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Messages - BrainFireBob

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136
DF Spoilers / Re: Mirror Mirror character changes ideas
« on: April 19, 2021, 06:03:40 PM »
Agree on married Murph with kids in Grandma's cottage. Rudolph would twist that knife.

Shiro as an enemy.

Mavra as a buddy.


Various bits I could see:

Vamp Susan helping our Harry over a picture of her mother as a little girl with Harry's chin.

Mavra revealing a vulnerability.

Mab assisting because he retains the Knight mantle from our reality, and she still wants a Dresden Knight- her price to help is knowledge of how.

Lea vouching for him because he knows about the ruby.

137
DF Spoilers / Re: How do you see MM Harry being buffed?
« on: April 19, 2021, 05:57:04 PM »
Had a similar convo with the wife the other day.

I think what we'll see is the effect of Mab's PT on Harry- "our" Harry survives being quantum leaped by an opposite because he can bench 800 lbs and doesn't need focii to do his invocation at a fairly high level. Harry's too naturally lazy to have become that on his own.

MM Harry will have the toys and the focii. Our Harry won't need them, though he is likely to learn some tricks and maybe loot something- they do "speak" the same magic gobbledegook.

138
DF Spoilers / Re: Are Fae Queens still mortals?
« on: April 15, 2021, 06:35:21 PM »
Quote from: Arjan on April 15, 2021, 02:28:56 AM

 Sure but Molly did not know. There were a lot of fae around for the mantle to choose. She might not even have known that the ladies could die let alone two of them. You have to be aware of the danger to make a choice to avoid it. We and Harry and Molly were not aware.

Couple of items on this.

1) None of the three Ladies we've seen get a mantle were Fey. Two were changelings (mortal+potential) one pure mortal. So full Fae being around may not "count" as far as the mantle is concerned- much like the Knights.
2) You are confusing/equating "choice" and "informed choice"- even so far as "fully informed choice." When a child doesn't eat peas, it doesn't mean they are rejecting their health benefits- it's a choice, not a fully informed one.

As I noted in my previous, this would explain the Sidhe requirement to tell the truth and their instinct to deceive anyway. If you ask the right question, they will clearly lay out the bargain. It is up to you to make good choices.

Not the modern European idea of selling, but the ancient Middle Eastern- if you unwind your silk and find that a yard in it was cotton, that's on you for paying for it, not the seller for deceiving you. Let the buyer beware and be wary. It's a more ancient idea of how selling and trading was done.

139
DF Spoilers / Re: Are Fae Queens still mortals?
« on: April 15, 2021, 06:29:57 PM »
While possible Butcher did not think it through, it's quite possible this is the origin of the "no lying" restriction that at least the Sidhe are under.

To whit: They have to tell you the truth if you ask. Don't think to ask, make an uninformed choice, that's your problem.

Really, all this wrangling about Molly boils down to: What choice did she make that made her "vulnerable"? Did she have to choose to accept the mantle when it came to her, and so that's just not onscreen because it was internal? Was it that she didn't sever her relationship with Harry when he became Winter Knight?

Personally, I think it was accepting Lea's offer to continue her education. The way Butcher is structuring the deals, Harry the Winter Knight is a legally distinct being from Harry the Wizard. Harry the Wizard had a contract with Molly the Apprentice. By accepting Lea's offer to stand-in, Molly was accepting expanding Molly-apprentice-to-Harry-the-Wizard to Molly-apprentice-to-Harry-the-Winter-Knight.  This put her in the chain of command of Winter:

Mother Winter->Mab->Maeve->Harry->Harry's Apprentice

Enough "vulnerability" for the Mantle.

140
DF Spoilers / Re: The Barabbas curse
« on: April 08, 2021, 12:39:47 AM »
Quote from: morriswalters on April 07, 2021, 11:05:06 PM
@BrainFireBob
Why does everyone keep telling me the series isn't about Murphy?
@LaraBeckWell, no, at least not on a paying basis. I can afford to buy any book he writes(I own the latest two plus the audiobooks), but I don't subsidize writing which makes me cringe.  Or at least maybe makes me cringe.  I'm undecided. In any case that's what libraries are for.

He telegraphed what's coming.  Harry or maybe Harry prime are going to Hulk out at some point. He taken Harry to the Hulk alter at least twice to date.  First over mommy issues and lastly over Murphy's murder.  And has spent a lot of time talking about anger management issues as far back as Summer Knight. Think Shiva...Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds!

Because you raise the complaint that other characters- or genders- than the main get less central treatment.

It's not the story of Team Dresden. It's the story of an individual, kind of story it is. Other characters are literally support staff.

141
DF Spoilers / Re: The Barabbas curse
« on: April 07, 2021, 09:29:10 PM »
(click to show/hide)

142
DF Spoilers / Re: Who is Listen?
« on: April 05, 2021, 08:45:01 PM »
Anyone born at the right time is starborn; it's a question of having talent.

Harry's the wizard-level talent. Possibly Elaine, too.

Drakul's from a different cycle.

Considering that the population is exploding, and the Fomor are generally going after low-level talents for their experiments- perhaps it takes magic to survive the process?- I'm personally OK with Listens being a Paranet-level starborn. Should be a couple knocking about.

Jim is definitely mining tropes for these books. Much like I am expecting a Firefly moment where some villain hits Harry with something and Harry "doesn't have that nerve cluster anymore," I am now vaguely expecting that there is a Highlander shenanigan going on with starborns.

Specifically, at this point finding out Sells, Kravos, and even Madrigal were all starborn wouldn't surprise me, although it would be a new story direction. All or none, though.

143
DF Spoilers / Re: Harry's Will
« on: April 05, 2021, 08:41:24 PM »
Willpower is one part native and one part exercise.

I assume Butcher's going for a "scarred in all the vulnerable places" approach to Harry to surprise later villains. Like the primary henchman in Under Siege 2, he's just going to walk through something.

144
DF Spoilers / Re: The Barabbas curse
« on: April 05, 2021, 06:57:15 PM »
Quote from: Mira on April 05, 2021, 06:16:10 PM
She isn't the first important character he has killed off.   I think the problem lies more with the direction the series is taken.  Murphy the cop fit perfectly with Harry the wizard private investigator, even with some shipping or their struggle against it.  Murphy, as she has been since Harry became Winter Knight, not so much.  I think Jim has been struggling to find a fit for her and it couldn't be done.  She was perfect as originally written and she didn't evolve well, so he killed her off.  Alternatively he could have put her in the F.B.I. or restored her place on the police force, and have her recede into the background where she might show up on rare occasions.  However if he did feel he had to kill her off, at least have her go out with more dignity than she did.

Actually not, when we first meet the Knights, all three do it on a regular basis.  Sanya is still a Knight, Shiro died, Michael retired, so the job for the last two Swords has been temporary until Butters got the job, which leaves only one for temp jobs.  Murphy was offered the Sword on a permanent basis, she refused, she then took it upon herself to become custodian of the Swords, which she wasn't assigned and wasn't suited for.

In series it's Nicodemus, I think, who tells us most Knights don't serve very long.

There is also a WoJ to that effect. I'll see if I can find it this afternoon. No chance on the Nic quote- I have a 2 year old daddy's girl at home. My time digging references from books is a bit on hiatus for another couple of years.

145
DF Spoilers / Re: The Barabbas curse
« on: April 05, 2021, 03:54:57 PM »
She was a holy knight- for a few hours. Most knights, per the books and WoJ both, only are chosen a short time. Current situation is freaky unusual.

Even on Sesame Street, some characters suffer. Murphy doesn't even exist.  I've been online for a longtime, feeling upset and reacting I get, feeling that an author "deserves" punishment, though- that's surprising.

146
DF Spoilers / Re: The Barabbas curse
« on: April 05, 2021, 03:35:00 PM »
Quote from: Phygers on April 04, 2021, 06:23:59 AM
The way Jim had Harry deal with it was dumb and the way after Butter snapped Harry out of the red mist and it was never really brought up again was also irritating. Then we get the Gard at the funeral give Murphy fans more of a slap in the face with the "Not until all memory of her is faded" BS kinda boils down to Murphy got the power up she needed but no she doesn't get to use it instead she gets put on a shelf.

We also get Mab forcing Harry and Lara together which didn't help how H and K fans felt I didn't like that entire scene with Harry regardless of Lara and Molly stopping him from saying something that would get him killed seamed out of character for Harry to with way that would tread on anybody's sore spot that a person you love is dead and he just swallow's all the back sass and back talk that normal comes from someone telling him what to do. I can see why and sort of agree with one my friends that it felt like a giant FU from Butcher toward Murph fans and I think Jim is still not really getting the full backlash from doing what he did given none of cons are open to where I feel he would get the most backlash from Murph fans given how much the Dresden Reddit and FB groups are anti-Murphy and have been for awhile so his view might be lacking the full picture but I guess time well tell

I don't want to tread on toes, here, but are you stating it is your belief that Jim must suffer for what he did to Murphy, in a story he created and that he controls, in a story that is not about her but about a different character (Harry Dresden)?

147
DF Spoilers / Re: Mother Winter and Mother Summer Are the Same, Right?
« on: March 25, 2021, 03:13:19 PM »
I lean toward Demeter, since it would be more of a surprise reveal. We think of her as the goddess of growth- but her mourning for Persephone each year caused winter and death and misery to which she was indifferent.

From a Guardians of the Gates standpoint, it's been the Fae for at least a millenium. A millenium gone, the Norse gods were at their peak for worship. A millenium before that, the Roman gods; a millenium before that is questionable, but the Greeks nearly align, especially with how Jim plays with his mantles. A millenium before that- Egypt, maybe? A millenium before that, roughly, Sumer, with their mythology of order coming from the slaying of the primordial serpent. Before that, ?- dragons, maybe. As members of the Accords, we've seen Sumerian-speaking ghouls, Etruscan speaking vampires, old Norse gods, and in the background a Greek/Roman deity (is Hades a signatory?).

No real point, just tossing things out there. Millenarian movements are a very real force in human psychology, and Jim seems to be hellbent on creating an "Everything is in it!" series.

148
DF Spoilers / Re: Someone playing with Harry's mind?
« on: March 12, 2021, 11:48:40 PM »
One of the things I find most irritating about higher education is that each discipline maintains its own jargon like a foreign language; and if you don't ask the question the right way, you may not get the answer you're looking for- in this instance; if Harry asks Bob about the Stars and Stones he might get an answer, but only a dumb look if he asked about Starborn- especially if that was "Kemmler knowledge."

Similarly, Bonea might start defining terms- she isn't sophisticated enough to utilize disambiguation.

Demonrreach has an odd consciousness.
"Demonrreach, what is a starborn?"
"YOU ARE STARBORN, WARDEN."
"What does that mean?"
"IT MEANS YOU ARE AN ADEQUATE WARDEN."

149
DF Spoilers / Re: Can't wait to see what they got!
« on: March 11, 2021, 03:09:11 PM »
Myself, I have long toyed with the idea that the Senior Council has seven members because there is a mantle associated with enforcing each Law of Magic.

Or, if you prefer, the Council originally was:

Merlin
Blackstaff
Warden (May have been the same as the Blackstaff once upon a time)
Gatekeeper
Time Specialist
Shapechanging Specialist (Whatever Listens-to-Wind has)
Mind Magic Specialist

..with the possible story result that Harry can bump Christos off the Council at will by asserting rights and prerogatives associated with being Warden. I've also toyed with the idea that the Wardens report to the Warden, and Luccio at least knows it's supposed to work that way.

By limiting it to the eldest, but allowing them to defer, it would have allowed hiding who was what role.

Of course, it could be something else. There's a WoJ floating around that at least one of the Senior Council also has faith (saint) magic; most probable candidate is Martha Liberty as a voodoo priestess. Although it would amuse if all of her connections to the loa were a false flag and it's really Rashid.

150
DF Spoilers / Re: Someone playing with Harry's mind?
« on: February 23, 2021, 09:57:06 PM »
Quote from: groinkick on February 19, 2021, 06:34:23 PM
This may just be a plot hole in the story but Harry feels he must wait for LTW to learn about being a Starborn, and the Stars and Stones.....  However between Bob, Bonnie, and DemonReach he has access to more knowledge than....  Well just about anyone.  Bonnie doesn't really understand the importance of knowledge, but she does have access to it.  If Harry simply said something like "Bonnie, could you tell me everything you know about what a Starborn is"?  I think that would be a specific enough question that she could probably deliver him an accurate answer.

The Stars and Stones might be more difficult because she'd get confused and start talking about actual stars, and stones, but if worded properly she could probably figure it out.

Also I'd imagine Bob has some information on it also, or something on the Island...  Like the Titan who he now has under his will...

So it could be a plot hole, but I wonder if someone has put a mental block on him.  He can ask people but the idea of asking someone like Bonnie, is blocked from his mind..  Maybe even by his inner self which seems to have a mind of it's own.

The problem with this theory is that any being with quasi-symmetrical lumps of adipose tissue that are sternally mounted mess with Harry's mind. He even ended meeting Mab by checking out her derriere.

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