WastedJoker posted:Harry figures that Grey is using ectoplasm to bolster his mass when he converts into a horse - is that how Shagnasty worked? I don't recall the mechanics of him. That's how pretty much all shapeshifting and summoning works when there is mass change involved.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 16:14 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 04:54 |
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ConfusedUs posted:That's how pretty much all shapeshifting and summoning works when there is mass change involved. Adding mass sure, and getting rid if the extra you just grabbed is easy, but what about things like Listens to Wind reducing his to less than what a human would have? Edit: A Wizard Did It. Literally
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 16:25 |
Fried Chicken posted:Edit: A Wizard Did It. Literally I'm gonna go with this, in lieu of an in-universe explanation. ~~wizards~~
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 16:27 |
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Fried Chicken posted:Adding mass sure, and getting rid if the extra you just grabbed is easy, but what about things like Listens to Wind reducing his to less than what a human would have? Wait, doesn't the ectoplasm thing make shapeshifting even more dangerous than we thought? I mean, if you get Circled then you'd lose bits, and I can't see that being anything other than fatal.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 16:34 |
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Didn't they mention somewhere that Bob is strongly related to or even made of the knowledge he has? Isn't that the difference between Bob and Evil Bob? Dresden's going to have to be even more hyper-vigilant about what Minnie reads than normal parents. Also, a few people have worried about Bob perving on her, I'd be more worried about Evil Bob showing up as some sort of dark mentor. Do you think Dresden will ever figure out it's much better to have Marcone owe or even like him, than keeping up near constant antagonism? If he ever does, healing that little girl with the True Shroud or if it's just mental, getting Molly to wake her up would definitely put Marcone in his debt. "Let's take a look at your tab. That's one, 'fixing the greatest regret of my life' you owe me, but I'll accept substitutions of equal value." Anyone else notice that all the 'weapons' from the vault(except maybe the tablet) and the nails of the swords have all touched Christ's blood? I don't know what, if anything, that would mean, but it seems like more than a coincidence. Someone earlier asked what powers the artifacts would have, if it's from legend/popular media, the Spear of Destiny was rumored to be briefly recovered during the crusades. Supposedly when a half starved and badly depleted army rode with it into the fray, their own dead arose to fight by their side.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 16:44 |
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apostateCourier posted:Wait, doesn't the ectoplasm thing make shapeshifting even more dangerous than we thought? I mean, if you get Circled then you'd lose bits, and I can't see that being anything other than fatal. I'm pretty sure you can maintain your ecto-form inside a circle, since the Erlking managed it. That said, at a signing Jim mentioned that since fairy food is made of ectoplasm, going back to the real world after eating it for a while is a Very Bad Idea.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 17:18 |
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Dr. MonkeyThunder posted:Do you think Dresden will ever figure out it's much better to have Marcone owe or even like him, than keeping up near constant antagonism? Marcone personally murders people, let alone all the deaths and suffering his operations cause in Chicago. Just cause he's the lesser evil (for now) doesn't mean he's not scum. Also heavy spoilers possibly regarding book 17: I've heard elsewhere that it'll be called Mirror Mirror, and the plot will be an alternate universe Harry summoning our dimension's over to kill and fake his own death, and the point of divergence between the two is at Bianca's party and Alternate Harry left without Susan and not starting the war and I have no idea where this came from! Is it speculation dressed as spoilers or did Butcher do an interview I missed?
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 17:23 |
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There are a few things on the forum about doing some au story called Mirror Mirror, but I don't know anything about plot details.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 17:32 |
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Tunicate posted:I'm pretty sure you can maintain your ecto-form inside a circle, since the Erlking managed it.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 17:32 |
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Being in a circle cuts something off from everything outside of it. If something purely spiritual is merely powering ectoplasm, itll go poof (and splat) inside a circle when cut from its power source. If it s in the circle with its power source, or the magical equivalent of a battery back up, it would probably be okay for a (period ) of time.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 17:48 |
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Fried Chicken posted:Adding mass sure, and getting rid if the extra you just grabbed is easy, but what about things like Listens to Wind reducing his to less than what a human would have? Well, pure speculation based on 'Harry's day off' in Side Jobs: in the story he mentions how when Will or the other Alphas turn into their wolf form, that they pull ectoplasm from the never never (as was already mentioned) but that part of their human mind hangs out in the never never (I assume to make room for more wolfy stuff like the greater sense of smell). It would stand to reason that extra mass can be 'held over' in the Never never in the exact same way, it probably also ties in with the mind being an intangible and spiritual thing, because you can turn yourself into things that have even less mass than your brain has. As for a shapeshifter in a circle? I'm with SpookyLizard.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 18:07 |
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Tunicate posted:I'm pretty sure you can maintain your ecto-form inside a circle, since the Erlking managed it. Illuyankas posted:Marcone personally murders people, let alone all the deaths and suffering his operations cause in Chicago. Just cause he's the lesser evil (for now) doesn't mean he's not scum. That theory about "the next one" pops up after every book is announced. I'll believe it when I'm reading it
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 18:14 |
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Error 404 posted:It would stand to reason that extra mass can be 'held over' in the Never never in the exact same way, it probably also ties in with the mind being an intangible and spiritual thing, because you can turn yourself into things that have even less mass than your brain has. Butcher confirmed this at a signing when asked where the extra heat goes when a wizard uses ice magic. (Dresden Files fans are huge nerds.) His first response was to ask back at the questioner "physics or engineering?", and as you'd expect it was a physics major. quote:Also I severely disliked the winter mantle explanation by butters, if this is some attempt to make it fit some dumbass RPG as someone said, grrr... This was also asked at the signing; Jim said definitely not. He laughed at the idea that he'd try to make combat fit some ruleset, but he did say that his initial notes on character power went down on D&D character sheets. So you can still dislike the explanation, but at least it isn't to fit an RPG.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 18:22 |
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Skin Game.gif if it said "Parkour"
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 21:30 |
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So what were the "spoilers" in that fan trailer? The things they guessed about that were in SG? I never saw it to compare to the book.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 21:42 |
That gif pretty much sums up every Dresden Files book written. What is it from?
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 21:49 |
why oh WHY posted:That gif pretty much sums up every Dresden Files book written. What is it from? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7cNFRDvl9E They've got a whole series of short, Dresden inspired clips. They're also the ones who did the Skin Game fan trailer.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 21:54 |
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The guys missing a big pointy red hat that says wizzard on it.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 23:26 |
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I'd be really happy if these people had a bunch of money.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 02:27 |
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I'm rereading/listening to Dead Beat now, that little video clip gave Butters' lines to Harry! My immersion! Also what kind of terrible nerd is Butters, to not know what a necromancer is!? (man I hate the Shiela scenes on revisiting them, clearly the best way to win over your host is get them banned from a book stor- and as I write this the notion that splitting Harry up from whatever familiar locales as possible would help Laschiel manipulate Harry better just now hits me, ugh)
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 02:38 |
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Illuyankas posted:I'm rereading/listening to Dead Beat now, that little video clip gave Butters' lines to Harry! My immersion! Maybe Butters knew what they were, but refused to believe that what he knew about fiction had anything to do with reality.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 02:51 |
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Fried Chicken posted:faeries also leave corpses though, and Mab at least was once human. So clearly there is something else going on with them and the Erlking. He said as much in the AMA I totally believe plance for book N+1. I'm far more skeptical about plans for book N+2.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 04:29 |
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Got the book two days ago, and dispite limiting myself too only reading it on my commute to and from work, I'm done. God drat that was a long wait for a brief payoff.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 04:49 |
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As far as Grey goes: In this book, Harry assumes that the bigfoot guy will have the same personality and attitudes as another one he's already met. It's possible that Naagloshii have free will and that Grey is, if not a good one, then a less evil one. Some supernatural things aren't as bound by their natures as (say) Faeries. Bigfoots (bigfeet?), White Court vamps, and werewolves all seem get to make choices.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 05:11 |
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Video from Jim's Q&A over in Scottsdale tonight. I was the one who asked about apprentices a little ways in. This was really fun, Jim is hilarious in person (and also a lot shorter than I imagined somehow.) I'm super happy I won't have to stand in lines for signings at Phoenix Comicon. Did anyone else go tonight or plan to go see him Saturday? Not a ton of new information, but one thing mentioned I didn't know about, a coming-soon short story about Molly's first job as the Winter Lady, guest starring Ramirez. e: Oh! I almost forgot. He wants to do a YA spinoff with Maggie and Mouse! I don't think that was a promise, but it's something he sounded excited about. mistaya fucked around with this message at 08:38 on Jun 6, 2014 |
# ? Jun 6, 2014 07:00 |
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I live downtown and I've thought about going over there but I don't know anything about cost or whatever.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 07:13 |
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AlphaDog posted:As far as Grey goes: In this book, Harry assumes that the bigfoot guy will have the same personality and attitudes as another one he's already met. It's possible that Naagloshii have free will and that Grey is, if not a good one, then a less evil one. Some supernatural things aren't as bound by their natures as (say) Faeries. Bigfoots (bigfeet?), White Court vamps, and werewolves all seem get to make choices. Well, the mythology of the naagloshii, if I'm properly remembering Turn Coat, is that they started off as messengers of Native American gods who decided to stay on Earth even after the gods told them to leave, which twisted them. The basis of their whole background is making a free choice, so...
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 09:29 |
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AlphaDog posted:As far as Grey goes: In this book, Harry assumes that the bigfoot guy will have the same personality and attitudes as another one he's already met. It's possible that Naagloshii have free will and that Grey is, if not a good one, then a less evil one. Some supernatural things aren't as bound by their natures as (say) Faeries. Bigfoots (bigfeet?), White Court vamps, and werewolves all seem get to make choices. Even fairies get choices. Mab and Maeve's reactions to nemesis show that. Also, Toot-toot has reaped the benefits of consistently choosing loyalty to Harry above and beyond the call of pizza.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 09:31 |
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Screen Door Slams posted:Well, the mythology of the naagloshii, if I'm properly remembering Turn Coat, is that they started off as messengers of Native American gods who decided to stay on Earth even after the gods told them to leave, which twisted them. The basis of their whole background is making a free choice, so... There are significant parallels drawn between the Naagloshii and the Fallen. Now, cultural appropriation of first nations is something to consider, but it's also the sort of narrative thread that could get really spooky if they were somehow related -- working for the same boss, or somebody that used to have the job. On a tangential note, the nature of The White God confuses me some. Because the series recognizes that other gods, small 'g' exist, we've met like half a dozen, they're Nevernever entities just like everybody else. So, is the Abrahmic God following the same rules and is just obnoxiously powerful due to having three surviving (or more) religions acknowledging him? Or does Butcher just fiatting that in the Dresden-verse that Hindu, Shinto, Zoroastrians, etc. are all objectively not worshipping the right entity.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 14:55 |
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Well everything we know of God and gods and their power outright demands the former.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 15:01 |
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On that note, if Hades (the place) and Valhalla are real, does that mean that the Christian heaven exists in the Nevernever too? And theoretically, could you open a Way there if you find the right spot on earth?
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 15:16 |
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I'm not using spoiler tags for this, it doesn't specifically relate to Skin Game or any events in the books. ZorajitZorajit posted:On a tangential note, the nature of The White God confuses me some. Because the series recognizes that other gods, small 'g' exist, we've met like half a dozen, they're Nevernever entities just like everybody else. So, is the Abrahmic God following the same rules and is just obnoxiously powerful due to having three surviving (or more) religions acknowledging him? Or does Butcher just fiatting that in the Dresden-verse that Hindu, Shinto, Zoroastrians, etc. are all objectively not worshipping the right entity. On the final part: not necessarily. We haven't seen much of anything that's not (north or south) American or western European. We just haven't seen enough of the rest of the world to know anything about how far the White God's power extends in, say, India. Maybe the Hindu gods are way more important there. Maybe that means that you don't really get Denarians doing much in asia, perhaps because there's nothing there that they would regard as an important magical/religious artefact. Just as an example of how little we know - there's a single mention of a Jade Court* of vampires. They're probably just as widespread in east asia as the Red Court are in south america, but they have no bearing on the plot and haven't been mentioned apart form that once. edit: Lord Hydronium posted:On that note, if Hades (the place) and Valhalla are real, does that mean that the Christian heaven exists in the Nevernever too? And theoretically, could you open a Way there if you find the right spot on earth? I'd guess so. There are literal angels and stuff. It might be the really far nevernever though, and it might be impossible to open a gate to - whether because there's no appropriate place on Earth or because it's just really far/weird/guarded would be hard to say. I mean, Hades has had mortals go in to and out of it in legends (and by implication, in the Dresden universe), but the Christian heaven hasn't had anything like that, has it? *There's a chinese takeout place near me called the Jade Court. If you live in England, America, Australia, or New Zealand, I'm willing to bet that there's also a chinese takeout near you that's called the Jade Court. That sounds like just the sort of insidious guerilla invasion that Harry would eventually end up dealing with. Or maybe Ramirez. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Jun 6, 2014 |
# ? Jun 6, 2014 15:33 |
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In the Q&A posted a few bits up, Butcher said the Jade Court were Chinese Isolationists so conservative that it was more accurate to call them Qing isolationists who think this whole China thing is just a fad that will pass on sooner or later. He said they're not going to be found too far from the Yangtze river, though one of their agents might show up in the apocalyptic trilogy.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 16:23 |
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AlphaDog posted:I'm not using spoiler tags for this, it doesn't specifically relate to Skin Game or any events in the books. Harry could open a way to heaven from the nearest BK.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 16:36 |
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Lord Hydronium posted:On that note, if Hades (the place) and Valhalla are real, does that mean that the Christian heaven exists in the Nevernever too? And theoretically, could you open a Way there if you find the right spot on earth? In Changes Harry leads the team through an area of pyramids and huge columns if intense light. Later, when Murphy draws the sword he notes that the light if the sword is identical to the light he saw in that area. To me that is fairly suggestive, but your mileage may vary
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 17:52 |
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mistaya posted:Video from Jim's Q&A over in Scottsdale tonight. I was the one who asked about apprentices a little ways in. This was really fun, Jim is hilarious in person (and also a lot shorter than I imagined somehow.) Thank you for this, but what was the question he was answering at the very start, before talking about the landlady? The video cuts in midway through his response
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 17:53 |
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Lord Hydronium posted:On that note, if Hades (the place) and Valhalla are real, does that mean that the Christian heaven exists in the Nevernever too? And theoretically, could you open a Way there if you find the right spot on earth? Belinda Carlisle met Margaret LeFey and tried to expose the White Council.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 18:16 |
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AlphaDog posted:I'd guess so. There are literal angels and stuff. It might be the really far nevernever though, and it might be impossible to open a gate to - whether because there's no appropriate place on Earth or because it's just really far/weird/guarded would be hard to say. I mean, Hades has had mortals go in to and out of it in legends (and by implication, in the Dresden universe), but the Christian heaven hasn't had anything like that, has it? Yeah, I don't want to give the impression I'm spregin' out about it, I enjoy the books enough that I'm not going to knit-pick this. It just has always struck me as a weird wrinkle that Christianity appears to play by slightly skewed rules; and that gets me thinking about what that implies. AlphaDog posted:*There's a chinese takeout place near me called the Jade Court. If you live in England, America, Australia, or New Zealand, I'm willing to bet that there's also a chinese takeout near you that's called the Jade Court. That sounds like just the sort of insidious guerilla invasion that Harry would eventually end up dealing with. Or maybe Ramirez. Anybody else ever notice that Crappy Chinese Take Out is always named from like two words chosen at random from "Dragon, China, King, Jade, Gold, New, Little, Hong Kong, Beijing, etc." Conspiracy I tells you.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 18:31 |
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ZorajitZorajit posted:On a tangential note, the nature of The White God confuses me some. Because the series recognizes that other gods, small 'g' exist, we've met like half a dozen, they're Nevernever entities just like everybody else. So, is the Abrahmic God following the same rules and is just obnoxiously powerful due to having three surviving (or more) religions acknowledging him? Or does Butcher just fiatting that in the Dresden-verse that Hindu, Shinto, Zoroastrians, etc. are all objectively not worshipping the right entity. Well it has been established that one entity can hold many roles/mantles. What if all of those religions worship the same being using different masks so to speak.
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# ? Jun 7, 2014 02:07 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 04:54 |
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Fried Chicken posted:Thank you for this, but what was the question he was answering at the very start, before talking about the landlady? The video cuts in midway through his response Question was "Will we ever find out who took the videotape of the Loup Garou back in Fool Moon?"
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# ? Jun 7, 2014 04:51 |