{"id":181,"date":"2017-12-28T19:56:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T19:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordof.jim-butcher.com\/?page_id=181"},"modified":"2022-02-08T17:37:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T17:37:03","slug":"woj-on-harrys-mortal-allies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"\/index.php\/word-of-jim-woj-compilation\/woj-on-harrys-mortal-allies\/","title":{"rendered":"WoJ on Harry’s “mortal” “allies”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Link back to the main Dresden Files WoJ compilation<\/a><\/p>\n

Ivy<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0(And Kincaid) (also includes Oblivion War WoJ)<\/h1>\n

2009 Kansas City Q&A<\/a>\u00a0@51:20
\nWhere did you get the idea for the Archive?<\/strong>
\nI knew I wanted to do “creepy little girl.”\u00a0 Because creepy little girls are a great character.\u00a0 But then after I figured out what her powers were and how she would behave, I had to start working out the extended consequences of what that character would be like.\u00a0 Originally she was supposed to be “creepy little girl, ok but why does she get any respect.\u00a0 Ok she knows all this stuff, now she’s creepy little girl who knows everything.\u00a0 That’s\u00a0bad<\/em>.\u00a0 That’s scary.
\nBut then she was another character that was only supposed to show up for one book, but wound up being interesting enough and having enough of a vibe with Harry and his latent father impulses to be worth showing up again and again.\u00a0 So she’s another one of those characters that sort of out grew what I originally cast her for.
\n2011 Marscon<\/a>
\nUh, could Ivy\u2026does the Archive read digital?\u00a0 Or is it only print?<\/strong>
\nDoes the archive read digital, or is it only print?\u00a0 No, she gets it all. Uh, and\u2026yeah, and nobody ever planned for the amount of information that has actually shown up in the past 20 years or so. Uh, so yeah, that\u2019s not a good thing to be throwing on the\u2026the little girl, don\u2019t-have-any-insulation-against-everything-Archive. (Jim chuckles evilly) Like, totally bad timing for that, haha. Uh, I think Ivy would punch me in the nose too
\n2011 Bitten by Books Q&A<\/a>
\nDoes Kincaid have the ability to \u201cchoose\u201d like Faerie changelings (i.e Meryl\/Fix\/Lily)?\u201d<\/strong>
\nAll scions do, though if they never twig to the fact that they ARE a scion, it\u2019s their actions that make the Choice for them. Kincaid made his Choice a long, long time ago.
\nWhy did you chose Kincaid to be harrys shooter?<\/strong>
\nHarry chose Kincaid because he needed someone he could trust to get the job done. Not so much because Kincaid is \/good\/ as because Kincaid is \/ruthless\/ and reliable. If he said he\u2019d do it, Harry knew he would.
\nIs Kincaid\u2019s separation from Dracul permanent, or is his working for Ivy just a vacation?<\/strong>
\nHe\u2019s a free agent. He goes where the contract work is. The advantage of working for someone like Drakul is long-term employment stability. The disadvantage is that if you don\u2019t like it, you\u2019ve got to grit your teeth and take it for at least a century until your departure clause kicks in.
\nEditor’s note:\u00a0 There’s a different\u00a02011 WoJ<\/a>\u00a0that obliquely implies Kincaid is also a character in the French and Indian War story<\/span>
\n2011 DC signing<\/a>
\nDoes Ivy know everything Bob knows?<\/strong>
\nMan, talk about an obscure question. Probably the vast majority of it, yeah, although Ivy’s more oriented toward things that are happening on Earth, and Bob has sources all over. [messing with the microphone] So, I would say it’s more an issue of, they have different fields of information available to them. They don’t, like, have a comparable database.
\nSo Ivy doesn’t get what Bob gets as soon as Bob gets it?<\/strong>
\nNo<\/p>\n

\n
Quote from: jimbutcher on November 19, 2012, 08:40:42 AM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I’m pretty sure this will never make it into the actual Dresden Files, since Harry has no idea the Oblivion War is happening, along with everyone else.\u00a0 So I’ll share it here.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p>\n

The Archive was constructed \/for\/ the Oblivion War.\u00a0 Specifically.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Archive (and Ivy, the two aren’t really divisible) know about these forgotten beings.\u00a0 The Archive is in essence the keeper of the dead, where they are concerned.\u00a0 Once the archive believes one of them has been consigned to oblivion, she holds on to the memory of that being briefly, for another thousand years or so, watching for any mention of that being in print in an effort to make sure that she is the \/last\/ person alive who remembers whichever hideous entity has been consigned.<\/p>\n

And once the safety period has elapsed, and the Archive is confident that no one else remembers, she deletes the memory from the Archive.\u00a0 Bad guy, \/gone\/.<\/p>\n

She also tries to keep track of the enemy players in the Oblivion War via watching for communications and so on.\u00a0 When she finds a trace of them, somewhere, she lets a cell of operatives (like Lara and Thomas) know what’s up, through a blind drop, and sends them off to handle the problem.<\/p>\n

The Oblivion War is a huge, \/slow\/ thing.\u00a0 Stuff happens every few decades, at most.\u00a0 That’s why the Archive was created–to be an immortal awareness, something that could track and intelligently direct responses to the enemy in a war happening on an almost geological scale.<\/p>\n

All that other stuff she says the Archive is for?\u00a0 \u00a0Smoke and mirrors.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p>\n

Kincaid, by the way, has no idea that the Oblivion War exists.\u00a0 It isn’t like Ivy explains this stuff.\u00a0 She just gives orders.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2012 Reddit AMA:<\/a>
\nDudesan:<\/strong>\u00a0Related to #1- In the short story Backup, you introduced the oblivion war and the Venatori, who undermine the supernatural beings by making humanity forget about them[2] . They once hoped to try that trick against the fairies, but the narrator of that story remarked that it was judged to be unfeasible. What are the limits of this strategy? Is memory-erasing magic useful to it (or does it have to be “legitimate” forgetting?), and if so, would some enormous blanket memory-erasing ritual similar in principle to the heart-ripping spell at the climax of Changes[3] be a superweapon in this fight? Could this theoretically be attempted against Lucifer or even The Almighty?
\nJim: 6)<\/strong>\u00a0It’s got to be genuine forgetfulness. And for all we know, there’s already been a Lucifer and an Almighty that’s been forgotten. I mean, how would we know, eh? Though I think you could never really truly banish everything. As long as there’s an irrational thought or someone wondering, “Who made this place?” Thank God, so to speak. A world of pure rationality would be desperately dull. And I’d probably have to write English papers.<\/p>\n

Morgan<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
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Quote from: jimbutcher on October 18, 2006, 05:14:51 AM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Quote<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Care to give us approximate ages for Luccio and Morgan?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Morgan was born fairly late in the 19th century, and fought for Britain in the Great War.\u00a0 Luccio can barely remember the War of 1812 (which puts her in the same category with most modern American students), but it was of no interest to her at the time, growing up in southern Italy.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Quote from: blackwolf on April 08, 2009, 05:49:12 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

You cant forget that Morgan was also the Hero of the Council and a battle leader. He did almost take out the Red King after all. takeing out Morgan was a Huge victory for the WC. Taking down Captian Lucio as well would have started a Civil war which may have been the BC’s pourpose<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, Morgan was not about to win any popularity contests, inside the Council or out of it–but *everyone* knew that he was bad news. \u00a0He wasn’t *liked* by hardly anyone, but he was *respected* by most of the Council and their allies, and *feared* by most of their enemies.<\/p>\n

Harry just happened to be in that latter category for the longest time, as far as Morgan was concerned. \u00a0Morgan scared the bejeezus out of Harry, on several levels. \u00a0Which was why Harry’s POV toward Morgan was so freaking skewed. \u00a0Harry \/always\/ saw him as the Javertesque-persecutor of warlocks and wayward wizards. \u00a0For everyone else, that was only a part of Morgan’s identity. \u00a0Mainly, to them, he was the guy from the White Council who was most likely to kick down your door, burn your wicked minions to ash in fire and brimstone, and then divide you into several distinct nonentities with his sword.\u00a0\":)\"\u00a0\u00a0The killing-baby-warlocks thing was just his sideline.<\/p>\n

Harry does not have Morgan’s experience or expertise in a fight. \u00a0It doesn’t mean that Harry isn’t also an effective and dangerous opponent, but he has a completely different approach–and he generally has a lot more to learn, still, before he is as formidable as someone like Morgan.<\/p>\n

Granted, Ebenezar makes \/Morgan\/ look like Harry. \u00a0But hey.\u00a0\":)\"\u00a0\u00a0There’s always someone bigger or better than you, right?<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

2009 Independence signing<\/a>:
\nWhere did Morgan get the apron?<\/strong>
\nHe just grabbed from the kitchen in Edinburgh when he was escaping.<\/p>\n

Warden info<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0(and some individual wardens)<\/h1>\n
\n
\n
Quote from: Someday on April 08, 2009, 09:20:37 AM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I wonder if it’s coincidence that a warden’s cloak is grey.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\":)\"<\/p>\n

Jim<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

2009 Independence signing<\/a>:
\nQ:\u00a0 Can the skinwalker access the NeverNever and use the Ways?\u00a0 If so, why didn\u2019t it?<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 All I’ll say now is that it’s important to know that \u2018wardens\u2019 wasn\u2019t always plural.\u00a0 (He did add later that there are certain places it can\u2019t cross over, like the island).
\n2016 DF Reddit podcast Q&A<\/a>
\nWhat kind of magic does Chandler specialize in?<\/strong>
\nChandler does a lot of Divination, and a lot of stuff that is involved with\u00a0time<\/em>.\u00a0 Which puts him in a very finicky spot, a very high profile spot on the council.\u00a0 It’s one reason why he’s a Warden where they can keep an eye on him.\u00a0 He can actually do things to screw with the flow of time and look back in time and find things out, and occasionally to look forward in time and see things.\u00a0 Although that’s very unreliable because of the whole free will nonsense.\u00a0 He’s an information gatherer for the most part.\u00a0 He’s not as much of a punch you in the face type, but he’s really really useful which is why he has got a lot of status among the young wardens.\u00a0 He’s got access to what the old wizards think is valuable, which is information.
\n(Jim also says here that Chandler’s hat and bowler look is based off of\u00a0John Steed of the 1960’s British Avengers show<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Ebenezer & the Blackstaff<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n
Quote from: jimbutcher on February 21, 2010, 04:21:16 AM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If I ever do any major work (IE, novels) from alternate characters, I probably could not set them in the time period of the Dresden Files.\u00a0 I have several neat ideas, and the one that appeals to me the most is writing the French and Indian war years from the viewpoint of a young Ebenezar McCoy and his associates.\u00a0 The first duel between Eb and Listens-to-Wind is pretty epic in my head.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

2009 Lexington signing<\/a>:
\nQ:\u00a0 Will we ever find out more about the Black Cats, or about Eb\u2019s early years?<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0 He\u2019s considered writing a story in the Dresdenverse about the American-Indian war, when Eb and the Merlin were both young punks.
\nUnconfirmed WoJ posted on the boards:<\/span>
\nHow long has the White Council had the Blackstaff<\/strong>
\nLook for Celtic Lore around 1065 ad.
\n2009 Independence signing<\/a>:
\nQ:\u00a0 How old is Eb?\u00a0<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0 Eb is over 300 years old.\u00a0 He and Merlin have known each other for a very long time.\u00a0 They fought on opposite sides in the French & Indian war.
\nQ:\u00a0 How is Eb protected from black magic?\u00a0<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0 The Blackstaff is a literal black staff.\u00a0 He hasn\u2019t had it when we\u2019ve seen him, but he has it and it protects him.
\n2010 Lee\u2019s Summit signing<\/a>:
\nQ:\u00a0 Can you tell us a little more about the black staff?<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0 \u00a0The staff keeps Eb from going crazy, mostly.\u00a0 Also, the White Council stole it from someone.\u00a0 And they really want it back.
\n2010 Bitten by Books Q&A<\/a>:
\n#58 \u201cDoes Eb know about Thomas?\u201d<\/strong>
\nHarry doesn\u2019t know, one way or the other.
\n2010 Dragon*Con<\/a>\u00a0@ ~1:45
\nWhen Eb does his “Laying of the Cattle move” at the major battle near the end of\u00a0Changes<\/em>, is that a power of the blackstaff?<\/strong>
\nThe Blackstaff is what keeps that kind of thing from driving him insane and turning him into a giggling villain.\u00a0 Yah you don’t go messing with black magic in the Dresden Files, it’s very very bad for you.\u00a0 At the same time, Magic is something that happens because you truly believe that when you set out to do it that you should be able to do that sort of thing.\u00a0 That says a few things about Eb that really Harry hasn’t run into in any other forum other than right there.\u00a0 Yah Poor guy, He’s got a tough job.
\n@4:30
\nDoes the blackstaff have any powers that relate to the dead?<\/strong>
\nOther than\u00a0making people dead<\/em>?\u00a0 Really, that’s kind of the point [Crowd Laughs]\u00a0 Really but the staff itself what it really does is it keeps Eb sane while he’s doing insane things.\u00a0 Lucky him, he gets to deal with a hideously guilty conscious and nightmares later, but that’s better than later being like *Muahahahahahahahaha*\u00a0 Which is sort of the other option if your going to go around using magic like that.
\n2011 Bitten by Books Q&A<\/a>
\nWould you tell us how a person gets choosen to be The Blackstaff of the White Council?<\/strong>
\nHeh. He picks up the Blackstaff with full knowledge of what he\u2019s in for if he does. If you can find someone crazy enough to do that, and reliable enough to be trusted with it, he gets the job.
\n2013 Wyrdcon Q&A<\/a>
\nThe Blackstaff is not sentient per se it\u2019s just really, really, really powerful and tapped into like some serious elemental powers in the universe.\u00a0 But basically all it really is is insulation from using those powers.
\n2016 DF Reddit podcast Q&A<\/a>
\nEb took up the Blackstaff in 1884-1885 somewhere in there.\u00a0 The Blackstaff chooses his successor.<\/p>\n

Merlin,<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\u00a0both the original and the title<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Quote from: laurelei23 on May 11, 2007, 01:01:51 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Being an ordinary, occasionally stubborn, normal myself, I can relate. But the Merlin isn’t. He’s one of the most powerful people on the planet, he is responsible for the lives of wizards, wardens and apprentices, not to mention the low-powered folk and normals. What would be a bad character flaw in you or me, in the Merlin becomes disasterous when he can’t tell his friends from his enemies.<\/p>\n

If the stakes are higher, the mistakes becomes greater, and you give up the right to say, “Ooops.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0I’m just curious, but–since when is fallibility a \/right\/?\u00a0 I mean sure, it would be really nice if, whenever anyone took up an office of enormous power they suddenly lost the ability to make mistakes.\u00a0 But I’m fairly sure there’s some empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that it doesn’t work like that.\u00a0<\/span>\":)\"<\/div>\n

The real irony here is that someone like the Merlin agrees completely with the core of your statement–and the “oops” he’s determined to avoid is Apocalypse Harry.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p>\n

Jim<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

2011 Bitten by Books Q&A<\/a>
\nThe Merlin is referred to as the most powerful wizard on the planet several times in the series. Is this just speculation, or is the Merlin position filled through some sort of test of power and skill?<\/strong>
\nThe Merlin is a wizard who can give an order that probably 80 or 85 percent of the other wizards in the world will follow, including most of the Wardens. He\u2019s also the CEO of the White Council\u2019s financial holdings. He \/is\/ the most powerful wizard in the world, based on THAT if nothing else.
\nYou don\u2019t get to be the Merlin without also being the guy that the rest of the Senior Council thinks can take them out, if it came down to a conflict\u2013they\u2019re the ones who select a new Merlin from among themselves. Langtry regards direct, open conflict as a failure to use all his other options, when it comes down to it, and when he does fight he does it fast and hard and is utterly without fear\u2013see the end battle with Peabody\u2019s pet in Turn Coat.
\n2012 Reddit AMA:<\/a>
\nzebrake2010:<\/strong>\u00a0I love the stories of Merlin, and your portrayal of Merlin as a title and role, not just one person, seems perfect[5] . How did you develop this idea?
\nJim: 3)<\/strong>\u00a0Well, in point of fact, there \/was\/ a specific Merlin in the Dresden Files universe. He was a critical figure, back in the day, so much so that when he disappeared, his shoes \/had\/ to be filled. So the title of ‘Merlin’ was created. Every new Merlin considers himself Merlin’s heir, so to speak, and most of them think that they’re doing what Merlin would have done based upon everything they know about him. Not many of them are right.\u00a0\":)\"
\n2015 San Francisco signing (Coopersfield Books)<\/a>
\nThe original Merlin, does he sound British?<\/strong>
\nHe\u2019d probably sound so unintelligibly British that you wouldn\u2019t be able to tell he was speaking English.\u00a0 No, he\u2019s not the guy in Demonreach.<\/p>\n

Rashid\/Gatekeeper<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Twitter<\/a>
\nFitzMelech: @longshotauthor\u00a0 Is Rashid the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred?<\/strong>
\nJim: @FitzMelech He’s the guy who took \/down\/ AlHazred.
\nFitzMelech: @longshotauthor\u00a0 That makes Rashid, if possible, even more badass than I thought!<\/strong>
\nJim: @FitzMelech Rashid is, by far, the most dangerous of the Senior Council. Which is not the same thing as most powerful. Smiley
\n2010 2D6feet interview with Iago<\/a>\u00a0@6:31
\nIago says that at the 2010 DragonCon, Jim told him:<\/strong>
\n“You get to the Gatekeeper’s domain by walking across the surface of the moon.”
\n2012 Reddit AMA<\/a>
\nSarks:<\/strong>\u00a0You have said that the Gatekeeper took down the Mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred. Is that Gatekeeper the same one we have currently? If yes, is he really that old, or was it time travel?
\nJim: 3)<\/strong>\u00a0He’s really that old. And we’re all time travelers. We just happen to be on the slow boat.<\/p>\n

Other Senior Council Members + other significant non wardens<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n
Quote from: jimbutcher on February 16, 2007, 03:39:01 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Plenty of the wizards there [in the council] have got precious little gift when it comes to actual combat magic–like Ancient Mai.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Quote from: jimbutcher on February 27, 2007, 07:01:15 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Book-version Ancient Mai looks good for her age, but since she’s over 400 that’s not necessarily saying a lot.\u00a0 She’s just kinda remarkably well-preserved for her age, like the chick who played Wonder Woman on TV.\u00a0\u00a0\":)\"\u00a0 She by no means looks young…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Quote from: jimbutcher on December 11, 2006, 04:29:10 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Quote from: GnosisRoads<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What death curses are able to do? How powerful can they be? Why don’t more wizards just use die as their curse? Its short and kills your killer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They sometimes do.\u00a0<\/span>\":)\"\u00a0 See what happened to all the vampires around Simon when they assaulted his compound immediately prior to the onstage events in Summer Knight.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Quote from: EBG on April 07, 2009, 08:13:36 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Re: Injun Joe: Remember, LTW was one of the people under suspicion, reinforced by the fact that it WAS a badass Native American evil spirit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And as all the world knows, all Native Americans eat at the same restaurants and know each other and stuff?\u00a0\":)\"<\/p>\n

Guys, LtW is from a Great Lakes nation. \u00a0Naagloshii are native to the Navajo and other tribes of the Southwest. \u00a0There are a couple of thousand miles, some truly epic geography, and an infinite number of cultural, religious, and lingual differences between the two.<\/p>\n

I mean, that would be like suspecting Luccio of summoning up a killer svartalf, based upon the fact that she’s from Italy and svartalves are Scandanavian, and both Italy and Scandanavia are in Europe.<\/p>\n

In point of fact… I’m pretty sure Italy is *closer* to Scandanavia than northern Illinois is to Arizona.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

2009 Independence signing<\/a>:
\nQ:\u00a0 Given that so many creatures of the NeverNever know stuff about Harry \u2013 his mother, that Thomas is his brother, etc. \u2013 how can it be that the Senior Council doesn\u2019t know?<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0 They know.\u00a0 No one person on the SC knows everything about Harry, but between them all they could put it together.\u00a0 That is a group where having information is a means of power; they each have a lot of information but they don\u2019t necessarily know who knows what.
\n2010 RAFO interview<\/a>
\nAll the wizards in The Dresden Files seem to have their own personal motif and way of channelling energy. What’s the oddest and\/or most entertaining motif you’ve come up with?<\/strong>
\nMy favorite is probably from an unpublished short story I wrote, set in the Dresden Files universe, but during the Battle of the Bulge. The Nazis had a sorcerer operating out of an old monastery, and the White Council dispatched the Belgian wizard, Klaus the Toymaker. Klaus’s magic is all based around using children’s toys as focii. My favorite moment was when he killed a couple of SS-summoned demons with a windup wooden duck.
\nWhat kind of magic does Martha Liberty specialize in?<\/strong>
\nThaumaturgy, specifically information-gathering. She\u2019s got legions of contacts in the Nevernever and the mortal world alike.
\n2015 AMA<\/a>
\nMost of the older wizards have got their own crazy background of powerups which they do not advertise. Listens-To-Wind’s shapeshifting isn’t purely a matter of wizardly skill (though his healing abilities are), for example.
\nBut here’s the key thing about people of power in the Dresden universe (and in the real world): the truly dangerous folks do not advertise. Not ever. They have no need to show off, and constantly displaying how scary they are would be counter to their own interests. [\/snip]
\nAll the senior wizards have got something up their sleeve, and every single one of them is hiding it from all the others. If they don’t know about it, they can’t plan for it, and the “knowledge is power” wizard crowd is all about planning for things.
\nBut we are coming up on the time when people are going to have their backs to the wall and we’re going to start seeing what they’ve got. And I’ve been looking forward to writing it for nearly twenty years. >\":)\"<\/p>\n

Shecky<\/a>\u00a0provided some excellent Jim sourced info about LtW and Ebenezer’s hat quoted below in the\u00a0“Word of Mod”<\/a>\u00a0section<\/p>\n

The White Council<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Post on the limitations of Wizards<\/a>
\nOur biggest issue: why don’t wizards just WIN (in pre-complex tech eras)? I argued for the sliding scale of “born in X, advanced tech shows up in Y” idea… but it’s not satisfying.<\/strong>
\nThey kinda \/do\/ win.\u00a0 It’s one reason the White Council thinks of itself as something so ohmygodmighty important.\u00a0 But bear in mind a few things:
\n1) The White Council \/exists\/ in order to limit the power of wizards.\u00a0 These days, it’s mostly about keeping wizards out of the black magic–but in the past, it was also to keep wizards out of politics.\u00a0 They would show up as advisers, rarely (most “court wizards” were charlatans or underpowered schmucks), but the Council itself was very much against getting involved in things.
\nThat’s mainly because if the Council threw its weight in anywhere, it was all but guaranteeing a civil war among its own members.\u00a0 (Remember, it’s very Euro-centric.)
\nThe original Merlin learned a lesson about wizards involving themselves in politics.\u00a0 They already have too much power to use wisely, from his point of view.
\n2009 Whisper radio interview<\/a>\u00a0@1:39:25
\nCan you tell us about the White Council and where you got that idea.<\/strong>
\nThe Original idea for the White Council came from\u00a0The Lord of the Rings<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0The Lord of the Rings<\/em>\u00a0there was a White Council, of the wise, and it was Gandalf and Saruman, and several of the other Lord of the Rings characters who were the magic heavy characters.\u00a0 And I really liked that concept, and I thought, well if the wizards are going to exist on this world then they are going to have some kind of organization of one kind or another, and the White Council ends up being kind of the Bar organization for the wizards you know.\u00a0 If you want to be someone who’s taken seriously you have to show up, you have to pass their tests, you gota put in your time helping out, and then you are recognized as a full wizard.<\/p>\n

Grey Council<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

2010 Bitten by Books Q&A<\/a>:
\n#136 \u201cI am also highly intrigued by the Gray Council showing up as 12 in number.\u201d<\/strong>
\nThirteen, actually: Harry was already there.
\n\u201cSo we found out who 2 of them were, i\u2019d like to know how many of the rest we already know and how many of them haven\u2019t been formally introduced to us yet.\u201d<\/strong>
\nHang on, counting\u2026 You already know six of the folks who showed up at Chichen Itza, excluding McCoy and Vadderung.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p>\n

Marcone<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

2010 Powell’s books Q&A off of Youtube<\/a>\u00a0@0:30
\nWith Regards to Even Hand<\/strong>
\nIt’s from the perspective of John Marcone, and sort of shows you what he’s doing behind the scenes.\u00a0 And if you read the short story and then go and read the story that’s in\u00a0Changes<\/em>\u00a0in Burger King, it has two totally different meanings.
\n2011 Bitten by Books Q&A<\/a>
\nJohn Marcone has been on the fence for most of the series. Sometimes he does the right thing, sometimes the wrong. Will there be a book where he goes full good guy or bad guy?<\/strong>
\nI think it\u2019s safe to say that Harry will never get a clear read on Marcone. Sharks aren\u2019t good or evil. They\u2019re \/sharks\/.
\nI say this, of course, only because I miss the recently departed Shark Week.
\nPer Priscellie Jim told her at ComicCon:<\/span>
\nHendricks’ first name is Nathan
\n@BillyYank Marcone was a Marine.\u00a0\":)\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Elaine<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

2007 Huntington Beach B&N Q&A<\/a>\u00a0@4:55
\nIn the early books you mention that Elaine has the same pentacle as Harry.\u00a0 Is that significant or have you changed your mind on?<\/strong>
\nNo it’s significant.\u00a0 There is a reason for that.\u00a0 Harry and Elaine come from the same philosophical background as far as magic is concerned… Or at least so he believes in any case.\u00a0 I guess we will have to see if Elaine thinks the same way.\u00a0 Who here has read White Knight so far?\u00a0 Yah, Elaine doesn’t think\u00a0exactly<\/em>\u00a0the same way as Harry when it comes to the use of magic, but at the same time though they are not exactly on a totally different page either.\u00a0 It’s significant that they both have the same symbol.\u00a0 It says something about what they think and what they believe.
\n2010 Lee\u2019s Summit signing<\/a>
\nQ:\u00a0 Is Elaine another candidate to wield power over Outsiders (the way Harry supposedly is)?<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason Justin picked the two of them. (Editor’s note:\u00a0 The original asker posted this clarification)<\/p>\n

\n
Quote from: laura118b on August 23, 2010, 04:01:14 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2026I asked him the question\u00a0\":)\"
\nThe full question was if he had stated in the past, during an interview, that Elaine also was a candidate to have the potential to wield power over Outsiders.\u00a0 His longer answer was yes, he had said that before, that Harry and Elaine are just a few months apart age wise so for all intensive purposes the same age.\u00a0 He then told me that was one of the reasons that Justin had picked both of them to adopt, it wasn’t just random kids with power.\u00a0 The key word in my question and his answer was potential.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

2011 Naperville Signing<\/a>
\nAre you going to do any more work with characters from the Paranet?<\/strong>
\nYes, and no.\u00a0 There will be some that factor in, and Elaine is kind of the executive president of the Paranet.\u00a0 So she\u2019ll be involved.<\/p>\n

Fitz<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

2011 Bitten by Books Q&A<\/a>
\nWill we be seeing more of Fitz in the future books<\/strong>
\nI think it\u2019s unlikely, but who knows. Supporting character have surprised me before.
\n(Jim said at the DC signing that He was aware that Fitz ment bastard and he picked the name intentionally<\/em>\u00a0-Serack<\/sup>)<\/p>\n

Others<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

(“mortal” is much more questionable here, but didn’t know where else to stick these)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
Quote from: jimbutcher on March 26, 2007, 08:39:24 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Quote from: Priscellie on March 25, 2007, 02:03:03 AM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As for Ramirez, we know he’s younger than Billy, who is a college Freshman or Sophomore at the time of “Fool Moon.”\u00a0 Ramirez is near the end of his apprenticeship in “Summer Knight,” so we can easily assume he was in his teens when he began said apprenticeship.\u00a0 He suggests in “Dead Beat” that he was an apprentice at the time of Harry’s trial for Justin’s death, but as he could only have been a maximum of 8 years old at the time, I tend to think Jim slipped up on that point.\u00a0 (And hey, the younger Ramirez is, the easier it is to ship him with Molly!)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Actually, he was talking about Harry’s confrontation with the White Council in “Summer Knight.”\u00a0<\/span>\":)\"\u00a0 If you read the scene with the Senior Council again, there’s a mention of a young apprentice in a brown robe hiding a grin behind one hand.<\/span><\/div>\n

IE, Ramirez.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p>\n

Jim<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
Quote from: jimbutcher on June 21, 2011, 02:12:19 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Quote from: Lazarusknite<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Maybe this was a addressed in one of the other thread but I haven\u2019t been able to find it \u2013 how can the other side be \u2018cheating\u2019 if Harry is supposed to be dead already?\u00a0 Way back in Dead Beat, when Harry first meets corpse taker and nearly dies he is saved by Gard.\u00a0 After saving him Gard tells Marcone that she shouldn\u2019t have done it and that Dresden\u2019s destiny was actually to die in that alley.\u00a0 Given we know that Gard is a Valkyrie, we can assume she wasn\u2019t commenting on the dire nature of the situation but was actually telling Marcone what should have happened.\u00a0 If that is true, then isn\u2019t everything after that point kind of a punch to the face of destiny?\u00a0 Dresden should have died years ago, which means the entire series is basically a case of being \u2018off the rails\u2019.\u00a0 If that is true then wouldn\u2019t it also be true that whoever killed Dresden didn\u2019t cheat, but actually put things back into balance?<\/p>\n

Basically \u2013 has the issue of Gard changing Dresden\u2019s destiny ever been addressed?\u00a0 How does that impact Dresden\u2019s death now and its status as \u2018destined\u2019 or \u2018cheating\u2019 or whatever?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

Point of view is an extremely important factor in the Dresden Files, generally speaking.<\/p>\n

Gard’s point of view as a figure of Norse Mythology, a Geat, a scion of Beowulf himself, for pete’s sake, is just a \/tad\/ different than Captain Murphy’s.\u00a0\":)\"<\/p>\n

One might think of it as them working for the same general organization, but in (very, VERY) different divisions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

2009 Dayton Book Signing<\/a>\u00a0@3:25
\nCould MacAnally possibly be a son of Dionysus?<\/strong>
\nHe’s not a Greek god nor a scion of the gods, I’ll tell you that much, but we will probably won’t get to see much about MacAnally until the big trilogy at the end.
\n2011 DC signing<\/a>
\nIs Mac ever going to speak more than ten words?<\/strong>
\nNot for a while. He’s not a man of many words, as most truly dangerous people are.
\nWhere did the name “Fitz” come from, does it have anything to do with the fact that the word means “bastard?”<\/strong>(paraphrased)
\nYes, it means he’s an illegitimate son, and we’ll find out more about that later.
\nIs it possible that Susan left a ghost that we might encounter later?<\/strong>
\nNo, probably not, not with that much energy flying around when she died. I don’t like to do the, “they’re dead, they’re not dead, they’re dead, they’re not dead” thing too often, because then it’s no fun. So just assume Susan is dead and gone. Although this might not be the last time we see her, now that I think of it. [laughter] I’ll have to check my notes
\n2012 Reddit AMA:<\/a>
\nSarks:<\/strong>\u00a0Edit: One last little question, that reading other questions below made me think of. How did Mac get his pub declared neutral ground?
\nJim: 6)<\/strong>\u00a0He filled out the proper paperwork, as cited under the Unseelie Accords. Which is about as involved as a mid-level quest that leads into epic weaponry quests, so it’s kind of a story in itself. I mean, \/Mab\/ designed it. The summary of it is: It’s a giant pain in the ass, but anyone can theoretically do it if they have the mildest of supernatural contacts and are determined enough.
\n2015 AMA<\/a>
\nIs goodman grey able to steal magic from wizards like the first naagloshi we ever saw could?<\/strong>
\nHe \/can\/, but it’s ruinously costly for him. The more you become something other than you are, the less of you is left over. He could, theoretically, get a gulp of Dresden’s blood and become Dresden, power and all–but, especially with such a powerful will in question, he would \/be\/ Dresden at that point. There wouldn’t be anything of \/Grey\/ left over to make decisions. It would basically be a form of suicide, only with a really hard-on-buildings corpse left over.
\nThe Naagloshii themselves, as immortals, are immutable. Grey has free will.
\n2016 DF Reddit podcast Q&A<\/a>
\nCrowley from supernatural, that’s Binder<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Link back to the main Dresden Files WoJ compilation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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