I’ll actually do that. Karrin says that she’s found where he’s hidden the swords and took them, which she did against his will. Technically theft, either against the still-technically-alive Dresden or his next-of-kin. She then tells him that she will not surrender them under any circumstances and won’t say where they are. And Dresden is furious, far angrier than he was when Karrin asks him to surrender Bob. Karrin holds the swords hostage, and refuses to give her trust or loyalty to Dresden unless he gives in to her demands. Her actions are brutal, emotionally manipulative, and both prey upon and enforce Dresden’s doubt, shame, and guilt – something that he doesn’t get over until he gets real trust from Michael in Skin Game. Karrin wavers around with her trust issues; Michael laughs at the thought that Harry even really could turn bad. Michael has ten times the trust in Harry than Karrin does.
You're looking at two different times in Harry's life.
When Karrin is talking about the Swords in Cold Days, yes, Harry is furious with her --
out of character levels of furious, and comes to within inches of smashing her skull in.
That is why she doesn't give up the Swords, because she can recognize that he is not in a place at that point in time that the Swords would be safe with him. When he stops and thinks, Harry recognizes that too, and does not further protest.
Murphy isn't saying, "I'll only trust you if you accede to my demands." She's saying, "The last time we spoke, you told me Mab was going to turn you into a monster. You're acting suspiciously un-Harry-like. Before I trust you, I need to see proof that you're not the monster you explicitly told me you were going to become last time we talked, and show that you're still worthy of that trust."
Michael, however, only sees Harry again after Harry has spent a year and change mastering the Mantle. Michael talks to a Harry who is not on the verge of murdering and raping his friends and long-time allies for perceived slights.
Remember in Changes that Harry explicitly and directly asks Murphy to see to his effects and his will. You don't think the Swords were part of that?
“If . . . Look. I have a will in a lockbox at the National Bank on
Michigan. If something should happen to me . . . I’d appreciate it if
you’d see to it. You’re on the list of people who can open it. Listed
as executor.”
“Harry,” she said.
“Granted, there’s not much to have a will about at the moment,” I
said. “Everything was in my house or office, but . . . there are some
intangibles and . . .” I felt my throat tighten, and cut short my
request. “Take care of it for me?”
The Paranet Papers (which takes place post Ghost Story) explicitly names Murphy as executor of his will and that he entrusted her with the Swords. And note that Ghost Story that Harry is not in the least bit surprised that Murphy has the Swords -- almost as if he already knew and expected that she'd have them. I wonder why.
A dead silence settled on the room, into which Sir Stuart asked
me, conversationally, “Which swords?”
“The Swords of the Cross,” I said quietly, out of habit—I could
have sung it operatically without anyone there noticing. “The ones
with the nails from the Crucifixion worked into them.”
...
“Yeah,” I said, deadpan. “The little blond woman has two of
them.”
“Oh, my,” Sir Stuart said, his voice muted with respect. “I can
see why you’d come to her for assistance.”
“Damn skippy,” I agreed. “Better go get Morty while she’s still in
a good mood.”
Yeah, that sure sounds like a Harry that didn't think Murphy should have the Swords. You can just feel the shock and outrage at her audacity in his words and description, can't you?
Note also at the end of Changes that Harry only tells Murphy where they are. He explicitly tells her that the Sword is in the boat if she wants it. He didn't tell anyone else this. Do you think Harry expected and wanted the Swords to just sit in the boat, unguarded?
Dresden doesn’t want to give Karrin the swords, but because of Karrin’s mistrust in him he believes that he just can’t be trusted at all. That is NOT trust. That is actually a toxic situation. Karrin can literally demand whatever she want. Karrin does exactly the same thing in Cold Days as Butters does in Skin Game: dumps all of her fears and insecurities on Dresden and expects him to conform to her idea of what he *should* be. Karrin is not in a good place in Cold Days, and because she’s one of the people that Dresden loves and cares for most, it really harms him.
No, he believes he can't be trusted with the Swords because his instant reaction to her calm refusal was to punch the wall next to her head before he even realized what he was doing.
You talk about Murphy being in a bad place in Cold Days -- are you ignoring that Harry has the Mantle hammering his "Murder/Rape/Murderrape" button the entire book?
Do you really think the person holding the Swords should be someone who has to make a concentrated, conscious effort to keep himself from smashing one of his best friends' heads in just because she calmly refused a request of his?
Michael sets things right at the end of Skin Game. He calls things for what they are, and asserts that Karrin wasn’t called to be a custodian of the swords. He gives his sword back to Harry for safekeeping, asserting that Harry is the right person for the job. And his REAL trust in Dresden is what finally makes Harry choose, at the end, to have faith in himself. It's what finally convinces him that there's light at the end of the tunnel, and that it's possible that he could actually withstand Mab's influence and not turn into a monster.
Michael doesn't say she wasn't supposed to be Custodian -- just that she appointed herself. He never says she was wrong to take them. And, again, Michael did not see Harry during Cold Days.
I think if Michael saw a Harry who was a hair's breadth from raping his daughter and Andi and who had to physically hold himself back from smashing Murphy's head in for having the audacity to say no to him, he might say something different.
Harry changes a lot between the two books. Harry in Skin Game is much more in control and much closer to his Pre-Changes self than he is in Cold Days.
While we're on the subject of Michael and his flawless and always-entirely-correct assessment of people, what does he have to say about Murphy in Skin Game, when Harry says he's bringing her along? He says "Good!" and thumps his beer on the table for extra emphasis, and continues to say she has both brains and heart.
So if we're going to take Michael's word as, for lack of better word, gospel when it comes to the disposition of the Swords, are we going to dismiss what he has to say about Murphy personally?
This is another reason that I think that there’s something going on here. You call this love and trust. I call this abuse and manipulation. I’m sorry, but I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em. Just because Karrin thinks she’s being the swords’ custodian out of concern for the Swords and what they represent and out of care for Harry doesn’t make it so. Karrin appointed herself custodian of the swords out of fear of what Dresden might turn into and manipulated Harry into believing the same. And Harry would have been a lot better off if Karrin would have just shown him support, rather than demonstrating that she didn’t think he could be trusted.
You're either forgetting or ignoring Harry's state during Cold Days.
She didn't appoint herself custodian out of fear of Dresden (even if we accept the highly unlikely premise that Harry didn't say anything at all to her about the Swords, she "appointed herself" when Harry was dead and she didn't know he was coming back), and she didn't "manipulate" Harry into believing anything -- Harry was
already scared of what he would become under the Mantle, and he realized, "Hey, I almost just smashed Murphy's head in. Maybe I shouldn't be the person who's guarding three of the most important artifacts on Earth."
There is exactly one time when we're given any kind of explicit opinion on who should keep a Sword or not that isn't just, "You will know what to do," and handily, it comes from one of the Knights:
Wordlessly, he offered me Amoracchius. I stared at the Sword
for a moment.
“I’m not so sure I should have that,” I said.
“If you were,” he said, “I wouldn’t want you to have it. Uriel placed
it in your care. If he wanted it moved, he should say so.”
So, Sanya says if Harry was "sure" he should have the Swords, Sanya wouldn't want him to have them.
In Cold Days, Harry is
damn sure he should have the Swords.
Harry is expressing the exact criteria under which Sanya said he would not want Harry to have the Swords.
But not smart enough by that logic to realize that that same person will know about her concealing the Holy Sword and how she really felt about it and set her up... So she isn't that smart, or she lacked trust in Harry.
What? There is nothing in that sentence that logically points to her not trusting Harry.
Please tell me how her saying "I'm not bringing a Sword," translates into "I'm concealing a Sword" to Nicodemus -- who, again, explicitly says he wasn't sure if she'd brought it along.
Please tell me how openly admitting she had the Sword would have somehow not allowed Nicodemus to manipulate her into breaking it. Hell, it would've been easier if he'd known for certain that she had it.
But then why argue about what a bad idea it was? Why not tell Harry what she planned to do... Hey carrying a Holy Sword on this kind of mission is all about open carry, not permitted concealment...
Who says that? Where are the rules written down? Or is Michael breaking those rules when he carries the Sword in a duffelbag? Or Shiro, when he conceals his Sword in a cane?
You seem to be pretty darn sure about a lot of the rules about wielding or holding a Sword. Care to tell us where you're getting this information? And why that information is directly contradicting how we've seen full-time Knights conceal their Swords, even when on official business?
Um, you know perfectly well why.... If they had been on Demonreach, or if Mab had been there to do her thing, he may have told her. At least he was up front telling her there were things he could not tell her.. Need to know, Murphy didn't need to know, plus as you say her place wasn't secure...
All of those things apply to Murphy as well as they do to Dresden.
If they had been on Demonreach, or if Mab had been there to do her thing, Murphy may have told him.
As for Harry being up front, he only told her there was something he couldn't tell her after she directly asked him about the missing three hours. If Murphy hadn't asked, Harry wouldn't have mentioned it at all.
So again: Why does Harry get a pass for hiding things from Murphy, but Murphy hiding something from Harry for the exact same reasons means she distrusts him?
And there's one other question in my post that you didn't answer, Mira.
Mira, please answer this question directly: Why do you constantly come down on Murphy for not trusting Dresden, without ever even acknowledging that Butters' clear, explicit distrust in Dresden created the situation in the first place?
Is placing a secret tracking bug somehow more a sign of trust than agreeing to go with Dresden knowing he's not giving you information and putting your life in his hands?
Please answer that.
