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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: Conspiracy Theorist on August 03, 2020, 09:30:09 PM
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So much attention is given to Harry one sometimes over look other characters, even minor characters getting power ups such as Butters in Skin Game.
What other characters could get power ups and why?
E.g Larry Fowler gets nationally syndicated as the supernatural media interviewer following his previous interviews with Chicago’s only known Wizard, and his coverage as an inadvertent war reporter in Battle Ground. It means he can afford more expensive lawyers to sue Harry.
E.g. Carlos Ramirez becomes the new Black Staff, Harry refuses after Eb is stripped of it. This power up puts him closer to par with Harry and helps him understand Harry’s burden and isolation.
e.g. Toot grows to full size, becoming a full Sidhe Lord due to the importance of the Za Lord following Harry’s role in Battle Ground, Toot becomes the public face of Faerie and is sponsored by Pizza X’Press under an all you can eat deal negotiated by Harry.
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I love Toot getting a power up!
Here's a thought: With all the mortal world finding out about the supernatural world, wouldn't all those involved get a power up? Doesn't their power increase or decrease depending on belief?
Toot's the man!
Cheers!
Brien
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Sue 2.0 -- now with a Soulfire skeleton.
Mouse -- he's a guardian foo dog, taking his strength from the Wards of the home he guards. When Harry moves into the BFS castle with the impressive wards carved into every stone... his power jumps to an entirely new level. (And he gains a love interest -- Childs' bomb-sniffing german shepherd! But will she turn out to be a chienne fatale, or is it true love? Are there half-foo scion puppies in our future?)
Tilly -- head of an entirely new federal law enforcement agency.
Rudolph -- wins election as Chicago's District Attorney on an anti-supernatural platform
Mac -- with the Paranetters livestream reporting on the Chicago Incident going international (Live from MacAnally's Pub) his ale gains worldwide distribution.
Maggie -- discovers she has not one, not two, but three Fairy Godmothers -- just like Cinderella! And Santa is Real!!
Gedwig -- after mass casualties, after the inevitable Nemesis-induced betrayal, Gedwig is left as head of the Svartalves in Chicago, much to Harry's displeasure
Hendricks + Chandler both defend their Dissertations and start insisting that everyone call them Dr. -- Harry makes lame Dr. Who jokes until they stop.
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Not everyone in the supernatural is powered by belief, Toot has gotten larger each time Harry has gotten a power up/ increased in status, due to his linkage to Harry. If his status increases again then 18 inch Toot might grow several feet overnight and not be able to fly. We haven’t seen Toot since Harry received his arsenal, he may already have grown since then.
We might have the 13 year old equivalent of a teenage Sidhe in Toot and/ or Lacuna for Harry to have to deal with as a live in lodger in the near future. Harry is his liege Lord and responsible for his conduct. Oh Joy!
Rudolph is likely to not distinguish himself in the Battle of Chicago, and we find who bought him, he will get his comeuppance and not a power up. He is found cowering in dereliction if his duty by a news crew having used his trousers as a latrine. Vertebrate would be a power up for Rudolph.
Mouse is intact so Foo Puppies are not out of the Question, but a Scrappy Doo version of Mouse NO! That would be an abomination that must be destroyed by fire. Yes as regards the BFS especially with the Dresden family in residence producing a threshold for their apartment.
Gedwig gets a new deluxe clipboard and a stamp which says “Denied” in Swartalf. That is a terrifying power up for any Vogon souled bureaucrat. Let’s just hope he is not an amateur poet
Hendricks - Einenjhar or gets Mjolnir (was Thor all along amnesia from way too much college football). The new beard is a giveaway.
Tilly- More likely head of a new multi-agency task force, Congress would need to establish the new agency and I am not sure Marcone and Lara have the full set yet.
Marcone - Mayor of Chicago “Vote for a competent crook this time” this would make sense as it would more accurately mirror his supernatural status, and parallel his Lex Luther rise.
Mab - The Accords becomes a working Alliance of the Supernatural protecting mortalkind and future Defenders of the Gates.
Maggie - Gets to ride Sue with her dad, and able to brag about it when she starts school
Chandler - Gets introduced to Marcone’s Tailor
Mac- Finally gets to escape from the ex-wife
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Doesn't their power increase or decrease depending on belief?
Belief or knowledge of supernatural creatures is necessary for them to not be obliviated. Other than that, we don't know what effect belief/knowledge has on the supernatural. Jim has implied that they are somehow shaped by human beliefs, but it's all pretty vague.
Not everyone in the supernatural is powered by belief, Toot has gotten larger each time Harry has gotten a power up/ increased in status, due to his linkage to Harry.
Does Toot grow with Harry, or does he grow with responsibility Harry gives him? At first, Toot is just Harry's informant, then he's in charge of a small retinue, then the retinue increases in size when Harry frees the Little Folk in White Night.
I haven't plotted out Toot's growth and increase in responsibility, so I don't know.
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Gedwig -- after mass casualties, after the inevitable Nemesis-induced betrayal, Gedwig is left as head of the Svartalves in Chicago, much to Harry's displeasure
Unless Gedwig is infected himself...
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Unless Gedwig is infected himself...
Please Nemesis would be infected by Gedwig.
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The idea that Gedwig (the svartalf Harry likes least) is the one infected by Nemesis is impossible. It contradicts the Butcher's First Law: Harry's suffering tends towards the maximum.
It's the flip side of one svartalf dying -- and *of course* it's the one that has game night and play dates with Harry and Maggie.
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I have this feeling Peabody and Gedwig would have got on famously. Harry hates petty bureaucrats more than he hates bullies, but then they are merely bullies writ small.
Give Gedwig a stamp which magically prints “DENIED” in all languages and an everlasting ink pad and he would never be happier. We all know a Gedwig. He probably has a mortal girlfriend in the Cook County Planning Department. They hooked up when he became the only entity in history to actually file for all his applications and permits properly for the embassy in triplicate for the first time, together with thank you letter for how much he enjoyed the experience and an 12 page essay setting out suggestions on how they could tighten up their bureaucracy even further.
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This is a great thread! I laughed.
Hendricks as Thor... wow. I could see that happening.
I was going to say something about Murphy becoming a valkyrie, but then I remembered this is the Unexpected Power Ups thread.
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With the Masquerade in tatters, Chicago gets powered up with a new Department of Magical Affairs. Like the DMV, just with Svartalf clerks and Sidhe management for that extra layer of lawyerly wisdom and epic levels of bureaucratic BS. Harry now gets to worry about getting his Magic license to go with his PI, and has to take a formal exam written by people who were utterly clueless a few months ago.
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WOJ has it that Thor went off playing College Football, Hendricks definitely played college football. The mythological Thor is red haired, as is Hendricks, the blonde Thor is all Marvel. Gard takes unusual interest in him she is a Valkyrie, which normally means Einenjaren, but could mean someone else. Hendricks has just grown a beard, which? He knows how to use a broadsword, why..Marcone made contact with Monoc/Odin fairly early on, perhaps Monoc approached his sons employer. Re-read Even Hand there is a lot of nuance in Marcone’s opinions on Hendricks.
In Norse Mythology Etri made Mjolnir, and their armouries have been opened in the defence of Chicago. If Hendricks picks up a war hammer with a short handle....
Yes the City of Chicago would hire Gedwig from the Swartalves to devise all the forms and to put together a procedures manual, all 27 volumes of it. For Gedwig the pen is mightier than the sword, as it kills you piece by piece.
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Mister - Graciously accepts the service of the Little Monkey (and refrains from eating it, as a consequence).
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Harry finally gets a license to carry that he's been talking about for years now that they exist in Illinois.
There was litigation about whether the Second Amendment protected the right to carry arms outside the home. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it did. The 7th Circuit gave Illinois some time to provide for licensing/regulating the carrying of firearms. On July 9, 2013, Illinois's license to carry law went into effect. What year does Peace Talks take place? If we go with Miss Spencer's (Jim's go to timeline expert) best guess, 2013. What month does Peace Talks take place in? July.
Spoiler alert: It's probably not going to happen in Battle Ground. The state police "plans to begin accepting applications on January 5th, 2014," so the only way this could actually happen is if the series started in 2000 or later.
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Harry finally gets a license to carry that he's been talking about for years now that they exist in Illinois.
There was litigation about whether the Second Amendment protected the right to carry arms outside the home. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it did. The 7th Circuit gave Illinois some time to provide for licensing/regulating the carrying of firearms. On July 9, 2013, Illinois's license to carry law went into effect. What year does Peace Talks take place? If we go with Miss Spencer's (Jim's go to timeline expert) best guess, 2013. What month does Peace Talks take place in? July.
Spoiler alert: It's probably not going to happen in Battle Ground. The state police "plans to begin accepting applications on January 5th, 2014," so the only way this could actually happen is if the series started in 2000 or later.
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What year does Peace Talks take place? If we go with Miss Spencer's (Jim's go to timeline expert) best guess, 2013.
Except the fire at Notre Dame was alluded to in Peace Talks, so it has to be more recent. That was in 2018.
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I love Toot getting a power up!
Here's a thought: With all the mortal world finding out about the supernatural world, wouldn't all those involved get a power up? Doesn't their power increase or decrease depending on belief?
Toot's the man!
Cheers!
Brien
As far as I know, belief does not grant power. It does however allow a supernatural being to act more freely in the mortal realm, which technically does indeed improve one's power level in a sense. Uriel can blow up galaxies, but he can't wield that level of power over the mortal realm for example.
Let's say that Mab have 1000 power level and Ethniu has 10,000 power level. If Ethniu takes Mab on in Arctis'tor, Mab could probably perform the power level of 5000 while Ethniu will be supressed to may be 3000 or so. Vice versa will happened if Mab dare to take Ethniu on in her seat of power.
Battles in the material plain however is different. No divinity has the freedom to unleash all of their power in this little sandbox. Every power above the mortal level is restricted in some way and belief is one of those restriction. Purpose, duty and choices of certain mortals may allow certain divinity to unleash more power or get limited in some way. If Mab could catch someone under a deal for example, she could do a lot more, and if a KoTC fail his or her purpose, TWG cannot support them.
This is important because technically Ethniu should not be able to act so rampantly in the mortal plain. Perhaps the Baylor's eye is part of the reason why she could unleash that much power so freely in the mortal plain, but if the old rules still hold, even Ethniu must be restricted in some way or she must have a weakness like a fae's alergy to cold iron. Well, unless Ethniu is infected. Nemesis has been shown to be able to break such restrictions. Nemesis is able to allow Maeve to lie for example, but if that is the case Harry the starborn may be able to do something.
Another possibility, a proto god is basically exempt from such restriction to begin with. Which probably explain why TWG banish most of them to the outer gates while the rest that remains in this universe is detain in demonreach. Proto gods simply does not fit with the current balance
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Except the fire at Notre Dame was alluded to in Peace Talks, so it has to be more recent. That was in 2018.
The question you should be asking is why did Harry time travel back to Paris in 2013, the rest then falls into place.
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One thing we do know, Harry isn't gaining the power to assemble kid's toys in an instant..
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In the Murder by the Book Q& A Jim stated that one day, Harry may actually get the Hat, a broad brim fedora. It might have been a joke, or it might have been a sign of the impending apocalypse.
I could see him getting the Hat as say a birthday or Christmas gift from his daughter, which would ensure he would wear it, and have real pain about it getting lost or damaged or stolen.
With Mirror Mirror next up this would allow him to be distinguished from his Evil Twin.
Unexpected power up The Hat is Not A Lie.
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Except the fire at Notre Dame was alluded to in Peace Talks, so it has to be more recent. That was in 2018.
That answer's what's the earliest year Harry could have written the "Peace Talks" journal entry. (Or a continuity error).
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I just noted that Harry’s new suit is three piece (it only comes up expressly only when he shucks it to get into the dumbwaiter) the waistcoat/vest means that his torso is protected by two layers of spelled spidersilk and three to four with the spelled leather of the duster (including the Mantle).
Harry will have a watch pocket, he can now buy a decent mechanical pocket watch, and have his amulet (or a smaller version made up) as a watchfob.
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Harry's standard dress from here on out being a suit is just weird.
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It shows Harry has become “the Man”, not a monster, although Harry may disagree. He has become the authority figure he disagrees with.
He should however complete the ensemble with a nice tie, say a Wile E, Coyote tie, or Star Wars.
Harry is the public face of the White Council, he quite often dressed shambolically, but he is a grown up now, a dad and everything.
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It shows Harry has become “the Man”, not a monster, although Harry may disagree. He has become the authority figure he disagrees with.
He should however complete the ensemble with a nice tie, say a Wile E, Coyote tie, or Star Wars.
Harry is the public face of the White Council, he quite often dressed shambolically, but he is a grown up now, a dad and everything.
The impression I got was the "suit" was the uniform that the wardens adopted for the talks, as opposed to their usual robes and cloaks.
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Probably a grey suit, BUT his is spidersilk and spell protected, Molly has no ted that Harry tends to be a little rough on formal clothes e.g every single tux.
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Probably a grey suit, BUT his is spidersilk and spell protected, Molly has no ted that Harry tends to be a little rough on formal clothes e.g every single tux.
I bet it looked a lot like the others, but of course Molly would want to make sure her Knight/mentor/friend had a little extra protection. It is a given that when the s--t hit the fan, Harry would be in the middle of it.
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Harry is generally the fan.
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He should however complete the ensemble with a nice tie, say a Wile E, Coyote tie, or Star Wars.
He should probably skip the tie as he gets into a lot of close quarters combat these days. Unless it's something like this: https://www.amazon.com/HWC-Police-Security-Breakaway-Closure/dp/B001IVBVQC (https://www.amazon.com/HWC-Police-Security-Breakaway-Closure/dp/B001IVBVQC).
The impression I got was the "suit" was the uniform that the wardens adopted for the talks, as opposed to their usual robes and cloaks.
His suit was made from the same material as the wardens cloaks, right?
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His suit was made from the same material as the wardens cloaks, right?
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I seem to remember that, however three piece suits are not the usual warden uniform.
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I seem to remember that, however three piece suits are not the usual warden uniform.
Except for one.
I think some suit of mundane material is expected, but Harry has a suit of the material, not just a cloak he is THE Warden.
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You know what is weird about the suit? Nobody commented on Harry wearing it. He didn't whine about having to wear one, Murphy didn't make any comment either, at least not on page.
When a friend and I watched the trailer, she said. Oh, look, he is wearing a suit. That could be fun reading the comments about that. Not even someone saying he looked good.
It isn't necessary for the story, buy I really would have expected some comment.
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You know what is weird about the suit? Nobody commented on Harry wearing it. He didn't whine about having to wear one, Murphy didn't make any comment either, at least not on page.
When a friend and I watched the trailer, she said. Oh, look, he is wearing a suit. That could be fun reading the comments about that. Not even someone saying he looked good.
It isn't necessary for the story, buy I really would have expected some comment.
Yeah, back in Death Masks, Harry remarked that he looked good in a tux. In this case, not a big deal, if he wasn't wearing a suit it would be wrong. Remember this was Molly's gift, Harry isn't just a Warden of the White Council, he is the Winter Knight, now perhaps not representing in an official capacity, but he is what he is, so Molly with no doubt Mab's approval is going to see that he looks sharp in his spider silk duds, doesn't hurt that the material acts like body armor.
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And like the wardens cloaks wipe clean. Honestly Harry gets an indestructible suit, which is wipe clean, it’s almost as though Molly knows that Harry can’t be trusted with anything nice.
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You know what is weird about the suit? Nobody commented on Harry wearing it.
That is weird. Almost every time I where a suit, someone comments on it. I wear suits more often than most, but not every day. Before Covid, I wore a suit more than once a week. Jeans and t-shirt Harry would definitely get comments from just about everyone who knows him.
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Harry is known for wearing weird stuff to the White Council such as a bathrobe. So people have just given up.
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Harry is known for wearing weird stuff to the White Council such as a bathrobe. So people have just given up.
True, but that was back in his younger days, and he is representing the Winter Court as their Knight, so he has to look sharp! ::)
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Harry is known for wearing weird stuff to the White Council such as a bathrobe. So people have just given up.
That's why they would comment on him dressing up properly. He'd get at least one "clean up nicely" comment. At least.
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As far as I know, belief does not grant power. It does however allow a supernatural being to act more freely in the mortal realm, which technically does indeed improve one's power level in a sense.
From Backup, mortal knowledge is needed for Nevernever entities to access the mortal world. (But not belief; knowledge of an entity as a myth is sufficient. Apparently even pure fiction, if you believe Bob's comment about the D&D cartoon helping out Tiamat.)
There's a WOJ about 'the beings themselves don't change' which I think means that they don't lose power in the Nevernever, they just can't access the mortal world. (And presumably they can be forgotten in some universes, and remembered in others.)
This is important because technically Ethniu should not be able to act so rampantly in the mortal plain.
Yes, this is a very good point.
Some possibilities:
- Maybe this is her "limited" power level. If both Mab and Ethniu are equally limited, then if Ethniu's stronger to start with, she'd still be stronger than Mab.
-Maybe the rules are changing as things move toward the BAT, some sort of super-Conjunction, possibly related to the 666-year "starborn cycle".
-Maybe Nemesis... but I really doubt it can infect beings on this power-level.
- As you suggest, maybe Ethniu is just a different sort of being, a titan/proto-god, and thus the rules are different for her.
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That's why they would comment on him dressing up properly. He'd get at least one "clean up nicely" comment. At least.
Exactly. That's what I meant. I would have expected at least one comment. But there was nothing. From no one. Weird. Or just edited out because of unimportance.
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True, but that was back in his younger days, and he is representing the Winter Court as their Knight, so he has to look sharp! ::)
He is a wizard and still therefore in his younger days. They may have taken it as an order from Mab, and unwilling to to give offence to either Harry or Mab, as Harry Dresden will never say “ if you haven’t got something good to say, say nothing”