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She has not come back as a Valkyrie (yet...), but she was taken to Valhalla to be an Einherjarn (despite being catholic and noticeably so in this book). So, that point of objection to her not coming back as a supernatural being is pretty much kaputt.

I personally don't believe that she is really out of the series yet, since Jim doesn't like to discard characters that easily. IMHO, she'll be back, maybe next book, maybe in a few, as an "exception to the rule" (because fictional rules are made to be broken) and either as a straight Valkyrie or as an Einherjarn.

I'm expecting her to be back in 2 books. Remember way back in Dead Beat?

Quote
My boy. There’s so much still ahead of you.
So much? I whispered.
Pain. Joy. Love. Death. Heartache. Terrible waters. Despair. Hope.
I wish I could have been with you longer. I wish I could have helped you prepare for it.

Battle Ground just hit the "Terrible Waters" of that sequence. Next comes Despair...which would match up to Mirror Mirror with Harry gallivanting around an alternate universe. Harry is going to be interacting with people who will be stabbing all of his emotional wounds. Alternate-Karrin, for instance who might be alive and not particularly friendly. I can imagine Butcher cackling to himself and having there be an alternate-Rudolph who embraced the Supernatural and he's forced to help him out for the whole book. There would be a lot of potential character growth there, but it would also be complete torture the entire time.

The book after Mirror Mirror is I believe the Wrestling book, which would correspond with Hope. I expect this is the book he gets Murphy and Thomas back.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Molly's Doppelganger Ring Crafting
« on: August 25, 2020, 09:44:25 PM »
There is no need for a similar ring for either Mab or Molly as both are immortal. It requires magic to work this so unless there is an external power source, it is required for a practitioner. The only other practitioner Mab is on good terms with is Rashid. Rashid hasn’t appeared yet in Peace Talks, if he appears in Battle Ground, could it be via Doppleganger allowing him to be both at the Outer Gates AND at the Senior Council voting on Harry? The Outer Gates are far even for the GateKeeper and Mab likes her forward planning.

In the long term it probably wouldn't matter - they are immortal and would come back. But Bob implies that pulling themselves back together is something that takes a reasonable amount of time, months or years. Normally that probably wouldn't be an issue - to the point no one would bother to try.

But I suspect time is rapidly becoming something that is in short supply. "Killing" an immortal, even temporarily, might be useful if events are moving fast enough that mere months or years might make the difference to any number of schemes. Such as the end of the world starting to ramp up.

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DF Spoilers / Re: The Nine Billion Names of Harry Dresden
« on: August 20, 2020, 10:51:12 PM »
Again you have to squint and turn your head sideways a little. But, another possible piece of support for the "Harry is Christ" theory:

Didn't Harry and Mab have a talk at the end of Small Favor(?) where Harry said something along the lines of "I'm only human/I'm mortal," and Mab replied with "For now." ? I don't remember the exact quote and don't have the book close at hand to check. But, I swear I remember this exchange being part of a larger discussion at some point.

That was one of the inspirations for this strange idea. With the whole 'not lying' angle, it seemed an rather definitive statement.
Considering the whole Starborn angle and it being a recurring cycle of 666 years, she was probably a prominent element in the last one, and knows the ending.

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DF Spoilers / Re: The Nine Billion Names of Harry Dresden
« on: August 19, 2020, 02:04:45 PM »
:o  ???  :-\

You know...regarding the Doubting Thomas angle. I think we might have actually had this scene already.

Cold Days, Chapter 14:

Quote
"Thomas," I said. "It's me."

"Sure it is," Thomas snarled, the pressure against me surging for a second. "Harry Dresden is dead."

I thought my eyeballs were trying to squeeze their way out of their sockets. "Glurk!"

"Now," he growled, "I'm going to give you exactly three seconds to start telling me the truth, or I swear to God they will never find enough pieces of you to identify the body."

I particularly enjoy the "I swear to God" part...

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DF Spoilers / Re: The Nine Billion Names of Harry Dresden
« on: August 18, 2020, 01:50:55 PM »
What about that girl Lydia with the prophetic vision Cassandra's Tears from Grave Peril? She gave Harry a vision that by now we know implies the kickoff to the BAT (there's even confirmation by Jim she helps kick it off. Though I'm not sure where it is...)

How much do you guys think that plays into the theory?

My personal impression was that her prophecy was limited to the Red Court vampire war in context, but thinking of it in a broader sense, I don't see how it couldn't apply to the BAT as well.

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DF Spoilers / Re: The Nine Billion Names of Harry Dresden
« on: August 17, 2020, 07:30:20 PM »
It's a plausible theory....

but from a Doylist perspective, it's a minefield of sensitive topics...

I doubt Thomas will much like the theory either if Harry ever brings it up.

But that's because he's Doubting Thomas.

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DF Spoilers / Re: The Nine Billion Names of Harry Dresden
« on: August 17, 2020, 07:21:20 PM »
That is true.

Though Butcher gave himself a clever out with the idea of Mantles, cosmic hats, and the Jesus angle just being a reflection of some greater truth, all religions equally valid and all that.

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DF Spoilers / The Nine Billion Names of Harry Dresden
« on: August 17, 2020, 03:06:05 PM »
The TLDR version of this is that Harry Dresden is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This is beyond a tinfoil hat theory - I'm now wearing a tinfoil suit, with my office located in a tin mine somewhere. But the evidence seems to keep piling up to me, so read on if you find the speculation interesting.

We learned in Peace Talks that a Starborn is a cycle that occurs every 666 years.

It's the first connection we've had  linking Biblical lore to the Starborn status. It made me wonder if  Jesus qualified as "Starborn". The Bible certainly has the whole Born  under a Star / 3 Magi bit in it. If you run the math, the timeframe is  off by +/- 15 years, which cratered my speculation at that point.
But...I keep running into narrative clues.

For instance this little tidbit from Storm Front:

Quote
The  world is getting weirder. Darker every single day. Things are spinning  around faster and faster, and threatening to go completely awry. Falcons and falconers. The center cannot hold.
But  in my corner of the country, I’m trying to nail things down. I  don’t want to live in Victor’s jungle, even if it did eventually devour  him. I don’t want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak  cower. I’d rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where  trolls stay the hell under their bridges and where elves don’t come  swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires  respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p’sand q’s.

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I’m in the book.

Falcons and Falconers. The Center cannot hold. Both of those are references to a  poem by William Butler Yeats. The name of the poem?

The Second Coming

That little warning at the end of Storm Front? The book that he's referring to? It's not the phone book...it's the Bible. The warning about conjuring by his name....you don't conjure by a name of God idly.

Here's some more textual foreshadowing, if you interpret it in a certain light:

Fool Moon
Quote
Denton stared at me as the soul gaze broke and we were released. He wasn’t reacting well to whatever it was he had seen inside of me.  His face had gone white, and his hand was trembling, the barrel of the  gun wavering every which way. He lifted his other hand to mop beads of  cold sweat away from his face.“No,”  Denton said, white showing all around the grey irises of his eyes.“No,  wizard.” He raised his gun. “I don’t believe in hell. I won’t let you.
 

Summer Knight
Quote
“Harry  Dresden,” he said dryly, “Meet Martha Liberty.” She shot him a look and  said pointedly, “He’s arrogant, Ebenezar. Dangerous.”I snorted. “That’s every wizard ever.” Martha continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Bitter.  Angry. Obsessive.” Ebenezar frowned. “Seems to me he has good reason to  be. You and the rest of the Senior Council saw to that.”Martha shook her  head. “You know what he was meant to be. He’s too great a risk.”

Changes
Quote
I exhaled wearily, and stopped even trying to hold the spell. “I don’t understand.” Uriel nodded. “That’s the difficult part of being mortal. Of having choice. Much is hidden from you.” He sighed. Love your child, Dresden. Everything else flows from there. A wise man said that,” Uriel said.

Cold Days
Quote
“And  on a similar note, do not underestimate yourself. You haven’t been  given the power and the knowledge and the allies and the resources you  possess for no reason, Harry. Nothing I have to say can possibly make  this task any easier for you. The only way to do it is to do it. He  lifted his chin. You don’t need help, Warden. You are the help.

Peace Talks
Quote
Their  thoughts, or whatever madness it was that passed for them, began to  devour mine. I felt like my mind was being chewed apart by a swarm of  ants. And then for just an instant, the alien thought patterns made  sense, and I saw an image from their point of view – a  being made of coherent light, a column of glowing energy centers, and  pure dread, standing like an obelisk before the cornerhounds, a bolt of  terrible lightning gathered around its upraised fists, head, and  shoulders, like a miniature storm front.
I saw what they saw when they looked at me.
And I felt their fear.

Finally, we have the titles of the last 3 books in the series, the apocalyptic trilogy; Stars and Stones, Hell's Bells, and Empty Night.
I submit that Empty Night is a reference to a famous short story by Arthur C. Clarke. In the story the stars start winking out, one by one. The name of the story? The Nine Billion Names of God.

I'm  starting to strongly suspect that "Starborn" is something akin to  Jesus, an avatar of the White God. But he's all about Choice - so Harry  gets to choose to be good or evil, the same as any normal mortal  human...but the consequences of that choice could be a great deal bigger  then a normal life. Hence how everyone in the series who is in the know  are so darned nervous about him. Why more then a few keep testing his  morality. It's not on account of him being a Wizard, as he's always  thought. Morgan mentions in his microfiction about something called a Destroyer....that sounds a bit like an Antichrist to me.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Battle Ground Casualties [Peace Talks Spoilers]
« on: August 16, 2020, 12:27:26 PM »
yessss! This is part of why my theory for mirror mirror involves a sliders/quantum leap style adventure. Getting back to his own timeline may not be enough, he might have to fix every divergence caused by his death and removal..
Though I do ponder the chicken and the egg with MM and our Harry's reality.. to the point I wonder if our Harry didnt exist until MM Harry summoned him into reality from outside, creating the time loop we're actually reading.

That actually plays rather well with an idea I've had for time travel in the series before.

Remember "Unconscious Mind" Harry who first shows up in Fool Moon? I think that's really Future Harry who is mucking with time in some fashion. He nudges Present Harry down a slightly different path, and each time he nudges, he tends to pick up a new ally for his trouble.

If I combined this with your thought that would give a more solid motivation for mucking with time - not changing it, but restoring it in a stable loop.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Is Eb the Bad Guy?
« on: August 10, 2020, 12:30:40 PM »
Harry with his Wizards senses was able to ascertain that Justine was pregnant separate to being told Thomas. Any practitioner with sufficient sensitivity would have been able to determine this, including any Wizards surveilling the White Court.

Information had been getting out for several weeks at the White Court, this would indicate that the surveilling wizard had been in Chicago for weeks/months, and that would leave a physical trail Harry can find. The wizards are at the Four Seasons, should be possible to check whether any were there in the preceding months.

I wonder if Chandler is in fact the White Council’s surveillance and information expert amongst the Wardens, he isn’t a fighter, but is strangely present during the Peace Talks, and may be Eb’s man on the ground.

Well, Harry sensed something. He interprets it as being a pregnancy aura, but he really doesn't have a whole lot of experience in the matter. Certainly nothing like this was described with Charity back in Grave Peril.

I think he sensed something, but is misinterpreting it...as fits the big theme of the book.

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DF Spoilers / Faerie Court "Peace Talks"
« on: August 09, 2020, 07:30:53 PM »
So, I was rereading the short story "Christmas Eve" last night, and something finally snapped into place regarding the themes of Peace Talks. The book has multiple examples of how family conflicts can spiral out of control. I believe in the resolution of the story in Battle Ground, Harry will be patching up & repairing many of the conflicts that occurred - his strained relations with the White Council, his relationship with his mentor Eb McCoy. His personal hatred of Ghouls. The simmering future conflict with Lara Raith, ect.

But a rather huge thing seems to be hinted at in the short story - the Queens being on speaking terms again.

Cold Days, Chapter 52

Quote
"I know exactly what I have done," Maeve snarled. "I have beaten you. This was never about the sleepers, or this accursed isle, or the lives of mortal insects. This was about beating you, you hidebound hag. About using your own games against you. Kill me now, and you risk destroying the balance of Winter and Summer forever, throwing all into chaos."

    Sarissa lay on the ground, moaning.

    "And it was about taking her away from you," Maeve gloated. "How many mortal caterwauls or sporting events will the Winter Queen attend with the Summer Lady? And every time you think of her, you remember her, you will know that I took her from you."

Maeve's plan seems to hinge on the fact that Mab and Titania are chronically estranged, and have apparently been since the Battle of Hastings. But something happens during the events of Battle Ground that changes this drastically...

Christmas Eve - Short Story

Quote
“Molly,” I said, smiling.

My former apprentice, now technically also my boss, beamed at me, crossed the floor and promptly gave me an enormous hug, which I returned.

“Merry Christmas, Harry,” she said.

“Merry Christmas, Molls,” I said. “Tell me it wasn’t you who talked to Mab about Maggie’s present.”

That was Sarissa,” Molly said. “She showed Mab the movie.”

So Mab is now back to interacting with Sarissa - still attending those "mortal caterwauls" and watching Disney movies. I'm very curious if Harry has anything to do with this fortunate turn of events, and if Mab's relatively nice treatment of Harry in the story might not just be on account of the fact that it's Christmas - she might owe him something almost more important to her then reality itself, her family.

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DF Spoilers / Re: What will Thomas learn from the British Prisoner?
« on: August 09, 2020, 07:18:22 PM »
I just finished listening to the audio book version of Peace Talks after having read it about 10-11 days ago.  I didn't noticed the first time through that Harry gave Alfred instructions that Thomas can only speak to another prisoner if that prisoner is undergoing the same punishment, and there's only one other prisoner whose doing the contemplation thing.

The alternative is that after talking to Thomas the British prisoner will speak to Harry.  However it plays out, what do you think will be learned from all this.  I have a feeling it will be about a cure for Thomas that involves Excalibur.  There might also be some information about how to breach that special bronze armor the Titan's wearing.

I agree with your reasoning. I think Thomas is being set up to wield Amoracchius.

The imprisonment of him on Demonreach is going to be an evolution of his character, into someone really worthy of taking up the Sword. Amoracchius from its treatment in the books seems to be the Sword that requires the rarest kind of individual to wield it. This also seems to be supported by Arthur Langtry's reaction to Michael in Proven Guilty.

Just his internment made him suffer the same as his victims over the years. It's one thing to have regret for his actions and empathy, but he gets the full treatment of exactly what they went through, which is something a bit more special as far as suffering goes. Eventually, Butter's version of Fidelacchius will be wielded to kill his demon, making him a vanilla mortal.

But where does the British Prisoner fit into this?

Well, we've got a negative from the author that it's Merlin. The only other mythological figure I know of that's supposed to be sleeping under a magical island is Arthur. That whole 'Piss Off' comment had the vibe of someone trying out a slang term they weren't terribly familiar with...half remembered language lessons from Merlin perhaps?

If Thomas is being set up as a character to take up the Sword, then having an extended chat with the most legendary wielder would be an interesting thing to consider, and it would immediately set him apart even from Michael's legacy. But I would expect this process to take a book or two to end up resolving, and Thomas to be on carbonite for an extended period of time before someone makes the connection with Fidelacchius and ends up freeing him.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Unexpected Power Ups Following Battle Ground
« on: August 04, 2020, 04:50:37 PM »
With the Masquerade in tatters, Chicago gets powered up with a new Department of Magical Affairs. Like the DMV, just with Svartalf clerks and Sidhe management for that extra layer of lawyerly wisdom and epic levels of bureaucratic BS. Harry now gets to worry about getting his Magic license to go with his PI, and has to take a formal exam written by people who were utterly clueless a few months ago.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Will Harry Have to Come Clean?
« on: August 03, 2020, 02:00:48 PM »
In Battle Ground Harry will almost certainly have to come clean about some of the secrets he holds, just to assure even those who are his supporters on the White Council, and some will be obvious from the way he conducts his defence of Chicago.

Harry loves being mysterious and secretive, “wizard crack”, but is Harry going to have to go cold Turkey and how far?

I'm not really sure Harry will need to pony up on his secrets to survive. The whole Game is now set to change. With the masquerade in tatters, the political calculations of his value will shift dramatically. Particularly if Harry very publicly engages Ethniu and succeeds, saving Chicago. Given that subtlety is not exactly his normal forte, that seems a reasonable conclusion to make.

He would be a public celebrity hero, and THE face of the White Council to a newly awakened mortal humanity. Kicking him out then would be a colossal stupid move in the uncertain ground the Supernatural scene would find themselves in.


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DF Spoilers / Re: [PT Spoilers] Why Wait?
« on: August 01, 2020, 11:51:51 PM »
Ethniu's apparent objective was to rile up mortal humanity. After this is accomplished, they attack any supernatural foe they can find. This could have been done at ant time, but not optimally.

If this was done with the Accords structure in place, there would be the potential for a coordinated response by the various nations. They would presumably go into damage control mode and try to parley the situation. Elements with mortal guises, like Vadderung would be the reasonable starting point. The endgame for the Fomor is not as clear in that situation...especially if the rest of the Accords nations painted a nice big 'kick me here' sign on Fomor strongholds for mortals to punch at.

But if the Accords are killed off, chaos reigns. Everyone is on their own fighting essentially the whole mortal world, and even if a given faction could come to terms (a rather long-term prospect at best with the best contacts in chaos), it would mean little to the overall situation the rest would be in.

Meanwhile, the Fomor have the initiative, and the advantage.

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