Jim Butcher at Dragon Con 2025

[KurtinStGeorge]

Currently, there is no video posted on YouTube of Jim at this year’s Dragon Con event.  Doing a brief search, I didn’t find video of any one person, TV show or movie panels from Dragon Con 2025.  Maybe their rules have changed.  Maybe such videos will get posted in the next few weeks.  Lots of cosplay videos, of course, but that wasn’t what I was looking for.

However, all is not lost.  One Reddit user did provide a brief summary of what Jim said.  I will post a link so you can read everything I will skip in this summary. For the most part, I will only mention plot relevant information and writing updates.

Jim has finished two short stories and a novella which comes out next May.  So that must be Out Law.  It is a follow up to The Law.  (I know there is a discussion about novella versus novelette in another thread.  I’m not going to get into that discussion here.)

Jim has already started writing Mirror Mirror.  Jim said he hopes to finish it before he starts his book tour for Twelve Months.  I’ve got three things to say about that. 

1. Wow!  That’s great news.  Apparently Jim is making good progress on the pace of his writing this year.
2. I am assuming Jim finished the next Cinder Spires novel, but I suppose there is also the possibility Jim is alternating between writing a few chapters in one novel and then going back to the other one, but that seems unlikely if he wants to finish Mirror Mirror before his book tour begins in January/February.
3.  If Jim has finished the third Cinder Spires novel, I think there is a very good possibility it could be released before the end of 2026.

Here are some general plot points to look for.

Mouse will be Harry’s sidekick in Mirror Mirror.

Also in Mirror Mirror: Relating to the soulgaze scene in Proven Guilty between Harry and Molly.  We will see how different choices could lead to different outcomes.

If Harry killed Nicodemus, Anduriel would not want Rudolph as a host.  Nobody likes Rudolph, not even the Denarians.

Nicodemus is a main story villain.  Notice that Jim didn’t say the main story villain.  In any case, Harry will have to deal with Nicodemus until the very end of the story.

When Jim came up with D&D stats for Harry, he got a 16 for intelligence and an 18 for constitution.  From this Jim knew Harry would get beat up a lot.

There will be three more novels after Mirror Mirror.  One will be another heist story.  The one after that will be Body Slam, the pro wrestling centric novel.  There there will be a Kaiju / time traveling story.  Followed of course by the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy.

Here’s a link to the entire post.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dresdenfiles/comments/1n4adeu/dragoncon_2025_an_hour_with_jim_butcher/

[Lord Kinbote]

To clarify, reddit report has Butcher saying that Nic would be "a" main villain to the end of the SERIES, and would be arround until near the end.  Butcher wasn't speaking about Mirror Mirror specifically.

[KurtinStGeorge]

To clarify, reddit report has Butcher saying that Nic would be "a" main villain to the end of the SERIES, and would be arround until near the end.  Butcher wasn't speaking about Mirror Mirror specifically.

Sorry, when I said Nic will be around until the end of the story I should have been more specific.  End of the story as in the end, or near the end of the BAT.

[magnuskn]

From what I read from various reports, I think Jim is just so much in the Dresden flow after Twelve Months, that he directly went into Mirror Mirror and did not do his usual "other series" book in-between.

[Mira]

  I find it interesting that Mouse will be with Harry in Mirrormirror because he is now offically Maggie's service dog and pretty much stays by her side.  Is this a hint that something happens to Maggie and Mouse and Harry go looking for her in an alternate universe?

[g33k]

  I find it interesting that Mouse will be with Harry in Mirrormirror because he is now offically Maggie's service dog and pretty much stays by her side.  Is this a hint that something happens to Maggie and Mouse and Harry go looking for her in an alternate universe?

My theory:  there is no Maggie in the Mirrorverse.
Susan & Harry's story was just very very different.

[Mira]

My theory:  there is no Maggie in the Mirrorverse.
Susan & Harry's story was just very very different.

That could be true, however it still doesn't explain it because Harry still wouldn't have taken Mouse away from Maggie. The only way it works is from the get go this is a different story about a totally different Harry.  In other words there is no time travel or dimension crossing as speculated based on what happened in the original Trek story.  Maybe it's a fever dream of some kind?  Or it isn't Mirrormirror at all but more of "It's a Wonderful Life" with Uriel playing the role of Clarence the Angel?  Harry wishes he'd never been born for whatever reason, and Uriel shows him just what life would be without him.  For starters that would mean no little Maggie, and Mouse really is a mouse of a dog?

[LaraBeck]

That could be true, however it still doesn't explain it because Harry still wouldn't have taken Mouse away from Maggie. The only way it works is from the get go this is a different story about a totally different Harry.  In other words there is no time travel or dimension crossing as speculated based on what happened in the original Trek story.  Maybe it's a fever dream of some kind?  Or it isn't Mirrormirror at all but more of "It's a Wonderful Life" with Uriel playing the role of Clarence the Angel?  Harry wishes he'd never been born for whatever reason, and Uriel shows him just what life would be without him.  For starters that would mean no little Maggie, and Mouse really is a mouse of a dog?

It could just be the Mouse from the other universe, maybe he's the only one that realizes that Harry is indeed a real Harry, a good Harry.

[Mira]

It could just be the Mouse from the other universe, maybe he's the only one that realizes that Harry is indeed a real Harry, a good Harry.

That's a really good point, maybe Mouse will turn out to be the "Spock" in the story?  However one other thing, Jim doesn't mention Lara.  I am sure he doesn't want to give too much away for the up and coming story, but at the same time I won't be shocked to find at the end of Twelve Months, that both Harry and Lara figure out a way out of getting married.

[KurtinStGeorge]

My guess about Mouse being with Harry in the Mirror Mirror world is pretty simple.  Something takes Maggie out the room that she Harry and Mouse are in.  Yes, it is rare for Maggie to go anywhere without Mouse.  This can be in someplace she feels safe like in Harry's castle or the Carpenter Home.  That is one solution.  Perhaps Maggie has a cold and Harry takes Mouse for a walk because Maggie can't.  The exact mechanism that separates Mouse from Maggie isn't important.

Harry gets summoned or pulled into Mirror Mirror World and power of the summoning pulls Mouse in due to his proximity to Harry.  Perhaps the summoning opens up a portal and Mouse jumps through it to follow Harry, though that image is more like City on the Edge of Forever than the Mirror Mirror episode of Star Trek TOS.

Unlike traveling to the Nevernever where time moves forward even though it can move at a different rate, I don't see a reason why at the end of Mirror Mirror, Harry and Mouse might return moments or only a few minutes after they left.

Totally separate issue, but I wonder if Mab would notice that her Knight was missing and feel this loss almost instantly?  This assumes the part of Winter that is within Harry travels with him to Mirror Mirror world.  If that part of Winter remains behind it should go back to Mab which would probably make her believe that Harry is dead.  Maybe Mab or Molly will perform a summoning spell that brings him back.

[g33k]

That's a really good point, maybe Mouse will turn out to be the "Spock" in the story?...

I note that Mouse came to Harry in book 6, after "the choice" (divergence point) in book 3.  There's no guarantee that mirror!Mouse is part of mirror!Harry's life... but no guarantee that he's not, either.

I can envision the mirrorverse where Mouse is despondently masquerading as "just a dog" even from his Harry (who has turned out to be more Sith than Jedi)... then Mouse gets exposed to _our_ Harry...
the Harry who can tap Soulfire...
the Harry who has befriended a bunch of KotC's...
the Harry who has worked directly with Uriel...
And I'm pretty sure Mouse can tell the difference; he's a Foo Dog, a servant of the Holy, a guardian, a detector of evil.  Mouse discovers, to his joy, a Harry who is fundamentally one of the good guys.

... I won't be shocked to find at the end of Twelve Months, that both Harry and Lara figure out a way out of getting married.

I'm expecting exactly the opposite -- that a big part of their "courtship" process will be them twisting in the jaws of Mab's trap, trying to figure out how to get out of the marriage (without giving mortal offense to Mab); but the marriage won't go through because Harry gets ripped to the mirror'verse on the wedding-day.
(with the consequence (when he gets home) of having apparently publicly flouted Mab's orders (which she cannot tolerate in a WK) and having humiliated the White Princess by jilting her at the altar (which will enrage her))

[Lord Kinbote]

I fully expect Dresden and Lara to get married and while their union is not their idea and may only be done begrudgingly, it won't be done involuntarily.  I expect Butcher to make their acquiescence logical and the 'least bad' alternative for them - and that's without considering Mab's wrath if they don't get married.  Butcher is great at maneuvering Dresden into a place where a decision he makes isn't one that he wants to make but feels he must due to necessity from obligation or responsibility.  I'd be surprised by romantic love between them, but certainly a high degree of respect (even though Dresden will likely always think of Lara as a monster; to him, 'she's a monster, but I can respect her, trust her word, and work with her').

The bigger question to me is whether there will be consummation.  I expect so because Mab will demand it.

[Mira]

I fully expect Dresden and Lara to get married and while their union is not their idea and may only be done begrudgingly, it won't be done involuntarily.  I expect Butcher to make their acquiescence logical and the 'least bad' alternative for them - and that's without considering Mab's wrath if they don't get married.  Butcher is great at maneuvering Dresden into a place where a decision he makes isn't one that he wants to make but feels he must due to necessity from obligation or responsibility.  I'd be surprised by romantic love between them, but certainly a high degree of respect (even though Dresden will likely always think of Lara as a monster; to him, 'she's a monster, but I can respect her, trust her word, and work with her').

The bigger question to me is whether there will be consummation.  I expect so because Mab will demand it.

Or they can't because Lara finds that she truly loves Harry.  There was hints that it was possible between them. 

[g33k]

... The bigger question to me is whether there will be consummation.
I expect so because Mab will demand it.

Jim has said that the Whampire sex-mojo interfaces badly with the WK-mantle's sex/violence/territoriality thing.  Things rapidly spiral out of control; it's more than the two "adding together," it's more like they multiply one another.

I expect only one of them would survive the attempt to consummate the marriage.

One resolution that seems possible:  the MirrorMirror story will see the Harrys swap universes, and it'll be MirrorHarry (without a WK Mantle) who marries Lara and consummates the wedding (likely becoming Lara's thrall).