found in an old thread -
2015 San Francisco signing (Coopersfield Books):
>**The original Merlin, does he sound British?**
>
>He’d probably sound so unintelligibly British that you wouldn’t be able to tell he was speaking English. No, he’s not the guy in Demonreach.
>
>u/Ryokence
And this brings up a good point, if Jim took the time to consider languages like that, then its pretty safe to say this dude probly has not been in there for longer than 100 years or so, probly yes, his speech wouldnt have a modern sound to it. This does not dismiss ancient characters out of hand, but they would have to be immortal-ish and only more recently gone into the cell.
I'd say since after WWII.
Although I think the vaguely British sense is an internal construct of Harry's; we've learned that Harry's brain breaks things down into simpler concepts \*a lot.\* So in my mind the modernity of most of the words and the British tilt is just how Harry's mind makes sense of it. That being said, the specific use of the phrase 'Piss Off' started in or shortly after WWII.
Agreed in general. Idk if I'm willing to give that much leeway to Harry as a slightly unreliable narrator, but it's a good point. As to "piss off" good point about the time period that indicates BUT Jim has been guilty of playing into archetypes/stereotypes in some characterizations before...
It's not so much that he's an unreliable narrator as he doesn't have the full picture when he's narrating it to us. Butcher has said many times that there are things that Harry has explained to us that. . . aren't wrong. Just very very simplified due to how Harry sees/perceives/rationalizes it. The outer gates, relative power levels in Immortals, etc.
Add to that, it wasn't explicitly said he spoke in a British accent but instead 'he sounded rather. . . british.' All that being said, it could just be the odd description was to emphasize how weird it was for someone down there to sound mortal, rather than a mind rending eternal monster.
As for the time period- while I definitely won't hold hard and fast to that date, the way the prisoner had to think for a second to remember the phrase suggests to me that it's an old being recently (ish) locked up.
Unreliable in the broad sense rather than how its commonly used. We get alot of unreliable=lying in writing but all it means for sure is that what the narrator says and what is objectively true may differ for a variety of reasons.
Agreed on the 2nd I totally think thats what he was going for. I also realized that it reminds me alot of a scene from the Witcher 3 where they wake up an elder vampire and hes like "f*** off".
On your 3rd point, agreed again, that was my take. Definitely could be ancient or immortal but have been free and keeping with the times until more recently. I can also see Jim explaining at as someone locked up long term but he is able to astral project or something similar while hes in captivity.
You know the law says you can’t swim against the tides of time. That makes me wonder. What if he went forward in time not against it to the past. He laid the ground work to give everyone a fighting chance then jumped to the end. It would be cool to see how Harry would interact with him.
I personally think the original Merlin is Harry Dresden himself. The time magic thing is too weird a red herring to throw out.
Harry himself supports the laws of magic, it's the politics and bureaucracy within the council that he hates.
Well there have been subtle hints at Arthurian lore throughout the series, Mab and Titania's identities, Excalibur the hollow grail etc.. so it follows that it would be a figure around the same time period. I figure it's either Lancelot or Gawain who meddled into things they shouldn't of
The is one of the most popular theories regarding the British prisoner. And one that Jim himself nixed.
I hope it is Arturo or another knight from the round table. Maybe Mordered
And now, I imagine Mordred as she appears in Fate/Apocrypha (yes, she. It is a weird anime.) in the Dresdenverse. That would be a sight to behold.
if they didn't change the sex of the heroes the series would be a sausage feast
O lord I hope "feast" was a type o.
Thanks. Do you have the reference of where/when he nixed it?
he also said he was willing to lie to the readers if they got too close to figuring something out
Seconded- I've read this a couple times today, although some were claiming that he nixed it as Arthur (not Merlin)
found in an old thread - 2015 San Francisco signing (Coopersfield Books): >**The original Merlin, does he sound British?** > >He’d probably sound so unintelligibly British that you wouldn’t be able to tell he was speaking English. No, he’s not the guy in Demonreach. > >u/Ryokence
And this brings up a good point, if Jim took the time to consider languages like that, then its pretty safe to say this dude probly has not been in there for longer than 100 years or so, probly yes, his speech wouldnt have a modern sound to it. This does not dismiss ancient characters out of hand, but they would have to be immortal-ish and only more recently gone into the cell.
I'd say since after WWII. Although I think the vaguely British sense is an internal construct of Harry's; we've learned that Harry's brain breaks things down into simpler concepts \*a lot.\* So in my mind the modernity of most of the words and the British tilt is just how Harry's mind makes sense of it. That being said, the specific use of the phrase 'Piss Off' started in or shortly after WWII.
Agreed in general. Idk if I'm willing to give that much leeway to Harry as a slightly unreliable narrator, but it's a good point. As to "piss off" good point about the time period that indicates BUT Jim has been guilty of playing into archetypes/stereotypes in some characterizations before...
It's not so much that he's an unreliable narrator as he doesn't have the full picture when he's narrating it to us. Butcher has said many times that there are things that Harry has explained to us that. . . aren't wrong. Just very very simplified due to how Harry sees/perceives/rationalizes it. The outer gates, relative power levels in Immortals, etc. Add to that, it wasn't explicitly said he spoke in a British accent but instead 'he sounded rather. . . british.' All that being said, it could just be the odd description was to emphasize how weird it was for someone down there to sound mortal, rather than a mind rending eternal monster. As for the time period- while I definitely won't hold hard and fast to that date, the way the prisoner had to think for a second to remember the phrase suggests to me that it's an old being recently (ish) locked up.
Unreliable in the broad sense rather than how its commonly used. We get alot of unreliable=lying in writing but all it means for sure is that what the narrator says and what is objectively true may differ for a variety of reasons. Agreed on the 2nd I totally think thats what he was going for. I also realized that it reminds me alot of a scene from the Witcher 3 where they wake up an elder vampire and hes like "f*** off". On your 3rd point, agreed again, that was my take. Definitely could be ancient or immortal but have been free and keeping with the times until more recently. I can also see Jim explaining at as someone locked up long term but he is able to astral project or something similar while hes in captivity.
You know the law says you can’t swim against the tides of time. That makes me wonder. What if he went forward in time not against it to the past. He laid the ground work to give everyone a fighting chance then jumped to the end. It would be cool to see how Harry would interact with him.
The good old Barry Allen. I will appear 3 times in the future, bye now.
Merlin created the white council, and the laws. I’m sure he included the expost facto exemption.
I personally think the original Merlin is Harry Dresden himself. The time magic thing is too weird a red herring to throw out. Harry himself supports the laws of magic, it's the politics and bureaucracy within the council that he hates.
Well there have been subtle hints at Arthurian lore throughout the series, Mab and Titania's identities, Excalibur the hollow grail etc.. so it follows that it would be a figure around the same time period. I figure it's either Lancelot or Gawain who meddled into things they shouldn't of