The living room was the size of a basketball court, and it had eleven-foot ceilings.
Is this a good place to bring up (once again) that the size of Marcone's castle seems to exceed the size of the old house Harry lived under?
They also say in Ghost Story that people are living there, paranetters passing through, venatori, etc, etc. There are apartments, a day care, armory, and jail (which appears to be the subbasement).
With it being used by such a large number of people, I can't see Harry just taking over sole ownership, Marcone aside. If anything he'd move in and have a space for himself and Maggie in the basement, but I doubt he'd evict anyone.
Jim is asked “what is the first frivolous thing Harry buys with his gym sock full of diamonds”
Jim’s reply.(click to show/hide)
This appears to confirm fan theories following(click to show/hide)
If that’s the case:(click to show/hide)
If that’s the case:Have you ever spent Christmas alone?(click to show/hide)
Have you ever spent Christmas alone?
It seems to me that depending how things go in Battle Ground, Harry might be in a position to get a lot of things settled. He's going to have the only weapon that can kill a Titan or subdue it until it can be locked up. Also, consider what happens if Thomas becomes a KotC and saves whoever's left standing on the Senior Council, and probably Etri too. (I never really thought Thomas would go down this path, but it looks to me like Jim has set it up to happen and soon.) Finally, there's the possibility that this might be Ebenezer's last fight. I could see Harry ending up with the Blackstaff.
Simply rescuing the situation should be enough, but especially if Thomas does what I expect him to do, boy is Harry going to be able to say, "See I told you so."
Harry wouldn’t leave Chicago, his family are there his friends are there and Demonreach is there. His trapdoor is there. He loves that trapdoor. More importantly Mab wants him there. He is there at Christmas Eve. More likely he would move a lot of Warden operations to Chicago, it is a much bigger transport hub than Edinburgh, meaning it has more connections with the Never Never allowing for better Warden deployment and the three largest problems in the last few decades have been the Red Court based in South America, the heirs of Kemmler (Chicago) and the Titan attack (also Chicago). Edinburgh not so much unless you count the problems building the tram system. If Luccio is tapped for the Senior Council it would be a little awkward for her to work day in and out with Harry (the sorry tale of workplace romances) so a bit of distance may be order.
Now if only Harry had access to a large fortified building with wards equivalent to Edinburgh in which to work out of with residential facilities, a gym, a boardroom for meetings and a large hall for operations/ training/ function space, he could work from home, a lot of people are doing it now and it is time to drag the White Council kicking and screaming into the world of 20th century employment practices.......hmmmm.
It would also help if Harry had an isolated but secure baby Warden training facility, call it Camp Spooky which doubled up as a supermax prison where he could set up a juvenile wing for young warlocks instead of executing them which as a former young warlock is something he strongly dissapproves of and handily can now practically end.....hmmmmmm.
His use of Demonreach will be widely known after Battle Ground, the Senior Council will have to recognise that he is The Warden, definitive article, not a Warden. The Wardens are named after The Warden, and I suspect Captain of Wardens exists as post when there is no Warden (definitive article). For all we know Warden was a Senior Council post like Merlin, or GateKeeper which lapsed when no one was stupid enough to claim Demonreach as a sanctum. Then along came Harry. Chandler is a historian, he would know (now isn’t that handy that we just found that out, and he is for once in Chicago)
I would point out that there is a large amount of super warded stone on Demonreach in the ruined lighthouse, only a quarter of which was used to build the cottage, Harry can use the remainder for either building on his castle, or for building something like a bunkhouse for trainees on Demonreach itself, just need Alfred to block wardens from the Islands influence, which Harry has handily realised Alfred can probably do. This would be handy as there are increasing numbers of Wizards in need of training.
I think Harry is going to realise that he has through his choices and circumstance painted himself into a corner with the White Council and not the one he thought he had, instead of being pushed out, he is going to be pushed much further in.
Perhaps Battle Ground is the book where Harry finally gets over his hatred of Marcone -- Harry works on cordial terms with much worse monsters than Marcone all the time. Heck, even the Svartalves are actually pretty monstrous (remember the Svartalves in B is for Bigfoot?) if you're not strong enough to stand up to them.They soulgazed. Harry knows exactly what Marcone is. If he gets over his current feelings of Marcone it will tell us nothing good about Harry.
The Castle isn't precisely Marcone's building, even if he paid for it, it's the BFS headquarters. And Harry could definitely join the BFS in some semi-formal capacity that comes with an apartment and a basement lab. Heck, even if all he does is update and maintain the wards to pay the rent, they'd be nuts not to want him there.
I'm not expecting him to decide that Marcone's a good guy -- he's not. It's just Harry's reflexive violent threats against Marcone every time they work together that's a bit tired. Way back in Storm Front, it was necessary to make sure Marcone didn't see him as prey. At this point, Harry should be more confident in his power and not need the threats and posturing to hide his fear.It is for his own benefit. If you have to work with scum all the time it is good to remember yourself what they are.
Yeah, but it gets as tiresome as Lara always being surprised Harry has decent motives.Lara doesn't know Harry as well as we do :)
Marcone won’t hand over the castle, but if he ends up owing Harry a favour in BG, or Mab purchases it for him then yes, Harry could end up owning it. A castle abode of the Winter Knight would help forge a connection in the Never Never to Arctis Tor, and perhaps allow Harry to forge one through the Never Never to the cottage on Demonreach, much nicer than Lea’s Murder Garden. Lea may have a green thumb, but the rest of her hands are red right up to the elbow.
Commute? To a different time zone for the single parent of a school age child? Much easier to have someone like Chandler do a daily courier run with relevant reports.
Luccio still has all her experience and knowledge, so a senior Council position is still likely.
Harry is The Warden, the Senior Council cannot take that away from him and everyone will know (Lara, Listens and Eb know at the moment), their options are have to Harry in the tent p@ssing out, or outside the tent p@ssing in. If the main surviving body of Wardens look to Harry rather than the Merlin, then Harry gets to dictate terms like he did on becoming a Warden.
His terms I think would be along the lines
1. Continues to work out of Chicago;
2. Warlocks are rehabilitated or get the Demonreach Treatment, no executions;
3.Amnesty for all Wizard level talents who have not broken the laws (Mort and Elaine);
4. He continues to work as Winter Knight on behalf of all the Accorded Nations;
5. Better treatment and recognition of the Paranetters;
6. Gets to put up a Basketball goal in his new HQ
Lara doesn't know Harry as well as we do :)But she's supposed to understand humans. She's been around for centuries, and knew his mother. She saw his defend Thomas as his brother in Blood Rites, she saw him protect herself in White Night, she saw him protect the innocent in Turn Coat, and she has to know a lot about him from spying and keeping tabs on Thomas's involvement in pretty much every book since Blood Rites. And yet she's still completely baffled by him. Her inability to recognize him for what he is any how he acts is a mark against her.
We interpret Harry's actions based on that insight in his head we get. Lara looks at the effects his actions have on others and sees someone who can manipulate people quite cleverly. She does not have the Harry has good intentions monologue on her radio.
Besides she wouldn't be alive now if she wasn't a bit paranoid.
But she's supposed to understand humans. She's been around for centuries, and knew his mother. She saw his defend Thomas as his brother in Blood Rites, she saw him protect herself in White Night, she saw him protect the innocent in Turn Coat, and she has to know a lot about him from spying and keeping tabs on Thomas's involvement in pretty much every book since Blood Rites. And yet she's still completely baffled by him. Her inability to recognize him for what he is any how he acts is a mark against her.She understands lust. She understands parts of the human mind but she does not really understand some other lings like love. She is evil.
She understands lust. She understands parts of the human mind but she does not really understand some other lings like love. She is evil.And yet she sort of seems to love Thomas.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilCanNotComprehendGood
And yet she sort of seems to love Thomas.
I'm not expecting him to decide that Marcone's a good guy -- he's not. It's just Harry's reflexive violent threats against Marcone every time they work together that's a bit tired. Way back in Storm Front, it was necessary to make sure Marcone didn't see him as prey. At this point, Harry should be more confident in his power and not need the threats and posturing to hide his fear.
Marcone is his mirror. Harry is also a tiger. He hates Marcone because Marcone accepts himself, and Harry denies himself.That is what the monsters say to him he should do, stop caring and become one too.
It's actually fairly realistic antipathy.That is because Harry has a good heart, Morcone has not.
Is this a good place to bring up (once again) that the size of Marcone's castle seems to exceed the size of the old house Harry lived under?The lot of the house I grew up in would definitely be big enough for a small castle or a pretty large tower castle. Castles were a lot smaller than people think. Harry's boarding house was never described with enough specificity for us to know. What were the setbacks, what was the footprint of the boarding house, how many floors does the castle have? We don't really have enough information to say the castle is too big for the lot.
In the old house he got terribly afraid of fire being used against the house and this was borne out. The castle is stone, that won’t happen.Castles can and did burn down. It would just be a lot harder to burn down than an old wooden structure.
Jim said harry would be getting a new position of authority.I missed that. Was this in the interview?
Now if only Harry had access to a large fortified building with wards equivalent to Edinburgh in which to work out of with residential facilities, a gym, a boardroom for meetings and a large hall for operations/ training/ function space, he could work from home, a lot of people are doing it now and it is time to drag the White Council kicking and screaming into the world of 20th century employment practices.......hmmmm.With the roof being broken, are the wards even there anymore? Harry said if his wards were broken, he'd have to start over.
I don't know why u think marcone would just hand over his castle to the white council or why Harry would want to live there.Because Marcone dies in BG and Harry has to take over as Baron of Chicago? Totally don't think that's going to happen, but that's one way to get Harry the castle.
To a different time zone for the single parent of a school age child?What kel0700 said.
Harry is The Warden, the Senior Council cannot take that away from him and everyone will know (Lara, Listens and Eb know at the moment).The entire Senior Council knows, except maybe Cristos.
From the short story even hand its clear that marcone is expecting to kill Harry at some point.He set up defenses because he expects Harry to come for him eventually. Assassinating Harry would actually be relatively easy.
The lot of the house I grew up in would definitely be big enough for a small castle or a pretty large tower castle. Castles were a lot smaller than people think. Harry's boarding house was never described with enough specificity for us to know. What were the setbacks, what was the footprint of the boarding house, how many floors does the castle have? We don't really have enough information to say the castle is too big for the lot.We know the boarding house was two stories plus the basement. We know it had an empty gravel parking lot next to it, possibly doubling the lot. We know the average lot size in Chicago is 250 ft by 1000 feet (thanks internet!).
I think knowing the average lot size in Chicago is useless. They were probably pretty small before zoning laws mandated them be a certain size. (250 by 1000 feet is huge for a residential lot).
Thanks for the number of stories. I must have forgotten or missed that.
How big the castle is doesn't really answer the question of whether the lot was too small to hold it. My point is mostly that we don't have enough information to tell us that the lot wasn't big enough to hold it either, so we can conclude that it was.
I think knowing the average lot size in Chicago is useless. They were probably pretty small before zoning laws mandated them be a certain size. (250 by 1000 feet is huge for a residential lot).Sorry, my bad, it's actually 25x125 feet. Don't know where my head was at. That's 3,125 square feet edge to edge, or 6,250 square feet if there were two lots.
Thanks for the number of stories. I must have forgotten or missed that.
How big the castle is doesn't really answer the question of whether the lot was too small to hold it. My point is mostly that we don't have enough information to tell us that the lot wasn't big enough to hold it either, so we can conclude that it was.
The Lot is exactly as big as it needs to be for the purposes of the story, and only Eb and Listens know he married Demonreach (as Thomas puts it) through a sanctum invocation,
That is what the monsters say to him he should do, stop caring and become one too. That is because Harry has a good heart, Morcone has not.
What is shocking I think is how tiny the houses are in Chicago, and how expensive they are for the average family.. Not that there aren't big houses, there are, but for the very rich only or for those who have lived there for generations.A lot of places are like that. I've seen enough of those home buying and selling shows to know that if I had one of those houses, I'd sell it, move to where I live, buy a bigger house, and retire.
[1]only Eb and Listens know he married Demonreach (as Thomas puts it) through a sanctum invocation.1. The Merlin (and the Gatekeeper, as mentioned) know too. See the Eb's journal entry from Turn Coat. It's in Chapter 47. From that I assume all the Senior Council knows.
[2]Each Stone in the Castle is warded, like those on Demonreach, so it is likely only those destroyed by the eye are gone, the rest survive, and fortunately Harry has compatible stone to hand.
[3] Harry is going to have to expose a lot of secrets to bring down the Titan, about what and who he is which is going to affect how people look at him.
Sorry, my bad, it's actually 25x125 feet.That makes a lot more sense. Average probably means something like most common in that context. And you're right that it could be a double lot. It could also be an irregular lot or just a big lot. I spend a lot (pun definitely not intended) of time looking at property in my county (and sometimes in other counties). There's plenty of variety.
The lot of the house I grew up in would definitely be big enough for a small castle or a pretty large tower castle. Castles were a lot smaller than people think.
What is shocking I think is how tiny the houses are in Chicago, and how expensive they are for the average family.. Not that there aren't big houses, there are, but for the very rich only or for those who have lived there for generations.Originally they may have been middle class. You seemed to have never lived in a shotgun house, which are quite common, at least in Louisville although they are found in Chicago. The house may be no wider then 12 feet, with setbacks that would make the lots about 17 feet wide. I lived in houses which were separated by no more than than the walk that ran between the houses. Variations on a theme, camel back, three or four rooms down and one up.
There are some small castles in Scotland and Ireland that are little more than towers, but most castles I’ve been to (dozens, we sort of have a bunch of them over here in Europe) are way larger than the average lot, like acres large. My parents live in “Castlegate Grove”, One street over is “The Armoury”, From end to end this is about 400 yards, for the armoury and the gate, and West Derby Castle wasn’t a large one.West Derby Castle is more like 120 yards from end to end. I live in America where we don't have any real castles. My understanding is that most castles were pretty small, especially compared to what we get in fantasy. Most of the tourist castles are the huge stone castles instead of small and/or wooden castles which were much more common. Here's a 20 minute Youtube video about castle rooms that at least talks about what average castles were like.What rooms are inside REAL medieval castles? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5mb2Zcw6mc=en). If anyone's got a better source for average castle size, I'd be happy to see it because I can't find anything good.
You seemed to have never lived in a shotgun house...My grandfather lived in something pretty reminiscent of a shotgun house. I've kinda always pictured the boarding house like that but isolated because Harry was never worried about the buildings next to it burning down.
A regulation basketball court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. Look at 3552 Winchester Ave in Chicago (https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8289423,-87.6740308,3a,75y,285.74h,83.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjWtw9xphus3gxXE9c6SdIw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DjWtw9xphus3gxXE9c6SdIw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D2.238076%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en) on street view, this is how I picture Harry's house.
Originally they may have been middle class. You seemed to have never lived in a shotgun house, which are quite common, at least in Louisville although they are found in Chicago. The house may be no wider then 12 feet, with setbacks that would make the lots about 17 feet wide. I lived in houses which were separated by no more than than the walk that ran between the houses. Variations on a theme, camel back, three or four rooms down and one up.Doesn't look like a traditional wood boarding house.
A regulation basketball court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. Look at 3552 Winchester Ave in Chicago (https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8289423,-87.6740308,3a,75y,285.74h,83.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjWtw9xphus3gxXE9c6SdIw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DjWtw9xphus3gxXE9c6SdIw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D2.238076%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en) on street view, this is how I picture Harry's house.
West Derby Castle is more like 120 yards from end to end.
Originally they may have been middle class. You seemed to have never lived in a shotgun house, which are quite common, at least in Louisville although they are found in Chicago. The house may be no wider then 12 feet, with setbacks that would make the lots about 17 feet wide. I lived in houses which were separated by no more than than the walk that ran between the houses. Variations on a theme, camel back, three or four rooms down and one up.
A regulation basketball court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. Look at 3552 Winchester Ave in Chicago (https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8289423,-87.6740308,3a,75y,285.74h,83.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjWtw9xphus3gxXE9c6SdIw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DjWtw9xphus3gxXE9c6SdIw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D2.238076%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en) on street view, this is how I picture Harry's house.
No-one actually knows how big West Derby Castle was, all records of its plans have been lost over the last almost a thousand years. We do know that when it was in use ~150 soldiers were quartered there, we know where the main motte was centered (there’s a monument), and it’s about 900 feet from there to “Castlegate Grove” and “The Armoury” as the crow flies. 400 yards (1200 ft) seemed about reasonable on that basis (there’s the other side of the motte, after all).My impression is that someone does know how big it was. (At least it's foot print).
...
My point, castle-size notwithstanding, is that it’s not going to be a “real” castle, it’ll be one of those towers-that-someone-called-a-castle-because-it-sounds-better. There was a strange inversion in naming when real actual castles were named towers (eg: the Tower of London), leading to actual towers being then named castles as the meaning of the word was confused. Etymology is odd.
Despite the monument's present levelled appearance, the base of the motte, the bailey and enclosing moats at West Derby castle remain reasonably well preserved.https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1009862 (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1009862).
^exactly so.she might even have had that talk with her father.
And there is another thing. Molly said that she would be back for opening the presents, so obviously she is more or less back in contact with her parents. Perhaps she still wants Harry to be with her in family things.
When they say “preserved” I can only think they mean in the sense that with ground-penetrating radar they can figure out that something was there...I think they mean well preserved in an archaeological sense. They dug some stuff up in 1927 and 56-57.
Within this open area lie the buried remains of the castle which include the western half of the motte, the bailey, a double ditch separating the motte and bailey, the outer ditch flanking the bailey, and remains of an outer rampart. The remainder of the motte and surrounding ditch originally lay to the northeast of the scheduled monument in the area crossed by Parkside Drive and the houses and gardens beyond this.I missed this part earlier. I wish they were a little more specific than "the houses and gardens beyond this."
Dude, I grew up there.That's why I figured you might find it interesting.