#wizardbaron

[doggogills]

[ahziel]

EDIT: Adjustments here okay but i know i painted Storm Front Harry attractive and i’m standing by it because the text is literally on my side here

like let’s lay this out properly:

first of all: man is 6’9” with that whole “looming wizard in a trench coat” energy. that "not afraid to wear jewelry" energy. that alone is doing numbers

he gets his exercise going out on brooding walks → he's not jacked in Storm Front like he is in the most recent books but I like this young, 25-ish look for him

the narration downplays everything because it’s from harry’s POV and his self-image is… charitable to call it inaccurate

admittedly he needs to learn to shave consistently and comb his hair but nobody's perfect and the scruff works wonders for the female gaze

a little pale and sleepless but again that's its own kind of raccoon-in-trash-can charm

but more importantly: other characters tell us what’s actually going on right from the first book

Bianca St. Claire — a literal supernatural seductress who does not hand out compliments for free — calls him “pretty” in Storm Front

and this is before they’re enemies

she had absolutely no reason to gas him up

she simply looked at this man and went “yeah. pretty.”

multiple women across the series flirt with him, notice him, or react to him physically

and not just random civilians — we’re talking dangerous, confident, often supernatural women who are not easily impressed

and then there’s his vibe, which honestly might be the strongest evidence:

deep voice

dry, slightly unhinged humor

that whole “hasn’t slept, covered in bruises, will still put himself between you and something horrifying without hesitation” thing

like i’m sorry but that is not “unattractive man” coding. that is “tall, intense, kinda scrunkly feral, completely not intentionally compelling” coding

the only reason this is even a debate is because we are trapped inside harry’s brain while he’s like “i look terrible. I look like a scarecrow that lost a fight with a coat rack”

sir.

respectfully.

bianca said you were pretty and she is an expert in this field

[ashflamethewaffleangel]

Sometimes it baffles me how. Queer Harry is. (Dresden, for those who are my mutuals and are unfamiliar with Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, the idiot wizard with 18 books and more on the way to his name)

like. genuinely. ramble under the cut 👍

I will not have read the Dresden Files in a while— any of them— read the descriptions or Mr. Jimothy Butcher’s words, and I will go “nahhh my brain is just making it far more gay than it is. he’s a straight guy and it’s just weirdly homoerotic to my vision because I, myself, am bi, and bc Butcher just writes like that. Men, women, and our lovely creatures.”

And then I will fucking reread something and go “holy goddamn motherfuck you are so repressed and bisexual it hurts me.” First book. Marcone is prominent and has ONE AND A HALF PAGES (in mine) dedicated to describing THE ENTIRETY of how HANDSOME HE IS. HOW FUCKING PRETTY he is. This is not helped by literally every book Marcone is in he’s described as handsome or gorgeous or some fucking variation. Every single time. Harry we know he’s pretty. We KNOW. We kNOW YOU LIKE HIS EYES OH MY G—

Nicodemus, Michael, Thomas, Erkling, Donar, Goodman Grey (I’m pretty sure. I don’t 100% remember for him), Kincaid— all the men he regularly interacts with, has been described as hot at least once. I’m looking at you “like silk over gravel” as a description for Nicodemus’ voice. Nara has infected me with too much commentary on you two for me to be normal about your interactions anymore. 🫡🤭

But back. Vaguely on track— I hope y'all realize by now this is literally me just walking down a road with no clear path or intention in it— I originally started this post because God. I was thinking about all the queerness, the denial, and then just going back into it and specifically that whole cycle with Marcone— because I was originally thinking about the scene(s) in Battle Ground where Harry screams a noise(? I don’t think it was ever specified what noise he made, but it was loud enough to catch Marcone’s attention) and gets him to dodge an attack, and then of course the Reveal, and the laughing and holding hands on the beach after working together— and how all the scenes throughout the books and COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS (the dream sequence in Dog Men [and also the scene in Wild Card where, frankly, Puck calls them the fuck out and says “wow. old married couple.” rent free, thank you.] and the entirety of Down Town when I get you Dog Men and Down Town) has Harry worry and fret over Marcone’s life and safety.

And then by the next book/story, we’re back at square one. (Except for a few books, like in The Law which sent me over the moon to read THOSE paragraph)

which is. FRUSTRATING. As you can imagine. Not just as a shipper, but as someone who enjoys their dynamics— and CLEARLY. CLEARLY SO DOES THE WRITER. AND ALSO MARCONE THE CHARACTER HIMSELF. I COULD WRITE AN ENTIRE THESIS ON HOW DOWN BAD THAT MAFIA DON IS, BUT I WONT. BECAUSE THERES PLENTY OF FANFIC THAT DOES IT FOR ME. ahem.

I think about Harry being so so repressed and Queer and think about how Harry insists John is one of the bad guys and how PRETTY he is and how WELL he gets on with him when they actually put their heads together and even snapping at one another there’s some camaraderie in it and I slam my head into a wall about the whole Christian type mentality of “temptation is beauty” thing that Harry has going on and one of his main standing points is he won’t go with evil especially if it’s pretty. Lash, Lara, Mab, Bianca, etc.. And this man is courting so many “evils” right now because they’re all women and I just go HARRY. OH MY GOD. ITS THREE AM AND I CANNOT BE HAVING IT WITH YOU. I simultaneously hope Harry in Mirror, Mirror will have the evil bisexual counterpart trope happening because Jesus Christ at least we can all put our heads in our hands and go FINALLY. YOU QUEER BISEXUAL BASTARD. but on the other the whole thing about not doing that because it’s bad rep and bad publicity yadda yadda let me have my evil queer folk Star Trek style.

all in all. I hope Harry’s egg cracks or he kisses a guy and realizes some things and maybe that cracks the egg. Fuck. Whatever comes first

[alwaysanovice]

How it feels to ignore your responsibilities and write Marcone x Harry brat taming smut instead

@autixel the mastermind

[sylvanwhispers]

hey fellas is it gay for you and your enemy to stare into each others’ souls and be forever haunted by the uncomfortable intimacy you now permanently share?

[kaphkas]

Totally normal ways to describe your nemesis

[jainasherself]

After him come the flood

Despite his six-foot-nine and undeniable power, dealing with Dresden was sometimes like trying to manage a rebellious teenager: if John had asked him as a favor to keep breathing, Harry would have seriously considered asphyxiation for the sake of contradiction...

[monemin]

something i noticed in my reread that made me start to think: marcone was already salt and pepper and had crows feet in storm front.

considering that peace talks/battle ground take place roughly fourteen years later, i wonder how much heavy lifting namshiel is doing in terms of just... age.

was he a good-looking fifty-something and is now pushing seventy? (...sixty-something pushing eighty?) was he a tired thirty something and is only in his fifties now? i can't imagine he'd be any younger

how different would he look if he'd never taken up the coin? did the battle of chicago hinge not just on him taking up the coin, but having done so years prior?

how much of an ask will it be, when harry, inevitably, tries to convince him to give up the coin? how big a price will come with being saved?

will there be that conversation, that 'so what if i damn myself to suffer? it is worth it to make a difference. what is my own self in comparison to everyone out there? i know it will hurt me. it isn't about me' or will the facts remain unspoken?

moreover. lot of. lot of handsome and good-looking descriptors here. in with the crows feet. harry has been halfway on the wanting to fuck that old man train since day one. and i respect that. i respect that.