The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Elaine is the wizard the White Council should really be afraid of.
Mira:
--- Quote ---You are, of course, free to take your entire opinion from the stories, and ignore WoJ's.
--- End quote ---
Which I prefer to do, because it ruins the story for me, and I think limits the author from the freedom of changing his or her mind if the story takes a turn as they often do in a series. J.K. Rowling mentioned in an interview that in many ways she was too wedded to her outline over the course of the series. I used to belong to a Harry Potter site and people were constantly saying, " well, J.K. Rowling said this or that so it was the only option for the story.." Oh I don't mind asking questions, I used ask all kinds of questions of a favorite author of mine and good friend.. But that was after she had finished the story..
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on December 17, 2024, 08:09:27 PM --- ... and I think limits the author from the freedom of changing his or her mind if the story takes a turn as they often do in a series ...
--- End quote ---
Jim's still free to change his mind; either admitting as much or just saying, "what did you expect? of course not everything I said was true!!!"
Notably, though:
* Butters, at his introduction, was only ever meant to be a bit-character, comic relief, coward, etc. Jim originally had no vision of him as an alt-Batman, a Holy Knight, or getting into a menage a trois with Were-Hotness.
* Going into Changes, Jim hadn't yet decided whether he was going to write the "Harry's Power-Up" scene as the WK (that he eventually did choose) or the Dark hallow, or Lasciel's Coin. Jim said he could see how each might work, and how Harry might justify them.
* When questioned about some details -- particularly about older books -- Jim has said, "you know, I'm not sure, because with many of these I've written 9-10 versions of a scene, and I don't always remember for sure which one is the final published version."So Jim is absolutely making (at least some of) this stuff up as he goes along!
Mira:
--- Quote --- Butters, at his introduction, was only ever meant to be a bit-character, comic relief, coward, etc. Jim originally had no vision of him as an alt-Batman, a Holy Knight, or getting into a menage a trois with Were-Hotness.
--- End quote ---
Which is why I prefer not to listen so much to WOJs. Butters is an excellent example of what the author may have envisioned for a character in his or her head that didn't present that way on the page. As a reader, not having any knowledge of a WOJ saying that about Butters as a character, I formed my own opinion of him from what was written on the page and to me Butters never came off as either a coward or comic relief. I know Jim did try, when we first meet Butters, he loves the polka, has this crazy homemade instrument that he is taking to a polka convention. Thomas tries very hard to convince Harry, thus us that Butters was a coward and a fool. However in spite of Jim's efforts, while Butters came off as maybe a bit weird and eccentric, at the same time Butters came off as open minded, very intelligent, and willing to step up no matter how frightened he was. Those qualities for me made Butters a favorite character from the get go. I am grateful that Jim also realized quickly about the character and went the direction he went with Butters.
The truth is, I think in the first paragraph when we first meet Butters, we find out that he had suffered a demotion and was forced to spend time in a mental hospital because he would neither lie about or take back his medical findings about a body he felt wasn't quite human. This is a man of great courage and conviction, no way after that could Butters be made into a comic or cowardly character.
Now it is interesting after the fact to learn what Butters was supposed to be long after the book was written.
--- Quote ---Jim's still free to change his mind; either admitting as much or just saying, "what did you expect? of course not everything I said was true!!!"
--- End quote ---
Which tells me that most WOJs, unless he is answering a question that has been resolved back when, should be taken with a large grain of salt!
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