Little things I noticed in the Dresden Files

[Timberonian]

Here are 3 little things I noticed while rereading the Dresden Files (it’s very possible that all 3 have been mentioned here before, I searched for them but came up empty):

1. Uriel‘s name - Ghost Story

In the end of Ghost Story Uriel gets majorly pissed if when Harry calls him Uri, because the part of his name Harry left out is of great importance for him. The German Wikipedia page of Uriel says in regards to Uriel‘s name that it’s composed of „Uri“ (meaning light or fire) and „el“ (meaning of god). So his name means light/fire if god. But when Harry called him Uri, his name was simply light/fire - no wonder he got upset about this. In addition calling hin Mr. Sunshine is indeed an adequate translation of his name. Probs to JB for including this little easter egg!

2. Uriel in Dead Beat?

After Lasciel made first contact with Harry in Dead Beat as Shiela in Bock Ordered Books Harry dreamt of his father. I’ve never given much thought about this until I connected some dots: Malcom Dresden said that he was only allowed to contact Harry because the other side (or something like that) made contact - without specifying what the other side is. But thinking about this after Ghost Story, I believe that the explanation of why Lasciel was allowed to make contact just than is a lie. She says in essence that she got permission by his subconscious self to talk to him. But that’s not how it’s supposed to work. Otherwise even a subconscious wish to let the fallen in would trigger this event.
So I believe Lasciel broke the rules allowing Uriel to balance the scale. It would be really interesting to count Shiela‘s words during her first appearence (the other ones were made by Harry‘s own choice) and Malcom‘s words during the dream. I don’t have the books here or I’d do it myself.

3. The prison break/massacre - Cold Days

During the finally of Cold Days Maeve specifically says that she wants to free the sleepers. In the first third of the books it’s mentioned that the banefire would kill all inmates but since they’re immortal in 20-30 years they would cause trouble. I might be off here because it’s been a while since I’ve read the book. But if what I remember is correct, shouldn’t the inmates stay dead because the jail break happens on Halloween?

[Arjan]

Maeve was dead but her mantle found another host. Not everything dies at halloween.

[Carl]

Also just because everyone's Mortal doesn't mean their powerless. If your big enough and badass enough even banefire might not get through your defences.

[Mr. Death]

Here are 3 little things I noticed while rereading the Dresden Files (it’s very possible that all 3 have been mentioned here before, I searched for them but came up empty):

1. Uriel‘s name - Ghost Story

In the end of Ghost Story Uriel gets majorly pissed if when Harry calls him Uri, because the part of his name Harry left out is of great importance for him. The German Wikipedia page of Uriel says in regards to Uriel‘s name that it’s composed of „Uri“ (meaning light or fire) and „el“ (meaning of god). So his name means light/fire if god. But when Harry called him Uri, his name was simply light/fire - no wonder he got upset about this. In addition calling hin Mr. Sunshine is indeed an adequate translation of his name. Probs to JB for including this little easter egg!

2. Uriel in Dead Beat?

After Lasciel made first contact with Harry in Dead Beat as Shiela in Bock Ordered Books Harry dreamt of his father. I’ve never given much thought about this until I connected some dots: Malcom Dresden said that he was only allowed to contact Harry because the other side (or something like that) made contact - without specifying what the other side is. But thinking about this after Ghost Story, I believe that the explanation of why Lasciel was allowed to make contact just than is a lie. She says in essence that she got permission by his subconscious self to talk to him. But that’s not how it’s supposed to work. Otherwise even a subconscious wish to let the fallen in would trigger this event.
So I believe Lasciel broke the rules allowing Uriel to balance the scale. It would be really interesting to count Shiela‘s words during her first appearence (the other ones were made by Harry‘s own choice) and Malcom‘s words during the dream. I don’t have the books here or I’d do it myself.

3. The prison break/massacre - Cold Days

During the finally of Cold Days Maeve specifically says that she wants to free the sleepers. In the first third of the books it’s mentioned that the banefire would kill all inmates but since they’re immortal in 20-30 years they would cause trouble. I might be off here because it’s been a while since I’ve read the book. But if what I remember is correct, shouldn’t the inmates stay dead because the jail break happens on Halloween?

There's some timey-wimey stuff in play here, too. The explosion was retroactively effecting Halloween, but would have only actually gone off afterward.

[morriswalters]

All things in the well are not created equal.  And it might be better to think, that at least for the Queens, it may be more like the only time the mantle can change riders.

And some powerful immortal things can be killed.  Morgan causes a Naagloshii to be nuked.  And Vadderung says that the Banefire will kill everything on the island. Bob said he knew how to kill an immortal, not that it was the only way.

[Snark Knight]

There's some timey-wimey stuff in play here, too. The explosion was retroactively effecting Halloween, but would have only actually gone off afterward.

Yeah, I doubt Maeve was planning on standing around to be nuked by the island's failsafe.

Unless she didn't even _know_ the jailbreak would cause something on the order of a mid-size meteor strike. I suppose it's possible she was that reckless, and Nemesis might let her think she'd be fine to get her to go through with it.

[Carl]

There's some timey-wimey stuff in play here, too. The explosion was retroactively effecting Halloween, but would have only actually gone off afterward.

The circle that Lily put up would have disappeared at sunrise, and everyone was mortal till then so they were clearly planning to be done before the mortality clause expired. Again it just comes back to the point that just because somthing unleashes insane amounts of devastation doesn't mean it can kill something even if said thing is mortal.

[Mr. Death]

I'm pretty sure Bob or Kringle actually says that the actual explosion will happen the day after.

[Arjan]

The circle that Lily put up would have disappeared at sunrise, and everyone was mortal till then so they were clearly planning to be done before the mortality clause expired. Again it just comes back to the point that just because somthing unleashes insane amounts of devastation doesn't mean it can kill something even if said thing is mortal.

Lilly did not know and Maeve was infected. It could have been a suicidal mission anyway.

[morriswalters]

Jim defines Halloween differently than the calendar.  The calendar clicks over at midnight, Halloween ends at the first birdsong.  The island explodes on November 1.  Halloween ends at dawn, on November 1.

[Carl]

Lilly did not know and Maeve was infected. It could have been a suicidal mission anyway.

The point is the circle was put up to keep people away from them while they dealt with demonreach, they clearly intended to be done before the circle fell, which it wouldn't do until the same time the mortality clase expired.

[Arjan]

The point is the circle was put up to keep people away from them while they dealt with demonreach, they clearly intended to be done before the circle fell, which it wouldn't do until the same time the mortality clase expired.

Do you mean the big circle only things from the island could pass? That was not their circle.

[morriswalters]

I had a weird idea and everybody will probably laugh.  What if the island is a battery that powers all magic?  Maybe Merlin was an Old God of some type.  And I still don't understand why Vadderung says the Bane Fire will kill the inmates.

[Wizard Sibelis]

Do you mean the big circle only things from the island could pass? That was not their circle.

they co-opted it for their purposes though, Lily walked the circle to close it remember. If it hadn't been more of a ward activation I'd say it was HER circle indeed.

[Carl]

It was never clear to me weather Lily created it or if she just activated it, either way they clearly activated it to protect themselves while they worked, which means they intended to be done before it went down.