History Literature / SkinGame

* FatalMacGuffin: Harry Dresden helps Nicodemus raid the Vault of Hades; to get there requires passing through several guarding Gates. And... one of the gates apparently requires one of the party members to be sacrificed. While the actual lock can be turned [only] by a ghost/spirit, the ''sacrifice'' also seems to be an important part, since Nicodemus made it part of his plan, and he's TheChessmaster.

** Nicodemus says he wants the ''Holy Grail''. [[spoiler:When Harry finds the other items from the Crucifixion on the same altar, he hides them all save the Grail. Nicodemus has to get that before Harry can openly thwart him — but that is the ''only'' thing he is promised, even if it isn't what he is really after. That's what he said he wants, so that's what he gets.]]

** Harry asks Kringle if he is really a different person from Donar. Kringle tells him, legally, yes. Had Mab called on him as Donar, Donar would have said "Get in line." But calling him to a meeting as Kringle of the Winter Wyldfae, and he must come to his Queen's command.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Deirdre and Nicodemus say a few stray things that imply they are working to oppose the Outsider threat of Nemesis. Neither of them is happy about Nicodemus planning to kill Tessa, either.

* EmpoweredBadassNormal: [[spoiler:Butters has started learning some forms of magic from Bob the Skull, enabling him to create Magitek items, and as of the end of the book, he is also the new Knight of Faith. (At this time, the picture for that trope is Franchise/{{Batman}} with a [[Franchise/StarWars lightsaber]], which is ''exactly'' what Butters' is compared to, and what the sword becomes.)]] (Which makes one wonder if perhaps Mr. Butcher is spending a bit too much time on this site himself.)

* DesperateObjectCatch: Harry throws [[spoiler:''Fidelacchius''[='=] hilt to Charity]], hoping her faith will let her wield it when all else has failed. [[spoiler:It bounces away from Charity and lands in ''Butters[='=]'' palm, restoring the Sword and making him a Knight.]]

* DeadlyNosebleed: Unusual example with [[spoiler:Uriel, who gets hit in the face with Harry's aluminum arm brace, causing a nosebleed. That, in turn, causes everyone to realize that a freaking ''archangel'' normally doesn't bleed at all, revealing that he has become mortal.]]

* CoolCrown: Hades wears a crown formed from pieces of levitating ''Mordite''. Mordite being a substance from Outside the universe that drains the life out of anything it touches.

** In ''Literature/GhostStory'', Harry witnesses the shade of Sir Stuart grant him a boon of power across a magic circle and could only do so by choosing to cut himself off of this power beforehand. [[spoiler:Similarly, Uriel cannot change anything in the world without affecting free will save himself. Like Sir Stuart, he cuts off his Grace to give to Michael, though he is anticipating it back.]]

** In ''Literature/GhostStory'', Uriel comments that he likes ''Franchise/StarWars'' because of the simple line between good and evil, of people fighting for the just cause, over ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Then at the end of this book, [[spoiler:Butters' absolute faith in dying to do the right thing and try to save some lives combines with Harry's faith in the power still remaining inside the sword despite it being shattered, resulting in the sword of Faith reconstituting itself '''''as a lightsaber'''''.]]

** Waldo Butters has come a long way since Harry met him eight years ago. He started out as a completely average muggle who had the misfortune of autopsying a vampire, and was reduced to cowering in the corner when zombies broke into the morgue. With the loss of Harry and Molly, he chose to step up to the plate in their wake. In addition to [[TookALevelInBadass his combat-related skills]], he's become more serious, confident, and focused. This is actually a problem at times; he isn't scared of calling Harry out on what he perceives as mistakes, though he is still patient enough to listen when his friends tell him it's all a misunderstanding. At the climax of the book, [[spoiler: he has the faith to accept that even though he'll be killed defending the Carpenter house from Nicodemus, it won't be a worthless sacrifice. He attempts a HeroicSacrifice and a YouShallNotPass against Nicodemus and Tessa in order to buy the others time to escape]], and it pays off big-time.

** For the first time [[spoiler: Harry takes a genuine leap of faith. He threw ''Fidelacchius'' to Charity, truly believing that Michael was right, and that the sword could be remade by the power of Charity's faith]].

* CaperCrew: Nicodemus is the Mastermind, Deirdre is the Partner in Crime, Harry's both the Distraction and the Burglar (he's the Ice Gate specialist), Goodman Grey is the Inside Man (as a shapeshifter, he is a copy replacement of the man they needed on the inside), Anna is the Burglar, Hannah is both the Muscle and the Burglar (her fire magic gets them past the reinforced doors, and she's the Fire Gate specialist), and Binder (via his army of goons) and the Genoskwa are the Muscles. [[spoiler: Mab, Marcone, and even Hades himself are the Backers. Grey, the Genoskwa, and Hannah turn out to be Inside Men as well -- Harry buys Grey's services before Nick could, while Hannah and the Genoskwa are far from just hired specialists: they're the new bearers of Lasciel and Ursiel.]]

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Harry invokes this from Nicodemus when [[spoiler:he closes the Way back to Marcone's vault from the Underworld. He justifies that for the moment and until the Ice Gate is taken care of, Harry is still in this spot. Once he is no longer needed for the Ice Gate, Nicodemus might try to kill him. As they are deep inside Hades' domain, it is likely not even Mab can see this far and so Nicodemus can kill Harry and blame something else.]]

** In the previous book, Maeve shows the ability to carefully glamour just Harry's mouth to change the words Lily heard. It seems likely, when Mab states she altered Harry's messages to Karrin and Thomas when they were on the island, Mab probably pulled a similar trick on them so they would not get the correct message.

** ''Literature/GravePeril'' gets a reference when Harry recalls the awesome power of Michael's holy fire protection. In that book, it was used when a Red vampire touched his cross-embroidered cloak and immolated. Here, [[spoiler: he uses the same power to burn away the bugs Tessa spewed onto Harry]].

** The Swords of the Cross being beyond hard to destroy permanently is a call back to Thomas's speech about love and Michael's descriptions of the Swords in earlier books as faith, hope, and love are meant to outlive the universe.

** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Uriel was able to give Harry confirmation that Maggie is his daughter because Harry had already resolved to go save the child even if she isn't his. The action won't change the choice a mortal has already made. [[spoiler: Uriel gives Michael different aid, but still is only able to because it is a course Michael has already chosen to take.]]

** [[spoiler: While in the frail human body, Uriel kills at least one of Nicodemus's men with a silent throat slash from behind. Take note he has no super strength or intellectus at that moment.]]

* BoringButPractical: [[spoiler:In Hades' vault, Anna Valmont goes right for the fountain of diamonds, filling her sack from the spout. She chose them over the gold and other treasures because they had the highest value for their weight and would be easy to move once they got back home. Sure enough, she's the only one to get treasure that can be SPENT. Harry gets the four artifacts, and everyone else gets nada... so they just split the diamonds.]]

** The sweet: [[spoiler:Harry, and by extension Mab, have now got their hands on four VERY powerful artifacts that will be vital in fighting the [[BigBad Outsiders]] — and Harry thinks that Nicodemus was probably really after one of the artifacts Harry now has, making his gaining the Grail more like a consolation prize. Furthermore, there is finally a new Knight of the Cross to protect the world. Nicodemus' political power is broken, his lieutenant is dead, the Coins of two of his allied Fallen are locked in Hades' vault, and his squires have deserted him, no longer convinced of his total power and fortitude. Harry has reconnected with Maggie and the "parasite" is no longer a pressing health risk — in fact, it's now a new, very powerful ally that's firmly on Harry's side. Harry and Murphy are well on their way to getting together, too. Finally, the Carpenters, Harry, and Murphy are all now freaking '''rich'''.]]

*** Also on the bitter side; the fact that [[spoiler:Nicodemus managed to get his hands on the coins for Lasciel and Ursiel despite those two coins having been placed in the Church's custody relatively recently suggests that the Church has been compromised in some way and that the Knights cannot be sure that any of the coins they've sealed away are safe any longer. Further supported by Magog, who is a member of Tessa's (estranged wife of Nicodemus) Denarian faction, being used to lure Sanya into another continent, when his coin too was in the custody of the Church]].
*** And if that wasn't enough, [[spoiler:in the final scene of the book Harry and Michael ponder which prospect is scarier; [[FaceHeelTurn Mab twisting Harry into her pet monster]], or [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness what she might do to him when she realizes she cannot do that]]. Not to mention, Harry just went out of his way to defy and infuriate her in front of Marcone of all people, and if there is one thing Mab doesn't tolerate, it's defying her in public. Either way, when the time comes for Mab to respond, it won't be pretty.]]

* BigEater: [[invoked]] Hannah almost always piles a lot of food on her plate when it is available. FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize magic is at least partially CastFromCalories and she is slinging ''enormous'' amounts of magic around all the time. Especially when she is [[spoiler: channeling the power of Lasciel]].

** A quick one by Nicodemus. [[spoiler:He has Grey and the Genoskwa keep Michael focused on them by holding Harry and Anna hostage so he can kill his daughter without interruption.]]

* AmazonChaser: Harry to Karrin. He describes her as a warrior and has no trouble with her small but muscular body or the fact that she could kick his ass in grappling.

** Nicodemus [[spoiler:nearly kills Harry to entice Karrin into killing him with the Sword, thus causing it to lose its power.]]

** Nicodemus' sword gets damaged when he throws it at the salamander and one of its edges melts from the creature's incandescent body heat.

** This is Harry's first job as part of the crew. If he cannot find a significant enough distraction without setting off any magical security devices, the Genoskwa will take the spot and Harry knows bodies will drop quickly.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Nicodemus wounds the salamander by tossing his sword at it. Lampshaded by Harry's musings that, while swords aren't designed to be used that way at all, Nick's had two thousand years to practice doing so.

** [[spoiler:In fact, the purpose of the Gates is to weed out anyone without the skill or intelligence to get inside, and in reach of the incredibly powerful weapons Hades keeps stored in his vault.]] And even if they do, Hades himself is there.

** The Gate of Fire tests skill, with [[spoiler:an entire hallway filled with flames hot enough to incinerate nearly anything. Only an ''extremely'' skilled fire mage can pass. Oh, and there's also a hidden salamander, so it's testing courage in the face of unexpected adversity as well.]]

* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: After narrowly escaping the Ice Gate trap, yet leading [[spoiler:Genoskwa]] to be crushed by it instead, Harry turns around and quips: "[[RunningGag Parkour,]] bitch!"