Is there any character who didn't show up in PT that you'd like to see in BG?

[KurtinStGeorge]

I think the title pretty much says it all.  I can't see Mavra, Elaine or Drakul showing up, though I suppose anything is possible.  If Cowl is on the scene I hope he doesn't remain hidden during the entire story.  I recall Jim stating that Cowl had been hidden in background of other stories and I don't want to hear after the fact that it happened again.

I suppose that I'm not so much hoping that any of the characters that I named above show up, as much as I'm hoping there will be a place in Battle Ground for the Archive to do something interesting.  It was something of a letdown for Harry to see Ivy in Peace Talks and not have her be a part of the story.  If Ivy does start to play an important role I will start wondering if Kinkade will make an appearance, but first things first.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

WOJ has it that Drakul and where he is will feature in BG.

I am really waiting for Jim to tease a Jade Court scene, but it is only a swanky Chinese Restaurant that Harry takes the Wardens to having never been able to afford it previously. It would just annoy so many fans, especially those who keep asking Jim about them, which is a standard question at almost every con appearance and Q&A.

Oh, and the Ukrainian Shapeshifter Guru who was there all the time, shapeshifted into something innocuous, like Lara’s sofa.

“I looked around the Great Hall of my new home, “it just needs a basketball hoop there”, pointing at a piece of wall.

 Marcone's goons were removing the various delegations furniture, and as two of them picked up the White Court’s sofa, it shimmered and resolved into a pinch faced elderly man in a stained robe. The goons dropped him in surprise and he swore at them in an unknown language, not quite Russian. The man shook his fist at the goons and ran out.

I shrugged, someone spending several days pretending to be Lara Raith’s sofa for their sexual jollies was not even in the top ten of the weirdest things which had happened in the last couple of days.

I finished watching the goons remove the last of the furniture, and locked the door behind them “ good riddance” I said, before I went down to the basement, and the trapdoor to my lab. I curled up on the trapdoor and caressed the ring,  “My precioussss” I said before falling asleep for the for first nights sleep without nightmares since my apartment had burnt down.

[ClintACK]

Mavra and the Genoskwa were both mentioned in Peace Talks, with the suggestion that they are around and might show up.

The Genoskwa actually feels like a cheat -- I wonder if instead we'll discover that the real Genoskwa/Ursiel did get squashed in Skin Game, there's a shapeshifter around pretending to be the Genoskwa.

Which brings us to my answer to "Character I'd like to see" -- Shagnasty, the Naagloshi.

I've been wanting to see a rematch with Shagnasty ever since Harry learned what Demonreach is -- and the end of Peace Talks showed us both Harry's increased power on the Island and his ability to put someone into a cell. A repeat battle on Demonreach itself would be over so fast Shagnasty's head would still be spinning an eon from now in its tiny little cell. And it would be so satisfying -- doubly so if Shagnasty's the one who hurt Thomas, again, and put him in his current predicament.

[Regenbogen]

The Merlin, Elaine, Cowl, Mortimer Lindquist, Agent Tilly, Fitz (from Ghost Story)

I curled up on the trapdoor and caressed the ring,  “My precioussss” I said before falling asleep for the for first nights sleep without nightmares since my apartment had burnt down.

LOL

[Conspiracy Theorist]

WOJ is that Fitz unlikely to appear again, but I would like to think that Fitz finished his education, got his GED and apprenticed to Nick Angel, helping to find kids, meaning that he is now ready to work for Dresden Investigations and the Paranet as an investigator, specialist in ghosts, getting further training and honing his gifts with Mort and Harry.

The BFS building is a big building, Harry needs staff, the Wardens are stretched too thin, so paranetters in support capacities would make sense.

You may get your wish on Cowl, we are near the time under WOJ that Cowl will be unmasked, although the split and additional books may have skewed that.

Elaine? No, I think if Harry pushes reform of the White Council and the Black Council becomes widely known, you may have hidden Wizard Level talents like Elaine and Mort step forward (Carlos once again betrayed by a woman), to avoid being associated with the Black Council.

I think it likely one or more of Harry’s Rogues gallery will turn up in BG, working for the Fomor.

As regards the whole trapdoor thing, Harry has been so homesick that of course he would spend the first night possible at home, and he deserves a nights sleep without nightmares, it has been indicated in both PT and in the Mister Microfiction that he suffers nightmares on a nightly basis.

You will almost certainly get the Merlin  I would think

[Dina]

Kincaid (and more Ivy)

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Ivy definitely, but not sure about Kincaid, unless he is back to complete his contract with Harry, like the professional that he is.

He would be concerned if he found out Harry had beaten Eb is an out and out fight.

[vultur]

The Genoskwa actually feels like a cheat -- I wonder if instead we'll discover that the real Genoskwa/Ursiel did get squashed in Skin Game, there's a shapeshifter around pretending to be the Genoskwa.

It's possible.

But I don't think it's that bizarre that being smashed might not be fatal for the Genoskwa. Given that Denarians in general have supernatural regeneration abilities, and Forest People have super-strong auras of life energy, a combination of the two having Wolverine-level "heal from a blood smear" regeneration might not be that out of scope... at least as long as the coin remained in contact with the blood smear.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Healing yes, Harry smashes in Gen’s ribs and a minute or so later they are nearly healed, but Gen  still had to escape Hades domain, and may have had to give up the coin to do so. Hades is a collector, and powerful enough to counter a Fallen Angel so maybe he turned numismatic, and is now looking for the other 28.

[ClintACK]

If LTW does die, I'll be sorry we didn't get a chance to learn more about Little Brother.

The idea of wizards having familiars is widespread, and Harry's now got a cat, a foo dog, a spirit of intellect, and a sanctum-invocation with a genius loci, as well as whatever you'd call his relationship with Toot-toot. It's almost weird that he never got a familiar.

(Of course, it's possible that Mister *is* his familiar, drawing power from the bond and simply not choosing to use it to communicate or assist Harry in any way. Harry might not even known it. That would be very much in keeping with the Dresden way.)

[Conspiracy Theorist]

(Of course, it's possible that Mister *is* his familiar, drawing power from the bond and simply not choosing to use it to communicate or assist Harry in any way. Harry might not even known it. That would be very much in keeping with the Dresden way.)

You just defined a “cat” and not a familiar.

[Dina]

If LTW does die, I'll be sorry we didn't get a chance to learn more about Little Brother.

The idea of wizards having familiars is widespread, and Harry's now got a cat, a foo dog, a spirit of intellect, and a sanctum-invocation with a genius loci, as well as whatever you'd call his relationship with Toot-toot. It's almost weird that he never got a familiar.

(Of course, it's possible that Mister *is* his familiar, drawing power from the bond and simply not choosing to use it to communicate or assist Harry in any way. Harry might not even known it. That would be very much in keeping with the Dresden way.)

In the Dresdenverse, wizards apparently don't have familiars. But now I am thinking in Little Brother, hopefully he is back to the wild and does not die with LTW.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

A bit of hope, whilst LTW might be nearly done on his journey, this is from River Shoulders who is a millennia old and going through his mid-life crisis (Irwin and his mother). Nearly done might mean a decade or more (unless he dies in combat). Of the Senior Council members, only really Eb is a combat specialist, Christos is politician and diplomat, Martha Liberty is the intelligence specialist (she’s been caught flat-footed by both the Fomor and Harry ) LTW is a healer, you would expect him to be setting up and defending a field hospital. I think maybe LTW will die between BG and the BAT, and we will get the funeral scene.

I think there will be at least one senior Council vacancy created through death or Demonreach, to promote Luccio to the Senior Council, clearing the way for Harry to be The Warden, but I think perhaps Martha Liberty and Eb having to give up the Blackstaff to Harry, who would give it back to its proper owner.

[vultur]

Healing yes, Harry smashes in Gen’s ribs and a minute or so later they are nearly healed, but Gen  still had to escape Hades domain, and may have had to give up the coin to do so.

Yeah, I'm not sure how he got out of Hades.

On the other hand, the Forest People have magic of their own, and we don't know much about it. They could be able to open Ways.

Hades is a collector, and powerful enough to counter a Fallen Angel so maybe he turned numismatic, and is now looking for the other 28.

Wouldn't that mess up the balance? I think if the Coins were permanently taken "out of circulation" the Swords might lose their power (their angels would leave?) or at least the Knights wouldn't get their special mission-from-God boosts anymore.

Given that Hades recognizes that it's time for the Spearhead/Athame, Grail, etc. to be "back in circulation" I don't think he would do that.

[ClintACK]

I'm sure Lasciel could teach Hannah Ascher how to open up a portal in no time flat.

We've only seen Ursiel in bestial control mode, but it makes sense that he'd be able to do the same. All of the angels would know enough magic for that, and the genoskwa could do some magic -- at least enough to have a serious veil and some kind of counterspell.

It's the "nothing left but ketchup" part that troubles me. It doesn't make sense to think it was just an illusion that got splattered, because if the genoskwa was still active at that point, he could have easily killed Harry and gotten all five weapons for the win. So something hinky is going on, but we don't have enough information to narrow it down. (Do all Denarians regenerate even from goo if you don't take the coin? Does the genoskwa know Kemmler/Corpsetaker style ghost-eating self-resurrection magic? Is it a fake genoskwa walking around -- perhaps Shagnasty in disguise?)