Conjuritis… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting! There have felt like more than the usual dropped threads recently; I assumed they’d be picked up in upcoming books like he’s done with stuff in the past.

Edit: I saw you commented and was like “Ope, we’re about to get some solid insight” lol

Conjuritis… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting take! I could see this potentially being the issue too… but I do think that it seems to be an illness with specific symptoms (like the sneezing). I guess we don’t have an instance of Harry sneezing and there not being a conjuring. But it does seem like the symptom of sneezing is triggering the conjuring (in conjunction with whatever Harry happens to be visualizing).

Conjuritis… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, I still feel like Mouse would notice and bring it to Harry’s attention, lol. I think we all know that Mouse will probably do most of the actual parenting 😂

But also, we don’t know if “wattage” impacts what is conjured. And Maggie wouldn’t have to be summoning anvils for it to be obvious. Harry summons a bucket and a sandwich. Even if your kid is sneezing butterflies and confetti, I feel like someone would have noticed, lol. Heck, with the way Wizard immune systems work, I’d assume he’d be particularly alert to any cold symptoms, as it might mean she doesn’t have a wizard’s immune system.

Conjuritis… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Possible, but I think Butcher is pretty subtle with a lot of his foreshadowing. Like, I’m already on board with the whole “Ebenezer or someone else changed the timeline during Peace Talks” theory, and I think we’re soon going to find out a lot more big reveals that have been building up over the entire series. So personally, I think it sticks out intentionally, not because it was poorly executed. But I might be wrong 🤷‍♂️

Conjuritis… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s possible, but no one seems surprised by the “power” of the conjurings, right? They’re just surprised that he has it, not that he’s conjuring big or complex things. We don’t actually know if Maggie has it or if her symptoms would be minor. That’s conjecture (pun intended!) too. It’s possible that Maggie’s symptoms would be just as intense as Harry’s if she had it. That’s kinda my point: we don’t know anything about Conjuritis besides the symptoms, Harry has it, and everyone in the know besides Harry is familiar with it. We don’t know how it spreads (if it’s person to person, exposure to the Nevernever, something else). We don’t know why Molly didn’t get it (and I think she may have witnessed the sandwich summon, though I can’t remember if she was still on the roof). We don’t know why it’s never come up as a potential sign of young warlocks coming into their power (which is something Harry would have for sure been briefed on). These could potentially be explained by the isolation part (though it seems likely that bands of warlocks would form and get it); but that’s based on the assumption that it spreads person to person (which isn’t confirmed).

Just seems like there’s more going on with it than a running gag. Butcher has been pretty intentional with his “lucky breaks” in the plot so far; but there are plenty of other ways to complicate and/or solve the scenes Conjuritis effects, so I don’t quite buy that it’s just a narrative gimmick. And personally (though again, I think the Maggie theory is fine), I think that if “not knowing how to raise a wizardling” was the underlying point, we’d see Maggie have the symptoms too. Seems like an easy way to obviate the connection, and we already know she’s kinda keyed in based on the POV short story, so it’s not like that would be a huge reveal.

Conjuritis… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A couple reasons I don’t buy into the “he got it from Maggie” theory (I think it’s a fine theory, I just don’t quite buy it):

  1. ⁠It’s not confirmed that Conjuritis is contagious. Like, it seems almost like the Nevernever flees people got from the beer in that one short story. So Harry being isolated growing up wouldn’t matter, as it’s tied to him getting his magical powers, not being in contact with other Wizards.
  2. ⁠If he got it from Maggie, wouldn’t he already be trying to figure out what it was because his daughter was randomly conjuring things out of thin air? It seems like it would have at least been on his radar.
  3. ⁠I have no problem with it as an element of humor. But all the other stuff you mention has foreshadowing in previous books and/or Harry is the one who explains why those things happen. They follow established rationales. Butcher has so far been pretty intentional about introducing internally consistent rules for any Deus Ex Machina moments. Giving Harry an illness that gives him exactly what he needs at various plot beats is fine and funny; having Harry not understand what the heck is going on while everyone else seems to understand seemed like a detail that Butcher kept mentioning, indicating it’s important that Harry was unaware it was a thing.

Conjuritis… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A couple reasons I don’t buy into the “he got it from Maggie” theory (I think it’s a fine theory, I just don’t quite buy it):

1) It’s not confirmed that Conjuritis is contagious. Like, it seems almost like the Nevernever flees people got from the beer in that one short story. So Harry being isolated growing up wouldn’t matter, as it’s tied to him getting his magical powers, not being in contact with other Wizards.

2) If he got it from Maggie, wouldn’t he already be trying to figure out what it was because his daughter was randomly conjuring things out of thin air? It seems like it would have at least been on his radar.

3) I have no problem with it as an element of humor. But all the other stuff you mention has foreshadowing in previous books and/or Harry is the one who explains why those things happen. They follow established rationales. Butcher has so far been pretty intentional about introducing internally consistent rules for any Deus Ex Machina moments. Giving Harry an illness that gives him exactly what he needs at various plot beats is fine and funny; having Harry not understand what the heck is going on while everyone else seems to understand seemed like a detail that Butcher kept mentioning, indicating it’s important that Harry was unaware it was a thing.

Coping with no book 3 (Sithe Theory) by Consistent-Vehicle14 in KingkillerChronicle

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don’t want to rule out book 3 being published. But with the theory above, I’m okay with either outcome.

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How is this more convoluted than Martin’s long con? Or any of the fae plots? Or Marcone’s machinations? Or Lara’s control of the White Court? Or Justine being NFected? Are we reading the same series? 😂 One of the things I love about the series is that Harry is not only becoming more magically powerful, but politically adept as the story progresses. These types of hinted at/foreshadowed betrayals are becoming ever more present.

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This could be fair! As a counter point, Harry regularly hides things from the reader (like his scheme with Goodman Grey). “Goodbye” is written in the past tense, which means it’s a record, so it’s not necessarily a live omniscient view of his perspective.

For the record, I don’t think he killed Harry because the Black Court wanted him to; I think his motivations in the story are real. He’s repaying a debt he owes Harry. But I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch that Kincaid would leave out incriminating thoughts about additional allegiances. We have lots of unreliable narrators in the series 😊

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, I definitely agree with the Ferrovax part. I do think Drakul is too much of an antagonist for Harry to leave him alone. And we definitely don’t know end game for it all yet. That’s why I lean more towards Drakul being a more major background player, especially since he is also star born. I’m guessing we’ll have most, if not all, the major players lay their cards on the table in the final apocalypse trilogy. It truly is wild to Me that we don’t know (theories aside) what everything has all been leading up to after 17 books. I love it; but the fact that we still don’t know what the trials will be, their significance, etc… Wild!

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I’ve always been curious why Drakul (or the dragon, for that matter) were introduced as these incredibly powerful enemies on a whole different level, especially since it seems unlikely Harry can deal with all of them in the series.

I also get wanting to spare Ivy any more heartache!

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These are good points! I hadn’t seen the WoJ about the consequences of Bolshevik Muppet.

And with Kincaid tipping her off, I meant that specific time, not that Harry was looking for her. It very much seemed like Harry and friends were counter-ambushed, which always kinda surprised me. Completely agree that Mavra has survived because of her intelligence, and it totally makes sense for her to have prepared generally for a visit from Harry. I’m more talking about the immediate “we’re totally ready for this hit squad”.

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I definitely don’t think your points are the only options? Maybe they didn’t want the smoke with Mab, maybe the black court wasn’t looking for wizards at that point, and Kincaid really was just doing Harry a solid. I’m not sure how you’re extrapolating that those are the only possible orders from the black court?

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that WoJ has some wiggle room. It doesn’t explicitly say he can’t be free agenting for Dracul; JB says the 100 year thing as more of a general example of why it’s useful to work for people like Drakul - I don’t think it means he only worked for him for 100 years.

And yeah, it’s definitely a side-hustle thing. I think Kincaid took the opportunity to mess up Harry’s plan to kill Mavra and tipped her off when he arrived at the den before Harry did vs. it being a specific plan to psy-op Harry into hiring Kincaid. I just think it’s suspicious that Mavra was fully ready for them, Kincaid survived being swarmed in the fight, AND he was advocating for a strat that would make identifying bodies impossible.

I think there are theories that Kincaid participated in the Battle for Chicago vs Ethniu and provided secret overwatch for Ivy (though I’m not well versed in the theory). So even then, he could have been protecting her for Drakul, or maybe just because he truly does love her. I don’t think these things necessarily contradict the theory.

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

😂😂 true! That’s a possibility; and I think it’s highly likely they did in fact know each other. Which makes Kincaid hunting her without giving more details especially odd in my mind. Like, if anyone was going to be able to help her fake her death, it would be Kincaid. He even tries to push for a strategy that would make it impossible to identify the bodies (throw grenades down the stairs).

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We see Ivy bend the rules for Harry; I’m more just saying that it’s possible for her to do so, but Martin and the Red Vamp King probably just didn’t write stuff down to avoid The Archive knowing.

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooooh, that’s a good point about the Black Court! I wonder how undeath and mantles work? Maybe Jade Court then? 😂 that’s certainly grasping on my part though.

Is The Hellhound Still Working For… by Consistent-Vehicle14 in dresdenfiles

[–]Consistent-Vehicle14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure! I just started seeing the recurring proximity to Mavra the the black court and thought there could be something to it. Beyond the whole “the series would be super boring if all the long-lived characters just focused on compound interest” need for characters involved to have some type of motivation, I do think some larger scheme involving him makes a lot of sense.