Dabble Interview 23 August 2023

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Two titbits dropped about Next Book.

1. Harry gets a Valkyrie bodyguard,
2. Harry gets a new apprentice

[g33k]

Two titbits dropped about Next Book.

Do you mean the one with working-title Twelve Months?
Or by "next" do you mean the book after that?

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I refuse to use that Title as it doesn’t have a double meaning.

I am of course referring to the book Jim is currently not working on.

I think that Lara tasks Freydis with looking after Harry to make sure that he gets to the alter in mostly one piece.

No idea about the apprentice, but please, please, please let it be a nephew or Brice of Lamar.

[LaraBeck]

1. Harry gets a Valkyrie bodyguard,

I need this to be Murphy, because the drama would be so juicy, and also would mess with us so bad, lol.

[vincentric]

Well Jim could keep it simple and have Maggie Jr. as the apprentice. My longshots would be Fitz(from GS) or Hope Carpenter.

Freydis would make sense as a bodyguard.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I think “nanny” rather than “Bodyguard” Harry has made an enemy of Nameless and Miss Lapland, as a fellow Scandinavian Freydis will be able to give Harry the skinny on them. Typical rivalry between the Swedes and the Finns. I can see Harry running Freydis ragged.

This also equalises his position with Marcone.

Who is to say that the new apprentice is an established character? The supercharged magical atmosphere of Battle Ground will have set off any number of prepubescent Wizards to be. Harry is likely to be dealing with a 10-12 year old, whose parents consider Harry a better bet than the White Council. That means someone who knows i.e. a Paranetter family.

Or his 18 year old son by Elaine. I have pointed out on another thread that if Elaine was pregnant around the time of Justin’s death then any child would turn 18 during Next Book. It’s not that Jim has overused the trope of “long lost relative” only for his brother, Grandfather, both children and briefly his parents.

[magnuskn]

Although the interviewer didn't get to my question about Ivy, he got my intro about the Pathfinder RPG and how I look forward to meeting Jim at Fantasyfestival in Denmark next month. I really hope I get to talk to him a few minutes about it (and maybe ask one or two Dresden Files related questions outside of the Q&A).

Of course I'd love for the Valkyrie bodyguard to be Murphy... it would neatly circumvent the "out of the memory of living beings" clause for Einherjar, without having made Sigrun a liar.

And making Fitz his apprentice would also tie up my long-standing annoyance with that entire sub-plot of Ghost Story, which seemed a gigantic waste of pages at the time.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

It concerns me that Jim let this info drop so casually, most unlike Jim unless he has twists in mind, he his building an expectation only to confound us later.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Murphy cannot be a Valkyrie, they don’t make winged horses that small and she would never live down a winged pony.

Fitz doesn’t have a broad enough talent to be a wizard, but I could see him apprenticing to Mort.

[RobReece]

I just watched the interview and came straight here to see if anyone had caught these "tidbits".

My opinion,  is that it won't be Karen, because of the limitations Odin requires.   The only reason it would happen is the absolute torture Harry would experience with as he prepares for and approaches his wedding to Laura.

I could almost see the conversation...
Karen- I was dead a week? And already you're engaged? Did you have her crawl inside your hospital bed?

As for apprentice,  I think Maggie's too young yet, I'm hoping for Fitz

[CrusherJen]

Fitz doesn’t have a broad enough talent to be a wizard, but I could see him apprenticing to Mort.

This makes sense! I'd love to see Fitz show up again, but his skill set does match Mort's more closely than Harry's.

I do think Maggie will have some sort of ability/talent at some point; Mom was a half-Ramp, Dad's a wizard, so the odds are stacked in favor of her being magically-inclined. (Plus who else would Harry have caught conjouritis from? School kids are a vector for germs, after all. Even if her abilities haven't kicked in yet, Maggie could still carry it. 🤣) But is she old enough yet for her power to awaken? Maybe one of her school friends will be the new apprentice.

[Mira]

This makes sense! I'd love to see Fitz show up again, but his skill set does match Mort's more closely than Harry's.

I do think Maggie will have some sort of ability/talent at some point; Mom was a half-Ramp, Dad's a wizard, so the odds are stacked in favor of her being magically-inclined. (Plus who else would Harry have caught conjouritis from? School kids are a vector for germs, after all. Even if her abilities haven't kicked in yet, Maggie could still carry it. 🤣) But is she old enough yet for her power to awaken? Maybe one of her school friends will be the new apprentice.

I agree with most of what you say except I doubt that little Maggie inherited anything of Susan's vampside.. Because she was infected, it wasn't inherited like in the case of White Court vamps.  It is possible that the vamp infection crossed the placenta during Susan's pregnancy or maybe I guess she might have gotten infected during the birthing process, but I think if either were the case it would have shown up by now.  Even if it had, being a Red Court Vamp doesn't automatically give you magical talent. 

[g33k]

... they don’t make winged horses that small and she would never live down a winged pony.

Witty!
But incorrect.  Both the Icelandic Horse and the Norwegian Fjord Horse are very small indeed, AND come from Odin's old stomping-grounds.  Murphy won't have been the first "tiny, but fierce!" on his radar...

[g33k]

... I do think Maggie will have some sort of ability/talent at some point; Mom was a half-Ramp, Dad's a wizard, so the odds are stacked in favor of her being magically-inclined ...

Rampires are made, not born.  It's almost like a psychic version of the parasitoid wasps -- an adult Rampire can implant an immature Ramp-spirit, when it attacks a suitable mortal host.  They cannot reproduce from the hosts' mating (Whampires are the opposite, reproducing with host-matings but unable to spread by attacking/infecting others).  I don't think we have any (canonical) reason to think Susan would have "passed along" any special powers/abilities.  Is there WoJ on the matter???

As for Harry's bloodline... I think it almost as unlikely.  Harry says inheritance of magical powers is poorly understood, but mostly (when it happens) follows "Salic Law," i.e. the mother's bloodline.  Harry's mom was a strong magician, but his dad was a muggle.  That said... WoJ was that Eb's wife (Margaret LeFay's mother) was herself a muggle; so if Harry's birth is a case in point, the prior generation proved the opposite point.

Finally, of course, is the question of plotline & story.  Maggie having strong talent, and needing training, will add to the complexity of Harry's life, so of course Jim will write it that way!  Unless he decides not to (in order to confound the fans and mess with expectations, I'd presume).

[Conspiracy Theorist]

What about Bones? It has been postulated that she might be able to enflesh her skull with an ectoplasmic body. Her apprenticeship may not be in being a wizard (she has those skills) but in being human.

As I said Jim was a bit too eager to drop that titbit, normally it mean he is squaring up for something really from left field. There has been a lot of criticism of Bonea being underused, this would address this.