Interesting. Is the sacrifices one makes for one's daughter (and sons?) an indicator of how good a person is in the DV? From best to worst:

Harry - Willing to burn the world to save his daughter.
Nicodemus - Kills his daughter for self-serving reasons, also much of what Lord Raith does.

Additions? Disagreements?

I think the people (and their children) in the world that Dresden was willing to burn might disagree on him being the role model for how to behave. That’s called selfishness and reckless disregard for other people and beings. 

Nic and Deirdre said over and over that they are trying to save the universe. I put Deirdre’s sacrifice at the top of the list. Dying for the universe; she’d be a messiah figure in a religious mythos.
And, don’t forget her, Deirdre is a grown woman making her own choices. She is not secondary to Nic in this scenario. She is the primary figure. That Nic would help her in this terrible and selfless decision shows that he, also, is acting in a selfless way to benefit everything in the universe.
Deirdre is a hero.

I could be wrong. The two instances of a transference involved a summer knight mantle being placed in a hidden unwilling host and a broadcasted ritual of sacrifice against its tortured holder. So, maybe not the typical manner of transference. What do others think are the necessary components of a knight mantle being transferred?

Loss of the mantle through vessel death or other form of removal and then transference by the empowered bestower to the new vessel. So, forfeiture, possession, transference.

I think Butcher will stick with first person past tense point of view. Can you imagine if the story were to be told in first person, present tense? That would be too annoying. And, if a witness recounts Dresden’s exploits, that would gut the inner dialogue of the main character from the dramatic conclusion. Third person limited perspective would also be a jarring tonal change. So, I think it will stay first person, past tense. How Butcher makes that work if your theory about his potential death is right, I don’t know.

As for what the bat will entail, I haven’t given it much thought. It will obviously have the most powerful characters take direct roles in the action, result in tragic, larger than life deaths, and involve high stakes plot points. The specifics, though, I haven’t given any thought to. Plenty of time to ponder them, though, as I guess we won’t see the end till 2030something.

There is a poll for everyone to voice an opinion. But, the decisions made by a group are usually slower than the decisions made by one.

There are over two months, still. Just set a deadline for making the decision so it gives enough time to implement the plan but enough time to assess the options. I’ve set up lots of websites, being a designer, but a free and professionally hosted forum service is probably best for a non-centralised community like this, I think.

Where is the poll? There are so many fora here, I can’t find much.

The WoJ on the subject is that intent has no bearing on dark magic corruption.  If you do something bad for the right reasons, you're corrupted.

That was the essence of Proven Guilty. Molly had good intentions and yet ...

An educated guess might be part of it, yeah.

Interesting, though, that Nic is apparently totally confident in his read on Harry, while Rashid was actively suspicious in the other direction until at least a book later.

I think Nic knows Dresden better than Rashid.

To your question regarding his sincerity, I think he genuinely aims to save the universe (after his own fashion). Also, this seemed to already been known by the adversary given the apparent infiltration of his circle.

Whether his reaction to Dresden at the fish house was real or a show to distract and gauge Dresden’s reaction (perhaps to determine if Dresden was an ageNt), I’m uncertain. Did they even intend to kill Dresden, either at the fish house during the abduction or later on the island? They seemed to give it a good effort, though, again, I’m unclear if Nic willed it or not. However, they also, apparently, laboured under the misapprehension that Dresden was, at some level, one of them.

So, I think Nic’s admission to Dresden was neither daring nor dangerous. Nic was already targeted, therefore, speaking openly to Dresden was no risk as he either was an agent of N taunting Nic to his face or not. Whichever it was didn’t matter as Nic was already exposed.

Quote

Quote

No offense intended to you, Raidem; you aren't simply throwing this out there with no reasonable evidence. There are parallels between Murphy and Mab to be drawn. I just don't think they indicate time travel.

No offense intended to you, Raidem; you aren't simply throwing this out there with no reasonable evidence. There are parallels between Murphy and Mab to be drawn. I just don't think they indicate time travel

Did you just time travel to make your point? scary!