The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
True Love's Protection
Bad Alias:
--- Quote from: Xamion on February 03, 2026, 06:07:44 PM ---You forget, that Twelve Months explicitly confirmed on page, that Mab *knows* *exactly* what Harry thinks and *feels* at a given moment. Mab would 120% *know* whether Harry is protected or not, otherwise, her plan to get her (Lara) addicted to Harry wouldn't be even possible in the first place.
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I think she is only sometimes aware. She's often surprised by what Harry does or says to her.
Xamion:
--- Quote from: Bad Alias on February 03, 2026, 06:29:42 PM ---I think she is only sometimes aware. She's often surprised by what Harry does or says to her.
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It's quite likely that she has to actively focus or deliberately recall such information post-facto, but it is definitely firmly established, that such knowledge is absolutely part of either her "natural" abilities or her Winter Queen intellectus.
But this fact, combined with the fact that she knows more about the "mechanics" of true love protection against White Court vampires, is enough to understand that she absolutely knows whether Harry is or isn't protected at any given point in time.
In regards to Mab often being surprised by Harry's (re)actions, that's quite logical, because even people themselves don't really know how they will act, based on what they think or what they (think they) feel, much less other humans. What Mab most certainly can do (and does all the time) is calculate (and far better than most humans can) based on the thoughts and feelings of others, since while she no longer experiences those things exactly the same way humans do, like she said: "[she] was mortal once."
Mira:
--- Quote ---In regards to Mab often being surprised by Harry's (re)actions, that's quite logical, because even people themselves don't really know how they will act, based on what they think or what they (think they) feel, much less other humans. What Mab most certainly can do (and does all the time) is calculate (and far better than most humans can) based on the thoughts and feelings of others, since while she no longer experiences those things exactly the same way humans do, like she said: "[she] was mortal once."
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True, and over a millina or so Mab, if she hasn't seen it all, has seen a lot of it as far as human nature goes.
Bad Alias:
--- Quote from: Xamion on February 03, 2026, 09:24:46 PM ---such knowledge is absolutely part of either her "natural" abilities or her Winter Queen intellectus.
... she absolutely knows whether Harry is or isn't protected at any given point in time.
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I don't think the case is that strong. How she knows what Harry is thinking isn't known.
LaraBeck:
--- Quote from: KurtinStGeorge on February 02, 2026, 05:49:35 AM ---Jim could have given Lara a second reason for giving her demon an extra heavy feeding. Extra feeding for her demon should also give Lara more vampire mojo if she got into a serious fight and needed to heal quickly, without having to immediately feed again. In this scenario Lara's blues eyes don't make her less dangerous, they make her more dangerous.
So when Lara gets annoyed with Harry at her party, when she gives Harry the kiss, he has the same reaction we saw in the book, but this time Lara pulls back in sudden pain as blisters break out on her lips and the skin closest to her lips. Then Lara gets a determined look on her face, the blisters disappear, her eyes are still blue, but a lighter shade of blue than before and Lara kisses Harry a second time and he's powerless to stop her. When Lara again pulls back in pain; maybe she curses, but again she heals herself and her eyes are now dark grey. Harry is all but on his knees at this point. Then Lara tells Harry pretty much the same thing she said in the book, but somewhat modified. Lara tells Harry that she understands he is in pain, that he isn't at the top of his game, but she needs him to focus on the task at hand. Both of them are in danger, and if she needs to do so, Lara can enslave Harry without taking him to bed in order to get him to do his job. Lara gets more energy with sex included, but it isn't necessary when her main goal is just to gain control of someone. Lara tells Harry that just a couple more kisses will do the trick and she could do that right now, but she doesn't want that. Lara tells Harry she doesn't want to offend Winter and she thinks Harry will be more effective "if you can think for yourself."
This way we could have had a more dangerous Lara and avoided Mab's clunky explanation of how true love protection can fail. We know it was going to fail if or when Lara and Harry get married. I don't think much was achieved by having it fail in this book. Plus, the reversal of fortune when Harry unknowingly addicted Lara to Winter would have hit that much harder.
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Yeah, at the end of Battle Ground (which is like a week after the Battle of Chicago), Lara is wearing gloves, clearly she doesn't know that the true love protection is gone. When they go on their first date, however, she has feed well, so she was preparing for... whatever she needed to do, either try to start seducing Harry and being "available" to it, or to be ready for a fight.
So, this scenario you're proposing would have made much more sense to me.
I really don't appreciate how muddy JB made the concept of the true love protection in this book, or how it felt like a clumsy but deliverate attempt to mess with the memory of what Harry and Murphy had. I feel it was unnecessary.
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