Harry Dresden

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Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is the main character of Jim Butcher's contemporary fantasy series, The Dresden Files and a television series of the same name based on the novels. As a possible gag or tribute, he is also listed as one of the magicians on the same bill as Alfred Borden in the movie the Prestige.

[edit] Background

Harry is a wizard, who works as a private investigator of sorts in Chicago (he's in the phone book, the only listing under "Wizards"), dealing with paranormal crimes and consulting for the Chicago Police Department. He is named after three different stage magicians — Harry Houdini, Harry Blackstone, Sr., and David Copperfield. This name was given to him by his father, a stage magician himself, who raised Harry while still performing his magic show all across the country. The stories are told from Harry's point of view.

Harry is considered a magical "thug," lacking fine control of his power, but is possibly one of the strongest wizards in the world in terms of pure magical strength. He favors fire and wind spells in battle, and he is an expert at tracking spells (which he uses in his investigations) along with summoning and entrapment spells to speak to faeries and other supernatural sources of information.

Harry's mother, Margaret Gwendolyn LeFay, was a powerful wizard herself, who died in childbirth. Harry was raised by his father, a stage illusionist, until the age of six, when his father died of a brain aneurysm. He spent some years as a ward of the state before being adopted at ten (shortly after manifesting his magical powers) by Justin DuMorne, a former Warden of the White Council who turned renegade. Harry was DuMorne's apprentice, along with a girl his age named Elaine, who was adopted shortly after he was, and with whom he became romantically involved. This lasted until shortly after Harry's 16 birthday, when DuMorne tried to enthrall (bind by a spell / enslave) him. He sought help from his godmother, Leanansidhe, who granted him power in exchange for his fealty. In the ensuing battle, Harry killed DuMorne by burning him to death. Harry steals DuMorne's assistant Bob, a spirit of air and intellect bound to a human skull, from the wreckage.

He was nearly executed for breaking the First Law of Magic, but the White Council ruled the killing self-defense. Dresden was placed under the Doom of Damocles (a sort of probation) and put in the care of Ebenezar McCoy until adulthood. He left Ebenezar at age 19, and spent a year or two wandering the country before arriving in Chicago. Two years later, he began working under a P.I. named Nicholas Christian, for a detective agency called Ragged Angel Investigations. These events are partially chronicled in Restoration of Faith. He spent three years with Nick before opening his own business, which had been open for two years at the time of the first book, Storm Front.

In "Summer Knight," fourth book in the series, Harry learns that Elaine survived the fire that killed Justin.

In "Death Masks," fifth book in the series, Harry inadvertently absorbed the essence of a fallen angel by the name of Lasciel. Harry walks a fine line between using the gifts she offers (such as Hellfire, which supercharges his spells, and her photographic memory) and resisting her overtures for fear he will become dependent on her. Additionally, in this book Harry severely burns his left hand, crippling him.

In "Blood Rites," sixth in the series, Harry learns that the White Court vampire Thomas Raith, whom he encounters in "Grave Peril" and "Death Masks," is his half-brother: both are the sons of Margaret Gwendolyn LeFay, and Thomas is six or seven years his senior. He also learns that Ebenezar is the equivalent of the White Council's hitman, and that Harry's mother had once been Ebenezar's apprentice, before she rebelled and took up with a bad crowd. She did not die naturally in childbirth, but was was murdered by Thomas' father, Lord Raith of the White Court.

In "Proven Guilty," book eight, Harry takes the rebellious Molly Carpenter (eldest daughter of his friend Michael Carpenter) as his apprentice, under similar circumstances to his own apprenticeship under Ebenezar. The act of sparing her life results in both Harry and Molly being placed under the Doom of Damocles, with Harry responsible for all of Molly's actions.

[edit] Television series

Debuting on January 21, 2007, the Sci Fi Channel TV adaptation starred Paul Blackthorne as the eponymous wizard. Harry's history in the series differed from that of the novels in several significant ways; his father, Malcolm Dresden, did not die from an aneurysm, while Justin (named Morningway rather than DuMorne) is his mother's brother.

In "Birds of a Feather," Harry's father lived at least until Harry was ten, at which time Harry began to manifest his magic abilities. When Justin expressed interest in adopting Harry to begin his magical education, Malcolm fought him fiercely on it. And while Harry and Bob both believe that Harry "self-defensed" Justin to death (as in the novels), Justin is shown to be alive by episode's end, when it is revealed that he hired a skinwalker to kidnap Scott Sharp, another ten-year-old with a talent for magic.

Harry also wears a magical "shield-bracelet" (rather than a pentacle necklace, which makes an appearance in flashback scenes from "Bad Blood") that once belonged to his mother, and was given to him by his father. As a private investigator, Harry drives a Korean-war-era military Jeep instead of the infamous "Blue Beetle" of the novels (a change made based on actor Blackthorne's height). According to "Bad Blood," Harry was around 31 when he killed Justin, instead of 16 as in the novels; a Red Court vampire, Bianca, protected Harry while the High Court investigated Morningway's death.