The Dresden Files/Tropes N-Z: Difference between revisions

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** Whatever happened to Murphy and Kincaid in Hawaii during the events of ''Dead Beat''. Whatever it was, it broke Murphy's arm and impressed Kincaid enough that he gave her a gift-wrapped submachine gun as a memento. According to [[Word of God]], Murphy also demonstrated her skills with a katana there.
** Whatever it is Bob the Skull did to make Queen Mab want to kill him...
*** {{spoiler|This is later to be shown as what Bob the skull KNOWS. Specifically, how to kill an immortal.}}
* [[No Bisexuals]]: Averted. The Raith family is almost entirely bisexual, except for Inari, Thomas, and Lord Raith.
* [[Noble Male, Roguish Male]]: Michael and Harry.
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* [[Prehensile Hair]]: Deirdre.
* [[Police Are Useless]]: Averted with the Special Investigations unit in The Dresden Files, led by Karrin Murphy, who among other things has taken down a tree-monster with a chainsaw. Though the unit still calls in Dresden for consulting, it's mentioned a few books in that they've learned enough to handle most of your usual supernatural riff-raff without the wizard's help. There are also things with enough power that getting the police involved would lead to a bloodbath. Several times Dresden convinces Murphy not to involve her unit by telling her what he's facing is "worse than the loup-garou", a [[Nigh Invulnerable]] variety of werewolf that rampaged through the station in the second book. It's played a bit straighter with the rest of the Chicago cops, who refuse to believe in anything supernatural. They're probably very competent in normal situations, but when it comes to the average supernatural menace... hoo boy. And a lot of them think of him as a charlatan.
* [[Polite Villains, Rude Heroes]]: Most major villains move in circles where people are expected to present a civilized facade when not actively ripping each other limb from limb. Harry's snarky insouciance has taken more than one of them by surprise.
** Almost lampshaded in ''Death Masks''. Harry is about to initiate a duel against a powerful Red Court vampire named Ortega. The duel's moderator tells them they can make an opening statement. Ortega says something almost poetic and respectful. Harry takes a swig of his anti-vampire-mind-control potion and burps.
* [[Pop-Cultured Badass]]: Harry, Harry, Harry. His somewhat outdated references are [[Lampshaded]] by Molly in ''Changes'' (and sub-sequentially mirrored in ''Ghost Story''.)
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* [[Take Up My Sword]]: Subverted with Fidelacchius and Amoracchius. While {{spoiler|they are both left in Harry's possession after the death/crippling of their bearers}}, neither of them are actually meant for him.
* [[Talking in Your Dreams]]
* [[Taking You with Me]]: The principle of a Wizards Death Curse, which [[Cast Fromfrom Hit Points|kills the wizard]] but allows them to strike out at whatever they feel deserves their dying wrath.
* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]: Harry. He is also fond of making his own snarky variations of "[[Tall, Dark and Handsome]]" to refer to supernatural beings.
{{quote|'''Harry:''' ''(Calling out to an Ogre).'' Hey! Tall, red, and ugly!}}
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* [[Terror Hero]]: Harry is an unintentional Type 3.
* [[Thanatos Gambit]]:
** A wizard's death curse uses every last bit of their life energy to fuel a powerful, destructive spell as a last resort -- in other words, [[Cast Fromfrom Hit Points]] -- so it is either this or [[Taking You with Me]]. We have seen one in the series and one in a character's backstory. The one cast on {{spoiler|Lord Raith by Harry's mother}} looks like a [[Thanatos Gambit]], in that she could not kill him so she gave him a certain vulnerability that would be exploited years later, and the one cast on {{spoiler|Harry by Quintus Cassius}} looks like an attempt at [[Taking You with Me|Taking Him With Him]], but the caster was already too old and weak for that, so he settled for trying to make him miserable.
** {{spoiler|Martin}}. [[Xanatos Roulette|He arranged the entire events of his dying book specifically to get to that one scenario]].
** {{spoiler|Harry himself.}}
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* [[Time Abyss]]: [[Word of God]] has it that Demonreach pre-dates the ice age.
* [[Time Skip]]: About a year or so passes between each book, but the exact length of time varies from case to case. This averts [[Comic Book Time]] in that a few characters age visibly, and provides space for [[Noodle Incident|Noodle Incidents]] to have happened in.
* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: Nearly everyone over the course of the series. One of the biggest happens in ''Ghost Story'' with, of all people, Mortimer Lindquist, self-proclaimed coward and non-hero, who nonethless proves to be exceedingly competent at his ectomancy, being able to do things like {{spoiler|calling spirits to his body to use their fighting skills}} or to {{spoiler|seize control of thousands of wraiths and use them as a spiritual battering ram to finish off the Corpsetaker.}}
** Morty is confirmed to have power on par with a White Council wizard, his power is just too narrow. Unlike Harry he also solves problems before they threaten the world.
** Similarly, Butters too has leveled up in Badass stakes as of ''Ghost Story'', most notable in {{spoiler|his take-down of Aristedes.}}
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** The wyldfae ''looooooove'' pizza.
** Harry loves his Coke; he even has a cap with a silver-on-black Coca-Cola logo. He also adores Burger King.
* [[Training Fromfrom Hell]]: Harry's time with [[Complete Monster|Justin DuMorne]].
* [[Trenchcoat Brigade]]: Harry's black leather duster and occult focus confirm him to be a card-carrying member. And he revels in it.
* [[Trope Overdosed]]: Understandable after 12 books, a TV series, an ongoing comic book series, and an RPG.
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* [[You Can Barely Stand]]: Harry is rarely in any decent shape to even be walking by the time the real fighting has rolled around. Take for instance ''Fool Moon'' where he actually has to ''work'' to blow out a camera, or ''Dead Beat'', where the only reason he can move at all for most of the Final Battle is Lash's assistance. Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in ''Changes'' where Harry eventually {{spoiler|gets his back broken so he ''literally'' cannot stand}}. However, he {{spoiler|makes a deal with Mab, The Winter Queen, and becomes her Knight, but he gets to save his daughter first.}} After that, he is fit as a fiddle and ready to rock. Lampshaded in the RPG, when he complains about how he is always beaten up in the pictures. Quoth Billy:
{{quote|'''Billy:''' "Are you on a case?''' }}
* [[You Have Failed Me...]]: Every odd numbered lackey.
* [[You Keep Using That Word]]: Snarl.
* [[Your Vampires Suck]]: Not just vampires; Bob has opinions on werewolf stories.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Dresden Files]]
[[Category:Split Trope Lists]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dresden Files, The/Tropes N-Z}}
[[Category:The Dresden Files{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]