of the BAT she would have been on Social Security had she lived, while Harry was just reaching his prime. What makes me sad is how she died, better she had died from her hand to hand with Nic than a bullet through the neck from a panicked cop.
LaraBeck:
--- Quote from: Mira on August 12, 2024, 08:43:41 PM ---Yes, but if the books continue to reflect real time, and Jim is averaging one every three to five years, Harry would be 43 to 45 the next book, still considered quite young by wizard standards, but menopausal 48 year old Murphy is in middle age, and the next one would put her over 50, by the time of the BAT she would have been on Social Security had she lived, while Harry was just reaching his prime. What makes me sad is how she died, better she had died from her hand to hand with Nic than a bullet through the neck from a panicked cop.
--- End quote ---
The books have not been reflecting real time in a while. There's just 5 months between Skin Game and Peace Talks, hours between Peace Talks and Battle Ground. And we already know that the next book will cover the year of his engagement to Lara, which puts the start and finish of it within one year right after Battle Ground. There won't be a leap in years to the next book that would reflect our real time or publication time, nor do we know what Jim will continue to do in that regard in the future, yet.
I'm not arguing over what's prime age or whatever, just pointing out what the facts are regarding the ages of the characters in-universe. Not interested in making assumptions here.
Dina:
Thank you LaraBeck I came here to say the same. The books timeline is shorter than our current time because they do not reflect our timeline anymore. So Harry and Karrin are (were) still quite young. Nevertheless, a 40+ petite woman will be having a lot of trouble facing younger and bigger threats, even the vanilla ones. I think it was not so bad so far. As Harry mentions once clever vanilla people adapt. They use armors, like Charity. They use kevlar but they can learn to use magic things. But "badly coping" is not enough to keep with the sort of things Harry is facing nowadays. So yes, something had to change.
Mira, I am also sad for Murphy's way of dying. For several reasons, one of them is that she was a cop, she likes cops, she would have hated to be killed by friendly fire of another cop. And for a stupid, nervous one? She would have gone ballistic. Not for herself, but for Rudolph's incompetence.
I am beginning to get intrigued by how many options there are for Mirror/Mirror. But first, we need to see what happens in 12 months, especially the main question, will they actually marry?
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