November 28, 2025 • 31 mins
SPOILER WARNING for The Dresden Files With the next installment of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, 12 Months due to release on 1/20/26, I thought it was time to start making some predictions!Please SUBSCRIBE: https://youtube.com/@belatedbingeJoin Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BelatedBingeSocials:IG: https://www.instagram.com/belatedbingeTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@belatedbingeFree FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1bZFKLYbkM28Hg8v/Shoutout to these channels for their awesome work that led to some of the visual elements of these videos as well as all the fan artists who’s work is so inspiring and being used with only fair use intentions:Priscilla Spencerhttps://youtube.com/@priscellieHarry Dresdenhttps://youtube.com/@harrydresden3405
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
January 20th, 2026, a date everyDresden Files fan has had marked
on their calendar since what seems like forever.
That's the day that 12 months the next book in the Dresden
Files series releases, and it's continuing to draw nearer and
nearer. With that being the case, I
(00:22):
thought it was time we should start making some predictions.
The Belated Binge podcast and welcome to Belated Baby.
My name is Zach, former radio host and lifelong sports fan,
currently discovering the magic of urban fantasy through the
Dresden Files series. Subscribe on whatever app that
you are using right now. And let's get into today's
(00:44):
discussion about 12 months that is upcoming and spoilers for all
the things that have happened inthe Dresden Files so far.
I thought that we would start today with what we know.
It's called 12 months because it's going to take place over
the course of a year of Harry's life.
Now, that is different from the series that it's been to this
(01:08):
point in time. Jim Butcher often describes
these books as each book being the worst week of Harry's year.
This time we're going to actually see a a whole year.
So that's going to be different.And I, I remember seeing in some
interviews where he's talked about the challenges that that
(01:28):
is presented in writing because normally it's this, you know,
super high paced, one thing after another, just beating
Harry up for a few days and then, you know, let him go for a
year, fill us in later on. What happened this time he
actually has to go through the entire year.
(01:49):
And so it's supposed to show thelike fallout, the emotional toll
that is taken on this character,Harry Dresden, all the things
that he's been through with likely an emphasis on losing
Murphy, obviously in Battleground.
But it's again, a completely different look, a shift in tone,
a shift in way we get to see Harry in his life.
(02:14):
And Battleground left us with two separate plot points that
are all tied to this same timeline that's being explored
because they're both supposed tobe concluded within that time
period. The first one was Listens to
Wind, who told Harry that he would go about whatever process
(02:36):
is needed in order to gain permission from whoever to
explain to Harry what being starborn means and what the
expression stars and stones actually means.
Because obviously, and I believethis actually took place in
peace talks, not battleground, but it was Ebenezer that was
(02:58):
like, you know, stop using that expression.
You don't even know what it means.
Well he might find out but listens to when said he needed a
year to get the proper sign off to get the proper permissions
from whoever it is that needs togrant it for Harry to know about
(03:21):
himself. The second thing is the the
negotiated, I guess you could say period of time that they
that Harry and Lara and Molly helped with this as well.
You talked mad into allowing them to have a year of basically
(03:45):
courtship before they're arranged marriage actually takes
place. So we've got these two plot
points. Major plot points for Harry are
are Wizard of Chicago to have todeal with and navigate that are
all tied to this kind of arbitrary deadline of one year
(04:08):
from battleground taking place. And so that's what 12 months is
going to explore presumably right that year.
And here's the description that we have for the book based on,
honestly, I don't remember whichapp that I pulled this from, but
it's the description that came with, you know, promoting the
(04:31):
book. Harry Dresden, Chicago's only
professional wizard, has always managed to save the day.
But in this powerful entry in the number one New York Times
best selling Dresden Files, can he save himself?
One year, 365 days, 12 months? Harry Dresden's been through a
(04:52):
lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies
narrowly managed to save Chicagofrom being razed to the ground,
everything is different, and it's not just the current lack
of electricity. In the battle, Harry lost people
he cared about, and that's the kind of loss that takes a toll.
Harry being Harry, he's doing his level best to help the city
(05:14):
and his friends recover and rebuild, but it's a heavy load,
and he needs time. But time is one thing Harry
doesn't have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and
taking out innocent civilians. Harry's brother is dying, and
Harry doesn't know how to help him.
And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the
Fae has allied with the White Court of Vampires, and Harry's
(05:37):
been betrothed to the seductive,deadly vampire Lara Wraith to
seal the deal. It's been a tough year.
More than ever, the city needs Harry Dresden the wizard.
But after loss and grief, is there enough left of Harry
Dresden the man to rise to the challenge?
(05:58):
Are there people who know more than this?
Undoubtedly. I'm sure advance copies of the
books have been read, sent out, speculated upon, feedback given.
I'm not on that list. So that's what I in the general
public know to be fact about theupcoming book. 12 months.
(06:23):
Can we speculate? Yeah, we absolutely can.
Why else would we be here? And if you want early access to
that speculating as well as other bonus content and perks,
join patreonpatreon.com/belated Binge.
There is a link in the description.
And today we're going to speculate on some 12 month
(06:45):
predictions. I've shared some of this in bite
sized chunks at Belated binge onsocial media, but I wanted to
dig in further and talk to you with just more thoughts and and
fleshing out these predictions or theories or speculations,
whatever you want to call them. I've got five of them as of
(07:06):
right this second that I want toshare with you today.
The first one of these is that Ithink that Harry is going to
spend the entire book trying to figure out a way out of marrying
Lara Wraith, just to figure out by the end he actually wants to.
(07:26):
But because he wants to, it's not going to happen.
And there's going to be some kind of crazy chaotic reason
aside from Jim Butcher liking tojust pummel Harry and take
everything away from him and just beat him into submission
with every single book in this series.
And the reason that I think thatit's AI think it's very
(07:51):
plausible that he's going to obviously be trying to get out
of this arranged marriage. It's arranged.
It wasn't his idea. He doesn't want to do it.
He's terrified of Lara. Not I mean, well, he probably is
terrified of Lara, right? They go back and forth.
But I think that, and I talked about this in a previous episode
on this podcast about how the two of them actually do work
(08:13):
really well together. And there actually could be
something very compelling about having those two team up in a
more regular fashion or I guess even a more romantic fashion, if
you will. Well, you would because it's a
marriage, I guess. I guess you will.
(08:34):
So some of the reasons for that,and I'm in for this, it's less
about the actual physical attraction part.
This is less about the potentialromantic storyline.
It's more about the fact that these two actually do make
incredibly astute, poignant, effective allies when they team
(09:00):
up and having the pair of them team up more often and in a more
organized fashion and not have this.
They always have this sort of like the necessary, I guess like
song and dance that they have togo through every single time
(09:21):
they come together where it's like, oh, we're actually
enemies. Oh, we're going to throw some
threats at each other because, oh, we're both dangerous to each
other and ah, you're bad and I'mrighteous and whatever else.
But it never holds any water at all or has any actual bearing on
(09:42):
the plot or the story that's taking place.
Usually it's a couple of back and forth quibbles and then they
realize that it's in their best interest to work together.
And that's the they give themselves their little truce
and we're, we're working together just through this.
And then we'll go back to hatingeach other after this.
And then the next time they haveto come together, Well, we're
(10:03):
going to work together for this.And then we'll we'll, we'll go
back to hating each other after this.
And I think at some point in time, we just have to come to
the realization that these two don't actually hate each other
and they actually just work together really well.
And so seeing the, I guess, seeing the benefit of that could
be something that happens for him over the course of the 12
(10:26):
months that it's spanning both up to their, you know, arranged
nuptials. And I think it's plenty of time
for Harry to have some kind of arealization that like, oh, this
would actually potentially be good.
And of course, then they're theycan also have some kind of, you
know, because there is a physical attraction, obviously.
(10:47):
So you can work that in as well.I'm not the romance writer, not
really my bag, but that's why I think that he will ultimately.
I think that's the foundation ofwhich you can build upon, having
him actually want to be aligned with her more directly.
(11:10):
And then again, because Jim Butcher takes everything away
from Harry Dresden, he's going to take away that ally ship in
some form or fashion. I don't know if it'll be tied to
them finally getting Thomas out and or maybe they can't save
Thomas and that's the, you know,straw that breaks the camel's
(11:33):
back. I guess for the old metaphor,
Maybe that's where Lara, you know, finally loses it and snaps
because she almost snapped when he put him in there in the 1st
place because of that communication issue, all that
stuff that we have already seen.So that's my, that's my
(11:54):
thoughts, I guess on on theory prediction number one for the
book. And I, I'm interested to see
where they take that because it could be very, very compelling.
And obviously they're going to spend a lot of time on it
because we've got our arbitrary deadline.
So the second prediction, I guess you I keep calling these
(12:17):
predictions really they're guesses, let's be real, is that
Harry's going to reveal some kind of plan that he had to
thwart the Black Council that involved getting himself removed
from the White Council on purpose.
Now with this, and I've seen some people speculating about
this on TikTok. By the way, my TikTok has been
(12:39):
awesome here lately since I started making videos about
Dresden Files. Somehow the algorithm has found
the fans of Dresden and they areflocking to my TikTok and I am
just stoked about it because every time I post about this
series and this character, I geta lot of great discussion in the
comments and that's literally what I do it for.
So some of that has pointed out people with theories that Carlos
(13:06):
has been Harry's inside man within the council this whole
time. And that him being the one to
investigate him, him being the one to actually tell him he's
been exiled from the White Council has all been kind of
part of the plan to get Harry out of there and have Ramirez on
(13:28):
the inside as his, you know, mole.
So I think that could be that could be something that we see
as part of that plan. But even if it's not, I think
that there's going to be some kind of, you know, underlined,
underlined plan that Harry has that he needed to be separated
(13:49):
from the White Council out of the, I guess, like removed from
the political nature of being a part of the White Council in
order to properly investigate the Black Council's infiltration
of the White Council in the 1st place.
And so I think that that's goingto be revealed somewhere in 12
(14:11):
months. I don't, I don't know that it'll
be, I don't think it'll be culminated.
I don't think we'll get a resolution to that whole story
arc within 12 months. But I do think that there is
going to be some kind of a reveal towards that.
Like, yeah, I, I had to get, youknow, I had to get myself
(14:32):
removed so that I can investigate them in this way I
can go more on offense and not have to be constantly playing
defense within the the walls. I think Ebenezer as a part of
that whole thing was not in on Harry's plan to get himself
removed. And he's going to be super
pissed when he finds out about it.
(14:54):
But he will ultimately be supportive once he gets over his
hatred for the White Court and Harry's attachment to them.
But I think that particular partis going to take longer than the
12 months book. I think it's going to take
multiple books for that to actually get a resolution,
(15:15):
especially with the whole Harry's engaged to Lara part of
this whole thing. Like I don't think Ebenezer is
going to be able to get over that shit.
So his his part in that is goingto extend beyond this book and
going to be like a future, a future thing that gets resolved
(15:36):
within that. But again, I think it's all part
of that Black Council story plotand Harry's, Harry's
investigation into them or, or his intention to bring them
down. And he had to get himself taken
out of the White Council in order to do his plan for that.
(16:00):
The third prediction that I haveis that Harry is going to learn
what Starborn means. And he's also going to learn
within that that all the people he trusted or has relied upon
have kept that from him as some part of a like plan to use him
(16:22):
or at least to gratify their ownends, a means for their own
agenda, if you will. And I think that some of those
are going to be like Ebenezer, who I mentioned a second ago,
his agenda is going to be like out of love for Harry and
(16:45):
thinking that he knows best for Harry.
And he's he's doing it because he doesn't want to.
He wants to protect Harry and thinks that he knows you know
better than he does. That's how we've seen him treat
pretty much everything else. That's why he let Harry be an
orphan without telling him he was his own grandfather.
(17:06):
That's why he wanted to Harry toget rid of Maggie.
That's why they he didn't actually raise Harry's mom until
she actually showed power and hebecame more like hit her your
(17:26):
mentor if you will. And they changed her name.
Like she wasn't, she wasn't Maggie McCoy, she was Maggie La
Faye, all part of this whole like secrecy and the way that
Ebenezer seems to work in terms of the way that he protects the
(17:48):
people that he cares about. He does it all through, like all
through secrecy and all through separation from them and
separation of them from the truth.
He hasn't told Harry almost anything about his mother.
Almost nothing. Even after Harry figured out
that his mother was Mccoy's daughter, they still have barely
(18:12):
talked about her. He's literally told him almost
nothing. All secrecy with McCoy.
And so I think that's that's essentially his agenda with the
star born thing. I think the Merlin isn't on
this. I think the Merlin doesn't want
Harry to know about what being starborn means because he's
(18:33):
trying to protect his own power and interests from what Harry
could become. Whether that be taking over the
White Council in some way or being an adversary to the White
Council in some way or just taking down the Merlin because
we haven't cleared the Merlin from being corrupt.
(18:54):
We've got, there's multiple layers to that.
And we know that the Merlin hates Harry like a lot.
And so I think this is part of why he hates Harry and why he
and others within the council have been treating Harry as so
dangerous and like such a, a, what's that?
(19:17):
What am I thinking about? Like a like a bomb just ready to
explode or whatever. I can't think of the analogy
that I'm trying to go for it in this moment, but I think that's
going to be his angle in this whole thing.
I think his godmother knows and she probably made some kind of
promise to his mother not to tell him and, or to again
(19:39):
protect him in some way. And so we might get, I think we
might get some, I think we mightget something throughout this
year between him and his godmother to give him a little
bit more information about his mother, because obviously she's
the one that gave birth to him in this whole being starborn
thing is tied to the exact moment of his birth.
(20:00):
So I think there's there's got to be some kind of exploration
that we're still owed on Harry'smom.
And I think that could be a coolway to get there.
And. I think that there's going to be
others that are involved with that as well.
And that kind of parlays into the prediction #4 because I
(20:20):
think that the reveal of what being Starborn means is going to
bring bigger characters into thestory than the ones that we know
from Harry's normal circle and the ones that we've actually
encountered so far. Because Four listens to Wind,
who is an incredibly high-ranking and powerful wizard
(20:43):
within this world, right? Can do a lot of crazy shit,
knows a lot of information, and has been alive for a long as
time. If it was just about him getting
permission from the Merlin to tell Harry what the hell is
going on, he wouldn't need a year to get the clearance that
(21:03):
he needs to do that from just the Merlin.
There's got to be more to it than that.
I mean, I don't know. Could like Uriel be part of
this? Could Odin be part of this?
Perhaps. Maybe it's a maybe there's we.
I mean, I know we know that Mab knows as well, and she hasn't
(21:26):
told me either. Maybe it's a collective of like
supernatural powers that somehowlike govern this thing that you
know, and she's a part of it. Again, I and I didn't mention
earlier what her angle is her angle on not telling Harry is
she wants to use him and it likeas a weapon in her own wars,
(21:48):
whether that be against the outsiders, whether that be
against like other powers like the White Council, for instance.
Like I think her motive is is fairly straightforward, at least
in my mind on that. But she could be part of this
like supernatural governing bodyover this type of information.
But I kind of think that it's even bigger than that because
(22:11):
that that suggested that they have more a more cordial like
relationship among all those different supernatural powers.
And we've seen a lot of evidenceto the contrary.
They were able to come together during peace talks to, to, to,
to, to like come together and fight in battleground, I guess.
(22:34):
But it's they don't really, they're not chumming it up a
whole lot and they all have their conflicting agendas.
So the idea that it's just that collection of people that we
already know seems iffy to me. So I think it's going to be
like, I think it's going to be the introduction of some kind of
like new, even more powerful being to this world because at
(22:59):
this point, we've faced A literal Titan.
And unless Jim Butcher completely shifts gears, I have
to assume that the power within this series is going to continue
to escalate the way that it has so far.
But who that power actually belongs to at this point, I'm
(23:20):
not sure. I could even guess.
Like we're talking about the circumstance of somebody's
birth, like the exact moment andlike the destiny or like
prophetic nature accompanying that that birth and and the
exact moment that it happened. And it only happens every what,
(23:42):
several 100 years? Are we talking like Zeus level
God? Are we talking with a capital G?
Like, what are we, what are we really talking about as far as
the the the next level that thiscould even go to?
And on top of that, the only other Starborn we actually know
(24:04):
of and have met in the series, at least that I can recall or
that has been revealed to this point, is draw Cool.
If he's Starborn, does that giveus any clues as to like, who is
governing the information? Could it somehow be tied to the
vampires? Is that maybe another part,
(24:27):
another layer as to why Ebenezerhates them so much?
I don't know. I don't.
I feel like it can't just be a vampire thing, right?
Because why would Listens to Wind need to parlay with the
vampires to get permission to tell Harry what it means that
(24:47):
he's Starborn? And what does vampires have to
do with being protected, I guessagainst like the outsiders and
being able to fight them? Like, I don't know that that all
doesn't that all doesn't reconcile in my pea brain.
So I'm not sure that it has a whole lot of bearing, but I do
(25:08):
think that it is. I think it is going to be a
vehicle to the next escalation of power within the series.
The last prediction that I have about 12 months is a little bit
would would this be a a way to say would this?
(25:31):
Is this what Meta actually means?
Not like Instagram and Facebook,but the actual term meta, the
the the real word like because Ithink that the new novella
outlaw that was announced that you can pre-order at this moment
(25:51):
for like may. I think it's a little bit of
like a spoiler hint because it comes out obviously after 12
months. And I think that being titled
outlaw suggests that at the end of 12 months, Harry is going to
be an outlaw. And how is he not already an
(26:16):
outlaw? He already got removed from the
White Council. So I have a couple of thoughts
as to how he gets there. One could be that he either
breaks one of the laws of magic in order to get through whatever
he has to get through in 12 months, which would leave him as
(26:37):
a fugitive and outlaw of the White Council because they're
the governing body over the lawsof magic.
So he could do that. Or he could actually manage to
break himself free of the WinterMantle, putting him outside of
Mab's Law and Winter's Law in addition to the White Council's
(27:00):
Law. And so because he's now been
broken away from the White Council and broken away from
Winter, like he's completely on his own and outside and probably
has people gunning for him from all factions of, you know, power
and governance within this world.
And so it literally makes him anoutlaw from everybody.
(27:23):
Granted, I, and, and I've also, I have seen some people
speculating on, again, on, on inlike my comment section in
TikTok that the way that he's going to break free from winter
is by getting with Lara and having her demon feed on the
winter mantle and ultimately kill the winter mantle.
(27:46):
And that's how he's going to be released from Mab's influence
over him, which I do think is aninteresting theory and, and
thought process to go through. And if there's a good time to do
that, it might be during 12 months when the two of them are
(28:06):
in this forced courtship. So maybe that could maybe that
could be where we're heading. I'm not 100% sure that I'm fully
committed to that, but I think it's telling.
Again, you can't you can't say that you're you're releasing A
novella that you can already pre-order called Outlaw and not
(28:28):
come to the conclusion that whatever happens in 12 months,
it's going to leave Harry as a proverbial outlaw, obviously.
So it's where this fun speculation is again, in between
how does he get there and what do we truly mean by outlaw?
Because this entire series, Harry has comported himself like
(28:50):
an outlaw. He's been the outsider in all of
his, you know, situations all the way from book one, whether
that was when he had the doom ofDamocles over his head, whether
that was him being a wizard openly in Chicago where
(29:11):
everybody thinks he's an absolute nut case.
He's an outlaw from the Police Department that is totally fine
with using him in investigations, but also has no
problem believing that he's the one that did it in his guilty
and throwing him in jail and calling him a charlatan the
entire time that they're using his expertise.
(29:32):
You've got the White Counsel who, even after lifting the Doom
of Damocles off of him, has treated him as if he's just a a
rogue sorcerer who's full of black magic and just a ticking
(29:53):
time bomb, who has an agenda to take down their whole way of
life. The whole time he's always been
treated as a threat within his own actual, you know, wizarding
organization. He's been literally in outlaw in
terms of being suspected of portraying like murders and he's
(30:19):
been on the run from the real law and magical law.
And now he's, you know, the winter night.
And that's pretty much outlaw position.
Like it's kind of the whole gig.And so I I think that outlaw is
an interesting use of phrase, I guess, for that next novella to
(30:45):
think like, how is that different than what Harry has
been this whole time and 12 months is where we're going to
find out what makes that different than what we've seen
this whole time. What do you think?
Which of these predictions do you think is most likely to
actually hit? Do you have any of your own?
(31:07):
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(31:28):
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Belated Binge.
January 20th, 2026, a date everyDresden Files fan has had marked
on their calendar since what seems like forever.
That's the day that 12 months the next book in the Dresden
Files series releases, and it's continuing to draw nearer and
nearer. With that being the case, I
(00:22):
thought it was time we should start making some predictions.
The Belated Binge podcast and welcome to Belated Baby.
My name is Zach, former radio host and lifelong sports fan,
currently discovering the magic of urban fantasy through the
Dresden Files series. Subscribe on whatever app that
you are using right now. And let's get into today's
(00:44):
discussion about 12 months that is upcoming and spoilers for all
the things that have happened inthe Dresden Files so far.
I thought that we would start today with what we know.
It's called 12 months because it's going to take place over
the course of a year of Harry's life.
Now, that is different from the series that it's been to this
(01:08):
point in time. Jim Butcher often describes
these books as each book being the worst week of Harry's year.
This time we're going to actually see a a whole year.
So that's going to be different.And I, I remember seeing in some
interviews where he's talked about the challenges that that
(01:28):
is presented in writing because normally it's this, you know,
super high paced, one thing after another, just beating
Harry up for a few days and then, you know, let him go for a
year, fill us in later on. What happened this time he
actually has to go through the entire year.
(01:49):
And so it's supposed to show thelike fallout, the emotional toll
that is taken on this character,Harry Dresden, all the things
that he's been through with likely an emphasis on losing
Murphy, obviously in Battleground.
But it's again, a completely different look, a shift in tone,
a shift in way we get to see Harry in his life.
(02:14):
And Battleground left us with two separate plot points that
are all tied to this same timeline that's being explored
because they're both supposed tobe concluded within that time
period. The first one was Listens to
Wind, who told Harry that he would go about whatever process
(02:36):
is needed in order to gain permission from whoever to
explain to Harry what being starborn means and what the
expression stars and stones actually means.
Because obviously, and I believethis actually took place in
peace talks, not battleground, but it was Ebenezer that was
(02:58):
like, you know, stop using that expression.
You don't even know what it means.
Well he might find out but listens to when said he needed a
year to get the proper sign off to get the proper permissions
from whoever it is that needs togrant it for Harry to know about
(03:21):
himself. The second thing is the the
negotiated, I guess you could say period of time that they
that Harry and Lara and Molly helped with this as well.
You talked mad into allowing them to have a year of basically
(03:45):
courtship before they're arranged marriage actually takes
place. So we've got these two plot
points. Major plot points for Harry are
are Wizard of Chicago to have todeal with and navigate that are
all tied to this kind of arbitrary deadline of one year
(04:08):
from battleground taking place. And so that's what 12 months is
going to explore presumably right that year.
And here's the description that we have for the book based on,
honestly, I don't remember whichapp that I pulled this from, but
it's the description that came with, you know, promoting the
(04:31):
book. Harry Dresden, Chicago's only
professional wizard, has always managed to save the day.
But in this powerful entry in the number one New York Times
best selling Dresden Files, can he save himself?
One year, 365 days, 12 months? Harry Dresden's been through a
(04:52):
lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies
narrowly managed to save Chicagofrom being razed to the ground,
everything is different, and it's not just the current lack
of electricity. In the battle, Harry lost people
he cared about, and that's the kind of loss that takes a toll.
Harry being Harry, he's doing his level best to help the city
(05:14):
and his friends recover and rebuild, but it's a heavy load,
and he needs time. But time is one thing Harry
doesn't have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and
taking out innocent civilians. Harry's brother is dying, and
Harry doesn't know how to help him.
And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the
Fae has allied with the White Court of Vampires, and Harry's
(05:37):
been betrothed to the seductive,deadly vampire Lara Wraith to
seal the deal. It's been a tough year.
More than ever, the city needs Harry Dresden the wizard.
But after loss and grief, is there enough left of Harry
Dresden the man to rise to the challenge?
(05:58):
Are there people who know more than this?
Undoubtedly. I'm sure advance copies of the
books have been read, sent out, speculated upon, feedback given.
I'm not on that list. So that's what I in the general
public know to be fact about theupcoming book. 12 months.
(06:23):
Can we speculate? Yeah, we absolutely can.
Why else would we be here? And if you want early access to
that speculating as well as other bonus content and perks,
join patreonpatreon.com/belated Binge.
There is a link in the description.
And today we're going to speculate on some 12 month
(06:45):
predictions. I've shared some of this in bite
sized chunks at Belated binge onsocial media, but I wanted to
dig in further and talk to you with just more thoughts and and
fleshing out these predictions or theories or speculations,
whatever you want to call them. I've got five of them as of
(07:06):
right this second that I want toshare with you today.
The first one of these is that Ithink that Harry is going to
spend the entire book trying to figure out a way out of marrying
Lara Wraith, just to figure out by the end he actually wants to.
(07:26):
But because he wants to, it's not going to happen.
And there's going to be some kind of crazy chaotic reason
aside from Jim Butcher liking tojust pummel Harry and take
everything away from him and just beat him into submission
with every single book in this series.
And the reason that I think thatit's AI think it's very
(07:51):
plausible that he's going to obviously be trying to get out
of this arranged marriage. It's arranged.
It wasn't his idea. He doesn't want to do it.
He's terrified of Lara. Not I mean, well, he probably is
terrified of Lara, right? They go back and forth.
But I think that, and I talked about this in a previous episode
on this podcast about how the two of them actually do work
(08:13):
really well together. And there actually could be
something very compelling about having those two team up in a
more regular fashion or I guess even a more romantic fashion, if
you will. Well, you would because it's a
marriage, I guess. I guess you will.
(08:34):
So some of the reasons for that,and I'm in for this, it's less
about the actual physical attraction part.
This is less about the potentialromantic storyline.
It's more about the fact that these two actually do make
incredibly astute, poignant, effective allies when they team
(09:00):
up and having the pair of them team up more often and in a more
organized fashion and not have this.
They always have this sort of like the necessary, I guess like
song and dance that they have togo through every single time
(09:21):
they come together where it's like, oh, we're actually
enemies. Oh, we're going to throw some
threats at each other because, oh, we're both dangerous to each
other and ah, you're bad and I'mrighteous and whatever else.
But it never holds any water at all or has any actual bearing on
(09:42):
the plot or the story that's taking place.
Usually it's a couple of back and forth quibbles and then they
realize that it's in their best interest to work together.
And that's the they give themselves their little truce
and we're, we're working together just through this.
And then we'll go back to hatingeach other after this.
And then the next time they haveto come together, Well, we're
(10:03):
going to work together for this.And then we'll we'll, we'll go
back to hating each other after this.
And I think at some point in time, we just have to come to
the realization that these two don't actually hate each other
and they actually just work together really well.
And so seeing the, I guess, seeing the benefit of that could
be something that happens for him over the course of the 12
(10:26):
months that it's spanning both up to their, you know, arranged
nuptials. And I think it's plenty of time
for Harry to have some kind of arealization that like, oh, this
would actually potentially be good.
And of course, then they're theycan also have some kind of, you
know, because there is a physical attraction, obviously.
(10:47):
So you can work that in as well.I'm not the romance writer, not
really my bag, but that's why I think that he will ultimately.
I think that's the foundation ofwhich you can build upon, having
him actually want to be aligned with her more directly.
(11:10):
And then again, because Jim Butcher takes everything away
from Harry Dresden, he's going to take away that ally ship in
some form or fashion. I don't know if it'll be tied to
them finally getting Thomas out and or maybe they can't save
Thomas and that's the, you know,straw that breaks the camel's
(11:33):
back. I guess for the old metaphor,
Maybe that's where Lara, you know, finally loses it and snaps
because she almost snapped when he put him in there in the 1st
place because of that communication issue, all that
stuff that we have already seen.So that's my, that's my
(11:54):
thoughts, I guess on on theory prediction number one for the
book. And I, I'm interested to see
where they take that because it could be very, very compelling.
And obviously they're going to spend a lot of time on it
because we've got our arbitrary deadline.
So the second prediction, I guess you I keep calling these
(12:17):
predictions really they're guesses, let's be real, is that
Harry's going to reveal some kind of plan that he had to
thwart the Black Council that involved getting himself removed
from the White Council on purpose.
Now with this, and I've seen some people speculating about
this on TikTok. By the way, my TikTok has been
(12:39):
awesome here lately since I started making videos about
Dresden Files. Somehow the algorithm has found
the fans of Dresden and they areflocking to my TikTok and I am
just stoked about it because every time I post about this
series and this character, I geta lot of great discussion in the
comments and that's literally what I do it for.
So some of that has pointed out people with theories that Carlos
(13:06):
has been Harry's inside man within the council this whole
time. And that him being the one to
investigate him, him being the one to actually tell him he's
been exiled from the White Council has all been kind of
part of the plan to get Harry out of there and have Ramirez on
(13:28):
the inside as his, you know, mole.
So I think that could be that could be something that we see
as part of that plan. But even if it's not, I think
that there's going to be some kind of, you know, underlined,
underlined plan that Harry has that he needed to be separated
(13:49):
from the White Council out of the, I guess, like removed from
the political nature of being a part of the White Council in
order to properly investigate the Black Council's infiltration
of the White Council in the 1st place.
And so I think that that's goingto be revealed somewhere in 12
(14:11):
months. I don't, I don't know that it'll
be, I don't think it'll be culminated.
I don't think we'll get a resolution to that whole story
arc within 12 months. But I do think that there is
going to be some kind of a reveal towards that.
Like, yeah, I, I had to get, youknow, I had to get myself
(14:32):
removed so that I can investigate them in this way I
can go more on offense and not have to be constantly playing
defense within the the walls. I think Ebenezer as a part of
that whole thing was not in on Harry's plan to get himself
removed. And he's going to be super
pissed when he finds out about it.
(14:54):
But he will ultimately be supportive once he gets over his
hatred for the White Court and Harry's attachment to them.
But I think that particular partis going to take longer than the
12 months book. I think it's going to take
multiple books for that to actually get a resolution,
(15:15):
especially with the whole Harry's engaged to Lara part of
this whole thing. Like I don't think Ebenezer is
going to be able to get over that shit.
So his his part in that is goingto extend beyond this book and
going to be like a future, a future thing that gets resolved
(15:36):
within that. But again, I think it's all part
of that Black Council story plotand Harry's, Harry's
investigation into them or, or his intention to bring them
down. And he had to get himself taken
out of the White Council in order to do his plan for that.
(16:00):
The third prediction that I haveis that Harry is going to learn
what Starborn means. And he's also going to learn
within that that all the people he trusted or has relied upon
have kept that from him as some part of a like plan to use him
(16:22):
or at least to gratify their ownends, a means for their own
agenda, if you will. And I think that some of those
are going to be like Ebenezer, who I mentioned a second ago,
his agenda is going to be like out of love for Harry and
(16:45):
thinking that he knows best for Harry.
And he's he's doing it because he doesn't want to.
He wants to protect Harry and thinks that he knows you know
better than he does. That's how we've seen him treat
pretty much everything else. That's why he let Harry be an
orphan without telling him he was his own grandfather.
(17:06):
That's why he wanted to Harry toget rid of Maggie.
That's why they he didn't actually raise Harry's mom until
she actually showed power and hebecame more like hit her your
(17:26):
mentor if you will. And they changed her name.
Like she wasn't, she wasn't Maggie McCoy, she was Maggie La
Faye, all part of this whole like secrecy and the way that
Ebenezer seems to work in terms of the way that he protects the
(17:48):
people that he cares about. He does it all through, like all
through secrecy and all through separation from them and
separation of them from the truth.
He hasn't told Harry almost anything about his mother.
Almost nothing. Even after Harry figured out
that his mother was Mccoy's daughter, they still have barely
(18:12):
talked about her. He's literally told him almost
nothing. All secrecy with McCoy.
And so I think that's that's essentially his agenda with the
star born thing. I think the Merlin isn't on
this. I think the Merlin doesn't want
Harry to know about what being starborn means because he's
(18:33):
trying to protect his own power and interests from what Harry
could become. Whether that be taking over the
White Council in some way or being an adversary to the White
Council in some way or just taking down the Merlin because
we haven't cleared the Merlin from being corrupt.
(18:54):
We've got, there's multiple layers to that.
And we know that the Merlin hates Harry like a lot.
And so I think this is part of why he hates Harry and why he
and others within the council have been treating Harry as so
dangerous and like such a, a, what's that?
(19:17):
What am I thinking about? Like a like a bomb just ready to
explode or whatever. I can't think of the analogy
that I'm trying to go for it in this moment, but I think that's
going to be his angle in this whole thing.
I think his godmother knows and she probably made some kind of
promise to his mother not to tell him and, or to again
(19:39):
protect him in some way. And so we might get, I think we
might get some, I think we mightget something throughout this
year between him and his godmother to give him a little
bit more information about his mother, because obviously she's
the one that gave birth to him in this whole being starborn
thing is tied to the exact moment of his birth.
(20:00):
So I think there's there's got to be some kind of exploration
that we're still owed on Harry'smom.
And I think that could be a coolway to get there.
And. I think that there's going to be
others that are involved with that as well.
And that kind of parlays into the prediction #4 because I
(20:20):
think that the reveal of what being Starborn means is going to
bring bigger characters into thestory than the ones that we know
from Harry's normal circle and the ones that we've actually
encountered so far. Because Four listens to Wind,
who is an incredibly high-ranking and powerful wizard
(20:43):
within this world, right? Can do a lot of crazy shit,
knows a lot of information, and has been alive for a long as
time. If it was just about him getting
permission from the Merlin to tell Harry what the hell is
going on, he wouldn't need a year to get the clearance that
(21:03):
he needs to do that from just the Merlin.
There's got to be more to it than that.
I mean, I don't know. Could like Uriel be part of
this? Could Odin be part of this?
Perhaps. Maybe it's a maybe there's we.
I mean, I know we know that Mab knows as well, and she hasn't
(21:26):
told me either. Maybe it's a collective of like
supernatural powers that somehowlike govern this thing that you
know, and she's a part of it. Again, I and I didn't mention
earlier what her angle is her angle on not telling Harry is
she wants to use him and it likeas a weapon in her own wars,
(21:48):
whether that be against the outsiders, whether that be
against like other powers like the White Council, for instance.
Like I think her motive is is fairly straightforward, at least
in my mind on that. But she could be part of this
like supernatural governing bodyover this type of information.
But I kind of think that it's even bigger than that because
(22:11):
that that suggested that they have more a more cordial like
relationship among all those different supernatural powers.
And we've seen a lot of evidenceto the contrary.
They were able to come together during peace talks to, to, to,
to, to like come together and fight in battleground, I guess.
(22:34):
But it's they don't really, they're not chumming it up a
whole lot and they all have their conflicting agendas.
So the idea that it's just that collection of people that we
already know seems iffy to me. So I think it's going to be
like, I think it's going to be the introduction of some kind of
like new, even more powerful being to this world because at
(22:59):
this point, we've faced A literal Titan.
And unless Jim Butcher completely shifts gears, I have
to assume that the power within this series is going to continue
to escalate the way that it has so far.
But who that power actually belongs to at this point, I'm
(23:20):
not sure. I could even guess.
Like we're talking about the circumstance of somebody's
birth, like the exact moment andlike the destiny or like
prophetic nature accompanying that that birth and and the
exact moment that it happened. And it only happens every what,
(23:42):
several 100 years? Are we talking like Zeus level
God? Are we talking with a capital G?
Like, what are we, what are we really talking about as far as
the the the next level that thiscould even go to?
And on top of that, the only other Starborn we actually know
(24:04):
of and have met in the series, at least that I can recall or
that has been revealed to this point, is draw Cool.
If he's Starborn, does that giveus any clues as to like, who is
governing the information? Could it somehow be tied to the
vampires? Is that maybe another part,
(24:27):
another layer as to why Ebenezerhates them so much?
I don't know. I don't.
I feel like it can't just be a vampire thing, right?
Because why would Listens to Wind need to parlay with the
vampires to get permission to tell Harry what it means that
(24:47):
he's Starborn? And what does vampires have to
do with being protected, I guessagainst like the outsiders and
being able to fight them? Like, I don't know that that all
doesn't that all doesn't reconcile in my pea brain.
So I'm not sure that it has a whole lot of bearing, but I do
(25:08):
think that it is. I think it is going to be a
vehicle to the next escalation of power within the series.
The last prediction that I have about 12 months is a little bit
would would this be a a way to say would this?
(25:31):
Is this what Meta actually means?
Not like Instagram and Facebook,but the actual term meta, the
the the real word like because Ithink that the new novella
outlaw that was announced that you can pre-order at this moment
(25:51):
for like may. I think it's a little bit of
like a spoiler hint because it comes out obviously after 12
months. And I think that being titled
outlaw suggests that at the end of 12 months, Harry is going to
be an outlaw. And how is he not already an
(26:16):
outlaw? He already got removed from the
White Council. So I have a couple of thoughts
as to how he gets there. One could be that he either
breaks one of the laws of magic in order to get through whatever
he has to get through in 12 months, which would leave him as
(26:37):
a fugitive and outlaw of the White Council because they're
the governing body over the lawsof magic.
So he could do that. Or he could actually manage to
break himself free of the WinterMantle, putting him outside of
Mab's Law and Winter's Law in addition to the White Council's
(27:00):
Law. And so because he's now been
broken away from the White Council and broken away from
Winter, like he's completely on his own and outside and probably
has people gunning for him from all factions of, you know, power
and governance within this world.
And so it literally makes him anoutlaw from everybody.
(27:23):
Granted, I, and, and I've also, I have seen some people
speculating on, again, on, on inlike my comment section in
TikTok that the way that he's going to break free from winter
is by getting with Lara and having her demon feed on the
winter mantle and ultimately kill the winter mantle.
(27:46):
And that's how he's going to be released from Mab's influence
over him, which I do think is aninteresting theory and, and
thought process to go through. And if there's a good time to do
that, it might be during 12 months when the two of them are
(28:06):
in this forced courtship. So maybe that could maybe that
could be where we're heading. I'm not 100% sure that I'm fully
committed to that, but I think it's telling.
Again, you can't you can't say that you're you're releasing A
novella that you can already pre-order called Outlaw and not
(28:28):
come to the conclusion that whatever happens in 12 months,
it's going to leave Harry as a proverbial outlaw, obviously.
So it's where this fun speculation is again, in between
how does he get there and what do we truly mean by outlaw?
Because this entire series, Harry has comported himself like
(28:50):
an outlaw. He's been the outsider in all of
his, you know, situations all the way from book one, whether
that was when he had the doom ofDamocles over his head, whether
that was him being a wizard openly in Chicago where
(29:11):
everybody thinks he's an absolute nut case.
He's an outlaw from the Police Department that is totally fine
with using him in investigations, but also has no
problem believing that he's the one that did it in his guilty
and throwing him in jail and calling him a charlatan the
entire time that they're using his expertise.
(29:32):
You've got the White Counsel who, even after lifting the Doom
of Damocles off of him, has treated him as if he's just a a
rogue sorcerer who's full of black magic and just a ticking
(29:53):
time bomb, who has an agenda to take down their whole way of
life. The whole time he's always been
treated as a threat within his own actual, you know, wizarding
organization. He's been literally in outlaw in
terms of being suspected of portraying like murders and he's
(30:19):
been on the run from the real law and magical law.
And now he's, you know, the winter night.
And that's pretty much outlaw position.
Like it's kind of the whole gig.And so I I think that outlaw is
an interesting use of phrase, I guess, for that next novella to
(30:45):
think like, how is that different than what Harry has
been this whole time and 12 months is where we're going to
find out what makes that different than what we've seen
this whole time. What do you think?
Which of these predictions do you think is most likely to
actually hit? Do you have any of your own?
(31:07):
Let me know in the comments section if you enjoyed this.
Please like the video and subscribe to the channel if you
are watching on YouTube. I was trying to hit 700
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(31:28):
Please don't miss another episode and leave a review if it
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