Some Dresden Files predictions:
I've been listening to The Dresden Files audiobooks again, and based on the foreshadowing that riddles the series, I'm gonna call some shots here and now (this post is more for me than anything else).
Spoilers ahead:
1 - Twelve Months is gonna be a bit of a slog, and Harry will still be depressed at the end, but he'll learn to live with it or something.
2 - His arranged marriage to Lara Raith is gonna be called off on a technicality.
3 - Mirror, Mirror is gonna be the last filler novel, set in an alternate timeline (thus the name, a reference to a classic Star Trek episode of the same name). The differences between it and the main universe will be:
Harry was raised by Donald Morgan, per Harry's mother's request.
Harry became a die-hard, Kool-Aid drinking White Council member
Harry never moved to Chicago, leaving the city undefended, and
The war with the Red Court of Vampires never happened, as the inciting incident never occurred
4 - Jim Butcher has said that there are gonna be 20 mainline novels and the series is gonna cap off with an additional three novels, which he calls the Badass Apocalypse trilogy (confirmed to be titled Hells Bells, Empty Night, and Stars and Stones). Every 5th novel so far (Death Masks, Small Favor, and Skin Game) has revolved around the conflict between the forces of Heaven and Hell, and the last mainline novel will center around that conflict.
5 - The unnamed 20th book and Hells Bells will be a duology, like Peace Talks and Battle Grounds were.
6 - The apocalypse will be triggered by the death of Sanya, Knight of Hope (thus fulfilling the prophecy that "Apocalypse is the Death of Hope") at the hands of Nicodemus Archleone, the tentative leader of the forces of Hell on Earth, using the Holy Grail that Nicodemus swiped at the climax of Skin Game.
7 - The Black Council, the organization that is attempting to bring about another apocalypse (referred to by the White Court of Vampires as "Empty Night") will consist of the following members:
Drakul (father of Dracula, Black Court Vampire, confirmed in Battle Grounds)
Mavra (Black Court Vampire, confirmed in Dead Beat)
Cowl (necromancer, personal enemy and foil of Harry Dresden, confirmed in Dead Beat)
Tessa (wife and archrival of Nicodemus Archleone, theorized by Archleone himself in Small Favor)
A member of the White Council of Wizards, probably on the Senior Council.
8 - We're going to find out a LOT about Harry's mom, specifically that she knew what was coming (the Stars and Stones, the Empty Night, what Nicodemus was up to) and that any child she had that was Starborn (a being immune to the possession of Outsiders, the main threat of the series) would be the perfect counterpoint to the threats ahead. She planned as much of Harry's life as possible but her plans failed when Harry's father died and Harry wound up in the clutches of Justin DuMourne. And finally,
9 - Justin DuMourne was on the Black Council, and in addition to mind-controlling Harry Dresden and Elaine Mallory (the first love of Harry's life) into being his private army, he would have attempted to breed two Starborn (Elaine is widely theorized to be one as well, as she is Harry's age and his match in magical talent) in order to create some sort of weapon.
As the books come out, I will update this post with whether or not these predictions were true. Any comments/additional predictions are welcome.
