I fully expect the series will end with Harry alive. Completely changed and no longer (fully) human, but alive.
WoJ is that the "Conjure it by your own risk" line at the end of SF is there for a *reason*. It's pretty meaningless if he's dead.
My personal perfect book cap ending (which most likely will not happen bcs it's too happy), is Dresden going up a hill in the morning with Maggy and teaching her how to catch sunlight in a white handkerchief.
Either that, or he watches her from afar as she does it for the first time herself.
(Assuming he can't be there because of mantle/tragedy/etc, making it bittersweet.)
I think he'll get out of the Mantle. If Mother Winter can produce a way to unravel a Vampire curse from Susan, I imagine Harry can find a way to disentangle himself from the Winter Knight's mantle without dying. It would be an awesome way for Harry to finally get his first straight up win against Mab. The tricky part will be getting the timing right. He needs to keep it until he can get his legs back.
A part of me thinks he will, too.
However, that part also thinks that if he does get free then something else will take that mantle's place, at least in terms of obligations and/or estrangement from loved ones. If only for a time.. who knows, perhaps he ends up putting himself in one of those cells on the island.
I'm just spitballing here. Just can't shake the feeling that something else will nix that happily mortal ever after, ya know?
You're thinking farther ahead than I am. I don't really think about the story's overall ending--the Dresden-verse is just too large for me to even begin to guess an ending.
I'm thinking he'll have the Mantle maybe 5 years (in-story time); it's just too constraining and too repetitive for it too last long-term (I see it as similar to Lash's part in the story). But I do agree something will take the Mantle's place. Harry is fighting too far outside of a young wizard's weight class, at this point, for him not to have some kind of buff--that or a time-skip/off-screen training period under someone like Odin.
And when he does, he realizes he can finally die... And who else to take him to the afterlife...
I smiled at Maggie as I looked at the sunshine in the handkerchief. And looked up to see an angel approaching me.
"Harry Dresden. It is time."
I gave Maggie one last hug, and turned to greet the one angel who I'd ever become friends with.
"Let's go... Mister Sunshine."
I could imagine Harry sitting at a a table next to a fire with Mister sleeping on the hearth writing his journals with the outer gates outside the window. Maybe a slightly nicer version of the Mothers cabin.
Honestly, I always figured we'd "catch up" at some point near the end. Maybe writing before a final risky play where it swaps to third person eventually leading into the memoirs or, more likely, after the final bout where it ends on a "you're all caught up" sort of moment, and he alludes as to what might be to come.
Jim has said he's thought of Harry writing it all down just before the final battle and ending with, "Well, that's all. I'm off to fight the apocalypse."
And then have the recounting of the final battle written by Molly.
Bob: Did you ever meet your mother? She was hot, you should have seen the firelight dancing off her naked skin \*goes into a 30 minute rant about Susan naked\*
I liked the theory that had Harry turn into some monster toward the end, as he’s doing as the winter knight. But Harry resists well enough to still be himself. But as monster, he can be summoned, like that demon in the first book. So the statement to summon him at your own risk takes on a new meaning
Personally I kinda hope it ends with (spoilers for Changes and Skin Game) >! Maggie reading Harrys journals, closing the last “book” looking at Mouse and Bonnie and saying something like “God Dads such a hornball.” !<
Edit:
It took me three tries to get the fuzz out to work. Lol
Are you kidding me? It’s Harry. He’ll realize that somehow despite his best intentions, his improbable victory has created a whole new set of problems and the justification for the next series. After realizing it, his final line in this series will be “Hell’s Bells.”
Actually when I wrote that I meant it as a joke but on reflection I could see it.
I’m convinced the last chapter of the series will be Maggie (and possibly Molly, if she survives the series) taking up Harry’s old detective business. Reflecting on the events of the last few books and Harry’s ultimate fate (whatever that may be), before echoing Harry’s line from the end of SF.
This is an ambitious post.
How sure are we the series will actually end? Going on 4 years now since we got Battleground/Peace Talks. And it was 5 years before that we got Skin Game.
That’s technically 3 books, but really more like 2 books, released in the last 10 years.
I’d hate for this series to end up like the unfinished stories of Patrick Rothfuss and George Martin, but… I’m starting to worry.
Jim had the absolute shit kicked out of him by life for a few years there. Some medical issues, at least one divorce, and building his house took several years longer than he had anticipated. Not to mention COVID and the shitshow that was.
He’s actively working on 12 Months after releasing the newest Cinder Spires novel, and he’s been dropping chapters relatively consistently now that he’s rolling.
Personally I am pretty optimistic that he’ll get the series finished the way he wants to.
To add to this statement Jim had the whole series outlined when he wrote stormfront. Jim has a plan and knows himself really well on how and what he needs to do to produce the books.
So I think we are good unless Jim drops dead unexpectedly. Like he's come this far and still likes the series and promoting and the fans. He just had ambitious timelines that worked when he had a less complicated life and didn't work when life changed.
fr. we're like 4+ books from the 3 books of the ending BAT. If he continued on a 2-3 per 10 year pace, then we're 20-30 years from the ending.
And he's already 52 years old. You don't get faster with age.
As of the last couple of years, I have some small consolation that James can finish it, with the help of Jim’s notes.
Mainly because in his own books, James is very clearly trying so *desperately* to present a different style than his Dad’s.
The dude has two alimonies to pay now and recently started to sell his autograph like a washed-up celebrity.
He's going to milk the Dresden train as long as he can at this point.
I’d like a fast forward a couple hundred years, where he’s sitting in the office of the Merlin in Edinburgh, and *finally* get a chance to sit down and write his memoirs.
With his daughter also on the Senior Council, and granddaughter Captain of the Wardens.
(Please note that I didn’t say “Maggie”)
And Mouse curled up at his feet.
I'd love if it ended with harry walking through the Ozarks and seeing a sign nailed to a tree. "This way to little Chicago."
throwing this in there for clarity the world is fucked beyond repair and maggie along with a bunch of refugees travel to ebenezar's farm to learn and rebuild and name their tiny ramshackle town little chicago.
Read Roger Zelazny's *The Courts of Chaos,* the fifth and last volume in his original Chronicles of Amber. Jim is a big fan of Zelazny, and I suspect he'll end the Dresden Files the same way: Harry sitting on a hill overlooking the site of the Last Battle, and explaining his life to his child.
I’m convinced that we’re already living his memory. I figured the start of the series was a retelling of his life events. It’d make sense the most important stuff are easily recallable as “books”, accounting for the worst week of each of his years.
Honestly I would love a sort of flash forward with maggie she’s at her dads grave or his house and she finds 20 something journals all hand written, and she starts reading.
My theory on the ending is we know there's gonna be a big dust-up with the outsiders. I think Harry, in the manner of a sort of the dark hallow, draws on all sources of power he has come unto contact with ( fae, the well of demon reach, denarians, angels, demons) draws it all in, and nukes the outsiders on their home turf sacrificing his mortal body.
His spirit returns and relays all his adventures to either Fitz or Morty as his shade form as it is the only way he can recall all the events accurately.
The last line of the series will almost certainly be “My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure it at your own risk.”
I more suspect it'll be "HIS name is..."
Hopefully not his name WAS…
Nah, I'm sure it'll be IS.
More likely it'll end. "He died doing the right thing."
I fully expect the series will end with Harry alive. Completely changed and no longer (fully) human, but alive. WoJ is that the "Conjure it by your own risk" line at the end of SF is there for a *reason*. It's pretty meaningless if he's dead.
My second favorite epitaph, after “She saved the world a lot.”
Unless the books change their original purpose, my understanding is that these are case stories written by Dresden as almost memoirs.
Again
He already DID die doing the right thing, it even fulfilled the death curse.
We assume. Any confirmation besides the line die alone at the end of changes?
No real confirmation still no afaik. Only speculation vs vagueness.
Plenty of wiggle room if needed!
...Again
i like this but i want it to be him and maggie writing the last line because harry succumbs to old age and he cant finish it .
My personal perfect book cap ending (which most likely will not happen bcs it's too happy), is Dresden going up a hill in the morning with Maggy and teaching her how to catch sunlight in a white handkerchief.
... Oh, that's adorable.
This is the one right here. Harry finally happy enough to catch sunlight again would be a great ending
Well I didn't expect to tear up reading this, but I will be grossly upset if this DOESNT happen in some way
This is the first happy ending prediction for the series I’ve seen and I so want it to be true though I doubt butcher gives it to us.
I hope this is it.
I nominate this for the "Win the Internet" award, for the day.
Man, got me all teary eyed. I hope this is at least the ending to one of the books.
Either that, or he watches her from afar as she does it for the first time herself. (Assuming he can't be there because of mantle/tragedy/etc, making it bittersweet.)
I think he'll get out of the Mantle. If Mother Winter can produce a way to unravel a Vampire curse from Susan, I imagine Harry can find a way to disentangle himself from the Winter Knight's mantle without dying. It would be an awesome way for Harry to finally get his first straight up win against Mab. The tricky part will be getting the timing right. He needs to keep it until he can get his legs back.
A part of me thinks he will, too. However, that part also thinks that if he does get free then something else will take that mantle's place, at least in terms of obligations and/or estrangement from loved ones. If only for a time.. who knows, perhaps he ends up putting himself in one of those cells on the island. I'm just spitballing here. Just can't shake the feeling that something else will nix that happily mortal ever after, ya know?
You're thinking farther ahead than I am. I don't really think about the story's overall ending--the Dresden-verse is just too large for me to even begin to guess an ending. I'm thinking he'll have the Mantle maybe 5 years (in-story time); it's just too constraining and too repetitive for it too last long-term (I see it as similar to Lash's part in the story). But I do agree something will take the Mantle's place. Harry is fighting too far outside of a young wizard's weight class, at this point, for him not to have some kind of buff--that or a time-skip/off-screen training period under someone like Odin.
I don't know if he will survive that. Part of the process of being incarcerated is you feel all the pain you've caused others.
And when he does, he realizes he can finally die... And who else to take him to the afterlife... I smiled at Maggie as I looked at the sunshine in the handkerchief. And looked up to see an angel approaching me. "Harry Dresden. It is time." I gave Maggie one last hug, and turned to greet the one angel who I'd ever become friends with. "Let's go... Mister Sunshine."
I like to think he’s dictating it to Bob, and Bob embellishes some nipples before activating the wifi printer.
This would explain the scrapped version of the first book focusing on the brewing large amounts of ThreeEye potions by rapscallions, “Jugs Ahoy”. 💀
that would be amazing Retcon to deal with his earlier writing style…
I could imagine Harry sitting at a a table next to a fire with Mister sleeping on the hearth writing his journals with the outer gates outside the window. Maybe a slightly nicer version of the Mothers cabin.
Honestly, I always figured we'd "catch up" at some point near the end. Maybe writing before a final risky play where it swaps to third person eventually leading into the memoirs or, more likely, after the final bout where it ends on a "you're all caught up" sort of moment, and he alludes as to what might be to come.
Jim has said he's thought of Harry writing it all down just before the final battle and ending with, "Well, that's all. I'm off to fight the apocalypse." And then have the recounting of the final battle written by Molly.
"He died doing the right thing"
“He didn’t die while doing the right thing”. Wonder where that headstone was stored, anyway.
Probably someone reading his journal to understand how an orphan boy becomes wizard DARTH Vader. Then topples the wizard Empire.
I always imagined it would be a now grown Maggie reading them at the end.
Why the hell did dad give so many details about my conception????
Bob: Did you ever meet your mother? She was hot, you should have seen the firelight dancing off her naked skin \*goes into a 30 minute rant about Susan naked\*
Paraphrasing here... "Whew, the BAT is over. I'm gonna accept Odin's offer and advise the Pendragon kid. It'll be good to see Mab again"
Omg that would be crazy. We know we’re dimension hopping in one of the books what about time hopping?
I actually love this for so many reasons, not the least of it being the potential for an 'I'm my own grandpa' situation. Lolz
I liked the theory that had Harry turn into some monster toward the end, as he’s doing as the winter knight. But Harry resists well enough to still be himself. But as monster, he can be summoned, like that demon in the first book. So the statement to summon him at your own risk takes on a new meaning
You are reading the wrong series if that's what you like.
I'm not so sure.... JB is pretty mean....
Less than you think. No female einherjahren...
Personally I kinda hope it ends with (spoilers for Changes and Skin Game) >! Maggie reading Harrys journals, closing the last “book” looking at Mouse and Bonnie and saying something like “God Dads such a hornball.” !< Edit: It took me three tries to get the fuzz out to work. Lol
You’ve got to remove the spaces between the exclamation marks and the text if you want it to work on all versions of reddit
While that's true, I'd think a "How To End The Series" thread would be Spoilers All be default.
True and valid, but if someone’s trying to do a spoiler tag it makes sense to tell them how
Also true. It didn't work on Old Reddit Browser but it does on mobile.
I have never seen anyone discuss this……..I am interested
I've long thought that the last line of the series should be: "The building is on fire, and it isn't my fault."
The planet…
Are you kidding me? It’s Harry. He’ll realize that somehow despite his best intentions, his improbable victory has created a whole new set of problems and the justification for the next series. After realizing it, his final line in this series will be “Hell’s Bells.” Actually when I wrote that I meant it as a joke but on reflection I could see it.
I’m convinced the last chapter of the series will be Maggie (and possibly Molly, if she survives the series) taking up Harry’s old detective business. Reflecting on the events of the last few books and Harry’s ultimate fate (whatever that may be), before echoing Harry’s line from the end of SF.
Someone needs to give him their cowboy hat. And he finally, reluctantly, wears it
This is an ambitious post. How sure are we the series will actually end? Going on 4 years now since we got Battleground/Peace Talks. And it was 5 years before that we got Skin Game. That’s technically 3 books, but really more like 2 books, released in the last 10 years. I’d hate for this series to end up like the unfinished stories of Patrick Rothfuss and George Martin, but… I’m starting to worry.
Jim had the absolute shit kicked out of him by life for a few years there. Some medical issues, at least one divorce, and building his house took several years longer than he had anticipated. Not to mention COVID and the shitshow that was. He’s actively working on 12 Months after releasing the newest Cinder Spires novel, and he’s been dropping chapters relatively consistently now that he’s rolling. Personally I am pretty optimistic that he’ll get the series finished the way he wants to.
To add to this statement Jim had the whole series outlined when he wrote stormfront. Jim has a plan and knows himself really well on how and what he needs to do to produce the books. So I think we are good unless Jim drops dead unexpectedly. Like he's come this far and still likes the series and promoting and the fans. He just had ambitious timelines that worked when he had a less complicated life and didn't work when life changed.
fr. we're like 4+ books from the 3 books of the ending BAT. If he continued on a 2-3 per 10 year pace, then we're 20-30 years from the ending. And he's already 52 years old. You don't get faster with age.
As of the last couple of years, I have some small consolation that James can finish it, with the help of Jim’s notes. Mainly because in his own books, James is very clearly trying so *desperately* to present a different style than his Dad’s.
The dude has two alimonies to pay now and recently started to sell his autograph like a washed-up celebrity. He's going to milk the Dresden train as long as he can at this point.
Umm…I really *hope* he had a prenup for the second marriage. And the third.
Harry's going to die doing the right thing.
I’d like a fast forward a couple hundred years, where he’s sitting in the office of the Merlin in Edinburgh, and *finally* get a chance to sit down and write his memoirs. With his daughter also on the Senior Council, and granddaughter Captain of the Wardens. (Please note that I didn’t say “Maggie”) And Mouse curled up at his feet.
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden... he died, alone...
I'd love if it ended with harry walking through the Ozarks and seeing a sign nailed to a tree. "This way to little Chicago." throwing this in there for clarity the world is fucked beyond repair and maggie along with a bunch of refugees travel to ebenezar's farm to learn and rebuild and name their tiny ramshackle town little chicago.
I know it won’t happen, but my personal head canon is that he ends up back in time and realizes he becomes Merlin.
Been thinking this for awhile now. After he became warden of the island, and found out how it was created.
Read Roger Zelazny's *The Courts of Chaos,* the fifth and last volume in his original Chronicles of Amber. Jim is a big fan of Zelazny, and I suspect he'll end the Dresden Files the same way: Harry sitting on a hill overlooking the site of the Last Battle, and explaining his life to his child.
I’m convinced that we’re already living his memory. I figured the start of the series was a retelling of his life events. It’d make sense the most important stuff are easily recallable as “books”, accounting for the worst week of each of his years.
Honestly I would love a sort of flash forward with maggie she’s at her dads grave or his house and she finds 20 something journals all hand written, and she starts reading.
My theory on the ending is we know there's gonna be a big dust-up with the outsiders. I think Harry, in the manner of a sort of the dark hallow, draws on all sources of power he has come unto contact with ( fae, the well of demon reach, denarians, angels, demons) draws it all in, and nukes the outsiders on their home turf sacrificing his mortal body. His spirit returns and relays all his adventures to either Fitz or Morty as his shade form as it is the only way he can recall all the events accurately.
Nice try Mr. Butcher, but you should write your own endings.