Wikipedia the dresden files

Changes Dresden Files 12 Ghost Story Dresden Files 13 Cold Days Dresden Files 14 Skin Game Dresden Files 15 Peace Talks Dresden Files 16 Battle Ground Dresden Files 17 I wanted more of that type of story. I thought to myself, if I want more, maybe a lot of other people want more. That was one of the reasons why I started writing urban fantasy. To me, genres are not for writers; they are really for bookstores and then for readers.

Desperate to win, he magically pushed himself about ten feet farther than he would have jumped on his own. Though he landed badly and sprained his wrist, he won a blue ribbon that he keeps to this day.

At thirteen, Dresden was given his first shielding lesson by DuMorne, who used baseballs as projectiles. When Dresden was sixteen, DuMorne tried to enthrall both him and his girlfriend, fellow adoptee Elaine Mallory , succeeding with Elaine, but not with Dresden. Dresden made a bargain with the Leanansidhe in which he received power enough to defeat Justin DuMorne, a debt he would owe his godmother for years to come. Dresden faced DuMorne in a duel to the death and won. He stole Bob, the air spirit of knowledge, and left, thinking Elaine died in the fire.

Dresden was then found by the White Council to his surprise - as far as he knew, there were no other wizards besides himself, DuMorne, and Elaine and was put on trial for breaking the First Law of Magic. He was let off the death penalty due to the killing being ruled as self defence, and instead was put under the Doom of Damocles.

Dresden was taken in as apprentice by McCoy; though this would later be found out to be because McCoy was the Council's wet-works man, and was under orders to kill Dresden if he showed any signs of rebelliousness -- which happened fairly often, apparently. Dresden lived with McCoy on his farm in Hog Hollow, Missouri; his days were spent with hard work on the farm during the day, and studying in the evening. Although McCoy trained him about magic, his moral teachings and general support in a stable and peaceful homelife were even more important, and crucial for shaping his life.

After spending some years "getting his head together" under McCoy's tutelage, Dresden attained membership to the Council, though he didn't, and still doesn't, trust them. This is improving, albeit slowly. He spent some years traveling across America, much like he did with his father, before settling down in Chicago.

After he first came to Chicago, he worked at a many different jobs, among them being a dance partner with a senior-citizen organization, where he learned ballroom dancing. When needed, he wears a blue unembroidered stole over his formal black robe.

As one of the most powerful younger wizards of the White Council, Dresden has a large repertoire of magical powers. His skills at evocation, or 'quick and dirty' magic, aka "kaboom magic", aka "battle magic", lean toward large blasts of fire and force, sometimes using wind, and also has some skill with earth usually manipulating gravity and lightning magic.

He has considerable magical brute strength, though his control is initially somewhat lacking - for example, while he could easily shatter a pair of handcuffs, he may also break the wrists of the person wearing them. For this reason, Dresden is ofttimes referred to as a magical 'thug'.

Later in the series, Dresden is also shown to have tremendous power in ritual form battle magic, when he uses the energy of a ley line to concentrate gravity for several miles around into a small zone, and flattens hundreds of enemy combatants at once. Dresden's skill with battle magic has increased steadily and quickly.

His shields are the most striking example, initially unable to deal with sufficiently strong attacks, and not warding away heat, such that his hand was almost burned off. Now, thanks to practice and improved foci, they can deal with significant attacks without a problem. While the head of the Wardens has sufficient focus to wield fire magic with a pinpoint laser-like effect that can cut a person in two, Dresden has the power to take out a building, fry an I-beam, and has 'upgraded' to a blue-white shot of fire magic powered by his soul, strong enough to bore through a Denarian.

Dresden is also using physics more, using his shields to turn enemies attacks back upon themselves or their allies, and ripping heat away from areas to create ice as well as power fire attacks simultaneously, and transforming himself and a White Court vampire into an explosion-powered cannonball.

Dresden was frequently accused of a lack of subtlety in his magic until he began training Molly as his apprentice. Through teaching to her particular talents especially for veiling, illusion and subtle mind magic and weaknesses lacking brute force, emotional oversensitivity , Dresden gained a greater understanding and finer control over his talents and began using subtler versions of his own spells, such as tightly controlled wind gusts.

In Changes Dresden develops a much better control of magic, starting to cast illusions, veils, and Luccio's cutting fire beam, raising and lowering shields with great speed, and fine uses of soulfire, affecting huge areas with spells, mentally summoning of extremely powerful entities without a circle, and using the fire and ice exchange trick in combat multiple times.

He also takes up the Winter Knight's Mantle. It is a position of incredible power, giving Dresden access to the abilities of the Winter Sidhe. This gives him substantially increased stamina, speed, and strength in both the physical and magical sense, improved ability with "ice magic" which he either lacked or was reluctant to use prior to his appointment, and gives him greater protection from physical attacks. It is presumed that Dresden will hold the mantle of Winter Knight until he dies, as only with the death of the old knight can a new one be named - according to Jim Butcher, he is still the Winter Knight in the novel Ghost Story.

Dresden was able to employ Hellfire while possessed by the Shadow of the Denarian Lasciel, a power that especially aided destructive spells and fire effects. He first experienced this power during the events of Blood Rites, noticing that his staff had begun to generate heat and smoke when he used it, and he realized that his brief exposure to Lasciel's coin had allowed him to tap into it involuntarily. After Dresden lost that power, the Archangel Uriel awarded him the Angelic power of soulfire, which is used to make a sort of magical framework for the magic being used, turning, for instance, a straight force attack into an enduring silvery construct hand able to bash and batter repeatedly.

The portion of the soul used in the soulfire returns over a period of days, enabling the wielder to get back to full strength; using all of one's soul is still fatal, however. Soulfire excels when used in creation magic, a notable example of which is illusions. Magic itself has an innate power to disrupt technology in the Dresden Files.

As a result, Dresden becomes a potential safety risk whenever he visits places containing sophisticated equipment, such as hospitals in which patients are on life support. He prefers older, less refined technology when he has to deal with it; he drives a s Volkswagen Beetle, knows a mechanic who can keep it running eight or nine days out of every ten, and favors revolvers over semiautomatic pistols when he needs to carry a firearm. Dresden uses candles, a fireplace, a kerosene heater, and an icebox in his apartment and lab, and he keeps dozens of spare light bulbs in his office in case one burns out when he walks past it.

He can deliberately cause widespread havoc around high-tech items just by drawing in his magic, a practice he refers to as "hexing. Because of this technological stricture, many wizards employ the Nevernever to travel long distances. If a wizard knows the path, they can step into the Nevernever, walk a short distance, and emerge somewhere else far away, as distance and time function differently inside.

Due to their difficulty in using advanced means of transportation, control of paths and locations in the Nevernever is of critical importance to wizards for getting around rapidly. Knowledge of access points to the Nevernever is among the more useful secrets in the Dresden Files Dresden's mother was one of the most knowledgeable of such travelers. According to Luccio she would breakfast in Prague, lunch in Rome, and be in Tibet by sundown, with a couple of stops for coffee along the way.

Dresden obtained a red crystal belonging to his mother in Changes, which contains his mother's knowledge of these paths. He has become slowly better, faster, and neater about opening portals to the Nevernever…he even uses one as a shield in combat to absorb falling stalactites from a collapsing ceiling. Dresden also possesses great skill at thaumaturgy including tracking and sympathy spells - he prefers it, since it gives him more structure and precision for his power.

According to Dresden in White Night , his skills lie in "redirecting energy, sending energy out into the world to resonate Dresden has summoned spirits across multiple mythos in his time, including faeries big and small, Loa spirits of knowledge, and actual demons, using this skill and thaumaturgic rituals. His first use of a ritual in battle is in Changes. Dresden is implied to have a natural talent for dark magic; during Storm Front he was confident that, if he used it, he could effortlessly destroy Victor Sells and Donald Morgan, and defy the White Council.

A power that all true wizards have is The Sight, or the Third Eye. Using this power is one of the earmarks of wizardry. It allows a wizard to see the world as it truly is, on a magical and spiritual level, bypassing all veils and illusions and showing people and things as they truly are. Anything that is witnessed under the Third Eye is remembered perfectly, forever, which leads to reluctance to employ it, as it is often called on in situations to reveal evil, horrible supernatural harm, and the like, and the weight of such memories can cause significant mental stress over time.

Dresden's first use of the Sight was on a tree, and he can perfectly picture the gnome-like spirit within it to this day. His use of Sight on the Skinwalker in Turn Coat nearly drove him mad with fear and terror at the depth of the evil, cruelty and anathema he witnessed within the creature. It is noteworthy he has never used True Sight on a true Denarian, although he has witnessed the conflict of the Fey Courts using this ability In Book One of the Dresden Files, the 'drug' being manufactured by the antagonist is actually an alchemical potion allowing normal mortals to use True Sight, an experience few are ready for.

Yet another power that all wizards have is the soulgaze , a meeting of the eyes that transforms into a highly personalized and revealing look at the other person's psyche and soul, and one of the reasons why people instinctively don't look deep into another's eyes.

It is an immediate way to identify someone or something flawlessly. It is notably something he has never shared with Murphy, although he has with Susan.

Dresden has no idea how people perceive him, although those who have Gazed him tend to have their opinion and respect for him taken up several notches after it happens, as they realize the true nature of who they are dealing with. The crime lord Marcone, for instance, evidences a remarkable amount of respect for Dresden after sharing a soulgaze, and a young wizard who shared a soulgaze with him said that Dresden was gentle, kind, and alone.

However, in the few instances when Dresden has Gazed an enemy during a confrontation, they generally have had a horrified reaction one even gasped that he "[didn't] believe in hell". On a more mundane level, wizards like Dresden are also capable of slowly 'healing perfectly' from injuries, leaving no scars or breaks. For example, his broken bones will seal and leave no mark behind, and he is slowly regaining use of his flame-seared left hand, damaged so severely the normal doctors recommended it be amputated.

This characteristic is tied to the exceptionally long lifespan of wizards. It has limits Luckily for him, his back problem was fixed instantly when he became the Winter Knight. This is conditional; when he once considered defying Winter's Law, he momentarily lost control of his legs, giving him a moment to reconsider.

Dresden's 'final' ability possessed by all wizards is that of the death curse. While it is typically targeted at the being that kills them, it may be employed upon anyone within line of sight such as when Dresden was readying to send the Death Curse at one of the Necromancers in Dead Beat when he anticipated Morgan's attack , and the wizard must have time to use it a few seconds.

Death curses can be incredibly powerful. Dresden believes that the force of his curse could wipe every living thing off the island of Demonreach , and others agree. His mother's Curse completely blocked the ability of the King of the White Court of Vampires to feed, though he was otherwise immune to magic. Dresden himself has been the target of a Death Curse, although the lesser power of the caster left it open-ended and of vague purpose.

Starting with his first exposure to the island of Demonreach , it also appears that Dresden is starting to develop foresight, a characteristic seemingly common to all wizards as they get older and are not warned about ahead of time to stop them from wondering if this or that event was foreseen. Additionally, after bonding with the native spirit of Demonreach in Turn Coat, Dresden is able to link in with the spirit's intellectus ability concerning itself and all upon the island, enabling him perfect knowledge of Demonreach and its denizens, and natural harmony with the creatures dwelling there, giving Dresden a nigh-insurmountable tactical advantage while he is present.

It seems that by the timing of Dresden's conception and birth, he and his ex-lover, Elaine have some form of power over Outsiders, such as He Who Walks Behind, resulting in his astonishing ability to overcome a major Outsider while still a teenager after his master had sent it after him, and actually surviving an Entropy Curse a lethally malevolent form of bad luck.

He and Elaine are known as 'Starborn' for this innate ability. Dresden has a fairly uncommon magical power he has developed with time and experience, the ability to Listen. This is more akin to a clairaudience effect of limited range then merely enhanced hearing, but the sensitivity of it has risen with time, to the point where Dresden can even filter out and discern different heartbeats around corners and in rooms close by.

In , a television series based on the novels aired for one season on the American Sci-Fi Channel. The Dresden Files - Wikipedia. Terrence Mann - Wikipedia. Nicolas Cage - Wikipedia. In " Day Off ", psychophagic mites are parasites living off the life force of human beings. If they feed also on other living beings it is unknown.

They attack Andi Macklin and Kirby , feeding off their life force, and forcing them to request Harry Dresden 's help to be cleansed. In " Ghoul Goblin ", a qarin is an Arabic guardian angel of sorts, duty-bound to a human being. Though often classified among the Djinns , [22] with which they share some characteristics, Qarin literally "constant companion" are distinct entities; spiritual doubles of human beings, either as an extension of them or as individual creatures.

One of them has fallen in love with Cynthia Cedar , saving her from an attack by a number of magically reanimated mummies. He follows her to Boone Mill , and is willing to forsake his relationship with Cynthia Cedar, joins Dresden 's fight against Griswald and Ambre LaChaise , killing the latter and expending all his life force in the process.

In Blood Rites , the Shen [Footnote 14] is a Chinese shapeshifter , which can appear either as a sea dragon or a clam, and can cast mirages. Harry Dresden paralyzes several ones in the form of flying apes so that he can recover a litter of Temple Dog puppies they were guarding for Brother Wang. Three of them manage to avoid the paralysis and give chase through a school, launching incendiary fecal matter at Dresden and burning down the building.

Dresden escapes, traps them inside, and flees to his car, but the Shen combine into a single demon which breaks out of the school and follows.

While Thomas Raith drives them away, Dresden manages to knock it down with a fireball, at which point he then finishes it off by blowing up its head. In " War Cry ", Shoggoths are the spawn of Outsiders , bred to sapience. They appear to be spirals of meat-colored substance, studded with mouths, teeth and fangs.

Drawn to sapience, they can only subsist on sapient beings. According to Harry Dresden , shoggoths are doomsday devices, able to consume the population of Manhattan in one day, growing exponentially in the process.

Catherine Taylor thinks the release of one would usher an era of horror and carnage as yet unknown to man. Taylor has been magically bound to it, to keep it dormant. Dresden suspects the involvement of a high-ranked member of the White Council , but has no idea about who he is. In a flashback, a shoggoth has been shown to destroy Akkadia and King Hammurabi 's Babylon. They are a Welsh Fey court.