ParanetOnline
The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => DF Reference Collection => Topic started by: jeditigger on August 28, 2012, 02:03:22 PM
-
We have the Favorite Moment of the Series thread, which I really adore, but a discussion earlier this week with Priscilla made me think more about the parts of the series that really got me emotionally from a "oh, poor so-and-so!" perspective. Mine are:
- Red Court vamps ripping off Harry's clothes and tormenting him at Bianca's in GP because he is so, so, so helpless;
- The Denarians subduing Ivy at the Shedd in SmF and the despair Harry and Kincaid suffer from it;
- Harry unleashing the bloodline curse at Chichen Itza (especially as read by James Marsters);
- And, of course, Tessa blowing a kiss at Harry before opening fire on Michael in SmF.
What else?
-
Harry watching Ivy laying in the Aquarium, groggy from knockout gas, and then seeing the girl get a canister of the gas to the mouth. Watching her eyes open wide in shock and panic, then weakly try to escape, only to pass out at the hands of literal Hell's Angels. It sucked from 2 angles, Harry's for being forced to watch it and unable to do anything. And mainly from the viewpoint of Ivy, helpless and at the mercy of beings she knows damn well have no mercy.
-
The scene where Harry was at his absolute lowest midway through Ghost Story, he even considered just dooming himself to oblivion by jumping into the river as a ghost for a bit without anyone getting into his head to make him that way.
-
The first line of Changes.
Molly's trial right before Harry insists that the Gatekeeper gets a vote.
When you find out that the leader of the Ordo Lebres (forget her name) had been killed.
When Charmicael dies (Followed immediately afterwords by one of the series biggest smackdowns when the Loup Garu gets fire blasted through 2 buildings)
When the troll changeling dies in SK. (so bad with names)
Not kick in the gut emotional, but probably the most emotional scene in the series for me is: The soul gaze scene with Thomas.
-
Thomas near the end of Turn Coat.
The dead kids at Camp Kaboom.
Shiro.
Michael getting shot.
Oh, and because they were two of the first things about the series to really make me sad:
Linda Randall dying. The scene at the kitchen table with Monica Sells.
-
I think Linda Randal death on S.F and when Harry find Kim dead on F.M too strong moments.
Also Charmicael death on FM, and I find particulary strong, but short, Elaine betrayal on SK, I mean Harry wanted to trusth her so much and she sells him to Aurora outside the Mother cabins.
Molly trial is also one of the strongest moment on the series.
-
When Charmicael dies
That was the moment that sold me on the DF; it told me this was a series where things had real, serious, no-do-over consequences, for a character who up to that point had looked like a perfectly plausible ongoing cast member. A couple of the other ones being quoted here are ones I admire, and found very satisfying as a reader, for pretty much the same reason. (If a series wants me to remain emotionally engaged, there has to be the possibility of serious negative consequences to characters it wants me to care about; if defeat never happens victory is meaningless.)
-
May of mine have already been mentioned, but:
a lot of the emotional interplay with Susan and Harry in Changes, also how they ended...
Harry describing Elaine to Murphy in SK, and the fact that he burned her up (or believed it anyway)
Ivy in the cage on demonreach
When he broke his back
Also, not really a -kick-in-the-gut moment, but poignant: Charity calling Harry family in SmF
-
Shiros death. Mister in dresdens apartment when it's getting burned. Butters getting kidnapped. “I used the knife.
I saved a child.
I won a war.
God forgive me.”
-
When Marsters read
I used the knife.
I saved the child.
I won the war.
God forgive me.
-
Probably:
1) When ghost-Harry has to leave Mouse.
2) The ending of Turn Coat. You spend the first 3rd of the series hating Morgan, then you start to gain respect for the bastard, then he dies a suspected traitor on a road in the Nevernever. Felt a lot like the ending to The Dark Knight to me.
-
When Thomas almost ate Molly and harry had to kick him out.
When Thomas used a footrace to explain the Hunger to Harry
-
When Michael was shot...that brings me to tears every time I re-read that book. Also, what the Denarians did to Ivy was heartbreaking.
-
People are listing all kinds of great ones that I forgot, but this one sure was a kick in the gut
1) When ghost-Harry has to leave Mouse.
-
Susan getting turned and leaving Harry.
(I just got done re-reading Grave Peril. The "I love you" letter at the end is pretty poignant.)
-
When Mouse was shot in TC, and Molly had to remove the bullet :'(
Followed by one of the bigger moments of awesome, when we find out he was faking ;D
-
Susan getting turned and leaving Harry.
I am surprised that one hadn't gotten mentioned sooner.
-
i felt that when harry soulgazed helen beckett and saw the one scene replayed ( i assume repeatedly) as a very powerful and sad moment.
-
Marcone praying over Persephone
-
At the end of Ghost Story, Harry was realizing the unintended consequences of his actions with Molly. Uriel said something to the effect of 'It's one thing if you say, "we'll roast marshmallows as the world burns'; it's entirely different if you say 'we'll roast marshmallows as Molly burns.', but it's the same result regardless."
Harry has always had a well developed need to protect those he loves. To have had such a massive blind spot with a blatant disregard for probably the one person who depended on him as much as little Maggie (albeit in a different context) was a serious gut punch to Harry.
Heck, it made me feel guilty for liking that line when I first read it in Changes.
-
"Mommy, mommy, mommy", she said. "Owie, owie, owie."
White Night is filled with kicks in the gut. Finding Anna dead. I dunno if Lash committing suicide was a kick in the gut or not, but it was very powerful.
When Harry realizes that he's beaten the Merlin at Molly's trial and that he's killed Molly - that's bad.
-
I used the knife. I saved a child. I won a war. God forgive me.
Even now I get goosebumps reading those lines.
-
"Mommy, mommy, mommy", she said. "Owie, owie, owie."
yes these lines. It's just sickening when a child is going through something like that.
-
when he realized kim delaney may have died just because of him.
-
"Mommy, mommy, mommy", she said. "Owie, owie, owie."
White Night is filled with kicks in the gut. Finding Anna dead. I dunno if Lash committing suicide was a kick in the gut or not, but it was very powerful.
just listened to both of these today... but didn't get to what might be even more heart-wrenching during the fight at the Deeps, where Lash takes the psychic bullet for him.
and pretty much almost all of Ghost Story, top to bottom.
-
In WN, when he went all dark side on the ghouls with the ants, and he was reminded that the kids were watching it all.
-
the worst kick in the gut moment that sticks out for me isn't when they find Ivy in the cage it's not even when Michael gets shot. It is when Harry goes up to the waiting room and sees Charity and Molly in their and he apologizes to Molly for not protecting her father
-
I used the knife.
I saved the child.
I won the war.
God forgive me.
Two years later, still a kick in the gut.
-
When they're in the waiting room in TC and Molly Relizes she can't visit her father because she might short out his life support
-
Pretty much the whole of Changes is filled with these moments for me, as Harry loses everything. But the point where I started crying was as he was taken away from his burning house after breaking his back, and all he could do was watch his house burn down. I think that's where I realised for sure that things would never be the same in the series again.
-
the worst kick in the gut moment that sticks out for me isn't when they find Ivy in the cage it's not even when Michael gets shot. It is when Harry goes up to the waiting room and sees Charity and Molly in their and he apologizes to Molly for not protecting her father
But I love when Charity tells Harry fiercely, "Families stay, Harry. He would stay for you."
Makes me cry, like, every time.
-
When Harry breaks down and begs the archangel for help during Changes.
Harry talking to Bob about Lash disappearing at the end of White Night.
Murphy at the end of Aftermath regarding how much pain she's in.
Aurora's last words in Summer Knight.
Harry kicking Ebenezar out after finding out he's the Blackstaff.
Now that I think about it there are a lot. The archangel one hits me the most though; a proud man, broken, begging God to save his child.
-
You know, the bit with the knife doesn't gut punch me. The way I read it, he made it clear to Susan what he was planning, and she helped him. For me, that was the last act of Free Will she had, she knew it, and she spent it saving her daughter's life.
-
There have been alot of greak kick in the gut moments in the series for me but by far the biggest had to be when he found the dead/dying brother and sister twins at Camp Kaboom. That was just gut wrenching especially when read by James Marsters.
-
Not gut wrenching for me the reader so much as the character, but it was a kick in marcone's gut when Harry appealed to his humanity in the Deeps in WN and it worked
-
I find the suicides on Love Hurts really repulsive, especially the brother and sister one..
I mean, to have their mind/feeling tampered to belive something is good, to feel really good doing it, but on unaware level to know that is fundamentally wrong. I can't not imagine how low they would probally think of themselves for doing what they were forced to do, and even lower because they liked doing it. And not being aware that it is not their fault they are acting like that? That they aren't a terrible person..
And than the conflict inside their minds push them to suicide, and if they were christian, they would have died thinkign they were condemning their souls..
I don't think you can torture someone much more than that. Or of an act of evil much worse than that.
-
it shows how HardCore Marcone was when he told Harry that he had to Discourage some Vamps from recruiting during the Evac. He shot them just enough to make His Point Understood (wanna bet he snagged any thralls that were underage??).
-
But I love when Charity tells Harry fiercely, "Families stay, Harry. He would stay for you."
Makes me cry, like, every time.
Thats what makes it such a gut puncher for me all the grief he is feeling for his friend, for letting down his friends daughter/his apprentance, for helping that whole situation to come about. Yet the person that has been antagonistic and unwelcoming of him for most of the years they have known each other won't let him slink off to grieve alone. great great scene
-
For me, the one moment in the series that I had to flip back and read four times to make sure I hadn't read it wrong was where Jim killed Butters off in the morgue in Dead Beat and then revealed he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
I hated him for 10 minutes, thinking he'd killed off one of my favorite characters in two nonchalant paragraphs, and couldn't continue reading right away.
-
For me, the one moment in the series that I had to flip back and read four times to make sure I hadn't read it wrong was where Jim killed Butters off in the morgue in Dead Beat and then revealed he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
I hated him for 10 minutes, thinking he'd killed off one of my favorite characters in two nonchalant paragraphs, and couldn't continue reading right away.
Im pretty sure that was in the church in Changes
-
Im pretty sure that was in the church in Changes
I could be confusing books. Regardless of when it happened, I hated Jim until I read far enough into the next chapter to realize it was a fakeout Butters had been prepared for.
-
I didn't believe it for a moment.
Jim may be cruel to his characters, but he doesn't kill them without a heck of a lot of thought. The Susan and Morgan deaths practically had the entire books leading directly up them. He's not going to blindside you.
Unlike some authors I know... *Points at avatar.*
-
The very first kick in the gut moment I thought of when I started reading this thread still hasn't been mentioned: The last page of Changes.
Unlike a lot of the others mentioned, it loses a lot of its impact on rereading, because you know it's coming, and even more-so, you know it can't be permanent (one way or another). But thinking back to the very first time I read it, the day after it came out in hardcover, no spoilers on line, no hints from friends who'd read it before me. Completely out of left field. I was on a break at work at the time, and I literally sat there staring at the page with my mouth hanging open for more than a minute. And then I cussed a blue streak at the evil bastard who'd end a book like that for five. And then, of course, I went home and read the whole book all over again. ::)
Other big ones for me:
* The other scene KnightShade was confabulating from in Dead Beat, when Butters gets dragged out the window of Harry's apartment by Grevane's zombies. That damn near stopped my heart the first time!
* The hospital scene at the end of SmF that several people have already mentioned. I weep every time. (Dangerous while driving!)
* The farewell scene with Luccio at the end of TC. Another total tear-jerker.
Yeah, there are a lot of them...I just hope Jim stays satisfied with continually, nearly killing Butters and doesn't actually make it stick one of these books, because I might just have to throttle him. (Not to death or anything of course, he's got more books to write, after all. ;D )
LML
-
For me, one that always hit hard was Shiro's death scene. For some reason, I always think of Doc Holliday's death in Tombstone.
-
One thing that has been gut wrenching not mentioned happens in CHANGES is when Martin is telling Harry how they found the Mendoza family literally torn to pieces when they went to retrieve Maggie. Can you imagine that? Your family....torn to pieces..alive..small children. I don't mind saying that was a disturbing and disgusting picture in my mind. There was alot of other moments in CHANGES that was just as blood curdling, but there was some very moving and heart-warming moments. I cried like a baby in GHOST STORY when Harry's spirit/soul visited Maggie and Mouse to say goodbye. Uriel looking down on them and smiled. There are so many moments, but those stand out. What do you think?
-
The very first kick in the gut moment I thought of when I started reading this thread still hasn't been mentioned: The last page of Changes.
Unlike a lot of the others mentioned, it loses a lot of its impact on rereading, because you know it's coming, and even more-so, you know it can't be permanent (one way or another). But thinking back to the very first time I read it, the day after it came out in hardcover, no spoilers on line, no hints from friends who'd read it before me. Completely out of left field. I was on a break at work at the time, and I literally sat there staring at the page with my mouth hanging open for more than a minute. And then I cussed a blue streak at the evil bastard who'd end a book like that for five. And then, of course, I went home and read the whole book all over again. ::)
Yes, the page that made millions of voices suddenly cry out in terror and made a wonderful, if sadistic, author cackle in glee. It's really moments like that that bring out the best and worst in Jim. :)
-
The very first kick in the gut moment I thought of when I started reading this thread still hasn't been mentioned: The last page of Changes.
Unlike a lot of the others mentioned, it loses a lot of its impact on rereading, because you know it's coming, and even more-so, you know it can't be permanent (one way or another). But thinking back to the very first time I read it, the day after it came out in hardcover, no spoilers on line, no hints from friends who'd read it before me. Completely out of left field. I was on a break at work at the time, and I literally sat there staring at the page with my mouth hanging open for more than a minute. And then I cussed a blue streak at the evil bastard who'd end a book like that for five. And then, of course, I went home and read the whole book all over again. ::)
Other big ones for me:
* The other scene KnightShade was confabulating from in Dead Beat, when Butters gets dragged out the window of Harry's apartment by Grevane's zombies. That damn near stopped my heart the first time!
* The hospital scene at the end of SmF that several people have already mentioned. I weep every time. (Dangerous while driving!)
* The farewell scene with Luccio at the end of TC. Another total tear-jerker.
Yeah, there are a lot of them...I just hope Jim stays satisfied with continually, nearly killing Butters and doesn't actually make it stick one of these books, because I might just have to throttle him. (Not to death or anything of course, he's got more books to write, after all. ;D )
LML
Just as bad are the opening pages of Aftermath, where the previous scenes impact is shown to us in a perspective we hadn't seen the in the series before.
-
don't now if it has been said, but it was a kick in the gut when one of my favorite lines from Changes (the roasting marshmallows as the world burns) got turned on it's head in GS when they mention it was one thing to watch the world burn, another to watch "molly burn" or something like that, can't think of the exact quote, only did on read through GS back when it came out, just started over though. =)
-
For me it was Michael getting shot
stomach did a back flip
-
1st and last sight of Murphy in GS anyone? or seeing Thomas' grief? Murphy in GP when she got psycho-wammied. Micky Malone. the ghosts at Biancas
-
sf-murphy handcuffs him
fm-he tells kim about the circle
gp-he loses amorchiaus(spellcheck)
dm-shiro trades himself and eb killing ortega
br-soulgaze with thomas
db-hawaii with kincaid-finding the truth about eb
pg-trial when it seems molly is going to lose her head
smf-mentioned
tc-skinwalker taking thomas
changes-opening sentence
-
1st and last sight of Murphy in GS anyone? or seeing Thomas' grief? Murphy in GP when she got psycho-wammied. Micky Malone. the ghosts at Biancas
Justine seems to have taken care of (some of) Thomas' trouble... even Uriel approves.
-
Justine seems to have taken care of (some of) Thomas' trouble... even Uriel approves.
Well i suppose Uriel at least knows "It Is Needed" im not sure about approves as such
(hmm i wonder if Justine and ??? "playing" provides an appetizer for Thomas)
-
I think he (Uriel) smiled. That usually signals approval, at least of Justine in skimpy lingerie. ;)
-
I think he (Uriel) smiled. That usually signals approval, at least of Justine in skimpy lingerie. ;)
I took that as Uriel approving on both levels. ;)
-
It kind of makes me think that the story of Thomas will be a 'redemption from Whampiness' story.
-
That was the moment that sold me on the DF; it told me this was a series where things had real, serious, no-do-over consequences, for a character who up to that point had looked like a perfectly plausible ongoing cast member. A couple of the other ones being quoted here are ones I admire, and found very satisfying as a reader, for pretty much the same reason. (If a series wants me to remain emotionally engaged, there has to be the possibility of serious negative consequences to characters it wants me to care about; if defeat never happens victory is meaningless.)
I agree with this completely.
Further, the death of Carmichael was unnecessary, in the sense that it could have been avoided, and should have been. His death was the natural consequence of various bad decisions on several people's parts, but esp. Murphy. That very needlessness adds a flavor of reality to the story.
And yeah, it was a kick in the gut.
-
I find the suicides on Love Hurts really repulsive, especially the brother and sister one..
I mean, to have their mind/feeling tampered to belive something is good, to feel really good doing it, but on unaware level to know that is fundamentally wrong. I can't not imagine how low they would probally think of themselves for doing what they were forced to do, and even lower because they liked doing it. And not being aware that it is not their fault they are acting like that? That they aren't a terrible person..
And than the conflict inside their minds push them to suicide, and if they were christian, they would have died thinkign they were condemning their souls..
I don't think you can torture someone much more than that. Or of an act of evil much worse than that.
Hence the Fourth Law of Magic.
-
Probably:
1) When ghost-Harry has to leave Mouse.
That part made me cry.
-
Charity telling Harry to stay in ER.
Eb telling Harry he is his GranPa in CI.
Molly's trial. Harry winning and than realizes he went too far and the Merlin still gonna execute her.
in PG Harry thinking Mouse is dead after the Jinn hit him.
Ivy being taken / imprisonned
Meryl dying.
the talk w/ Bob after the Deeps ghoul battle, about Lash.