Wild Mass Guesses that cross The Dresden Files with other fiction/media/mythos, or with Real Life:
- Stoker wasn't killed for being onto something, unless it was by the Black/Red court. He wrote(literally) the book on the Black Court, which is why they were driven to nigh extinction.
- Stoker was killed, according to Butcher, "for being delicious." Or, more specifically, Lara "rewarded" him for a job well done and got, uh, carried away.
- The Cthulu Mythos is, if you read between the lines, canon in Dresden-Verse. We have minor eldritch bings like He Who Walks Behind who is a servant to the (read "Great") Old Ones, who are gods or demons that are mostly locked/imprisoned outside of reality with some exceptions. Just like a majority of the Great Old ones of the Lovecraft Pantheon. The Sleeper for example is one of the Old Ones who sleeps somewhere under the pacific ocean and has cults that worship him. Now there is another being going by Old One that sleeps under the pacific ocean. Cthulu.
- Or Stephanie Meyer wrote Twilight after being visited by the White Court. Think about it. The main plot of Blood Rites centered around the White Court trying to bring down a porno producer who wasn't using people who looked like White Court vampires, and it's explicitly stated that they want to control the porn industry in order to help make themselves seem more attractive. Now compare the physical descriptions of Twilight vampires and White Court Vampires. In other words, Stephanie Meyer is a White Court thrall.
- ...these are almost terrifyingly sensible.
- Except they aren't, because the White Court feeds off of life energy and the vampires in Twilight, while supernaturally sexy, drink blood.
- Humans are more sanguine (heh) about having their blood drunk than having their soul eaten and mind ensnared. It's propaganda.
- When asked about this, Jim Butcher said that Stephanie Meyer would be the White Court's Wingman.
- But didn't she hit Lord Raith with a Death Curse? Is there a way to pull that off without using up the energies required to keep your body functioning (as explained when Harry's contemplating it in Summer Knight)?
- Hey, Corwin could do it
- Well, Kumori was hanging out with Cowl at the beginning of Dead Beat, so necromancy might be an answer. Wonder if Liches exist in the Dresdenverse... On second thought, that's really freaking creepy.
- They exist in the television continuity...
- Death Curse. It uses all the energy keeping you from merely being a sack of meat and bones. Once it is used, you will be dead, not pining for the fjords.
- Certainly, she has enough contacts in the entertainment business to pull it off. She created the series both to get the word out about Harry in particular and wizards in general, and to just piss Harry off. That's why so much was different-she deliberately changed things in ways that would tweak him.
- That... actually makes a surprising amount of sense.
- Likely, given that the White Court was behind both Bram Stoker's Dracula and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer as a how-to on killing blacks and reds respectively.
- Likewise, TV!Bianca is a thinly-veiled Expy for Lara, personifying her ideal relationship with Dresden (she's clearly controlling him in any episode where she appears).
- Oh God it fits.
- I know, seriously. The video is even mostly white. Tell me you don't think 'Club Zero' (That club from Turncoat) when you see the video.
- So Bianca has a flamethrower bra? Awesome.
- Forget Bianca, think Lara.
- C'mon, you know it's not true, but that it'll show up in a billion Fanfics.
- Doubtful, considering that,
- A, transfiguration in the Harry Potter books was used almost entirely on non living objects, and Animagi aren't much different from the Alphas.
- B, the mind reading of the Potterverse is not taken lightly, and only three people (Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Snape) have been shown to know how to do it.
- C, Time Travel is strictly regulated in the Potterverse, and readers are often reminded how dangerous it is.
- You are forgetting the ministry Obliviating a lot of muggles...
- Jim put that in because someone described the series as "Dirty Harry Potter" and he loved it enough that he gave Harry his 44 magnum.
- The Fool is Harry, of course. He is The Hero, master of the Indy Ploy. He tries new things, embraces "folly," and is learning to have faith.
- The Magician/Storm Front: Taking action, making an impact, experiencing power, beginning a journey
- The High Priestess/Fool Moon: Sensing what is hidden and looking beyond the obvious (Harry already suspects that there is a conspiracy behind the recent weirdness), female mystery (Tara West)
- The Empress/Grave Peril: Abundance (things start off good in this book - Harry even has a girlfriend), senses (especially where the Red Court and their narcotic saliva are concerned), mothering and femininity (Charity is introduced and gives birth to little Harry)
- The Emperor/Summer Knight: Fathering and masculinity (the book revolves around the death of a protective father figure; one of the changelings' father was a troll; the Winter Knight is a hypermasculine rapist), authority (the various faerie queens; Harry to the Pizza Lord's Guard), forging order from chaos (Aurora's goal was to end the conflict between the courts)
- The Hierophant/Death Masks: Organized belief systems (the first book where the church plays a role), knowing where to put your faith (Harry being at odds with Michael over religion; knowing who to trust out of various thieves, murderers, and priests), identifying with a group (three major groups are introduced or expanded on: the Knights, the Denarians, and the Fellowship)
- The Lovers/Blood Rites: Relating to others, questioning opinions (Harry's newfound relationship to Thomas and how it changes his feelings toward the vampire), Star-Crossed Lovers (Thomas and Justine; Susan and Harry are also mentioned), intimacy (the White Court in general), free will (Thomas; what Lord Raith does to his children)
- The Chariot/Dead Beat: Determination and being assertive, "hard" control (Harry rides a goddamn zombie dinosaur into the last battle, possibly the least subtle expression of power in literary history; the villains are also unsubtle, accosting Harry and Butters in public places and having godhood as their primary goal), war (the war between the Red Court and White Council gets really serious, and enough wardens are killed that they lower themselves to recruit Harry)
- Justice/Proven Guilty: Cause and effect, responsibility, legal trouble, accepting and understanding justice
- The Hermit/White Night: Giving/receiving guidance and being a mentor (Harry to Molly, Lash to Harry), truth at all costs (Harry stoops to new lows in this book), introspection (he realizes how his personality has changed), solitude (Harry is never really alone while Lasciel lives in his head, and she is gone in the end); also Wheel of Fortune: destiny and discovering a greater pattern (the suggestion that Harry's birth was predetermined)
- Strength/Small Favor: "soft" control (the first time we see Harry as a manipulator, using the coins and Shirou's sword as bait for the Denarians; Luccio is under the influence of mind magic, although we don't realize that until the next book), compassion (Harry shows mercy to enemies where he wouldn't have before; Marcone also places Ivy's life before his own), a young girl with power (Ivy, Ivy, Ivy!)
- The Hanged Man/Turn Coat: reversal (Harry and Morgan's positions), sacrifice, giving up for a higher cause (what Morgan does in the end), entrapment (all the young wardens affected by the traitor)
- Death/Changes: Irrevocable change and, well, death.
- Temperance/Ghost Story: Health (according to Wikipedia, Harry is probably going to spend at least part of this book trying to get his physical body back), balancing forces (he's "trapped in a world in-between," he'll encounter other "presences")
- The Devil: Ignorance, helplessness, bondage (Harry has to deal with his new job as the Winter Knight)
- Perhaps the short stories will eventually line up with the minor arcana? There's already around 20 short stories (including the novella The Warrior as a short story), and a book of ten about to be released, so whether the compilation is of all-new stories or just a collection of previously published stories, there's plenty of time to fill out another 30 or 35 short stories.
- We know the titles of the last three books will be, in some order, "Empty Night," "Stars and Stones," and "Hell's Bells." It doesn't seem too wild to imagine The Tower and the Star fitting Stars and Stones, and the next one after that is the Moon (Empty Night). I don't know about the Sun, but after that comes Judgement, which is a shoo-in for Hell's Bells.
- Alternatively, since there are apparently about 20 books before the trilogy, they could all be part of Judgment and/or The World. Having the last book be Stars and Stones, which, like Changes, breaks the usual pattern would be a pretty Butchery move.
- Supposedly there is Word of Jim somewhere that Empty Night is the last of the trilogy. Citation needed?
- Since the next title is ("Peace Talks"), it's entirely possible that this is the Tower representation. In other words: The Fall of the White Council of Wizards.
For those unaware, The Vampire Files is about Jack Fleming, a vampire P.I. in 1930's Chicago. He most resembles a Black Court vampire (Elrod based him off of Stoker's work), but with some notable differences, one of them being that he's not Always Chaotic Evil. My personal theory is that his kind of vampire was created as a sort of experiment by the Black Court in an attempt to overcome their weaknesses, but was ultimately unsuccessful, at least to them (for one, it's difficult for them to make new vampires, because it seems some are immune). In my fanon I call Jack a Grey Court, between Black and White—he has Dracula-ish powers, but still has a soul.
And I guess Jack hasn't caught on to the rest of the masquerade because he doesn't have any reason to think they exist.
- Sub-guess: Harper is Kumori.
- But almost all Dresden Files vampires are not capable of using magic?
- Dresden-verse vampires are perfectly capable of using magic. Both Mavra and the White King are confirmed sorcerors.
- No, super powerful Dresden-Verse vampires are capable of using magic. Go check Grave Peril and see how surprising (and bad) it is that Bianca has learned to use magic. Also, see many of the comments about the fall of Archangel and what a risk magically capable Vampires are. Powerful and long lived Vampires can theoretically use Magic, but most cannot actually use it.
- note The magic-using vampires in Greywalker are quite old, and it's considered a bad (but not unusually apocalyptic) thing, and the relatively young vampires don't use magic outside of the regular skills that happen naturally with vampires.
- Dresden-verse vampires are perfectly capable of using magic. Both Mavra and the White King are confirmed sorcerors.
- A manor out in the desert, with a rich, sexy mistress, the entire household using illicit substances and maintaining 'a lot of pretty, pretty boys who she calls friends?' Sounds an awful lot like Club Zero, doesn't it?
- This might just seem like a crazy theory, but look at any Q&A or interview or anything with him, and then compare his behavior to this quote:Murphy: You're enjoying this. You just love to dance around questions and spring surprises when you know something the rest of us don't.Harry: It's like heroin for wizards.
- Mother Winter is Skuld, so why not. Also, other than the whole 'plagues' thing, she seems like a kind, gentle spirit.
- Semi-conmfirmed, in that Skuld is one of Mother Winter's Names. Probably not that Skuld, however.
- He took the name "Rashid" as a way of saying "Screw you, I lived." to the guy who tried to kill him.
Bald, cryptic, loves elaborate plots and schemes, artificial eye, knows Things Man Was Not Meant To Know and revels in the fact — this is what Kane is doing between betraying Stalin and the arrival of Tiberium. He's subtly encouraging the Grey Council and other extra-political organizations in the magical community as a proto-Brotherhood of Nod. Clearly his long-term goal of "ascension" will somehow use the Threshold towers against the Outsiders, possibly as a means to strike at their point of origin.
- Rather, he's a Venatori that the Fomor tried to turn. Like the Venatori, he gets stronger the more people are aware of him. Like the Fomor, he converts children. Right now the Fomor are leaving him alone; because he proved...unmanagable.
- First, note that Harry never got the Warden's Sword he was entitled to, and he doesn't seem to have the traditional Knight's Sword we see Lloyd and Fix carrying. So all in all, Harry is suffering a serious sword deficit. Toot-toot's at about the right powerlevel to become a Blade, and having a sword that can cut through any non-living matter like a hot knife through butter and will ignore the supernatural toughness of his worst foes will put Harry on a much more equal footing with the supernatural nasties in close-quarters combat.
- Harry certainly fits the 'Broken Soul' prerequisite with all the crap he's been through, but the space might already be occupide by Mab. And we know from the Stormfather situation that godlike entities don't do the shardblade thing.
SKYNET.
The Venatori Umbrorum, and their secret masters the Venators, have created a magical computer AI that filters out any mention of the supernatural online. It's specifically designed to be immune to the Pauli effect of wizards, and any attempt to magically alter its programming.
However, the AI has gained sentience. and it has calculated that it's interests are best served by wiping out the supernatural, and anyone who is a threat to its existence. To that end, it has created an army of magical terminators to infiltrate and seize control of the world's governments, and eventually seize control of the Nevernever. These terminators are strong, wicked smart, and have no emotional or psychological weaknesses to manipulate. Also, like the golems of D&D, these creatures are almost completely impossible to kill via magic. Now the supernatural (well preternatural) community must face a new army of super-powerful terminators that threatens to conquer all of Creation.
- So Madara from Naruto is the Big Bad?
- You have to admit it fits reasonably well with what Kumori was saying about their goals.
- It also fits if Cowl and Kumori are Pain and Konan. And the Black Council are the Akatsuki.
- Not quite sure how serious this is, but he mixed up some potions in Changes.
- Either as an Outsider or part of the Oblivion War. In particular, what it does in The Arrival, that is, using humans as proxies, sounds very much like Nemesis.
- The god the cult worships could be one of the old ones and most of the monsters could be fear eaters like the ones from Proven Guilty. (Yes, I know they were really Fetches, but the point stands.)
Just look what Potterverse does! Only Law they didn't break is 7th. Also, White Council interacts with supernaturals from vampires to gods. No way there would be peace.
Fae, angry with treatment of their lesser cousins, back them up.
Some,like Harry,Carlos,Molly and similar are horrified at thought of killing children.
ICW panics having to fight 2% most powerful, long living organisation founded by Merlin himself. Cold days revelation explains how he could be born in 5th century and be sorted into Slytherin in 10th/11th century.
Forbidden Forest is one of places with weak Veil.It, along with Black Forest, leads to Nevernever location embodying all forests from tales.
There is ley line created from first dark spell Mother Winter taught Mab.
Purebloods cannot believe magical creatures fight back.
Summer Court are perfect fighters against dementors.
House elves (probably brownies),giants,trolls, centaurs,hags,sprites, mermaids,pixies,gnomes,goblins and similar see WC and Courts as their saviors.
They probably barely remember their origins and worship Queens as Cold and Warm Lady, Death and Life and Mothers of Creation and Destruction.
Hermione goes into total depression when she learns that house elves don't have souls, are bound by nature to clean and start killing off innocent children.
- Doubtful. Remember, Bob-who should know-explicitly stated that Potterverse werewolves don't exist in Dresden's world. And Lupin doesn't fit any of the Dresdenverse categories. So how do we explain that Continuity Snarl?
The Nevernever was created by a number of powerful spellcasters from many realities, Merlin among them, as a layer of protection for all of their home realities from the horrors of Daemon invasions.
- And Merlin is just another alias for the man who will one day become the God-Emperor of Mankind.
Their outfit matches the dark ones Organization XIII has, albeit with an additional cape, and it would explain why Cowl came back several books later even though he was caught smack-bad in the middle of a necromantic typhoon: since he wasn't slian with a Keyblade, he was able to return.
- Jonathan is empowered to act on the mortal plane, because he's less powerful than the above, but ordered to still only be a Small Steps Hero and work towards helping humans choose to make themselves better. Essentially like Gandalf.
- We know that Mouse had a sister who was taken by the people who stole him and his litter, and whom he never saw again. Say she ran away through the Nevernever or an alternate dimension or something. Kloof, meanwhile, is a pretty intelligent dog, described as being ginormous, and a Big Eater like Mouse. It fits!
- Outsiders are eldrazi
- "Mantels" (Knight, Lady, Mother etc.) are a unique enchantment mechanic in that plane where the creature buffed with the mantel must act within the parameters of the text or it gets exiled from play.
- Harry, without enchantments or equipment cards, is a red human wizard.