The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Twelve Months Discussion Thread

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tarontwo:
At the end of Battle Ground, Carlos has been yelling before coming to see Harry.
I took this as, he is angry about the news, about the "Terms" and about having to be the one to deliver the news. Which at the time got picked up as anger at Harry.

Not that there wasn't any anger at Harry, but more Harry and Council both being idiots with Carlos in the middle and very stressed about being the messenger.

Bad Alias:

--- Quote from: Snark Knight on January 26, 2026, 04:58:17 PM ---It also seemed to pivot Lara a little too far towards trying to keep similar standards to Thomas' standards of self-discipline to limit the harm his hunger does.  She's still the same character who described herself as a polite, neat monster who'd destroy the Council through peace ... and got off on disemboweling her (admittedly, awful) cousin for committing treachery.  What I'm not sure of is whether she's playing Harry, or Jim is trying to retcon her to be not as a more sympathetic character?

--- End quote ---
Thinking on it, Lara is operating in a different space than we've seen her before. Mab says "You are engaged to a wealthy, powerful, desirable woman who respects you enough to tell you the truth," so we can take it she's being more honest with Harry than she has in the past. We also mostly see her operating at a distance from her life as a vampire and head of the White Court. At the Halloween party, we see her more like her old self when Harry embarrasses her.

g33k:

--- Quote from: Bad Alias on January 26, 2026, 10:49:36 PM --- Thinking on it, Lara is operating in a different space than we've seen her before. Mab says "You are engaged to a wealthy, powerful, desirable woman who respects you enough to tell you the truth," so we can take it she's being more honest with Harry than she has in the past. We also mostly see her operating at a distance from her life as a vampire and head of the White Court...
--- End quote ---
I think this is Lara playing it cautiously.
She has successfully manipulated Harry in the past... and he has seen through her deceptions in the past.
Harry has responded to her whamp-mojo like other men do... and Harry has kept his head enough to do a major evocation even in the midst of Lara going full-on-ravenous on him:  her losing control while he saved them both.  Lara isn't sure what would happen if it came to full-on conflict.  So she's... cautious.

I think this is Lara keeping her options open.
She's under Mab's orders to marry him, and she currently sees no way out of that.  She is building trust with Harry, because WK-Harry is stronger than any prior Harry, and she sees the advantages of a trust-based working peer/partner in such a marriage.  And, of course -- if her opinions & "best course of action" change -- it's far easier to betray someone who trusts you.  Lara's political by instinct, and options are a politician's best friends.

Griffimus:

--- Quote from: Mr. Mouse on January 23, 2026, 04:09:36 PM ---Good question. For Feds we only got the HBGB inspectors who weren't the Men in Black.

--- End quote ---

Yes, this is my biggest disappointment with the book.  At first when Harry kept look up in the sky thinking someone was watching him I wondered if they had designated a satellite in space to watch him/the city.  That or some type of plane flying over head and he felt the tingle on his neck from someone watching him.....Nope, just a rock gargoyle...

Fitz :
For me it would have been better to keep him under Mort, and perhaps work out of the Castle as his ghost adviser instead of another Apprentice. Sure, teaching and all that helped, but he also said how HE needs to get back to work to learn more.  Would prefer to see him doing some travel or bringing people in to teach himself new tricks.

Bad Alias:

--- Quote from: Griffimus on January 29, 2026, 12:43:41 AM ---Would prefer to see him doing some travel or bringing people in to teach himself new tricks.

--- End quote ---
Emphasis added. So much this. He's got the knowledge of the ways! I've been waiting since Changes for some awesome travel stuff. Or at least some hoped over to Italy for some great food. In this book, he could have used the ways to bring in some hard to get supplies or something. The way the story went, with all the mentions of food being difficult to get, a group trip to a grocery store with backpacks would have been a big help.

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