WAG: Mirror! Mirror!

[Firestarter]

In MM, the other Harry will attempt to break out Demonreach inmates because he will be attempting to save someone [ e.g.: Susan or a lover from the alternatvie reality. ]. I mean: It's Harry. By now we kinda figured out his personality and we can see somewhat see how life is shaping him... and we can all go back to book 1-4 to re-read, if necessary.

If the alternate Harry made other choices, different lovers, different something... he's a different Harry, but he's still has a remainder of "young Harry" in him [ otherwise the parallel angle won't make much sense ]. So however and why ever they are going to meet, I think they will try to cooperate whenever they are not working directly against each other.

But at some point the Alternate Harry will say that he's not the Warden of Demonreach, doesn't have Soulfire and wouldn't want to attempt to do the same in his universe, but Harry already has the access and Alternate Harry _really_, _really_, _really_ needs to get something/someone from there to help him save someone else.

Harry will naturally try to explain what kind of monsters are locked up under Demonreach and why and Alternate Harry will be either more reckless or be more sure of himself and sneak onto the island meeting a very confused Demonreach, who sees his Warden, is talking to him, can sense him every particular manner and he knows it's his Warden, but... doesn't feel him. There is no connection. And the Alternate Harry, being a bit of a bullshitter, will make something up and insist on retrieving something from underneath... and somehow [ I can't imagine how ] "persuades" Demonreach...

As Harry arrives, it's too late by a few seconds - some [ relatively low lvl ] monster has been released. Apocalypse lvl 1 starts! ... Harry, Alternate Harry and allies somehow fight it off/kill it/imprison it again. Alternate Harry either dies or someone from his close allies dies...

Add White Council being wary because interdimensional travel, Mab, because there is another Dresden, who will probably try to help Harry get out from the service... and anyone else who tried to recruit Dresden.

I mean: Not even Merlin jumped between dimensions! Did he...?

[Snark Knight]

The teaser Jim gave was prime Harry being pulled into the mirror universe, not mirror Harry visiting the prime universe. So if the story ventures out to the island, it's going to be Mirror Demonreach - to whom Mirror Harry is nobody significant. Prime Harry might be recognized, or might be considered a fraud.

[g33k]

If it follows the ST TOS episode for which it's named, Mirror Harry and Prime Harry will swap places.

Just because Jim teased Prime Harry going to the mirror'verse, it doesn't mean that Mirror Harry isn't coming to Dresedenverse Prime...

[Bad Alias]

Didn't Jim say that Mirror Harry pulled Prime Harry into his universe to be killed in his place, and that he'd done this before?

[g33k]

Didn't Jim say that Mirror Harry pulled Prime Harry into his universe to be killed in his place, and that he'd done this before?

If that was WOJ'ed, I didn't see it.

That's quite a huge alternation for an alternate Harry, though!  Wow.

I'd presume it'd be from pairing up with Lasciel...?
 

[Snark Knight]

That was the WOJ plot tease. Also, mirror Harry "gets more than he bargained for this time".

The WOJ didn't include whether he partnered up with Lasciel. It would make a certain amount of Watsonian sense, but in the Doylist perspective it would kind of be a retread of Hannah Ascher as a very much like Harry character who accepted the coin.

I believe Mirror Harry and Mavra are supposed to be allies, though. So if that stays intact through writing and editing, yeah, he's going to be a real piece of work.

[g33k]

... I believe Mirror Harry and Mavra are supposed to be allies, though. So if that stays intact through writing and editing, yeah, he's going to be a real piece of work.

Mavra offers to pull Susan out of Bianca's clutches, on a "you'll owe me one" basis.   Harry takes the deal.  Things spiral out of control from there.

[Firestarter]

If it follows the ST TOS episode for which it's named, Mirror Harry and Prime Harry will swap places.

Just because Jim teased Prime Harry going to the mirror'verse, it doesn't mean that Mirror Harry isn't coming to Dresedenverse Prime...

Oh yeah... Imagine all them scenes with Harry Prime being attacked by Alternate Harry's hot gf or similar...

That was the WOJ plot tease. Also, mirror Harry "gets more than he bargained for this time".

The WOJ didn't include whether he partnered up with Lasciel. It would make a certain amount of Watsonian sense, but in the Doylist perspective it would kind of be a retread of Hannah Ascher as a very much like Harry character who accepted the coin.

I believe Mirror Harry and Mavra are supposed to be allies, though. So if that stays intact through writing and editing, yeah, he's going to be a real piece of work.

Harry always gets more than he bargained for ^_^. Although I can see Harry trying to figure out how to destroy Mavra as a part of the deed.

I just can't wait...

Although it probably means that Alternate Harry will harbor a grudge against Harry Prime after this book. >.>

[Kindler]

You know, it might actually be interesting if Mirror, Mirror was written from both of Harrys' perspectives. One in the Prime Universe, one in the Mirrorverse. I have absolutely no clue how that Jim would do it, but multiple first person POVs has been done before in one book, shifting between chapters (and it's my meta WAG that that's how the BAT will be written). That could be pretty cool, and might be a healthy change of pace for Jim.

I doubt it'll happen, but I think it would be pretty dope to see inside the head of "Evil" Harry (who I don't think will be super evil, just kind of a "I do what MUST BE DONE" type of character).

[isoycrazy]

I am more interested in how others will have changed.  People like Marcone and Molly.  Without Harry being a positive role model if he goes evil, then Molly's infatuation will not turn to more than that.  She could end up under the care of Morgan or Luccio for training.

While Marcone could be more heavily involved with the Knights during the events of DM.  If it was his life that Shiro saved instead of Harry's.  We saw what the death and injury of an innocent child did to Marcone, now that one man, a stranger who had no reason to help him, gives his life to save Marcone's from death.  It could be enough to make him walk away from crime altogether and take up Shiro's Sword.

Mostly I want the latter because I have the scene of a confused Good!Harry running soon after arriving and people trying to kill him, getting to a street when a car stops.  Inside is Marcone dressed in simple clothes.  He takes one look at Harry and says, "Come with me if you want to live."

[123Chikadee]

@isoycrazy: Oh for sure. I also like the idea that Prime!Harry also gets to see how people look without his positive influence in their life. I'm still not sure if even Mirror!Marcone will get a sort of redemption, but you never know.
I'm still not wild about the idea of Mirror!Harry running around to kill alternate Harry's, it seems a bit redundant, I think anyone would just stop falling for it. Unless, he's doing it b/c he thinks all Harry's are evil or something?

[Kindler]

Agreed. I often compare Ghost Story to It's a Wonderful Life, but that comparison might end up being way more appropriate for Mirror, Mirror. Harry saw how his death (and all of his choices from Storm Front ---> Changes) impacted everyone around him. Getting a look at how a different set of choices might have impacted everything could serve one of a handful of outcomes. Either A) it reaffirms Harry's confidence in the decisions he's made, and might go a long way in reducing the burden of guilt he still carries with him (which is slowly fading away, as seen in Skin Game—though he still has moments of doubts, like during his conversation at Michael's kitchen table), or B) it makes Prime Harry's choices seem a lot worse in comparison, either because Mirror Harry's world is overall better (for instance, the White Council has soundly beaten the Red Court, Marcone has turned his criminal empire into a force for Good, all three Knights are still alive and holding back the Denarians, but Mirror Harry has paid a tremendous personal cost for it (Susan died in Grave Peril, Mirror Harry is basically a terrorist on the run from Winter and the WC, Molly was never saved in Proven Guilty, etc.)

Personally, I think it'd be closer to A. I think Harry is very much the kind of person who would happily sacrifice his own happiness, but would view a world where either the people in his life are unhappy or flat out no longer (or never have) exist (Maggie, Molly, maybe others) as entirely unacceptable.

[123Chikadee]

Ooooh, I like those options. I wonder if we'll get a combo of them somehow so that basically, Harry will be more mindful/long reaching with his choices but also won't second guess or blame himself all the time, b/c sometimes you just have no idea how something will work out.
But yeah, agreed about Harry's loved ones. Maybe he learns something from Mirror!Harry? I hope their conflict with each other is more than Mirror!Harry being some type of baddie. I'd like to see a different flavor of anti-hero myself, like its just applied in a different direction.

[morriswalters]

If it follows the theme of It's a Wonderful Life then something will happen in Harry prime's world that will cause him to doubt the choices he has made.  If Peace Talks becomes a bloodbath that could be the inciting event for that storyline.  If on the other hand it uses Star Trek  for the inspiration it could  be more a story where the Council decided to become more involved in mortal affairs and became an authoritarian government.  His mother never died and so on and so on.

[Kindler]

Jim stated that the Mirrorverse's point of divergence is a choice Harry made in Grave Peril. So everything up until Grave Peril happens the same way, it's only from then on that things are different. So Harry's mom should still be dead, but the Red Court war might've been delayed, the Summer Lady might have not gone schizo, the Denarians may have gotten the Shroud, the Darkhallow might not have even started (or was successful), etc.

Personally, I think the War was delayed until about Dead Beat or Proven Guilty, then the Red Court attacked when they were ready. I think the White Council was either taken out or damaged so badly that they're a shadow of what they used to be. Remember that attack in Dead Beat? The one that took out so many Wardens? Imagine if the RC had been doing that since Summer Knight, and opened with assaults like that. If the WC wasn't expecting it... well, Peabody very well might've ensured that they weren't.

I was never a Trekker, so haven't seen that particular episode (though we've all seen it parodied time and time again), but if there's an Authoritarian regime in place, I dunno if it could be the White Council. I'd think it'd be more like a Vampire Consortium (White and Red Courts working hand in hand; White Court manipulates the authority figures, Red Court works as the muscle). Meanwhile, Harry's one of a handful of Capable People standing up for Humanity. In his position, he has to make "tough" decisions. I can picture Harry compromising at each step, one at a time, slowly turning from the one we know now into the one Nicodemus wanted him to be. More... Knight Templar—like a more twisted Morgan—than Mustache-Twirling Villain. The kind of guy Odin praises Marcone for being, almost, except based on survival rather than organized territorialism.