Dresden Files: Series Timeline

[Priscellie]

I know I'm being picky here, but ... you have SG in February.  Typically the ice on the Great Lakes doesn't start breaking up until March. 

"Your friends have been trying to visit you for several weeks, but the lake ice has held unusually long this year. Alas.”

Butcher, Jim (2014-05-27). Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files (p. 9). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.

This year, they brought in an Ice Breaker to break the ice.  I could totally see the ice being a problem until late March or early April if Mab is taking a hand in it.

It specifically says "February" elsewhere in the book, alas.

And Maggie was over a hundred when her boys were born.

[lilylis]

It specifically says "February" elsewhere in the book, alas.

And Maggie was over a hundred when her boys were born.

Thanks for the info.

Let's see if I understand the timeline between Changes and Skin Games.

GS happend 6 months after Changes. Then Cold Days happend 3 months after that.
So if Cold Days happened at the end of October, going backwords, Ghost Story happened somewhere at the end of July and Changes near the end of February all in the same year???

Going forward from Cold Days. Harry hasn't seen Molly in more than a year and its February in Chicago (although someone is confused about what weather is like in Chicago area in February) ....so Skin Games is about a year and 4 months later.

Also, if Magaret Gwendolyn LeFae was about 100 when she had her kids....isn't that a bit of a stretch.... I understood wizards live along time but they still age and get older...at least in looks.....is this a conundrum or is it that in wizard biology...turning 100 is like mortals turning 30.

[Arjan]

Thanks for the info.

Let's see if I understand the timeline between Changes and Skin Games.

GS happend 6 months after Changes. Then Cold Days happend 3 months after that.
So if Cold Days happened at the end of October, going backwords, Ghost Story happened somewhere at the end of July and Changes near the end of February all in the same year???

Going forward from Cold Days. Harry hasn't seen Molly in more than a year and its February in Chicago (although someone is confused about what weather is like in Chicago area in February) ....so Skin Games is about a year and 4 months later.

Also, if Magaret Gwendolyn LeFae was about 100 when she had her kids....isn't that a bit of a stretch.... I understood wizards live along time but they still age and get older...at least in looks.....is this a conundrum or is it that in wizard biology...turning 100 is like mortals turning 30.

A few explanations.

Margaret spend a lot of time in the nevernever so her body did not go through all those years, she was physically younger than chronologically.

Different wizards might, depending on their talent and use of magic, experience ageing differently. We have only a limited data set.

Margaret spend a lot of time with Lea, she might have been in the process of becoming something else.....

[Priscellie]

Thanks for the info.

Let's see if I understand the timeline between Changes and Skin Games.

GS happend 6 months after Changes. Then Cold Days happend 3 months after that.
So if Cold Days happened at the end of October, going backwords, Ghost Story happened somewhere at the end of July and Changes near the end of February all in the same year???

Going forward from Cold Days. Harry hasn't seen Molly in more than a year and its February in Chicago (although someone is confused about what weather is like in Chicago area in February) ....so Skin Games is about a year and 4 months later.

Also, if Magaret Gwendolyn LeFae was about 100 when she had her kids....isn't that a bit of a stretch.... I understood wizards live along time but they still age and get older...at least in looks.....is this a conundrum or is it that in wizard biology...turning 100 is like mortals turning 30.

Not quite.  Changes and Cold Days take place about a year apart, with Ghost Story at the approximate midway point.  See the first posts on this thread:

11 ASF, October: Changes
And 45 minutes later: Aftermath, a novelette from Murphy's POV, published exclusively in Side Jobs.

12 ASF, May 9th: Ghost Story

12 ASF, September: Bombshells, the Molly-POV story from Dangerous Women.

12 ASF, October 31: Cold Days

14 ASF, late February: Skin Game


Jim recently commented on the nature of wizard aging, hinting that female wizards can "cheat" the usual limitations on fertility.  He didn't comment further.  Curious!

[TheCuriousFan]

Jim recently commented on the nature of wizard aging, hinting that female wizards can "cheat" the usual limitations on fertility.  He didn't comment further.  Curious!

*Points at the fountain of youth*

[Priscellie]

*Points at the fountain of youth*

*points at the Fountains of Wayne*

Harry's Mom has got it goin' on.

[lilylis]

A few explanations.

Margaret spend a lot of time in the nevernever so her body did not go through all those years, she was physically younger than chronologically.

Different wizards might, depending on their talent and use of magic, experience ageing differently. We have only a limited data set.

Margaret spend a lot of time with Lea, she might have been in the process of becoming something else.....

thanks...makes sense

[lilylis]

Not quite.  Changes and Cold Days take place about a year apart, with Ghost Story at the approximate midway point.  See the first posts on this thread:

11 ASF, October: Changes
And 45 minutes later: Aftermath, a novelette from Murphy's POV, published exclusively in Side Jobs.

12 ASF, May 9th: Ghost Story

12 ASF, September: Bombshells, the Molly-POV story from Dangerous Women.

12 ASF, October 31: Cold Days

14 ASF, late February: Skin Game

I did try to look at your timeline. looks like you put a lot of hard work into it....but it twists my head in knots especially at this time of night.

Is May 9th given as a date in Ghost Story? I'm too tired to look, so I'll assume it was a given.

The only bit I remember is Harry being told he'd been 'dead' for 6 months before achieving ghostly consciousness. Later in Cold Days, he told Thomas he was in a coma and after he awoke had about 11 weeks of physical therapy. If seemed he awoke from his coma at the end of Ghost Story... so I figured he lingered a couple more weeks before Mab's Physical theraphy started giving him 4 months...so between Changes and Cold Days less than a year. Although Cold Days ends on Oct 31st or rather Nov 1st after dawn, it starts before that...about 11 weeks prior.

What indicates Changes takes place in October, I don't recall a date being given? Is it just because the ritual needed to a certain date as well as a particular place of power closing on midnight?

[Priscellie]

From Changes, chapter 18:

She wore a soft blue nightgown and a shawl to ward against the October chill in the night, and her bright blue eyes flicked around alertly.

Chapter 28:

I felt myself grinning fiercely as he vanished through the broken window and into the cool air of the October night.

And Chapter 33:

“Yes, my liege!” Toot said. He brandished his sword with a flourish, sheathed it, and zipped straight up into the October sky.

And from chapter 4 of Ghost Story:

Sir Stuart pursed his lips. “It seems to me that if your demise was to leave someone vulnerable, something would have happened to them already. It’s been six months, after all.”
I felt my jaw drop open. “W-what? Six months?”
The ghost nodded. “Today is the ninth of May, to be precise.”

As for Cold Days, Harry spends a substantial length of time achieving the necessary consciousness to remember a conversation.  There's a big gap between waking up on Demonreach in the final moment of Ghost Story and the first scene of Cold Days:

“You do that every day.  Talk before you’ve gotten anything down your throat.  Drink.”
I did.  Campbell’s.  And it was awesome.  I flashed on a sudden memory, of being sick when I was very young.  I couldn’t remember where we’d been, but my dad had made me chicken noodle soup.  It was the same.
“I think… I remember some of it,” I said, after several sips.  “Your name is… Sarah?”  She frowned, but I shook my head before she could speak.  “No, wait.  Sarissa.  Your name is Sarissa.”
She lifted both eyebrows and smiled.  “That’s a first.  It looks like you’re finally coming back into focus.”

The exact length of time can be flexible, as it takes place in the Nevernever, which doesn't have to have a 1:1 correlation with the mortal world.

[lilylis]

From Changes, chapter 18:Chapter 28:And Chapter 33:
And from chapter 4 of Ghost Story:
As for Cold Days, Harry spends a substantial length of time achieving the necessary consciousness to remember a conversation.  There's a big gap between waking up on Demonreach in the final moment of Ghost Story and the first scene of Cold Days:
The exact length of time can be flexible, as it takes place in the Nevernever, which doesn't have to have a 1:1 correlation with the mortal world.

thanks. One reference from each book is enough. 
I've got to get these books downloaded on a device with a search function.

I had remembered it was snowing in Ghost Story not that it was May.  Alas, GS was one of 2 least fav Dresden Books, so I've only read it cover to cover once. I forgot Mab hanging out at Demonreach caused the snow in May.
So for about a year...Winter Queen, Winter Knight, & Winter Lady pretty much sat on the bench. I guess Lea was very busy & not just mentoring Molly.

Thanks I understand this part of the timeline better.

[Rasins]

It specifically says "February" elsewhere in the book, alas.

And Maggie was over a hundred when her boys were born.

Your right, my bad.  Still February is NOT ice hanging in there late.  Thanks Pris.

[Amber]

Do we know when Harry and Michael met?  (Is there a short story crammed somewhere odd that I've missed?)

[Priscellie]

Do we know when Harry and Michael met?  (Is there a short story crammed somewhere odd that I've missed?)

This is perhaps one of the most frequently-asked questions of Jim.  No, their meeting isn't chronicled in any book or story yet.  Hopefully, he'll take pity on us all eventually, or show mercy on himself and just write it to stop the questions.

[Amber]

Think of the Timeline, Jim.  We need it to be complete.  ;-)

[Arjan]

Think of the Timeline, Jim.  We need it to be complete.  ;-)

Wait for the time travel book and then the whole time line will be an incomprehensible mess.