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Messages - g33k

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1
DF Spoilers / Re: Ghost Story--two things
« on: Today at 02:25:51 AM »
Well, I do not think is so easy. As the wife of the very wealthy vampire king, I do not think she is going for groceries and thinks like that. Perhaps to very expensive things, like jewelry or fine clothing, but that is not a place where you would find Malcolm. Same with travels. First, I do not think Raith allowed Maggie to travel alone but that would be a moot point if Maggie can just use a Way to go for an esspresso in Italy. But how would she interact with Malcolm? Library is an option but I think the most probable scenario is Maggie (and perhaps Lara and her sisters) going to to Malcolm show just for curiosity. Still, it would be interesting to know more about that. 

Once she was on the run from Raith, she very well might be hitting up a grocery-store or other "common" (i.e. not-ultrarich) activities & entertainments.

I mean, she was also a reasonably-senior and very powerful wizard in her own right, so I expect she had plenty of resources in her own right, if she wanted/needed, without drawing upon any of the Whamps' backing.  But circulating in the wealthy echelons will make her MUCH more visible to her angry scorned ex-lover.

2
DF Spoilers / Re: Dresden spells and would you change them
« on: Today at 01:50:06 AM »
I think Man's training regimen was primarily focused on getting him ready for fighting in inside the islands circle. So I am not sure if it will have as much of a long term impact.

I'm... not sure why you'd think that.  She was training him at Arctis Tor (i.e. not on the island).

On the island itself, Harry is The Warden, with orders of magnitude more power than his WC wizard-training, because of his near-omniscient Genius Loci, and his command of the forces of the Island itself.  He could probably stand off any of the Senior Council, even Ebenzer or the Merlin.
 
Or do you mean that you believe she was training him specifically for the fight at the end of Cold Days?  Mab almost never does anything with just a "single purpose" like that.

3
DF Spoilers / Re: Thomas
« on: Yesterday at 08:38:13 PM »
... Harry is blinded by love...
I don't think he is; not really.

... Thomas the human partbis a good guy. And harry sees only that part. He cant imagine Thomas the vampire or he cant allow himself to see that part ...
Remember:  he has Seen the Hunger Demon inside Thomas.
Seen it in a way he cannot un-See.

Harry has seen Thomas lose control (and knows how to deal with Thomas losing control).  And when he knows Thomas is stressed/injured & close to the edge, he takes extra care.  We saw him with Susan, feeding her a bit of blood that she needed, but then punching her in the face to stop her feeding. 
Harry just chooses to believe that Thomas is mostly going to continue to be worthy of Harry's trust.

And let's face it:  most people are occasionally un-trustworthy... this "problem" isn't unique to Thomas!  About 90% of American adults have drivers' licenses, and when behind the wheel they are one moment of rage (or simple inattention) away from hitting someone harder than Thomas ever could.  Yet we drive public highways & walk down sidewalks by the millions, daily...
 

4
DF Spoilers / Re: Ghost Story--two things
« on: Yesterday at 01:26:29 PM »
I think that depends on how targeted his killing spell had to be.  I mean if he had to know where she was...
I do not think "sympathetic magic" needs a physical "aim here" target, it ... just hits.

The sympathetic bond targets via magic, to wherever that bond exists (needing extra power to cross rivers or other running water, a HUGE amount to cross an ocean, etc).


... I also wonder in what context Margaret could have met Malcolm, I mean if she was just on the run from Lord Raith, I hardly think she'd attend a magic show.. Like a lot in the novels, stuff sounds great on the surface, but if you dig too deeply they begin not to make sense... Especially over a long series, stuff begins to contradict, happens in television series as well, I guess the author and writers think we fans forget details, and that's a real mistake.
Where could they have met?
Literally anywhere...  At a grocery store...  At a library...  Doing a cheesy tourist location... Maybe even, yes, a magic-show:  I imagine a fair number of Dresdenverse "real wizards" find mundane stage-magic to be various kinds of fascinating, amusing, etc...  Like, "I know there's no real magic happening here, I could tell if there were... how TF did he DO that??!?  Ha-ha-ha-ha this is AMAZEBALLS!"  Also, I think a stage-magic show is exactly the kind of place Lord Raith would never expect Margaret "LaFey" Dresden to go, so it'd be obscurely extra-safe.

5
DF Spoilers / Re: Dresden spells and would you change them
« on: Yesterday at 01:15:56 PM »
I don't know about spell. But I feel like using more potions or that bear buckle thing ( life of me can't remember what book or what's it called ) is called for. 

FWIW, Jim is on record as saying that most magic items -- and in particular potions -- are regarded as  kinda "training wheels" by senior magi.  Except for a staff, of  course.

But specialized items like the force-rings, bear-buckle, &c ... these are what young wizards use when they haven't developed the focus and willpower needed to use their power effectively and efficiently without such crutches.

And of course Mab's training-regimen for Harry was very-heavily focused on not having any tools at all, even a staff.

So I'm expecting to see less and less of these, going forward.

6
DF Spoilers / Re: Harry's force rings
« on: June 26, 2025, 12:25:46 PM »
I don't think it's the motion of the ring, it's getting energy from Harry when he moves his arms.  Putting it on something moving wouldn't do anything, even another person might need attunement or something.
Remember that Elaine could recharge her thorn-wand by just plugging into a wall-socket, and she's got similar training to Harry (she's just "more elegant").

I think Harry's rings are (or could easily be re-made) similarly-amenable to mechanical recharge.

It might have to be more linear than rotational, though -- the force rings are pretty explicitly one trick, linear thrust (though if he does have to re-make them anyhow, he might include some rotational and other variants).

Maybe he could find a supermarket or similar, with a sliding-door that opens & closes many times per hour, all day long...


7
DF Spoilers / Re: Ghost Story--two things
« on: June 25, 2025, 01:25:15 AM »
  I seriously doubt that Margaret had woken up one morning and had an epiphany, so decided to leave Lord Raith.
Phrased that way, of course not!

But Mme LaFey, the noted waywalker?  Acquaintance of the Leanansidhe, whose chief mortal involvement rotates around inspiration?

I think the chances Maggie might become "inspired" to leave Raith would be substantial.  After all -- she has her son to protect, from the father who has killed every other male heir!

What better way to protect Thomas than to curse Lord Raith's Hunger Demon -- "leave Thomas alone, or you'll never be free to Feed again!"  And then she runs away, so Raith can't bring overwhelming force to bear on her...

A positively inspired plan!


Quote
Your mother found the strength to escape Lord Raith for a reason.
That line is in the context of a paragraph where Lash hints at a why and the circumstances of Harry's birth.  While yeah, one can put the cart before the horse, but I don't think Margaret did in this case.

I suspect Lash was hinting at much larger-scale issues, at the "reason" including much larger players, possibly up to and including the Angelic powers, much more than hinting at just Margaret's reasoning.

But I don't think we have much info either way; Lash's info is very short:  every moment of that accelerated-time was risking brain-damage to Harry, and brought uber-trolls and Outsider-possessed Raith a bit closer...

Survive now.

Convey secrets later!

(and give an ambiguous one-liner for the rabid fans to gnaw upon like starving dogs with a bone, for years ... )

8
DF Spoilers / Re: Ghost Story--two things
« on: June 23, 2025, 03:20:50 AM »
I think Dresden's conception and upbringing is far darker and far more intentional and engineered by multiple parties than this theory suggests.  For example, I think the bargain was made before Dresden was conceived; if Maggie, Sr. was pregnant with a human child, why would she then seek to bargain with the fae for protection of Dresden instead of going to her own father, Senior Counsel member and the Black Staff? I believe Butcher has been spreading crumbs while misdirecting us both with Dresden as unreliable/in denial narrator and with his WOJ.  I don't think that's a bad thing nor do I mean to suggest that Butcher should have done otherwise; it's just the path that Butcher has essentially had to take to avoid the story being unsurprising as its end builds, given the years/decades that he knew would be spent writing and releasing the overarching story.

But all will be revealed eventually, I suppose.  I just hope I'm around to read the last book of the final trilogy.

I think Mab -- likely mostly via her Handmaiden -- led Maggie gently to the idea of a Starbabe.

I think Maggie's original idea was a starborn wizard with enough mojo to get the White Council to agree to some of her "modern" revisions towards equality/etc.

Not sure when she moved from that plan; but she kinda gave up on the sweetness-and-light version when she threw in with Raith Père & Duchess Arianna (who I think were Black Council (or shills for them)):  I think it was a Starbabe plan she pitched to Eb, when Arianna twigged to the familial fight dynamic.

Whatever her scheme, at that point, she was firmly-allied in said scheme with 2 of the 3 Vampire Courts, and that's pretty fucking DARK.
 
AFAIK we have zero evidence of any WhiteCouncil starbabe plans, but I've gotta suspect they had ideas, most likely around "let the baddies get the babe born, then we'll swoop in to collect the child" &c.

I think Maggie wouldn't go to Eb because she had so much suspicion / distrust of the White Council (possibly even sure knowledge, but no actionable evidence, of black-magic or similar corruption) and knew Eb was solidly pro-WC.

But Mab, and Lea ...
The Winter agenda was a Starborn Winterknight, free from White Council limits & constraints.

They led Maggie down the Starborn garden-path -- probably a decades-long plan:  a hint here, an allusion there, a demure smirking not-quite-denial, etc -- then abandoned her to Black Council + Vamps, isolating her from her only viable allies (the WC).  Somehow they lured her to escape (I suspect Lea, who's specifically a demigoddess of "inspiration" & muses) under cover of Faerie Glamour (remember how Morgan was un-trackable to everything the White Council could do?), "proving" the Faerie alliance to be invaluable.

Then when Margaret got pregnant with a likely Starbabe, they induced her to bargain for that protection to go to her child (automatically insta-killing Maggie, when the "cannot track/target" Glamour left her, and Raith's entropy-curse found its target)... exactly as the Faeries intended.

Then they arranged for Malcolm's death, too -- he died, iirc, with a gentle smile on his face... almost as if some faerie had englamoured herself to seem like Margaret LeFey (and Mab has proved herself particularly adept at pretending to be a mortal) -- and (once more under faerie-unfindable Glamour) squirreled Harry away to the orphanage (remember:  Lea was a semi-regular visitor).

Then they arranged Justin to adopt Harry:  harsh (wintery) Justin (to give Harry his White-Council style training); I bet they charged DuMorne a pretty penny, to reveal a Starborn Wizard to him!  Even if it was exactly their plan all along.

I put all of that on Mab/Lea conniving.
 

9
DF Spoilers / Re: Two plus two is Starborn
« on: June 22, 2025, 09:47:39 PM »
Also meeting Malcolm changed Margaret's whole outlook. We have Chauncy's testimony on that one, he told Harry that they were waiting to receive his mother, and then something changed and she was lost to them.. Who or what was that? Malcolm. 

I think very likely Malcolm was -- in her whole life, amongst scores or hundreds of Soulgazes -- the very first time Margaret gazed upon a genuinely good, kindly, loving soul.

I think that "restored her faith in humanity" -- possibly restored her faith in Creation itself.
 

10
DF Spoilers / Re: Ghost Story--two things
« on: June 22, 2025, 09:44:15 PM »
  I do not think she was with child, because I think she conceived Harry after deciding to have a Starborn, so she had to choose the approximated time of the conception. And I believe she took that decision only after she was sure she could do that with Malcolm. 

It's entirely possible that Thomas was a failed Starborn-attempt (tho I think he was just "unexpected").

I think Margaret's "starbabe" plan (specifically, her intention to execute the plan) varied with time.  Lea (at Mab's orders) laid the foundations:  a Starborn that Maggie raised would likely have the mojo to get the White Council to enact the changes Margaret had wanted for a century(ish); Mab(Lea) had her own agenda (but knew Maggie would want that Starbabe for herself as leverage on the White Council).

The party with Raith & Duchess Ortega, where Maggie Sr. tried to recruit Ebenezer was (I think) her first serious attempt; I suspect she wanted him aboard to protect his daugher & grandchild from the Whamp/Ramp coalition.  When he wouldn't go for it, I think she got cold feet and backed out (of what was likely, ultimately, a Black Council operation).

Later -- after she was on the run -- she met Malcolm.  She fell in love.  She soulgazed him, she knew with certainty that he was a good man; extraordinarily so.  And the regained her hope in the Starborn plan:  that a Starborn  that Malcolm raised  would also be good (and not swayed by Black Council plots, White Council blandishments, etc).  Though he'd also need a badass Faerie Godmother.

11
DF Spoilers / Re: Ghost Story--two things
« on: June 22, 2025, 07:06:51 PM »
... It is my belief that Margaret met Malcolm, fell in love and left Lord Raith ...
I'm virtually certain I recall WoJ that Margaret met Malcolm _after_ leaving Raith.  I suspect that if she had fallen for Mal beforehand, she wouldn't even have left Raith (for fear of painting a target on Mal).

...  One thing for sure, just the act of leaving him was a death sentence sooner or later ...
If she wanted to remain the renegade / lone-wolf, you're right.  She's at least 2-3 magnitudes too weak to be safe from Raith's Outsider-fueled magic and the extra elements of White Court that Raith would be willing to employ (not to reveal his "shame" in having a mortal doe abandon him) .

If she could have gotten the White Council's protection, it'd have been a different story.

...   I do believe however she was with child when she made a bargain with Mab and Lea for the protection of her child.  I don't think she would have done so otherwise.
Absolutely she was with child, yes.
Furthermore, she was almost certainly aware it was a (potential) Starborn, and/or (via Salic Law) likely a powerful wizard; someone who would need protection during childhood.

12
DF Spoilers / Re: Ghost Story--two things
« on: June 21, 2025, 05:40:46 PM »
... maybe Malcom was fae and of Winter.  Is there anything definitive on how a changeling knows it's a changeling, especially if Mab doesn't want the changeling to know and has given a direct order for no one to tell? 
Malcolm seems too warm & loving.  Winterfae aren't.

But Eb met him, and iirc testifies as to both his goodness and his being pure-Mundane.
 

13
DF Spoilers / Re: Children of the sun
« on: June 20, 2025, 10:18:04 PM »
It has been a long thinking theory of mine that it's really SON not sun. That it's actually the church guarding a portal or something.
1. Christian could turn into Christ son hence children of the sun.
2. Lot of holy artifacts out there but none are being used outside of the swords.
3. Hades has some there has to be more.

The first time I met that sun/son pun I think was a ST:TOS episode.

And sometimes I see people go "Christ..." plus "...tian" is kinda "...son" so we'll go with that.

I don't think it's so -- not in the Dresdenverse -- because we have both in-world/canonical and meta/WoJ confirmation that Uriel is "erase an entire solar-system with a thought" level of powerful.  Also, I'm pretty sure Mab or Lea have used "the White God" or similar, with no hints of "sun" iconography.

OTOH, we've seen that one of the most pervasive and potent magical forces -- hitting the whole world, every day -- is the sunrise; and the sun has special potency against Rampires, Blampires, and various spirits; and remember when Harry tried to use "Uri" as a nickname for Uriel?  Harry had to come up with another name:  Mr. Sunshine, and there's more than one syncretic tradition in the 0CE-300CE era that conflates Christ with Apollo (he of the sun-chariot).  So some sort of sun / Christian linkage seems possible.

14
DF Spoilers / Re: RNT: How Does Air Magic Interact With Physics?
« on: June 20, 2025, 09:18:03 PM »
... I assumed it was some form of sanctioned mind magic.
Mind magic is Air magic in the Dresdenverse.

There may be other similar things, e.g. bodily magic is I think Water magic:  but if you crank up (bodily, hormonal) lust you mostly get someone who's hitting on everything that moves; if you hit the right cortisol & epinephrine notes, your target becomes fearful; etc.

You can likely suppress the hormonal states, calm the fear & lust &c.

These act like mind-control in many ways, but are bodily tweaks.

15
DF Spoilers / Re: Two plus two is Starborn
« on: June 20, 2025, 09:10:57 PM »
True you cant force people to dance but you can treak the circumstances of the meeting to make them receptive to the idea. The sun setting at just the right angle, the wind blowing gently enough to make you notice something that you may overlook on any other day.
Im not saying a plant in the way that Uriel forced Malcolm and Margie Sr to fall for each other. Just make sure they meet on the right day , at the right time to fall for each other.

Also I think Uriel has a "see into the heart" ability.  He knew when Margaret, on the run, might be receptive to the kindness of a good man.

Remember Ebenezer's testimony about Malcolm -- the best man he ever knew.
Imagine what it would be like for someone escaping a shark like Raith to Soulgaze someone like that...

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