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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => DF Reference Collection => Topic started by: Serack on October 31, 2016, 05:33:39 PM
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I've heard Jim say that he deliberately seeds his books with little lines relevant to potential paths his characters could take down the road. (Potential, because sometimes they have more than one potential path). I thought I'd start a Reference Topic dedicated to this subject, grouped by character. I don't have a copy of the books that I can copy/paste from so if anyone else can help provide excerpts for this stuff I'd appreciate it.
Butters
Line from Ghost Story where Butters pledged to train with the Edinjar (msp?) immediately after getting a fully functional light saber
Carlos
Per WoJ, he's the apprentice that was noticed by Harry in Summer Knight at the Council meeting
Fae Kings:
Line in Storm Front about Santa existing, and also about how nuts you'd have to be to try to trap him in a circle (a foreshadowing of capturing the Erlking in DB, as well as the eventual appearance of Santa in the series.)
Lea
Storm Front, Harry mentions he has a genuine Farie Godmother.
Molly
Lea attempts to bargain for Michael's first born in Grave Peril, hinting at her significance to the Fae Courts.
Molly Carpenter sputtered, spitting snow, and a round of hooting laughter went up from the children gathered around her. Tall, blond, and athletic, dressed in jeans and a heavy winter coat, she looked natural in the snowy setting, her cheeks and nose turning red with the cold.
Thomas
Line from Chauncy about Harry having surviving family.
Line from Nic about Harry being Maggies youngest.
Minor Characters & Theories
Lacuna's nature (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,38660.0.html)
Fitz theory (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,27953.0.html)
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Santa is also mentioned in Restoration of Faith:
She gave me a look of skepticism you can really only get from children who have recently gone through the sobering trauma of discovering that there is no Santa Claus. (Ironically, there is--but he can't operate on the sort of scale that used to make everyone believe in him. More modern living.)
This may not count as the sort of character foreshadow you are looking for, but there was Harry's odd sense of familiarity with Demonreach in SmF, as a foreshadow to his eventual claiming of it in TC.
Would Inner-Harry's wardrobe be considered foreshadowing, given that he does eventually get a black leather duster? Speaking of him, he was thr first guy to say "No matter where you go, there you are" to Harry, before Uriel did later. That reeks of foreshadowing, but I couldnt begin to guess what of.
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Murphy having Japanese swords above her fireplace in SK should probably count as foreshadowing.
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Maybe Lea's mention of Molly as a worthwhile acquisition, back in GP?
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Santa is also mentioned in Restoration of Faith:
This may not count as the sort of character foreshadow you are looking for, but there was Harry's odd sense of familiarity with Demonreach in SmF, as a foreshadow to his eventual claiming of it in TC.
Would Inner-Harry's wardrobe be considered foreshadowing, given that he does eventually get a black leather duster? Speaking of him, he was thr first guy to say "No matter where you go, there you are" to Harry, before Uriel did later. That reeks of foreshadowing, but I couldnt begin to guess what of.
Santa: Restoration of Faith kinda seems redundant... I'm considering it though.
Demonreach: That was so in your face, and fulfilled the next book... and as you say, less about the other characters... I dunno.
Id Harry: Meh.
"There you are": I'm considering a section of speculative foreshadowing, but that's a bit of a rabbit hole. Considering the Molly/winter detail, the opening and closing sections of the books may be good places to mine for such things...
Murphy having Japanese swords above her fireplace in SK should probably count as foreshadowing.
More like a Chekov's squirt gun... Especially since her sword skill ended up being inferior to the task...
Maybe Lea's mention of Molly as a worthwhile acquisition, back in GP?
Excellent!
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Bonnie: In Cold Days, Demonreach saying "another one", which hinted at Bob not being the first SoI he talked to that day before we knew what the parasite was.
Table: Lea's warning to Harry about the table. It hints at the idea that Mab would want to sacrifice Harry on the table to claim his power. (Ties into theory that Thomas is her backup choice for Knight because he'd be the most compatible with Harry's power; Molly, his apprentice, might have been her backup backup)
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All of the Madeline mentions of reckless behavior prior to TC.
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You left out the big one in Dead Beat, Harry kind of praying for help from a Knight of the Cross when Cassius was playing tic tac toe on his chest and Butters and Mouse appear..
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More like a Chekov's squirt gun... Especially since her sword skill ended up being inferior to the task...
That's a bit unfair. Nicodemus is said to be a super swordsman that only two Knights had survived. Murphy defeated him. Unless you think their fight outside the Carpenter house was staged on the off chance she might misuse the Sword.
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That's a bit unfair. Nicodemus is said to be a super swordsman that only two Knights had survived. Murphy defeated him. Unless you think their fight outside the Carpenter house was staged on the off chance she might misuse the Sword.
I think it was precisely staged as an opportunity to cause the sword to be mis-used.
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I get the feeling that those frozen statues in Proven Guilty have a significance, maybe that hasn't been revealed yet.
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I get the feeling that those frozen statues in Proven Guilty have a significance, maybe that hasn't been revealed yet.
Time traveling Harry and someone else locked in ice to prevent PG Harry from realizing who they were!
I mean, if we're spouting theories, that is. ;D
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Time traveling Harry and someone else locked in ice to prevent PG Harry from realizing who they were!
I mean, if we're spouting theories, that is. ;D
True. Need to focus on the proven, not the assumed or guessed.
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True. Need to focus on the proven, not the assumed or guessed.
Personally I wouldn't mind it being broken into two sections, Fullfilled Foreshadowing and Potential Foreshadowing.
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"There you are": I'm considering a section of speculative foreshadowing, but that's a bit of a rabbit hole.
For what it's worth, his landlady made some sort of 'there you are' comment when he saved her from the house fire in Changes.
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For what it's worth, his landlady made some sort of 'there you are' comment when he saved her from the house fire in Changes.
Potential "There you are" foreshadowings are raidem's baby (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,47759.0.html). That's actually why I chose that portion of the quote to call it out with.
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I've heard Jim say that he deliberately seeds his books with little lines relevant to potential paths his characters could take down the road. (Potential, because sometimes they have more than one potential path). I thought I'd start a Reference Topic dedicated to this subject, grouped by character. I don't have a copy of the books that I can copy/paste from so if anyone else can help provide excerpts for this stuff I'd appreciate it.
Butters
Line from Ghost Story where Butters pledged to train with the Edinjar (msp?) immediately after getting a fully functional light saber
Carlos
Per WoJ, he's the apprentice that was noticed by Harry in Summer Knight at the Council meeting
Fae Kings:
Line in Storm Front about Santa existing, and also about how nuts you'd have to be to try to trap him in a circle (a foreshadowing of capturing the Erlking in DB, as well as the eventual appearance of Santa in the series.)
Lea
Storm Front, Harry mentions he has a genuine Farie Godmother.
Molly
Lea attempts to bargain for Michael's first born in Grave Peril, hinting at her significance to the Fae Courts.
Thomas
Line from Chauncy about Harry having surviving family.
Line from Nic about Harry being Maggies youngest.
Minor Characters & Theories
Lacuna's nature (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,38660.0.html)
Fitz theory (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,27953.0.html)
Harry: "I am only mortal."
Mab: "For now."
and
My name is Harry blackstone copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk.
Well, I think this should be included.
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That's a bit unfair. Nicodemus is said to be a super swordsman that only two Knights had survived. Murphy defeated him. Unless you think their fight outside the Carpenter house was staged on the off chance she might misuse the Sword.
I would have said:
That, sir, is a facile argument... And also woefully esoteric.
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I would have said:
That, sir, is a facile argument... And also woefully esoteric.
I treat words like bullets. If I have my target in sight, I use them sparingly. If I use a lot, it often means I'm shooting from the hip in the dark through a screen on a rocking boat at sea during a storm trying to hit a silhouette weaving drunkenly to ad fro on the distant horizon.
Or in this case, not entirely sold on the defense I've undertaken. ;)
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The thing about Lea is not foreshadowing. It is like mentioning he has pink slippers and then, later, you see his pink slippers. He is just telling you he has them.
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When Harry is talking to Marcone at the end of White Night, he draws parallels between the Mobster and Hades.
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When Harry is talking to Marcone at the end of White Night, he draws parallels between the Mobster and Hades.
nic says he would have made a good monarch. Plays Arthur to harrys Merlin, or possibly Uther instead...
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I've seen some hints that imply that, potentially, Harry himself actually is Merlin. The original, first Merlin.
It's a long story that would require me to reread the series. Which isn't exactly a hardship XD
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I've seen some hints that imply that, potentially, Harry himself actually is Merlin. The original, first Merlin.
It's a long story that would require me to reread the series. Which isn't exactly a hardship XD
I think that notion has crossed the mind of everyone who has read the books. Whether it is true or not is another matter. I doubt it is true but, even then, we don't really have enough information to do more than fruitlessly speculate. Suffice it to say, this question was telegraphed to readers as a possibility. Whether it is an intentional attempt at misdirection, at reality, or just an accident of prose, we don't know. It is this sort of 'twist' that I hope Butcher does avoid in the end, though.
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I treat words like bullets. If I have my target in sight, I use them sparingly. If I use a lot, it often means I'm shooting from the hip in the dark through a screen on a rocking boat at sea during a storm trying to hit a silhouette weaving drunkenly to ad fro on the distant horizon.
Or in this case, not entirely sold on the defense I've undertaken. ;)
That's a lot of words.
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That's a lot of words.
;D
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That's a lot of words.
Is it? I hadn't noticed...
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That's a lot of words.
I was quoting from Archer.
Archer gave Cyril a "Chekov gun" and a poison pen with a loose cap. Cyril said he'd worry more about the Chekov gun, to which Archer (who we take for granted as an idiot) replies "that's a facile argument" and his butler adds "And woefully esoteric."
They slip in the odd highbrow joke amongst all the asshattery.
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I was quoting from Archer.
Archer gave Cyril a "Chekov gun" and a poison pen with a loose cap. Cyril said he'd worry more about the Chekov gun, to which Archer (who we take for granted as an idiot) replies "that's a facile argument" and his butler adds "And woefully esoteric."
They slip in the odd highbrow joke amongst all the asshattery.
I'm just glad they renewed it. That whole will they/won't they thing had me worried.
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Murphy's skill with swords wasn't an issue, she held Nic and was winning, barely, until she spoke 2 words: "Damn you." Her pronouncing a "judgement" changed everything about the battle.
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Oh no. We are not starting that again. Move on.
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Yep, let that dog lie because it makes alot of noise.
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I would add two potential foreshadowings and one obvious one:
“Dresden,” Murphy snapped, “wake up.”
I blinked. “Not asleep,” I slurred. “Just resting my eyes.”
She snorted. “Save it, Harry,” she said, and pushed a cup into my hands. She’d made me coffee with a ton of sugar in it, just the way I like, and even though it was a little stale, it smelled like heaven.
“You’re an angel,” I muttered.”
Storm Front, Ch.11
This foreshadows Harry seeing Murphy with the sight, and also what I think her ultimate destiny is (assuming she dies).
“Then get used to it,” I said. “I’m never going to be your knight.”
Mab tilted back her head and let out that nerve-searing laughter again. “I have time,” she said. “And you mortals find life to be very sweet. Two favors you yet owe me, and make no mistake, I will collect. One day you will kneel at my feet.”
Dead Beat, Chapter 21.
“I bit out a little laugh. “Yeah. You’re a saint.”
“One day,” Nicodemus said. “One day. But for now, let’s say a face-to-face meeting. A talk. Just you and I.”
Small Favor, Chapter 36