I feel like Solomon might fit his personality a bit better, heh.

 

Well, David is Solomon's father so.... :facepalm

 

Yes, I realize this. I was simply making a statement as to which King seems closer to Butters in terms of personality. Calm down.

 

They cant stop a vampire from being fast exactly. But if one was to swing a sword or club and the blow fell on the sword, it would feel like a normal blow, not one delt by superman.

 

To be fair though, the light emitted by the Swords is harmful to the Red and Black courts, which is one way of neutralising their speed. Can't use it if you can't get close.

 

As far as the books go, there's some reason to believe they don't (always) bring supernatural enemies down to a human level. It just levels the field.

The Swords definitely have some uniform effects: limiting Denarians' incorporeal actions, burning blampires/whampires as items of faith/courage/love, inspiring pious awe or holy terror, etc.

Off the top of my head:
("Death Masks") "The weapon took Ursiel high on one shoulder, plunging through muscle and sinew. Sanya braced himself as the demon's body hit." Three Knights, a stab wound, and Ursiel's still a demon.

("Changes") Dresden commands Bob to keep the Lords of the Outer Night from using their will (Will?) to keep Susan pinned down.

(Maybe "Skin Game") Michael or Forthill or someone says that lots of Knights take up the sword once for a specific purpose.

I'd argue the Swords' greatest power is a "mysterious ways causality bending" of the situation towards a greater objective. They 'create' or 'choose' situations that give the wielder the high ground without completely nerfing the baddie.

For instance, Butters' 'lightsaber' in "Skin Game" has definite pros, but its greatest effect then was shocking an already shaken Nicodemus, who then took off using Denarian power. Nicodemus would have had a decent shot ordering his remaining mooks to shred a lone Butters to bits while Tessa cast from a distance: Butters was an outnumbered nascent Knight with piffling training, maybe above average fitness, and the range of a sword.

 

To add to that, that ghost at the start of GP smacked Michael around just fine. And the Nightmare was still strong enough to tear tombstones from the ground while fighting Michael and later broke a rib.

 

I guess the Swords are unstoppable when used for their specific purpose. They literally have the power of Plot Armor at that point. Outside of that it's tricky.

However, do we ever see the swords neutralizing magic, such as outright dispelling it or cutting through it like the Wardens' swords?

 

It does say in Changes that it slowed the vampires enough to make the difference for Murphy.

 

It also allowed a much younger/less experienced Michael to kill a Dragon. Which iirc my Butcher interviews correctly is a Big Deal.

 

Well, to be fair, killing Siriothrax led Michael to rescue and marry a hot blonde ten plus years his junior who'd still be righteously fit twenty years and seven kids later.

So basically, the Archangels probably lent him power to kill Sirio because they're good wingmen. Literally wingmen, too. Good lookin' out, angel bros.

 

Thinking about Mirror, Mirror and divergence points, how would things play out short-term and long-term if Molly ended up getting executed at the end of Proven Guilty without the deus ex machina?

I think Charity might outright hate Harry at that point and his relationship with Michael might be severely strained. This would probably be one of the biggest failures Harry would suffer, after Kim Delaney and Susan Rodriguez. Worse too because he would have spent so much effort rescuing her only to deliver her to her execution. Would that be enough for Harry to "break?" And if so, what would be the consequences of that?

 

Given that he was about to fight when Michael and everyone else came to the trial, I think it more likely that Morgan would make him shorter by a head on his way to Molly.

 

I was assuming he'd be non-lethally subdued by Morgan and Ramirez in the idea. Assuming Harry makes it through with his head and Molly doesn't make it through, what ends up happening?

 

Most likely; Michael falls into a severe depression, and throws himself into his work and family with abandon. He eventually exhausts himself trying to protect everyone and is killed during a random encounter.

Charity never forgives Harry, despite his obvious best efforts, but also never forgives herself for not coming clean sooner. Harry, being Harry, blames himself entirely, and given his actions at the hearing, which would almost certainly have resulted in injuries before he was subdued, is placed back under the Doom of Damocles. He likely breaks all ties with the White Council, despite McCoy trying to talk him around.

Word of his schism spreads, and Mab makes offers which vaguely refer to time travel or raising the dead, but never actually promises anything. Harry, being Harry, jumps at the chances, and ends up appearing to be Winter's bitch. At the same time, he begins a silent vigil, watching over the Carpenters without Charity knowing. This prevents him from spending any time on Demonreach prior to the next book.

During Proven Guilty, Michael is already dead, and desperate for help, Harry asks Murphy to stand with him and Sanya. Most likely, what happened during Skin Game happens here, and Karrin is severely injured (since we now know she wasn't meant to be a long-term Knight). Likely the rescue otherwise succeeds.

Morgan doesn't come to Harry during Turn Coat, and is instead caught and executed. Harry's understanding of his mother does not grow, and Thomas is never tortured by the Nagloshii, and Mad ol' Maddy isn't killed by Lara.

Come Changes, Harry, overcome by exhaustion and guilt, considers refusing to help, feeling he'll only destroy Maggie. Events with the Eebs play out, and he does take the Winter Mantle. Ultimately, he does go to Chichen Itza, but doesn't ask any friends to come along; Thomas, still in his previous frame of mind, and Sanya insist, and Lea, of course. No Molly, no Murphy. And he insists Mouse remain behind to watch over the Carpenters. Virtual guarantee that someone dies, Susan, Martin, likely Thomas. Without Molly to work her magi-memory-remover, he doesn't arrange for his own assassination, so no Ghost Story, and no Cold Days. Most likely that Maeve makes her Nemesis-inspired move anyway, and with no Molly to provide a back up, Maeve's murders lead to Sarissa and someone random becoming the new Ladies.

By Skin Game time, Harry is deep in a funk. Thomas is probably dead in Mexico, so he has no in with the White Court anymore, Murph is still in charge of SI, but he doesn't take cases anymore. He is still whored out to Nic but given his state of mind, doesn't bring along a second. With no Murphy, Molly, Thomas nor Michael, who would he bring? He still collects the Weapons and kills Ascher, and the end mostly plays out the way it did in canon, but my guess is this is where Harry and Charity finally start to make amends.

 

Ahh, that makes sense. Thanks, Jim.

 

In Small Favor Harry gained Soulfire from Uriel to balance out Lucifer's aid in powering the super circles. From how Uriel described it this is the normal order of things, the Archangels squaring off through proxies as direct intervention enables a response from the other party equal in magnitude.

That said, in Cold Days Uriel gifted his grace to Michael. Was there anything there/implied to be there as Lucifer's counter response?

 

No, and there can't be. Or at least, not for that, because all that happened was that Uriel and Michael traded places for a few hours. There wasn't actual 'interference'. That's why Uriel went and, as Dresden put it, loaned Michael his 747.

That said, it's entirely possible that Michael, while bearing the mantle, accidentally pushed a couple of buttons and ol' Beelzebub simply didn't get around to his rejoinder by the time the book ended. I'd lean towards such being unlikely, but it's certainly possible.

 

I don't know, Uriel also balanced out Lashiel's influence with 7 words. It may be that every action taken by an archangel allows Lucifer to make a move of equal worth.

 

Alternately Uriel came out ahead by risking his divine grace with a mortal, he might have forced a fallen angel to match his stakes.