ParanetOnline
The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: dspringer1 on February 14, 2018, 05:48:36 PM
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This talk of Peace Talks got me thinking. There are a lot of big opens outstanding that have to be answered in the next five books. Here is my personal list
Political Questions
1) What is the Grey Council and how does it work. How will Harry work with the Grey Council?
2) What is happening with the Paranet and how is it evolving?
3) How will the White Council/Harry/Paranet deal with the threat posed by the Formor. How will that threat evolve?
4) How are the other supernatural races going to get pulled into the conflict? We know the outsiders want them distracted, so some level of involvement (if only hiding) is going to happen.
5) What has happened to the White Council? How is it functioning (or not) right now?
6) What will happen between with the cooperative agreement between Marcone, the White Court and the Paranet to defend Chicago?
7) What is the next stage in the Outsiders' plan of attack? Presume it is the Formor or maybe the dragon, but that is just guesses?
8 ) What is happening internally with the Fallen? Are they going to have their own civil war pitting Nik's side vs outsider allied side vs other fallen strongly aligned with neither?
9) Will Summer closely cooperate with Winter or stay isolated now that the Outsider's play is obvious (at least to Mab)?
Personal Questions
1) How is Harry and Molly's relationship going to evolve?
2) What will be Harry's new home and lifestyle be in Chicago? Is he going to find an apartment and go back to being a detective or will it be something very different
3) How will the relationship between Harry and Mab evolve?
4) what will happen when Michael finds out Molly is the Winter Lady?
5) what consequences will there be for Harry within the White Council for his actions in Changes - destroying the Red Court, becoming Winter Knight?
6) Role of Murphy going forward: Lover? Marriage? Advisor? Politician? Other?
7) Toot is evolving into someone different -- a comrade perhaps rather than simply a helpful sidekick.
Magic Stuff
1) Those holy relics he got from Hades tomb
2) the relic that Nik has (the cup)
3) the progress/scope/impact of nemfection
4) Harry is supposed to get trained in shapeshifting
5) Will there be a new Knight of the Cross soon?
6) Harry keeps recruiting more fey minions. How big will his army get?
7) Will harry be able to imprison people into Demonreach who are not on the island.
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(http://www.williamkenlon.com/images/MrT.gif)
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didn't butters have a bunch of stuff to do with the paranet in his apartment when Harry 'broke' in and tried to steal bob back? Been a while since I have read Skin Game.
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2) What will be Harry's new home and lifestyle be in Chicago? Is he going to find an apartment and go back to being a detective or will it be something very different
For fun, I tried to figure out how much money Harry made off of Skin Game. I calculated using realistic, optimistic terms, as far as I know.
1. We know that the diamonds were split into "brand new, metal cash boxes." I pulled what looks like an average, cheap one from Staples to get dimensions: https://www.staples.com/MMF-Industries-STEELMASTER-Cash-Box-with-Locking-Latch-Sand-4-H-x-11-W-x-7-3-4-D/product_916553
2. This cash box is 4x11x7.75 inches, giving it a total volume of 341 cubic inches. I'm assuming that the box is at least half full, because I doubt Anna managed to get enough to fill five, but judging from Charity's reaction and Harry's brief, inexact description, I'm assuming that it's somewhere around half. I'll round down to be more pessimistic. Assume Harry has 150 cubic inches of diamonds in his box. This is then halved again, down to 75 cubic inches, as he shoves them into two knotted off socks (which is super romantic).
3. Diamond weight by volume is 2.03 ounces per cubic inch. That gives us a staggering weight of 152.25 ounces, or 9.52 pounds (they're obviously very dense, so the weight-to-volume ratio is pretty dang high).
4. 1 carat=.200 grams. If the above assumptions are right, Harry has—wait for it—21,591 carats worth of diamonds.
5. Prices for diamonds vary by things like clarity, cut, and the value-per-carat is affected by how many carats remain in the finished diamond. For highest pessimism, I'm going to assume that they are the WORST clarity, and raw diamonds. Commercial rough diamonds retail, on average, for $1,500 per carat. I am going to further assume that Harry can get 35% of that value, because I assume he's bad at negotiating.
6. This returns a value of... $11,335,275.
Even if I'm off wildly, I think I'm within 50% of the total value. Harry has, at a bare minimum, five million dollars worth of diamonds, and so does Murphy. It's likely considerably higher than that.
All he has to do is stick into a high div-yield stock. Say he bought $1 million of AT&T, which has a historically high dividend yield per share. Harry can have recurring income, every quarter, of $12,500, and that's with no additional investment. If he reinvested for, say, twenty years and just lived off his cash assets? Harry will never have to work another day in his life. Even the ludicrous lifespan of a wizard. Simple compounded interest on that amount of money, assuming inflation holds below 1.5%, will ensure that he can basically retire if he so chooses.
Do I think he's likely to invest it wisely in safe, boring assets? No. I think Harry is going to start spending money on insanely expensive, but insanely cool magical gear. Plus, with all those diamonds, I'm sure he can find uses for them as focus items. He will have the blingiest foci of any wizard of his generation.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I don't think he'll open up shop again. He doesn't have to (though he might want to), and, honestly, that line of work was bad for his health (not that Winter Knighting is any safer), and he's got a couple of daughters now. I think he's going to try to live quietly (ha!), and spoil Maggie rotten with all of the things he never had. I expect bouncy castles. And Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots. And teddy bears that double as bodyguards. And a tracking anklet that alerts Harry to changes in Maggie's heart rate. And...
Anyway, you get the joke. I do still want to know how he's going to live, but the amount of money Harry made (off of what I consider to be Harry's first total, unimpeachable, straight-up victory in the series) in Skin Game, he's got the option to do pretty much whatever he wants.
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I think Harry's self-destructive nature will have him donating a LOT of his take to the Paranet.
I too am wildly curious about what will happen when he first gets back to the Wouncil. We know he's back on the payroll, but what will the spin have been on the events at Chicken Pizza?
I also want to see Harry visit Mrs. Spunkelkrief (his old landlady) and the other former residence of his boarding house.
As to Toot-toot, I think he's in the process of establishing another Wyld-fae court.
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As to Toot-toot, I think he's in the process of establishing another Wyld-fae court.
I know that the fairy that toot was before was to little to take sides (maybe?) but isn't he more decidedly winter now that Harry is the Winter Knight. Now of course if Harry slips the Mantle then I guess that could change things.
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For fun, I tried to figure out how much money Harry made off of Skin Game. I calculated using realistic, optimistic terms, as far as I know.
1. We know that the diamonds were split into "brand new, metal cash boxes." I pulled what looks like an average, cheap one from Staples to get dimensions: https://www.staples.com/MMF-Industries-STEELMASTER-Cash-Box-with-Locking-Latch-Sand-4-H-x-11-W-x-7-3-4-D/product_916553
2. This cash box is 4x11x7.75 inches, giving it a total volume of 341 cubic inches. I'm assuming that the box is at least half full, because I doubt Anna managed to get enough to fill five, but judging from Charity's reaction and Harry's brief, inexact description, I'm assuming that it's somewhere around half. I'll round down to be more pessimistic. Assume Harry has 150 cubic inches of diamonds in his box. This is then halved again, down to 75 cubic inches, as he shoves them into two knotted off socks (which is super romantic).
3. Diamond weight by volume is 2.03 ounces per cubic inch. That gives us a staggering weight of 152.25 ounces, or 9.52 pounds (they're obviously very dense, so the weight-to-volume ratio is pretty dang high).
4. 1 carat=.200 grams. If the above assumptions are right, Harry has—wait for it—21,591 carats worth of diamonds.
5. Prices for diamonds vary by things like clarity, cut, and the value-per-carat is affected by how many carats remain in the finished diamond. For highest pessimism, I'm going to assume that they are the WORST clarity, and raw diamonds. Commercial rough diamonds retail, on average, for $1,500 per carat. I am going to further assume that Harry can get 35% of that value, because I assume he's bad at negotiating.
6. This returns a value of... $11,335,275.
Even if I'm off wildly, I think I'm within 50% of the total value. Harry has, at a bare minimum, five million dollars worth of diamonds, and so does Murphy. It's likely considerably higher than that.
All he has to do is stick into a high div-yield stock. Say he bought $1 million of AT&T, which has a historically high dividend yield per share. Harry can have recurring income, every quarter, of $12,500, and that's with no additional investment. If he reinvested for, say, twenty years and just lived off his cash assets? Harry will never have to work another day in his life. Even the ludicrous lifespan of a wizard. Simple compounded interest on that amount of money, assuming inflation holds below 1.5%, will ensure that he can basically retire if he so chooses.
Do I think he's likely to invest it wisely in safe, boring assets? No. I think Harry is going to start spending money on insanely expensive, but insanely cool magical gear. Plus, with all those diamonds, I'm sure he can find uses for them as focus items. He will have the blingiest foci of any wizard of his generation.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I don't think he'll open up shop again. He doesn't have to (though he might want to), and, honestly, that line of work was bad for his health (not that Winter Knighting is any safer), and he's got a couple of daughters now. I think he's going to try to live quietly (ha!), and spoil Maggie rotten with all of the things he never had. I expect bouncy castles. And Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots. And teddy bears that double as bodyguards. And a tracking anklet that alerts Harry to changes in Maggie's heart rate. And...
Anyway, you get the joke. I do still want to know how he's going to live, but the amount of money Harry made (off of what I consider to be Harry's first total, unimpeachable, straight-up victory in the series) in Skin Game, he's got the option to do pretty much whatever he wants.
Nice work-up on the diamond value. I admit that I was curious at the end of Skin Game. Harry is going to do some interesting things with the money, unless he donates it all or sticks it under his mattress.
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4) Harry is supposed to get trained in shapeshifting
Is he? I thought LTW offered to train Harry how to handle anger issues. Maybe he'll get some training in shape shifting as well, but I don't think there's any guarantee that will happen.
Plus I'd add a couple of personal issues.
What has happened to Elaine in Harry's absence? I would assume she took greater control of the paranet but she was already running things on her side of the country before Harry's untimely, if not permanent, demise. She was definitely hiding something from him in White Night, so that would be a second question: What was Elaine hiding from Harry? (Reread the scene where Elaine gave Harry a massage after he fell through the ice if you don't know what I'm referring to.)
The second personal issue goes back to before the series started.
How did Harry's father die? To put it more bluntly and to the point, who killed Malcolm Dresden and why; and does anyone else know what really happened and has withheld this information from Harry? I could see Lea, Mab, Ebenezer, and maybe some of the other Senior Council members knowing the truth even if they were not responsible for the crime. One or more might have even known it would happen beforehand and decided it was for the best to let Malcolm die. There's a reason this issue has been with us since book 2 when it was introduced by Chaunzaggoroth. I think the repercussions when Harry eventually faces this issue and learns the truth will be enormous.
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My first thought is that Justin did it with a weak version of exploding heart spell.
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How did Harry's father die? To put it more bluntly and to the point, who killed Malcolm Dresden and why; and does anyone else know what really happened and has withheld this information from Harry? I could see Lea, Mab, Ebenezer, and maybe some of the other Senior Council members knowing the truth even if they were not responsible for the crime. One or more might have even known it would happen beforehand and decided it was for the best to let Malcolm die. There's a reason this issue has been with us since book 2 when it was introduced by Chaunzaggoroth. I think the repercussions when Harry eventually faces this issue and learns the truth will be enormous.
Well, my theory with Malcolm as being a redeemed/2nd chanced Nicodemus is that Malcolm only gets so much time on this world. So, no one kills him really. His time was just up. Or, Anduriel finds out and is finally able to take action against Malcolm as Heaven's final balancing act ran out.
Other theories for Malcolm is that he is descended from Nic but not Nic. Another guess is that he is descended from some "Corwin" bloodline, which may, again depending on Mac's identity, be related to Mac.
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What has happened to Elaine in Harry's absence? I would assume she took greater control of the paranet but she was already running things on her side of the country before Harry's untimely, if not permanent, demise. She was definitely hiding something from him in White Night, so that would be a second question: What was Elaine hiding from Harry? ...
This has been a burning question for me as well. We haven't checked in with any wizards at all since the end of Changes (not counting Molly), and haven't seen Elaine for a few books, so I'm hoping she'll drop in for Peace Talks as a representative of the Paranet. Maybe as kind of a witness, someone to speak for the Paranetters who've been taken by the Fomor? Hell, maybe Peace Talks could start the process of the Paranet becoming a signatory of its own.
How did Harry's father die? To put it more bluntly and to the point, who killed Malcolm Dresden and why; and does anyone else know what really happened and has withheld this information from Harry? I could see Lea, Mab, Ebenezer, and maybe some of the other Senior Council members knowing the truth even if they were not responsible for the crime. One or more might have even known it would happen beforehand and decided it was for the best to let Malcolm die. There's a reason this issue has been with us since book 2 when it was introduced by Chaunzaggoroth. I think the repercussions when Harry eventually faces this issue and learns the truth will be enormous.
Agreed. I want more Malcolm. Or at least more about Malcolm.
Could be a book about Harry and Murphy both finding out about their fathers, and what killed them. It doesn't have to be the same thing for both (in fact, I think that'd be a little TOO far), but both of them discovering things about their past would be cool.
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Interesting idea about fathers' deaths.
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This has been a burning question for me as well. We haven't checked in with any wizards at all since the end of Changes (not counting Molly), and haven't seen Elaine for a few books, so I'm hoping she'll drop in for Peace Talks as a representative of the Paranet. Maybe as kind of a witness, someone to speak for the Paranetters who've been taken by the Fomor? Hell, maybe Peace Talks could start the process of the Paranet becoming a signatory of its own.
Agreed. I want more Malcolm. Or at least more about Malcolm.
Could be a book about Harry and Murphy both finding out about their fathers, and what killed them. It doesn't have to be the same thing for both (in fact, I think that'd be a little TOO far), but both of them discovering things about their past would be cool.
I've been thinking along similar lines myself. At one time; before we knew anything about Peace Talks beyond the title, I thought we might see Elaine telling Harry that he needs to find away to make certain the talks don't succeed, or perhaps taking actions to throw the talks into chaos herself. I doubt most members of the paranet will be happy about the idea of the White Council making peace with the Fomor. Especially a peace which would allow the Fomor to continue abducting low level magic users.
I like the idea of Harry and Murphy finding out what really happened to their father's in the same book. Even though I doubt they would be directly related to one another, the answers to both mysteries might provide each other both contrast and added depth.
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This has been a burning question for me as well. We haven't checked in with any wizards at all since the end of Changes (not counting Molly), and haven't seen Elaine for a few books, so I'm hoping she'll drop in for Peace Talks as a representative of the Paranet. Maybe as kind of a witness, someone to speak for the Paranetters who've been taken by the Fomor? Hell, maybe Peace Talks could start the process of the Paranet becoming a signatory of its own.
Agreed. I want more Malcolm. Or at least more about Malcolm.
Could be a book about Harry and Murphy both finding out about their fathers, and what killed them. It doesn't have to be the same thing for both (in fact, I think that'd be a little TOO far), but both of them discovering things about their past would be cool.
I speculated a while back that it was a member of the White Court who killed Murphy's dad. The family that feeds on despair
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Iirc correctly there was a WOJ that implied a "Murphy Funeral" scene in Peace Talks. Most of us expect this to be something entirely different than the obvious (Karin Murphy DIES), so I was originally thinking maybe Mama Murphy dies of perfectly Mundane causes, but it throws Karin for a very understandable loop and maybe even prompts harry to reveal what little he knows about the Black Cats and Capt Jack o' the Angels. Now Im wondering if it will be a flashback to her fathers funeral?
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Iirc correctly there was a WOJ that implied a "Murphy Funeral" scene in Peace Talks. Most of us expect this to be something entirely different than the obvious (Karin Murphy DIES), so I was originally thinking maybe Mama Murphy dies of perfectly Mundane causes, but it throws Karin for a very understandable loop and maybe even prompts harry to reveal what little he knows about the Black Cats and Capt Jack o' the Angels. Now Im wondering if it will be a flashback to her fathers funeral?
A flashback from a non-perspective character in a first person narrative is dicey. It'd have to be in the context of Murphy describing it to Harry, or watching a recording (which would be weird), or a dream or something. I think it'd be Ma Murphy's funeral, which would open the door for Murph to talk about her dad, and Harry to talk about his. "You don't talk about him much," as a lead-in, then an outpouring of emotion and Harry fighting back tears and smiling wistfully about Malcolm sawing a woman in half on stage, while Murph talks about the way her dad died, and how they found him, and how she blames him, and Harry struggles internally with telling her that he met him in Ghost Story. Once she finds out, she connects the dots and realizes that Papa Murphy had some kind of irregularity with his death, like Carmichael, and they fight because Harry kept secrets from her. Murph spends the rest of the book digging into the Black Cat files.
Malcolm would probably come later, unless Murphy discovers that they knew each other.
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How well will the Harry/Murphy ship sail if Murphy finds out that Harry had a talk with her dead father? Could it be the iceberg that sinks it on its maiden voyage?
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How well will the Harry/Murphy ship sail if Murphy finds out that Harry had a talk with her dead father? Could it be the iceberg that sinks it on its maiden voyage?
Nah. But it'd be a hell of a conflict. Harry's wizened up a bit since Summer Knight; we saw that in Turn Coat with Will. If it permanently poisoned their relationship, it would be too much of a rehash of Cassius/Tavi, too. Murphy's softened some of her edges toward Harry over the series, too, and God knows she knows the kind of stuff he's had on his plate.
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Nah. But it'd be a hell of a conflict. Harry's wizened up a bit since Summer Knight; we saw that in Turn Coat with Will. If it permanently poisoned their relationship, it would be too much of a rehash of Cassius/Tavi, too. Murphy's softened some of her edges toward Harry over the series, too, and God knows she knows the kind of stuff he's had on his plate.
Which was a rehash of Raucus/Sextus. Tropes are kinda Butcher's thing.
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Eh. I really can't see Murphy ending a fifteen-year friendship and newish relationship because Harry spoke to her dead father three years ago. It isn't like Cap'n Jack is alive and in hiding; the guy is dead and remains dead, and nothing Harry can say or do would change that. If he was a ghost like Sir Stuart and Harry knew about it, or was otherwise contactable for Murphy to have a talk with him, it'd be different, but even the local ectomancer isn't willing to do that to Jack. She could get irrationally angry, but not to the "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO MEEEEEE?!"-level Cassius did. If she did react that way, then it'd read like a total relationship cop-out, like Jim was just trying to end things without killing anybody.
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Eh. I really can't see Murphy ending a fifteen-year friendship and newish relationship because Harry spoke to her dead father three years ago. It isn't like Cap'n Jack is alive and in hiding; the guy is dead and remains dead, and nothing Harry can say or do would change that. If he was a ghost like Sir Stuart and Harry knew about it, or was otherwise contactable for Murphy to have a talk with him, it'd be different, but even the local ectomancer isn't willing to do that to Jack. She could get irrationally angry, but not to the "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO MEEEEEE?!"-level Cassius did. If she did react that way, then it'd read like a total relationship cop-out, like Jim was just trying to end things without killing anybody.
I completely agree. I don't her being too upset. Only a little frustrated that Harry didn't tell her sooner which he can easily sidestep by pointing to the circumstances/events surrounding his return making communication difficult. I doubt Jim would do that to her as it would be a regression in character/trust (IMO).