Harry Dresden
Harry Dresden is a male character who features in The Dresden Files.
Contents |
Biography
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden was a male human who was born the son of Malcolm Dresden and Margaret LeFay. His mother died in childbirth, so Malcolm took care of him while traveling across the country trying to make a career as a stage magician. When Dresden was six, his father died of a brain aneurysm. Dresden, orphaned, became a ward of the state. He first manifested his powers at age ten, during a running long jump at school Olympics in the spring. 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. He was adopted by Justin DuMorne, a wizard and former Warden of the White Council, who took him as his apprentice. 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. He faced and beat He Who Walks Behind, an Outsider summoned by DuMorne to kill Dresden; afterwards, he decided to go back and rescue Elaine. 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. When Dresden was sixteen, DuMorne tried to enthrall both him and his girlfriend, fellow adoptee Elaine Mallory, succeeding with Elaine, but not with Dresden. He faced and managed the defeat He Who Walks Behind who was one of the Outsiders that had been summoned by DuMorne to kill Dresden. Afterwards, he decided to go back and rescue Elaine leading to Dresden making 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 who was the the air spirit of knowledge, and left, thinking Elaine had died in the fire.
Dresden was then found by the White Council 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 an act of self-defence, and instead was put under the Doom of Damocles. Such a decision was made due to the influence of some of the Council members with the most notable being Ebenezar McCoy. It was then that he was taken on as McCoy's apprentice where he eventually came to learn that his mentor served as the personal enforcer of the Council and charged with enacting their orders including those of a darker nature. In addition, McCoy was under orders to kill Dresden if he showed any signs of rebelliousness. Thus, Dresden came to live with McCoy on his farm in Hog Hollow, Missouri where he spent his days in 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. At one point, Dresden was cleaning a fish when his knife slipped and cut his right forearm leaving a scar on it. For several years, he spent his time under McCoy's tutelage in order to 'get his head together'. In that time, Dresden attained membership to the Council, though he did not trust them. He then spent some years traveling across America, much like he did with his father, before settling down in Chicago. After moving to Chicago, he came to work at a many different jobs among them including being a dance partner with a senior-citizen organization thus leading to him learning ballroom dancing. He then joined Nicholas Christian at Ragged Angel Investigations, where he spent 3 years gaining his licence as a private investigator. After this, he opened his own business that he came to operate over the course of the next 2 years.
Dresden and Nicholas Christian are involved in the search for Faith Astor, a ten years old child. They learn that her parents are trying to frame them for her kidnapping, rather than to admit she had run away, but Dresden cannot leave her alone in the city at night. He's proven right, when the bridge troll Gogoth tries to claim her. Dresden defeats it, only to have Karrin Murphy find them at the end of the bridge. Mainly on Faith's testimony, she lets Dresden and Christian go free of the kidnapping charge. In the investigation of Maurice Sandbourne's murder, Dresden chases down and destroys a hecatean hag bent to a rite of ascention. Dresden comes up against a two-bit sorcerer mixing sex, drugs, magic and murder, the Shadowman. Also introduced, among others, are the White Council, the Warden Morgan, Lieutenant Karrin Murphy of the Chicago Police Department's Special Investigations division, who hires Dresden on a "per case" basis as a consultant, and Susan Rodriguez, a reporter for the Midwestern Arcane, a newspaper that reports on the supernatural occurances in the area. By the end, the Doom of Damocles was lifted from him in a Council meeting due to "valorous action above and beyond the call of duty", although he himself cannot attend due to still being hospitalized. Afterwards, Dresden faced off against several different kinds of werewolves, and gains a new ally in Billy and his gang of werewolves, known as the Alphas. Dresden also concludes at the end of the novel that someone is trying to kill him, having put together certain facts from the novels. Dresden's other side appears in a dream. He counsels Dresden to tell Murphy everything: the White Council, Nevernever, all of it, she may get eaten by a monster if he doesn't tell her and Murphy's a big girl; and Dresden should ask Murphy out. Not trusting Susan Rodriguez might have something to do with Elaine Mallory. It isn't over as long as he holds himself responsible for Justin DuMorne's death and Elaine's fall. And, that Dresden knows she's still alive. Until he faces reality, he won't be able to heal. Then they talk about MacFinn, the case and John Marcone, Streetwolves.
Harry Dresden is called to Boone Mill to investigate the murders of Carl Talbot and Sarah Patterson-Talbot. He rapidly determines the presence of two murderers with different modi operandi, a goblin and a ghoul. Bob's help being insufficient, he is forced to summon a nature spirit for information, who redirects him to another spirit more knowledgeable than itself. Later, Dresden fails to save Alex Talbot, when Sheriff Dagget arrests him and lands him in jail, from which Mayor Cedar frees him. He leads the fight against Ambre and Griswald, winning it. He came to counsel Irwin Pounder on how to stop the Bully Brothers from tormenting him. Dresden is manipulated into a conflict with the Red Court of Vampires, led by Bianca. Another friend of his is also introduced, Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Holy Cross. And Dresden also meets Thomas Raith, of the White Court of Vampires, for the first time. Unfortunately for Dresden, Susan is kidnapped by Bianca, and half-turned into a Red Court vampire. Dresden gets her back, but only by killing his host while a representative of the White Council, thereby starting a Wizards vs. Vampires war. It is also revealed that Dresden has a faerie Godmother, the Leanansidhe, who helped him escape DuMorne in exchange for his loyalty. Whilst living rough, Dresden spent his time trying to find a cure for Susan Rodriguez. He is quickly ensnared into averting a war between the Faerie Courts, Summer and Winter, as not doing so would send the world into one of two climates. Dresden also learns that the current Queen of the Winter Court, Mab, has bought his debt from his Godmother. They haggle a deal whereby Dresden will do three favors for Mab, which he chooses, and he'll be free from Fae influence. The events of Summer Knight make one favour, so Dresden owes Mab two more. It was also mentioned that Elaine survived the fire with which Dresden took down Justin DuMorne, and hid in the Summer Court, building up a debt to the current Summer Lady, Aurora, to protect her from those who would want to find and use her
Overview
Personality and attributes
When needed, he wears a blue unembroidered stole over his formal black robe.
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. Dresden has a scar on his right forearm, from where his knife slipped while cleaning a fish during this time. After spending some years "getting his head together" under McCoy's tutelage, Dresden attained membership to the Council, though he didn't, and still did not trust them. He spent some years traveling across America, much like he did with his father, before settling down in Chicago.
Harry has only had three romantic relationships. His first girlfriend and first love Elaine, who was also a fellow apprentice, lived with him and Justin DuMorne for several years, and as Harry puts it, they drove each other nuts and went through puberty together. She was enthralled (a magical mind control technique, deemed black magic by the Council) by DuMorne and attempted to kill Harry, and Harry believed she had betrayed him. When he killed DuMorne, he also thought (incorrectly) that Elaine was dead.
Powers and abilities
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 often involving the manipulation of 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'.
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.
Over time, he developed 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.
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.
Harry would later gain the power of the Winter Knight's Mantle which was a position of incredible power and gave him access to the abilities of the Winter Sidhe. This provided 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.
He often made use of Bob due to him being a spirit of intellect that was he equivalent of a magical encyclopaedia. The spirit provided magical knowledge, analysis, experience and note-taking where he had to reside in a centuries old skull enchanted to protect him from the debilitating effects of sunlight where he had been passed down from wizard to wizard.
A tool he made use of was the blasting rod that was considered the most inherently violent of wizarding tools that was used to quickly and efficiently focus one's will into a spell.
Dresden came to be recruited to be a member of the wardens who served as the law-enforcement/Military arm of the White Council. They traditionally wear a grey cloak, enchanted to not stain with blood. Wardens were also given enchanted silver swords which could dispell any magical enchantment; these swords were made by Captain Luccio before the Corpsetaker switched bodies with her. The position pays a salary that was established in 1959. Despite his other titles, conditions, and obligations it was noted by the Gatekeeper Rashid that Dresden still remained a Warden.
Notes
- Harry Dresden was created by Jim Butcher where he featured in the setting of The Dresden Files universe.
In other media
Television
- In The Dresden Files, Harry Dresden appeared in the setting of the 2007 live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Paul Blackthorne.
Appearances
- The Dresden Files:
External Links
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