[Tiste Simeon]

Started a reread yesterday. Already about 1/4 way through the 2nd one. Reread inspired by this thread as I kept reading stuff going "Who?" or "I don't remember that! Should be finished in time for Skin Game...

[Tiste Simeon]

Here's something: In Grave Peril at the Red Court party that Dresden & co. go to, they meet a Mr Ferro (sp?) who is a dragon. I don't recall him ever appearing again. He had some pretty sweet powers & I think he, or other dragons, will reappear & have a part to play. Thoughts? Please correct me if I'm wrong & have just forgotten...

[Abyss]

Ferro never appeared again tho there are references in later books to a different dragon who Michael killed to rescue Charity. That's why Ferro and Michael glare at each other at the party.

Ferro also received a gift at the party, and we know Lea's gift was poisoned with Nemisis, which suggests Ferro may have been similarly infected.

Jim has hinted that Ferro will re-appear in the Apocilogy.

[Tiste Simeon]

Ah good. It would be a shame to have a huge conflagration & not have a big player like that involved...

[Tiste Simeon]

Haha totally forgot about the Firefly reference in Cold Days! Flipping epic!

[Aptorian]

Abyss, on 26 August 2013 - 08:02 PM, said:

the Apocilogy.

It took me about ten tries to pronounce this word inside my head.

[Illuyankas]

The Trilocaust.

[Mentalist]

to rehash an old question:

"polevoi" derives from word "pole", meaning field. As others have noticed, most direct comparison is with Domovoy. Domovoy were house spirits, poltergeists essentially, often considered trickster spirits that would cause mischief is angered, but perform household tasks if fed and appeased (chop wood, milk cows, keep rats away, etc.

Polevoy are an analogous field spirit. When appeased they would scare away rodents (a major threat in grain-based agrarian societies--excessive rodents meant poor harvest, which threatened starvation). When angered, polevoy would be able to beguile late workers, or passing travellers, creating mirages and leading them to injury and death (often through concealing ditches and cliffs).

There were also vodyanoy (that some may know from Mieville's Bas-Lag)--these were water spirits, as well as leshyj-the forest spirits. Slavic folklore was very patriarchal, with male spirits being assigned "ownership" of areas. Female spirits and creatures (mavka and rusalka (which also became the Slavic translation of "mermaid")) being the mischievous, but sometimes friendly spirits, with strong overtones of temptation/seduction of the unwary travellers, leading to kidnapping and or death (mavkas in particular were reputed to tickle their prey to death). Other, less "natural" occurences of the supernatural included Utoplenyci-which were spirits of drowned girls. These would act as ghosts are wont to--in particular, they'd want someone to avenge their death, freeing their spirits. Gogol's "May night or Utoplenycya" is perhaps the greatest re-teling of this myth, and is one of the main highlights of his entire "Dykanka' cycle, which focuses around Cossack Ukrainian folklore.


Given what we know of Toot, describing him as "polevoy" (especially in contrast to domovoy) would imply that he is not "bound" to a single place--"field" is a much broader term (especially in Eastern Europe, dominated by steppes and lowlands, where the term originated). Which pretty much confirms him as an "independent Wild Fae". The concept of obligation arising from appeasement (pizza) plays into this definition--by providing pizza, Harry ensures that the Little folk will not against him.

My thoughts on the series pretty much parallel those of Apt. I also wasn't a fan of Changes and the taking the scope up to 11 that it entailed. Cold Days seems an attempt to take Dresden back to the "PI and gang saving Chicago when bad things happen", while trying to also juggle the "Harry is now a major heavyweght on the scales of global balance" and the "we need to one-up the Ohfuckshitballsthatwasawesome moments from the previous books". So because of that, while the action is uber-bombastic, the whole attempt to cram ever more epic threats to all humanity and existence to make the series "epic" rather than pure and simple urban fantasy just seems to be a whole lot of empty pathos.

That being said, the books are still worth it, even as standalones for the aforemantioned uber-bombastic Ohfuckshitballsthatwasawesome moments

And I'm still trying to come to terms with the repercussions of the Ladyswaps, so it's too early for me to be making crazy theories. Though the fact that Mac is referred to as the "Watcher" makes me think of a parallel where a being of significant clout willingly gave up their power and became a mere observer....

[amphibian]

I respect that view, but I quite like the peeling back of the onion layers to reveal that there always was more at stake in Harry's world. Keep in mind that Butcher started out with Harry having an origin story involving Du Morne and He Who Walks Behind.

That was a tell right from the beginning that we were going to get into some serious business. Ghost Story remains my favorite of all the books because it took us back to the underpowered detective in Harry one last time to great effect. Cold Days was a terrific way to rev things up and show that even the Winter Knight upgrade/straitjacket could be put aside without the ruination of Harry's world.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Bumpitty bump bump bump.

Peace Talks - so, who do we reckon its between?

The Fomor and some of the others?


There's definitely going to be something with Molly in the next few books - will she reveal the truth to her folks? Could the peace talks be between Molly and parents...

Given that at least a few coins are now locked up by Hades, and given the implied similarities between Hades and Harry, will Harry be nabbing some coins and keeping them in Demonreach?

Any other theories/ides?

[Illuyankas]

Between:

The Fomor and the White Council
Winter and the White Council
Winter and Summer
Molly and her parents
Maggie and Mindbaby
Harry and the White Council, the Fomor, Winter, Summer, Molly, the Carpenters, Maggie, Mindbaby, and literally every single other faction

There's apparently going to a lot more Molly in Peace Talks, so that's cool but I really just want to see the White Council's reaction to not dead Winter Knight Harry.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Why are Winter and the White Council on the out?

Am i forgetting something major?

[Illuyankas]

Yes. Harry.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Are the white council aware that:

a - he became winter knight.
b - he aten't dead

should note that for once i didn't re-read the entire series before the latest came out, so some fine details are missing.

[amphibian]

All of Faerie saw Harry become the Winter Knight by Mab-sexing being projected everywhere, so I'm assuming the knowledge has filtered out to the White Council and many others in the 2+ years since Changes happened.

Now, his revival may not be as commonly known. The recovery process took place in Demonreach and Arctis Tor, with Harry's soul bopping around Chicago with mostly minor players. Harry did meet Rashid at the Wall during Cold Days and meet with many other powerful entities during the lead-up to the climatic battle and met with a few more in Skin Game. However, almost all of the people/entities he met are mostly of the tight-lipped crowd.

I think it's fair to say that all the important players know that Dresden is alive and still the Winter Knight - including the evil ones. Merlin/Langtry probably knows due to his watching of Demonreach (probably a duty of the office of the Merlin), but I'd say in speculation that most of the White Council/wizards do not know Dresden is alive. They'd have to be hooked into some serious players to know about Dresden and I think most of the small fry are still recovering/putting lives back together after the Red Court war and the subsequent Fomorian skirmishes/battles.

[Illuyankas]

Of course, those who have access to the paperwork regarding Warden payslips are aware, though Rashid did promise to sort out all of Harry's forms to let them know he's officially not dead. Plus anyone who can get a yes/no answer out of any faerie. The Senior Council, Luccio, probably Ramirez, the savvier wizards, etc. Exactly how happy they'll be when they were thirsting for his death when they merely suspected him being compromised is a different matter.

...actually, the fact the Winter Knight's mantle didn't snap back to a Queen should have been a huge flashing alarm that Harry wasn't actually dead, now that I think about it.

[amphibian]

How tuned into the Fae are the wizards in general - tuned in enough to realize that the Winter Knight mantle is still out there? The worlds saw Mab take forever to replace Tortured Lloyd, so there's not much to go on there.

The asking of the questions is a good one, but honestly, how many magical beings out there are going to be concerned with the specific doings of Harry Dresden? They're more likely worried about their own pursuits and stuff. Dresden is basically an unanticipatable wing-nut who periodically detonates magical world-shaking bombs out of nowhere to most magical beings and it looks like random local going ons, Nemesis, the Denarians, the Fae battle with the Outsiders, the Fomor and whatever the vampires are up to were far more important than one Chicago wizard doing loony stuff.

[Illuyankas]

The wizards who deal directly with the fae will know, as the Winter Knight is a significent force, and having it passed to someone more controllable than Harry Dresden would be a sign that shit's going down. The reason Lloyd Slate lasted so long is because Mab kept him alive so she wouldn't have to transfer the WK mantle to some other schmuck and lose a grasp on Dresden, if Dresden was dead she'd either have the mantle or have passed it on, and either would be noticable. Even the Little Folk or other wildfae would be able to answer if someone asked 'who's the winter knight now'.

Harry Dresden, Winter Knight, Warden and Warden, most famous wizard who isn't on the Senior Council, the man who started a war with and then killed the entire Red Court? Pfft what a nobody. None of the many extremely clued in magical factions who've stated onscreen how much they keep tabs on magical goings-on would care. It may be in the 'In Other News' section of the briefing but they'll keep an eye on him.

[amphibian]

Two friends in the last week plus have come up to me raving about Dresden. One is already finished with Skin Game and the other is on Cold Days.

Both told me that they were surprised how good the books got at Summer Knight and how much easier it was to justify buying the books thereafter. I urged the short stories upon them as a hold over. They also thanked me for telling them to stick it out until Summer Knight.

[Mcardle]

Any ETA on Peace talks? I burned through those books pretty quickly and now suffering from Dresdencrack withdrawal... Even though I have been slightly disappointed that we have not seen Dresden come face to face with the white council since his revival, I cant wait!!!