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Messages - g33k

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1
DF Spoilers / Re: True Love's Protection
« on: January 29, 2026, 04:13:06 PM »
Quote from: earthexile313 on January 29, 2026, 01:23:25 AM
I've been assuming for awhile that the instance where Harry burned Lara at the end of White Night was a reveal hidden in plain sight. Lara finds it strange and unbelievable that Harry still bears the protection of Susan's love from years ago... but it wasn't from her at all. It was from only moments before.

Because we now know that Harry and Lash 'conceived' Bonea in a moment of love and connection that gave rise to new life. Harry has love for Susan, but the being he went home and wept for that night was Lash. And she let herself be destroyed for the love of him, saving him from Lasciel's damnation. That interaction was what shielded Harry from the Hunger that night.

This new idea about Harry's self-loathing interfering with the protection just seems to make that fit better, to me.
It's an interesting theory but I don't think it holds together, for two reasons:
In the book, Lara can tell that the protection was years-old, not brand-new.
And WoJ has stated that the "True Love" protection can only arise between two equals, not from an unequal relation (such as parent/child, etc); any form of dependence prevents it.  I don't think Lasciel's Shadow -- nor "Lash" -- can in any way be a "equal" to Harry, as she was wholly-dependent on Harry for her very existence.

2
DF Spoilers / Re: Did I miss something? [Twelve Months]
« on: January 29, 2026, 03:44:17 PM »
Quote from: earthexile313 on January 28, 2026, 03:53:52 PM
... and Harry refers to stuff happening in passing that could easily have been a chapter or two or a whole adventure...
I noticed a few one-line mentions that were some of the short stories set in the same timeframe as 12M.

Quote from: earthexile313 on January 28, 2026, 03:53:52 PM
... I honestly figured that's where the Bock's Ordered Black Magic storyline was going, I hear people talking about using Black Magic for moral purposes and I think "Kumori?" We've seen her playing antihero for random Chicago citizens before. 

I've been wondering:  how exactly did Kravos' Book of Shadows wind up in Bock's hands??!?
It seems... odd.  Extremely so, in fact.

Unexplained coincidence aimed directly at Harry speaks IMO to one of 2 sources:  Black Council shenanigans; or Mab.  My money is on Mab for this one.  The truth is, Kravos was a low-grade threat; he was defeated long ago when Harry was younger, weaker.  I don't think the Black Council would bother re-running that playbook in a downgraded form with the even-weaker Bock as the BigBad caster.  But Mab?  Mab knows Harry's hurting, working below capacity; that he's in need of some confidence-boosts, some nice moral clarity... so she arranges for Harry to get this softball mini-case, one he already knows how to solve.  And building Harry up by means of a series of gradually-increasing threats is 100% in her playbook.

3
DF Spoilers / Re: Two questions about Denonreach
« on: January 29, 2026, 03:24:38 PM »
1. The story was already full of lots of details and characters; "British Prisoner" was one of the elements not relevant to this novel (notwithstanding our avid curiosity about him).
2. We don't know why Jim is keeping the Nevernever side of Demonreach -- and the Ways to the island -- offscreen & unspecified.  It may be as simple as him not having all the details worked out in his own mind.

4
DF Spoilers / You'd think they'd change that on day 1 ...
« on: January 27, 2026, 04:44:00 AM »
Huh..

Quote
https://www.jim-butcher.com/faq/upcoming-works

Still lists Twelve Months as "upcoming" and release date "TBD"

(Also, "Mirror Mirror" is still stuck on "28%"... and has been for a while)

5
DF Spoilers / Re: Drakul and the Origins of the Vampires
« on: January 27, 2026, 04:43:24 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 03:38:41 AM
He does say in this interview that book 22 is going to be the time travel book where he goes "through and fixes all the inconsistencies." 
(!)
TYVM!

That's something that many in the fandom have been presuming (that TT!Harry was going to come back and "fill in" a bunch of odd niggling details that have been unresolved throughout); but also intermixed with "Harry seeing something that wasn't what he thought, because he was insufficiently clued-in" that have been slowly dribbling out, book after book.

6
DF Spoilers / Re: Continuity drift - Lara and soul gazes
« on: January 27, 2026, 04:33:33 AM »
Quote from: TrueMonk on January 24, 2026, 11:51:12 AM
...
I think it is understandable that Harry forgot with the state he is in.
Perhaps; but can she be sure of his state?
Lara, after all:  was also present!
So she knows that Harry knows, somewhere inside.

As he "comes back to himself," she must realize that Harry's going to recognize that she has been "playing dumb" (if that's what was going on).

(of course, now that Harry has "turned the tables," that may not matter so much)

7
DF Spoilers / Re: Twelve Months Discussion Thread
« on: January 27, 2026, 03:03:14 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 26, 2026, 10:49:36 PM
Thinking on it, Lara is operating in a different space than we've seen her before. Mab says "You are engaged to a wealthy, powerful, desirable woman who respects you enough to tell you the truth," so we can take it she's being more honest with Harry than she has in the past. We also mostly see her operating at a distance from her life as a vampire and head of the White Court...
I think this is Lara playing it cautiously.
She has successfully manipulated Harry in the past... and he has seen through her deceptions in the past.
Harry has responded to her whamp-mojo like other men do... and Harry has kept his head enough to do a major evocation even in the midst of Lara going full-on-ravenous on him:  her losing control while he saved them both.  Lara isn't sure what would happen if it came to full-on conflict.  So she's... cautious.

I think this is Lara keeping her options open.
She's under Mab's orders to marry him, and she currently sees no way out of that.  She is building trust with Harry, because WK-Harry is stronger than any prior Harry, and she sees the advantages of a trust-based working peer/partner in such a marriage.  And, of course -- if her opinions & "best course of action" change -- it's far easier to betray someone who trusts you.  Lara's political by instinct, and options are a politician's best friends.

8
DF Spoilers / Re: Shorts set During 12M ?
« on: January 27, 2026, 02:47:30 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 01:16:17 AM
I believe it's that he can hear out of every shadow cast by a living being if he's paying attention. That's significantly different than an intellectus. 
My own memory is that he can "hear" it all, but that it's just like the murmurs of a crowd, undifferentiated.

He can "pay attention" to any that he wants to, and they snap to clarity for him (I'm suddenly struck by Harry's talent for "Listening"!), and he can "keep track" of any people of special interest (e.g. Harry during Skin Game); and he "notices" some words (like his own Name) and topics.

As you say, that's less than a true "Intellectus."  But it's formidable, and... similar.
Maybe call it a "Fallen Intellectus" -- less than it was.

9
DF Spoilers / Re: True Love's Protection
« on: January 27, 2026, 02:37:52 AM »
Quote from: LaraBeck on January 27, 2026, 12:25:08 AM
... I will say this, too, that I found a bit hard to digest in this book: I don't have a problem with Harry grieving, I'll start with that, it was necessary, it is raw and it is painful. I wished we had seen a little less of "Karrin is dead and oh how much this hurts me" and more "Karrin is dead and that's unfair because Karrin was x, y and z" I mean, he tells us more times how wonderful Michael is in any of the books than he thinks about Murphy in this one, when it'd be the appropriate book to do it. There's a lot of things that you feel when you lose someone, yes, guilt, anger, denial, but also longing, and the memories of the best about them replay in your head making you miss them more, want them more. I felt there wasn't enough longing or enough memories. And I still can't believe we didn't learn when her birthday was in a full year of story.

I think Jim feels that Harry was so locked in his grief for the first part of the book, every good memory of Murph just slid immediately to the trauma.  I suspect strongly that Harry summoning Karrin's shade was part of what kept him locked there.

We did see him move on, though; like you, I look forward to seeing more of his good memories of her!

10
DF Spoilers / Re: Drakul and the Origins of the Vampires
« on: January 27, 2026, 02:32:48 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 01:28:15 AM
... Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that what we read in the books is more reliable than what Jim says for several reasons. Jim lies. Jim misremembers. Jim changes his mind. We change Jim's mind. These are all things Jim has said himself. Once it's on the page, Jim is much more committed.
Interesting... and I cannot say you are wrong!

OTOH, now we've got things like the conundrum of Lara vs. Soulgazing -- she acted in 12M as if the Soulgaze were a novelty & a mystery to her (or at least, she was presenting as such to Harry).  But Harry was standing right there when Carlos Soulgazed Lara back in White Night (and furthermore, Lara seemed unsurprised by it:  she recognized what he had done).

So her naïveté in 12M strikes many of us as an oddity indeed, prompting speculations as to whether Jim just misremembered the WN scene, or whether we have a meaningful in-character discrepancy.

11
DF Spoilers / Re: Drakul and the Origins of the Vampires
« on: January 27, 2026, 01:46:48 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 01:13:24 AM
This might be helpful: https://www.paranetonline.com/index.php/topic,54370.0.html 
It looks like it was almost very helpful indeed.  That thread specifically cites the Dresden Files podcast ep.77

...

But when I go to their YT channel & scroll down... ep.77 is missing!!?!  The list jumps from 76 to 78.
To say that I find this frustrating (and suspicious!) is an understatement!

12
DF Spoilers / Re: Drakul and the Origins of the Vampires
« on: January 27, 2026, 01:13:55 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 12:59:56 AM
I think there is a directly contradictory WoJ. I'll see if I can find it later. ...
TYVM!

Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 12:59:56 AM
... I don't recall what's what, but we have in book statements and WoJ ...
The in-book statements, of course, are all Harry-POV; and Harry is woefully ignorant, and very-often wrong even about the stuff he (thinks that he) "knows."  What is "canon" about the in-book stuff is that  Harry thinks "such-and-such" is true;  not that "such-and-such" actually is true.

13
DF Spoilers / Re: Shorts set During 12M ?
« on: January 27, 2026, 01:03:25 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 12:35:38 AM
I have a feeling Fallen Angels don't have intellectus. Just a guess based on how Just m incorporates real world beliefs and how real world theology says demons have less going on than angels. Of course, Jim changed things as he sees fit and real world theology is extremely varied ...
I think the domain over which Angels have intellectus varies; and perhaps not all Angels have it.  The Angel of Death likely has intellectus about people who are dying, for example.

I'm pretty sure Anduriel is "Master of Shadows" and that has him hearing out of every shadow.  Mostly, he ignores this, but he keeps an ear out for his own name (and likely the other Denarians; maybe all Angelic Names), and certainly kept tabs on Harry for the duration of Skin Game, among other topics he tracks routinely, and/or for specific missions.

Still, I suppose that isn't _quite_ an Intellectus, because it's knowing what "many" but not "all" of what his Shadows can hear.

14
DF Spoilers / Re: Drakul and the Origins of the Vampires
« on: January 27, 2026, 12:52:37 AM »
Quote from: Bad Alias on January 27, 2026, 12:26:33 AM
  There's a lot of confusion based on various statements about Dracula, Drakul, blampires, and the Black Court. The best harmonization of all the info, imo, is that Drakul created blampires and Dracula created the Court...
???

Do we have any direct WoJ that contradicts this piece:
Quote
Dracula was his half-human child, who naturally had enormous paternal issues, and wound up creating himself as the first Black Court Vampire in an effort to win his father’s approval.
-- https://wordof.jim-butcher.com/index.php/word-of-jim-woj-compilation/woj-on-vampires/
(I believe that's Jim's 2015 thinking, so "changed his mind" has a decade or so of possible evolution ...)

15
DF Spoilers / Re: True Love's Protection
« on: January 27, 2026, 12:35:09 AM »
Quote from: Mira on January 26, 2026, 03:46:01 PM
... though after Harry was "killed" and Thomas was grieving, Justine comes home with a lesbian girlfriend, they have sex with paves the way for Thomas and her to have relations.  If it was that simple, why hadn't that been done after they realized they truly loved one another?  And why a lesbian?  Wouldn't a one night stand with some guy do? ...
We don't know Justine's "solution" was a lesbian... she could easily have been bi!  I strongly suspect House Raith selects their "Does" for a strongly-middle Kinsey-scale score.

I think Thomas was pretty clearly established as straight, so "some guy" wouldn't much appeal to Thomas (while the "two girls" fantasy is among the very-most-popular amongst straight guys).  Justine (and/or Nemesis) could just have been playing to that.

Seems to be the easiest/obvious explanation, tho:  Thomas being straight (known) and Justine being bi (surmised) makes the "FMF" solution work better than the "MFM" solution.

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