Harry's lack of research

[Yuillegan]

I know we have a lot of information Harry doesn't, but it really astounds me for a guy who is meant to be a big knowledge seeker (as a Wizard) that Harry does so little. He spends so much time fighting, which is interesting, but at some point wouldn't you make a list of all the weird stuff you might need to know?

For example, one of the biggest mysteries is Harry's mother. Who she was, what she did, what she was a part of etc. Harry has been told repeatedly of her dangerous activity, her disregard of the council, her anarchist/activist nature and that she was involved with some really bad people (Lord Raith, Justin, Lea, Nicodemus, Ariana etc). But he has done almost no research into this. Why not call up Lea and say "Hey I need to know about my mother etc?"

And there are many more: What is a Starborn? Why do I have power over Outsiders? Maybe ask Mab a bit more about the Outsiders. He certainly should be having a larger chat with the Gatekeeper about all of that. Definitely some research into Kemmler would likely prove fruitful. What about asking Ebenezer about Drakul, Kincaid, how the supernatural nations hitmen work? And he really needs to read Merlin's journals, and maybe all those other ones. Which likely for plot reasons will only happen when Eb dies. How about the really weird mystic anomaly in Ghost Story where the "Shade" of Dresden is able to appear on Holy Ground, when others cannot e.g. Kravos. I think that the current theory is because Harry was not actually a "shade" but part "soul" as well. But still never explicitly answered.

I do understand that all will be revealed in time, plots need to form there own way. But surely you would ask more of these questions as it seems to affect just about everything you do?

Anyone got any other areas Harry should be researching?

[Bad Alias]

A lot of that is explained by Harry's lack of introspection. A lot of it might be that he doesn't want to know. What if his mother was a horrible person? He probably wouldn't want to pay whatever price "people" are asking.

If it was me, I'd be digging for all sorts of information. For example, when he still had Bob, I'd be forcing Bob to read all sorts of science text books. I'm sure a thorough understanding of science and engineering would help with new and interesting magic. If I'd ever figured out how much information is on the internet, I'd find a way to use the internet, probably through Bob.

[Yuillegan]

Well true. But he did want to know his past in Ghost Story. Lots of Clues in that book. But he chose to ask about his current problems - classic Dresden style. He sees a problem and goes straight at it, and think barely two moves ahead. No real sense of the long game. Which is incredibly weird for a Wizard, especially one in his forties. But then again, that is who he is.

Another mystery that hasn't been addressed from Ghost Story, for instance, is who the enemy are. When Dresden first is in Between (which we don't really know what that is), he sees an angel called Amitiel. Jack tells him that is a clue to who cheated in order to kill him. Dresden responds with actual Fallen angels, and Jack says

Not exactly. But if you want to think of it that way, it works. Sort of. What you need to know is they're the bad guys

So what the hell does that mean, pun intended. The opposition to angels should be the Fallen, and yet are not. But it is something very similar. Is he implying it was the Denarians or the Circle or something else? And I can assure you, if someone/thing was messing with my life like that, I would be pretty keen on finding out who tricked me into killing myself. But Dresden hasn't even approached that, and likely won't for some time.

The only correlation I can think of is Nemesis/The Enemy. Jack says to Harry (when referring to those that compromised his death) "You were getting in their way. They wanted you gone. They broke the law to make that happen". Rashid in Cold Days says something similar "Unwittingly or not, virtually your every action in the past few years has resulted in a series of well placed thumbs in the adversary's eye"

Harry has a lot of the information he needs to solve the puzzle, but more people on these boards have connected the dots than he has.

[Bad Alias]

I agree. I'd at least try to figure everything I could out that was directly relevant to me.

But Harry really wants to know this stuff, then never looks into it. After Chauncey says that Harry has family and his parents were murdered, Harry chooses to ignore that information until he stumbles across his brother, his mother's murder, and later his grandfather. Seriously, what the fudge man.

He's still never looked into whether or not his dad was murdered and by who after all the other information turned out to be true.

[Yuillegan]

I know. I mean obviously that is just how Jim is drawing out the story, but I guess after 20 years a few things get lost. I just think he needs to at least have a passage with Harry putting together a string diagram trying to piece it all together.

Another mystery, in Cold Days Maeve says that Mab is mad and and intends to unleash chaos and destruction not seen since the fall of Atlantis. Like I know the guy is busy, but wouldn't you go "hey, might be time to ask what happened to Atlantis" to someone who would have the true story.

[Mira]

  I disagree..  Remember the story is told in the first person, and Harry does seem to know
a lot.  He wouldn't have survived this long if he hadn't.  He used both Bob and Lash for information when he needed it, it has been critical to him when needed. 

Harry has been lied to about his mother for most of his life.. By people he loved and respected, most of all trusted, from Justin to Eb...  He has also suffered from PTSD from his encounter with HWWB to the killing of Justin, lots of stuff has just been blocked out of his mind.  It's the mind's way of protecting itself. 

Another mystery, in Cold Days Maeve says that Mab is mad and and intends to unleash chaos and destruction not seen since the fall of Atlantis. Like I know the guy is busy, but wouldn't you go "hey, might be time to ask what happened to Atlantis" to someone who would have the true story.

Or since he figured out  that Maeve herself was mad, think she'd tell him the truth?  Or merely her version of the truth?  In any case what happened to Atlantis really wasn't relevant to his mission at the moment... Who knows, maybe off page or between books he did the research?

[morriswalters]

.

Another mystery, in Cold Days Maeve says that Mab is mad and and intends to unleash chaos and destruction not seen since the fall of Atlantis. Like I know the guy is busy, but wouldn't you go "hey, might be time to ask what happened to Atlantis" to someone who would have the true story.

Thanks I missed that.  I just knew Atlantis had to rear its ugly head.

And Harry has a new talking head for research.  Named Bonea.  Chock full of Fallen Angel knowledge.

[Mira]

Thanks I missed that.  I just knew Atlantis had to rear its ugly head.

And Harry has a new talking head for research.  Named Bonea.  Chock full of Fallen Angel knowledge.

And you can bet he will be asking her a lot of questions.

[dspringer1]

I disagree with the premise of Yuillegan that Harry does not do research.   It is more complex than that.

1) Many examples of Harry researching a specific power, school of magic or being.   However, this only comes up when relevant.  Harry only speaks of manipulating time when it is relevant, even though clearly he is more knowledgeable in cold days than he was in Storm Front on the topic.  For example, in cold days Harry revealed he now had a detailed understanding of all the ley lines around Chicago, something he clearly did not have in some of the earlier books. 

2) There are several examples of topics which are very personal to Harry - his mother, hints of other family members.  Agree he should have asked people for details of his mother, check with Ebenezzer on other potential family members, etc.  But I suspect that these issues are so deeply personal that he is just reluctant to talk about them - or perhaps unwilling to face potentially more unpleasant revelations.   


I totally agree that Harry should have researched starborn or soulfire.  Maybe he has, but it has not been revealed yet. 

For those suggesting "just ask Lea" or "just ask Mab" -- recognize that these individuals will demand a high price for that knowledge.   The only practical exception is that if they need Harry to accomplish something that requires that knowledge, they will find a way to deliver the info.  But that is a very narrow exception.   Also recognize that both such individuals can share facts, but both are also clearly unable to understand human behavior and motivations well.    And that type of information is exactly what Harry would most treasure.  Not the facts, but the understanding of them as people. 

[Mr. Death]

Nearly everyone who has told Harry anything about either the Starborn business in general or his mother specifically has either been:

A. Evil and trying to turn him to their side;
B. Evil and trying to kill him; or
C. One of the above and now dead.

Suffice to say, Harry doesn't have a lot of resources he can go to for information about either of those -- not without incurring a huge cost for that knowledge, anyway.

I also agree that he's probably in a lot of denial, about his mother specifically -- like any child, he wants to believe his mother was Good and Right (hence him defending her when Luccio speaks of her) and, as above, three of the people who've said the most about to him about his mother are a literal demon from Hell, the man who murdered her, and the man who started the Black Plague as a second honeymoon. Of the rest, two of them have stated that the White Council had a kill order out on her as a Warlock.

The only person who seemed just simply friendly with her and was not evil was the Gatekeeper, and getting information out of him is ... tricky.

So yeah -- Harry has every reason to fear that any further information he gets about his mother will paint her badly, so he's probably reluctant to seek it out.

[Arjan]

Lea knows but getting it from her will be expensive...

[Mira]

I totally agree that Harry should have researched starborn or soulfire.  Maybe he has, but it has not been revealed yet. 

He did try to find out what soul fire was, but Bob had limited information, but since he is neither human nor an angel,misleading..  Uriel won't or isn't allowed to explain it to him... It is a journey he
has to go on alone to discover what it is..  I believe he is beginning to understand when he used it to
free himself in his encounter with Mother Winter.   In short it isn't something he can effectively research.  Nor is information about star children all that forth coming.. 

[wardenferry419]

Harry's best source for knowledge is other wizards. Unfortunately...
1. Harry spends alot of time alone.
2. Most wizards are skittish of Harry.
3. Wizards hold onto their secrets like a nun does her sexuality.

[forumghost]

Harry's best source for knowledge is other wizards. Unfortunately...
1. Harry spends alot of time alone.
2. Most wizards are skittish of Harry.
3. Wizards hold onto their secrets like a nun does her sexuality.

4. Harry is an idiot who never does any research unless the subject of it is trying to eat his face sometime in the next 48 Hours. He had Bob (one of the greatest sources of Magical Knowledge on the Planet) for years and didn't even know there were multiple Vampire Courts until after the Series began, He's chronically incapable of actually using his brain.

5. Harry seems to in fact actively avoid knowledge about certain highly important subjects, such as his Mother, because he just don't want to know.

[morriswalters]

I know we have a lot of information Harry doesn't, but it really astounds me for a guy who is meant to be a big knowledge seeker (as a Wizard) that Harry does so little. He spends so much time fighting, which is interesting, but at some point wouldn't you make a list of all the weird stuff you might need to know?

After Susan is turned Harry gets obsessive researching  vampires, to the detriment of everything else. 

By PG he has researched and built LC, to the point Bob is complaining about the time he has spent doing so. 

Thereafter he has an apprentice to train. 

He continuously modifies the wards on his home to counter new threats as he finds them. 

Modifies and improves his force rings as well as his other magical gadgets. 

Spends time training newbie wardens. 

He was dead or incapacitated for a year, his arcane library burned. 

And for the last two years he didn't have Bob.

And after the events of Cold Days states that if it happened again he would be able to shut the same events down without breaking a sweat.  Implying he researched the capabilities of Demonreach.

As for knowing his mother, why should he be any different than anyone else.  You know your mother because she was there as you were raised.   And at that you know your mother, not the person she was.  If she had died before you were born, she would be a collection of photographs and stories told to you by the people who knew her.  And look at who Harry's mother ran with.  A bunch are dead, or inhuman.  The ability to research implies a record to examine.  In a lot of ways Margaret was an International Women Of Mystery.