Morris, it might feel like a cash grab but I think it isn't likely. They way he explains it is that he tried to write one big novel over the past few years and couldn't make it work. This is because it starts of like a traditional Dresden Files story and then morphs into something very different. He was trying something out (not to mention all the issues in his personal life that slowed down his writing) and this is the result. He even says in the interview, the publisher wanted to publish it next year and he wanted us to not have to wait that long (which I am sure you can appreciate, considering you often say you won't see the end of the Files). Even if it is a cash grab because money is tight, I don't mind. Life is tough right now, and Jim has had a tough few years, and being an author (even a successful one) doesn't mean you don't run into money issues occasionally. His books make me happy, and I am more than happy to pay for two polished novels quickly, rather than one expensive mess. I take him at his word, but how you see it is up to you.
Also - does anyone else see the obvious reference to PUBG? One feels Battle Ground will be a last man standing book. Good for jim to try and capture that zeitgeist (even if he is a little behind the eight ball).
My guesses are either Hecate (gets a nod in Skin Game - although could be a red herring), Gaia (combined Mothers with all of Faerie), Rhea (maybe trying to bust her friends out of Demonreach/Tartarus), Tethys (leading the Fomor) or Leto. The other option of course is Titania (is that too on the nose?) Or the combined Queens of Summer - for multiple reasons.
Although it is possible that she is something else too. I wonder if she escaped Demonreach? Jim did say something in the lead up to Cold Days about how to trap a Titan...maybe that's a hint too.
They mention she is stronger than any other threat he has faced, with ramifications that change everything forever. Not only that, she has an army. She wields power unseen in over a thousand years (Hastings - anybody??). Maybe she is an Old One too? Maybe that's the same thing? Not only that but she is beyond all his other enemies - Outsiders, Red Court, Denarians. Gaia seems likely as the effect of killing her might ruin the world? Maybe not all at once but over time? And being an immortal, he'll have to find an appropriate conjunction. One imagines he might not get lucky enough to use Halloween again.
Curiously, she might also be the Fomor Empress. They do mention her in one of the short stories. Might be exactly why she picked Chicago. Tethys also looks likely.
I don't think the Titan is any combination of the Faerie Queens. Hecate was a goddess and not a Titan. Jim could change that, but I don't think so. My money is on the Fomor Empress. The Last Titan. The Titans were the losers of a pantheon. That's what the Fomor are. Both in Irish mythology and in the Dresden Files. They've been described as "exiles from myth and legend, the outcasts of the gods and demons of every land bordering the sea. Defeated giants, fallen gods, dark reflections of beings of light. They are many races and none, joined together beneath the banner of the Fomor in a common cause."
This is simple. Next book is Mirror Mirror. Harry is sent to another time. Its caused at the end of the book. The Villian is
"The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way." The blurb describing the book.
you pays your money and takes your chances.
I don't know why, but I love that saying.
Yeah PUBG wasn't really my thing tbh. But I am sure BG is a reference. Every title he has had in the series has at least a double meaning.
Depends on how you look at Hecate actually. Some children of the Titans, like Atlas and Pallas were still considered and even referred to themselves as Titans. But the Olympians considered themselves separate. Hecate was one who didn't really fit into normal categories. She doesn't really even fit all that well in the heart of Greek Myth, more on the fringes. As a triple goddess she was also considered to have power of earth, sea and sky and fate - and in post-christian writings was even considered to have a Savior role and connected to the World Soul. Wouldn't count her out.
Agree though, this is the most likely candidate. But who is the Fomor Empress? What is her name? Interesting that phrase about "every land bordering the sea" one wonders if they simply retreated to under the sea, rather than being of the sea. Which might make her less likely to be Tethys and potentially something else. I must admit, I really hope Jim gets the Titan bit right. I am a bit particular about them so if he goes to far from the myth, or doesn't find a clever reinvention it would be annoying. But Jim is pretty good, so I am sure it will be fine.
Yeah not Cronus though, it is clearly stated to be a her.
Okay, and even if it is I can't say that if I was in his shoes that I might not do the same. But I want two books, not 1.5 with padding. And I won't know until after the fact. However, you pays your money and takes your chances.
Indeed that is true. I agree with you though, I hate being ripped off. If it felt like just two halves of the same novel that might disappoint me a bit. Not enough to drive me from the series probably, but still. Here's hoping it is two distinct entities. Although one could argue that Cold Days and Ghost Story are part of the same thing. He said he had to do heaps of rewriting once it split in order to make it two distinct novels, so I am sure he has tried to do that. Time will tell.
In Dead Beat Dresden asks Mab what happens if the Darkhallow succeeds. She tells him that Cowl will hold power that hasn't fallen into human hands in living memory (or something).
In the blurb for Battle Grounds it says that the Last Titan is power of an order of magnitude above any of Harry's normal enemies, power the mortal world hasn't seen in a millenium. This is almost certainly tied to Hastings. When Titania and Mab both ascended, Mother Summer retired and the Queens of Faerie died. Also when the last Starborn was running around. Long have people speculated this was when the Gate Changeover happened at the Outer Gates, and why Vadderung and Mab have a long standing disagreement.
Was Cowl trying to become a Titan or Titan-level being? Maybe to match the Titan and maybe to do the same thing. Interestingly, Cowl and his cronies talk of a New World Order and they will reshape the place.
The Last Titan is trying to conquer the mortal world too.
And in the Percy Jackson series (which Jim has read and said that he loved so much he had to do something that author had done), the Last Olympian wasn't in fact the Last Olympian. They were off fighting Typhon and Hestia (the Last Olympian) remained behind to guard the hearth (as is her domain and power). Hestia gave up her seat on the council of Olympians for Dionysus, but was an original child of Cronus (a Titan). She is integral to winning the fight against him. One wonders if the Last Titan isn't actually the last alive, but the last to be on Earth. And is actually trying to achieve something good, even if it is by violent means.