Author Topic: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?  (Read 51853 times)

Offline Arjan

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #30 on: October 01, 2020, 04:08:45 PM »
Harry will burn her unless he gets another lover between now and then.  True love's protection with Murphy can last for years.
It is about each other. Lara will burn, Harry won't
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Offline Rigil Kent

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry and Lara new pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #31 on: October 01, 2020, 04:12:27 PM »
I think this is Jim and he loves to punish Harry. So I can see Harry and Lara getting together on occasion and then 2 or 3 books down the line  they touch casually and burn each other.

Trouble with each other as they realize they have slowly spiraled together. Trouble with Eb when he finds out it's no longer a Marriage in Name only. Trouble with a White Court Rebellion. And finally big time Trouble with Molly.

That's enough for it's own book right there but you know this will all play out while dealing with some major threat, like getting the Walker out of Justine or ooohh even better , the child.
This matches my thinking as well. "What's going to happen? That's easy: what is going to torture Harry the most."

Plus, as I've said elsewhere, Lara is my very favorite monster, and I love the idea of seeing what happens when Thomas comes out of the box to discover that his half-sister and half-brother have gotten married for the inevitable LOLs and WTFs that would ensue.
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Offline BrainFireBob

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #32 on: October 01, 2020, 04:13:34 PM »
I've thought this. I've also though the wedding ring that gave Lara her scar- the one that induces Thomas to trust her about Justine- is Lara's own wedding ring.

We know:

1) She was once married
2) She used this name as her "professional" name
3) She's a few centuries old, and back then pre-marriage tomfoolery was not acceptable in upper crust families
4) Raith entrapped his children by not telling them of their fate until their fatal first feeding

So, posit: She killed her husband first-feeding style on their wedding night and because he loved her he didn't fight it.

Further posit: This is the spark that preserved independence from her father compared to her siblings/sisters. She hates him for this still.

Offline Rigil Kent

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #33 on: October 01, 2020, 04:22:19 PM »
I've thought this. I've also though the wedding ring that gave Lara her scar- the one that induces Thomas to trust her about Justine- is Lara's own wedding ring.

We know:

1) She was once married
2) She used this name as her "professional" name
3) She's a few centuries old, and back then pre-marriage tomfoolery was not acceptable in upper crust families
4) Raith entrapped his children by not telling them of their fate until their fatal first feeding

So, posit: She killed her husband first-feeding style on their wedding night and because he loved her he didn't fight it.

Further posit: This is the spark that preserved independence from her father compared to her siblings/sisters. She hates him for this still.
I really like this theory, though I am certainly biased because Lara is my very favorite monster in the series (though Nicodemus is a very close #2.)
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Offline Rigil Kent

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry and Lara new pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #34 on: October 01, 2020, 04:27:08 PM »
I wonder if there's a way for Lara to feed directly on the Winter Mantle -- I'm imagining something like the kiss at the end of White Night. Her power raises emotions in Harry for him to draw on to strengthen his magic, while she feeds on Winter, supercharging her Hunger's power.
In one of the interviews, Jim mentioned that Thomas could feed on Fae but would eat false emotion which would be the same as a normal human eating Fae food in the Nevernever, which would turn him into the monster as soon he returned to the real world. I wonder if the same would apply to the Winter Knight mantle? So if Lara did feed on it, she'd go bonkers.

Though ... didn't Mab explicitly tell her (Lara) not to feed on her Knight?
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Offline Griffyn612

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #35 on: October 01, 2020, 04:54:44 PM »
In regards to the OP, I think Harry has outgrown needing a routine sidekick.  He'll probably be alone during Mirror Mirror and with whoever is an ally over there, he'll probably get a new episodic sidekick for each new book for a couple more books, and then it'll be the BAT, and everyone will be everywhere.

I'm just sorry to hear of Lara's passing.

I mean, let's face it, Harry's relationships are 50/50 death/traumatic survival.  Either Lara croaks, or she loses her power at the table and becomes a shell of what she was.

Offline BrainFireBob

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #36 on: October 01, 2020, 04:56:25 PM »
He needs one from a literary perspective to prompt exposition.

Course, Bob may be back. Full circle to Storm Front.

Offline Griffyn612

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #37 on: October 01, 2020, 05:01:22 PM »
He needs one from a literary perspective to prompt exposition.

Course, Bob may be back. Full circle to Storm Front.
Sure, but it doesn't have to be a routine/repeating sidekick like Murphy was. It'll be one-offs that further expand his retinue.  He can have a mirror friend, and Librarian friend, and a wrestling friend, and whatever else until we're at the BAT and then everyone is a sidekick.

Offline BrainFireBob

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #38 on: October 01, 2020, 05:02:02 PM »
Sound like a really weird dirty Oscar Wilde reference there. I assume these friends are all...special

Offline bigdangmoose

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #39 on: October 01, 2020, 05:29:59 PM »
Sure, but it doesn't have to be a routine/repeating sidekick like Murphy was. It'll be one-offs that further expand his retinue.  He can have a mirror friend, and Librarian friend, and a wrestling friend, and whatever else until we're at the BAT and then everyone is a sidekick.

Maybe....

But I see this happening more likely.

MM will be one last ride with Murphy, so he can properly say goodbye. Complete with lines like "get on the bike, bitch."

But after that, we may have more Harry/Molly team ups. Mab said herself that the Knight and Lady will be working closely together back in CD, and yet we haven't seen that yet. And it's not like Harry's dealing in mortal deals anymore.
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Offline Thana†os

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #40 on: October 01, 2020, 06:00:29 PM »
Lara is actually one of my favorite monsters too and one I like to see Harry frenemies with.

For her to ask permission to court him (not marry specifically, that was Mab) is interesting to me. Lara does things for the White Court and for her power base and this would be that kind of arrangement for sure.

But we still don't see the whole picture here.

and I still ultimately hope to see Harry/Molly - I get that he knew her as a kid and right now that's gross, but time passes and they are long-lived as wizards...time changes things, not to mention battling unspeakable things side by side together.
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Offline Rigil Kent

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #41 on: October 01, 2020, 06:19:02 PM »
For her to ask permission to court him (not marry specifically, that was Mab) is interesting to me. Lara does things for the White Court and for her power base and this would be that kind of arrangement for sure.
That was the thing that most interested me as well.
Quote
and I still ultimately hope to see Harry/Molly - I get that he knew her as a kid and right now that's gross, but time passes and they are long-lived as wizards...time changes things, not to mention battling unspeakable things side by side together.
Yeah, I'm definitely in the "ewwwwww" camp. I see your point regarding time passing and all that, but it just icks me out. YMMV. :)
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Offline Arjan

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #42 on: October 01, 2020, 06:21:49 PM »
and I still ultimately hope to see Harry/Molly - I get that he knew her as a kid and right now that's gross, but time passes and they are long-lived as wizards...time changes things, not to mention battling unspeakable things side by side together.
For that Mab needs to die first.
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Offline Griffyn612

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #43 on: October 01, 2020, 06:26:44 PM »
Maybe....

But I see this happening more likely.

MM will be one last ride with Murphy, so he can properly say goodbye. Complete with lines like "get on the bike, bitch."

But after that, we may have more Harry/Molly team ups. Mab said herself that the Knight and Lady will be working closely together back in CD, and yet we haven't seen that yet. And it's not like Harry's dealing in mortal deals anymore.
I think Molly is a bit too big to be Harry's sidekick that he explains things to.  She knows more about things than he does now.  Even if she doesn't know she does, ya know?

As for mortal deals and whatnot, I think we might see him dealing with mortals a lot, now that the mortals are going to be involved in the supernatural world to some degree or another. 

We might see a Librarian assigned to Harry from the National Archives.  Presumably a wholesome, well-rounded young woman with horn-rimmed glasses and big doe eyes and long blinking eyelashes that will make him think of Sheila.  And together they'll research something to stop the book 20 or 21 big bad.

Or maybe we'll meet a grizzled military special forces agent who's assigned to tail Harry on behalf of the mortal authorities, who's skepticism will remind Harry of Murphy and who's suspicion will remind Harry of Morgan, who will ultimately prove himself to be a competent liaison between the BFS and the military.  And together they'll deal with demigods-turned-wrestlers.

Lara is actually one of my favorite monsters too and one I like to see Harry frenemies with.

For her to ask permission to court him (not marry specifically, that was Mab) is interesting to me. Lara does things for the White Court and for her power base and this would be that kind of arrangement for sure.

But we still don't see the whole picture here.

and I still ultimately hope to see Harry/Molly - I get that he knew her as a kid and right now that's gross, but time passes and they are long-lived as wizards...time changes things, not to mention battling unspeakable things side by side together.
One thing I came away from PT thinking was that Butcher had changed his tune on Lara.  He seemed to be going out of his way to make her more appealing to Harry, as well as make her his equal in some respects.  I was baffled at how weak she was at the end of PT, and now I'm baffled that she was that strong at the start of BG after being that weak at the end of PT.  I mean, I think her power levels in BG were appropriate, but still...

Anyway, she seems to be genuinely Interested in Harry.  I wouldn't call it True Love or anything like that, but I think she respects him and his power and she likes the way he looks.  But I'm not sure Lara even asked Mab to date Harry.  She might not have been thinking of Harry at all.  Mab said Lara "desired a binding alliance with Winter." Lara is modern-thinking enough to not necessarily think that a marriage is the way to accomplish that.  And it wouldn't surprise me if we end up seeing her express that in a later book, where she admits that she's not opposed to the idea out of hand, but that it wasn't her intention.  It'd go a long ways to making Harry more accepting of her role in the arrangement.

Offline BrainFireBob

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Re: Battle Ground spoilers: Harry’s pairing. What do you think?
« Reply #44 on: October 01, 2020, 06:34:49 PM »
She needed to feed at the end of PT. Badly.

And if it comes to it, a White Court vamp can probably recklessly pop an ampethamine or thirty and not worry about health risks.