The Dresden Files/Characters/Harry's Household

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden

My job hadn't changed: When demons and horrors and creatures of the night prey on this city, I'm the guy who does something about it.

Our hero, a smart-assed private investigator and wizard with a really big cat, an even bigger dog and a dark past. Since he killed his mentor in a magical duel after said Evil Mentor's failed attempt to bring him over to The Dark Side, he's been under very serious suspicion by the White Council as a potential warlock. Only Ebenezar McCoy's intervention stopped him from being executed. Now he makes a living helping the helpless and beating the snot out of vampires, but he's starting to realize that his family history is a lot more complicated than he had suspected...

  • Ambiguous Disorder: In-universe, Murphy mentions most muggles he interacts with wouldn't have a hard time thinking this even if it's not the case. Dresden is a self-declared wizard who never looks people in the eyes, has a Man Child personality, a near-pathological need to snark, bad personal hygiene, and Nerves of Steel that means he responds little to things normal people would lose their wits over. From Harry's POV he has logical reasons for most of these (avoid soulgazes, no electricity in his apartment, Seen It All when it comes to supernatural horror, etc), but that doesn't make him seem any less weird to the muggles he must uphold The Masquerade to.
  • Anti-Hero: Type 2 or 3. He's generally a good guy with a bad case of Chronic Hero Syndrome and Honor Before Reason, but piss him off and you'll wish you'd never been born. Isn't that right, Cassius? Can slide into Type 4 at times, particularly in Changes, especially when he made that arrangement with Kincaid....
  • Back From the Dead.
  • Bad Dreams
  • Bad Liar: One would imagine that someone capable of hatching a (usually) half-decent plan with a half-second's notice would be able to lie half-decently, but Harry simply cannot. Averted in the later books, if only because he stops trying.
    • Not anymore, thanks to Lasciel.
  • Badass: Of all shapes and sizes
  • Being Good Sucks: Lord, does it ever.
  • Berserk Button: Hurt, threaten or kill a woman or child in his presence? He will take you down.
    • Threaten a woman or child that he holds dear, like the Archive, or his daughter, and he will pick up literally every weapon at his disposal to make sure that you die in an excruciatingly painful way. Arianna Ortega and her daddy learned this the hard way when Harry beat Arianna in single combat and Harry impaled the Red King's eyes before setting them on fire. And then there's what Harry does to the rest of the Red Court...
  • The Chessmaster: Harry evolves into this over the course of the novels.
  • The Chew Toy: Jim has said his whole career revolves around torturing Harry.
  • Character Development: Changes from a well meaning yet reckless and impulsive to a smarter, more analytical and cautious badass.
    • This is the focus of much of Ghost Story and is explicitly stated by Uriel at the end.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: We know about the chivalry, and the perversion, well, apparently the faerie queen has a great ass.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: In one book, a vampire realizes that he is protecting someone because people in trouble go to him, and he helps them.
  • The Collector of the Strange: Vampire teeth. He also has a variety of *very* odd things in his lab, including spent uranium powder and a sack baggy made of the scrotum of a Lion. It was a gift.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Primarily the reason that Harry continues to assert that he is not a "good" person. Occasional forays into spur of the moment damsel rescuing aside, Harry rarely ever goes into a situation without being prepared and more tellingly, if he sees an opportunity to get the upper hand over a superior opponent by playing dirty, he doesn't hesitate to use it.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Constantly, to the point where his influence has turned several of his friends and associates into snarkers too.
  • Deal with the Devil: He's turned down a lot of these over the course of the series. In Changes, he accepts Mab's.
    • He previously accepted, and subverted, Lasciel's.
  • Destructive Savior: When destroying buildings is a Running Gag, you know you've got one on your hands. Ghost Story reveals that the first magical battle he engaged in at seventeen, against He Who Walks Behind, ended with an entire gas station exploding. And the fallout of the Battle of Chichen Itza results in a massive power vacuum.
  • Disappeared Dad: As of Changes, when he finds out about his daughter for the first time.
    • Though technically he's been one since Blood Rites. Approximately
  • Determinator: He's usually been shot, stabbed, beaten, and kicked in the guts enough times to kill most men before the real fight even starts.
  • The Dreaded: Harry becomes one of these to some of his enemies. At one point in Changes, when he encounters a Red Court vampire (who happens to be one of their oldest, deadliest, and most capable assassins), it panics and runs away screaming.
    • Famed in Story: It's gotten to the point where nasties rarely come to Chicago unless he's a specific part of their plans, since they know it's a bit of a death sentence, and the other Wardens are scared to attack him when they outnumber him twenty to one and he can barely stand.
    • As a result of all this, he's pretty much the ruler of Chicago-not that he runs it like a gangster or something, but no small-time mage or other supernatural creature would start anything serious, for fear that the Wrath of Dresden would come down upon them. His death was far more destructive than he knew.
      • Defender or Protector of Chicago is more apt. Gentleman Johnny Marcone and the person in charge of Monoc would beg to differ on the ruler aspect.
    • Stories of his exploits also stretch to the Nevernever, in particular a certain tale involving a donut.
  • Fatal Flaw: His old-fashioned chivalry. He is a sucker for a Damsel in Distress.
  • First-Person Smartass: To the point that one of his defining traits in the Dresden Files RPG is "Epic Wiseass."
  • For the Funnyz: Could be the poster boy for this.
  • Full-Contact Magic: He's no Squishy Wizard, except in a Puny Earthlings sense. For all the chucking fire around, he's quite likely to slug someone. Or shoot them.
  • Freak-Out: Undergoes a subtle and prolonged one in Changes. We'll see if he gets better or not.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Boy howdy.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Small Favor includes a partial listing of his (large) collection and he acquires more after that, including some very noticeable ones on his face in Turn Coat.
  • Healing Factor: A very, very slow one- improved bodily regeneration is the reason wizards live so long, and it means he can eventually recover from what should be permanent injuries.
    • Now enhanced as of Changes, one of the many benefits of becoming the Winter Knight
  • He Who Fights Monsters: In 'Ghost Story, Harry comes to realize that the lines he crossed in Changes made him into the very things he was fighting. And then later in the book, realizes that this conclusion was an overreaction to one bad decision and that he's still fundamentally a good guy.
  • Hot-Blooded: He's snarky enough that it isn't immediately apparent, but just watch him react to challenges and/or slurs.
  • Honor Before Reason: Harry will swear up and down that he's an Anti-Hero, but he's kind of exaggerating.
  • Hot Dad: Revealed in Changes.
  • Houseboat Hero: At the end of Changes. Briefly.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's about 6' 8", and Murphy supplies the "tiny girl" part.
    • According to Welcome to the Jungle, he's six-foot-nine, actually. Everyone supplies the "tiny girl" part. Except maybe Gard.
  • Hurting Hero

Lara Raith: "You wear your pain as armor."

  • I Cannot Self-Terminate
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He considers it "the prerogative of wizards to be grumpy."
  • Kill It with Fire: Harry can bring a lot of power to bear with fire magic, and it's his usual go-to for combat evocation. This served as a plot-point-by-omission when he doesn't try to Kill It with Fire during most of Small Favor and also served as character-development-by-omission in Dead Beat.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Harry's landlady considers him this. It's one of the reasons she hasn't thrown him out after missing rent checks and "wild late-night parties."
  • Loophole Abuse: He points out that the Law of Magic against necromancy only applies to human dead.
  • Male Gaze: Harry notices women who look good. This is one of his big character flaws and blind spots.
  • Meaningful Name: Malcolm Dresden was a stage magician, and thus named his son after three of the greatest stage magicians in history. And considering how many seemingly-impossible situations he's escaped from.... Out-of-universe, his last name was also chosen in reference to the firebombings of the German city Dresden in World War II, mostly because Harry has a similar effect on nearby buildings.
    • Perhaps accidentally, the city of Dresden is also known for its handmade porcelain. So Harry was named after a town famed for pottery.
  • Mistaken for Gay: By Butters in Dead Beat.
    • Later takes advantage of this in White Night to sneak into Thomas' apartment.
  • Moment of Weakness: Harry is forced to admit to Lash's growing influence when such a moment causes pointless collateral damage in White Night.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: A significant part of Ghost Story hinges on Harry realizing just how horrible the consequences of his choices were, especially after he learns that he was the one who arranged for his death and had Molly assist him. This revelation shakes him to the core.
    • Proven Guilty has another such moment. Yes, it's awesome that he kills a xenomorph with Hellfire, but immediately after, he finds that the girl he was rescuing from it had bled to death, and he might have saved her life if he hadn't been focused so much on, and having so much fun with, obliterating the monster.
  • Nay Theist

"The Almighty and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye."

  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: by killing the Red Court he created a vacuum that various baddies are trying to fill.
  • The Nicknamer: It even becomes significant in-story on occasion; his naming of Ivy and Lash gave them identities separate from the Archive and Lasciel, respectively, and naming Bob allowed him to develop a different personality as well.
    • And when he calls Uriel "Uri", it ticks off an archangel who can probably destroy all the planets. That last sylable is a VERY important part of his name - it's the "God" part of "Light of God". On the other hand, he has no problem with Mr. Sunshine.
  • One-Man Army: He probably has the highest "monsters killed/time" ratio on the entire White Council.
    • Inarguable after Changes, though other people still did the prep work.
  • One of Us: Tends to quote Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. A lot. Plays D&D.
  • Our Hero Is Dead: Harry's shot at the end of Changes and falls into Lake Michigan. It's been confirmed that he's dead. He gets better.
  • Papa Wolf: Few things make him madder than threatening or actually harming children. Along comes Changes...and let's just say that no one would be making any attempts on Harry's daughter any time soon should Harry still be alive
  • Perpetual Frowner
  • Perpetual Poverty: Highly prevalent in the first few books, but begins to be mitigated as the series progresses, especially once Harry starts getting a regular paycheck as a Warden.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: He's one of the strongest wizards in the world, and according to Murphy's narration in Aftermath, seeing him in action is downright terrifying, even when he's on your side.
  • Playing with Fire: He likes fire. It took Mavra crispy-frying his hand to make him stop using it.
    • Though he also becomes something of An Ice Person after becoming the Winter Knight in Changes.
  • Pop-Cultured Badass: So. Damn. Much.
  • Rage Against the Mentor: Let's see. The first one he killed in self-defense, and the second one was secretly the Council's assassin the whole time. Not a real great track record there.
  • Restart At Level One: For most of the books, he's used to being the most magically powerful--and knowledgeable--person around. In Ghost Story, he's repeatedly reminded of--and annoyed by--the fact that he's "the new guy" as far as being a ghost is concerned, and he has to relearn a lot before he's effective at doing anything.
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: Harry prefers revolvers, generally large-caliber ones, because of both the simplicity, the power of such a high-caliber weapon, and because having a .44 shoved in your face is quite intimidating.
    • The potential Dirty Harry jokes are also probably part of it.
  • Ring of Power: Starts off with one that builds up force each time he moves his arm, capable of knocking a big man off his feet and flipping a car. He eventually upgrades to modified ones, one on each finger, capable of delivering impacts common with high speed car crashes and could possibly flip 24 cars when fully charged .
  • Sad Clown
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Constantly. Most important in Grave Peril, where he breaks the Accords and starts a war over doing the right thing.
  • Sensor Character: Harry can sense the presence of magic in others. He can even tell how skilled a user the other person is from minimal contact.
  • Significant Birth Date: Halloween. Since this is also when dark power is at its strongest, his birthdays tend to really suck.
  • Sophisticated As Hell
  • Thanatos Gambit / Memory Gambit In Ghost Story, it's revealed that Harry arranged his assassination with Kincaid and then deleted the memory. Yikes.
    • Though, eventually Mab found out about it, and was a bit irked about this. She let him off with what amounted to a very stern "Don't you ever try that crap on me again."
  • The Alleged Car The Blue Beetle is junk.
  • Took a Level In Badass: As the series progresses, Harry gradually goes from being a semi-athletic gumshoe who gets exhausted slinging a few spells to a well-toned, building-crushing chessmaster who can sling with the nastiest wizards and monsters the world over. And this is prior to the events of Changes, where he finally becomes the Winter Knight.
    • He's taken multiple levels. When Susan was turned he suffered a Heroic BSOD and started kicking more ass; when he started training with Murphy he learned enough martial arts that he actually could kick ass; when his hand was charbroiled he began fighting smarter and developed more clever uses of his spells; when he had a demonic entity living in his head he learned a lot about the world (and got access to Hellfire while she was there); when he got an apprentice he relearned better ways of casting magic; when he got soulfire from Uriel he... well, started kicking more ass; and when he got the Genius Loci, he gained power and a super sense while on it.
  • Treacherous Advisor: Lash, and Lea to some extent.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Sometimes. Jim makes a point that Harry has severe tunnel vision about some issues, such as when magic he isn't particularly good at is even being used (especially noncombat magic, water magic, and noncombat water magic). Books with other viewpoints show that some characters Harry writes off have Hidden Depths. This is also used to explain the occasional continuity errors, such as issues with geography and names changing between books (he's bad at that subject/heard the name wrong)
  • Walking Techbane: To the point where he can't have a water heater in his apartment. Or a refrigerator. Or light bulbs.
  • Weapon of Choice: Harry's primary weapon is the blasting rod, which lets him focus magic into concentrated blasts of force or fire. He also routinely packs a revolver of one stripe or another.
  • We Help the Helpless: Doesn't he ever.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: From the get go, Harry demonstrates some pretty decent skills as a PI, but he develops some serious skills in the art of manipulation, cunning and developing plans to leave him winning something even if he doesn't end up with all the marbles at the end. Then again, he had a Fallen Angel living in his head as a counselor for a couple years, so maybe that helped.
    • Out-Gambitted: To a number of people in the following spoiler. In Blood Rites, he successfully dethrones the King of the White Court by using Lara Raith as his catspaw, a move that impresses her, since he manipulated her by claiming that he would be her catspaw. In White Night, Harry outsmarts several members of the White Court and solidifies Lara's power base again by manipulating the situation. In Small Favor, he manages to outwit Niccodemus of all people, nearly killing him in the process. And finally, in Turn Coat, Harry successfully comes up with a scheme to capture the White Council's mysterious traitor.

Bob the Skull

Harry's wiseass spirit of intellect familiar, currently inhabiting a skull after some unspecified, long-ago incident that pissed Mab off at him. Since technology goes haywire around wizards, Harry can't use a computer, which is why he keeps Bob around. Bob knows how valuable he is, and as such Harry has to bribe him with things like porn and trips outside his skull to make sure he cooperates.

  • Deadpan Snarker: And we love him for it.
  • Dirty Old Man: Word of God is that his personality is based on his owner. He's obsessed with sex because Harry was a Hormone-Addled Teenager when he acquired Bob. He retains this personality after transferring to Butters because that's how he was when Butters first met him, and that first impression stuck.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Bob is generally cheerfully amoral. But even he thinks Kemmler was a Complete Monster.
  • Evil Me Scares Me: Necro-Bob is seriously, seriously powerful.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Let's just say that when Bob needs to take on other spirits, he rarely has any trouble handling them, the only possible exceptions being a Physical God and his evil self.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac: Bob. . Even though he has no body. Among other things, he usually spends his time reading sleazy romance novels when he is not helping Harry. Bob explains his fascination with the naked female form as being a purely aesthetic appreciation for their beauty and grace...

Harry: And they have boobs.
Bob: And they have BOOBS!

  • Magical Computer: Literally. Bob has an expansive knowledge of all things magic, and somehow possesses the capability to understand the current state of magic and any changes to it that may have occurred.
    • And as of Ghost Story he literally has a computer!
      • Which means that he has access to porn. God help us all.

"It's like ninety-percent porn!"

Mister

Harry Dresden's feline of unusual size. Mister is a matter-of-fact animal and eats Harry's leftover food whenever possible. After escaping from Harry's burning house at the end of Changes, Mister shows up alive and well in Murphy's care. Just so you know.

Mouse

"Woof."

Harry's dog, acquired accidentally when Harry was hired by a Tibetan monk to retrieve a litter of fu dog puppies from captivity. Mouse accidentally got left behind, and Harry couldn't get in touch with the monks to return him. Harry named him Mouse because he was small, grey and quiet... and the last line of the book in which he's introduced is, "Why did you buy large-breed puppy chow?"

  • Amplified Animal Aptitude: As he is in fact a magic dog, it's not too odd that Mouse seems to be about as smart as an average human. He's still a dog, though; he can't talk, nor does he have opposable thumbs, and his idea of a good time is a nice long bellyrub.
    • In Changes fellow animals can understand Mouse, and he "speaks" clearly and articulately. He really is as smart as, or smarter than, a human.
  • Angel Unaware
  • Berserk Button: In the short story Day Off, it's revealed to be not a good idea to threaten Mister in front of him.
  • Big Friendly Dog: He's one of these except for the "dumb" part, and plays it up to make himself less scary to people who meet him.
    • So big that Dresden refuses to call him a "dog" anymore. "Dogosaurus" is common, and when refering to both of his pets, they were referred to as "Mister, my large cat, and Mouse, my small Ankylosaur."
  • The Canine Companion version of Cool Pet
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Possibly. The reaction of several characters, such as Nicodemus and Ancient Mai, imply that he is more dangerous than he looks, so Butcher seems to be foreshadowing something important.
  • Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Mouse has been known to sigh at Harry's density when it comes to the fair sex, and at one point plays up an injury to make the person whose fault it was feel guilty.
    • Also when Harry is giving the guitar a bad name.
  • Evil-Detecting Dog
  • Fluffy the Terrible: Mouse has a bark that crosses dimensional borders, shrugs off bullet wounds and being hit by a speeding van, and is a credible physical threat to a high-ranking fae. Luckily, he's also loyal, compassionate, and possibly more intelligent than his owner.
  • Gentle Giant: Well, usually. Cassius pushed him too far, though.
  • Half Canine Hybrid: Mouse is a temple dog-- part mortal canine, part Chinese guardian spirit called a foo dog.
    • As revealed in Changes, his pedigree may be even more purely spirit than that; one of the characters refers to him as a Foo dog himself. Ancient Mai also calls him a foo dog, and the Eebs refer to him as an "ice demon" from "the land of dreams" - aka Tibet.
    • In Ghost Story, Uriel himself refers to Mouse as "little brother."
  • Heroic Dog: On several occasions, Mouse saves Harry's life. Also Maggie's protector as of Ghost Story.
  • Large Ham: Turn Coat - the bullet wound scene.
  • Make the Dog Testify: Towards the end of Turn Coat, Mouse's testimony is instrumental in bringing a Bad Guy to justice. It helps that this is a court of wizards, so "My dog can identify the culprit" is not quite so blink-inducing, particularly since most of the Chinese wizards could immediately identify him as an intelligent, evil-detecting temple dog.
  • Mighty Roar: Mouse doesn't bark often, but when he needs to sound an alarm, he can literally be heard for a mile.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: It hasn't been made clear just how smart he is, but it's a lot smarter than any dog has a right to be.
    • Proven as of Changes. When Harry and his associate are transformed by Lea into hounds, they can understand Mouse speak. Turns out he's smart enough and powerful enough to be called a demon by Lea, imply that Harry is his familiar, not the other way around, and frighten Lea enough to make her back down by threatening to bite her ass off.
  • Power Glows: When he does, holy wrath is about to descend on someone.
  • This Is My Human: As far as Mouse is concerned, Harry belongs to him.