Jim has always said, and even in Peace Talks openly discusses, that the supernatural world are very wary to upset the angry frightened mortals because they grab their torch and pitchforks and nukes and might burn everything down.

Except, history shows that while internally the persecution of Witches and Wizards etc. might happen - human nations are unlikely to band together. In point of fact, they often take the opportunity to settle debts, seize power, and get one up on their traditional enemies. And any strategist worth his salt knows that divide and conquer is half the work anyway. Clearly part of Corb and Ethniu's plan at any rate, at least when it comes to the Accorded Nations.

Jim has actually set this up in some ways. Kemmler was largely responsible for both the first and second World Wars. He pits nation against nation and takes advantage in the chaos. I doubt he was the only one. Even historically, many nations used the Wars to get away with things they otherwise might not have.

War is often attractive in that sense too, because it can be incredibly profitable to the winner.

So if Ethniu and even other villains were to upset the mortals, I don't think it would be particularly difficult or hard to imagine that they would play us off against one another ("Here, we will give you the information/power to overcome your rival

• if you attack this country at the same time as us") or ("Do this or die") etc.

Why take us all on when it's so much easier to get us to fight among ourselves? We barely get along within our own nations, let alone as a planet.

Nations and leaders are often bought for much less than what a God or some other such power could offer, and often scared much easier too. The sad truth is that if an enemy attacked planet Earth, if they had any battle sense and did any sort of real recon and intelligence gathering they would take us apart. We just aren't that cohesive.

First, are we still putting spoiler in the title and/or spoiler tags? I figure not everyone will have read Peace Talks yet but wanted to check.

Now, on to the discussion.


GIFTS

So something that has stood out to me is that gifts, favors, debts, obligations and grudges all seem to be traded and are the real currency of the supernatural world. Gifts seem to be the most overt and perhaps most powerful tool of manipulation.

Whilst it seems that the various supernatural nations and beings have different ideas about what gifts are and the rules around them (e.g. the Fae are required to give a gift of equal value in return, and seem to supernaturally know what that might be) essentially they all trade gifts.

There are obvious events and times when gifts are to be given such as birthdays, inaugurations and holidays (literally, holy days) such as Christmas. There are rules about the duties and obligations of lords, hosts, guests and servants about what kinds of gifts and so on.

What really made me think about it is that the Black Council almost exclusively seem to give gifts to the forces/individuals they wish to either recruit or corrupt.

They arranged the Morgana's Athame to go to Lea, they gave at the very least the spell (if not a tome of dark magic) that Victor Sells used, I suspect that they arranged Mavra to train Bianca, they quite possibly gave a corrupted gift to Ferrovax (but that is as yet unknown) and they gave the cursed Wolf Belts to the FBI.

And I dare say they helped give the Eye of Balor to Ethniu.

That last one got me thinking too. Who ripped out a goddess' eye? Vadderung cut out his own (especially from the way his scars look). But Ethniu's looked like a very large angry feline ripped her original eye out. I doubt she did and I am sure someone else did. So who then?

But I would guess that the Black Council facilitated it. Why do I think that? Because the Eye was originally lost. Balor loses it when his grandson, Ethniu's own son Lugh knocks it out of his head with a stone from a sling (very David and Goliath). Ethniu might have been given her father's eye by her son but why she would use it herself rather than her son is strange. Stranger still...where is her son?

Some have speculated that Morgana's Athame carried the Nemfection. Perhaps all of their gifts are tainted in that way. Which leads to more questions. How do they contain the being, is it like the Cornerhounds in that each vessel contains a part of the whole? And how does it then "infect" a host? What are the limits? What are the dangers?

So perhaps the Black Council are doing what is hinted at earlier in the series, exploiting the rules and twisting them against their intended purposes.

What other items could be infected?

Thoughts?

Justine is Justin.

Because no one would see it coming, and it would be an awful reveal, and the only link is that there is an "e" on the end. Right in front of us this whole time...the purloined letter.

It gets worse the more you think about it.

From my brain to yours, enjoy.

666 Years
So we have the 666 years - every time this happens apparently a certain conjunction happens that puts a magical spotlight on the earth. Any human born in that light has the potential to wield power over the Outsiders. Whether there is a ritual (i'd guess a sort of baptism) required to prepare or lock in the power. The fact it happened on Halloween also seems significant - considering that's one of the few conjunctions that makes immortals mortal (when on earth).

Ebeneezer doesn't explain all the rules but he does say it means Harry can touch them and banish them without being tainted. He is immune. He can even physically hit them and it *somehow* will still actually hurt the being - even if they normally can't feel pain. I would say he even might be able to kill them. I suspect it's related to thaumaturgy (something Harry has always been good at) and the intention that comes with magic. Free will and all that.

But Ebeneezer says the event only lasts a few hours, and it's already happened (hence Harry). Which is interesting considering the previous time it happened, the Black Plague showed up (also when Nicodemus and Tessa last worked together prior to the series).

The Cycle
What this tells us is that following the events of the 666 years conjunction, another event immediately follows. I don't know how many years it takes but Harry was born on 31st of October 1975 (give or take a year or two). So 1975 - 666 gives us the year 1309. This is approximately the birth of the last Starborn. Current candidates include Nicodemus, Mavra, Dracula (not Drakul) and potentially Kincaid. Ancient Mai is actually too young sadly. Funnily enough, potentially Bob (depending on how old you think he is...it's inconsistent) and I know he is a spirit but hey, maybe he came from the head of a starborn.

Anyway, the Black Plague kicks off in Europe around 1346. So 37 odd years later something should happen right?

Wrong. Because the actual timeline of the plague (at least historically) is much older. It goes like this.

3500-3000BC: Neolithic Decline. The plague is potentially the cause of this event.
541-750BC: The "First" Plague pandemic spreads from Egypt to the Mediterranean. Rome suffers the Plague of Justinian (considered to be the same plague). The curiously may also tie into the deaths of the first born in Egypt.
1346-1840: The "Second" plague pandemic may have spread from China due to Mongol destruction. The Black Death kicks off in 1346 to 1353 as is considered the worst pandemic in human history. The fire of London seems to end it the worst of it...but it continues to kill about a billion people from 1347-1665.
1866-1960s: The "Third" plague pandemic (may also have originated in China), results in 2 million deaths there, and then 20 million in India. In the 1940s antibiotics drugs are developed which dramatically reduce the death rate.

It continues until the current day but mostly people only die due to lack of treatment.

So because of the broad stretches of history that the various plagues cover we have to look at the big events.

1. The proto-plague that resulted in Neolithic decline ~3316
2. Plague of Justinian ~652
3. Black Death 1346
4. The Second Plague ~1866

But also around 0-5BC Jesus is born. Funnily enough, under a star....He is crucified approximately 33AD. A big event in the Dresdenverse where apparently many balances of power were reset and the Denarians and the Knights first show up. Possibly Nicodemus also running around. This also plays into the Cycle.

So it seems to me that a final conjunction must occur, a planetary alignment that allows for the re-balancing of the board. I suspect, just like Halloween, it's the only time where things can really change. Hence why everyone is so eager to take advantage of it. However, I also suspect that it also allows the Outsiders to gain some advantage and hence it is also an extremely destructive time. Which is also why so many of those who know are grabbing as much power as they can to defend themselves.

The question then is why hasn't whatever is going to happen yet, happened?

My WAG is that because we don't always have an exact rotation around the Sun or even on our own axis, the math is out. So almost no one is *exactly* sure of when this conjunction will happen but they know it's any day now and are getting their ducks in a row.

So way back when we learn there are three types of beings:
1. The purely spiritual (demons)
2. The purely physical (Vampires)
3. The combined sort - Archangels, Loup-Garou etc.

What is interesting is that this hardly covers beings who exist in both worlds (like Faeries) or the fact that nearly every being has some sort of spiritual presence. In fact, I can't think of one being that hasn't so far.

The way Harry describes the third group is beings of significant weight, they can manifest real (not merely ectoplasmic) bodies.

So previously, Outsiders and Angels were in group three.

Yet in Peace Talks, he basically describes Outsiders as creating ectoplasmic bodies which is what makes them hard to come at. Yet that didn't seem an issue with Demons in previous books. More than that, when has any Outsider in the series turned to ectoplasm upon death?

Angels, on the other hand, seem almost purely spiritual. Only Uriel has actually seemed physical. The Denarian Fallen even only ever manifest through their hosts.

Naagloshii seem in category 3, as does beings like Ethniu. Ghosts etc seem group 1. Mab should be group 3, along with the rest of Faerie but it isn't clear why their bodies don't disappear on death. This is one of those bigger mysteries that Jim seems intent not answering (as someone asked for clarification on this and got none).

Mortals, Bigfoots, Vampires etc should be in group 2. White and Black leave corpses, but Reds I believe melt somewhat. Svartalves do leave corpses (hence Austri).

So which rules do these beings subscribe to and why suddenly do some beings seem inconsistent?

Butcher slips in a hint about magic and will just as the Cornerhounds appear.

Ebeneezer says to Harry that fire is best for defeating them, but natural fire works just fine. Harry asks what difference is it where the fire comes from, and Eb says he hasn't got time to give him a lecture in intention versus the natural operation of the universe. He says that it mostly has to do with the fact that if a Wizard uses magic the Outsider can slip most of the punch. This makes sense when we consider how He Who Walks Behind was defeated, and the fact the Demonreach contains a banefire to defeat the Immortals.

My WAG is that while mortal will is strong, because you are contending against such powerful beings they often are hiding behind their avatar and therefore the attack doesn't actually attack the being itself. It may also be to do with being so alien it is hard for the human mind to comprehend and engage with them. I suspect that when natural elements are used i.e. the normal energy and matter of the created universe, you are actually utilising the power and intent of TWG. After all, if TWG is the Creator of the All then it stands to reason that everything that exists in the "natural" universe is created with it's intent. Which is obviously so much stronger than what mere mortals can do (constrained as they are).

So we learnt a few things about Outsiders and the Outside this book.

1. The Outside and Outer Night are the same place (at least to Harry). Harry tells the Hounds of Tindalos (Cornerhounds) to return to the Outer Night, and they are Outsiders he is banishing to the Outside.
This has long been speculated but now we have confirmation.

So why are the Red Court Elders called The Lords of the Outer Night? What exactly are they? What's the connection between the Outsiders and the Red Court?

2. We learn part of the reason the Law for not seeking knowledge from beyond the Outer Gates is due to the corruptive influence of the Outside tending to make mortals (and perhaps other beings) go mad. We learn that only Starborns (unique amongst mortals) are insulated from the effects. Harry himself speculates this is why Nemesis hasn't corrupted him. It also confirms by implication that mortals CAN be affected by Nemesis.

3. Harry also refers to the Outside as elemental chaos. In D&D Elemental Chaos is a sort of "sea" of spirit energy in which certain planes of existence dwell. It's opposite is the Astral Sea. It's the difference between Law and Chaos. Harry doesn't capitalise elemental chaos, which suggests he doesn't think of it as a specific place but rather a descriptor of the Outside. The Outside in the Dresden Files is far more similar to the Far Realm. But perhaps Jim is laying further clues.

4. We learnt that Outsiders often simply project themselves into multiple bodies, and this is why it's hard to even hurt them as the avatars they create often are not built to feel pain etc. However, starborns seem to be able to hurt them through their connection from the avatar to the source.

5. The Last Titan and the Fomor are somehow in league with the Outsiders...just like the Red Court.

I have read it now, and by the time you have all finished it I imagine I will be asleep.

Spoilers below read at your own peril!!!

First things first. Oh. My. God.

Secondly, what was your favorite part? What did you like and dislike?

I really enjoyed some call backs to Harry's former cases. Things like old potions being used again was lovely. Also lots of great one liners.

Some truly incredible reveals as well.

Anyway, thoughts? Feelings? Emotions?