Butters’ ancestry?

[Kindler]

Good research has to start somewhere and that is the logical place to start. I always assumed she just asked.

Harry had already given her the assignment before the book started, and he asked her something like "How's the homework assignment I gave you going?" and her reply was something like "I'm getting there, but it's taking longer than I thought" (obviously not direct quotes, I don't have the books in front of me at the moment; this is from memory, so please correct me if I'm wrong). It wasn't just a conversation, or it would've been resolved more plainly, I think. I assumed she had to do what my family did, which is check baptismal/christening/confirmation records way way back.

[Bad Alias]

I'd imagine the easiest way to trace one's ancestry to Charlemagne would be to trace one's ancestry to a known decedent (which would still involve what Kindler's family, and my great-uncle did (he also used tomb stones)). I'd also imagine that a lot of that would result in Molly stopping at some other king, though I don't know enough about any dynasty to say whether or not a lot of kings descended from Charlemagne. I would imagine that it would be pretty rare to be descended from an ancient king's line that didn't have any other kings in it, but, once again, such things are way beyond my competency.

Molly's research could have been digging through family documents or records that someone else had already gathered.

[Paviel]

Butters doesn't seem to know or care about any connection between his ancestry and his status as a Knight. The one time he does bring it up is as an admittedly tongue-in-cheek reference to "Return of the Jedi" at the beginning of "Day One." ("I am a Jedi Knight, like my father before me.")

[g33k]

I believe that there is no modern certainty of relationship to the ancient Hebraic/Isrealite kings; there can't be, because of huge swaths of time without records.

It's a pop-culture thing, not something a serious genealogist would credit.

OTOH, the Dresdenverse is fueled by pop culture, so...

[Arjan]

I believe that there is no modern certainty of relationship to the ancient Hebraic/Isrealite kings; there can't be, because of huge swaths of time without records.

It's a pop-culture thing, not something a serious genealogist would credit.

OTOH, the Dresdenverse is fueled by pop culture, so...

Ask any Jew, the messiah has not come yet so there must be some valid candidates left. Butters might be one.

[exartiem]

I’d never heard of Khazar society, or the etymological roots of the name Waldo. Thank you, I’ve learned something new today and it’s only 7 am!

The origins of his name make me wonder more about this. Now, whether it’s by design or just coincidence, I guess we won’t know until later.

I thought 'wald' meant forest.  As in schwartzwald = black forest.

[Avernite]

I thought 'wald' meant forest.  As in schwartzwald = black forest.

It's eminently possible that Waldo comes from a different word, and google supports it at least; of course English has 'wield' which is similar.

The German wald for forest is a different derivation.

[Regenbogen]

Honestly, I don't know any man called Waldo in Germany. But that doesn't mean, there aren't any.
Maybe the name is a version of Walter. The first part of that name comes from Old High German 'waltan' which means 'to rule'.
Walter or Walther would mean 'leader of the army'

I just found an old book about names and their origins from 1973. Waldo is listed as a short form or nickname for 'Waldemar' for example.