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The Dresden Files/Tropes A-M: Difference between revisions
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* [[Affably Evil]]: "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone can be nice and charming when he wants to be, and Harry has to keep reminding himself that, no matter how often Marcone assists him or even saves his life, he is still a ''bad person''.
** Nicodemus also counts as this in the earlier books in which he appears. He is an immortal monster, slaver, traitor, and murderer who willingly works with a fallen angel, one of the most evil beings in all of Dresdenverse. He is one of the oldest characters in the series, and has been committing horrifying atrocities for most of his life. He is also well-spoken, unfailingly polite, and actually seems to enjoy bantering with Harry at times.
* [[After
* [[Alien Blood]]: Black for Red Court vampires, a paler shade of red than usual for the White Court, all over the map for the more exotic beasties.
* [[All Crimes Are Equal]]: How the Wardens and the Council view [[Black Magic]], regardless of intent or circumstance. The theory is that black magic is addictive, so any at all can lead to more and will eventually warp the minds of those who use. The thing is... they are not wrong.
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* [[Always Chaotic 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.
* [[Anchored Ship]]: Harry/Murphy. {{spoiler|The anchor looked to be being pulled up right at the end of ''Changes'', but [[The Hero Dies|subsequent events]] again put the end destination in question.}}
* [[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.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Harry has always been deeply convinced that he is one of these. Early on this was clearly just in his head and he was really a straight-up hero who occasionally caused some collateral damage, and this was frequently pointed out to him by those who knew him. As the series progressed his friends and allies began to grow concerned that he ''was'' beginning to edge closer to the dark side of the morality scale, but afterwards always explained that they had faith he would remain focused and on the side of the righteous.
** Now that Harry {{spoiler|has taken up the mantle of the Winter Knight}}, this will bear watching.
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* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: The Senior Council of the White Council of Wizards is composed of the seven wisest and most powerful wizards on the planet. The leader of the Senior Council, the Merlin, is supposedly the most powerful wizard '''''period'''''. Though there is shown to be a lot of politicing and deal-making that determines who gets appointed to the Senior Council, not even Harry (Insubordinate wise-cracker though he is) disputes their power and skill.
** This applies to pretty much the entire Dresdenverse. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in the case of the supernatural community, since supernatural power grows with age, so that someone's climb through the political hierarchy will correlate with growing supernatural power. Though Marcone and arguably Murphy also qualify. Subverted in the case of {{spoiler|Lord Raith, who used to be an ass-kicker, but lost most of his power thanks to Maggie's death curse.}}
* [[Back
* [[Badass]]: Harry is a true personification of the [[Rule of Cool]].
** "Hat and spurs next time, ''I swear to God''."
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* [[Bigger On 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."
** In the same book, Harry says almost the exact trope name in reference to {{spoiler|Molly Carpenter}}'s mental "command center": on the outside it looks like {{spoiler|the Carpenter kids' treehouse}}, but on the inside it looks like [[Star Trek|the bridge of the]] ''[[Star Trek|USS Enterprise]]''. The ''really really cheesy'' version from TOS.
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]] / [[Royally Screwed
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: See that picture on the main page? The characters on Harry's staff are Japanese; specifically, the are the katakana for "matorikkusu", which is how the Japanese would write "matrix", but as you would see in a mirror.
* [[Bishonen]]: Thomas, who is so pretty and handsome that [[Even the Guys Want Him]].
* [[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.}}
* [[Black Magic]]: Killing someone using magic, necromancy, using [[Mind Control]] and summoning an Outsider are the main forms we have seen. Addictive, and it comes with a death penalty if you get caught. [[Word of God]] states that every time a [[Muggle]] is killed with magic, indirectly or otherwise (as in throwing someone off a building using a magic gust of wind), it breaks the first law and makes the forces of darkness even stronger. If the RPG previews are correct (and they have enough [[Word of God]] on their side to say it is), even ''seeking'' information about '''anything''' beyond the Outer Gates is a no-no. Exceptions probably exist for the Merlin and the Gatekeeper, and definitely exist for the Blackstaff (that ''is'' his purpose).
* [[Blessed With Suck]]:
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* [[Canis Latinicus]]: Lots of it, Harry uses it for ''all'' his spells. {{spoiler|Elaine}} uses Dog-Babylonian and Egyptian. Morgan uses Ancient Greek. As of ''Changes'', {{spoiler|Molly}} seems to prefer Japanese. The explanation given in ''Fool Moon'' is that they provide a wizard's mind with "an extra layer of protection against the magical energies coursing through it". The protection is thinner if you use words you are too familiar with, as the words will be close enough to your thoughts that the two are near impossible to separate. Thus, wizards use words that are either made up or from languages they do not really understand.
* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]: If Harry could just fit his mouth around "I can't tell you, it's a 'Wizard Thing'", 99% of the angst with Murphy could be dispelled. This actually becomes less of a problem in the books after ''Summer Knight'', when Harry finally spills the magic beans to Murphy about the supernatural world.
* [[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
** Harry and Susan as well, because pleasure makes her lose control and {{spoiler|might lead into biting him and turning into a full vampire.}} Eventually, Harry solves the problem by tying her up.
* [[Cast From Hit Points]]: A Wizard's Death Curse, which uses up the life in their body for a final spell.
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* [[Cowboy Cop]]: Ortega accuses Harry of meting out "cowboy justice" to the Red Court in ''Grave Peril''.
* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Harry. Half of the reason he survives through most of the series is because he either prepared for just such an eventuality or he knows who to call or where to go to ''get'' what he needs. The rest, [[Indy Ploy|he makes up as he goes.]]
* [[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.}}
* [[Cool Guns]]:
** Murphy uses a FN P-90 from ''White Night'' and onward, mostly because the compact size of the weapon makes it ideal for her small size. The weapon she uses was bought for her by a Kincaid as commemoration for [[Noodle Incident|something that happened during their vacation in Hawaii]]. She eventually adds a red dot sight and a silencer to it. Murphy also alternates between using a Glock and an unspecified SIG model.
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* [[Divided We Fall]]
* [[Don't Fear the Reaper]]: The [[Eldritch Abomination|Naagloshii]] and Mab.
* [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!]]
* [[Double Meaning Title]]: [[Jim Butcher]] seems to have a lot of fun making these up.
** For example, the title of Storm Front, which is about people being murdered with a curse, was going to be Semiautomagic.
*** Still a double meaning. {{spoiler|Victor Sells was using thunderstorms to fuel the curse}} and the incident was the beginning of the metaphorical storm that has been Dresden's life since then.
* [[Doom Magnet]]: Harry. He can not even get a day off without mayhem.
* [[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 On 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}}.
** The last one has its downsides. Those black veins that appeared on his arm did so for a reason.
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* [[External Retcon]]: The White Court of vampires convinced Bram Stoker to write ''Dracula'' in order to expose the weaknesses of the Black Court of vampires, one of several factions of vampires [[Our Vampires Are Different|that each conform to different vampire mythologies]]. This resulted in the near destruction of the Black Court, as almost all of humanity learned their weaknesses.
** According to [[Word of God]], [[HP 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
** Everyone knows there is no such thing as magic, so witnesses are never believed. Most just convince themselves they imagined it because the alternative means that the world doesn't work the way they think it does, challenging their entire concept of reality.
* [[The Fair Folk]]:
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* [[Friend On the Force]]: Lieutenant Karrin Murphy.
* [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires]]: Subverted; although some vampires like to portray themselves this way, especially to human groupies to be used as food sources, most of them are really nasty monsters. Thomas may be an exception to this subversion, but then again he is {{spoiler|half human (like all White Court vampires) as well as Harry's half brother.}}
* [[Full
* [[Full-Name Basis]]:
** '''Very''' serious business for a wizard, since knowing the True Name of a magical creature allows you to summon or exercise influence over them. This works just as well for humans, but it is a limited-time threat since human self-image changes over time and learning a humans True Name will only ''remain'' their True Name for a few months. In ''Grave Peril'', a dragon in human form displays its power by sending Harry reeling, even though it only uses his first and last name (leaving out the two middle names). In ''White Night'', Harry is trying to make telepathic contact with Elaine, and he uses her full name along with his own in a desperate attempt to reach her.
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* [[Geometric Magic]]
* [[Gilded Cage]]: The inside of Bob's skull (or at least how Dresden perceives it) is a luxurious mansion that can contain anything Bob wants. However, since he needs permission to leave it, he hates it.
* [[Girl
* [[Giving Them the Strip]]: Happens a ''lot'', e.g. when the loup-garou eats one of Harry's cowboy boots.
* [[Glamour]]: The Fae.
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* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]: Harry and Murphy.
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|Enough for a whole]] ''[[Better Than a Bare Bulb|store]]'' [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|of various lighting fixtures and accessories.]]
* [[The Laws of Magic]]: The title character uses and names the [[
** There's numerous other ones that aren't explicitly named, but invoked. He used the Law Of Infinite Data to send Ivy a message, the Law of Pragmatism (numerous times, seeing that he used necromancy to raise a giant dino because it worked), and others.
** Dimensional travel assumes the Law of Infinite Universes, and there is a wizard with the task of guarding certain dimensions.
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