So I'm rereading the entire series for the first time since 2020. Only this time I'm doing something different. I'm starting with Battle Ground and going backwards from there. I'm hoping I might see clues and connections that I might have missed by reading the normal way, first to last. And I have already found something. It may not lead to a huge revelation, but I think it could be a fun one.
In the scene that leads up to Harry and company running into Drakul and the Black Court, Toot toot warns Harry about bad guys in the park ahead and Harry realizes the park is really Graceland cemetery and the bad guys are necromancers. When Harry clues in Ebenezar about this new threat, Eb says to Harry, "...You've fought necromancers before. You've fought in that graveyard before...." The rest of what Eb says is unimportant.
First, how many fights has Harry had in Graceland Cemetery? Off hand, I can only remember the fight Harry and Michael had with the Nightmare in Grave Peril. Am I forgetting another one?
Much more interesting and to the point, how did Ebenezar know about it? I can only think of a few reasonable ways Ebenezar might have known.
One way involves an off screen diner Harry had with Eb in one of the books prior to Changes. I don't remember which novel it was, but near the end of the novel Harry decided to forgive Ebenezar for not telling Harry about his mother, so he invited Eb out to diner. In a hypothetical conversation in this off screen diner, Eb might have asked Harry how one of Harry's best friends was a KotC. This might have led to Harry telling Ebenezar about various adventures he and Michael had been through together. It could have included a description of the fight with the Nightmare. It is a plausible explanation, but I don't like it and I will tell you why below. But first, here are the other possibilities I've thought of.
Ebenezar might have been spying on Harry, but that seems unlikely for a number of reasons. The most important one is I don't think Eb could stand back and do nothing while Harry is almost getting killed.
Ebenezar made a deal with a supernatural entity to keep an eye on Harry and send him regular reports. I suppose Eb could have made a deal with Lea. It seems a little far fetched to me, but it's possible.
The White Council had agents under veils spying on Harry. They didn't care if Harry lived or died. When Ebenezar joined the Senior Council he gained access to the files the Council had on Harry. I like this one. It could mean that one day Harry gets to read part of one of the reports on him. It would also confirm; to a degree, the thread: "This is why the Council is afraid of Harry Dresden," which can be found in the DF Reference Collection in the same DF Spoiler section you are currently in.
I don't think Jim made a mistake here. His beta readers would have caught it and I suspect Jim would have realized it before the beta readers got to it. I also don't like the off screen conversation cluing Eb in because it that would be weak writing. What would you think if you asked Jim at a book signing how Ebenezar knew about the fight Harry had inside Graceland and Jim answered, Harry told Eb about that off screen? That is the kind of weak writing I see on some TV shows I won't name on Amazon Prime, Netflix and Disney+. Jim is better than that.
