This is a great thread! I laughed.

Hendricks as Thor... wow. I could see that happening.

I was going to say something about Murphy becoming a valkyrie, but then I remembered this is the Unexpected Power Ups thread.

Harry's reaction is understandable. I would be very reluctant to ask about abortion when someone tells me his wife is pregnant. I assume that if someone tells me they already have decided to keep the child and then starting about abortion would be wrong on so many levels.

We do not know what Thomas and Justine brought to their decision but those decisions are seldom completely rational anyway.

I mean, seriously. I would never ask anyone who said they were pregnant if they were considering an abortion... talk about an extremely out of line question. If they bring it up, sure, then it's open to discussion within the context that it is brought up.

Also, why on earth would a fantasy writer go down that path? Just seems like a great way to piss off half of his audience, whichever way it is handled.

What was the fan theory referenced in #8?

The whole point of the Laws of Magic with regard to killing people, messing with their mind, compelling them, is to prevent the practitioner from being subject to black magic creep which damages their mind.

Fix's magic comes from a different angle, and I really doubt that he would be subject to this black magic creep. Maybe the mantle protects him from it? Kind of like how the Blackstaff, rumored to be of faerie origin (Mother Winter's walking stick), protects the wielder.

This line of thought raises a few questions:

- Is Harry protected now that he is a Knight? Is he immune to the concerns about black magic eating at his soul?
- To what extent does the breaking of the laws corrupt the mind? Are some more dangerous than others? Does intent matter (seems like it would... magic is all about intent in the Dresden Files)? Even if the intent is good, does the black magic still start a corruption? Can the corruption be "healed" with time or is a permanent stain on the soul? Most of the laws seem like they would lead to corruption, as they are almost universally evil actions. Except swimming against the currents of time. Obviously very dangerous with potentially major consequences, but doesn't seem like something that would corrupt the practitioner...

It's been a while since I've read Christmas Eve, but now that you mention it I remember that being said as well and it makes sense now.   All I am going by is I Googled the time line for when Christmas Eve takes place and the answer was just after Skin Game.   However while yeah, in Skin Game there was a body count, it didn't number in the thousands.  Question though, just how does the supernatural world cover something like that up or explain it to the vanilla human world?

The rumor is that Battle Ground is the book that opens the world's eyes to the supernatural. Not sure how it's going to be explained... who would do the explaining? It's just gonna come out, and think about how the world would react to that. A thousand different ways by people of different cultures in different countries.

I remember when Christmas Eve came out, the post said that it came after Peace Talks. There was a bunch of discussion about why Murphy wasn't there. Which fits since Jim had tweeted about "Murphy's funeral".

Since Peace Talks was likely split into two after Christmas Eve was written and because Peace Talks and Battle Ground, having been one book split into two, likely are separated by very little time if any at all, it stands to reason that Christmas Eve falls after both books.

Mine as well, however it is still odd that the two wizards where their height is always brought up, is Harry and Rashid.  As far as Harry's complexion goes, we don't know how dark Rashid's skin tone is.  I get the impression that Harry's complexion is olive, if Margaret was fair a mix with Rashid could produce that.

Where did you get the impression Harry's complexion is olive? I don't remember ever reading that. I've always had the impression Harry was pretty pale skinned, but maybe my impression is skewed by the book covers and television show.

The Rudolph part is weird. I'm surprised nothing happened to him after being a pawn for the Reds in Changes... but then, I'm not sure why I'm surprised. I never thought about how that would play out.

I think the Fomor have gotten to him. Why not? First the reds, then the Fomor. But there is a Black Council person behind both of the contacts. That person passed his info to the Reds, and now that the Reds are gone, passed it on to the Fomor.

Count me as one that believes the "Wrote Murphy's Funeral" line. There will be a funeral. She'll probably die, but maybe she'll go into hiding or take up a mantle. Both would explain why she wasn't at Christmas Eve.