Harry's paralysis long term foreshadowing?

[kris.vickers]

...many hold that it's Harry's confession of love that is the split.

It worked out for Doctor Who. sortof. 

[wardenferry419]

I lean to the "I love you" point. But, another point to consider is the moment around which he fireballs the party.

[kris.vickers]

I do like the fireball scenario more than the words. Saying vs showing at that point. and of course actions speak way louder than words. So to say he ended up wwaayyy down the line committing genocide on the red court, it can be said that he did it for Susan just as much as Maggie.

[Kindler]

Jim has stated alterna-Harry will have a goatee, right? Did alterna-Harry pull an Abed, realize that he was in the Darkest Timeline, and buy into the eyepatch and beard thing?

That, I think, is the true question of Mirror, Mirror.

[Rasins]

I believe the decision will be AFTER the I love you.  I think He's going to let Susan stay with Bianca and avoid the war.  That would be huge on LOTS of levels.

[thevickers]

Yes, that can still be very interesting. But of course, just like the news, something has to be covered. A slow news day will give coverage to the lesser issues, or even things that need not have coverage getting exposure.
So if the White Council were not to have all their resources being occupied, and diminished by a war. What would they be concentrating on? Their attention would be focused on something... what is it?

[raidem]

One thing that I wondered about was this eyepatch and goatee thing.  Evidently the entire mirror mirror earth has this as their motif, I've argued that if this is the case that Earth has such a different vibe then I wonder about the temporal lines going into the past and back.  That the Harry's choice has such affected the culture of humanity.  It is one reason I've argued that something from the future =>past.  Bonnie, Bob, Harry's allies, Harry?

The motif comes from a star trek show by same name.

[groinkick]

One thing that I wondered about was this eyepatch and goatee thing.  Evidently the entire mirror mirror earth has this as their motif, I've argued that if this is the case that Earth has such a different vibe then I wonder about the temporal lines going into the past and back.  That the Harry's choice has such affected the culture of humanity.  It is one reason I've argued that something from the future =>past.  Bonnie, Bob, Harry's allies, Harry?

The motif comes from a star trek show by same name.

I think that the eye patch, and goatee will revolve around Harry, and those most affected by his decision.  I don't think the entire Earth will be changed in some way where good people are now bad, and bad people now good.

[peregrine]

It's going to depend, I think.  Jim has said two somewhat contradictory things.  First that it's going to be goatees and eyepatches, which suggests that it's a Star Trek mirror universe where everyone is radically different.  Like the episodes of the show.  But he's also talked about the Choice Harry makes, which suggests that he's the primary focus.  And as Michael has said, if Harry goes bad, Michael will be there to stop him.  Likewise many of the other characters would not change that much.  Depending on what and how, we may see changes to Thomas, Murphy, the Alphas, maybe Eb, to make them different from the kind of people we know, but others, say, Morgan, the Merlin, probably Mab, would be the kind of people we already know, with the difference being how they react to Harry.

[raidem]

It was the entire culture or feel of the mirror mirror universe that had me speculating about some time related feedback loops that arise post choice but then affect distant past.  It is like Harry's choice created a new universe from that present on, but the mirror mirror universe started to create some of its own past that then gets propagated back to the future.  We know there are entities that straddle the timeline at the same time so the twinned universe could be propagated via them or any time travelers going into the past, etc.

[thevickers]

I could see that. Our Harry will eventually break the time law. And hilarity will ensue. We have to assume that if there was a split decision, and the alternate Harry in that bubble still thinks along the same lines, just with a more pessimistic view, we must also assume that this altHarry will break the time law as well. Possibly even more if he's taken out those who would come after him for it. (WC) So the propagation of his alt-ness would ripple even into the past that presumably both worlds shared. And by shared I don't mean interacting, just that they were they same until that split.
Though, the theories about Cowl being Harry fit better if he's the altHarry.

[raidem]

I like.  I like the cowl being ttharry.  Harry and his line of Harry's have to take out or one up the other set.

[thevickers]

Well, Back to the future part 2 did almost the same thing. trying to repair a decision that split into 2 futures. and the agents from 1 future were cleaning up the mess from the other.
But an evil Harry who (I would think) wouldn't care nearly as much for the rules of magic, would go back in time for no telling what, and cause no telling how much collateral damage.
The ending to Bioshock Infinite comes to mind. (along with many repeat storylines. Edge of tomorrow, groundhog day, ARQ on Netflix((AMAZING EXAMPLE))) with all the plot happening because the higher level of comprehension isn't there until, like the quote from Half Life "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."
All it would take is one change to alter things back towards the right path.

[jonas]

I have been re-listening to the books out of order, and I realized that the twist in Changes (Harry breaking his back), may have had a seed planted many books ago. I cannot remember which book, Harry was talking about how Titania could be looking out for Harry's interests by leaving him paralyzed in a hospital to save him from death somewhere else. Also, I believe the same book, he was talking to Fix and a similar line of conversation came up. Something like 'ending up paralyzed not feeling anything below the waist.' This specific of a topic and regarding a Queen of Fae seems very purposeful. Anyone catch this before, and if so, thoughts?

Yea jives with what others are saying. The whole "the burned hand teaches best' line and Molly coming under his tutelage was one thing I wondered about. She has multiple futures but if you notice ALL are influenced by her exposure to Harry Dresden or lack of. I'd wonder... if Harry had never become afraid of fire would his skill with it have gone up with that healthy dose of respect well enough to not burn her face vs otherwise? The other obvious thing is that was the moment he let Lasciel manifest herself, ergo learning to fight her off in reply.

[thevickers]

Also, as far as foreshadowing. Harry recovered from death in Arctis Tor for weeks. Once Mab started trying to murder him daily for a set numbers of days, 60-70-ish. That seems innocuous yet vaguely important, the number of days, or the progress he made in that time. Of course, as a final product after that "training" could never compare to what he'd have managed to train up to on his own. Death is the great motivator. There were only a few examples given to us as what types of encounters he faced. But I would assume that Mab what throw seemingly random death at him, that wasn't really random at all. Events coordinated to force him to use this magic over that, to use brains over brawn, to use environment over skills. Harry is now on a level that I believe he absolutely could not achieve on his own.
All because of a deal. I think that another deal may come up.
Fae love games and bargains. Who's to say Mab won't be offered a deal that's too sweet to pass up? The trade however would be giving up her knight? Harry's already an "indentured servant", and historically indentured servants contracts were purchased en masse in some cases.
I'd love to see Odin buy out Mab's hold on Harry. Have Harry swear fealty to Odin. Or even have Odin nullify the deal altogether, just to have Harry owe him one. Or even Chauncey come back and trade Harry with Hitler... Thoughts?