Been thinking about Dresden.
One of the things that Butcher does excellently, is make things look different from Dresden’s POV than they do from everyone else’s, really making the reader think about how things appear from an outside perspective.
His reaction to the Kemmlerites is a good example. He lives in the wizarding wild west- a town the White Court and Red Court both have a strong presence in, with no other wizards around. He never goes to Edinborough, or calls the Council, voluntarily. He up and starts the war with the Red Court.
So he up and calls the Wardens one day, right after there’s a serious attack that stretches them thin and they’re busy with triage. He luckily gets the commander. What does he say?
“I need backup. Are you familiar with the Kemmlerites?”
1) *He* is too young to know what the Kemmlerites are
2) Not only does he know what they are, he knows what they’re doing
3) But they neatly would tie into his past with Justin- who participated in taking them out and then retired.
4) He doesn’t just do the equivalent of reporting a breakin to the Wardens of the house next door. He says “I’m going in regardless of whether you guys show up, but it’d sure be nice if you did.”
So you can take it that he’s way more clued in than he should be and eye him suspiciously, or take at value that he’s a private eye and uncovering information is what he does professionally.
There are four things that are of particular interest to me with Harry.
1) Most of his direct magic instruction seems to have been from Justin. Ebenezer focused on character building, general academic skills, and the philosophy of magic. Much of his later instruction seems to be from Bob, who cheerfully admits to having no moral sense around his knowledge- so when Harry asks Bob for a “good” way to do X, he might be sent for a goat and a sacrificial knife, because that’s 5 minutes faster than the “moral” way.
a. Why doesn’t Eb know about Bob? That’s my biggest WTF from this series. Harry thinks Bob is a *standard* kind of thing until Luccio disabuses him.
2) He thinks having a faery godmother is normalesque for wizards. Yet not only does he have the only godmother we hear of, but she is the Leanansidhe herself.
a. Sidebar: Who on the Council knows? Connections in the Nevernever are forged by similarities and affinities; Harry’s place connected straight to the Leanansidhe’s. In this case, Lea did it based on their *familial* connection; but Harry does keep coming up with knowledge he shouldn’t have and she is essentially a knowledge/skill broker- a parasitic Muse-spirit.
3) He thinks summoning demons like Chauncy is normal for wizards, to the point he gives one a nickname
a. Sidebar: Notice that Chauncy’s name is Lovecraftian? Be hilarious if he’s an Outsider and Harry has been seeking knowledge from outside the Outer Gates
4) Morgan, who has spent at least a century chasing Warlocks, thinks Harry does things like a warlock would- such as his coercion of Toot; trapped in a circle and “take my deal of bread and honey for information, or be stuck there.”
What if Morgan is right? What if Harry is “innocently” effectively using black magic, or at least questionable magic, because he doesn’t know any better? Changes their relationship dramatically.
Let’s look at what Harry has shown knowledge of or ability in he shouldn’t that may be known to the Council:
1) Etruscan
2) Sumerian
3) Hellfire, after tangling with the Denarians
4) The mortality of the Fae around the Stone Table (we know it was dumb luck he confronted Aurora there)
5) The mortality of the Fae on Halloween
6) He used the bloodline curse (Odin tipped him off)- note that he had previous exposure to the same via Victor Sells
7) He knew who the Kemmlerites were and what they were after
He bonded with Demonreach
9) He lived with, and still frequently sees, a White Court vampire
10) He had a Foo Dog
11) He has at least some connection to the Knights of the Cross
What else?
