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

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* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[Anti Villain]]: "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone, the Chicago mob boss is more often help than hindrance to Harry; while his empire of crime is vast and increasing, he maintains order and reduces violence. {{spoiler|We ultimately learn from his [[Start of Darkness]] in ''White Night'' that the motivation that drives him is to prevent [[Innocent Bystander|Innocent Bystanders]] from harm, and he is desperate to heal a young girl in a coma from a bullet meant for him.}} In ''Small Favor'', he {{spoiler|refuses to be freed first until the Archive is rescued, and during the subsequent escape, shelters her and makes sure she is the first person on the rescue helicopter.}}

* [[Anti-Villain]]: "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone, the Chicago mob boss is more often help than hindrance to Harry; while his empire of crime is vast and increasing, he maintains order and reduces violence. {{spoiler|We ultimately learn from his [[Start of Darkness]] in ''White Night'' that the motivation that drives him is to prevent [[Innocent Bystander|Innocent Bystanders]] from harm, and he is desperate to heal a young girl in a coma from a bullet meant for him.}} In ''Small Favor'', he {{spoiler|refuses to be freed first until the Archive is rescued, and during the subsequent escape, shelters her and makes sure she is the first person on the rescue helicopter.}}

* [[Anyone Can Die]]: {{spoiler|Carmichael, Morgan, Susan, and even Harry himself.}}

* [[Armor Is Useless]]: Generally averted; while Kevlar vests are usually not sufficient against most supernatural threats, everyone who knows what they are up against makes sure to include mail of various kinds, generally chain or plate, to deflect claws or blades. Charity even gave Murphy a bulletproof vest with titanium chainmail fitting underneath for Christmas.

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** There is a wizard named Klaus [[The Magnificent|the Toymaker]] who is both powerful enough to be considered for the Senior Council, and (per [[Word of God|word of Jim]]) [http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php?PHPSESSID=966a4b722894cd9c8f11a023566ea11a&/topic,1879.msg37967.html#msg37967 is apparently in the same weight league as Ebenezar McCoy.]

* [[Bad Dreams]]: Harry has them. A lot.

* [[Bad Powers Bad People]]: The White Council believes that using any magic that breaks any of the Laws of Magic (No killing humans with magic, no [[Baleful Polymorph|transforming others]], no [[Mind Reading]], no [[Mind Control]], no necromancy, no [[Time Travel]] and no summoning [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]) is addictive. So anyone who does any of that, even if for a good reason, is likely to do it again, more frivolously, or to do another one of them.

* [[Bad Powers, Bad People]]: The White Council believes that using any magic that breaks any of the Laws of Magic (No killing humans with magic, no [[Baleful Polymorph|transforming others]], no [[Mind Reading]], no [[Mind Control]], no necromancy, no [[Time Travel]] and no summoning [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]) is addictive. So anyone who does any of that, even if for a good reason, is likely to do it again, more frivolously, or to do another one of them.

* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: Sort of; most of the good characters are very attractive, but then so are most of the high-powered supernaturals. It works out to something like ugly = bad; beautiful = good; really, really, amazingly beautiful = RUN AWAY.

* [[Being Good Sucks]]: For doing the right thing, your friends will suffer and die, your allies will suffer and die, your family will suffer and die, {{spoiler|and you will suffer and die}}.

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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 Up]]: The Raiths.

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

* [[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 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]]:

** 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 From the Revelation|go insane.]]

** The Archive knows everything that has ever been written or committed to paper (yes, this means Porn, Hate Speech, [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|and even]] [[Purple Prose]]), and the Archive itself itself is passed down from mother to daughter along with the personal memories of each previous Archive. This means that, in addition to knowledge and power, one woman gains all the trauma, heartbreak and memories from countless previous lives.

** The Archive knows everything that has ever been written or committed to paper (yes, this means Porn, Hate Speech, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and even]] [[Purple Prose]]), and the Archive itself itself is passed down from mother to daughter along with the personal memories of each previous Archive. This means that, in addition to knowledge and power, one woman gains all the trauma, heartbreak and memories from countless previous lives.

* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: The Fae, who simply do not view the world the same way humanity does. Lea, for example, honestly does not understand why Harry would object to being "protected" by being turned into a faerie dog.

* [[Book Dumb]]: Played with. Harry is clearly pretty well-read and generally seems well-educated, but he never finished high school and compared to most of the White Council he is hopelessly ignorant. In ''Turn Coat'', when he was in a room full of wizards that contained a guy who went back to med school every ten years or so to stay current and others who had so many doctoral degrees their stoles were stretched from the little markers, he considered that he would like to embroider "GED" on his in red, white, and blue.

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* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: One of the main principles of magic is that you have to believe in what you are doing or it will not work. For example, in ''Proven Guilty,'' Harry sets up a defensive spell network using blue Play-Doh, telling Murphy that blue will work best. When she asks him if that is how the rules of magic works, he tells her that it is irrelevant because he associates blue with safety in his own mind so it works best for him. This is also the basis for the Oblivion War; it is fought by a small cadre of agents whose mission is to erase all knowledge and memory of the worst of the old demons. ''Any'' knowledge of them is enough to bring them back to the world in some measure.

* [[Classical Movie Vampire]]: The Black Court Vampires (or, to quote Harry, [[The Nicknamer|blampires]]). In fact, [[Dracula|Stoker's book]] was written and published on the orders of the White Court in order to help teach [[Muggle|muggles]] how to fight the Black Court.

* [[Cluster F Bomb]]

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]

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

* [[The Collector of the Strange]]: Harry Dresden has a collection of vampire fangs (not the hinged plastic kind), parts of rhino horns, depleted uranium dust and spell/potion ingredients.

** Also a lion scrotum. It was a gift. Stop looking at me like that.

* [[Cold Blooded Torture]]:

* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]:

** Lloyd Slate, the Winter Knight. {{spoiler|Mab basically tortured him from the end of book four to the middle of book twelve. To put that in perspective... these books take place about a year apart. Each.}}

* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Harry will do whatever he can or needs to do to win, using whatever he can get his hands on (as long as it does not violate his personal ethics or the laws of magic). He is not the only one, as Kincaid mentions that his preferred method of destroying a Black Court scourge is to just bomb the entire building, and he mentions that if he ever needs to go after a wizard like Harry he will simply [[Cold Sniper|pick him off with a rifle at kilometer range]]. Even the faeries sometimes decide to abandon their traditional style in favor of pragmatism, as one Gruff hit-squad comes with sub-machine guns and tries to just shoot Harry.

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* [[Destructive Saviour]]: Harry's tendency to destroy a lot of buildings has become a [[Running Gag]]. Frequently [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded.]] In ''Side Jobs'', the foreward to one story describes its early planning as finding a nice mall in the Chicago area for Dresden to destroy.

* [[Diary]]: The series may be a collection of these, as they are told in the first person and it has been revealed that wizards of the White Council are expected to keep journals which they pass on to their apprentices (along with the journals of their teachers and their teacher's teachers). The RPG actually refers to the books as case files.

* [[Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu]]: Harry ''lives'' for this.

* [[Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?]]: Harry ''lives'' for this.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu]]: Michael Carpenter has a history of this. He is known to have rescued his wife-to-be by slaying a dragon. (See Our Dragons Are Different.) Holy swords are particularly good at that sort of thing.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Michael Carpenter has a history of this. He is known to have rescued his wife-to-be by slaying a dragon. (See Our Dragons Are Different.) Holy swords are particularly good at that sort of thing.

* [[Dirty Business]]

* [[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'').}}

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*** 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.]]''

* [[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.

* [[Dude Where's My Respect]]: Harry has managed to defeat multiple black wizards, demons, and vampires, played a pivotal role in the war between the White Council and the Red Court, saved Chicago from a horde of necromancers, prevented a death plague from taking out most of the United States ''and'' saved the entire world from the faerie Courts being thrown out of whack, just for starters. Unfortunately, the only kind of respect he gets from most members of the White Council is the sort of respect with which one might approach an unexploded land mine.

* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]: Harry has managed to defeat multiple black wizards, demons, and vampires, played a pivotal role in the war between the White Council and the Red Court, saved Chicago from a horde of necromancers, prevented a death plague from taking out most of the United States ''and'' saved the entire world from the faerie Courts being thrown out of whack, just for starters. Unfortunately, the only kind of respect he gets from most members of the White Council is the sort of respect with which one might approach an unexploded land mine.

* [[Dumb Muscle]]: Harry's enemies sometimes accuse him of being this, due to the fact that he a) has a whole lot of power (magically speaking), but isn't so good at fine control, and b) he usually doesn't let that stop him from bringing on the mayhem.

** Also the kind of character that Harry plays when roleplaying with the Alphas. His preferred character? An extremely dumb barbarian.

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* [[Everybody Has Lots of Sex]]: Inverted. If you are a prominent character, you can forget about getting any. Examples include Harry and Susan ({{spoiler|she doesn't feel like losing control after being turned into a vampire}}), Murphy, Thomas after {{spoiler|nearly killing Justine}}, {{spoiler|Raith Sr. due to a curse}}, Butters and surprisingly enough {{spoiler|Ramirez}}.

** Played straight with, of all people, Michael and Charity. There's a reason they have so many kids, and they've even Squicked their kids a little from the frequency and volume of their lovemaking, especially when Michael is about to go out on a mission. Justified by both of them knowing that despite a certain degree of heavenly protection, sooner or later Michael won't come back and they want every minute to count.

* [[Everyone Calls Him Barkeep]]: Averted with The Archive. Everybody ''did'' just call her "the Archive," until she met Harry. [[The Nicknamer|Now she is "Ivy."]]

* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: Averted with The Archive. Everybody ''did'' just call her "the Archive," until she met Harry. [[The Nicknamer|Now she is "Ivy."]]

* [[~~Everythings~~ Worse With Bears]]:

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

** The first Denarian ever seen in the series is, appropriately, a giant demonic bear...with six limbs, horns, and four eyes.

** One of the forms the Skinwalker in ''Turn Coat'' takes is a [[Biological Mashup]] of a bear, a cougar, and some sort of lizard.

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

* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]

* [[Evil Detecting Dog]]: Mouse.

* [[Evil-Detecting Dog]]: Mouse.

* [[Evil Feels Good]]: [[Black Magic]] and vampires.

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

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** One way Mab shows to Harry that she really has control of him, and then she freezes the wound just for spite.

** Deirdre of the Knights of the Blackened Denarius also likes to employ this trope in torture.

* [[~~Firstperson~~ Smartass]]: Harry Dresden, primarily, though Thomas Raith exemplifies this trope in the novella ''Backup''.

* [[First-Person Smartass]]: Harry Dresden, primarily, though Thomas Raith exemplifies this trope in the novella ''Backup''.

* [[Five Man Band]]:

* [[Five-Man Band]]:

{{quote| [[The Hero]]: Harry.

[[The Lancer]]: Murphy.

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[[The Sixth Ranger]]: {{spoiler|Thomas.}}

[[Team Pet]]: Mouse. }}

* [[First Name Basis]]

* [[First-Name Basis]]

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

* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: Sanya (see [[Church Militant]] example above). Sanya has a pretty sophisticated and logical personal philosophy on all the supernatural stuff. He lives in a world with ridiculously powerful beings who are not actually worshipped or called gods, and it is possible for mere mortals to gain near-godlike power. So why assume that one particular powerful entity really is a god, or God? And his mission, as he points out, is worthwhile whether he was given his task by a real angel or not, because either way he is still [[We Help the Helpless|helping the helpless]].

* [[Flowery Elizabethan English]]: [[The Sidhe]] and other immortals have a tendency to talk this way.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Tons of it, all throughout the series. One-off commentary by a character in one book becomes a whole lot more meaningful when re-read a second time, with knowledge of how the plotlines develop. There is a lot of material that gets subtly foreshadowed, particularly in ''Grave Peril'' and ''Proven Guilty''. The latter, for example, has a moment where Harry and Ebenezar discuss the traitor within the White Council, and Harry comments that no one has shown up with mysterious sums in their bank accounts. {{spoiler|Morgan's frame-up in ''Turn Coat'' involves exactly this.}} Murphy and Harry's discussion about their relationship foreshadows {{spoiler|Harry's daughter}} in ''Changes'' and Murphy's {{spoiler|taking up of Dresden's mantle as the protector of Chicago}} in ''Aftermath''.

* [[Formally Named Pet]]: Harry Dresden's cat is named simply Mister.

* [[Formally-Named Pet]]: Harry Dresden's cat is named simply Mister.

* [[Friendly Enemy]]:

** {{spoiler|Harry and Lasciel's shadow, in the end}}.

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

* [[Full Name Basis]]:

* [[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.

** Harry very nearly gets himself casually obliterated by the Archangel Uriel, near the end of ''Ghost Story'', merely by casually referring to him as "Uri". As it turns out, an angel's name is tantamount to the angel itself, and forgetting the ''-el'' part of his name is close to blasphemy. For clarification, Uriel means "Light of God". Given that his stated role in the universe is to bring truth and balance when the forces of Evil try to cheat, it is a big deal for him.

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** Harry has not only fought and killed in the protection of the innocent, but tortured, manipulated and ''executed'' for the greater good. As he pointed out to Molly when she continued to disobey his instructions, he is ''not'' [[This Is Reality|some fictional character who can always avoid tough decisions]].

** Also shown in ''Death Masks'', where Harry and the Knights of the Cross are confronted by a willing collaborator of the Denarians who [[I Surrender Suckers|surrenders and sarcastically promises to repent]], all the while [[Smug Snake|taunting them smugly]] because the Knights are bound to not judge or punish, but only to fight the evil possessing the Denarians. {{spoiler|Once the Knights leave, [[Shut UP Hannibal|Harry takes a baseball bat to the man's kneecaps]].}}

** Also shown in ''Death Masks'', where Harry and the Knights of the Cross are confronted by a willing collaborator of the Denarians who [[I Surrender, Suckers|surrenders and sarcastically promises to repent]], all the while [[Smug Snake|taunting them smugly]] because the Knights are bound to not judge or punish, but only to fight the evil possessing the Denarians. {{spoiler|Once the Knights leave, [[Shut UP, Hannibal|Harry takes a baseball bat to the man's kneecaps]].}}

{{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'''.}}

** The White Council of Wizards as a whole is judgemental, hypocritical, isolationist and violent. However, even Harry eventually agrees that their bloody actions are exactly what is needed to protect humanity from supernatural threats, and perhaps even from wizardkind themselves. Their tendency to execute without a second glance is not because they enjoy the blood, but because there is no other option.

* [[Good Is Not Soft]]: The Knights of the Cross will try to persuade the Denarian-possessed to turn away from evil, but won't shy from taking heads if refused.

* [[Good Scars Evil Scars]]: Harry has taken a whole lot of abuse over the years. ''Small Favor'' has a partial list, but he has acquired even more since then. Including one of those "badass" eye scars, thanks to a psycho with a knife in ''Turn Coat''.

* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]: Harry has taken a whole lot of abuse over the years. ''Small Favor'' has a partial list, but he has acquired even more since then. Including one of those "badass" eye scars, thanks to a psycho with a knife in ''Turn Coat''.

* [[Good Shepherd]]: Father Forthill.

* [[Goth]]: Molly.

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* [[Hanging Judge]]: The Merlin, according to Harry.

* [[Hard Work Hardly Works]]: Various supernatural species get their strength, agility and stamina for free, which pisses Harry off because he has to exercise to achieve a fraction of their result.

* [[Hes Just A Friend]]: Harry to [[Evil Detecting Dog|Mouse]].

* [[Hes Just A Friend]]: Harry to [[Evil-Detecting Dog|Mouse]].

* [[Healing Factor]]: Explained in detail by Butters. Wizard DNA is different from that of normal humans, in that wizards do not heal until their bodies are fixed -- they heal at the normal rate, but they heal until every trace of the wound is ''gone'' and the injured body part is back to normal. As in, no scar tissue, no fractures in bones, nothing. This perfect healing (or close enough to make no difference) also slows down the normal cellular deterioration that causes aging, giving wizards a lifespan measured in centuries rather than decades.

** Certain supernatural creatures have more enhanced versions. The RPG rulebook puts it at three levels, the highest of which allows a creature to heal from something that would normally take months or years within minutes.

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* [[Honorary Uncle]]: Harry to the Carpenter clan.

* [[Hope Spot]]: Seems to happen at least once per book.

* [[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."

* [[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."

* [[Horny Devils]]: White Court vampires of House Raith.

* [[Hot for Teacher]]: Molly for Harry. Also Morgan towards Luccio. Both times unrequited.

* [[Huge Guy Tiny Girl]]: Harry is 6'9'' tall, while Murphy is five foot even. Also Kincaid and Ivy.

* [[Huge Guy, Tiny Girl]]: Harry is 6'9'' tall, while Murphy is five foot even. Also Kincaid and Ivy.

* [[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.

* [[Hurting Hero]]: Harry's life sucks.

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* [[I Gave My Word]]: Promises are binding in the supernatural world; a wizard who swears by their power and breaks the promise loses some of their talent, while a denizen of Faerie who breaks their promises suffers indescribable agony. A bearer of one of the Swords of the Cross who breaks a promise runs the risk of unmaking the Sword completely. The only supernatural beings who routinely break their word without consequence are the Denarians. However, the nature of binding is to the letter of the promise given, not the spirit, and {{spoiler|the Red King points out in ''Changes'' that he never even spoke to Harry, instead communicating through a translator, and thus never actually gave Harry his word at all}}.

* [[Ignore the Fanservice]]: Practically a running gag, though he does have to exercise some forced methods of control. One time Harry winds up dumping ice water on his crotch. The next time he dumps the water on the temptress.

** [[Hormone Addled Teenager|Molly]] is really bad about this, though. In ''White Night'', when Harry and Murphy talk about Murphy's sexual escapades with Kincaid in Hawaii, Molly, who is reading a book, drops the book on her face in surprise, then tries to act uninterested.

** [[Hormone-Addled Teenager|Molly]] is really bad about this, though. In ''White Night'', when Harry and Murphy talk about Murphy's sexual escapades with Kincaid in Hawaii, Molly, who is reading a book, drops the book on her face in surprise, then tries to act uninterested.

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

* [[I Hate You Vampire Dad]]: White Court Vampires are born, not "made" like the other Courts, and become vampires if they feed on someone before truly falling in love. Raith manipulates his children to make sure they turn, then he ensures his daughters' loyalties [[Parental Incest|through disturbing means]] and kills his sons before they can become threats. This is a large part of the reason behind Thomas' [[Obfuscating Stupidity]].

* [[I Hate You, Vampire Dad]]: White Court Vampires are born, not "made" like the other Courts, and become vampires if they feed on someone before truly falling in love. Raith manipulates his children to make sure they turn, then he ensures his daughters' loyalties [[Parental Incest|through disturbing means]] and kills his sons before they can become threats. This is a large part of the reason behind Thomas' [[Obfuscating Stupidity]].

* [[I Know Your True Name]]: True names (i.e. a person's name pronounced ''exactly'' the way they do so themselves) grant a wizard power over the one named, to the point that demons will consider a portion of a person's name from their own lips to be worthy payment for a service. Some dragons are apparently so powerful they only need part of the name, and Harry wonders what he could do with the full one. However, it is pointed out that humans are far more mutable than supernatural beings, so a human's True Name can change over time.

** Wizards, being human, are also subject to their True Names changing, but because they are long-lived, it takes a significantly longer amount of time to do so.

Line 362:

** 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.

* [[~~Laymans~~ Terms]]: Lampshaded in ''Summer Knight'', when Harry stops to give a massive plant monster a cool name, simply because such a thing ''needs'' a cool name.

* [[Layman's Terms]]: Lampshaded in ''Summer Knight'', when Harry stops to give a massive plant monster a cool name, simply because such a thing ''needs'' a cool name.

{{quote| '''Harry''': ''"It's a chlorofiend."''

'''Murphy''': ''"A what?"''

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* [[Master of Your Domain]]: Lash teaches Harry quite a few tricks.

* [[Master Swordsman]]: Shiro of the Knights of the Cross is said to be an artist with his blade. The RPG codifies this, giving him a Weapons skill of 6, with stunts to boost it further in certain situations (for reference, skills top out at 4 or 5 for most non-wizard, non-"[[Plot Device]] level" characters), and outright says if you try to take him on one-on-one, you are going to lose. Even Nicodemus, who hates Shiro, grudgingly respects Shiro's abilities. Nicodemus himself is also pretty good due to having more then 2000 years to practice.

* [[May December Romance]]: Kinda-sorta Harry and Luccio--though she's in the body of a 20-year-old coed by the time their relationship starts, she's actually a 200+ year old wizard who grew up in Italy in the early 1800s.

* [[May-December Romance]]: Kinda-sorta Harry and Luccio--though she's in the body of a 20-year-old coed by the time their relationship starts, she's actually a 200+ year old wizard who grew up in Italy in the early 1800s.

* [[Mayfly December Romance]]:

* [[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.

*** Harry and Luccio are more in the [[May December Romance]] Trope as she may be centuries older but he will live just as long.

*** Harry and Luccio are more in the [[May-December Romance]] Trope as she may be centuries older but he will live just as long.

** 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.

* [[Mayincatec]]: The cover for ''[http://jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/12/ Changes]''.