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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: g33k on June 13, 2022, 05:42:06 AM
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Veils, we know, are not Harry's strong-suit.
He got a lot better -- made himself get better -- because he needed to train Grasshopper. But it's still not a strength of his.
Magic items, however, ARE something he does particularly-well. So... I bet he could make a powerful veil by way of an item.
I figure he makes it out of the "scrubs" that crime-scene techs wear, who are tasked to "leave no detectable trace." Outline of the notion designed by Butters (during his time crafting items with Bob). Dresden could write or paint on the fabric, in lieu of the carvings and dyeing he did on staff & duster. The advantage over most wizards' work is that it also blocks leaving physical traces that forensics could find (most wizards have no idea how comprehensive and how subtle modern science has gotten).
And Dresden's "ninja wizard suit" ends up being nerdy as fuck, instead of cool & sexy, so completely on-brand.
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I like it. Jim has not written any upgrades to Harry, item-wise for quite a while. Potions also took a back seat (except for Changes). I doubt Jim would be so... Crude as to write a Wizard Harry with an invisibility cloak.
I'd like to see more versatile rings. (And perhaps body implants that can't be taken away) for telekinesis, maybe a speed boost shoes (Remember the kinetomancer in GS?). More importantly, where is the flash drive belt buckle from Blood Rites? But maybe Jim thought it was too much of a guaranteed escape to work.
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Harry is much better at veils than he used to be, because he got off his lazy ass and worked at making his skill at doing them better. He doesn't need a veil suit in my opinion.. Um, I'd call the Artifacts a HUGE upgrade item wise for Harry, he now has in his possession the fricking Spear of Destiny for crap sake... As he matures and is able to focus his power more and actually works at what he is doing, I think these kinds of skill "crutches" become less necessary and are a bit of a distraction.
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Huge and hugely USELESS upgrade. Cannot be safely used on a day to day basis. Not to mention all the potential thieves they're going to attract. It's like wearing a gold plated shoes to go grocery shopping or something. I meant his own crafted items, especially those that store their own power. If wizards the power and age of McCoy find them useful. Harry can't really argue with that, right?
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Huge and hugely USELESS upgrade. Cannot be safely used on a day to day basis. Not to mention all the potential thieves they're going to attract. It's like wearing a gold plated shoes to go grocery shopping or something. I meant his own crafted items, especially those that store their own power. If wizards the power and age of McCoy find them useful. Harry can't really argue with that, right?
And just what gadgets does McCoy use outside of the blackstaff? Who says that a veil suit cannot be stolen? There is a reason why Harry stores the Artifacts on the island, so they won't be stolen..
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Harry already owns most of the most powerful magical artefacts in reality. Where is artefact upgrade has begun is with Bob the Castle, his Smart Ass House. There is potential there for Harry to plug into 21st Century technology his wizard peers can’t, with Bob being able to project on castle surfaces and interact with the electromagnetic spectrum.
Otherwise, it’s self improvement, things which were difficult becoming much easier (making the Gatekeepers anti veil ointment quickly from Tiger Balm for example) through experience or skill. It is clear Harry is going to learn shapeshifting and replicate and develop a defence to Carlos favourite disintegration attack from Battle Ground from the way things were set out. He is going to observe more what his opponents can do and be able analyse and direct countermeasures in real time, like he began to do in his battle with Eb, and replicate it. He is telescoping a couple of centuries experience into a couple of decades, Eb should have creamed him quickly, but Harry won that encounter.
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And just what gadgets does McCoy use outside of the blackstaff? Who says that a veil suit cannot be stolen? There is a reason why Harry stores the Artifacts on the island, so they won't be stolen..
Exactly. Stored on the island. Useless in a fight, unless he sees it coming at least 4 hours ahead, and actually has a chance to get them.
I don't like the veil suit idea, but Harry's crafted items will be less coveted, and presumably worn on his person at all times, ready for use and much harder to steal.
McCoy used a kinetic energy ring in Blood Rites.
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Exactly. Stored on the island. Useless in a fight, unless he sees it coming at least 4 hours ahead, and actually has a chance to get them.
I don't like the veil suit idea, but Harry's crafted items will be less coveted, and presumably worn on his person at all times, ready for use and much harder to steal.
McCoy used a kinetic energy ring in Blood Rites.
Harry also has one of those rings.. And the Artifacts are not supposed to be used on a daily bases, so they are fine where they are. I also think that Harry will find a way to the island that will get him there almost instantly. If not a way, I wouldn't be shocked if he learned to teleport in next book or two. Why else bring it up like Jim did in Battle Ground? Harry can improve his shield bracelet and the other gadgets he already has, but honestly I believe he has all that he needs. We've yet to see fully what the staff he made from wood on the island will do..
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Harry is likely already working on a way to get to the super weapons quickly. In Little Things he has the Za Guard living in the Castle for no given reason and is meditating a lot. Bob has now taken on Winter Blue livery. What I think is that he is trying to re-direct the Way from Lea’s Murder Garden to the Winter Knights Apartments at Arctis Tor. I believe there is already a way from Arctis Tor to Demonreach as both the Gatekeeper and the Winter Lady were able to access the Island by the Ways before it’s defences we’re fully engaged. Most likely Mab’s ice Dungeon.
That means once at the Castle Harry can access the super weapons securely in a matter of minutes, no more long vulnerable journeys by boat.
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And just what gadgets does McCoy use outside of the blackstaff?
McCoy uses his OWN staff on the daily; he only whips out the Blackstaff for really-big fights.
Similarly, his robes are armored-up; they're like Dresden's duster, but noticeably superior.
He and Harry share a pair of "speaking stones" (presumably McCoy's make).
He has a Kinetic ring like Harry's (presumably, Harry's is modeled on Eb's, like his staff is).
We also just don't see Eb enough to be sure how much more gear he uses, or doesn't use...
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... I also think that Harry will find a way to the island that will get him there almost instantly. If not a way, I wouldn't be shocked if he learned to teleport in next book or two. Why else bring it up like Jim did in Battle Ground? Harry can improve his shield bracelet and the other gadgets he already has, but honestly I believe he has all that he needs ...
I think Harry needs more "gadgets" for two reasons:
1) To cover his weaknesses. He's really really strong, in the areas here whe's strong. But he's only fair-to-middling in several other ways. Finesse and delicacy are areas where he still needs these "crutches." Also note that the Merlin -- in "combat gear" -- looks a helluva lot like a "Special Forces" guy, wearing a harness and a BUNCH of pockets, pouches, clips, etc holding a BUNCH of these gadgets.
1a) Harry's chiefest weakness is just his frail humanity. He still dies when someone shoots him, stabs him, etc. His shield-bracelet can stop a hail of bullets... if he has a moment to deploy it. Someone shooting him from under a veil would be an insta-kill. Likewise a savage brawler like a ghoul: if veiled, if Harry had no clue until the ghoul actually had his claws on Harry... that'd be it. Remember Eb's robes, in the battle at Chichen Itza? Eb didn't have to "do" anything, the bullets just thumped into the robe ... and dropped to the ground. Harry needs defenses that are always-on, that defend him even if the bad guys give him no warning.
2) Fan service. The readers just like Harry's toys. They like the scenes crafting them in the lab, where Harry and Bob snark at one another.
... We've yet to see fully what the staff he made from wood on the island will do.
The easy answer would be, "open a Gate from the staff to the tree." Boom, on the island.
The other likely method, IMHO, would be to find Runes linking the castle to the island.
I mean... the island's Runes were a level of complexity even Bob found daunting. And now Harry's living in a castle carved with such runes... and Bob is living *AS* the castle. Talk about a chekhovgun!!!
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This is something that's been bugging me throughout the series. Someone holds Harry at gunpoint, he raises his hands and hopes for a moment to raise his shield, then the conversation takes about 5 minutes, with Harry trying to defuse the situation because he's scared of the gun. I mean... Raise the freaking shield already. As far as we know, it only takes pouring his will into the bracelet, no gestures are even required.
I do understand that it's a little necessary for furthering the plot on many books, even if it doesn't make sense logically.
@ g33k: Harry has his duster, and there was a hint in Changes that he'll eventually be able to learn how to extend its protection to cover the head.
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That should be the next upgrade he makes to his shield bracelet. Store enough energy and the spell sequence to activate it with a single word and no gathering of power and make it last the few seconds he needs to gather his will to sustain it.
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That should be the next upgrade he makes to his shield bracelet. Store enough energy and the spell sequence to activate it with a single word and no gathering of power and make it last the few seconds he needs to gather his will to sustain it.
I'm fine with that, it is an upgrade to what already exists, like he realized after Mavra nearly burned his hand off that he had to also make the shield bracelet heat proof.
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That should be the next upgrade he makes to his shield bracelet. Store enough energy and the spell sequence to activate it with a single word and no gathering of power and make it last the few seconds he needs to gather his will to sustain it.
More likely that he gets finesse in how he directs his shield, making multiple shields at the same time, englobing an enemy with his shield so their fire returns at them and then contracting in to the size of a grapefruit (that would work lovely on Blamps, just like his gravitational spell but with less set up).
Now what is Harry going to do with Bob’s old skull? I would think that he would modify it to communicate remotely with Bob the Castle. If he can contact Bob with it, then Bob can patch him into the cell phone network, so that Harry would have a mobile bone phone. A telling bone so as to speak.
Mobile communications taken together with his mothers gem would allow Harry to be anywhere in North America in minutes, he could outflank the wardens. Easily.
The sonic screwdriver was abandoned in classic Doctor Who because it was too easy a solution for a story lasting 4-6 episodes. In Modern Who it’s perfect because it pushes the single episode stories on at a pace. That is the dilemma with most of Harry’s gadgets, they need to be appropriate to the speed of the narrative.
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... @ g33k: Harry has his duster, and there was a hint in Changes that he'll eventually be able to learn how to extend its protection to cover the head.
He does have his duster. But, in addition to the head, it's an open-front garment (can be closed, but default-open). He sometimes skips it entirely "because of the heat," and would similarly leave it open for comfort. Again, someone veiled could just walk up and gut him.
I guess a duster-upgrade could be made to work, though; if it "covers" the head without actually covering the head, it could do the same for his front. He needs to build in some climate-control, though, so he doesn't just leave it behind!
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... Now what is Harry going to do with Bob’s old skull? ...
The obvious solution is to make it Bonea's new digs.
Redecorated in "tween girl" themes of pink & purple, glitter & unicorns...
Bob visits once "for old times sake" and leaves, horrified... ;D
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Harry as Junk Man, with Captain Kangaroo pockets and 15 minutes spent sorting his inventory before he can do anything. He isn't James Bond and he doesn't have Q to whip up the gadgets. I would settle for him using the gadgets he has. Like that nifty necklace with the maps.
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Harry as Junk Man, with Captain Kangaroo pockets and 15 minutes spent sorting his inventory before he can do anything. He isn't James Bond and he doesn't have Q to whip up the gadgets. I would settle for him using the gadgets he has. Like that nifty necklace with the maps.
Indeed, though I think his mother's "N.W.F or Nevernever Way Finder," is going to come in handy very soon.
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Indeed, though I think his mother's "N.W.F or Nevernever Way Finder," is going to come in handy very soon.
It kinda had a "starring role" in Changes! I've wanted to see more.
But suspect that Jim finds it a challenge to write interestingly. Hearing a pre-recorded voice of his mother only carries so much narrative weight, after the first few times. In terms of the narrative, it can be reduced to a 1-liner along the lines of "a quick consultation with my mother's gem..."
(I mean, it gets a bit more wordcount each time it's 1st used in a book, simply because Jim needs to allow for new readers just jumping aboard. But we've already had the emotional "this is my mother's voice" scene.)
I seriously doubt we'll see it in Twelve Months. Jim has already said the book is a bit more "Daily Life" and "Guest Starring: The City of Chicago," which mostly would seem to preclude a Wayfinder-Gem storyline... Maybe the one after that?
I'm hoping (semi-expecting) that in TM he'll be interacting with the mortal Chicagoans who followed his Banner in BG.
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It kinda had a "starring role" in Changes! I've wanted to see more.
"Guest Starring"
That... Was absolutely horrible. When I read the second one I nearly bashed my head on the wall. The only thing that stopped me was the possibility of seeing stars.
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The obvious solution is to make it Bonea's new digs.
Redecorated in "tween girl" themes of pink & purple, glitter & unicorns...
Bob visits once "for old times sake" and leaves, horrified... ;D
Bonea has a perfectly fine Sanctum originally Bobs intended back up made by Harry. As the Castle Bob is heavily defended but lacks mobility. Retaining a connection to his old skull would provide him with a “lifeboat” should the Castle fall. I have also speculated that there is no reason why Bonea and Bob could not create temporary ectoplasm bodies around their skulls and puppet them about to better interact with humans./
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To date, no spirit based in reality has show the ability to manifest an ectoplasmic body. Ghosts can and so can beings native to the Never Never or Outside. but I think this ability is outside of a spirits ability. Otherwise Bob or Evil Bob would have done it by now. there have been plenty of places and opportunities for them to do so. Also note that upon entering the Never Never, they both manifest freely.
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To date, no spirit based in reality has show the ability to manifest an ectoplasmic body. Ghosts can and so can beings native to the Never Never or Outside. but I think this ability is outside of a spirits ability. Otherwise Bob or Evil Bob would have done it by now. there have been plenty of places and opportunities for them to do so. Also note that upon entering the Never Never, they both manifest freely.
Bob has traveled outside of his skull when Harry has given him time off or when he is on a mission for Harry. However other than the mention of him riding on the back of Mister, nothing is said about what his appearance looks like. One time we have had that was in Ghost Story when Harry actually was inside of the skull with him.
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Um he animated a bronze lion in Skin Game.
If he can do that then he can pull ectoplasm from the Never Never and animate that.
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Bob has traveled outside of his skull when Harry has given him time off or when he is on a mission for Harry.
But he was a "naked" spirit there, subject to dissipation at dawn.
The speculation at hand is whether a spirit can summon an ectoplasmic body to protect them from sunlight ... a good case has been made for "no, they cannot."
... However other than the mention of him riding on the back of Mister, nothing is said about what his appearance looks like ...
I think in those cases he is "riding" inside of Mister; a form of "possession" if you will. And that protects him from sunlight, too.
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Um he animated a bronze lion in Skin Game.
If he can do that then he can pull ectoplasm from the Never Never and animate that.
The one doesn't follow from the other.
And I'm pretty sure some of the scenes had Bob barely making it home before sunrise (which it was said would have destroyed him).
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Dawn would destroy him if he is outside of a sanctum, or the NeverNever if he surrounds his sanctum with ectoplasmic flesh he is safe, but the spell would fail and Bob’s body would dissolve into a splash of ectoplasm, meaning no overnight assignations for Bob as his date would wake up to a naked skull in a puddle of ectoplasm. It’s why you don’t take faerie gold (or bitcoin) they evaporate at dawn.
If Harry can sneeze living giant spiders into existence by creating them out of ectoplasm Bob and Bonea can create bodies, but it would taken a continuing expenditure of magic to do so, could be interrupted by dawn or a magic circle or enough gross physical damage.
We have interestingly been given visuals for both in Ghost Story Bob visualises himself as Butters nerdier younger brother. Similarly Bonea is an amalgam of all the women Harry has loved depicted as a vulnerable child younger than Maggie. Therefore Jim has certainly considered this.
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Dawn would destroy him if he is outside of a sanctum, or the NeverNever if he surrounds his sanctum with ectoplasmic flesh he is safe, but the spell would fail and Bob’s body would dissolve into a splash of ectoplasm, meaning no overnight assignations for Bob as his date would wake up to a naked skull in a puddle of ectoplasm...
But the Ramps summoned their flesh-masks out of ectoplasm... and the older ones had learned how to even have their masks survive the sun!
I expect Bob knows that trick, too... but cannot use it, for some reason.
Bob is actually a VERY strong spirit -- strong enough that Harry used Bob to armor Murph against the Lords of the Outer Night -- so "not strong enough" doesn't seem like the answer.
It seems likely that it's something about the spirit-state.
If Harry can sneeze living giant spiders into existence by creating them out of ectoplasm Bob and Bonea can create bodies.
Harry -- embodied, living, mortal Harry -- is a different category of being.
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If Bob or Evil Bob could manifest an ectoplasmic body, they'd be completely independent.
They could build as many Sanctums as they wanted while manifesting, hide them all over and have plenty of safehouses that no one knows about.
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We haven’t heard from Evil Bob recently……..hmmmm.
I suspect a sanctum may need to be built by a mortal as it is a protection in the mortal world. Similar to mortals having to summon Outsiders in. Or a threshold only protects mortals. Bobs original sanctum was built by Etienne the Enchanter and Bob bargained away considerable freedom to get it. Did Bob the Smartass Castle bargain with Harry?
There seems to be a no on bootstrapping in this way.
Of course Evil Bob can manifest ectoplamically and bully a mortal practitioner into making a Sanctum for him, though that seems to be wizard level and quite tricky.
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We haven’t heard from Evil Bob recently……..hmmmm.
I am a bit worried about "Bob the Castle" having adopted EvilBobWinter Blue Livery...
I think it's just coincidence.
Probably.
But Jim can be something of a bastard sometimes...
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My theory on the blue winter livery is that it is Harry trying to create a new connection to the NeverNever and Arctis Tor, specifically the Winter Knight quarters. He is residing at the Castle and has his Za Guard living there as well (Winter Warriors) Bob declaring for winter might be part of an amnesty with Mab, but it aids in this. His meditation is actually visualisation of the link.
The reason is to give Maggie a secure bolt hole to the NeverNever, I also think there is an existing route to Demonreach from Arctis Tor used by The Gatekeeper and Maeve.
I think the Evil Bob arc might end with the two Bobs amalgamating back into a single Bob.
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My theory on the blue winter livery is that it is Harry trying to create a new connection to the NeverNever and Arctis Tor, specifically the Winter Knight quarters. He is residing at the Castle and has his Za Guard living there as well (Winter Warriors) Bob declaring for winter might be part of an amnesty with Mab, but it aids in this. His meditation is actually visualisation of the link.
Makes sense. Apparently Harry is "Claiming the castle" in the magical sense.
However, Maeve didn't use a way, she jumped off a plane.
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That veil suit..... what about a sort of wearable Faraday Cage? Keeps the magic in. Allows use of modern electrical stuff, TVs, computers, etc. Seems blocking is easier than transmitting....
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Makes sense. Apparently Harry is "Claiming the castle" in the magical sense.
However, Maeve didn't use a way, she jumped off a plane.
Turn Coat not Cold Days, Maeve brought Peabody to the Island by the Ways, with the Spiders and took him off. Peabody couldn’t get there by himself, and Maeve took a huge risk, probably rendering that route unusable if it was under Mab’s scrutiny after Turncoat. That is suggestive of Arctis Tor. There is a way from Chicago from Pells Theatre to the Phobophages lair outside Arctis Tor, Peabody could and did go from Edinburgh to Chicago by himself, met by Maeve who took him to Arctis Tor via Pell’s and then on foot into Arctis Tor, to the waypoint to Demonreach, which I think we have seen, it’s Mab’s Ice Dungeon where Lea was on Ice. Where else in the Never Never is going to be congruent to Demonreach?
Clearly by Cold Days even Mab didn’t dare use it as Harry had learnt enough about the island to take her down if she set foot on it, and Harry would know via his intellectus. That why she wouldn’t step off the dock.
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If Mab thinks Harry needs a door she will have one created for him, however if the Winter Knight needs a door to get to to the Winter nerve center he's a bad Knight. He should have the fortress on portal speed dial.
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Mab is a firm believer in self help, unless she has skin in the game Harry is on his own.
And he knows it.
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That veil suit..... what about a sort of wearable Faraday Cage? Keeps the magic in. Allows use of modern electrical stuff, TVs, computers, etc. Seems blocking is easier than transmitting....
I don't believe a Faraday cage will block magic, only E-M radiation. It therefore *WOULD* block tv's, radio, wifi, cellphone, etc.
You could get a landline or fiberoptic through a Faraday cage, but crossing a magic circle with such a line would break the circle. The E-M spectrum crosses magic easily, though... wifi, cellphone, etc.
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Harry needs a collapsible hula hoop, a bit of blood and will and presto instant magic circle insulating him from outside forces and preventing him from hexing up technology.
Better yet hooped clown trousers, presumably a magical circle works upwards and downwards, so one suspended around his middle will be portable, he can move it with him.
If only he had thought of it when he had the Blue Beetle….
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There are many many ways to solve the technology problem. But Jim wanted the wizards to be handicapped, so they are. I admit it makes the books more fun.
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I don't believe a Faraday cage will block magic, only E-M radiation. It therefore *WOULD* block tv's, radio, wifi, cellphone, etc.
You could get a landline or fiberoptic through a Faraday cage, but crossing a magic circle with such a line would break the circle. The E-M spectrum crosses magic easily, though... wifi, cellphone, etc.
A simple Faraday cage won't but the the storage shed on Turn Coat was modeled on that principle. A more complicated setup rings of wards and cages should be possible(Actually, we know it is because the Swartalves building had no trouble with the power while Harry was there).
And Jim only uses it as a dramatic plot device, The only thing Harry consistently hexes is computers unless he does so intentionally.
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...(Actually, we know it is because the Swartalves building had no trouble with the power while Harry was there) ...
We don't know HOW they do it, actually. They may have some secret method to bypass the hexing effect. Or they may just observe the modern conveniences and observe, "sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
And Jim only uses it as a dramatic plot device, The only thing Harry consistently hexes is computers unless he does so intentionally.
He hexes cellphones, including being unable to own one himself.
He hexes modern cars; they don't insta-die, but the complex subsystems each fail with relative rapidity; both Thomas' SUV and Billy&Georgia's failed soon after Harry began driving them. More a "comedic" than dramatic plot device!
Medical equipment goes down near him, though he can usually minimize that for a short while, when it's crucial.
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Harry actually needs a less brutal version of Thorn Manacles, which allow him to dial back his powers to protect tech when required, something no more than a diabetic blood test finger prick, rather than the savage bite. Rotate, prick, powers off, rotate again powers back on.
Harry would of course get it accidentally jammed on. During a fight.
However this would be very useful for Young wizards to attend normal schools without killing their computers and phones. Harry could go to a normal cinema. Or hospital.
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We don't know HOW they do it, actually. They may have some secret method to bypass the hexing effect. Or they may just observe the modern conveniences and observe, "sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
He hexes cellphones, including being unable to own one himself.
He hexes modern cars; they don't insta-die, but the complex subsystems each fail with relative rapidity; both Thomas' SUV and Billy&Georgia's failed soon after Harry began driving them. More a "comedic" than dramatic plot device!
Medical equipment goes down near him, though he can usually minimize that for a short while, when it's crucial.
Right, but the parts he hexes are always the computers and the microcomputers of the cars. It's why he can drive older cars safely, they don't have the electronics to fry.
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Right, but the parts he hexes are always the computers and the microcomputers of the cars. It's why he can drive older cars safely, they don't have the electronics to fry.
Microchips -- all electronics -- are the most susceptible, but he doesn't use plain ol' electrical stuff either. Candles for light, not light-bulbs, because he kept blowing light-bulbs. No hot-water heater, old icebox instead of refrigerator.
With only the slightest of efforts, he blew a transformer box; also, an electric fence.
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Microchips -- all electronics -- are the most susceptible, but he doesn't use plain ol' electrical stuff either. Candles for light, not light-bulbs, because he kept blowing light-bulbs. No hot-water heater, old icebox instead of refrigerator.
With only the slightest of efforts, he blew a transformer box; also, an electric fence.
That has seemed to have changed though in the castle. He has a walk in freezer where he stores pizza for Za'Gard.
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That has seemed to have changed though in the castle. He has a walk in freezer where he stores pizza for Za'Gard.
Having experienced Molly's digs, he knows it's possible! Maybe he just worked a warding circle into the floor, set the freezer into it.
He may have shopped at the Best Buy in Svartalfheim.
Etc.
I mean... he has a castle as his personal residence, and enough diamonds that he no longer needs to worry about scrimping on meals, or making rent, or paying his bills (paying his debts is a different matter!), so the Old Dresden stories featuring the Struggling PI are kind of a thing of the past.
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Having experienced Molly's digs, he knows it's possible! Maybe he just worked a warding circle into the floor, set the freezer into it.
He may have shopped at the Best Buy in Svartalfheim.
Etc.
I mean... he has a castle as his personal residence, and enough diamonds that he no longer needs to worry about scrimping on meals, or making rent, or paying his bills (paying his debts is a different matter!), so the Old Dresden stories featuring the Struggling PI are kind of a thing of the past.
I think the elves had a lot to do with the wiring in Molly's apartment, and if they are helping with the remodeling and repair of the castle, they could install the same set up.. Harry needs it, it just isn't him anymore.
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Maybe the mantle would let him get a cell phone like Molly.
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Money creates new problems, Harry is going to be sued and not just by Larry Fowler. His neighbours will probably ask Harry to buy them out, as he is a planning blight and that might not be so bad, if the boom had gone off it would have damaged the neighbouring house.
Then there is the IRS “so Mr Dresden, you say you were dead for a large portion of that tax year? Do you know how often we get that excuse? Please explain why you suddenly live in a Castle and appear to have an unexplained large amount of wealth”
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Money creates new problems, Harry is going to be sued and not just by Larry Fowler. His neighbours will probably ask Harry to buy them out, as he is a planning blight and that might not be so bad, if the boom had gone off it would have damaged the neighbouring house.
Then there is the IRS “so Mr Dresden, you say you were dead for a large portion of that tax year? Do you know how often we get that excuse? Please explain why you suddenly live in a Castle and appear to have an unexplained large amount of wealth”
I think Rashiid took care of all that when he handled his affairs with the White Council. He will have to worry about next year though. I'm sure Marcone reported the castle to the IRS as a payment for freelance services.
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I don't believe a Faraday cage will block magic, only E-M radiation. It therefore *WOULD* block tv's, radio, wifi, cellphone, etc.
You could get a landline or fiberoptic through a Faraday cage, but crossing a magic circle with such a line would break the circle. The E-M spectrum crosses magic easily, though... wifi, cellphone, etc.
I wondered if he could somehow make a suit that blocked magic,so he COULD use some electrical equipment now and then
and if a circle did not let EM thru... well, you wouldn't be able to SEE in and out...
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Microchips -- all electronics -- are the most susceptible, but he doesn't use plain ol' electrical stuff either. Candles for light, not light-bulbs, because he kept blowing light-bulbs. No hot-water heater, old icebox instead of refrigerator.
With only the slightest of efforts, he blew a transformer box; also, an electric fence.
I think for electrical it seems to require extended contact. He goes into office buildings without blowing everything out. He HAS an office - it never said he used candles there. Other people in the boardinghouse presumably had electricity. With a lot of maintenance, Mac's place has electricity. A water heater in a small apartment, maybe hard to shield. He might not spend a great deal of time in the kitchen, he can get away with a quick dash in for frozen pizza. Or for actual food
Microcircuits are easier to blow due to the proximity of parts of the circuitry to each other. Electrical filaments are likely what he blows. Edison didn't make the first electrical light, he made the first PRACTICAL one - one they didn't burn the filament out in a few minutes.
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The Swartalves fitted out the Castle for Marcone, that is stated in Peace Talks. Marcone owns any number of construction companies, so I thought that a little odd at the time, but makes perfect sense if he had Namshiels coin, the electrical failures might have given the game away to someone like Murphy or Lara.
It suggests he was actively using the the coin from Changes onwards when he acquired the site.
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You can probably trace the genesis of Butcher's idea to have Marcone pick up the coin to the Goodman Grey short story where the story concludes with Goodman Grey basically saying that if he comes for Marcone, Marcone will never see him coming. It is at this point that Marcone probably realizes that all the precautions he has taken to that point haven't made him safer. I don't have that in quotable text.
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Marcone is a brilliant forward planner,when the castle was built he was certainly considering the option of taking up the coin, we don’t know exactly when or what provoked it.
Whilst Goodman Grey’s threat may have been the trigger, as big a trigger is likely to have been the re-emergence of Harry or the personal threat from the Fomor (Dead Mans Hand).
It should be noted in Dead Mans Hand Marcone is still using temporary headquarters, and I think that event was the trigger to start planning as he had gone as far as he could as a vanilla mortal, and he survived by the skin of his teeth.
Remember Marcone is developing his own list of supernatural enemies
1. Harry Dresden
2. Goodman Grey
3. The Fomor
4. Nicodemus Archelone
I think it really was the re-emergence of Harry, that forced him to pick up the coin as despite run-ins with the other 3 it’s Harry who he reveals himself to, because he has to eventually so from Cold Days onwards is the earliest he could have picked up the coin and put the Castle contingency in play which he started planning from Dead Mans Hand.
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The kitchen.... if you run the wiring UNDER the flooring, and put the circle ON the flooring, is it protected? Computer rooms had raised flooring to force ventilation and cabling underneath.... does a circle project underground? how high up? Likewise a PC can have cabling run from below
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Bob can project on the walls, floors, ceilings of the Castle and can pick up electro magnetic frequencies. You just need a wireless router in one of the neighbouring houses too far away for Harry to disrupt to him to patch into the internet, and a nearby cell tower to patch in for cell phones.
Harry doesn’t need a computer, the Castle is now a computer. Harry has entered the silicon age. Literally.
Bob is capable of multi-tasking (at least at watching porn) so he should be interact with multiple users as his own local network for the castle users.
Initially his projections will be blue BUT we have seen him use other colours and Blue, green and red should be possible so he can go full colour. Harry will be so excited when the Mandalorian streams in the Dresdenverse (it’s currently late 2014) so several years to go.
Sound reproduction may be a problem, Bob isn’t a mimic and has only ever reproduced his own voice. In doing so it is either telepathic, of he is manipulating the air molecules to create sound. However as he can interface with a loudspeaker that ceases to be an issue.
Loudspeaker technology is old, Harry uses an old style radio but decent valve driven speakers date from 1912, over a hundred years old, so it would be relatively easy to custom build speakers using that tech (older by thirty years than the Munster mobile and amplifiers use valves today) with Bob acting as a carrier wave for them (he communicated via Harry’s office radio early in the series), Harry should be able to get full sound reproduction, even if Bob cannot provide it directly.Using a magic circle would cut off Bob’s carrier wave, but the tech would be old enough to likely hardly ever burn out because of Harry.
Whilst Harry can speak to Bob to dictate things it might be possible to rig up a keyboard. Get a slab of Castle Stone and have Bob project a keyboard touchpad on it. Bob should be able to discern the keys being touched and make the corresponding alpha numeric notation.
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... he communicated via Harry’s office radio early in the series ...
I only recall that vaguely. But I think Bob was actually *there,* speaking from the radio as he "speaks from" his skull
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The radio was not a sanctum and Harry would rarely if ever release Bob.
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The radio was not a sanctum and Harry would rarely if ever release Bob.
I don't think the "sanctum" effect is necessary to create speech. Bob was able to make the brass lion go "raawr" in Skin Game.
Harry *could* have assigned Bob some specific directions, not a general "release."
But honestly... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness) is probably the most-likely explanation. :o
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Bob can project on the walls, floors, ceilings of the Castle and can pick up electro magnetic frequencies. You just need a wireless router in one of the neighbouring houses too far away for Harry to disrupt to him to patch into the internet, and a nearby cell tower to patch in for cell phones.
Harry doesn’t need a computer, the Castle is now a computer. Harry has entered the silicon age. Literally.
Bob is capable of multi-tasking (at least at watching porn) so he should be interact with multiple users as his own local network for the castle users.
Initially his projections will be blue BUT we have seen him use other colours and Blue, green and red should be possible so he can go full colour. Harry will be so excited when the Mandalorian streams in the Dresdenverse (it’s currently late 2014) so several years to go.
Sound reproduction may be a problem, Bob isn’t a mimic and has only ever reproduced his own voice. In doing so it is either telepathic, of he is manipulating the air molecules to create sound. However as he can interface with a loudspeaker that ceases to be an issue.
Loudspeaker technology is old, Harry uses an old style radio but decent valve driven speakers date from 1912, over a hundred years old, so it would be relatively easy to custom build speakers using that tech (older by thirty years than the Munster mobile and amplifiers use valves today) with Bob acting as a carrier wave for them (he communicated via Harry’s office radio early in the series), Harry should be able to get full sound reproduction, even if Bob cannot provide it directly.Using a magic circle would cut off Bob’s carrier wave, but the tech would be old enough to likely hardly ever burn out because of Harry.
Whilst Harry can speak to Bob to dictate things it might be possible to rig up a keyboard. Get a slab of Castle Stone and have Bob project a keyboard touchpad on it. Bob should be able to discern the keys being touched and make the corresponding alpha numeric notation.
Bob needs a browser and other software - an unprocessed signal will look like static.
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Bob is the operating system, software and browser - spirit of intellect. If he can interpret the extremely complex and dense signal of Demonreach, and present is in a format Garry can understand the internet is a snap, especially as it means unlimited porn as an incentive.
Harry can actually therefore get a credit card and some use out of it even after it gets ruined, the chip or strip isn’t needed for on-line purchase.
An AI is really just a new type of spirit of intellect, not born from a brain but from a circuit board. The Fae can come into existence in so many ways, why not? Bob may be the bridge, so we might get Bob Junior born of Bob and the internet.
What a horrifying thought.
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... we might get Bob Junior born of Bob and the internet.
What a horrifying thought.
I'm pretty sure that would be 99% porn & 1% magical theory & practice.
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98% porn, 1% magical theory, 1% cat videos.
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Bob is the operating system, software and browser - spirit of intellect. If he can interpret the extremely complex and dense signal of Demonreach, and present is in a format Garry can understand the internet is a snap, especially as it means unlimited porn as an incentive.
Harry can actually therefore get a credit card and some use out of it even after it gets ruined, the chip or strip isn’t needed for on-line purchase.
An AI is really just a new type of spirit of intellect, not born from a brain but from a circuit board. The Fae can come into existence in so many ways, why not? Bob may be the bridge, so we might get Bob Junior born of Bob and the internet.
What a horrifying thought.
I don't know if Bob is all that creative... he's more a reference work of what he has seen others do. Where has he seen the code for all this? OK, some stuff is open source, but... otherwise he should have been able to pick up wifi previously, no cable required,
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He has been living with Butters for years, Bob is now his own coder.
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Not every geek knows how to code mate, that's a hurtful stereotype.
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Not every geek knows how to code mate, that's a hurtful stereotype.
Butters is a genius, as a vanilla mortal he cracked magical theory, so he can almost certainly write code. And one day someone will downliad the App he wrote which can turn any song or tune into Polka.
Besides who do you think set up the Paranet website? Harry?
Butters is the Emperor of Geekdom (but in a good way)
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That's like saying that all scientists are astronauts. Or all engineers are pilots.
AFAIK, Butters had nothing to do with the paranet. Harry and Elaine took Anna's weregild and used it to set up the site. I assume that Elaine hired a professional web developer. Otherwise. It wouldn't take much money for an amateur to put up a website. You can do it for as little as $6/month. All you need to do is rent a domain and some hosting. For a niche market like this one, you won't need much space /options. And there are a ton of forums that you can use for free, without paying a license.
Editing code to your personal preferences only takes brains and a little technical know how (and lots of frustrating trial-and-error). Actually creating new code takes years of study.
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Do we even know what "the paranet" *IS*?
Is it a website, with user-forums?
Is it a wiki space?
Is it just mailing-list and FTP archive?
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Do we even know what "the paranet" *IS*?
Is it a website, with user-forums?
Is it a wiki space?
Is it just mailing-list and FTP archive?
I don't think we do yet.. ???
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I don't think we do yet.. ???
Everything we have seen has been filtered through Harry, who can’t use. Butters POV was Day One which didn’t reference it.
Perhaps we need a Paranoid Gary POV as “the man in the chair” with the Paranet. I bet Jim can’t write a good cyber punk story in the Dresdenverse where it’s protagonist doesn’t even leave his chair. Not his style at all.
You could have Gary tracking Harry because of the effect he has on Electronics like CCTV cameras, cell towers etc question does each Wizard have their own “fingerprint” as regards the interference pattern? Unless they go thorn manacles, it would allow even the best screened wizard to be tracked and identified by non-magical means. Perhaps Gary has been keeping tabs on Harry this way for years.
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Oooh! I want this story now! ;D
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... Perhaps we need a Paranoid Gary POV as “the man in the chair” with the Paranet ...
Oooh! I want this story now! ;D
Oh yeah, me too!
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Well we know from Alera's origin, that Jim responds to challenges so ...
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You don’t earn the epithet “Paranoid” because you haven’t been keeping tabs electronically on Harry, Marcone, Lara Raith, Goodman Grey (he will after Battle Ground) the Swartalves, all the big hitters in Chicago, and as an oracle and a genius hacker to come up with some unique ways of keeping tabs on them. Harry would be the worst, no cellphone, doesn’t use a credit card, glitches CCTV cameras. So if there is a pattern in his glitch, a signature or fingerprint, Gary would find it and be able to track in real time through a monitoring programme of CCTV cameras (we know he can easily get into those) and other things which Harry would create a disturbance in which are connected to the internet, such as traffic signals, ATM’s etc. Basically Gary likely has the electronic equivalent of Little Chicago, but one Wizards are entirely blind too.
Have to be some time after Battle Ground as all the electronics not magically protected were fried. However internet is back by Christmas.
It would be interesting to see his on-line interaction with fellow on-line Paranet conspiracy theorists as part of this. Those who believe Bigfoot is real, but refuse to believe he wears a tux and glasses as Gary swears. Call the story CYBER PUNKS.
Funnily enough the Swartalves would probably call him “Perfectly Normal Gary”
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You don’t earn the epithet “Paranoid” because you haven’t been keeping tabs electronically on Harry, Marcone, Lara Raith, Goodman Grey (he will after Battle Ground) the Swartalves, all the big hitters in Chicago...
Gary is good, but I doubt he's that good.
Lara & Marcone, in particular, will have hired their own top-tier hackers, both for self-protection and to attack enemies.
Goodman Grey's shapeshifting will defeat all the CCTV monitoring, and he undoubtedly uses lots of cash (instead of cards) which reduces his "digital footprint" almost to nil.
All the big faerie powers -- including the svartalves -- have huge amounts of their power (usually the majority of it) in the Nevernever, which is utterly beyond Gary's reach.
Gary probably only learned about the Nevernever when Harry&Elaine founded the Paranet and the supernaturals began some online chatter on the topic. But the thing about the Paranet is that the mostly-low-level supernaturals just aren't as clued-in as the big players. Harry himself -- a mostly-trained WC wizard -- only learned of some fundamental things (like Summer&Winter's Lady/Queen/Mother "3 Queens" structure) on-screen, from Bob.
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Gary isn’t just a hacker, he is an oracle, it’s the expression of his minor talent, allowing him to predict the future from the scant information available. That means his talent is magnified by the Information Age and is complimentary to technology rather than antithetical like a wizards.
Yes, Marcone and Lara have their own people, it didn’t stop him spying on Thomas and Justine, covered by Lara’s people so presumably he is also in Marcone’s System . Ironically if he is monitoring practitioners, he may have already caught onto Marcone before he revealed himself to Harry.
The Faerie Courts are in the Never Never, but Molly has a phone, he’s probably in that, same with Fix, so he has probably penetrated that part of both Courts in the mortal world.
Goodman Grey uses his non-descript face way too much, the human eye passes over it, facial recognition doesn’t. His car doesn’t shapeshift. He is a dedicated gamer, that’s one way to get to him. He can and does use e-mail, which means he has a phone capable of being hacked. It depends on how good his assistant is on whether they can keep Garry out. My bet is he is being monitored by Gary through his gaming, it’s the one thing his assistant is dismissive of, so Grey likely also has a portable internet capable gaming device with apps which have back doors Gary can exploit.
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Everything we have seen has been filtered through Harry, who can’t use. Butters POV was Day One which didn’t reference it.
Perhaps we need a Paranoid Gary POV as “the man in the chair” with the Paranet. I bet Jim can’t write a good cyber punk story in the Dresdenverse where it’s protagonist doesn’t even leave his chair. Not his style at all.
You could have Gary tracking Harry because of the effect he has on Electronics like CCTV cameras, cell towers etc question does each Wizard have their own “fingerprint” as regards the interference pattern? Unless they go thorn manacles, it would allow even the best screened wizard to be tracked and identified by non-magical means. Perhaps Gary has been keeping tabs on Harry this way for years.
I wonder if Rashid's Cone of Silence spell from the dispensary is proof against eavesdropping? Or is Harry's castle has a room encircled by water puipes, and a pump just circulating the water running water diffusing magic .... hey, could he put a PC in that room? Run two concentric shells of pipe, you can eel power and ethernet cables thru...
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Gary isn’t just a hacker, he is an oracle, it’s the expression of his minor talent, allowing him to predict the future from the scant information available. That means his talent is magnified by the Information Age and is complimentary to technology rather than antithetical like a wizards.
Yes, Marcone and Lara have their own people, it didn’t stop him spying on Thomas and Justine, covered by Lara’s people so presumably he is also in Marcone’s System . Ironically if he is monitoring practitioners, he may have already caught onto Marcone before he revealed himself to Harry.
The Faerie Courts are in the Never Never, but Molly has a phone, he’s probably in that, same with Fix, so he has probably penetrated that part of both Courts in the mortal world ...
I think it likely that Gary has some sort of "oracular" or "ultra-intuitive" ability, but you are describing something WAY more than a "minor talent!" (Also, I don't recall any in-canon "reveal" of Gary-as-Oracle (though I haven't yet gotten the last few shorts); is there WoJ on this?)
Hacking the Summer Knight , and the Winter Lady? You do realize that one of the things faeries are really good at is knowing hidden things, right? If he's stepping on the Faerie Courts' toes this way... then Gary is a major talent, not a minor one! As a side-note, though: what exactly do Sir Fix and Lady Molly do with their phones??!? Dollars to donuts they don't interact with distant members of their respective Faerie Courts. I bet that mostly, they do mortal-facing stuff... and not as Faerie representatives.
Goodman Grey uses his non-descript face way too much, the human eye passes over it, facial recognition doesn’t. His car doesn’t shapeshift. He is a dedicated gamer, that’s one way to get to him. He can and does use e-mail, which means he has a phone capable of being hacked. It depends on how good his assistant is on whether they can keep Garry out. My bet is he is being monitored by Gary through his gaming, it’s the one thing his assistant is dismissive of, so Grey likely also has a portable internet capable gaming device with apps which have back doors Gary can exploit.
Goodman Grey is a shapeshifter. Facial recognition loses him entirely, each time he shifts. He can turn into a bird, or a bat, and fly; he can turn into a rat, and climb through drains.
Also, both general cctv-based monitoring, and facial-recognition tech, are well-publicized but highly-imperfect. I expect Grey knows both the tech & its limits, and has established ways to escape the surveillance. Tech may be Gary's expertise... but passing unnoticed is Grey's.
I am unclear how much Grey might overlap his "gaming" devices with his "professional" devices, but it's not all that hard to create wholly-separate online identities, and keep them on different devices.
Again -- Grey's talents are highly-unusual and highly-specialized; Vadderung suggested there were only a half-dozen or so in the entire world. Your theory calls for Gary to be able to out-perform Grey in Grey's own area of specialization... if that's so (and maybe it is; but I doubt it) it shows Gary as a major talent.
OTOH, maybe he isn't that careful... The GG short Monsters is still on my to-track-down-and-read list, so any revelations there aren't yet on my own radar.
(n.b. the Archive is a major oracle, of the sort you describe; Ivy listens to calls on Molly's phone, almost certainly!)
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The point is that Gary is a minor talent, it is his good fortune that he lives in an age where technology magnifies the importance of his talent. On oracle isn’t necessarily a full blown prophet, its more a pattern recognition thing, a poor man’s intellectus, an intellectus can see the entire picture, an oracle can see part of the entire picture when they only have few pieces.
Gary must be a killer at jigsaw puzzle.
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The GG short Monsters is still on my to-track-down-and-read list, so any revelations there aren't yet on my own radar.
(n.b. the Archive is a major oracle, of the sort you describe; Ivy listens to calls on Molly's phone, almost certainly!)
I have it and you aren't missing much, but relevant to the discussion. Grey concluding some work for Marcone by killing some pedophiles working for Marcone and Marcone voicing his displeasure.“I suggest you look at this as a glass half-full,” I replied. “You didn’t lose anything but liabilities. Your rivals had already compromised them with the photographs. Probably what they had in mind all along. I just saved you years of headaches and information leaks.”
“You are playing with fire, Mr. Grey.”
“Nobody should do that,” I said. “That omelet looks tasty. But grapefruit juice?”
Marcone’s face went blank. His eyes swept up and down the street. “See you around, Baron,” I drawled. I finished my coffee, left the burner phone on the table, rose, and walked away. I was just one more random face among millions. Marcone’s eyes didn’t track me. How could they?
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Gary is good, but I doubt he's that good.
Lara & Marcone, in particular, will have hired their own top-tier hackers, both for self-protection and to attack enemies.
Goodman Grey's shapeshifting will defeat all the CCTV monitoring, and he undoubtedly uses lots of cash (instead of cards) which reduces his "digital footprint" almost to nil.
All the big faerie powers -- including the svartalves -- have huge amounts of their power (usually the majority of it) in the Nevernever, which is utterly beyond Gary's reach.
Gary probably only learned about the Nevernever when Harry&Elaine founded the Paranet and the supernaturals began some online chatter on the topic. But the thing about the Paranet is that the mostly-low-level supernaturals just aren't as clued-in as the big players. Harry himself -- a mostly-trained WC wizard -- only learned of some fundamental things (like Summer&Winter's Lady/Queen/Mother "3 Queens" structure) on-screen, from Bob.
It was a signing response, IIRC- someone asked what his talent was to be in the Paranet and Butcher responded that he was an oracle. Big "OH" moment with the looming Apocalypse and his paranoia.
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And we get to see a big slice of Gary in The Law. And yes Bob is on the internet, but nowhere as good as Gary at getting information off of it, suggesting a definite paranormal ability and yes he is also as technically as talented as as I suspected, able to outwit the cyber experts working for Nameless, scoffing at someone like Will who is averagely above cyber competent.
Bob was insanely interested in his “well organised” skull and given where we know of where little spirits of intellect come from, that should worry Gary. I have long theorised Lea is Bob’s mum, and he might want a little brother or sister.