It's not that I think it sickens me. It's that it would diminish my enjoyment of the story. Half the time it's not addressed so it seems like a mistake on the author's part. The other half my response is more "why would anyone write this?" I've seen something where a time traveling character was both father and mother to himself.
A good theory about Odin being the progenitor. I think you are really onto something with the Red King actually targeting beyond Eb. Tbh, it seemed like a lot of effort for a couple of Wizards. Considering the power behind the ritual/spell...seems a waste just for two Wizards. Either they were hoping to wipe out the White Court, or someone Eb was related to. Odin fits as good as any - and Odin v the Red King fits better too. Odin took almost personal interest in that matter, he even showed up to Chichen Itza. I think he was just as ready to wipe them out if necessary. I don't think he went to the wall at all.Not too sure; we know Odin took a personal interest, but so did Lea (and Mab though she was bribed), TWG (three Knights in one throw), the White Council...
I watched that interview too, Daniel was specifically asking about Harry in terms of D&D Wizards. In D&D Wizards get their magic by studying, Sorcerers are just born with it (mostly). Jim clarified that in the Dresden Files Wizards are a bit of a combination of the two- a wizard has to be born with the potential to use magic on a certain level, as well as learn how to use magic etc.
He also mentioned that in D&D terms Harry would be a Warlock because of his deal with Mab. D&D Warlocks get their powers by making a deal with some powerful entity- they’re not just dark magic users like in the Dresden Files.
While I don’t necessarily disagree that Harry might have some powerful or exotic ancestry, I don’t think this quote is the evidence of it.
more than it being her personal interest. Although one could argue Harry's success was in her personal interest...he being her godson after all.She specifically says she didn't owe it to Mab to do as much as she did. She wanted revenge for the Nemesis infected gift.
I thought the deal was with Lea? Also Jim has said in the past that what she did was merely confidence building and no power per say, I also thought that the reason why he was declared a warlock was because he killed with magic when he killed Justin.
I think Jim was referring obliquely to Harry becoming Winter Knight (the guy interviewing him had just finished White Night, so Jim was being a little bit carful about spoilers for him)- he did specifically mention Mab, not Lea.
Jim has stated that Merlin won't be in the series because he is dead, but then paused and said something about how dead is less of a permanent state in the genre kind of in a maybe he will be in the series way. It could be interpreted as if he had forgotten something about Merlin.Put your ick away. That puts the paradox before the horse and I hope Jim is a better writer than that. Your assuming that Merlin had kids and the myth as I remember it has Morgana putting him in an enchanted sleep in a tree. Which works well since he can wake up in the now and kick some BAT ass. ;D
If Harry is descended from Merlin, then I really hope Harry doesn't time travel and become Merlin. Ick.
It's not that I think it sickens me. It's that it would diminish my enjoyment of the story. Half the time it's not addressed so it seems like a mistake on the author's part. The other half my response is more "why would anyone write this?" I've seen something where a time traveling character was both father and mother to himself.
Put your ick away.Classic Morris.
Don't watch Dark (on Netflix), BA. If you think Harry being his own descendant is rough, you ain't seen nothing. Seriously loopy stuff in that show. But also awesome.
I guess it's time for me to trot out my own personal WAG here...
Harry is a blood relative (a relatively close one) of >Heinrich Kemmler<. His bloodline is intimately linked to >necromancy<.
But I thought it probably wasn't good for Bad Alias, considering the previous comment about disliking Time Travel stories.It's not that I don't like time travel stories. It's that I don't like pointless incest (or maybe incest being the point?) time travel stories. Also really poorly done time travel stories. I do think time travel stories are hard to do without accidentally breaking your own rules. I have a hard time thinking of a well known time travel centered story that doesn't have at least a few internal logic problems.
I don't think it is mad to think that he [Odin] sired Harry's bloodline.It's my favorite barely supported WAG. Emphasis on guess. I admit the evidence for it is exceptionally thin.
[1]You should consider that Rashid may only age when he leaves the Gates and comes to the real world, if he ages at all. This could be a property of the Gates themselves. If the Gates guard reality and time exists only in this Universe time may not pass at the gates at all.1. Interesting.
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[2]Breaking cause and effect is what creates bad time travel stories. You can't make up a rule that can make it make sense. [3]And going back in time to bang your many greats grandmother is one of the worst. It isn't even incest. But it does break cause and effect.
[4]Here's a silly WAG. One day Harry wakes up in Chicago and the island is no longer there. In the time after that moment Harry is attacked by all the Gods and Monsters that he thought existed in Demonreach. Hilarity ensues and Harry and his allies create the summoning circle and the prison in the past and send back the Monsters and Dark Gods. So in post BAT because they got sent back in time and Demonreach doesn't exist in that present. In future Chicago there are no Dark Gods and Monsters. There is no evil ley line in the lake. The island no longer exists. And because the prison doesn't exist in the future the creatures that exist in it are locked out of the future forever if they don't escape in the past. Which they never do, because well, they didn't. This is a reverse paradox. :o
A bootstrap paradox is simply broken cause and effect.Just putting a name to that specific "breaking" of cause and effect. Aren't all time travel paradoxes breaking cause and effect in some way? I'm not coming up with any off the top of my head that don't.
And Jim then tells you that he is going to explore one of those branches in Mirror Mirror.That branch exists because of Choice, not time travel. Which really irks me because it means that every time Choice is exercised, it also isn't exercised.
I do think Jim had a really good idea for a primary rule for time travel in his series. The Law of Conservation of Time. That rule allows for flexibility in going back in time, doing things that would drastically change things under most time travel rules, but don't in the Dresden Files because there is a fundamental rule of the universe that it's hard to change something that has already happened. A similar thing was done in Farscape where past events only had to be "close enough" to not affect the broader timeline.All well and good until you consider what Harry will be trying to do by time traveling. It comes down to he going to try and save the world. Am I missing something? The Chronicles of St. Mary's has a pretty nifty plot point to take care of it. Monkey with causality and the Universe kills you.
A split is a split. How would Jim explain the difference?A time travel split could eventually merge back into the original time line, but, narratively, that rule would be difficult to work into a story with a satisfying payoff. Also, why not have multiple things that result in a thing? Time travel, Choice, quantum mechanics. Why only have one cause of multiple universes?
All well and good until you consider what Harry will be trying to do by time traveling. It comes down to he going to try and save the world. Am I missing something?Harry can change the one thing without undoing everything because it takes focus to change that one thing. A story centered around a McGuffin, the change to the timeline, can be action packed and entertaining. It could be some simple thing that Harry realizes he will need that got burned up in his apartment. A "if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something" situation.
Toodles:)
I am aware that all humans have the potential to do magic, and I think it is a reasonable guess to assume it is to do with having a soul.
An interesting thing is the way it has been discussed, people have always assumed that when a Choice is presented there are only two options (and therefore only two Universes created) per Choice. But what if each Choice has multiple options?My interpretation: A Choice is acting against one's nature. Therefore the options are exercise Free Will or don't. When a Choice is made, it is a specific action. The alternative isn't all possible Choices but whatever action a (perfect) deterministic model of the universe would have predicted. While someone could Choose many different paths, they only Chose one that they did. The other timeline isn't a different Choice. It's a lack of Choice.
@Bad AliasThere's a reason I chose to capitalize Choice and Free Will. I'm not talking about a choice but a Choice. An act against one's nature. One could Choose not to act, or one could not act because that is one's nature. One is an exercise of free will and the other isn't. An act of free will is a Choice. Everything else is not.
The is no such thing as not making a choice. The very act of not doing anything is itself a choice.
you'd be shocked how seldom people truly choose to exercise their will within their lives.Uriel in The Warrior responding to Dresden's statement that what Uriel was saying "smelled" a lot like predestination.
There's a reason I chose to capitalize Choice and Free Will. I'm not talking about a choice but a Choice. An act against one's nature. One could Choose not to act, or one could not act because that is one's nature. One is an exercise of free will and the other isn't. An act of free will is a Choice. Everything else is not...
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you. So if your nature is to be a good guy then the only way to make a Choice is to make an evil choice?That's a bit simplistic, but yes (in the Dresden Files, whether or not free will and choice actually exist in the real world is a debate I don't care to get into because I don't see any point to me doing it). I think g33k's example would be better to zero in on they dynamics as I understand them.
He could have chosen to summon Lasciel's coin.I'm not sure about either of those. Lash never showed Harry how to summon the coin. IIRC, Harry thought it would have been impossible. Maybe simply knowing it wasn't was enough for him to figure it out. I don't know. I'm skeptical as to whether or not Harry knows how to do the Dark Hallow at all. When talking about Harry's options in Changes Jim said he knew how because he looked flipped through the Word of Kemmler with his Sight open. I think it was in response to a question about whether or not he was bluffing Mab on having other options. But we know Jim is wrong. Harry used Lash.
I don't THINK he was able to do a Darkhallow -- he didn't have enough Death on-hand, enough uneasy Spirits to consume, etc. But maybe I'm wrong; whatever...
To begin with Lash knew the ritual for the Darkhallow, not Harry. Sans Lash, why would you assume that Harry could do it, not withstanding the broken back, which would seem to be a major impediment? In a similar vein, the coin could be summoned because the Shadow knew how to do it, lacking the Shadow why do you think that Harry could summon it?
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In principle, Lash could have left Harry with some/all of the Word of Kemmler, or just the Darkhallow. She could also have left Harry with instructions on Coin-summoning (it's ALSO apparently pretty easy (I guess Jim thinks "Cheap Cosmic Power" is typically made pretty easy by the Bad Guys).
To begin with Lash knew the ritual for the Darkhallow, not Harry. Sans Lash, why would you assume that Harry could do it, not withstanding the broken back, which would seem to be a major impediment?The only thing I can think of is that Harry did have to understand the Darkhallow to stop it. I don't know how much he had to understand. Without that, I can't say whether or not he knew enough to do it. It usually requires less information to know how to wreck something than it is to do it, so ...
Jim left Harry with a broken back. That's a story choice meant to do exactly what it did. Harry wasn't going to do the Darkhallow. Harry wasn't going to take a leak without lots of help. And if you want to think that the coins can be summoned by just any old oddball then who am I to suggest otherwise.Yeah. I don't see how he could pull anything off other than the deal with Mab, but I'm not sure I could write a good story at all, so maybe Jim could come up with convincing scenarios for either the Darkhallow or summoning the coin.
The only thing I can think of is that Harry did have to understand the Darkhallow to stop it. I don't know how much he had to understand. Without that, I can't say whether or not he knew enough to do it. It usually requires less information to know how to wreck something than it is to do it, so ...
"I've read Kemmler's book. I know how the Darkhollow works."