[BG spoilers] A defense and requiem for my favorite character . . .

[Conspiracy Theorist]

On that basis Harry should enter in a physical relationship with all his enemies. Cowl, Arthur Langtry, Mavra, Nicky, Shagnasty, Genowskwa etc

“I approached the Merlin, catching him unawares, kissing him long and hard. The surprise on his face gave way to fear, then desire. “Harry” he said in a lascivious fashion, then “Harry,” in alarm and pain clutching at his left arm as a massive, final heart attack ripped through him, ending him. I gently lowered his body to floor.

Langtry was the last thank god, the worst had been Nicodemus, an auto erotic strangulation accident involving the noose. With the Genowskwa it had been his foot fetish which had led to his downfall. Mavra had been caught by the dawn whilst we were al fresco and totally nude. Shagnasty, well that speaks for itself, and Cowl had been killed by a jealous Kumori in a nasty murder suicide.

All these years making war on my enemies, when all I needed was to make love.”

Except of course you forget Mab, they sealed the deal when Harry became Winter Knight as she has survived even the Eye of Balor so far.

[morriswalters]

The opera ain't over until the fat man sings.

Anyway I'm just reporting the facts.

Elaine is still breathing which makes her a possible villain.  I don't think Jim can do homoerotic, but it might be interesting. His only foray into the subject was  awkward. Mab was virtual, the real Harry was back broke in Chi Town during the brief but torrid live stream. But she may yet be toast anyway.

[forumghost]

Yeah I've been pretty confident that Mab was going to die from the instant we found out that her job was preventing the Apocalypse.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Elaine was pre Files, they never did the deed in series which is the death sentence. I do count Mab, Lash was Harry’s imaginary girlfriend (still a better girlfriend than any that Carlos has had) and the love of Harry did for her.

[TheCuriousFan]

I don't think Jim can do homoerotic, but it might be interesting. His only foray into the subject was  awkward.

Well, intentionally anyway, this was the book where Harry got so distracted staring at Marcone's muscles that Marcone had to call him back to reality (and converted Priscellie).

[Professor Q]

I'm not convinced that we've seen the last of Murphy in this series. Yes we've been told that it's against the Rules for her to come back any time soon, but Dresden isn't exactly known for letting Rules stop him. Also I suspect that many, many Rules are going to become obsolete once the capital A Apocalypses get under way.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Well, intentionally anyway, this was the book where Harry got so distracted staring at Marcone's muscles that Marcone had to call him back to reality (and converted Priscellie).

There is also all the Bradley stuff which is also unintentional.

We will see murphy in memory form in Twelve Months I do not doubt like we have Malcolm, very likely to see her physically in Mirror, Mirror, where Harry may bring her over to the Prime World with him. Of course this resets the relationship if it occurs.

For all the Murphy haters, I would point out Jim has heavily gone into three ways with Butters and with Freydis, this may be foreshadowing Harry having a three way with Murphy and.....Murphy, with mirror Murphy and Murphy Prime during the BAT.

Now that would make the Murphy haters heads explode.

[TheCuriousFan]

There is also all the Bradley stuff which is also unintentional.

“Here,” came the answer. He came walking around the curving path toward us a few moments later, wearing only his undershirt beneath his heavy denim jacket. I hadn’t seen him wearing that little before. Michael had some serious pecs. Maybe I should work out. He was carrying with both hands part of his blue-and-white denim shirt folded into a careful bundle in front of him.

Sanya came along behind Michael, soaking wet, his chest bare underneath his coat. Never mind Michael’s pecs. Sanya made us both look like we needed to eat more wheat germ or something. He was carrying Esperacchius and Amoracchius over one shoulder—and Kincaid over the other.

Upon further consideration, maybe he's a bit more bi than he's willing to admit.

[Bad Alias]

[1]As a cop as a foil for the P.I. Harry, she was perfect.  [2]When she got booted off the police force he had a hard time getting her to fit anywhere.

1. I don't really see that. 2. I think it would have been easy enough to find a role for her.

Everyone's forgetting Luccio. So right now Harry's done the deed with 3 women who are still alive and two who aren't. I'm not saying those are good odds.

[Arjan]

1. I don't really see that. 2. I think it would have been easy enough to find a role for her.

Everyone's forgetting Luccio. So right now Harry's done the deed with 3 women who are still alive and two who aren't. I'm not saying those are good odds.

Oh they are better than expected. 

We do noot know about Elaine but what the dead ones have in common is true love.

[bigdangmoose]

1. I don't really see that. 2. I think it would have been easy enough to find a role for her.

You have to remember how she was in the first three books. She was a thorn in Harry's side, being an obstacle for him to work around, or a distraction. It wasn't until book 4 that the dynamic changed.

As for finding a place, she was losing pace to the rest of the group. She wasn't getting a power up. And she was black balled from any law enforcement agency, which was who she was to the core of her being. She lost her job for Harry, which the trade off for losing it was her being able to have a relationship with him. So no job, losing step to the supernatural group, no powerup to work with, there really wasn't a place for her anymore that was in the main part of the story. She was just slowing Harry down.

[Avernite]

You have to remember how she was in the first three books. She was a thorn in Harry's side, being an obstacle for him to work around, or a distraction. It wasn't until book 4 that the dynamic changed.

As for finding a place, she was losing pace to the rest of the group. She wasn't getting a power up. And she was black balled from any law enforcement agency, which was who she was to the core of her being. She lost her job for Harry, which the trade off for losing it was her being able to have a relationship with him. So no job, losing step to the supernatural group, no powerup to work with, there really wasn't a place for her anymore that was in the main part of the story. She was just slowing Harry down.

She should've signed up with Monoc pre-death.

[Bad Alias]

You have to remember how she was in the first three books. She was a thorn in Harry's side, being an obstacle for him to work around, or a distraction.

I think it was just the first two books. I can see an argument for a distraction in GP, but I disagree.

Murphy has served a functional role in every story she appears in. I just don't think there's a whole lot that she's done that Butters, Stallings, or Rawlins couldn't just as easily have done on the CPD side of things, or Michael and Thomas could have done on the muscle side of things. And now we have more options for that, so it's easy to imagine Jim could have introduced another character to fill these roles. Bradley is better at being muscle than Murphy. Murphy never beat him in a match. He'd also be a good character to have around for people starting the books at this point. Same goes for Tilly.

I just don't see how Murphy has been a foil for Murphy. I really think she was more like Harry than different from him. Butters (before he became a Jedi), Michael, Marcone, Nicodemus, and maybe even Carlos are all better foils for different aspects of Harry's character than Murphy was. I'm not big on literary analysis, so I could be missing something. I prefer a more Watsonian approach.

And she was black balled from any law enforcement agency, which was who she was to the core of her being.

People change, especially when they have to.

As for finding a place, she was losing pace to the rest of the group. She wasn't getting a power up. ... So no job, losing step to the supernatural group, no powerup to work with, there really wasn't a place for her anymore that was in the main part of the story. She was just slowing Harry down.

Murphy's physical prowess was never what made her a threat to the supernatural. They all had her beat physically. It was her willingness to admit the supernatural existed and then deal with it intelligently. Jim could have easily moved her into a command and control position instead of a combat position. She would have been perfect for helping Harry run whatever group he's planning on going with if she could have adjusted to not being on the front lines. She had done that in plenty of books. Sure, she was moving away from it by BR, but she was still filling a largely non-combat role as late as TC. She was also being more of a leader than we've ever seen her be in GS. The groundwork was all there for a difficult, and maybe failed, transition from a front line soldier to a leader.

I know I said I didn't care what Jim did with her the last time we had this debate, but I'm starting to think her trying to make the transition, failing, and then dying as she takes the field would have made a better end to her character arc than her never really trying in the first place.

I'm still undecided on whether her trying and succeeding would have been a better or worse story choice than what we got. It probably would depend entirely on the execution.

[Phygers]

Murphy's physical prowess was never what made her a threat to the supernatural. They all had her beat physically. It was her willingness to admit the supernatural existed and then deal with it intelligently. Jim could have easily moved her into a command and control position instead of a combat position. She would have been perfect for helping Harry run whatever group he's planning on going with if she could have adjusted to not being on the front lines. She had done that in plenty of books. Sure, she was moving away from it by BR, but she was still filling a largely non-combat role as late as TC. She was also being more of a leader than we've ever seen her be in GS. The groundwork was all there for a difficult, and maybe failed, transition from a front line soldier to a leader.

I know I said I didn't care what Jim did with her the last time we had this debate, but I'm starting to think her trying to make the transition, failing, and then dying as she takes the field would have made a better end to her character arc than her never really trying in the first place.

I'm still undecided on whether her trying and succeeding would have been a better or worse story choice than what we got. It probably would depend entirely on the execution.

I think Her trying and failing to make the transition only to fall into a some form of depression or desperation that would have her seek a way from some faction to get back in the field and have Harry and Karrin having to deal with the fact that like Harry being the WK, she would have someone that would give her orders that may put her on opposite Harry would have been better then what we got with the almost lazy way Murph's death was done and Harry brushing off the hurt and grief of her death off BS after Butters snaps him back to his senses. That Butcher gave us in BG

I'm just wondering how Jim killing Murphy is going to hurt his fan base and yes he pleased the Murph-haters, but was it worth the cost I wonder have had a lot friends that are not happy and feel like Butcher wasted their time and money for 17 books only to get a giant middle finger.

[Mira]

I think Her trying and failing to make the transition only to fall into a some form of depression or desperation that would have her seek a way from some faction to get back in the field and have Harry and Karrin having to deal with the fact that like Harry being the WK, she would have someone that would give her orders that may put her on opposite Harry would have been better then what we got with the almost lazy way Murph's death was done and Harry brushing off the hurt and grief of her death off BS after Butters snaps him back to his senses. That Butcher gave us in BG

Her trying and failing, dying trying to save someone might have been better.  The Mab "blanket" suddenly making her pain going away, and somehow bringing back strength to muscles weakened by months in a cast and repairing other ligaments and tendons etc that needed another operation that would only get to to fifty percent if she was lucky, contrived..  Her motorcycle just happened to be "protected," so she could come zooming to the rescue, also contrived...  Then the bazooka, she just had one in the saddlebag?  Her bringing down a giant with it when everything else seemed to fail.. Odd Marcone's men didn't think of a bazooka?  Only to be shot in the neck, dead, by a jerk with poor trigger habits in the process of soiling himself in front of Harry, just a bit much..  I guess one has to look at it as Gard did, the whole of her life, but I wouldn't call it death with dignity..