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Messages - hassman

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DF Reference Collection / Re: Skin Game Predict-a-thon. [All the latest Spoilers permitted and encouraged]
« on: December 10, 2013, 02:51:12 AM »

1.   We have been told that Nicodemus has a very specific target in mind, ostensibly kept in the Labyrinth of Daedalus.  What is Nic trying to get his hands on and why?
Cerberus, because Cerberus was the Gatekeeper before Winter took over.  He wants to find out who has been infected
     

2.   Nicodemus apparently called in a marker from Mab to get Harry on the team.  Does he have a specific plan for using Harry or did Mab twist his request?  Which of Harry's capabilities will he admit to needing, and (given that this is Nicodemus after all), which abilities is he scheming for Harry to use?
Harry's aspect of chaos, and also the fact that to Nic he has an Achilles heel.

3. Jim has mentioned that the book will be "Ocean's Eleven".  Who else did Nicodemus recruit?  How will they interact with Harry?
Mostly red shirt denarians, the churchmouse, his daughter, Marcones new flunkie


4. Harry's general method of operation is to call on his friends for help.  In this book, Harry is (initially) allowed one extra backup member on the crew.  Who will it be?  Which of Harry's other allies will "interfere" before the plot is over?  9/10/13 an interview was published that answers the first half of this question.

5. This is a Denarian book, so (unlike the last "end of the world" showdown), the Swords will almost certainly be present.  In fact, there have been various hints...  Which Sword wielders will appear in the next book and how will their interference/help affect the plot?
I think that Sasha wil be a part of Harry's crew.  Marcone and the sword of faith is a possibility.


6. Mab is apparently against Nicodemus succeeding in this heist.  In the Cold Days, we found that Mab had complex reasons for wanting Harry to kill Maeve.  What are Mab's reasons in this book?  Is it simple thwarting or is there something deeper?
Mab understands that Cerberus and the Gate are not compatible

8.  One of the key components of the "Ocean's Eleven" movie is that there is a final twist/reveal.  Given that we've got Nicodemus, Harry, Mab, and potentially Hades (and who knows who else) all trying to get the better of each other, if there's one thing you can count on it's some sort of last minute quintuple-cross.  What will be the nature of the twist and how will it all fall out?
Marcone's flunkie is Lasciel, they end Mab's spell and call Lash.  Lash emerges on Harry's side.   Marcone  sides with Harry and Hades


9.  (Extra Credit) There are many WAG ("Wild A$$ Guess") theories on the boards, some crazier than others.  Write up to three WAG theories (or make up your own) you believe are correct that will be confirmed (or at least have evidence in favor of) in Skin Games.-
1. The identities of Lash/Lasciel (the headache/Marcones new flunky)
2. Lash is angelic
3. Nicodemus hates Nemesis more than Harry.

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DF Reference Collection / Re: Law Breaking Vs Black Magic [Spoilers for everything]
« on: December 02, 2013, 11:22:58 PM »
I believe that necromancy, death magic and mind magic all have the common element of directly violating another soul (or in the case of necromancy, remnants thereof)  I think mortals cannot handle this.  Either you leave bits behind or bits stick to you.

Again, I distinguish death magic (Eb waved the staff and people died as life left them) vs. killing with magic.

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DF Reference Collection / Re: Law Breaking Vs Black Magic [Spoilers for everything]
« on: December 01, 2013, 08:54:50 PM »
Quote from: 123456789blaaa on December 01, 2013, 05:38:04 AM
By WoJ there are no upper limits to what magic can accomplish. With enough power you can literally do anything.

So it seems the more power you have, the less you have to obey the current laws of reality.

Magic once invoked has to deal with physics.  Fire is hot etc.  Magic causes a change in reality, but after that reality uses its normal rules. 

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DF Reference Collection / Re: Law Breaking Vs Black Magic [Spoilers for everything]
« on: November 24, 2013, 05:49:11 PM »
Quote from: Serack on November 24, 2013, 03:14:43 PM
(on a far far different note, why the &*#$ does English spell ax without an e but battleaxe has an e at the end.  Oh well, spelling will always frustrate me.)

English spells it either way Ax or Axe.  Most people use Ax because they are lazy.

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DF Reference Collection / Re: Law Breaking Vs Black Magic [Spoilers for everything]
« on: November 24, 2013, 02:51:30 PM »
I agree with your sentiment. 

There is a significant difference between:
using an illusion to get someone to kill each other (Molly)
using a firestorm to burn down a building causing human deaths (Harry)
using a spell to remove the life from people (Eb)

There are three axes to look at these instances.
Intent consequences are to your conscience. enough deaths break you or turn you into a sociopath.
Morality consequences are to your soul/karma.  Depending on your view, consequences are after your death.
Black Magic.  consequences are unclear, but addiction and insanity seem likely. When Eb used direct death magic, black crap appeared on his arms and was eventually sucked into the staff.  I believe that this was not from the use of the staff, but from the use of direct death magic.  The staff allows the bearer to remove the taint.

The laws of magic deal with all three, but I surmise that they were written for #3.  I further surmise that using death magic will turn you into a warlock similar to the boy executed, with nothing human left.  My question is that is this a function of humans or a function of magic?


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DF Reference Collection / Re: Blood contagion - Mab's rule against spilling blood (cd spoilers)
« on: February 05, 2013, 04:41:08 AM »
without the book in front of me, I cannot answer this. 

How long has that rule been in place?  Has it only been in place since Maeve was infected? 

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DF Reference Collection / Re: Reviving my Major Lash theory post
« on: July 12, 2011, 02:12:07 AM »
Quote from: X on July 08, 2011, 09:55:28 AM
Furthermore, in Turn Coat, Uriel himself converses with Harry, informing him of the good side actually doing something, just not in a noticeable way at first, then Mab appears and gives us a little backstory regarding Uriel.  If Lash gave Harry the ability to use Soulfire, then you are essentially saying that Jim Butcher himself planted Uriel, a freaking Archangel, in the series as a red herring.  Possible? Yes.  But I disagree.

I have argued the counter to this before.  Uriel has not directly supported Harry (that would be cheating), however, he can supply power to proto angel Lash, who still resides within Harry, thus Harry has access to SF.  Uriel is not a red herring, but he is not acting in nearly as straight forward a manner as is thought.  (this also fits into JB is evil and wants to confuse the reader theory)

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Display Case / Re: Things Harry Dresden Is No Longer Allowed to Do
« on: April 13, 2008, 02:37:22 AM »
I will not try to hook Thomas up with Mavra to see if I can breed the new Gray vampires.

Life is too short to make puns about Murphy's height
   a.  heck, did it again.


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Codex Alera Spoilers / Re: A Map (cont'd) Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers
« on: December 07, 2007, 04:53:09 PM »
Quote from: belgarion on December 07, 2007, 01:09:48 AM

4. It takes approx 10 weeks for the legion to march from the Elinarch to Mastings in a straight line without fury crafted roads.
It just seems like the Elinarch is farther away from Foundersport then the map shows. If I move Mastings etc. closer to Vaucusguard then it shouldn't take ten weeks for the legion to march to Mastings unless Elinarch is farther away. Am I making any sense?



I think that the correct thought would be it takes 10 weeks to fight from the Elinarch to Mastings. 

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Author Craft / Re: Unrealism In Books
« on: February 12, 2007, 06:07:43 PM »
On half animal demons, I think a previous poster nailed it...most religons have demons/devils and they have animalistic features.  One reason for this is an imagination limitation, we expect a body, a head, a locomotion system and arms.  It is easy to describe and visualize and getter the audience scared of a mismash of animal parts than a wholly new subject.  A black amorphous cloud is scary but not a bad as a goat headed bat winged human with talons, goat hooves and a barbed tail. 


On the subject of really big swords, you have two other major factors involved:

Armor  One reason for a big ass sword is to penetrate heavy armor.  European weapons got bigger and heavier as armor did, and the Europeans had the heaviest steel armor made.  Rapiers did not develop until after gunpowder made armor obsolete.  England had a series of laws restricting the maximum length of a sword  (starting at 4' and moving down). 

Combat style:  Roman style infantry with stabbing short swords defeated Celts with long swords because they work better in formation style fighting.  Individual combat went to the Celts, with the bigger sword.  This goes back to the cavalry/infantry comments from before.


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