Q&A Fantasyfestival 2023 in Esbjerg/Denmark

[Mira]

If I am right, this could assuage fears that Murphy's return to the series would be forced and poorly written.  I thought Susan's new abilities worked pretty well in Death Masks.  A Murphy with new abilities, but also one with new responsibilities and new limits imposed on her could work well for a single story.

Yes, only to have her turn into a bitter woman in Changes!  Yes, I get she was out of her mind with anxiety over her daughter, but did that justify her vitriol against Harry during that first meeting? Or her final shattering sacrifice at the end when she realized she had been duped and used all along by Martin?  It did move the story along, that's true.

The intellectus she describes isn't really ... relevant to an einherjar.  It isn't like it's an intellectus of combat-syles, of martial arts.

But it is, why? Because these are dead warriors etc., expected to fight for Odin in the big future battle.. They are not "spirits" or ghosts, but neither are they merely animated corpses, they have limited intellectus, that is how they function.  I also found a reference as to why they are not allowed to return until all living memory of them has passed.  I found a blurb when I Googled about old Norse religion, and talked about the "undead" returning and if someone who knew them saw them it was a very bad omen of impending death among other things.. True, they are then called something else, but imagine knowing your dead warrior father was taken to Valhalla, then see him walking the earth seemingly alive?  So there is a serious reason for that limit that Gard talked about that even the Allfather may not cross.

What I think is far more likely to happen is a that a real bond will appear to be forming between Harry and Lara, but Lara's demon will assert itself in a really nasty way and this will derail any possibility of a lasting romantic relationship between these two characters.     

I agree with this, though they might form a good working partnership, which they have already done from time to time.  Two sticking points; 1] Thomas, can he be cured, and if he is, will he ever be the same again? If the cure kills the demon,but by some miracle not Thomas, would Lara be okay with that? Somehow I doubt it. 2] Eb, he cannot deal with a half vamp grandson, how is he going to handle a full vamp daughter in law? Hopefully we will find out where Eb's at this point almost irrational hate of vamps comes from.

Harry is not the casual sex type, he will only get romantically involved with someone he believes lives him. This was only reinforced by Luccio’ s love being a chemical Sham. Harry would need to love Lara and I don’t think that is possible. She might however certainly end up loving Harry.

I agree with this, which will really set up a conflict for Lara as opposed to Harry.  Harry continued to love Susan even after she was half turned, so loving a vampire is nothing new for him, he also loved his brother, Thomas.  Lara does love her family, but for her, humans, even powerful wizards are merely kine, who's emotion is food for her to feed upon.  Will she ironically fall victim to true love like her brother Thomas did?

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I seriously don't see it. She's the controlling type all-around and Harry is not the kind of person who can be controlled or would appreciate attempts to control him. See his constant head-butting with Mab and Marcone.

He would like to insert Marcones head up his own butt.

[RobReece]

Actually in my opinion, way back in the White Night days I think there was romantic chemistry between Harry and Lara.  Of course a lot of that could be chalked up to merely White Court Vamp Whammy, but then again, Lara is attracted to strong men.  I also agree that is unfair to Molly and her and Harry could have gotten something going eventually.  The problem with Jim going there is Harry knew Molly since she was a young child, and even though she is a grown up young woman now, for a number of fans it is an ick factor.  I never was a fan of the Murphy romance, I liked it better when they were friends and working partners.  I liked Murphy much better when she was a tough professional cop, in my opinion her evolution as a character didn't go well and for me it was a relief when she exited the stage.  Susan also went off the rails because of the way she was written originally.  Luccio might have worked, but it was all about Peabody's ink?  Perhaps Jim just has trouble writing romance? If he does, he should leave Harry alone, let him be a father to his kids and eventually a happy grandfather.

I agree, I recall several instances over the years where Harry reacts to Laura and states that it doesn't have anything to do with his mantle or her whammy, but a significant attraction to Laura herself.  I liked Harry and Karen, but over the long haul it wasn't going to work without major upgrades to Murphy's character.  I think that Jim has been leading us towards this for a while,  which means he intends to torture Harry (us) horribly with it not working out... Can you imagine the explosion when the Blackstaff finds out his Grandson is going to marry a Whamp?  He's already said that he'll take matters into his own hands regardless of what Harry wants.  I think that will be a significant event in Twelve Months.

[vincentric]

Seeing the recently posted Dragoncon 2019 transcript makes me think that Harry and Lara may actually get very close if Harry can take advantage of this:

"If a White Court vampire wants to get you all they have to do is get you alone for a bit and be able to touch you, that's all it really amounts to. But there's this whole issue with White Court vampires and wizards but we haven't gotten to that. Hahahaha, oh it's like heroin."

That implies that Lara and/or Harry may not be willing to stop seeing the other after the initial hookup. It does explain that spark they felt at the end of BG.

[g33k]

Seeing the recently posted Dragoncon 2019 transcript makes me think that Harry and Lara may actually get very close if Harry can take advantage of this:

"If a White Court vampire wants to get you all they have to do is get you alone for a bit and be able to touch you, that's all it really amounts to. But there's this whole issue with White Court vampires and wizards but we haven't gotten to that. Hahahaha, oh it's like heroin."

This also may help explain how Maggie Sr. got away from Raith père, before he had been crippled by her Death Curse.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Older wizards are immune to mental influence, so I presume it’s younger wizards like Harry and Carlos that are vulnerable. Maggie Snr may have been on the cusp in breaking away from Papa Raith, it took 5 years.

Given the amount of foreshadowing I think it is going to be Carlos. He has been so priggish about Harry and Lara. I seriously think he is finally going to lose his virginity to ALL of Lara’s sisters, at the same time. And he gets a couple of them pregnant. Cue Harry making jokes about having to support multiple children on a wardens meager salary.

White court vamps have limited fertility, but I expect the chances of conception and successful carrying to term is greatly enhanced by having a wizard as a partner (see Maggie Snr)I also suspect a female Whamp, knows they are pregnant almost immediately, through the creation of a second hunger. House Raith had culled it’s male members in the main line, so Lara’s sisters may be looking to increase their numbers, and secure their power base.

[Mira]

Seeing the recently posted Dragoncon 2019 transcript makes me think that Harry and Lara may actually get very close if Harry can take advantage of this:

"If a White Court vampire wants to get you all they have to do is get you alone for a bit and be able to touch you, that's all it really amounts to. But there's this whole issue with White Court vampires and wizards but we haven't gotten to that. Hahahaha, oh it's like heroin."

That implies that Lara and/or Harry may not be willing to stop seeing the other after the initial hookup. It does explain that spark they felt at the end of BG.

Or they will agree to partner, but on their own terms, which doesn't necessarily mean marriage.  Why? Because it is useful to them, it is a dangerous world.

[g33k]

Older wizards are immune to mental influence...

Incorrect:  Peabody had the entire Senior Council under his mental influence, all of them "older wizards."

Older wizards cannot be mentally controlled (have their wills entirely overriden) without breaking their minds (that the Senior Council knows of; I bet someone in the Dresden Files knows how to do it, though...).

"Influence" however is a different matter... a nudge here or there; ramping natural aggression up from an "8" to a "9" ... suggesting to a "cautious" mind and a "curious" one that they become allies because "investigation is the better part of valor" ... etc.

[Mira]

Incorrect:  Peabody had the entire Senior Council under his mental influence, all of them "older wizards."

Older wizards cannot be mentally controlled (have their wills entirely overriden) without breaking their minds (that the Senior Council knows of; I bet someone in the Dresden Files knows how to do it, though...).

"Influence" however is a different matter... a nudge here or there; ramping natural aggression up from an "8" to a "9" ... suggesting to a "cautious" mind and a "curious" one that they become allies because "investigation is the better part of valor" ... etc.

As they say, "the devil is in the details.."  Those nudges were taken very seriously by the Senior Council.  Was it the Merlin or Rashid who said they had to review every decision they had made in the last ten years.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The type of influence engaged mind to mind like the Whamps, Peadody DIDN’T employ that method of mind control.

Lara does NOT employ ink. Comparing her methods and Peabody’s is like comparing Chalk and Cheese. Even then Peabody could only make the Senior Council more set in its prejudices and likely a bit more loquacious on secrets whereas the younger wardens could be completely frozen.

[g33k]

Or they will agree to partner, but on their own terms, which doesn't necessarily mean marriage.  Why? Because it is useful to them, it is a dangerous world.

Indeed!  We notice that they have both repeatedly found it useful to partner-up.  I don't expect that to change; in fact, I suspect one of the sub-plots of Twelve Months will be Lara & Harry partnering to figure out how to end the engagement without pissing-off Mab.

They are not fools, so neither of them thinks it a good idea to overtly oppose/defy Mab; so they proceed with the engagement; this (the Lara/Harry dating, the WhiteCourt/Winter negotiations) I expect to take up a fair bit of the Twelve Months page-count.  Equally, neither one of them likes being ordered-around in this fashion, for their own respective reasons (if it were upon her own initiative, I suspect Lara would rather like the idea of marrying Harry).

I don't expect the marriage to take place; but I don't expect Jim to write it as a gradual cooling-off / moving-apart.  I'm unclear if it will still seem to be on-track at the close of TM, or if it will blow up before then.

The thing is:  I don't think Mab actually wants (nor expects) them to get married.  That is not Mab's agenda.  I'm pretty sure the mix of [Winter Mantle X Whamp Hunger X Strong Wizard] is explosively-unpredictable even to Mab.  Mab hasn't spent all this time forging & tempering her newest Knight, just to destroy him.

You know what is predictable to Mab?  That neither Harry nor Lara will much like being ordered to get married, and one or both of them will be able to provide reasonable excuses for a delay, when put on the spot that way.

My own theory:  given Papa Raith's known Outsider-magic, Vittorio's possession, Justine's Nemfection, and possibly other things known to Mab but not yet appearing on-screen (or hints missed), some undiscovered Nemvector inside the White Court has got to be looking awfully-likely to Mab.

She needs someone on the inside; ideally, someone who can... errr... "troubleshoot" whatever they uncover.

Enter, stage left:  a patented Harry Dresden Anarchygasm (engaged to marry the White Queen).

Mab knows the situation is unstable.
She is, in fact, counting on it.

And she does it all by allowing them(!) to "convince her" to give Harry a full year to court Lara uncover things in the White Court...

[Mira]

Mab knows the situation is unstable.
She is, in fact, counting on it.

That is so Mab..