• Wise
• Magic powers
• Jerk
• Proud
• Worries about (multiple) world-ending war(s)
• Warrior
• Many names
• Leads the Wild Hunt

• Young
• Lightning powers
• Heavily non-Norse aesthetic

Marcone suddenly looked more alert.

I gave him a little smile. I didn't quite blow him a kiss. But I let him know it was coming.

• To start, Molly’s plot with her family during the Dresden Duology is one big coming out story, and though it may not be exactly the same as a queer coming out story, it is insanely similar.
• Molly says things like“It’s not something you put on like a cloak; it’s all through me now, intermixed… I could leave this circle [leaving the mantle behind], I think, but not without leaving the largest part of me behind. Whatever was left wouldn’t be right,” and “I don’t get a choice about that” which is one of the reasons that Molly’s story is such a strong coming out story because it’s not something she can choose, it’s part of who she is, and she can’t separate that from the rest of what makes her, her.
• The conversation between Molly and Harry where Molly tells Harry that she hasn’t told her parents about the mantle of the winter lady was one of the most cathartic things I’ve read all year.  The way James Marster’s voice shakes as he read “They don’t know… I haven’t told them.” and “I can’t… He wouldn’t understand… I can’t face that. I can’t,” was SO well done!  I have literally had the EXACT same conversation with myself over and over again, and watching this strong female character whom I love so deeply feel just as helpless as I do and get through it is so comforting!
• The ways Molly’s fears interact with her parents’ religion is so well done!  It’s like she knows they won’t disown her or anything, but she worries that they won’t understand, they will be unhappy with the situation, and it will change their relationship.
• And then when Molly comes out to her parents at the end of Battle Ground.  This post is mainly focused on Peace Talks, but oh *chef’s kiss* I cried so hard during that scene!  That was so therapeutic and comforting, and the perfect ending to that story’s plotline.
• Michael’s explanation that “faith isn’t all about God, or a god, you know. Mine is. This path is, to me, a very good path. It’s brought me a very wonderful life, but maybe it isn’t the only path. Many children learn things very differently, after all. It seems to me that God should be an excellent teacher enough to take that into account. But faith is about more than that,” is so comforting.  To have one of the most religious characters in literature assuring that it’s okay if your faith doesn’t look the way it once did, and it’s okay if it never looks that way again, is so great.
• Molly isn’t the only one who helps this book have parrallels to coming out, though.  Harry also has, in his own way, a foil coming out story to Molly’s.  (I don’t know if I’m using foil right.  Please don’t be mad at me.  I’m a math major, not an English major).
• The way Harry keeps being denounced by the magical community, specifically Ebenezer and the White Council, during this book is so similar to coming out and having people not accept you.
• Like, while Harry never wanted to be part of the White Council, him getting kicked out by it is much like religious communities who are like “we want you to be part of us, unless you’re queer.  You can’t be queer and fully religious.”
• And then there’s the whole conflict between Harry and Ebenezer.
• Harry’s experience of learning that someone he deeply cares about is not perfect but instead has human issues and problems and deep, deep flaws, and both having loved someone while being deeply, deeply hurt by them and attempting to reconcile that are two of the biggest things I’ve learned this year.  Having these be taught by the prejudice of a mentor has such a strong coming out resonance to it.
• And then the scene afterwards where he just holds Karen and cries and all he can say is “it hurts,” is so good.  The illustration of one of the things in life that hurts the absolute most being the people you care about telling you that they don’t accept you and hurting you was so well written.  I’m not sure if I’ve read anything else that truly shows the longing for those people you were once so close to mixed with the pain of what their rejection truly feels like.  Then the promise that the pain of that won’t last forever felt better than a big hug.
• And on top of this was one of, if not the first Dresden Book with canonical queer representation among the mortals, and also allowed for a lot more queer HCs between Butters, Murphy, Harry, and some more that I might talk about in a future post…
• Finally, the publisher of the Dresden Files is Ace Books, which doesn’t make it queer obviously, but I like the fact that this book which had parallels to my ace coming out story is published by Ace Books.

“I only hesitated for a heartbeat, wondering if it was proper for a full-fledged wizard of the White Council to be that interested in cash. I made up my mind fast. Phenomenal cosmic powers be damned. I have a lease.”