Jim: ...I'm gonna have to add another book in. I've gotta write, it's gonna a take a novel to deal with the aftermath of what happened in Battle Ground. I think the next novel is gonna be called Twelve Months and it's just gonna be about Dresden-well it's gonna be about more than that because it's a Dresden Files book with the usual insanity but the actual story is Dresden coping with all the damage he's taken over the years. You know that as a writer I'm not a fade to black guy in the Dresden Files, it doesn't happen very often, but it has happened. And every time I've the fade to black and that has happened, for the most part, it fades because Harry's pulling the curtain, because he doesn't share the really bad things with anyone, not even the reader. There are /bad/ things that have happened to Dresden and when bad things happen to you it's cumulative, it adds up. If you don't face it and deal with it it keeps adding up and adding up until it starts causing you psychological problems and difficulties with your friends and issues with your family. If you're out there in the middle of it you've got to be dealing with it, and he hasn't been. And we're gonna have a book about why, and the effects of the things that have happened over the years and the cumulative effects and how you deal with them and get over them.
Todd: Especially now that he's a father, that makes it especially emotionally charged.
Jim: Yeah he can't afford to just sit somewhere and feel sorry for himself or to drive himself to the brink of exhaustion and starvation trying to find a solution to his problems. He can't do that anymore, he's a grown-up, he's got a lot of things he's handling. And yeah, Maggie's the big one, kids change everything. If you've got a kid there waiting for you you can't be the guy that's sitting on the floor wailing poor me, that's not gonna work.
Todd: It's something we've covered in several episodes, how Harry takes all the guilt on himself and how that's not healthy. To see you say that we need something to deal with it, is that something that's been in the works for a long time or is that something that's come across organically kind of as you've written through seventeen books?
Jim: No, I wasn't planning to do a book about trauma and dealing with it, on account of I was busy not dealing with any of my trauma. But yeah when you start learning about it it's like "hey, this is something people need to know." And the idea's gonna be "look, I'm gonna show Dresden coping" and coping isn't always a particularly pretty thing or a noble thing. Nobody's pretty when they're in pain but it happens to all of us at some time or another, horrible things come along. And you've gotta deal with it and how do you deal with it. So partly this next book is going to be Dresden figuring out how to deal with things that are not slobbery monsters trying to chew his face off, those he can manage, he's really good with those, that's doable no problem. All these other issues are a different thing and..
Todd: And he has a wedding to prepare for.
Jim: Yeah, no kidding.
But then, he does not say anything about Thomas and Justine, which are, in my opinion, the things that need urgent resolution. And with him not saying anything about that , I am afraid he is going to kick this until after the wedding (which seems more probable now than before).
I agree this is fantastic. There is so much aftermath here and given that the next book was going to be Mirror Mirror it seemed like it was going to be difficult to touch on those topics very easily. Hopefully if he's already got this in mind he's going to get it out soon after the next CinderSpires book
Still, a full length novel of just dealing with trauma for a year is going to be a tough structure. I think it would almost have to center some kind of actual plot around hunting Justine while Nemesis stays a step ahead, and then interweave subplots (training with River on getting his head straight, feds sniffing around, Lara, fleshing out Wizard of Chicago and the castle as Paranet HQ, and trying to mend things with Eb).Oh yes, that part will be easy. Eb will be delighted to know Harry is going to marry Lara.
Oh yes, that part will be easy. Eb will be delighted to know Harry is going to marry Lara.
Been through the podcast, apparently Bob is going to be Harry’s home cinema and he is going to have gargoyle pitbulls on the Castle (presumably one of the defence features Marcone has overlooked), but friends for Mouse.
Jim: No, I wasn't planning to do a book about trauma and dealing with it, on account of I was busy not dealing with any of my trauma.
Link: https://thelegendarium.podbean.com/e/a-conversation-with-jim-butcher/
Him, Disney's Gargoyles? Will there be a Goliath?
Considering how well connected his bride to be is there is not likely to be. Trial, but there will be a reckoning for Rudy in Twelve Months. Remember this is about catharsis and healing.
Marcone won’t move against Harry over Skin Game, as Harry knows about Thorned Namshiel and doesn’t want that broadcast.
Harry ends up in the same group therapy as Rudy.
I think he won't have legal troubles (after all, there is no body, all was a chaos that night, and the only witness is...a wizard) but I think he will try to kill Dresden.
Considering how well connected his bride to be is there is not likely to be. Trial, but there will be a reckoning for Rudy in Twelve Months. Remember this is about catharsis and healing.
I know this may be the unpopular theory right now, but I don't think Rudy will have anything happen to him. He will deny doing anything about it, his psych being broken because of all the events of BGThat is what I fear.
I'd be kind of disappointed if Harry starts leaning on Lara's political connections.I doubt he will, but that doesn't mean Lara or Mab won't step in anyways. For a hypothetical example, Harry gets accused of Murphy's murder by Rudy. He's at the station being questioned. Now leaning on that connection would mean he would call on them to come help him. I SERIOUSLY doubt Harry would do that. What would happen is the questioning would be interrupted by a high dollar lawyer (sent by Lara or Mab) and that lawyer takes care of the situation. Afterwards Harry might even act a bit miffed about it. Or just decide "Hey, I am the winter knight/Lara fiancee, that might as well be good for something". But calling on them when in trouble will never be his go-to play.
Still, death by Lara is a better death than Rudolph deserves, so perhaps it would be better if she just asks Freydis :)
No hat?Do not try and bend the hat. That is impossible. Instead... Only try to realize the truth.
Do not try and bend the hat. That is impossible. Instead... Only try to realize the truth.There is no hat and yet there is one in art. That implies the hat has great symbolical value. It has meaning. The hat that is and is not has more meaning than just a hat that is.
There is no hat.
I just had a thought. Harry has conjuritis as an adult, something that's not common. He's also stronger than most wizards his age in raw power. He's also going through lots of trauma that he hasn't dealt with. And we know from this last book that tulpas are possible, as Bob said they could be generated from all the fear and suffering in Chicago.I'm lost on the subtlety of the difference or purpose of this tulpa then?
What if Harry were to conjure his own tulpa via conjuritis? One that's stable and self-sustaining?
I think the best thing would be an evil version of him that's all of his fears given form, but not an evil version that goes after him, but one that attacks that which he fears. That way it wouldn't be just a different take on the mirror mirror evil Harry.
I've long figured in MM one of two things are going to happenOr he sends a message back in time to ensure he doesn't make the divergent choice, and ctrl-z's the 'bad' timeline.(click to show/hide)
I'm lost on the subtlety of the difference or purpose of this tulpa then?I don't know what you mean by consuming mirror Harry. They're both going to be humans, presumably, with different flavors of power. Humans don't really consume each other?
I've long figured in MM one of two things are going to happen(click to show/hide)
I don't know what you mean by consuming mirror Harry. They're both going to be humans, presumably, with different flavors of power. Humans don't really consume each other?well, Kemmler learned to consume spirits with necromancy. We theorize MM harry learned his fake death trick from Kemmler via Bob. I think Kemmler consumed his doubles spirits thus increasing his own power by multiples(specifically getting better at things he's already good at by proxy of more of himself). Unlike what happened with Kravos if life is lost the transfer will remain. And Harry or MM Harry (as far as we know) are not immortal so the are not locked into stasis on their power level. I theorize one of the Harry's will eat the other. I kinda think our Harry will be the one to die tho.. but since he's Harry F'n Dresden he basically just becomes Harry in a slightly different body. With a missing eye, goatee and a probable hat.. and it's his experiences in the MM universe that gave him wisdom, ergo loss of eye. Idk, just an old theory about how things balance. They created the issues with Nemesis vs the fae courts because they balancets things seperate instead of in a whole. (Insert disclaimer for information lost from my head, i vaguely remember something about seeing this done in the protohistory we've discussed on the DF) also, I think that's what happened in the fight between Bob and evil Bob. Bob contained him as part of himself but seperated from his conscious self. Iirc someone else actually originally theorized that, I just fleshed the idea out into other things(cause no explanation of magic in the DF only applies to what they're talking about directly imo)
I picture mirror Harry being human with selfish motivations. I picture tulpa Harry being almost beastial, with Id's lack of empathy and the Winter Mantle's ferocity.
Imagine an iced over Harry that's gone full Winter, who's only goal is to defeat Harry's (and its own) fears by killing everything that threatens them.
Harry has issues with Marcone? Tulparry goes after him, jeopardizing their truce in the process.
Harry has trust issues with Mab? Tulparry tries to kill her to free Molly.
It'd be like the Nightmare all over again, only instead of a Kravos-based monster using Harry's intellect and strategy against him, it'd be using it to enact what he's always wanted to do, but has always been too afraid to do, for one reason or another.
Tulpa!Harry conjured by conjuritis and reality disruption would be one of methods to kill Rudolph I'd not be opposed of.Doing both back to back might be too much or too similar, but I think JB could pull it off. Especially if the first helped him learn about himself, and the second helped him see just how good he is.
Or even better Dresden having to save Rudolph from tulpa :3
Salt those wounds Jim, salt them.
And then when Dresden is kidnapped by Mirror!Harry - Harry at first is like - WTF again!
I don't know what you mean by consuming mirror Harry. They're both going to be humans, presumably, with different flavors of power. Humans don't really consume each other?
There was a WOJ that there's a way for one practitioner to consume another's power ("and it's horrible").I don't see Harry doing that to himself. Not our Harry, at least. And the wording made it sound more like they'd be merging from two to one, rather than stealing power like the Nightmare did.
I don't see Harry doing that to himself. Not our Harry, at least. And the wording made it sound more like they'd be merging from two to one, rather than stealing power like the Nightmare did.👀👀 do you know where I can find that particular Woj? Given my previous theory on MM I rather wish to read it...
👀👀 do you know where I can find that particular Woj? Given my previous theory on MM I rather wish to read it...I was talking about your wording.
I was talking about your wording.oh, I thought you meant the wording of the Woj... I vaguely remember reading that now, but only the overall context.
👀👀 do you know where I can find that particular Woj? Given my previous theory on MM I rather wish to read it...https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/25q3em/i_am_jim_butcher_author_of_the_dresden_files_the/chjqznr/?context=3
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/25q3em/i_am_jim_butcher_author_of_the_dresden_files_the/chjqznr/?context=3thank you 😀
I think it would almost have to center some kind of actual plot around hunting Justine while Nemesis stays a step ahead, and then interweave subplots (training with River on getting his head straight, feds sniffing around, Lara, fleshing out Wizard of Chicago and the castle as Paranet HQ, and trying to mend things with Eb).I want something very much like this. Harry dealing with all his issues that need dealing with. Some overarching plot going on in the background. Maybe Harry dealing with a bunch of the little threats that were only afraid to take a shot at him because the Council would retaliate. Maybe Harry building a force to be reckoned with, which requires him going on quests to gain the support of this being and that group.
The fact that he keeps Bob and can even use it for that makes me incredibly happy.100% agree. If I'm being honest, Bob and Toot are probably my favorite side characters. I've never had too much of them in a book.
I predict that there is going to be a trial. That for the moment Rudolph will cobble together enough evidence to arrest Harry. Harry will defended by no less than Queen Mab herself in her lawyer mode. There will be a real Perry Mason moment where on a blistering/frosty cross examination, Mab will get Rudolph to confess he set Harry up, who's behind it, and confess to killing Murphy. He won't be prosecuted because he will be deemed mentally incompetent.