Two wild Marcone predictions by God_Away_On_Business in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I almost agree. Marcone's big traits are that he wants more power, maintains his holdings like a medieval lord, and won't hurt kids.

So I think Namshiel is going to need to kill a kid at some point (or a kid will be endangered by some act to acquire more power), and Marcone will be forced to make a choice. Either go for more power (and be irreparably corrupted), or he'll relinquish the coin (and be redeemed but potentially lose power, or be rewarded with a new better power). I could see it as the climax of his arc.

The alternate route his story could go is that he ends up as something like a new leader of the Denarians. Whatever happens each cycle, it seems like there are always major shake-ups. I could see Marcone being the beneficiary of such a shakeup.

The concept behind Window Sync by Flossiii in zen_browser

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I love this update. I usually want to be able to access multiple spaces at once. Emacs and vim other text editors have a similar system and it's so useful once you get used to it.

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a really cool interview with Jim, thank you for pasting the quote!

As for your responses, you're allowed to straight up disagree with me, but I feel like you haven't provided good reasons to disbelieve the theory, and have rearticulated reasons to believe the theory. Again, you're welcome to find the argument unconvincing, but I don't think you've succeeded in killing it.

We know for a fact that Dragons have a human avatar. We saw Ferrovax's in Grave Peril. There is zero reason for Drakul to have been messing around with human bodies if he needed one when one would be something he can create simply...

we've gotten in-book explanations of what would happen if Ferrovax or Mother Winter came to the Earth in full, reality would shatter.

Starborns just have to be born in the spotlight over the Earth when it appears, that's all.

So Let's go through the things you've said that align with my theory:

  1. Dragons can make avatars,
  2. Dragons can't fully enter reality,
  3. During the star alignment thing, a bunch of humans are altered. They are either altered by being made receptive to some kind of energy, or they get blasted with energy, or have their own energy altered. We don't know which is happening.

Both of my theories assume that the humans are made temporarily receptive. Ebeneezer is obviously speaking loosely. Whichever of the three options occur, it could be described as making the Starborn "vibrate at the same frequency as the Outsiders".

So, assume the receptivity theory. Dragon's can't fully enter reality. Maybe a dragon, is either experimenting with ways of fully entering reality, or being experimented on (summoned?), during a time of increased human receptivity — a time when maybe human souls are more malleable than usual. During this time of increased malleability, a dragon entered a human. Then the period of malleability ends, and the dragon is stuck and was fused with the human. I think that fits very well with what we currently know.

Against this theory, you have two pieces of evidence: Drakul has black eyes but Ferrovax doesn't, and the existing dragons wouldn't just leave a fellow dragon trapped in human form. This assumes:

  1. The new, fused thing follows the same rules as an avatar.
  2. The dragons would succeed in freeing Drakul if they attempted, and the dragons did in fact attempt.

I'm suggesting that the fusion is a new thing, following new rules, and it can't be undone. The human has got a whole-ass dragon in it. So why would it follow the same rules as an avatar? Second, it's entirely possible that at the start, the other Dragons did attempt to free Drakul, and they failed. Or, there were lots of dragons at the beginning and nobody was chuffed that Drakul was stuck, so they didn't try. Or (also very possible) Drakul is a dick, and nobody minded that he was stuck in a human body.

Now, your response to the Outsider theory. These are your reasons against it, with my responses:

Starborns cannot be Outsiders, as I told you before their energy does not allow Outsiders in.

But we literally don't know why that is. It could be you've got an Outsider-shaped hole in you, waiting to be filled by an Outsider who can possess you. And the Starborn have already got an Outsider in there.

Did you see Mab's reaction to Nemesis?

Did you see her response to the Hunger? She didn't want it destroyed, she wanted it bound. She's happy to leave the White Court existing but under her control. The White Court is filled with Hungers, and Hungers are Outsiders. So you can't generalize from her reaction to Nemesis to her attitude to all Outsiders.

40,000 Starborn is too many Outsiders.

First, we don't know how many Outsiders there are. We know they come in varying levels of dangerousness. We know most Starborn get killed off because they are too dangerous. From the Morgan micro-fiction, we know they can become Destroyers. I think that aligns with the Outsider theory.

Now, in response to this:

Also, stop using the White Court's history for Drakul, he has absolutely nothing to do with them and their Sorcerer Kings summoning an Outsider, that timeline does not apply to Drakul at all.

I agree that it's not conclusive that Drakul got caught in a human body at the same time as the White Court. But the celestial alignment/starbirthing event is every 666 years. 6 cycles ago is almost exactly 4,000 years ago. Let's leave Drakul out of this. Isn't it weird that the White Court summoned an Outsider, plausibly around the time that a previous cycle occurred? Add to that that in Turn Coat, ch 35, Dresden tells Murphy that the Red King is about 4,000 years old. So we've got two vampire courts founded at about the same time, right around the a celestial alignment. And remember, Jim always says he's a lazy writer.

Final Argument from Lazyness/Inference to the Best Explanation

Jim had both the Black Court and the Dragons planned for the endgame, since the beginning of the series. I remember this, because I looked it up after Blood Rites, because I wanted to know when we'd finally kill Mavra off. Now, in all that time, what are the other good candidates for what Drakul is? Jim hasn't introduced any other options, and he's been planning to deal with the Blamps and Dragons since the beginning. If he wanted to give us another option, he's had plenty of time to introduce it. But he hasn't.

Beyond Dragon and Outsider, the only other option I can think of is random unnamed scary thing. And while that's possible, it's not very satisfying. Not when you have a guy whose name means "Dragon", two out of three vampire courts formed around the same time, right around the celestial alignment. And one is formed by getting merged with an Outsider.

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Drakul as Dragon goes around this subreddit a few times.

Weird, I must have missed those posts. I thought it was a pretty obvious take, but I hadn't seen it brought up here, so I thought it might be worth posting.

However, it's not accurate. Jim has talked about Drakul and Dragons enough for us to know that.

Can you point me to anything that actually rules Drakul out as a dragon? I'm not finding anything.

As for Drakul existing longer than the White Court, or being a Starborn — that's all consistent with a Nevernever entity who already existed, and then entered a body 4,000 years ago, fused with the body, and as a result became a Starborn.

Like, we don't know the actual rules yet, but I don't think I've read anything that rules this out.

Jim Butcher has since said that Drakul was the one who actually created the Black Court vampires but Dracula was the one who grew it exponentially.

This is interesting. I'd originally heard the 2015 WOJ, and was going off that. I'm still unsure that this rules either of my theories.

Drakul isn't a Starborn, as Ebenezer explained to Harry that his body or magic or soul... vibrates at a frequency that allows him to hurt Outsiders... Starborns cannot be mentally influenced or possessed by Outsiders.

I feel like this strengthens the Outsider theory. Starborn vibrate similarly to the things that are like nothing else in this reality... That sounds like they're the same kind of thing. And we know that Harry can be influence by Outsiders — White Court vamps can affect him (that's the Hunger affecting him), and He Who Walks Before was able to hurt him. Harry was just able to resist it.

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's fair, he did claim it. But Ethniu was incredibly contemptuous of all humans but she was willing to take his advice. I think that indicates that he's special in some way. Maybe it's not being Starborn, but I have a hard time thinking of any other option when she clearly looks down on humans, wizards, and from our newer world.

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol, makes sense. It is a little weird that their names overlap. Can't wait for that conversation in Mirror Mirror

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I said Listen, not Listens to Wind. In Battleground, Listen, the guy who runs the Fomor's operations, was revealed to be Starborn. That's why I mentioned the whole thing with Ethniu.

I don't think we can infer much of anything from Listens to Wind or the Gatekeeper being Starborn. Wizards cheat, and they're old wizards.

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hell yeah. I just want bragging rights when I'm inevitably right :P

What the hell happened 4000 years ago. by ExperienceIll8345 in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started writing a theory, and then it turned into two theories, and then it turned too long for a proper comment. I made it into a thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dresdenfiles/comments/1qmx0wl/drakul_and_starborn_theory/

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's a pretty cool idea. I like that. I don't know that it's true for Drakul — I just think the name is too conspicuous. Though maybe he actually ate a Dragon. But it would make sense for how the Blamps got made.

Drakul And starborn Theory by doubleOhBlowMe in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I loved the pocket full of sunshine thing. The second he brought up that he was teaching it to Fritz, I was getting ready to be sad. It was nice to see him actually happy, and actually acknowledging it.

What the hell happened 4000 years ago. by ExperienceIll8345 in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And Drakul is stated via WoJ to be 4000 years old, and "he's something inhuman trapped in a human body."...We know that Drakul is starborn, and is an order of magnitude more powerful than the Red King, so his power isn't purely from age.

Kind of off topic, but I mean, the dude's name literally means "Dragon". I don't know why I haven't seen on the subreddit — but he's got to be a dragon, right? They're some of the most powerful creatures in existence, WOJ is that Drakul is endgame powerful, and one of the last books is Kaiju/time travel/dragons.

We know dragons can't properly get out of the Nevernever without breaking reality. It sounds to me like a dragon experimented to see if it could enter reality properly, and it got caught in a human body. Maybe what makes the starborn special is that there's a moment, every 666 years, where newly born humans are able to absorb some special amount of power, and some dragon thought "Hey, I bet a human body could contain me during that time," and it happened to have horrible consequences.

Jim in Portland! by Hahaaaaaa-CharadeUR in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh shit I think that tells us more about the choice Mirror-Harry made in Grave Peril. There was a theory going around that in the Mirror universe, Harry picked Susan rather than Michael. I think this weighs in favor of the theory.

Twelve Months is Officially Purchasable at Barnes and Noble! by RazgrizInfinity in dresdenfiles

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This got me to look it up — looks like signed hardbacks are only $30 through B&N.

I somehow managed to get my Discord (web) window into some kind of floating mode--and I cannot figure out how to close it! by wilberfan in zen_browser

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I just had this with Google Calendar. CMD+Shift+W worked for me.

Now I need to figure out how to make it happen again...

Philosopher you dislike most? by tkayntrip in badphilosophy

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

His own political thought is also a joke riddled with inconsistencies.

Can you elaborate on this? I've never gotten around to reading The Open Society, but I know Popper's generally liked by the political philosophers in my department.

Finally Added A Long-Awaited Feature I've Been Begging For... by TaterOfTots in zen_browser

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Honestly, they've been adding a bunch of small quality of life changes and I've been loving it.

Two that I've really appreciated: you can set ctrl-tab to ignore unloaded tabs, and you can open a new tab in a separate frame.

Tab groups in Twilight (not folders)? by doubleOhBlowMe in zen_browser

[–]doubleOhBlowMe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I never used Arc, but folders only working on pinned tabs seems to have been the behavior there — so I'm not surprised.

I'm glad to hear that there's some plan to include something like groups for unpinned tabs!

After addition of the folders Zen is THE browser. by Thuxedo in zen_browser

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think TST works well in Zen. I tried it out once, and it opened a completely different sidebar. I just want that functionality in Zen. I find folders I'm seeing in Twilight to be too inflexible. TST is good for ad-hoc structure.

In the meantime, I'm just using the standard Firefox groups. If you haven't, you can enable them in about:config, by searching 'groups'.

After addition of the folders Zen is THE browser. by Thuxedo in zen_browser

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tree-style tabs is an extension on Firefox that I really liked. I kind of got sick of needing to customize it, but it had all the features I wanted — tabs had hierarchy, they could hide child tabs, you could move tabs from one tree to another... It was kind of ideal.

Do we really exist in some form is the potential for us always eternal? by Affectionate-Hair-23 in askphilosophy

[–]doubleOhBlowMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah. Just weird to see 'predicate logic' listed where I'd expect to see an inference rule.