The Dresden Files/Tropes A-M: Difference between revisions

=== <big>'''The books of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' have many, many tropes. These are tropes A through M. You can find tropes N through Z [[The Dresden Files (Literature)/Tropes N-Z|here]]. ==='''</big>

* [[After -Action Patchup]]: Charity uses iodine.

* [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]]: The Council's opinion on any vampire, although the White Court are at least capable of acting civilized and not sucking the life force from anyone they meet. That does not make them any less monstrous.

* [[Angels, Devils, and Squid]]: There are angels (and [[Fallen Angel|Fallen Angels]]). Both of these are separate and distinct from the demons, [[Fair Folk|sidhe, wildfae]], old gods, demigods, vampire lords and [[Eldritch Abomination|Outsiders]] hanging around the place, to the point where it reaches [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] levels.

{{quote| ''My faith protects me. My Kevlar helps.''}}

{{quote| "Demon," breathed Rudolph. "Jesus, can you believe this shit?"<br />

* [[Back -Alley Doctor]]: Coroner Waldo Butters plays this role for Harry, especially when the hospital is not a safe option.

* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Harry wears a duster. A ''magically reinforced'', black leather duster "with extra billow" that can repel almost any physical attack, and occasionally [[Lampshade Hanging|gets made fun of]] because "You look like you belong on the set of ''El Dorado''." In ''Fool Moon'', Dresden laments the lack of his duster when he steps through a wall he just vaporized because of cool effect it would have had. In ''Changes'', {{spoiler|Lea}} turns his coat into a suit of armor resembling a Conquistador turned Jedi Knight as made by [[Warhammer 40 K,000|Games Workshop]]. He finds it rather silly. {{spoiler|After it reverts back at noon the next day, the coat decays into nothingness.}}

** Wizards can use an ability known as the "Wizard's Sight", which shows them literally everything about whatever they look at with it. Anything about the item, object, person or whatever it is will be made visible to the wizard, also with no chance of deceit. For example, Harry catches a glimpse of Murphy in ''[[The Dresden Files (Literature)/Grave Peril|Grave Peril]]'' with his sight, and she appears as {{spoiler|an angelic figure in pure white robes}}.

* [[Big Badass Wolf]]: Billy and the Alphas, especially once they grow up and fill out. Billy in particular is noted as being particularly muscular in human form, which translates to the wolf form. And per the [[The Dresden Files (Tabletop Gamegame)|RPG]], he and Georgia, and by implication the rest of the Alphas, have the [[Super Strength|Inhuman Strength]] and [[Super Speed|Inhuman Speed]] powers, making them that much more deadly.

* [[Bigger Onon the Inside]]: The living area or ''sanctum'' for Bob inside his skull. Harry visits it during ''Ghost Story'' and finds it to be a pimped-out mansion on the level of James Bond, decked out with home theater, every videogame system known to man, and other comforts. Harry initally questions why Bob would ever want to leave. Bob replies, "A gold cage is still a cage, Harry."

* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]] / [[Royally Screwed -Up]]: The Raiths.

* [[Black and White Morality]]: Harry often views himself as somebody [[Anti-Hero|on the edge]], and he frequently [[Enemy Mine|teams up with Marcone]], but the series is very firm on the concept of right and wrong, good and evil, etc. Harry himself refuses to break, no matter what. The story universe at large is filled with [[Black and Grey Morality]], as even the "good" White Council has its own serious problems, but the primary protagonists never compromise. Period. {{spoiler|Until ''[[Wham! Episode|Changes]]''.}} In ''Ghost Story'', {{spoiler|Harry realizes how badly he messed up by making that fatal compromise - but it is also not entirely Harry's fault he chose as he did.}}

* [[Blessed Withwith Suck]]:

** When Harry looks into a person's eyes for the first time they both see each other's inner nature. This is such a turbulent experience that for every day of his life, Harry has to avoid looking into the eyes of any person he talks to. He focuses on the nose instead. Similarly, The Sight, which functions on the same principle as a soul gaze. It lets him see the true nature of anything he looks at, and the memory never fades. Ever. This can be very bad considering how nasty a lot of stuff out there is. Looking at a [[Eldritch Abomination|skinwalker]] left Harry a gibbering wreck for about an hour afterwards. It is mentioned that wizards who spend too much time looking at things with their Sight often [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|go insane.]]

** The fact that Harry never finished high school probably has less to do with his intelligence and academic aptitude and more with the whole shebang with Justin [[Du Morne]]DuMorne, He Who Walks Behind and the Doom of Damocles that hit the fan when he was 16.

* [[Boring but Practical]]: Despite being incredibly boring, Martin is an incredible fighter and gun master. He is boring for a reason, and uses his unobtrusiveness to his advantage, easily blending into crowds and being able to take on other appearances.

* [[Can't Have Sex Ever]]: Thomas, with Justine only. If he tries, his [[Allergic to Love]] nature gives him horrible burns. {{spoiler|Justine figures out a method. It involves cheating on Thomas, but it works. Though from what we see, Thomas seems more or less okay with [[Girl -On -Girl Is Hot|how it works...]]}}

* [[Cast Fromfrom Hit Points]]: A Wizard's Death Curse, which uses up the life in their body for a final spell.

** The [[Catch Phrase]] of Harry's musclebound-barbarian PC in the AlphaAlphas's role-playing adventures is "Enough talk!"

** Know that [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] quote about wizards? Harry's always had the "quick to anger" thing pretty much covered, but over time he is getting better at the "subtle."

** ''Ghost Story'' takes place six months after the end of ''Changes'', during which Harry was out of contact with most of his friends and allies. The changes are somewhat startling. Molly has grown up, Murphy has wised-up, Butters has toughened-up...the list goes on.

{{quote| '''Harry:''' "Hell's holy stars and freaking stones shit bells." }}

* [[Cool Car]]:

** Thomas' Hummer is so cool Harry refuses to admit it aloud.

* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: Averted. {{spoiler|One time, Harry blocked napalm with his shield and burned his hand to a crisp nonetheless -- his shield could block the physical elements of the napalm, but the ''heat'' was still able to make it through. His ''next'' shield bracelet is made to cover for this, among other things.}}

{{quote| "...there are beings who aren't the Almighty who have power way beyond anything running around on the planet...Old Greek and Roman and Norse deities. Lots and lots of Amerind divinities, and African tribal beings. A few Australian aboriginal gods; others in Polynesia, Southeast Asia. About a zillion Hindu gods. But they've all been dormant for centuries."}}

* [[Death Byby Childbirth]]: Harry's mother, {{spoiler|although it is later revealed that this was the result of a curse}}.

* [[Discard and Draw]]: {{spoiler|Harry lost the Hellfire and immense knowledge he gained from Lasciel's shadow in ''White Night'', then picked up Soulfire from Uriel in the very next book, ''Small Favor'', and forged a mystical link with a sentient island in the book after that (''Turn Coat'').}}

* [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]]: The subject of what amounts to a [[Running Gag]], with Harry inevitably helping her (even when it is unwise) because he has a chivalrous streak he [[Fatal Flaw|can not seem to override]]. He even puts himself back under the {{spoiler|Doom of Damocles}} again to save a girl.

* [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!]]

* [[The Dreaded]]: We know Harry Dresden is a [[Hurting Hero]] and [[Sad Clown]]. Everyone else, like the [[The Fair Folk|Faerie Queens]], [[Fallen Angels]], and White Council? Not so much. They know him as a possibly-not-so-former warlock who shows a glaring disrespect for Faerie Queens, Fallen Angels, the highest nobility of the vampire courts, and even his seniors on the White Council and gets away with it, continually gaining more power in the process. As far as they're concerned, he is the guy that killed the Summer Lady, fought off Outsiders, and stopped the Darkhallow with a zombie Tyrannosaurus, succeeding Morgan as the "Most Infamous Warden on the White Council." This reputation is enough to give a half-dozen Wardens pause when they are told to arrest him. It has reached its peak by ''[[Wham! Episode|Changes]]'', when a Red Court vampire assassin, the most badass of the vampire badass, one of the most feared vampire assassins ''in the world'' sees Harry... and ''[[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|screams in terror and runs the other way.]]''

* [[Drunk Onon the Dark Side]]: Using [[Black Magic]] almost inevitably leads to the temptation to use it again, ultimately leading to this trope. There are examples of characters who have been able to withstand that temptation, Harry among them, but the only person actually immune to it is {{spoiler|1=Ebenezar McCoy in his capacity as the Blackstaff}}.

{{quote| '''Harry:''' Wait, I've seen this before. I'm good Harry and you're bad Harry, and you only come out at night.}}

** "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone is perhaps the best example of this. He is an unrepentant criminal and vice lord, yet he refuses to tolerate anything or anyone that exploits or harms children. Indeed, in ''Even Hand'', it was shown that he personally executes anyone who dares to deal drugs to kids or pimp out children in his city.

* [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears]]:

** [[Magical Native American|Listens-To-Winds.]] Minibus-sized war bear. [[The Dresden Files (Literature)/Awesome|Pure awesome.]]

* [[Evil Mentor]]: Justin DuMorne, who tried really really hard to turn young Harry into a Black Magic practitioner. Almost succeeded, too.

** According to [[Word of God]], [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]] wrote his books to spread knowledge of Outsiders. Furthermore, Abdul Alhazred the "Mad Arab" was killed by the Gatekeeper and the Necronomicon was a book of rituals that got distributed by the White Council after his death to lessen its power (each ritual can only give so much power at once and when too many people try to draw on a ritual's power source, it is rendered so weak as to be harmless).

* [[Extra -Strength Masquerade]]: Harry quotes statistics on missing persons to point out that, if a dozen people got eaten by trolls or vampires in a good-sized city over the course of a year, no one would really figure out that there was a supernatural menace as long as the bodies did not turn up. In addition, anything magic is [[Walking Techbane]], which among other things makes cameras of all kinds almost completely useless as evidence of something magical. No matter how many zombies, ogres, vampires, werewolves, other faerie tale creatures and ''dinosaurs'' run around Chicago, somehow the general public remains convinced that anything apparently supernatural is actually the result of a hoax, hysteria, or hallucination brought on by moldy bread.

** Harry has a faerie godmother, only she is the Leanan Sidhe and there is nothing nice about it. Think "vampire fae who grants poets and artists inspiration in exchange for a vastly shortened lifespan." {{spoiler|Also, for a while there she was trying to "protect" Harry from being hurt or killed in the real world by attempting to trap him in [[Faerie]] and turn him into a dog. Permanently.}}

{{quote| I was going to ''kill'' Thomas.}}

* [[Fiction Asas Cover -Up]]: Inverted by the White Court, which arranged for the publication of Dracula in order to expose the rival Black Court's secrets and vulnerabilities.

{{quote| [[The Hero]]: Harry.<br />

[[The Lancer]]: Murphy.<br />

[[The Big Guy]]: Michael.<br />

[[The Smart Guy]]: Butters, or Bob. {{spoiler|In Ghost Story Bob belongs to Butters now, so they're counted together now.}}<br />

[[The Chick]]: {{spoiler|Molly.}}<br />

[[The Sixth Ranger]]: {{spoiler|Thomas.}}<br />

{{quote| ''Everyone else who lets me ride on their dinosaur calls me Carlos'.'}}

* [[Friend Onon the Force]]: Lieutenant Karrin Murphy.

* [[Full -Contact Magic]]: A [[Squishy Wizard]], Harry is not.

* [[Girl -On -Girl Is Hot]]: It is implied that this trope even EXISTS because of Lord Raith's personal tastes. House Raith controls the pornography industry, and by extension has their thumb in cultural perceptions of sex and attraction. Because Lord Raith isn't into male-on-male (to the point of murdering his own sons rather than dominating them through sex like he does his daughters), only female-on-female is considered "hot" by the mainstream male audience.

{{quote| "I am ''not'' Yoda."}}

{{quote| '''Harry:''' People like you always mistake compassion for weakness. Michael and Sanya aren't weak. Fortunately for you, they are good men. Unfortunately for you, '''I'm not'''.}}

{{quote| "For me, meeting someone's eyes is always risky. Every human being knows what I'm talking about. Try it. Walk up to someone, without speaking and look them in the eyes. There's a a certain amount of leeway for second, or two, or three. And then there's a distinct sensation of contact, of intimacy. That's when regular folks cough and look away. Wizards, though, get the full ride of a soulgaze." Harry Dresden, ''White Night''. }}

* [[Hermetic Magic]]: Most magic in the series is either this or [[Summon Magic]]. Both may be powered by [[Life Energy]], but especially this.

* [[Hero of Another Story]]:

** Michael Carpenter, The Fist of God. {{spoiler|Retired as of ''[[The Dresden Files (Literature)/Small Favor|Small Favor]]'', but Sanya still counts}}.

** Carlos Ramirez, commander of the West Coast Wardens

** "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone, {{spoiler|mortal representative on the Unseelie Accords as of ''[[The Dresden Files (Literature)/White Night|White Night]]'' and financial power behind the defense of Chicago against supernatural threats as of ''[[The Dresden Files (Literature)/Ghost Story|Ghost Story]]''}}.

** When a bunch of super powerful warlocks are about to use [[Powered Byby a Forsaken Child|the population of Chicago]] to turn themselves into a new God of Death, the Wardens assigned to deal with them stop slaughtering their way through the army of zombies to protect trick-or-treating schoolchildren.

* [[Hormone-Addled Teenager]]: Molly Carpenter is a Perky Goth version of this. When she first becomes important to the story, she's dropped out of school, gotten a bunch of tattoos and piercings, started hanging around with the wrong crowd, and dresses like, in the protagonist's words, "Frankenhooker."

* [[Humans Are Special]]: what differentiates humans from all other beings in this series is that humans are the only ones with free will. Other beings--the fae, the angels, the demons, the vampires<ref>White Court vamps, as half-humans, fall into a grey area, as do other [[Half Human Hybrids]]; typically this involves choosing their human sides or their vampiric natures.</ref>--have no choice; they act according to their natures. That humans alone ''do'' have a choice, and that those choices ''do'' matter, is perhaps the central theme of the series.

{{quote| '''Harry''': It would have been a lot more convincing if she wasn't reading the book upside-down.}}

* [[Immortality Inducer]]: The Denarians are immortal due to the presence of the Fallen contained in the silver denarius coin each one carries. Furthermore, Nicodemus is given extra protection by the fact that he wears the noose Judas Iscariot supposedly used to commit suicide around his neck, which allows him to regenerate damage that would drop even other Denarians who are protected by their respective Fallen.

* [[Kiss of the Vampire]]: The Red Court vampires have a powerful narcotic in their saliva that addicts their victims to being bitten. They also spit into beverages to poison and thrall people that way. {{spoiler|Well. They ''did'', anyhow.}}

* [[The Laws of Magic]]: The title character uses and names the [[LocardsLocard's Theory|Law of Contagion and Similarity]], as a basic crime-solving technique. He also mentions and frequently uses the Law of Names, as well as the Law of Words of Power (mentioning in passing that you could technically use English words, but there isn't a sense of buffer between the self and spells, so it causes pain to the user).

{{quote| '''Harry''': ''"It's a chlorofiend."''<br />

'''Murphy''': ''"A what?"''<br />

'''Harry''': ''"Plant monster."''<br />

* [[Leaning Onon the Fourth Wall]]: Every now and then, Harry says things which are clearly directed at the audience. Probably the most egregious example is in ''Fool Moon'' when he jumps out of a moving car and the text reads, without any spoken dialogue, "Don't look at me that way." The RPG refers to the books as his case files, and he quite rightly expect that someone other then himself will be reading those case files in the future.

* [[Lie to Thethe Beholder]]: At one point, Harry uses a spell to make Thomas look like him as a decoy to help him hide from the Fae.

** According to Harry, Bram Stoker wrote ''[[Dracula (Literaturenovel)|Dracula]]'' at the behest of the White Court in order to weaken the Black Court of Vampires by instructing [[Muggle|muggles]] in their traditional means and weaknesses.

{{quote| "No, he just has his shadow do things for him. You go relying on an alternate form to get things done, that still puts you in personal danger and Nicodemus is more practical than that. He'd rather stand over here and let something else kill and get the work done. Unless it's something cool like a Knight of the Cross, in that case he's still got something to prove."}}

* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: No Dresden book is complete without one or two. Or more. We do not always find out about them until later.

* [[A Man Is Not a Virgin]]: The sex lives of some of the guys in the series bring this trope into play straight or with twists. Carlos, the big talker, subverts this in ''White Knight'' as he really is a virgin. Harry, needless to say, laughs himself sick.

{{quote| Lara (of Carlos to Harry): A virgin?...Is he a present?}}

* [[Masquerade]]: Though most of the supernatural creatures do not really bother to hide themselves, the public [[Weirdness Censor|refuses to believe they exist]]. Harry himself pays very little attention to the Masquerade, he is in the Yellow Pages under "Wizards". The vampires, demons, and the other supernatural creatures usually try to sweep their tracks, because if normals find out that they exist the general response for all of them will be [[Kill It Withwith Fire]] and [[Muggle Power|they will be totally outnumbered]].

* [[A Magic Contract Comes Withwith a Kiss]]: {{spoiler|With Mab, it's a ''[[Sarcasm Mode|bit]]'' more than just a kiss.}}

* [[Master Apprentice Chain]]: Harry is actually part of three different chains. The first is Merlin > Over a thousand years worth of Masters and Apprentices > Ebenezar's master > Ebenezar > Harry > Molly. The second is Simon Pietrovich > Justin [[Du Morne]]DuMorne > Harry > Molly.

* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]:

** Harry and Luccio. He is in his mid-thirties. She is in her mid-three-hundreds. But thanks to a [[Sarcasm Mode|kindly necromancer]], Luccio is in the body of a co-ed girl, so she is actually physically ''younger'' than Harry.

** The complications of this kind of relationship are brought up by Murphy in ''Proven Guilty'' when she and Harry talk about their relationship. Murphy notes that she [[Wizards Live Longer|does not have Harry's long lifespan]], and he will still be relatively young when she is dying of old age.

{{quote| '''Harry:''' Seriously? Archleone? As in "seeking whom he may devour"? Could you ''get'' any more obvious?}}

{{quote| '''Harry :''' I like dogs, they give Mister something to snack on. '''}}

* [[Merlin and Nimue]]: Not ''the'' Merlin, the official leader of the White Council, but Harry himself. He has a younger apprentice of the opposite sex who he is training in magic and has a strong personal connection with; Harry was friends with her father for years before ever taking her as an apprentice. Harry is also guarding [[The Sword in Thethe Stone]] ( {{spoiler|or rather, he was until ''Changes''}}) and looking, when he can be bothered, for a suitable user for it.

* [[Mind Control]]: {{spoiler|Molly Carpenter}}, who has developed a ''very'' bad habit of entering people's minds without their permission. Her intent is always good, but the results are not. {{spoiler|She has driven her ex-boyfriend into permanent insanity by trying to frighten him away from drug use. She also invaded the mind of Captain Luccio -- and got caught by Morgan. If Morgan had turned them in when he got caught, or had told Luccio what Molly had done, both Molly and Harry would have been beheaded automatically.}} By Dresdenverse rules, invading another's mind and compelling someone to do something (or not do something) against his/her will not only breaks two of the Laws of Magic and can cause permanent psychological damage to both the victim and the perpetrator, but is [[The Dark Side|highly addictive]] [[Black Magic|black magic]].

** Harry never knew his mother thanks to [[Death Byby Childbirth]]. {{spoiler|Or rather, death by being hit with a powerful entropy curse that killed her through [[Death Byby Childbirth]].}}

* [[Monster of the Week]]: Almost every villain appearing in one of the short stories as opposed to the main books. Includes {{spoiler|a Hecatean hag, the spawn of Grendel, a [[Crazy Survivalist]] priest, a group of [[The Lord of the Rings|ringwraith]] and [[Harry Potter|Slytherin house rejects]], supernatural fleas, and a maenad}}.

* [[Murder Makes You Crazy]]: The reason for the First Law of Magic. Magic is an expression of will given form, so using it to kill someone is particularly warping. Plus, magic is consistently referred to as the power of life, or coming ''from'', life, meaning you're warping the power of life to cause death.

Continued [[The Dresden Files (Literature)/Tropes N-Z|here]].

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