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« on: April 02, 2019, 01:41:06 PM »
Oo! People are actually interested!
OK, so I'm going to reply to your points, Slowpool - and I figure that at the same time, I'll probably cover what Kbrizzle was curious about.
• [Malcolm] - So far, we've only seen Carmichael, Papa Murphy, and Sir Stuart halfway. I'm not sure that being in Chicago Between has anything to do with either not being good enough or bad enough for What Comes Next, so much as it has something to do with having a will that's not satisfied with being done with the mortal world. And at the moment, Chicago Between is the only force we know of that holds deceased spirits which also acts to counteract an enemy but has its actions restricted.
• [Cowl] - No. In fact, Harry *never* really remarks at all about either's physical appearance. Neither tall nor short nor fat nor thin. Which is really, really conspicuous for a PI that notes EVERYONE'S physical appearance. My best guess is there's some sort of magic protecting him from noting it. However - Dresden is ALSO able to identify Cowl *at a glance* later on, so presumably he's subconsciously aware of his physical appearance, even if he's not consciously aware.
• [Mac] - *taps nose*
• [Andi] - Really? To the person he's extremely angry at and wary of? You think that Butters is going to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with the person who was too gosh-darned important to let him make sure his girlfriend wasn't bleeding into her brain after getting a concussion and being stuck under freezing water for so long, and then left Butters and co. to fend for themselves? You think that he wants to open up to Dresden about how he pretty much made his girlfriend a vegetable and make him pity Butters? Or worse, not?
I'll tell you what I see - I see Andi being extremely injured, getting hit on the head, being deprived of oxygen, and the only person at the end of Cold Days who needs to be rushed to the hospital. She's not talking. We never hear how she's doing. In Skin Game, she's always out of the room, out of sight. She doesn't help Butters in any of his activities, even though she would be far more dangerous and more capable than him, even in his Batman-mode. Better able to spy on Dresden, too. Her absence is EXTREMELY conspicuous, given the dire condition she was in a the end of Cold Days. And none of Butters' dialogue implies anything of Andi, other than that she's passively somewhere, waiting for him.
• [Ebenezer] We don't exactly know how Nemesis transmits from person to person. Presumably, it's not something as communicable as a normal disease. There would, after all, be no reason why it needed to try to manipulate Lily and Fix if Maeve could have infected them just as easily. With that being said, you're correct that Nemesis would have recognized Harry as a threat, even if Evil Eb didn't. So I'm backing off on him being nemefected.
However, I don't believe for a second he's not still lying. He pretty much says so at the end of Changes. That's twice that he's concealed something huge and important and critical to Harry. Lies by omission are still lies, and Eb DID say in Blood Rites that everything was out in the open.
• [Merlin] I wasn't aware of that WOJ. Can you point to it? My reasoning for why Merlin was speaking in something that Harry could recognize as British was due to Merlin purportedly living backwards in time; i.e. "born at the wrong end of time, and I have to live backwards from in front", per The Once and Future King. It makes sense for why something that sounds mostly normal and human would be understandable.
• [Vadderung] - Not sure, to be honest. But the being Odin is not well-known for being a nice, kind, helpful old soul. He's an extremely complex character, and while Loki is the characteristic 'trickster god' of the Norse pantheon, Odin is also a trickster and not 100% good. Yet, he's the only side character who has ever appeared to be 100% benevolent to Harry, offering advice and services and aid without requiring anything but a nickel in return. No one gets a free lunch, and Harry and Vadderung aren't friends. He's in it for something. I trust Grey's wary attitude towards Vadderung far more than the All-Father's general pleasant demeanor.
• [Amoracchius] - Cool beans.
• [Mirror Choice] - To be honest, it's nothing more than a hunch, and far less developed than any other idea that I've listed here. But as far as I can reckon, it's the one decision that Harry could have made that would be at once more good and intending positivity (i.e. being honest with Susan) but would have had far more disastrous consequences.