The Dresden Files/Characters/Other Powerful People and Entities

The Black Council, aka "The Circle"
A mysterious group with unknown goals beyond generally disrupting existing supernatural power structures. Heavily implied to be the Big Bad of the series. Thus far, they have proven to be involved in some way or another with every plot in the series, save possibly the events of Blood Rites.


 * Big Bad
 * Man Behind the Man: To Victor Sells, Agent Denton, implied with, Kravos, and quite possibly the entire Red Court. They don't actually become primary antagonists until Turn Coat; prior to that book, Harry is mostly fighting cat's paws of theirs or encountering events connected to them.
 * Nebulous Evil Organization: An unusually low-key version. The Black Council are very good at hiding their presence; Harry didn't even have confirmation that they even existed until White Night.

The Grey Council
Formed by Ebenezar McCoy sometime during the events of Turn Coat as a counter to the Black Council, they Grey Council is a small group of wizards and other entities who are aware of the threat the Black Council represents and are united in opposing them. Currently, only three members are known: Harry, Ebenezar, and.


 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * Big Good: Though the White Council is supposed to be this role, the Grey Council was formed because the White Council's internal politics and corruption make it impossible for them to effectively counter the Circle's agents.
 * In the Hood: Most members of the Grey Council wear face-concealing hoods and cloaks of, appropriately, grey material.

Sigrun Gard
A mercenary in the employ of Monoc Industries who is hired by Marcone as a security consultant. Gard is exceptionally skilled with ancient medieval weaponry and armor, often seen with a broadsword or large axe and a big steel shield. She's something a bit more than human...


 * Ace Pilot: Serves as Marcone's pilot, and is highly skilled at flying helicopters - enough so that she can fly one through nighttime sleet and snow as if it were a clear day, while the helicopter is damaged from gunfire.
 * Must be all that practice she got flying down from Valhalla and back.
 * An Axe to Grind
 * All Amazons Want Hercules: The relationship between her and Hendricks, especially in Small Favor, is a bit more than professional....
 * Even Hand has her "fussing" over Hendricks. Make of that what you will.
 * Word of God supports it.
 * Badass Abnormal: Bob speculates in the RPG rulebook that being a valkyrie is a less like being a supernatural creature, and more of "a job with really good perks."
 * The Berserker/Screaming Warrior: She works herself into a rage when getting set to fight a grendelkin
 * Healing Factor: Listed as one of her supernatural powers in the RPG, though that's partly speculation on the part of the characters. In Small Favor, she goes from being disemboweled to fit enough to fly a helicopter through a storm in a matter of days.
 * Geometric Magic: Is often seen using runes for various effects.
 * Lady of War: With a giant axe and Viking shield!
 * Older Than They Look: Much older.
 * Made of Iron: She treats having her guts ripped out as a painful minor inconvenience.
 * Physical God: She's a Valkyrie - her real name is Sigrun.
 * Shock and Awe: Uses a bolt of living lightning as a booby trap, that utterly wrecks its target. Harry jokes it's enough to kill a dinosuar
 * Situational Sword:The axe she uses in Even Hand is capable of deflecting magical attacks from a Fomor Lord a finite number of times.
 * The Stoic
 * Valkyries

Elaine Mallory
Harry's fellow apprentice and first love who betrayed him with her mentor Justin. Ran away and was thought dead by Harry, but was discovered to be living with the Summer Court. Presently, she has set up her own magical investigation business out of LA.


 * Action Girl: As a White Court despair vampire finds out to its chagrin. *BZAAAP*
 * Awesome but Practical: Her lightning-channeling chain can be recharged by thunderstorms...or by plugging it into a wall socket.
 * Broken Bird
 * Blow You Away: Is capable of whipping up a baby twister to toss around dozens of ghouls.
 * Chain Pain: Uses these as a focus for her magic.
 * First Love: She and Harry.
 * Foil: To Harry.
 * Green Eyes
 * Hair of Gold
 * Hyper Awareness: Has a series of braclets that allow her this ability.
 * Mind Control: Her betrayal of Harry was due to Justin mucking around with her brain--if you believe her unsubstantiated word. The jury is still out.
 * New Old Flame: While mentioned in the first book, her appearance was a surprise. Mostly because we thought she was dead.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Sort of; she deliberately failed the White Council's aptitude tests so she could avoid their attention.
 * Razor Wind: Uses it to make a ghoul's head "vanish" from its shoulders.
 * Shock and Awe: She once produced a lightning bolt that blew the entire front off the building.
 * Weak but Skilled: Repeatedly stated to be much more skilled with subtler and more percise magic,not having as much raw power as Harry. That being said she's still able to throw a heavy punch when she needs to as seen above.
 * Weapon of Choice: Her magical focus is a heavy chain threaded with copper and enscribed with magical runes.

Molly Carpenter
""Not everyone is so far over the edge they can't come back. Sometimes people just... just get lost. They just need someone to show them how to come back.""

Michael and Charity's oldest child, introduced as a wide-eyed preteen who gawked at Harry's every appearance; she soon develops into a rebellious teenager...with a talent for mental and illusion magic. She dresses like a goth and normally has multicolored hair, primarily because it drives Charity crazy. Her "full" name is Margaret Katherine Amanda Carpenter.


 * Action Girl: She handled herself pretty damn well against the Devourer in Changes. She's earned this.
 * Deconstructed in Ghost Story:
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Considering how Charity views Harry at first...
 * All Love Is Unrequited: As of Ghost Story, Harry finally realises the depth of her feelings for him go far beyond a mere crush, and feels extremely sorry for her that he does not reciprocate.
 * Anti Heroine:
 * Battle in the Center of the Mind: In Ghost Story, between Molly and, taking on the form of an epic battle in a massive cityscape between opposing armies.
 * Black Magic: What got her involved with Harry in the first place, and a recurring problem for her since. It is addictive, after all.
 * Break the Cutie:
 * Broken Bird: In Ghost Story, and how.
 * The Chick: Every time she sneaks out to tail Harry, she ends up needing to be saved or protected. She's learning that it's generally best to listen when he says she isn't going to be able to help much.
 * Dark Chick: To
 * Combat Pragmatist: Not having the brute force of Harry or the combat skill of Murphy, Molly makes do by manipulating the people around her to deadly effect.
 * Dark Secret:  Poor kid.
 * Delinquent Hair: Molly first started dying her hair when she ran away from home.
 * Deep Sleep: In Ghost Story she's learned to use a multi target sleep spell to knock out a group of Mooks.
 * The Dreaded:
 * The Empath: Molly is significantly more sensitive to both magic and the emotions of others, which can result in her having trouble in combat situations. She gets better at handling it by the events of Changes.
 * Gratuitous Japanese: Seems to be her preferred language for her spells as of Ghost Story
 * Lethal Harmless Powers:
 * Heroic Lineage: Descended from royalty (Charlemagne), as are all Knights of the Cross. (And their children, obviously).
 * Hero with an F In Good: Molly, really, really wants to help people, and following the example of her father and teacher. What a pity that she has very poor decision making skills.
 * Hot for Teacher: Her initial opinion regarding  That idea is killed off fairly quickly.
 * And brought back full force in Changes. Apparently,  just oblivious.
 * It Gets Easier: "It's easy. It shouldn't be so easy."
 * Lethal Chef: ...but she can make a damn good cup of coffee.
 * Master of Illusion: She is really good with veils. Very handy for confusing vampires into gutting each other by accident or just having to stop moving. This is considerably upgraded in Ghost Story to being able to take on mortal and supernatural threats such as:
 * Cold Flames: Complete with screaming demonic faces, though it's eventually seen through.
 * The Treachery of Images:.
 * Doppelganger Spin: Created six clones of her self to try and fool her pursuers.
 * Sensory Overload: Her "One Woman Rave" Spell has been combined with monsters of the Nevenever in addition to a variety of other images and sounds.
 * More Deadly Than the Male: Willing to do whatever it takes to protect Chicago in Harry's absence.
 * Mind Control: She gets into two friends' heads to try to steer them away from bad habits; it doesn't work out well: messing with peoples minds has a tendency to drive them insane.
 * The Ophelia: Invoked and lampshaded in Ghost Story.
 * Perky Goth
 * Secret Legacy:
 * Take a Level In Badass: In Changes, she goes from "talented but not suited for battle," to
 * Training From Hell:  Later on,   points out that
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Or green, or crimson. It's naturally blonde.
 * Weak but Skilled: While she, something she's very aware of, it's made clear in offhand comments by Harry and Thomas in Changes and a first hand account by Will in Ghost Story that if she catches you off guard,.
 * Training From Hell:  Later on,   points out that
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Or green, or crimson. It's naturally blonde.
 * Weak but Skilled: While she, something she's very aware of, it's made clear in offhand comments by Harry and Thomas in Changes and a first hand account by Will in Ghost Story that if she catches you off guard,.
 * Weak but Skilled: While she, something she's very aware of, it's made clear in offhand comments by Harry and Thomas in Changes and a first hand account by Will in Ghost Story that if she catches you off guard,.

The Archive, aka "Ivy"
""If you like, I could draw you a cost-benefit analysis of your training versus your earnings in your first year at the temple, before Nicodemus came. I could use charts to make it easier for you to understand. And color them in with crayons. I enjoy crayons.""

The Archive is the repository of all human knowledge. Anything that has been written down, anywhere, she knows. She also happens to be a young girl. When we first see her, she's seven - and unconcernedly tells Harry that if she has to, she'll kill him. We've seen her blasting vampires into oblivion and (at twelve) keeping almost 10 Denarians entertained without much effort. But she's still a kid, and will render official documents in crayon and Squee over a cat.


 * Creepy Child: It is subtle, but there's a distinction between the very-human Ivy and the much more creepy Archive. Specifically, whenever she's referred to in the narration as "the Archive" she's generally in her inhuman-database mode.
 * Cuteness Proximity: "KITTY!"
 * Emotionless Girl:
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Her bodyguard is the big and scary Kincaid. But he's nowhere near as dangerous as Ivy.
 * Innocent Prodigy: See Cuteness Proximity
 * The Library of Babel: She's the Anthropomorphic Personification of the trope.
 * Little Miss Badass
 * Morality Pet: For Kincaid.
 * The Omniscient: She automatically knows anything that's written down, physically or (per recent Word of God) electronically. So while she's not quite omniscient, she's surprisingly close.
 * Person of Mass Destruction
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Even while stuck in a circle (thus crippling her significantly) she still managed to literally dust several Denarians. At once. By herself.
 * Person of Mass Destruction
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Even while stuck in a circle (thus crippling her significantly) she still managed to literally dust several Denarians. At once. By herself.

Jared Kincaid, aka "The Hellhound"
"Blow up the building. That works good for vampires. Then soak what's left in gasoline. Set it on fire. Then blow it up again."

Mercenary, assassin, and all-around gun-for-hire. His most common client is The Archive, with whom he's developed a pseudo-fatherly relationship; he's also worked in Harry's employ once, grumbling the entire way. Has an on-off relationship with Murphy, and apparently he and Ebenezer McCoy have reason to hate one another's guts. Also has an adversarial connection with Nicodemus, though what that involves is not made clear.

"Harry: Ah, yes. The "Bolshevik muppet" solution."
 * Always Save the Girl: Brought up in Small Favor, regarding what he made Dresden promise to do near the end of the book.
 * Badass Nickname: The Hellhound
 * Career Killer: Of the "assassin" variety.
 * Cold Sniper
 * Combat Pragmatist: His idea for dealing with a nest of vampires? Level the place with explosives, and then set the rubble on fire, hostages be damned.

"Kincaid: "So I'd use a rifle at a thousand yards. The bullet outruns its own sonic boom, and you'd never even hear the shot. You'd be dead before you realized what happened.""
 * Also, his plan for avoiding a wizard's death curse?


 * Comforting the Widow: Harry speculates on how he would have showed up to "support" Murphy, after Changes.
 * Consummate Professional: Uncannily talented? Check. Adheres to a strict but amoral code of conduct? Check. Avoids close personal relationships? Check. Doesn't get emotionally involved in his work? Check... unless Ivy is involved.
 * Crazy Prepared: Regularly goes into operations with a massive arsenal, and always packs just the right weapons to kill what he needs to kill, whether it be disposable shotguns loaded with Dragonsbreath rounds for Red Court, spears loaded with an incendiary round launcher for fighting black Court, or a high-powered sniper rifle that can one-shot Denarians.
 * Also, Duct Tape. He has a attachment clip on his combat belt just for a large roll of it, and at one point uses it to bind up some fairly nasty wounds.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Kincaid is a Scion - half-mortal, half-supernatural entity. What entity exactly isn't known, but... well, he has a nickname...
 * Heroic Sociopath: Sometimes.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: To Ivy. (Also to Murphy.)
 * I Gave My Word: Once you've bought Kincaid, he stays bought, and it is a well-known fact that Kincaid never defaults on a contract, consequences be damned.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Harry's first clue that Kincaid is more than human is that he never misses.
 * More Dakka
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: "The Hellhound".
 * Noodle Incident: Just what the hell happened between him and Elbanezar McCoy?
 * In Small Favor, Tessa mentions that "[Kincaid] has fought us before."
 * Papa Wolf: Do not even think about hurting Ivy. She may be more powerful than him, but he's still ferociously protective of her.
 * Promotion to Parent: Basically this for Ivy.
 * The Gump: Purportedly got his start working for Drakul (ie. the father of the more famous Dracula), possibly back when he was mortal.
 * Weapon of Choice: Kincaid prefers to solve problems from as far away as possible, so he most commonly wields a scoped rifle.
 * The Gump: Purportedly got his start working for Drakul (ie. the father of the more famous Dracula), possibly back when he was mortal.
 * Weapon of Choice: Kincaid prefers to solve problems from as far away as possible, so he most commonly wields a scoped rifle.

Tera West
Fiancée of one Harley MacFinn. She was a mentor to the Alphas and taught them the change-into-wolf spell. She enlists Harry's help after the magic circle MacFinn stays in during his bouts of Involuntary Shapeshifting rampages is damage.


 * Action Girl
 * Big Badass Wolf
 * Does Not Understand Sarcasm
 * Hot Amazon
 * Hot Teacher: To the Alphas.
 * No Nudity Taboo: Which comes in handy, given all the shapeshifting she does.
 * No Social Skills:
 * Nubile Savage
 * Our Souls Are Different: She doesn't have a soul to soulgaze, which shows Harry she's not a mortal.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different:
 * Out of Focus: She appeared in only one book, and got mentioned in the other. That's all...so far. Word of God is she may show up in book 14-15.
 * Show Some Leg: She does a naked dance in the rain to distract some cops.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting
 * Show Some Leg: She does a naked dance in the rain to distract some cops.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting

The Alphas
A pack of vigilante werewolves and allies of Harry's. The Alphas assemble in Fool Moon, where they are mostly college students under the mentorship of Tera West. As the series progresses most of the original pack has dropped out or left town; however, as of Turn Coat and Changes, Will has been trying to get in touch with the rest. As of Ghost Story,


 * Brief Accent Imitation: One of Will's character tics is imitating Georgia's voice. It has been thought by both Harry and Murphy that he probably does it without even realizing it.
 * Bi the Way: Andi, who had a college "thing" with Marcy.
 * BigBadassWolves: Comes with the territory,but most of the Alphas are described as something leftover from the ice-age and are all about the same size as Mouse.
 * Friendly Neighborhood Werewolves
 * Fighting for Survival
 * Happily Married: Georgia and Will.
 * Healing Factor: Although it takes a lot of energy, and leaves really ugly scars.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Andi.
 * Hit and Run Tactics: They specialize in them
 * Mauve Shirt
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: They're essentially wizards who know one spell...although it is possible for them to learn others.
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: While completely outclassed by the threats Dresden faces, the Alphas can kick serious ass when facing "normal" supernaturals; it's said that vampires avoid the U Chicago campus like the plague now.
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: While completely outclassed by the threats Dresden faces, the Alphas can kick serious ass when facing "normal" supernaturals; it's said that vampires avoid the U Chicago campus like the plague now.

Donar Vadderung
""I've been in this game for a long, long time, boy. How do you know I haven't given you exactly what you need?""

CEO of MonOc Securities and Miss Gard's ultimate employer. He's a very tall, big, strong man, with one eye... Mentioned in several books before he makes a brief appearance in Changes. All information below comes from that book. If the Stealth Pun company name didn't tip you off, he's Odin.


 * Cool Old Guy: He's the only other person in the entire setting aside from Harry who uses the word "juju" to refer to magic. Naturally, he's a pretty nice guy.
 * Crazy Prepared: When Harry first enters the World Tree, he passes through a collection of just about every weapon in history, but gathered in such numbers that they could pretty much "win a minor war in a century of your choice". Then he gets on the elevator, which rises up past at least seven more floors similarly outfitted, before he just stops counting. When he asks Gard about how ridiculously well-armed Vadderung is, her only response is that "one can only have as much preparation as one has foresight." It's also implied that his belief in foresight is what allowed him to find out where Maggie was going to be taken for the sacrifice (meaning that he may have a spy network.)
 * Gods Need Prayer Badly: He admits that he is much less powerful than he once was.
 * Physical God
 * Stealth Pun: MonOc-->. And on top of that, their logo is a circle with a bar through it; Harry thinks it looks like an eye being cut out with a blade or the Greek character iota imposed on an omega. Thus, the blind eye that sees every last little detail.
 * The World Tree: Now masquerading as a highrise office building.
 * Stealth Pun: MonOc-->. And on top of that, their logo is a circle with a bar through it; Harry thinks it looks like an eye being cut out with a blade or the Greek character iota imposed on an omega. Thus, the blind eye that sees every last little detail.
 * The World Tree: Now masquerading as a highrise office building.

"Mac" McAnally
""Hngh.""

Owner and bartender of McAnally's Pub. Has never shown any indicators of power, so he might belong in "The Normal People," but there have been hints that there's more going on than meets the eye with him.

"I looked at him, shocked. He'd used... grammar."
 * Truce Zone / Bad Guy Bar / Good Guy Bar: McAnally's. As accorded neutral ground, any supernatural who's signed onto the Unseelie Accords is expected to behave him, her, or itself. Granted, that doesn't mean things are any less tense, but it at least gives those same supernatural types somewhere they can hang out without having to worry too much about their personal safety.
 * Hidden Depths: We don't know much about Mac's past, but his position as the unofficial Bartender to the Weird in Chicago and his bar's status as Accorded Neutral Ground indicate that there's some interesting stuff going on in there.
 * : He's usually very quiet, but in Changes, he gives a small monologue. Harry is completely floored.
 * The Quiet One: To the point where one-word replies from him are the equivalent to screaming rants from other people, and when he starts to speak in complete sentences...


 * Terse Talker

Margaret Le Fay Dresden
Harry's deceased mother. Known to have been a maverick in the White Council--to the point where she was under surveillance from the Wardens for suggesting "alternate uses" to the Laws of Magic. The repercussions of her actions are still being revealed. She has not yet and probably never will appear directly in the series; consequently, most of the below examples are inference or outright speculation.


 * Action Mom
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: At first.
 * Dead Person Conversation: She appears to her sons post-mortem through a soulgaze she'd previously set up.
 * Death by Childbirth:
 * In the Blood: Raith actually tells Harry flat out that she was just as much of a smartass as he was.
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Meaningful Name: LeFay
 * Meaningful Rename: Changes reveals
 * Missing Mom
 * Posthumous Character
 * The Power of Love: Falling in love with Malcolm Dresden, and breaking off with whoever she was hanging out with at the time, is implied to have saved her from a very bad end.
 * How bad? Chauncy, a demon, tends to have an "Almost got her" reaction to her.
 * Rage Against the Mentor: Toward McCoy.
 * Rebellious Spirit
 * Single Woman Seeks Good Man: To Malcolm Dresden, eventually.
 * Sins of Our Fathers: She left quite a burden behind for Harry to bear. What's even worse is that he doesn't know all of what it is.

Martin
Martin was one of the Fellowship of St. Giles most dedicated members, and worked with them for well over a century. He is absolutely fanatical about bringing down the Red Court. At any cost. We learn a lot about him in Changes, so if you haven't read it, this will be a spoiler heavy entry.


 * The Nondescript: He is boring and unremarkable in every aspect of his appearance and personality. After he emerges from a vicious battle completely unscathed Harry notes that this ability serves him like armor. No one sees him as a threat.
 * Survival Mantra: "Stay on mission".
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He'll do anything to destroy the Red Court. He'd interrupt a duel specifically to keep the hostilities between the White Council and Red Court active. He'd have shot Harry in the back to do so.
 * The Unfettered: The Red Court is evil. The Red Court must be destroyed. What do you mean, further moral considerations?
 * Survival Mantra: "Stay on mission".
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He'll do anything to destroy the Red Court. He'd interrupt a duel specifically to keep the hostilities between the White Council and Red Court active. He'd have shot Harry in the back to do so.
 * The Unfettered: The Red Court is evil. The Red Court must be destroyed. What do you mean, further moral considerations?
 * The Unfettered: The Red Court is evil. The Red Court must be destroyed. What do you mean, further moral considerations?

Victor "the Shadowman" Sells
Primary antagonist of the first novel; a powerful but relatively inexperienced sorcerer who heads up a drug ring in rivalry with Marcone. In the course of said rivalry he commits a series of murders that bring him to Murphy's, and by extension Harry's, attention. Needless to say, he goes down. Hard.


 * Domestic Abuser
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Karmic Death: Killed by the demon he enslaved after Harry broke his control
 * The Man Behind the Man: it's implied from as early as Fool Moon that the Black Council was pulling his strings the whole time. In Changes
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: A relatively mild example, all told, but his basic philosophy is still pretty nihilistic.
 * Smug Snake: He's good, but not nearly as good as he thinks he is, which gets him in trouble at the end.
 * Starter Villain
 * Unskilled but Strong: He's got tons of raw power, especially when drawing on the storms, but his lack of experience and formal training means he has little subtlety with that power and makes some sloppy mistakes.
 * Unwitting Pawn
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: He seems to have been a fairly normal, if unpleasant, guy before getting in deep with Black Magic drove him off the deep end.
 * His wife actually hints that he was a well meaning man who wanted to help his family.

"Shagnasty" the Skinwalker
""I will come for you. I will kill you. I will kill your blood, your friends, your beasts. I will kill the flowers in your home and the trees in your tiny fields. I will visit such death upon whatever is yours that your very name will be remembered only in curses and tales of terror.""

One of the main antagonists in Turn Coat, the Skinwalker is an ally or member of the Black Council, and comes in on their behalf. When viewed through a wizard's Sight, the pure evil that the spirit embodies is enough to drive Harry almost mad with terror that such a creature could even exist. The Skinwalker proves to be a frighteningly powerful foe, easily able to defeat the White Court in the heart of their headquarters. At the end of the book, the Skinwalker faces


 * Always Chaotic Evil
 * And Your Little Dog, Too: See above quote.
 * Bad Powers, Bad People: He has the power to instinctively sense what would cause the most emotional pain to others, which is why he
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: To, just because it knows breaking him will hurt Harry more than anything else.
 * Jim has said that the Skinwalker has a sort of Intellectus when it comes to evil. Intellectus is when something automatically knows the answer to a question, but not necessarily how to get from point A to point B. The Skinwalker knows what will hurt people, but not why it will.
 * The Dreaded: As much as Dresden is this for most beings the Skinwalker is this for him and everyone else. The moment three members of the Senior Council and five wardens hear one is coming their first idea is to run. This group included McCoy and Listen-To-Winds, a wizard who knew directly out to fight one.
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Emotion Eater: Skinwalkers are said to be able to draw power from people's fear so potently that even so much as talking about them can strengthen them. Subsequently, the Navajo tribespeople who know of them tend to not discuss them with outsiders, meaning that those who encounter them will probably not recognise them, which also leads to fear of them.
 * Everything's Worse with Bears: And one of the forms the Skinwalker in Turn Coat takes is a biological mash-up of a bear, a cougar, and some sort of lizard.
 * Pronoun Trouble: Harry cannot figure out whether Shagnasty is an "it" or a "he."
 * Monster Sob Story: Uriel feels sorry for Skinwalkers (though much more for their victims), because in their rampages, he believes they find some measure of peace in bringing down everything else to their level, to prove everyone else is as flawed as they are.
 * Shapeshifter Showdown:
 * Skin Walker
 * Speak of the Devil: Referring to it by name generates fear that can strengthen it, which is why Harry nicknames it Shagnasty.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Morgan mentions that he fought a Skinwalker once before. He lured it to a nuclear testing facility, and stepped through to the Nevernever as the bomb went off. It's also implied that this method of killing it was NOT overkill, but just enough kill.

He Who Walks Behind
AKA "The Walker". A powerful creature that Justin DuMorne called up to kill Harry when he was a teenager. Harry faced the Walker and defeated it, and ever since it holds a deadly grudge against him. Other than that, little is known of the creature.

"Harry: Hells holy stars and stones shit bells."
 * Arch Enemy: Hinted.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Stated by Lasciel to be a powerful Walker.
 * Body Horror
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * The Dreaded: When  invokes the Walker at the end of , Harry has a massive Brown Note reaction.


 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Evil Brit: The Walker chooses to communicate to Harry in a perfectly clear but contemptuous British accent.
 * Kick the Dog: In Ghost Story, Harry's flashback to the confrontation with the entity involves  for no reason beyond the fact that he could.
 * Meaningful Name: Harry's first encounter with it has the Walker literally staying behind him the entire time, invisible to normal senses; Harry can only see it through reflections in glass.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The creature's primary name is pretty scary, but also keep in mind he is referred to as "Lord of Slowest Terror." This is speculated in the RPG books that the Walker either loves tormenting his victims (hence the "walks behind" part) or that he is the slowest of the Walkers, meaning the others are ludicrously fast.
 * Try to Fit That on A Business Card: When asked his name, he responds with a couple paragraphs of psychic impressions (pain, contempt, love of Cold-Blooded Torture, etc.) Harry, being Harry, pretty much quotes the trope name at him.

Ferrovax
An honest-to-goodness dragon. He appears at Bianca's party in Grave Peril, where he demonstrates that he is a being of immense power, able to bring Harry to his knees with just a portion of Harry's true name. While he has not appeared since, Word of God states that Ferrovax will have a part to play in the apocalyptic trilogy that will serve as the capstone to the Dresden Files series.


 * Chekhov's Gun: The mysterious gift that he received at Bianca's party. Whether it actually has any actual importance to the plot remains to be seen.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Is slated to appear in the apocalyptic trilogy, and possibly play an important role.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation: Mr. Ferro implies that the sight of his true form might do this to Harry.
 * Green Rooming: Carefully introduced in book 3, stated by Word of God to have a role to play eventually, but never mentioned again as of book 13.
 * One-Scene Wonder: He's only shown up at the party, and did comparatively little there. He's also one of the most popular characters among fans.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: In this case, dragons are semi-divine beings of immense power. According to the author, there are two types of dragons, Dragons (with a capital D), that are god-like beings, more in common with the Asian perception of dragons and dragons (with a lowercase d), which have more in common with the dragons represented in western mythology that work as messengers and agents for Dragons. Given that Ferrovax refers to himself as the "oldest and most powerful" of his kind, it might be presumed that he belongs to the former category.

"Binder", AKA Ernest Tinwhistle
A British-born spellcaster whose specialty is in gathering and binding spirits into his service. Binder serves mostly as a mercenary who uses his gangs of spiritual goons to takle care of business. Appears in Turn Coat as a hireling of Madeline Raith.


 * Affably Evil
 * Badass Longcoat: The generic minions he summons take on the form of men in trenchcoats.
 * Career Killers
 * Nice Hat
 * Evil Brit
 * Pragmatic Villainy: Fully willing to sell out his employer the minute she died.
 * Summon Magic
 * Zerg Rush: In addition to pure numbers the minions in this case have supernatural strength, speed,and toughness.

Sue the Tyrannosaur
The single most intact T-Rex skeleton ever recovered, promeniently displayed in the Chicago Field Museum. At the climax of Dead Beat,

"Lucio: "I believe you are familiar with that one."
 * Brick Joke: In Small Favor, when Lucio and Harry are discussing leylines, she mentions a leyline of dark energy that runs under the Field Museum.

Harry: "I was going to put the dinosaur back.""


 * Chekhov's Gunman: Sue is first encountered early in Dead Beat when Harry is investigating black magic at the Field Museum.
 * One-Scene Wonder

Mortimer Lindquist
Professional medium and ghost-talker, otherwise known as an "ectomancer." Though a very potent wielder of power in regards to the dead and other spirits, Lindquist's powers have a very narrow focus and thus he tries to stay out of way of anything supernatural and/or violent. However, when the situation calls for it, he can be very dangerous within his area of expertise, and has a will of iron.

""Heroes know better than to hand the universe lines like that.""
 * Cowardly Lion: Mortimer does not like to get involved, but he still possesses great power in controlling and communicating with the undead.
 * Defiant to the End / Screw Your Ultimatum:
 * I See Dead People: Can communicate with spirits.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Ghost Story. "I don't have a gun. Never thought I needed one."
 * Lovable Coward: Mort the ectomancer is another self-admitted coward. And, in another subversion, while he stays out of the way of violence as much as possible, he'll go all Papa Wolf when ghosts are threatened and.
 * Though Mort does have a very good reason for self-preservation:
 * Meaningful Name: Anyone think it's a coincidence that the guy whose magic is focused on the spirits of the dead goes by the nickname "Mort"?
 * Phony Psychic: For a while, until Harry convinces him that this is hurting his overall abilities. Once he started using his powers honestly, they returned and became even stronger.
 * Powers Via Possession: Sort of. Mortimer can draw ghosts into his body to take advantage of their skills--even with wizards' spirits to access their magic, like
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "But it seems to me, you half-wit, that you probably shouldn’t have  to play with."
 * Tempting Fate


 * Took a Level In Badass: In Dead Beat, Mort is a self-proclaimed coward with a bad comb-over and almost completely atrophied abilities. By Ghost Story, he has turned his business around, enlisted the aid of some of the most dangerous ghosts in Chicago and gained a level of raw power rivaling Harry's (within his narrowly specialised field). He also, and this is after enduring

Sir Stuart
The leader of the spirits gathered around Mortimer's house.
 * An Axe to Grind
 * Abnormal Ammo: He makes anti-wraith bullets out of particularly powerful memories.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Kept the shades of all the serial killers under control.
 * Badass:To the point that when Lea mentions how dangerous he is she sounds like a schoolgirl with a crush.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Hand Cannon:His main weapon of choice against wraiths
 * Mr. Exposition: Previous books have taught us snippets of how ghosts work in the Dresdenverse, but this is where it becomes important in earnest.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: A mix of type 2 and 6
 * Semper Fi: A member of the Colonial Marines back in his day.
 * Semper Fi: A member of the Colonial Marines back in his day.

Demonreach
The spirit of an unmapped island on Lake Michigan, and the source of a massive ley line of dark magical energy. The island itself was used by the Denarians as a base in Small Favor, and Harry sought out the island's spirit and claimed it as a sanctum in Turn Coat. The spirit is malicious and dangerous in the extreme to anyone who isn't Harry.


 * Dark Is Not Evil: Demonreach as a whole is malicious and dark and dangerous, but the entity is certainly not evil. Just surly and antisocial to the extreme. Notably, it finds the presence of the  and the   to be an affront.
 * Genius Loci: And it transfers that knowledge to whoever claims it as a sanctum.
 * I Know Your True Name: Harry named the island Demonreach, for which is seems grateful.
 * In the Hood
 * Place of Power: Once Harry claims Demonreach as a sanctum, his power is supported and boosted by the island's own. This, coupled with soulfire, is the only way he is able to
 * Spanner in the Works:

The Fomor
Old enemies of the Fae who were banished out to sea, which are one of the supernatural powers that emerged to fill in the vacuum left by the  at the end of Changes. They are a hodgepodge of many monsters driven into the sea and now adapted to aquatic life. Word of God hints that they are featured in some of H.P. Lovecraft's writings.


 * Arc Welding: There are hints the Formor may have been behind a lot of the action in the series, unbeknownst to Harry.
 * Bio Augmentation: All of them have it in order to survive underwater, and they transform human servants and other "experiments" using the same techniques.
 * Fantastic Racism
 * Fish People: An amalgam of the features and shapes of various aquatic creatures.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain
 * Organic Technology: Most of their weapons look like and appear to be made from undersea organisms.
 * Super Human Trafficking: They've been doing this to cities all over the world. Murphy's rescue op in Aftermath was just one of many talent trafficking operations they've done.
 * Villain Team-Up: Their origin. The current Fomor are made up of various monstrous creatures that were defeated by the current supernatural powers and were forced into the oceans to survive.
 * You Will Be Assimilated: What they do to their human minions, resulting in uniform servitors who have little individuality.

Aristides

 * Bald of Evil
 * Big Bad Wannabe: That is not to stay he’s not skilled, because he quite is, he’s just not the big shot he acts like he is
 * Compelling Voice
 * The Fagin
 * Just Ignore It: What happens to him in the end
 * Knife Nut
 * Lean and Mean
 * Super Speed
 * Tattooed Crook: With protective symbols from various traditions.

Fitz
A street kid whom Dresden meets during the events of Ghost Story, and acts as something of a right-hand-man to Aristides.


 * Big Brother Instinct
 * Big Brother Mentor: To the street children under Aristides' control.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Grey and Gray Morality: His world view. He doesn't believe in good guys or bad guys.
 * I Hear Dead People: And at first he was not amused at Harry playing Spirit Advisor. Eventually, though, he gets used to it enough to snark back and even seem a little amused by the situation.
 * Jade-Colored Glasses
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Harry notes that Fitz is very similar to him, especially when he was that age.
 * Not Afraid of You Anymore: His final confrontation with Aristides is a great part this
 * The Power of Love: Harry notes that Aristides' control over the street children was nothing compared to the loyalty they had to Fitz. After all, Fitz cared for them and protected them whichever way he could. That holds much more power than mere magical control.
 * Smarter Than You Look: Harry notes this