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Messages - Warbird

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DF Spoilers / In Hindsight, These Story Choices Were a Mistake
« on: July 13, 2018, 03:06:09 AM »
So my intention here is discuss story or setting choices that in hindsight were maybe not the best idea.  I like the series but it's been around for nearly two decades and 15 books (plus a lot of short stories)  As such, some things have not necessarily aged well and others turned out to not to have been such a good choice with how the story has progressed.  That said if people want to talk about things that occurred in recent books, that's fine too. 

Off the top of my head I have two:
1) As discussed in another thread, I find the idea that black magic inherently corrupts a person (and as such the Blackstaff is needed for the White Council's dirty jobs) a poor choice.  I think the idea works in Molly's disfavor and is honestly less interesting than the idea that such corruption is based on the person using the magic and not vice versa. 

2) Wizards inherently have issues with technology.  To be fair, this was presented in a pretty silly way from the start.  Harry talks about how he naturally can cause issues with firearms which is ridiculous (although the books do drop this as time goes on).  Like I can understand how Wizards can screw with electronics, especially delicate things like computers (as it is computers in our world can have issues with outside energy sources).  But guns are pretty simply machines, even the fancy one's.  It'd be like if being a wizard meant you'd have cause a bicycle to fail.  I could understand that a wizard could, if they try, bend the laws of nature.  I mean that's what they do.  But to inherently prevent things like combustion or lever or gear or springs (for example) from working is just silly. 

That said, for actual tech like cell phones and computers, I feel that wizards being unable to use them is kind of meaningless for the story.  Like, the White Council could still be behind the times simply because institutions are slow to change plus most of its members are pretty old (so no one would have thought of Paranet before Harry did).  Similarly, Harry can still be on his own early on because for instance no one can get to him in time or he's purposefully keeping them out (which is something I did not care for, but it seemed like Jim intended for it to be a flaw of Harry's so its not an issue). 

Bu the world now is significantly different from the world of 2000 (when the first book came out).  So much stuff is online now and even things like newspapers are dying out.  It struck me how Harry had to use a pay phone in Storm Front.  Now they're non-existent which for the series would make it so much harder for Harry to update/get in touch with others.  Like the only way for Harry to make calls is from his house or someone else's (or to do so magically).  This ends up cutting him off from his supporting cast to such a significant degree that it seems like it'll cause issues for the stories.  Honestly, this doesn't seem to add anything for the  story but does cause issues.  Plus other series in this vein let their wizards use tech and it doesn't seem to cut off any story potential.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Love Potion, Huge Violation of 3rd Law?
« on: July 13, 2018, 02:22:49 AM »
So I was thinking more about this and it seems that the laws of magic (as defined by the White Council) are pretty particular with what they find to be violations and what doesn't.  As someone pointed out above, Third-Eye was a potion that caused all sorts of harm to the user but the WC didn't seem to care about that.  I guess it makes sense when the only penalty for violation is death (which I get into a bit more below). 

While I don't agree with the WC on this, I think it clear from the text that Jim doesn't agree either.  The WC is constantly portrayed as out of date, out of touch, etc., not good qualities.  We even see with Harry how the laws being so clear cut on what technicality is a violation and what is not is not a good thing.  Yes, Harry killed someone using magic, but it was in self-defense (and while the can apply, that barely seemed to in Harry's case). 

So my end thought is that whether or not something violates the laws is kind of meaningless.  The laws seemed designed not to help people but simply to prevent near catastrophic situations.  I think this is mistake, but I feel the books present it as such.  The WC isn't very interested in the mortal world (except with respect to them living there).  Which caused them tons of issues.  They seem to have no liaisons with law enforcement or even involvement with the lesser practitioners (i.e. the non-wizards).  If they did then I would imagine they would go after things like Third-eye or love potions.  But that's really another discussion. 

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DF Spoilers / Re: Black Magic, Addiction, and Becoming a Warlock
« on: July 13, 2018, 02:02:35 AM »
ETA: Sorry this kind of rambles, it tough to write all this out while I'm having to get up ever few mins to deal with a fussy baby.

Interesting topic.  Personally, I having Black Magic create some sort of actual corruption was a mistake storywise.  From what I remember, the books only make this point with respect to the Blackstaff (and I think this was a poor story choice).  I kind of hope later books fix this (either make it like Dumbo's feather or it actually blanks the person using it like it creates emotional/mental distance from the act)

From other places in the books, it did seem like using magic in violation of the laws only corrupted because of its addictive nature.  Not necessarily like drug addiction, but more being addicted to these quick fixes/easy increases in power. 

I feel the proof here is with Molly.  She performed what the books deemed black magic to try and help fix her friends.  This was obviously taking the easy way and not really helping them.  Subsequently (after becoming Harry's student) one of her impulses is now to use mind magic to solve other problems.  And while it might work, the White Counsel has a pretty good point about why messing with people's heads in a permanent fashion is bad.  Harry is also guilty of this.  He generally resorts to brute forcing his way through problems (typically with fire).  Is this because he used magic to kill Justin or is it simply the nature of Wizards to solve things in terms of the type of power they have?  I'm not sure there's a clear answer here but it does tie into my next paragraph.

So getting back to Molly, I think the reason she could be redeemed with others, like Victor Sales, could not is pretty simply.  Molly thought she was helping.  She did what she did out of good intentions.  As such, when it was pointed out to her what she actually was doing, she stopped.  Harry coached her in better, less bad uses of her powers and so since she was still open to change, she did.  Others like Victor were only interested in getting power.  So, the power became an addiction.  They always needed more.  Which is why they crossed the line so many times. They didn't care what they were doing, as long as they felt strong.  This types of people obviously can't be saved.  That said, I think the "corruption" aspect would then have little to do with magic itself and more to do with the user's personality.  It's like blaming the alcohol for the making an alcoholic when it's underlying issues with the person that causes the problem (other people can drink fine without being "corrupted").

So, tldr, I think the "corruption" aspect of dark magic is silly and the real issue is the people using it (and their underlying issues/reasons for using magic) which explains why some can be redeemed and others can't.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Love Potion Huge Violation of 3rd Law
« on: July 10, 2018, 10:45:10 PM »
Still it's using magic to alter someone without their permission.  Generally its the magical equivalent of a roofie (not the same effect but the same purpose) and I'm just surprised that they are allowed under the White Council's laws. 

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DF Spoilers / Love Potion, Huge Violation of 3rd Law?
« on: July 10, 2018, 09:52:24 PM »
So I was re-reading Storm Front (for the first time in a long time) and Bob convinces Harry to make a Love Potion.  Isn't this by definition a huge violation of the third law, forcible violation of a human mind?

I was confused since Harry didn't really object to making it despite Morgan practically hanging over his shoulder and it being a more clear violation of the White Council's laws.

I could chalk it up to being the first book and not everything being thought out but was wondering if Jim ever chimed in on this.

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DF Books / Re: In this lifetime
« on: July 08, 2018, 12:05:07 AM »
I'd recommend reading the Alex Verus series.  It has a lot of similarities to DF but set in England with a significantly lower powered protagonist.  I really like the fact that Verus can't just blast his way through any fight, he only wins by being smart. 
Also those books have been coming out once a year like clockwork (and 9 books so far).

There's also the Felix Castor series from comic writer Mike Carey although that one is currently on hiatus (he plans on finishing but the books didn't sell well, so he's writing a few other things first) so I'm not sure I'd recommend them right now.

I believe there was an intro in Brief Cases that specifically mentioned that he can't do work before and after a move.  Since he just moved, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a new book until end of next year at the earliest.  I've honestly made my peace with Jim's output slowing significantly.  It's not like there's a ton of important hanging threads if we never got another book. 

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DF Comic Books / Dog Men
« on: July 07, 2018, 09:11:49 PM »
So I finally got around to reading through my compilation of this series and man it was bad.  Dialog that didn't match the art, there's one page of dialog that was seemingly in response to something that was never said.  The fed's clothing changes between the end of the first issue and the beginning of the next.

Also Harry Dresden was seemingly very out of characters.  He's so full of rage but the story provides nothing to explain why he has so much rage (to the point of almost beating the crap out of some kid who ran in front of Dresden's car).   

Finally, it seemed inappropriate that Dresden keeps calling the Wolf People Dog Men even though Listen-to-Winds made it clear they were called Wolf People.  Dog Men was just used as a possible description by one of the people who saw the attack. 

I liked the other comics that have been produced but after this one I think I may be done with the comic version of Dresden.

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Robert, what are the chances of seeing a dvd release for this show?

Also who would be in charge of the release?

I ask because Eureka has yet to be released (nor has The Lost Room) and I was curious if this was a scifi Channel thing or had to do with the production company.

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