The Dresden Files/Tropes N-Z

The Dresden Files has many, many tropes. These are tropes N through Z. You can find tropes A through M here.
Please make sure spoilers are properly tagged. The series has a lot of them, so try not to ruin everyone else's fun.

N-O
"Amanda Carpenter: There's already a Harry. You can be Bill."
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Nicodemus Archleone. Archleone is Greek for "Great lion." From The Bible, (1 Peter 5:8) "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." When Harry first heard the name he quoted the passage, exasperated that Nicodemus would be so blatant.
 * He Who Walks Behind - though its real name is technically a long mental montage of horror and agony.
 * The Lords of Outer Night, the upper nobility of the Red Court.
 * Narrating the Obvious: Occasionally, Harry will say things related to characters that everyone knows already, such as feeling the need to tell us in Death Masks that yes, he really is a wizard. It's never too obtrusive, though. Overlaps with Harry being a private eye. As the stories move away from "whodunit", and gets much darker this correspondingly gets toned down a bunch.
 * Nay Theist:
 * One of Harry's best friends carries around a sword containing a nail of the True Cross that cuts through all manners of demonic baddies, Harry dallies with the supernatural daily and  -- but he does not hold much truck with gods, and believes that the faith that powers them is just another example of emotion fueling magic. It should be noted that Harry does believe in God; he just doesn't think God is all that interested in him (despite having the Archangel Uriel looking out for him), and has some doubts as to his own worthiness as a follower. Harry said it best when he said "I wouldn't burden a decent system of faith by participating in it."
 * Sanya, who uses one of those swords containing a nail of the True Cross, describes himself as agnostic. His sword was supposedly given to him by the archangel Michael, but Sanya is careful to note that angels could be yet another type of faerie, or aliens (not seen yet, but give it time), or he could be insane and all his encounters with the supernatural could be mere hallucination. While Sanya approaches a Flat Earth Atheist doctrine in some ways, he explains clearly enough that he sees his mission as worthwhile whether it is an actual holy crusade or simply a service to his fellow men.
 * Nebulous Evil Organization: the Black Council. We know literally nothing about them; their existence was deduced in the second book and by now it is all-but-proved, but the only living character we know for sure is a member, Cowl, we know nothing else about except that he is a strong wizard, not even what he looks like. We know that at least one Denarian is a member, and probably more than one, but we can not be sure which. We can guess that some of the Raiths were members and we know was, but all of those are dead. They have proven willing to hurt evil organizations as well as good ones and Innocent Bystanders, but we do not know why.
 * Negated Moment of Awesome: Monsters who specialize in nullifying magic tend to do this quite often to Harry, such as the Scarecrow, which walks through a Hellfire-boosted spell that would have blown him a few city blocks away, or Thorned Namshiel simply eating one of Harry's spells. In Changes, the  simply splits into two monsters, both equally angry, when Harry slices it in half with his laser beam spell.
 * Never Live It Down: In-universe.
 * Marcone, Ramirez and Murphy have all teased Harry on different occasions about how often buildings tend to burn down when he is around.
 * The Fae Courts were buzzing about the whole  to the point that even Morgan takes potshots at Harry regarding it. Apparently, they have been laughing about it for months.
 * Also, SI never really let go of the fact that he had to masquerade as Thomas's gay lover for one case.
 * Never Recycle a Building: Averted; after the Full Moon Garage is abandoned due to the lycanthrope Biker Gang that owned it being slaughtered it is revisited by other villains looking for an empty building to do some disturbing things.
 * Nice Hat: On the cover, at least, and in several of the short stories he emphatically states that one day he really will get a hat, and it will definitely be a very cool hat. In the books themselves, however, he starts gaining a dislike of hats, and by Changes he outright hates them (although later he wishes he had accepted the telepathy blocking helmet).
 * Nice to the Waiter: Harry, in a supernatural sense. Whereas most in the supernatural world either look down on, ignore, use, or abuse the Little Folk (small fairies like Toot), Harry gives them respect, helps them, and--perhaps most importantly--gives them pizza. Because of this, they tend to be fiercely loyal to him.
 * So it's Toot-toot who's embodying this trope.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After seeing alter-ego/persona, the Ragged Lady, Harry begins to wonder whether or not he is responsible for her gradual mental deterioration. Ultimately,, but not for the reason he thinks . The real reason is that
 * On top of that,
 * The Nicknamer: Harry, being an out-and-out wiseass, is prone to this. He often names random people when he does not know their real names, leading to him referring to them as something like "Eyebrow," "Turtleneck," or "Spinyboy."
 * He decided that "Knights of the Order of the Blackened Denarius" was too dignified and started calling them "The Nickelheads." Even Michael uses this because he finds the reasoning convincing.
 * In keeping with certain traditions about the power of names for wizards, Harry's nicknaming also has no small amount of significance: For Lash and Ivy, being given a name also gives them their own identity separate from Lashiel's Shadow and The Archive respectively.
 * Summer Knight features him deciding that "plant monster" is too stupid a name for what he is fighting, so he calls it a "chlorofiend". No one knows what the hell he is talking about, so he defaults to "plant monster".
 * At one point he fails to remember a Warden's name and calls him a mash up of possible candidates.
 * With beings like "Shagnasty" (which could be described as a super-phobophage protogod), not using a goofy or insulting diminutive gives them more power.
 * Most recently used for convenience, when Harry shortens "The Ik'k'uox" to "The Ick".
 * This backfires in Ghost Story: He does, however, somewhat bemusedly accept "Mr. Sunshine" as an alternative nickname, which fits because he's the archangel in charge of the sphere of the sun. Harry got lucky there.
 * Night of the Living Mooks: Which fight like the Terminator...
 * 90% of Your Brain: Apparently, lives there. Harry says, in his case, it is more like ninety-five percent.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Tons of them across the series. The best thing is that they make sense in context of the plot. Including, but not limited to
 * Noodle Incident:
 * Mold demons. They are mentioned in every book following Fool Moon but are never given any explanation.
 * Whatever happened to Murphy and Kincaid in Hawaii during the events of Dead Beat. Whatever it was, it broke Murphy's arm and impressed Kincaid enough that he gave her a gift-wrapped submachine gun as a memento. According to Word of God, Murphy also demonstrated her skills with a katana there.
 * Whatever it is Bob the Skull did to make Queen Mab want to kill him...
 * No Bisexuals: Averted. The Raith family is almost entirely bisexual, except for Inari, Thomas, and Lord Raith.
 * Noble Male, Roguish Male: Michael and Harry.
 * No Eye in Magic: When a wizard looks directly into someone else's eyes, they can see the essence of that person's soul. This ability is called a "soulgaze." Unfortunately, this is an automatic effect, once it is activated it can not be stopped, and since it is eye-to-eye it is very much reciprocal, so the other person sees into the wizard's soul as well, and whatever you see, no matter how beautiful or horrific, you can never forget it. Harry himself spends most of the series avoiding direct eye contact with people, unless he has a good reason for it. He specifically points out breaking people's gazes when he knows they're Complete Monsters, because the thought of that sort of evil and darkness indelibly etched in his memory would drive him insane. It's implied that it's done that more than a few times to other wizards.
 * No Pronunciation Guide: The first two audio books pronounce Marcone with a long 'e' at the end: Mar-CONE-ee. For the third audiobook, there is an introduction from Jim Butcher, mostly about how the series hits its stride here at Grave Peril. From that point on, Marcone has been pronounced as simply: Mar-CONE. Perhaps he said something about it when he recorded the intro. (incidentally, the sound editing also gets much better at around book three.)
 * Nothing Is the Same Anymore: After Changes, the status quo of the books is effectively gone.
 * Not Now, Kiddo: Harry brushes off friends and allies trying to give him important information because he is concentrating hard on some task or problem. He has done it once with Bob (in Dead Beat) and once with Susan (in Grave Peril), to his remorse. In Fool Moon one of the minor practitioners that Harry mentors came to him for help and he looked at what she needed, recognized that it was dangerous and told her not to get involved.
 * Not Himself: Various possession plots, and Harry himself is and brainwashed by.
 * Obstructive Zealot: Morgan.
 * Occult Detective: Currently one of the more popular examples.
 * Offing the Offspring: Lord Raith, Incubus head of the White Court, kills all his male children when they get old enough to be a threat. The girls he seduces into sexual slavery. Both of these practices eventually backfire on him, with Harry's help.
 * Older Sidekick: Michael, sometimes. Kincaid also may qualify.
 * The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Harry hates Gentleman John Marcone. On the other hand, he has to admit that whatever else you say about the guy, he's got "balls that drag along the ground when he walks".
 * Orphan's Plot Trinket: Which is made of inherited silver.
 * One Steve Limit: Despite there being 12 books in the series there have been very few duplicate names, and never amongst the primary cast. Archangel Michael and Michael Carpenter come close, but the former never appears "on screen". Michael did name his youngest son Harry after Harry.
 * One Steve Limit: Despite there being 12 books in the series there have been very few duplicate names, and never amongst the primary cast. Archangel Michael and Michael Carpenter come close, but the former never appears "on screen". Michael did name his youngest son Harry after Harry.


 * If you're willing to give a little, there's Justin, Harry's former teacher, and Justine, Thomas's lover.
 * Also, Molly's full name is Margaret, just like Harry's mom
 * One-Man Army:
 * They call Michael the Fist of God for a reason. In Small Favor, he and Harry are  Singlehandedly.
 * Actually Elder Brother Gruff handed out quite a bit of whup ass in that fight, even if it was mostly collateral damage.
 * does a decent impression of him in Changes.
 * Harry himself tends to avoid this, however, because a) he's not as powerful as he'd like to be, and b) he doesn't believe in getting into a fight when he can't win.
 * Power isnt really the problem in Harry's case. As far as that rating among the magic community hes up among the top 30, possibly top 20, most powerful in the known world. He just doesnt have the experience or the fine control over that power to really make good on it. As he said a few times, hes the one you go to when you need something done big, dumb, and loud.
 * One Mario Limit: Averted. Harry is very aware of the other wizard named Harry, and he is also aware that his father named him after several stage magicians, his first name coming from Harry Houdini.
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Mac The Bartender is also The Quiet One. The seriousness of any particular book is proportional to the number of words that he says. A complete sentence or two is enough to scare Dresden. In Changes he goes on for a good-sized paragraph.
 * In Warrior, the villain got Michael mad enough to actually swear, another thing that shocks Harry.
 * Order Versus Chaos: The conflict/rivalry between Harry and Morgan is primarily due to their personal philosophies - Harry believes in doing the right thing, screwing the rules whenever is needed, while Morgan believes in sticking to the rules no matter what.
 * The Other Darrin: In the audiobooks. Books 1-12 are narrated by James Marsters. Unfortunately, Marsters was unavailable for Ghost Story, which was narrated by John Glover. Fan reaction to the change has, thus far, been... mixed.
 * Our Monsters Are Different
 * All Trolls Are Different
 * Our Demons Are Different: The Fallen associated with the Knights of the Blackened Denarii are Fallen Angels; but there are also lesser supernatural creatures called "demons" that are usually just mindless grunts like the toad demon in "Storm Front."
 * Our Dragons Are Different: True Dragons (like Ferrovax) are shapeshifters with a power level on par with Fairy Queens and gods. Ferro says that his true form would outright break Harry's mind. Word of God says that in a three way fight between Eldest Gruff, the Leanansidhe and Ferrovax, Ferrovax would curb stomp them both. Apparently in the Dresdenverse, dragons are every bit the terrifying monsters the original myths made them out to be. Think less Smaug, more Jormungand.
 * Our Fairies Are Different: From Mab and Lea to the Gruffs to Toot-toot to the fetches to Santa, they definitely run the gamut.
 * Santa, according to Word of Jim, is the Winter King, on par with Mab power wise. Think about what that means.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: The ghosts tend to be echoes of the person's last moments with an imprint of their personality. One tragic ghost simply repeats the last action she undertook in life before her death. Unfortunately, the last act she took in life was
 * Messed with in Ghost Story:
 * Our Ghouls Are Creepier: They are beastial, shapeshifting monsters that want to eat you and are ludicrously difficult to kill. They also
 * Word of God implies that the lesser ghouls are a result of crossbreeding the nastier format with human stock.
 * Our Goblins Are Wickeder: A subtype of faeries, Changes reveals that goblins are far more badass and militant than the comical, physically weak figures they are in most universes.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: The series manages to have its cake and eat it too by simultaneously subverting and playing straight several now-classic vampire tropes. Butcher took three of the broadest elements of the concept of vampires (undead monsters, bloodsucking monsters, and sexy lords of lust) and created a specific Court for each type: "modern" Anne Rice-inspired vampires who are humans converted into batlike bloodsuckers (Red Court), succubi and incubi (White Court) who are born that way but can theoretically be inoculated against it, and classic Dracula-inspired vampires (Black Court). The last group is particularly subject to considerable Lampshade Hanging as Dresden notes that "[Bram] Stoker told everyone how to kill them;" and only the strongest and cleverest of them remain after the beginning of the 20th century. There may or may not be even more types of vampire, though, as an Asia-only "Jade Court" (presumably Jiang Shi-inspired Chi vampires) is very vaguely mentioned in Death Masks.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: From the Black Magic of the Hexenwulfen and the all-but-unstoppable cursed loup-garou to the simple transformation of the "true" werewolf and, Fool Moon pretty much covers the entire range of possibilities. There are even the Lycanthropes, who only change in their own minds, becoming animalistic beserkers every full moon. Only anthropomorphic wolf-men are non-existent, and the contagious bite is notably absent (as per Bob: "Bah, no. Hollywood stole that from the vampires"). In an early scene, Bob lists off all the different types of werewolves, so you know Harry's going to run into every type.
 * Our Werebeasts Are Different: Were-buffalo, Were-Crowa and were-goats are also mentioned.
 * Listens-to-Wind is pretty much a Were-whatever-the-hell-he-wants.
 * Our Zombies Are Different: ...and your zombies suck. Dresdenverse zombies are more like The Terminator than a traditional zombie, much stronger and faster than a normal human. Also, more than just humans can be made into zombies, and a zombie is more powerful the older it is...
 * Chicago is well-known for having
 * Our Angels Are Different: Angels are generally tasked with a particular duty. For example, an angel of death is tasked with safeguarding the souls of the righteous and good and seeing them safely to the afterlife without being waylaid by demons. The archangel Uriel is present as Heaven's equivalent of a spy/assassin/spook, and is tasked with defending the free will of mortals. Angels wield tremendous cosmic power (in Ghost Story, Harry realizes that if Uriel was let loose, he could theoretically destroy the entire planet) but are tightly restricted in how they can use it.
 * Out with a Bang: Raiths feed on life essence brought about by lust. If they are not careful, or are really hungry, they can take too much and kill their food during the act.

P-R
"Molly: You know, boss, I believe it is possible to reference something other than Star Wars. Harry: That is why you fail."
 * Papa Wolf:
 * Michael Carpenter. He has a longer fuse than his wife, but it is attached to an even bigger bomb.
 * Ebenezar McCoy is one as well.
 * Changes sees
 * Parental Abandonment: Harry's parents are dead, he had to kill his adoptive father in self-defense, and his relationship with his mentor Ebenezar McCoy is complicated, to say the least.
 * Parental Incest: There is a reason almost every mention of Daddy Raith on this page is linked to Squick. See also Nicodemus.
 * Parental Substitute: Justin, in Harry's Backstory. Ebenezar McCoy assumes this role when he takes in Harry after Justin's untimely death. Things get a bit muddled in when we find out Ebenzar is
 * Parody Magic Spell: Harry Dresden's candle-lighting spell is "Flicum bicus."
 * Person of Mass Destruction: Harry alone has a pretty fair-sized collateral damage record, and he does not hold much of a candle to people like Ebenezar or The Merlin.
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Several, including Aurora, the Summer Lady, the Archive, Eldest Brother Gruff and Murphy.
 * Playing with Fire: Harry prefers fire magic but will occasionally use wind-based and earth-based spells when the situation calls for it. For a while after he was badly burned through no fault of his own, Harry defaulted to wind spells.
 * Poisonous Friend: Lash acts as this to her host in order to corrupt them.
 * Prehensile Hair: Deirdre.
 * Police Are Useless: Averted with the Special Investigations unit in The Dresden Files, led by Karrin Murphy, who among other things has taken down a tree-monster with a chainsaw. Though the unit still calls in Dresden for consulting, it's mentioned a few books in that they've learned enough to handle most of your usual supernatural riff-raff without the wizard's help. There are also things with enough power that getting the police involved would lead to a bloodbath. Several times Dresden convinces Murphy not to involve her unit by telling her what he's facing is "worse than the loup-garou", a Nigh Invulnerable variety of werewolf that rampaged through the station in the second book. It's played a bit straighter with the rest of the Chicago cops, who refuse to believe in anything supernatural. They're probably very competent in normal situations, but when it comes to the average supernatural menace... hoo boy. And a lot of them think of him as a charlatan.
 * Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Most major villains move in circles where people are expected to present a civilized facade when not actively ripping each other limb from limb. Harry's snarky insouciance has taken more than one of them by surprise.
 * Almost lampshaded in Death Masks. Harry is about to initiate a duel against a powerful Red Court vampire named Ortega. The duel's moderator tells them they can make an opening statement. Ortega says something almost poetic and respectful. Harry takes a swig of his anti-vampire-mind-control potion and burps.
 * Pop-Cultured Badass: Harry, Harry, Harry. His somewhat outdated references are Lampshaded by Molly in Changes (and sub-sequentially mirrored in Ghost Story.)

"Harry: How about a little fire, Scarecrow?"
 * The Pornomancer: Deconstructed. Thomas can not keep a minimum-wage job because his Incubus powers make people sexually assault him and, thanks to the Double Standard, he gets fired for it.
 * Portal Network: With significant knowledge of its pathways, the Nevernever can be used this way.
 * Post-Modern Magik: Pretty much built around it. The series' original name was going to be Semiautomagic even.
 * Power Glows: Often.
 * When Harry faces down Cowl and Kumori in Dead Beat.
 * Later in Dead Beat, when facing Corpsetaker, Harry describes a variety of ways that holding power manifests around wizards, many of which fall at least loosely into this category.
 * Harry borrows the power of Summer to administer a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to a seriously powerful elder fetch with an epic Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner:

"Harry: "What do you mean set aside my power?" Michael: "Walk away from your magic. Forsake it. Forever." Harry: "Fuck that.""
 * Mouse's paws glow when he's preparing to kick some evil ass.
 * The Swords of the Cross frequently glow when wielded. The light is seen to be inherently painful to various evil beasties.
 * The Power of Love: White Court vampires cannot abide the touch of True Love. It causes them burns and physical pain.
 * Harry's love for Susan burned one such, and lack of that reaction was a clue to him that  does not love him.
 * Thomas has a similar problem. This is all the more poignant because
 * Power Trio: Harry, Murphy and Thomas develop into this over time.
 * Pragmatic Villainy: Gentleman Johnny Marcone shows how to succesfully use this trope for fun and profit.
 * Precision F-Strike: Stronger curse words are relatively rare in the books, so when someone drops an F bomb you know that either someone is very angry, or something is very wrong.
 * When Harry and Michael discuss Harry's, and what he had to do to get rid of.

"Harry: "I've got a fallen angel tripping all over herself to give me more power. Queen Mab has asked me to take the mantle of the Winter Knight twice now. I've read Kemmler's book. I know how the Darkhallow works. And I know how to turn necromancy against the ...So once again, let me be perfectly clear. If anything happens to Murphy and I even think you had a hand in it, fuck right and wrong. If you touch her, I'm declaring war on you. Personally. I'm picking up every weapon I can get. And I'm using them to kill you. Horribly.""
 * The scene at the end of Dead Beat when Harry is talking to.

"Michael's face was bleak and unyielding, and quiet heat smoldered in his eyes. "The son of a bitch hurt my little girl.""
 * In Proven Guilty Harry has to convince Molly that she needs to stop acting like a child, take him seriously, and not try to manipulate him like he is just kindly ol' Uncle Harry who has never been anything but sweet to her. So when she tries to go back on her promise to do what Harry tells her, he looks at her threateningly and says "Now get the fuck into the car."
 * Harry to Molly again in White Night during his Scare'Em Straight attempt. He only uses words like "damned" and mentions that it is just as effective because he doesn't even curse lightly around Michael's family.
 * After Father Roarke kidnaps Alicia to get at Fidelacchius and Amoracchius, Harry and Michael go to Forthill for info. When Forthill tries to reason with them:

""Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.""
 * Private Detective: Harry, technically, and Vince in Turn Coat.
 * Private Eye Monologue: The books are narrated by Harry in the first person and he is a Private Detective, so we get hardboiled inner monologues like this:

""There's no way for us to know how old Arianna is," she contradicted, "because humanity hasn't had a written language for that long. Do you understand what I'm saying?""
 * Properly Paranoid: Harry, of course, and Murphy. The funny thing is, by Changes, even Butters has been infected with paranoia.
 * Public Domain Artifact: Several times. The Knights of the Cross each have a magical evil-fighting sword that supposedly has a nail from the True Cross in the hilt, and Ghost Story confirms that they are . The Shroud of Turin itself is the MacGuffin in the fifth book. In addition, Nicodemus wears the same noose Judas used to hang himself and the Blackened Denarii are probably the very same 30 pieces of silver that Judas received for betraying Jesus.
 * Puny Earthlings: So many supernaturals are immortal, have powerful magic, can withstand a substantial amount of punishment if not being attacked by their bane, and many of them can snap a human being in two without trying. Wizards are by no means squishy compared to regular humans, but they might as well be when compared to everything else.
 * Pyrrhic Victory: Several. It is a rare book where Harry has only lost blood. There are happy endings too, of course, but some are earned at a much higher price than others. Changes is definitely the most Pyrrhic Victory in the series so far, at least from Harry's personal point of view.
 * Rage Judo: Standard operating procedure for Harry "Sometimes I'm Asleep" Dresden.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: At Dragon*Con 2010, Jim told the audience that, when his son was 8, they had to move to Pennsylvania. To make up for leaving his friends behind, the Butcher's got him a dog. Jim then explained that Mouse was based on how his dog saw himself.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Several of the Denarians are 2000 years old or close to it. The Red King, Arianna Ortega, and pretty much every high ranking god or wizard qualifies.


 * Remember That You Trust Me: Harry's interaction with Murphy. Both are guilty of this. This is actually a recurring theme; Harry is both paranoid and protective of his friends, remembering to trust them is a lesson he learns again and again.
 * Remember the New Guy?: Michael. He was introduced in Grave Peril and has known Harry for at least five years, but he had neither appeared nor was mentioned in the preceding two books or any of the short stories that take place in the earlier time periods.
 * Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?:
 * The Zombie Dinosaur incident from Dead Beat is mentioned numerous times in the series. It is often used to justify the fear and trepidation of Badasses when going up against Harry.
 * The donut incident from Small Favor also gets a lot of play. Even Odin thinks it was worthy of acclaim.
 * Rescue Romance: Charity and Michael's Backstory.
 * Rivals Team Up: Marcone and Dresden team up numerous times to fight common foes, first in Death Masks. In White Night,
 * Robe and Wizard Hat: Averted. Harry prefers a Badass Longcoat. He is pictured on the cover with a gaucho but the books rarely, if ever, mention him with a hat. Harry does wear a robe in his Wizarding lab, but only because it is cold. He does have formal robes he must wear for White Council meetings, but, being Harry, he once showed up for one in a ratty bathrobe anyway.
 * To be fair, Mister had slept on them, so they were covered in cat hair.
 * Rouge Angles of Satin: Occasionally, when referring to pads of paper, Jim Butcher will use the word "stationary" rather than "stationery". He also refers to a 'parking break' at one point during Ghost Story.
 * The narrator never finished high school although he did get his GED.
 * Harry briefly calls his father a stage musician in Fool Moon. To make this even more glaring, he's talking about how Houdini and Blackstone were his father's heroes.
 * Royal Blood:  Which means that
 * Rule of Three: All over this series, due to the mystical nature of the number. Subverted with the Gruffs, as well as making an arguable use of.
 * Rules Lawyer: The Fae and how you usually deal with them. Harry also does a fair bit of it to avoid getting decapitated by Wardens.
 * Running Gag: "Stupid [Latin] correspondence course."
 * "I have this... problem with buildings.

S-U

 * Sacred Hospitality: Most of the supernatural community is hundreds of years old and grew up in a different social world (the Old World). This shows up in the treaty which outlines the rules for hospitality and diplomacy among supernatural communities. Guests in a home are privy to protection by the host, but are also expected to act honorably towards the home's owner, and they treat violations of these customs as grave offenses. Harry used this and a bit of Quote Mining to talk his way out of being killed by the denizens of when he accidentally ends up there in Changes, and extends the traditions of hospitality himself to others.

"Harry: And again I say unto thee: Bite me."
 * Sad Clown: Harry.
 * Saintly Church: St. Mary of the Angels.
 * Scaled Up: Inverted by Quintus "Snakeboy" Cassius. His demonic form is (surprise!) a giant naga (snake-man).
 * Scars Are Forever: Averted, Harry's (numerous) scars fade over time.
 * Science Is Wrong: The series goes on to something more like "Science is missing some important facts." Science comes in kinda handy for Harry in what is probably his most epic Crowning Moment of Awesome so far, in Dead Beat. Without it, where would he have gotten the ? Butters kind of helps this along, chalking up Harry's Walking Techbane status to a "Murphyonic Field" surrounding him, and that the immediate physical reason for the wizards' longevity is because their cells divide much better.
 * The series actually tends to stay very close to normal physical laws, especially for one about magic. Harry often uses (and lampshades) the laws of momentum, gravity, thermodynamics, etc. in order to assist his spells or amplify their damage. Turned against him when his magical shield stops napalm just fine, but it can't stop the heat, burning his hand so badly it almost has to be amputated.
 * The Scottish Trope
 * Science Cannot Comprehend Phlebotinum: Played with. Magic has a tendency to screw with any kind of mechanical and electrical devices, in particular anything made from WWII onwards, so most methods for documenting magic just don't work, so 90 percent of The Masquerade is a purely natural process. None of this stops Butters from trying, and he makes some noticeable strides.
 * What nobody's told Butters is that the rules change. Back in the days of yore, having mad Dresden-level juju meant your milk curdled and fires burned odd colors in your presence.
 * In Ghost Story Bob notes that Butters' grasp of magical theory is actually better than Harry's despite his lack of magical talent, because he has a better mind for it.
 * Science Destroys Magic: Inverted. Active magic can severely disrupt technology - the more sophisticated a device, the more vulnerable it is. Cell phones are considered to be the most sensitive indicators of magical activity in an area. Harry prefers low-tech gear such as revolvers and his old VW Beetle.
 * Scully Syndrome
 * Sharing a Body: The Denarians and their hosts all share the host's body.
 * Secret War: The war between the White Council and the Vampire Courts, and also the even more secretive Oblivion War.
 * Seeking Sanctuary: If someone needs protecting and Harry can't do it, he almost always sends them to St. Mary's of the Angels.
 * Selective Squeamishness Suppression/Vomiting Detective: When confronted with a gruesome crime scene, the odds are about fifty-fifty between Harry puking or holding it down.
 * Semi-Divine: The White Court. Their souls are half demon due to a demonic symbiote that gives them superhuman abilities and incredibly good looks, but at the cost of a Hunger for human emotions. The Raith family is particularly noted to go after lust.
 * Serial Escalation: Each book deliberately builds upon the previous, with Harry required to develop new skills in every adventure because the situations have become more extreme and bizarre than before.
 * Shoot the Dog: The Wardens (Morgan in particular). Most of their job involves executing teenagers for the Greater Good. Even Harry eventually admits that they have their reasons.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: Harry does this to Marcone a lot, but also to various monsters and villains - he's too Genre Savvy to take their crap.
 * Shout-Out: Countless.
 * Shrouded in Myth: Increasingly, Harry himself. In Turncoat,  Harry wonders why they will not attack him, until he realizes that it is because they have been hearing about him as that incredibly powerful loose cannon trained by a warlock who openly mocked the Senior Council,  and generally did everything on the series' very lengthy Crowning Moment of Awesome page. In reality he is about ready to fall over from exhaustion and injury, but they have heard so much about him that they are scared to confront the legendary Badass.
 * Made even more ridiculous by the fact that Harry, by wizard reckoning, is young, not even 40, and he's accomplished things that powerful, experienced, old wizards would find challenging. Despite his age, he's accomplished things the Senior Council can't help but respect.
 * Significant Anagram: Not spelled quite in the same way, but.
 * Silent Bob: Mac, the guy who runs the bar. Heavily implied to be Badass Normal.
 * Simple Staff: Or "traditional Ozark folk art." Harry uses it to focus magic and occasionally to club something around the head. He's occasionally mocked for using such a traditional, phallic symbol of power ( staff is a length of chain, for example).
 * Sink-or-Swim Fatherhood
 * Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror: Sure, it is a slightly terrifying Crapsack World where the entire contents of the Fantasy Kitchen Sink is out to kill you horribly, but Harry's constant wisecracks are so funny that they take the edge off (which, is, of course, why he makes them). Mood Whiplash ensues.
 * Smug Snake:
 * The White Court in general, who are so in love with overly convoluted plots that they do not realize their plots are overly convoluted, sometimes to the degree that a simpler plan would have worked better/more effectively. Then again, the degree of convolution is, to the White Court, correlated with the capability of the person pulling it off (if successful), so it's somewhat justified - no matter how well the plan works, no one will respect you if they can too easily figure out how you did it.
 * Grevane and Corpsetaker are the Necromancers who provide the most "limited" threat.
 * Some of the Denarians, especially (and amusingly) Cassius.
 * Sociopathic Hero:
 * Kincaid, when he is choosing being paid to be heroic.
 * Lea, when she is not trying to turn Harry into a dog.
 * Soul Jar: The Blackened Denarii.
 * Sophisticated As Hell

""I ooze class from my every orifice.""
 * When called on this:

"Deirdre nodded sleepily. "Have I missed breakfast?" Nicodemus smiled at her. "Not at all. Give us a kiss." She slid onto his lap and did. With tongue. Yuck."
 * Lampshade Hanging: "You just used obviate and ain't in the same sentence."
 * Spirit Advisor:
 * Bob has been Dresden's primary Spirit Advisor on supernatural matters for the whole series, but is a bit fuzzy on the concepts of "good" and "evil." This isn't his fault. He's a spirit of knowledge, and knowledge is neither good nor evil.
 * ; unusually, this time the adviser is flat-out evil.
 * Spirit World: the Nevernever, realm of faeries, demons, and other supernatural whatsits.
 * Squick: In-universe. Harry is understandably... perturbed... by the nature of the relationship between Nicodemus and his daughter, Deirdre.

"Harry: (Calling out to an Ogre). Hey! Tall, red, and ugly!"
 * Squishy Wizard: Averted. Wizards are physically weaker than most of the supernatural creatures encountered in the series, but that still leaves them (slightly) physically tougher than normal humans, able to heal and recuperate from damage that would normally prove fatal or debilitating. In addition, most wizards we see are veterans of some kind of combat, so what they lack in physical ability they deliberately make up for in spells or enchantments.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Harry and . Also.
 * Status Quo Is God: Averted. The series changes from book to book and, after Changes, throws the entire prior status out the window.
 * Summon Magic: Typically only used by villains, except for a couple instances where Harry needs to speak with a supernatural informant, or when he wants to talk to Toot at first, before . He also once
 * Sunnydale Syndrome: The people of Chicago do not notice when a massive werewolf from hell gets blasted through two buildings (Fool Moon), a giant evil scarecrow monster charges down the middle of the street, undead armies rampage across the city (Dead Beat), armies of dark fairies and a huge gruff attack a train station (Small Favor), or -- well, you get the idea. Harry thinks this is both beneficial and detrimental.
 * Supernatural Elite: The Red, White and Faerie Courts all run on some form of aristocratic system.
 * Supernatural Sensitivity: Wizards can use the True Sight to see exactly what is going on, including the residues of active and past magics. There is a drawback: whatever they see with their Sight can never be unseen, and is remembered in perfect clarity forever. Some things (like ) are the sorts of things you would never want to forget, so that's good. Some things, on the other hand, (like  ) you wish you had never seen.
 * Molly Carpenter is particularly sensitive to magic and psychic residue, even without using her Sight.
 * Supernatural Soap Opera
 * Survival Mantra: "Stay on mission." (Martin, Susan, and likely the Order of St Giles generally)
 * Sword of Damocles: Its use as a deterrent is referenced in the Doom of Damocles. It is a punishment meant to deter wizards from breaking the laws of the White Council by placing the moral weight of another life in the wizard's shoulders. Normally, being declared guilty of breaching any of the laws means you die, no questions asked. But if someone decides to stick out for you, they may let it slip... Under the condition that, if you screw up one more time, both you AND the person who stuck for you die.
 * Take That There seems to be a playful series of these between Butcher and the cover artist over Harry's depiction. Harry starts mentioning how he does not like hats -- even refusing to wear them when it would be more practical -- and on the covers the hats become more and more prominent & fancy. In Changes Harry out-and-out states that he hates wearing hats, and wonders why everyone assumes otherwise.
 * Full story: The publishers changed cover artists between Blood Rites and Dead Beat. The cover artist had not read the books and was given a description of the character from the publishers - Tall, brown hair, clean-shaven. Wears Western-style shirts, a black leather duster, carries a wooden staff with glowing runes, and 'wears a hat'. It is unclear whether this was due to a member of the publishing staff not knowing that much about the books or confusing Harry's description for that of Grevane, one of the antagonists of that particular book. It has now become a joke between the cover artist and Jim Butcher.
 * Take Up My Sword: Subverted with Fidelacchius and Amoracchius. While, neither of them are actually meant for him.
 * Talking in Your Dreams
 * Taking You with Me: The principle of a Wizards Death Curse, which kills the wizard but allows them to strike out at whatever they feel deserves their dying wrath.
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky: Harry. He is also fond of making his own snarky variations of "Tall, Dark and Handsome" to refer to supernatural beings.

"Harry: Stars and stones, Harry. When will you learn to keep your mouth shut?"
 * Tell Me About My Father: Harry never has to ask his father about his mother; he notes that his father had told him so much about her that he felt as if he had known her, so he never felt the need.
 * Tempting Fate: Harry. All the time.


 * Terror Hero: Harry is an unintentional Type 3.
 * Thanatos Gambit:
 * A wizard's death curse uses every last bit of their life energy to fuel a powerful, destructive spell as a last resort -- in other words, Cast from Hit Points -- so it is either this or Taking You with Me. We have seen one in the series and one in a character's backstory. The one cast on  looks like a Thanatos Gambit, in that she could not kill him so she gave him a certain vulnerability that would be exploited years later, and the one cast on   looks like an attempt at Taking Him With Him, but the caster was already too old and weak for that, so he settled for trying to make him miserable.
 * . He arranged the entire events of his dying book specifically to get to that one scenario.
 * Theme Naming: Barring Magog, all of the angels or Fallen have names that end in -iel or some variant, such as -ael. Lampshaded when Harry asks if Nicodemus's Fallen is named "Badassiel".
 * Justified. The Fallen used to be angels. There are angels with names that do not end in "-iel" or "-ael," but they are by far a minority.
 * It really ticks Angels off if you drop that part. (It means "God")
 * They Call Me Mister Tibbs
 * Thicker Than Water
 * Think Nothing of It
 * Time Abyss: Word of God has it that Demonreach pre-dates the ice age.
 * Time Skip: About a year or so passes between each book, but the exact length of time varies from case to case. This averts Comic Book Time in that a few characters age visibly, and provides space for Noodle Incidents to have happened in.
 * Took a Level in Badass: Nearly everyone over the course of the series. One of the biggest happens in Ghost Story with, of all people, Mortimer Lindquist, self-proclaimed coward and non-hero, who nonethless proves to be exceedingly competent at his ectomancy, being able to do things like  or to
 * Morty is confirmed to have power on par with a White Council wizard, his power is just too narrow. Unlike Harry he also solves problems before they threaten the world.
 * Similarly, Butters too has leveled up in Badass stakes as of Ghost Story, most notable in
 * Totally Radical: Toyed with, then lampshaded in one of the later books. Harry uses the phrase "that's how I roll," much to Michael's amusement. He explains that it must be cool, because he learned it from Molly.
 * Changes: "Radical. Wicked cool." Good luck translating that into Ancient Mayan, Red King of the Red Court.
 * Trademark Favorite Food:
 * The wyldfae looooooove pizza.
 * Harry loves his Coke; he even has a cap with a silver-on-black Coca-Cola logo. He also adores Burger King.
 * Training from Hell: Harry's time with Justin DuMorne.
 * Trenchcoat Brigade: Harry's black leather duster and occult focus confirm him to be a card-carrying member. And he revels in it.
 * Trope Overdosed: Understandable after 12 books, a TV series, an ongoing comic book series, and an RPG.
 * Truce Zone: Mac's Pub
 * True Sight
 * Turn in Your Badge: Murphy is head of Special Investigations, a department of the Chicago PD which deals with the weird stuff. Her success at the job (hiring a professional wizard as a consultant helped) gives her a certain amount of immunity to this, but in Proven Guilty, she really blows it... and ends up demoted. At the end of Changes,
 * True Sight
 * Turn in Your Badge: Murphy is head of Special Investigations, a department of the Chicago PD which deals with the weird stuff. Her success at the job (hiring a professional wizard as a consultant helped) gives her a certain amount of immunity to this, but in Proven Guilty, she really blows it... and ends up demoted. At the end of Changes,

U-Z
"Billy: "Are you on a case?'''"
 * Uncatty Resemblance: Mild example with Mister and Mouse, who like their owner are both extra-large sized for their species.
 * The Unfettered: Martin hates the Red Court, but it's only
 * Unusual Euphemism: Harry wonders if cuss words in angelic language are just nice words said backwards... "Doog! Teews doog!"
 * Up to Eleven: Invoked by Harry when describing battle chaos.
 * The Vamp: Lara Raith. Literally, too.
 * Vampires Are Sex Gods: The Raiths definitely are.
 * Vampire Monarch: The Red Court has an actual King ; the White Court consists of three clans, each of whom has their own Lord and the Lord of the currently most powerful clan is considered King by the rest; and the Black Court was nearly wiped out to the point where only a few powerful individuals exist, so no mention of a king of them has been made.
 * Vegetarian Vampire: c.f. Thomas using to sate himself.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Arianna, Grevane, Lord Raith, Victor Sells, Paolo Ortega, Nicodemus and the Red King all experience this after Harry either kicks their asses or demonstrates that he's as strong as they are.
 * Virgin Power: The White Court find virgins a particular delicacy, so to speak.
 * Waif Fu: The possessed Lydia in Grave Peril. Karrin Murphy's Aikido skills may also qualify.
 * Wait Here: If Harry has not said this or "If I Do Not Return", then you have not finished the book yet.
 * Walking Techbane: Wizards, especially Harry, who has to put up with an icebox cooled by real ice, no working furnace in a basement apartment in Chicago (he has a fireplace instead), no hot water and a car from the 50s. He can not get near an active computer without frying the motherboard. If he actively tries, he can hex a camera at 100 yards on a bad day.
 * Valkyries:
 * Weather Dissonance
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Donald Morgan
 * Kumori from Dead Beat. Yes, she is a necromancer. Yes, she is palling around with a guy who may . And yes, she is taking part in a necromantic ceremony that will scythe a good chunk of Chicago clean just so the victor can claim awesome godlike power. But she uses her necromantic abilities to keep people alive until they can get medical treatment, and has the stated goal of creating a world where death does not exist.
 * At the end of Changes  is confirmed as this. And when we say "extremist", we are not kidding.
 * We Help the Helpless
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Laws of Magic are all about this. Killing, reanimating, or Mind Raping humans blackens your soul, and pushes you toward the slippery slope of full-on Evil Sorcery. Vampires, faeries and other monsters however are fair game, and dead animals fall through a convenient loophole for the discerning wizard looking for an undead epic mount.
 * In some of the early books, Harry all but states that he doesn't think of non-humans as people, even fully sapient ones like Toot or . This gradually changes over the course of series.
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: The Queens and Ladies of the Faerie courts are probably the most prominent example, but Justine also fits this trope after her brush with death.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Mentioned as one of the reasons against Harry and Murphy hooking up; also angsts about this in Ghost Story, and how her youngest brothers will be dying of old age before she's even old enough to be taken seriously on the White Council.
 * Wicked Cultured: Nicodemus, the host and compatriot of a fallen angel, definitely qualifies. He's the scariest and evilest creature in a series full of scary, evil creatures who could squash him with their pinkies, but he does it with impeccable taste.
 * Gentleman Marcone comes off as this, but it will likely never be confirmed due to the fact that he's, well, Marcone.
 * Windows of the Soul: Wizards can see a person's soul with their Sight if eye contact is maintained (this is why you don't look at a wizard too long. They see too much). However, there are two drawbacks: the other person can see you, too, and you can't forget what you see. Ever
 * The Windy City: Harry is based in Chicago (with some minor geographical oddities), so every book takes place in the city at least in part.
 * Wizards Live Longer: Waldo Butters actually reveals the immediate physical reason for this. Compared to normal humans, wizards have vastly superior cellular repair and healing: broken bones heal without a trace, scars fade, and even Harry's toasted-to-the-bone hand will heal completely. They DO age, but their bodies last a few centuries and we have not heard of any wizards dying of cancer or such diseases.
 * Wizard Duel: There's one true Wizard Duel in, in which  , a couple in Dead Beat against various necromancers, the fight pitting first Harry and then Archive against the Denarians in Small Favor and another in  , between Harry and  . But other than that, Wizard Duels are surprisingly rare in the series. Harry has been in formal Trials By Combat three times, but two were against vampires. Once, a Warden attacked Harry when he believed Harry had murdered another Warden, but  . Most antagonists in the series are not actual wizards, most of those who are tend to be Chessmasters, and when it has come down to an actual fight there has usually been a severe power imbalance on one side or another, so the duel is over before it starts.
 * Woman in White: The White Court vampires, as Queen Mab.
 * Working the Same Case: Harry is often working on two cases at once, a police investigation that has stymied the mundane authorities and something on the occult side of things, and they turn out to be related. Alternately, one case comes from his private business or personal connections and the other comes from the White Council of wizards. It is not quite Once an Episode, but Storm Front, Fool Moon, Death Masks and Proven Guilty use this trope straightforwardly and most other books have at least some elements of it. Changes, as with so much else, skips this trope, with one main plot that finds Harry personally.
 * World Half Full: Yes, the world is full of demons, monsters, Things That Go Bump in the Night (and worse) ready to pounce, but there's always someone like Harry, Murphy, or Michael around to kick evil's ass up around its ears and protect the innocent.
 * At least, in Chicago this is the case. As we find out, things are a lot less safe in regions that aren't protected by a powerful wizard. That said, the Paranet and various other interests are working to change this.
 * World of Badass: Even the Muggles who are ignorant of magic are often badass. Everyone else is, too, or becomes that way very quickly. (Or doesn't survive.) The self-proclaimed cowards are Crazy Prepared and/or Crouching Morons Hidden Badasses, goblins are more dangerous than vampires rather than being comedy relief like in many settings, and the Three Billy Goats Gruff carry submachine guns.
 * World of Snark
 * Worthy Opponent: Marcone, a polite and efficient mob boss; and the Eldest Gruff, an extrordinarily powerful fairy who does not want to kill Harry but must obey the Summer Queen Titania.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Harry is chivalrous to the point of it interfering with his ability to defend himself from female attackers. He knows it is a weakness and a stupid one in a world where female vampires and werewolves and fae can all kill him with trivial effort, but he can not stop himself. If pushed really hard, he can make himself attack a woman, but it takes a ton of pressure to get him to that point.
 * Xanatos Gambit: Multiple times, most commonly in relation to the White Court vampires who are pretty much an entire race of Chessmasters. Examples include:
 * The plot of Grave Peril, and even events leading up to the book, is a huge Gambit by Bianca, Mavra and the Leanansidhe for numerous reasons depending on the person involved — to gain an advantage on Harry and/or teach him a lesson, to kill him, to destroy an exceedingly rare Holy Sword and give the Red Court of vampires a chance to launch its long-planned war against the White Council of Wizards. It backfires majorly on Bianca but half of it still succeeds, fulfilling the gambit.
 * Lea specifically pulls a small but nasty one in Grave Peril during the confrontation in the graveyard. After driving off the Nightmare, she waits until Harry has Amoracchius in hand before confronting him with his promise. Then, she confronts him, and he is forced to choose between surrendering to her or using the Sword. If he does not use the Sword, she gets him as a pet, while if he does, the Sword will be rendered useless and she can steal it. Either way, Lea wins.
 * In Turn Coat. Dresden gets one of these by inviting three renegade factions to the same location to play them off against each other. He later reveals that this was all a setup to get surveillance photos of the real traitor when they find out about the fray. He would have liked to catch the traitor on the scene; the photos (and Mouse) were just a backup plan. He lays it out once the gambit pays off: "But lately I've thinking that you don't ever plan on a single path to victory. You set things up so you've got more than one way to win." This particular gambit, while it succeeds, is a bit undermined when Ebenezar points out the ways it could have failed, to which the only sensible reply is "I got lucky."
 * You Can Barely Stand: Harry is rarely in any decent shape to even be walking by the time the real fighting has rolled around. Take for instance Fool Moon where he actually has to work to blow out a camera, or Dead Beat, where the only reason he can move at all for most of the Final Battle is Lash's assistance. Taken Up to Eleven in Changes where Harry eventually . However, he  After that, he is fit as a fiddle and ready to rock. Lampshaded in the RPG, when he complains about how he is always beaten up in the pictures. Quoth Billy:
 * You Can Barely Stand: Harry is rarely in any decent shape to even be walking by the time the real fighting has rolled around. Take for instance Fool Moon where he actually has to work to blow out a camera, or Dead Beat, where the only reason he can move at all for most of the Final Battle is Lash's assistance. Taken Up to Eleven in Changes where Harry eventually . However, he  After that, he is fit as a fiddle and ready to rock. Lampshaded in the RPG, when he complains about how he is always beaten up in the pictures. Quoth Billy:


 * You Have Failed Me...: Every odd numbered lackey.
 * You Keep Using That Word: Snarl.
 * Your Vampires Suck: Not just vampires; Bob has opinions on werewolf stories.

Go back to trope A-M here.