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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: MoroccoMole on September 10, 2023, 05:16:36 AM

Title: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: MoroccoMole on September 10, 2023, 05:16:36 AM
It's late so my brain is slow, but I don't think he has (met the Baba Yaga).  If he does, what do people think it would be like?
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on September 10, 2023, 11:17:35 AM
Not under that name, however Ms Lapland in The Law may indeed be Baba Yaga or one of her sisters given the proximity of Finland (she is a Finnish Witch) to the area Baba Yaga myths arose and that she is described as a hag under her glamour. The Name itself derives in part from the Finnish root language.

I have speculated in the thread “Ew!” About the relationship of the Nameless, so Baba Yaga being a scion of Nameless or his brothers would be consistent.

Bizarrely in the Law Jim takes great pains to show that Harry knows his way around chickens, a skill which might be useful in respect of Baba Yagas hut.Either that or he has to deal with Foghorn Leghorn out of the Never Never.
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: g33k on September 19, 2023, 01:13:24 AM
Not under that name, however Ms Lapland in The Law may indeed be Baba Yaga or one of her sisters given the proximity of Finland (she is a Finnish Witch) to the area Baba Yaga myths arose and that she is described as a hag under her glamour ...
The Finns (at their southern edge) are next to the northern Slavs; but there are ample differences between them!

Still, there is a connection there, so it's possible.

Ms. Laplander is presumably not just Finnish, but Saami.  I quote Wikipedia on the Saami:
Quote
historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, but these terms are regarded as offensive by the Sámi
On-brand, I think, for Nameless to use that moniker for her...
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on September 19, 2023, 12:14:01 PM
In his recent Q & A listing the mythologies in which he took note of in research he listed the Finnish, suggesting it is more prominent in the files that so far suggested.

Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: g33k on September 20, 2023, 04:10:57 PM
In his recent Q & A listing the mythologies in which he took note of in research he listed the Finnish, suggesting it is more prominent in the files that so far suggested.
Or it may just be specific research he did for Namless & Ms. Laplander, to write The Law.
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 01, 2023, 04:00:27 AM
Baba yaga is MW, pretty sure he even named her such in CD?🤔
Anyway, between her staff and the large stone outside of her cottage she'd have a mortar and pestle. Go anywhere and eat anything without consequence under the mask of baba yaga.
 For my own reasons I think the stone actually physically links to the lighthouse on DR..
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 02, 2023, 06:34:49 PM
No he uses the names of two of the Norns Skuld and Anthropos who likely gave part or all of their power to create her Mantle.

As I say Ms Lapland is likely the closest match.
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: The_Sibelis on October 02, 2023, 08:51:38 PM
Sup G 👀 I see you now. Now I understand. Now I know. 🤙 get ahold of me yea? Sure didn't do it to never come to the boards at all after all. I new persona, a new public identity would be perfect.. except if Kringle tried to call on his Odin Might only to realize it's not Odins battle. Why, then the Gods themselves would be pissed.
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Con on October 06, 2023, 10:58:36 AM
WOJ confirms Mother Winter is, she's Baba Yaga

WOJ: if the Ladies become the Queen, what happens to the Mothers at that point? The thing is that the Mothers are kind of the foundation.  So, it’s not so much what happens to them because the little mantles changed. It’s what happens to the little mantles if the big mantles change. So, if someone whacks the being that is, for all intents and purposes, Baba Yaga, and then Mab succeeds, then Mab becomes the new Baba Yaga, and Molly gets drawn up to Mab, and they have to find someone else to become the new Lady. But on the other hand, the Mothers are extremely powerful beings (continued in the cosmology/mantle sub-section)
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: g33k on October 06, 2023, 05:50:54 PM
... the names of two of the Norns Skuld and Anthropos ...
No; while Skuld is indeed one of the Norns, Anthropos is not.

It's a Greek word... but *not* one of the (Norn-alike) "Fates."

It's used in the ancient Greek copies of the Bible to describe Humanity, Man; Biblical scholars debate whether it explicitly carries a masculine connotation, or explicitly does not, but there is no argument that it stretches to anything related to destiny/fate/etc.

It's... kinda odd (no, very odd!) that Harry used it, in this context.
Was it just a screw-up by Jim, or is this some clue he dropped?
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: g33k on October 07, 2023, 12:47:19 AM
...
WOJ: ... if someone whacks the being that is, for all intents and purposes, Baba Yaga, and then Mab succeeds, then Mab becomes the new Baba Yaga, and Molly gets drawn up to Mab, and they have to find someone else to become the new Lady ...

Thank you, that's helpful!

And (re the OP) confirms that Harry has indeed met the Baba Yaga!
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Con on October 07, 2023, 10:06:29 AM
Thank you, that's helpful!

And (re the OP) confirms that Harry has indeed met the Baba Yaga!


All good. I just googled Dresden Files Baba Yaga and found the quote.
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 07, 2023, 02:04:02 PM
Direct quote of WOJ please, all I am getting is speculation on Reddit and a separate reference to the Paranet papers which only says Baba Yaga is not Fae

I would point out Miss Lapland is not Fae being a Finnish Witch, and the only allusion to Mother Winter not being Fae is her Iron Teeth. Iron is one of the restriction placed upon the Fae to even the playing field with mortals, but the mothers have virtually no interaction with the Mortal World.
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: g33k on October 07, 2023, 04:57:05 PM
Direct quote of WOJ please...
User @Con provided the direct quote, above.
Taking one of the phrases provided, Google says it comes from:

https://wordof.jim-butcher.com/index.php/word-of-jim-woj-compilation/woj-on-the-fae/

Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Conspiracy Theorist on October 07, 2023, 05:22:19 PM
Already searched that link and there is nothing specific on Baba Yaga, and although I don’t have the Paranet Papers, that is supposed to be specific. As they are canon, the papers should supersede a non-specific WOJ.

For a long time Baba Yaga has been a character in the RPG, and for a long-time the best fit by far was Mother Winter, this likely where this question arose in the first place on Reddit. Jim had obviously researched and intended to use Baba Yaga in the files in some form and inserted her into the RPG. The question though was when? Cold Days? The Law? Some point not yet reached in the narrative? Maybe she pops up in the Time Travel book in Tunguska (we have dragons deaths to resolve).

At the moment there are two candidates and neither are conclusive just what Jim wants.
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: g33k on October 07, 2023, 11:32:25 PM
Already searched that link and there is nothing specific on Baba Yaga ...
It's there (I'm pretty sure that was a cut&paste above from @Con).

How did you "search"??!?  I used the browser's built-in "Find" (text on a page) feature.

baba yaga
(caps irrelevant)
occurs twice on the page as a text string.

Eyeballing the scrollbar, it's about 90% of the way down the page.
It's one of the entries under "Other Fae"
Title: Re: Has Harry ever met the Baba yaga?
Post by: Con on October 08, 2023, 03:17:34 AM
https://www.paranetonline.com/index.php/topic,21772.0.html

yeah it's under Other Fae section.

Here's the original source

https://www.paranetonline.com/index.php/topic,36681.0.html

the original quote is even longer.

WOJ: "Oh, yeah, so like if the Ladies succeed to kill the Queen, what happens to the Mothers at that point? The thing is that the Mothers are kind of the foundation.  So, it’s not so much what happens to them because the little mantles changed. It’s what happens to the little mantles if the big mantles change. So, if someone whacks the being that is, for all intents and purposes, Baba Yaga, and then Mab succeeds, then Mab becomes the new Baba Yaga, and Molly gets drawn up to Mab, and they have to find someone else to become the new Lady. But on the other hand, the Mothers are extremely powerful beings, I mean, they’re really really huge. You can tell because they hardly ever show in the real world. In the Dresden universe, if you don’t show up on the real world, it’s because you’re too big to walk around there. For instance, I think in the third book, when the Dragon is talking about how the Earth couldn’t bear his weight, it’s not that the Earth itself would literally crack, it’s that reality would have issues trying to contain him, because every time he coughs, it would bend around like Neo in the Matrix. So, they spend most of their time NOT on the real world, **unintelligible**, all the really heavyweight guys do that. If you’re in the real world, well, the problem is that you’re in the world, and you’re kind of mortal, and something could come along and try and whack you, if they’re fast enough, or good enough, or lucky enough. Which makes Odin a kind of special guy, because he doesn’t mind it, he thinks it’s awesome.  But anyway, you can always tell. If there’s folks who don’t show up in the real world, it’s because they’re super big. So, like, an angel shows up, and it’s just sort of a whispered presence, that’s because he’s just too big to show up here, it’s a giant sandbox, and he’s got to be very very careful to not squash the sandbox. So, he just shows up for that one bit."


I don't know why you're confused about the quote @Conspiracy Theorist?

It's fairly conclusive to me that Mother Winter is Baba Yaga