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Topics - g33k

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1
DF Spoilers / One of the most White Court things I've seen ...
« on: April 26, 2025, 12:45:43 AM »
Probably NSFW, in case you're at work; tho neither X- nor R-rated.
Music video, so not quiet, either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsxzBCr2zNM
 

2
DF Comic Books / are all of the CB's still in-print/available?
« on: April 20, 2025, 06:38:12 PM »
Hi,

I've read all the novels & all but a few of the most-recent shorts.
Have only dabbled in the CB/GN's, very hit-or-miss.

I'd like to get a full set (if they can still all be had without going the crazy-collector-price route), preferably in collected/omnibus editions rather than the slim per-isssue original run (also helpful in avoiding the aforementioned crazy-collector-prices; but I actually like the chonkier volumes better).

Any tips or advice on how to get it all?
 

3
DF Spoilers / "Restoration of Faith" (but especially: Faith)
« on: April 13, 2025, 10:59:54 PM »
I presume everyone recalls little Faith Astor.
WoJ is that we'll see her again.

Last we knew she was going back to her unloving parents (she had described them as caring more about appearances & their image, than about her), with a bit of magic from Harry to keep her encouraged.

Herewith, I engage in time-honored WAG'ery, based upon some DF stuff on a Discord recently...

We don't know Charity's maiden name; what it it's Astor?  What if Faith is Charity's baby sister?

Charity described her parents to Harry as kind of "normal über alles" appearances-first parents, so there's a reasonably-close match to our understanding of Faith's parents, with any difference being easily put down to the different POV's and perspectives of the different-aged girls.

We don't know where Charity got her talent... but presumably it was from her own mother!  This, then, might imply Charity's mother could also have passed it on to her daughter Faith (n.b. names "Faith" and "Charity" being quite thematic).

So Faith Astor, when we see her again, may arrive as a full-blown Molly-caliber talent!

Now for the big leap:  what if Faith is Kumori?  People have pointed to some oddities in Kumori's attitudes/actions towards Harry, suggesting that if she were secretly Molly it'd explain a lot; but Faith is also likely to have (more than a little) hero-worship aimed Harry's way.

5
DF Spoilers / so ... soulgaze? the Sight?
« on: December 14, 2024, 05:46:58 PM »
It has struck me that we don't know a huge amount about soulgazes in the Dresdenverse.

Like... we know wizards initiate , and very-minor talents do not; but also, that power-level is a continuum not in discrete power-up levels.  So where's the can/cannot soulgaze division, exactly?

It's a facet of the "wizard's Sight" and so the same question applies:  who exactly has the Sight, and doesn't?

Are some people just natively stronger with the Sight, more "inSightful?"

Can the Sight and/or soulgazing be cultivated, improved?  Better-controlled, e.g. could an "experienced soulgazer" stave-off a 'gaze, not initiate it?  Can they force a 'gaze instantly (without giving someone the chance to avert the gaze)?  Can they learn to see more than others do, or keep others from seeing as clearly, learning as much?  Does it more or less automatically improve with experience (i.e. do older wizards automatically See more)?

Can it be blocked (we know Angelic beings can disrupt an attempt; but that isn't the same thing)?

... etc ...
 

6
DF Spoilers / Warden of Demonreach: Dragoncon lore-dump or retcon??!?
« on: September 04, 2024, 10:12:48 PM »
OK, so there's this old WoJ:
Quote
Q: Who was the Warden of Demonreach before Harry?
A: I know who it is, and who the guy before that was, but the guy before that was Kemmler....
So:
Now = Harry
Harry - 1 = ?
Harry - 2 = ?
Harry - 3 = Kemmler.

But now we have this (from the recent Dragoncon):
Quote
Wardens of Demonreach?
Merlin, two since then, one of whom the WC doesn’t know about.
(Presumably not including Harry)

and (different transcriber, same Q&A session):

apart from Harry and OG Merlin, do we know any other Wardens?
There's been relatively few over the time since Merlin - only been 2 others and 1 the white council doesn't even know about...

It looks to me like either:
(a) those two answers are incompatible (the old WoJ vs. the new one from Dragoncon); Jim has retconned something
(b) there was a huge gap between Kemmler & Merlin (the OG, not the title)
Like this:
Now = Harry
Harry - 1 = ?
Harry - 2 = ?
Harry - 3 = Kemmler
<huge gap>
Harry - 4 = Merlin (the OG, Arthur guy)

Or, possibly, either Kemmler is much older than we thought, or Merlin lasted until much until more recently than we realized (or some of each).

We already know that deep-Nevernever can add centuries of mortal-world time (apparent "lifespan"); and maybe the Wardenship (see how I didn't use the "M" word, there?  I know some dislike the way the idea has spread) can add lifespan, too.

But even so look particularly at this bit:
Quote
only been 2 others and 1 the white council doesn't even know about
That is only 3 people maximum (maybe only 2, one of whom the WC doesn't know about).  Leaving off our bookends (Harry & Merlin) those 3 are just these ones:
Harry - 1 = ?
Harry - 2 = ?
Harry - 3 = Kemmler
... Dafuq?
That's the entire list of Wardens who aren't Harry or Merlin??!?

One way or another, it looks like there's some discrepancies to be accounted for... or fannish thinking to be adjusted.

Or else Jim has changed his mind (or misunderstood timeframes and answered a different question than we think, or somesuch).

7
DF Spoilers / Did Mab fake out Harry... again?
« on: July 21, 2024, 04:38:00 PM »
(and, btw, Jim fake out his readers!)

As we all infamously know, Mab ordered Harry -- if Mab should die -- to kill Molly.  Prompted by other recent threads, I've come up with an unexpected new WAG...

Ostensibly, Harry should kill Molly because she "isn't ready" for the Queenmantle, for unspecified reasons and with unspecified ramifications.

But here's the thing:  Mab's a master-manipulator; she gets people to do what she wants, but only sometimes is that with overt orders.

My WAG then:

Mab realizes that Harry killing Molly is a really, really low-likelihood event; improbable in the extreme!

Therefore, that's not the outcome she's pursuing; that's not the intent behind the order.

What, then?  Brace yourselves...

This is Mab being genuinely kind!

No, really!
Shocking, innit?

See, Mab is genuinely worried about the pressures on an unprepared and suddenly-elevated Queen Molly.  So, she conveys to Harry -- in the strongest language possible -- that this is a HUGE issue.

We know Harry.  We know he isn't gonna kill Molly.
What will he do?

Most likely, rally to her side and support her, offer advice & counsel, be a friend, etc.

Exactly the things new Queen Molly would need to stabilize her psyche while she adjusts to the powerful new Queenmantle.

And that was Mab's plan, when she ordered Harry to kill Molly.
"Kill Molly" was Mab-speak for "Be a friend to her."   ::)

8
DF Spoilers / Twelve Months stuck?
« on: June 01, 2024, 12:27:42 AM »
... at 50%
per jim's little "progress-o-meter" widget.
https://www.jim-butcher.com/faq/upcoming-works

I think I recall it at 50% kind of a long time ago...

Is Jim having another case of writers' block?

Is he so feverishly-productive that he's had no time to update his widget?

Did the Dresdenverse suffer a temporal anomaly, and he's had to go back and re-write a bunch of stuff?

Or...?

I'm hoping Jim's event at last weekend's Comicpalooza (or last month at the Steampunk Expo) shook loose some in-person bit of info, that "the channels" didn't see.

Or maybe it's all already old news somewhere else...?

9
DF Spoilers / WAG - Justine's not really pregnant
« on: May 24, 2024, 04:05:37 PM »
Like it says on the tin.

Maybe Nemesis forced Justine to lie to Thomas (I bet it's relatively-easy to spoof a pregnancy-test (but why would Thomas even think to distrust Justine, at that point???  So faking a test likely unneeded)), or even fooled Justine (I think there may be stages of Nemfection where the Infected don't even realize it).

Why do I suspect this?  Because WoJ has previously said "no more surprise relatives for Harry."  I'll have to go back to find the actual words of the WoJ; maybe he weaseled a loophole in.

But the alternatives -- her actually being pregnant, with the Doom of WoJ over that -- would (strongly) imply something tragic with Justine, somewhere during Twelve Months.  Which would honestly feel kinda gratuitous.
 

10
DFRPG / Q for EvilHat, or those who follow the company/numbers, etc
« on: February 09, 2024, 10:52:06 PM »
Elseforum, I have seen it suggested that EH only ever intended to publish a few books (like, the 3 they *did* publish; then DFAccelerated (dunno if the "Accelerated" line was on their radar, at the time they were producing the OW/YS original DFRPG duology) and then stop the DFRPG line.

Does anyone know if this is correct, and if so why??!?  Apparently, it was being very successful for them, among their best-selling games; there doesn't seem like an obvious market reason to drop a successful line!

At the least, it seems like another RPG volume per every 4-5 novels might see a pretty good market...

But I am neither Evil Hat, nor Jim Butcher; and there may be considerations that escape me.

11
DF Spoilers / Is Mab autistic?
« on: November 11, 2023, 06:07:07 PM »
Bear with me here...  There's the whole "high function" end of the autism spectrum (Aspergers/etc).  From the outside, this often looks nothing like what mainstream folks think of as "autism."

These people can be very, very bright, and not just in a limited "idiot-savant" manner.  Genius-level and even "super" genius level bright.  Articulate, clever, deeply insightful.  They can make&execute deep strategic plans.  They can display an awesome grasp of a broad range of topics, synthesizing ideas from multiple domains.

But still with some mental/emotional limits.  In particular, they tend to be poor at reading social cues, understanding social situations.  They can be precise where the situation calls for more fluidity & fuzziness; literal where there's need to be more figurative or metaphorical.

And lo:  we have the Unseelie Accords, where "there is no spirit of the law, only the letter."

Mab is absolutely masterful at manipulating people by walking the knife-edge of literality, while those all around her fall into the figurative chasms immediately adjacent.

So... is Mab (high-functioning (very high functioning!)) autistic?

12
DF Spoilers / Chekhov's Arthurian Athame
« on: October 02, 2023, 11:30:10 PM »
So:  Morgana's Athame.

Morgana being one of the very-powerful sorceresses, possibly Faerie or Changeling, associated with Merlin... and with Arthur.

In some versions, Arthur's half-sister.

Interestingly-enough, one of Morgana's sisters was named "Elaine," with all sorts of interesting implications if Elaine Mallory was named "in honor of" that ancient Elaine by her birth-parents (about whom, please note, we have very-little information!).

Indeed:  despite the vast powers shown by OG Merlin; and the likely "Amoracchius = Excalibur" theory (do we have WoJ confirming it?); and having her Athame show up so we have traces of Morgana; and the possible "British Prisoner = Arthur" theory ... 

... despite all of that, I say:  we have remarkably little sense of how the larger Arthuriana corpus (and which version(s) of it) map into (and/or otherwise influence/inform) the Dresdenverse.

Or have I overlooked a bunch of stuff?
 

13
And if so, is there any better way to contact the maintainers than the feedback address @Jim-Butcher?

14
DF Spoilers / Ruby Waystone ...
« on: September 24, 2023, 03:57:53 AM »
Has Harry ever used his mother's gem in an attempt
to find a safe(ish) Nevernever path to Demonreach?

(I know he has previously avoided the Nevernever side, but it needs guarding.  The outer island defenses start well-offshore, presumably for good reason; if someone -- or something -- can just step onto the island, bypassing those layers, That Would Be Bad.  Maybe there already are defenses there (it's an approach that I cannot see OG Merlin overlooking), but AFAIK we've never seen Warden Harry actually address the issue)

15
DF Spoilers / So, LaFortier was *NOT* the prior Warden of Demonreach!
« on: September 23, 2023, 10:00:39 PM »
"Who was prior warden" has been a popular discussion.  I've seen some fan-theories, but none have fully convinced me.  LaFortier is a popular one, and I've thought it one of the better ones:  LaFortier being murdered not just to frame Luccio but (in the bigger picture) to remove the Warden, so someone else (e.g. Cowl) could move in and become Warden.

See below for the Bold Italic Underlined bit (B+I+U added by me for emphasis) in that final paragraph...

Quote
Priscellie:
In terms of how long someone is a warden, I'm sure it varies from case to case but how long does wardenship typically last?

Jim:
It depends on how quickly it gets you killed.

Priscellie:
Is that the only way out?

Jim:
I'd say it's not the only way out. You can definitely walk away from it or be dragged away from it or driven away from it. And then if somebody else comes along and challenges Demonreach then it's their island if your influence isn't there anymore. By the time Harry got there nobody had been there in a good long while because among the people who are in the know on the council it would be suicide to go try and do that. If one of the senior council guys got it all the other senior council guys would be like "yep he's the bad guy he's definitely corrupt and serving evil". And then Dresden walked into it and it was just such a stupid move they all kind of looked at him and went "I think he was he was being dumb? Do you think he was being dumb? Yeah it looks dumb. It looks like he was just being stupid, oh my god, we do need the firepower", you know, like that. The poor council, they find themselves so strapped for resources in so many ways that they keep having to tolerate Harry Dresden.

So:  nobody was Warden for "a good long while" before Harry.

Kemmler had been Warden up until 1961; then there were two others; then the gap (until Harry).

I think we can presume those two are known figures, named characters, in the Dresdenverse.  Possibly even significant ones (unlike the minor figure of LaFortier, whose only named/onscreen role is as "Mr. Body").  PROBABLY significant ones, since IIRC Jim has dodged this question more than once.

Was Margaret LeFay once a Warden of the island?  Maybe she lost it during some deep-Nevernever time-dilation, someone moved in & sniped it?

Maybe Ebenezer sniped it, to "save" her from the darkness there?  Then just... walked away, as Jim says can be done?

What about Justin?  Dark power looks right up his alley...
 
Can a nonwizard become Warden?
Maybe a Whampire, or a Faerie?
Because if we rule out the Senior Council (which WoJ says would push the other SC's to DefCon5) there aren't a lot of named wizards that could manage the deed...  Fewer still whom Jim would be so squirrely about not naming...

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