The Dresden Files/Shout Out

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Dresden Files, what with having a cast full of Genre Savvy characters and a Pop-Cultured Badass First-Person Smartass narrator, is absolutely full of nerdy Shout Outs. And honestly, these are just a few that stand out. Harry rattles one off at least every couple of chapters, if not every couple of paragraphs.

  • In Storm Front: "There came a knocking, a rapping, at my chamber door." is loosely paraphrased from Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. It even happens during a thunderstorm (which you might call dreary) while Harry feels terrible (weak and weary). The only thing wrong with it is that it's not midnight.
  • Similarly in White Knight, he describes the woods around Castle Raith as "Lovely, dark and deep," a clear reference to "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," a poem by American poet Robert Frost.
  • Dracula (when referencing the Black Court vampires). In-universe, the book was actually commissioned by the White Court to make the weaknesses of Black Court vampires known. But woe betide the wannabe slayer who's only seen the movies or assumed all the usual vamp tropes come from Dracula.
    • Thomas likes kukris, just like Jonathan Harker.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Harry tells Inari to "make like Buffy" when they're surrounded by Black Court vampire lackeys in Blood Rites.
    • Also, Thomas on the subject of Denarians in Small Favor is a direct quote from Angel: "I already have one demon inside of me. What's one more?" Harry quickly corrects him.
    • Further, in the Side Jobs short story, Something Borrowed, the short, blonde demon fighter, Karrin Murphy, says, "you have fruit punch mouth." In the season 1 finale, the short, blonde demon fighter, Buffy Summers, says the exact same phrase, albeit under very different contexts.
      • Bob calls her "Buffy" in the same story.
    • Thomas is described as wearing a BtVS T-shirt in Death Masks.
  • Angel- before opening his own P.I. business, Harry worked at "Ragged Angel Investigations".
  • Firefly. An almost-succubus is named Inari.
    • Also, "Thomas is too pretty to die."
    • Also, "Malcolm Dresden". Read the dream sequence where he and Harry talk, giving him Nathan Fillion's voice. Seriously. It's eerie, just how much Dresden Sr.'s method of speech resembles Reynolds'. And they're both people who are trampled upon because they're good souls who do the right thing.
    • Re-read the scene in Small Favor in which Harry and Nicodemus are in the boat, then compare it with the final fight between Malcolm and the Operative in Serenity.
  • Harry Potter- Dresden notes early on that he often gets calls from people who see his ad in the phone book and apparently just have to call just to ask if he's "really a wizard named Harry."
    • Also, this is not to mention Darth Wannabe's group of "wizards", who come complete with Slytherin scarves.
    • When the RPG books discuss the White Council's weakness in dealing with dark magic, Harry has a note scribbled in the margin about possibly taking a page from "that other spellcasting Harry's book" and teaching a Defense Against the Nastybad Arts class.
  • Thomas's boat is named the Water Beetle, also a Shout-Out to Harry's beloved car, the Blue Beetle.
  • "I follow the Tao of Peter Parker". When the addressed villain doesn't get it, Harry notes that he "must be a DC Comics fan"). Other Spider-Man references abound, as Harry is an admitted fan in-continuity. Harry himself closely resembles a version of Peter Parker that was bitten by a radioactive wizard instead of a spider.
  • In White Night, Elaine uses a spell that causes whirlwinds by twirling something over her head. The Mighty Thor uses the same method, and Jim Butcher has shown himself to be a big Marvel fan.
    • Harry does the same in Proven Guilty, and it is more than a little reminiscent of Thor.
  • Also in White Night, crossdressing villainous vamp who goes by Priscilla is a clear shout out to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
  • In Summer Knight, Harry investigates the death of one Ronald Reuel for the Winter Queen of the Fae. Ronald Reuel is what the 'R. R.' in J. R. R. Tolkien stands for. Reuel is also described as a "creator of worlds"/fantasy illustrator.
  • During Proven Guilty, the evil creatures mostly take on the role of generic horror movie monsters. One, however, is quite obviously the Xenomorph from Alien. (Harry even quotes the movie at it during the fight.) Others are Captain Ersatzes of Freddy, Jason, Chucky, and Pumpkinhead.
  • In Proven Guilty, Harry avoids mentioning his little project because having a scale model of the city in his basement "projects a little too much of that evil, Lex Luthor vibe."
  • Murphy and Dresden quote a few lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail at each other early in White Night, much to Harry's delight and amusement.
    • Harry also refers to one of his strategies with: "Run Away! Me and Monty Python."
    • One set of margin notes in the RPG rulebooks consists of nothing but a string of Holy Grail references.
  • In Small Favor, Toot-toot does a full-blown parody of Full Metal Jacket: "This is my box-knife. There are many like it, but this one is mine."
    • Actually, the line is "This is my box knife. There are many who like it, but this one is mine." Tiny or not, Toots is definitely one of the Fair Folk.
    • The original quote comes from the Rifleman's Creed which apparently was/is a genuine part of US Marine doctrine. Toot-toot is probably more likely to have seen the movie though, particularly since Harry attributes it to the movie when he hears Toot-toot say it.
  • In Small Favor, a serious gut wound is sealed up with superglue, with the victim mentioning that they saw it in a werewolf movie.
  • Also in Small Favor, Thomas refers to the White Council's attitude towards him as 'Leper, outcast, unclean', a reference to Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
  • In Death Masks, when an enemy doesn't reveal his plan after capturing Harry, Harry later notes that the villain "must have read the Evil Overlord List." Later, in Small Favor, when said villain finds his operations compromised by his habit of cutting out the tongues of his followers, Harry sighs that he didn't read that list after all.
  • In Small Favor, Harry quotes The Princess Bride: "You rush a miracle-worker, you get rotten miracles."
    • Bob tells Harry to "have fun storming the castle," in Grave Peril.
    • There's also a bit in Changes that's from The Princess Bride:

Harry: Plan B. We need a Plan B. If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.
Susan: We have a great big truck.
Harry: (In a bad British accent) Then why didn't you list it among our assets?

    • In Ghost Story, Harry mentions he fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the other two more well known ones being to never get into a land war in Asia, and to never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
    • In the RPG books, one passage includes Inigo Montoya's famous quote. Nearby, Harry has written a margin note that says "STOP SAYING THAT!"
  • Even the book covers feature one: the glowing runes on Harry's staff are actually the word "Matrix" written in Japanese katakana and mirror-flipped.
  • After a reference to the Alien movies goes unnoticed by a 2000-year-old demon in Small Favor:

"That's the problem with you immortal types. You wouldn't get a pop culture reference if it skittered up your neck and implanted an embryo down your esophagus."

  • In Fool Moon Bob purposely has Harry repeat the word werewolf so he can do the "There wolf. There castle." line from Young Frankenstein. He's then annoyed when Harry doesn't get it.
    • The RPG makes the same joke. In the index, between the entries Wereravens and Werewolves. Classic.
  • Obviously, The Lord of the Rings references abound, but Harry refusing Lasciel's offer of power by quoting Gandalf's refusal of the One Ring stood out as pretty awesome.
    • There's a whole conversation in Changes about which member of the Fellowship everyone is. While we didn't hear the final decision for everyone, we do know that Thomas is Legolas by virtue of prettiness, Sanya the sword-wielding descendant of kings is clearly Aragorn, Mouse is Gimli (shortest, stoutest, and hairiest), and, much to Harry's annoyance, the Leanansidhe got to be Gandalf (Best spellcaster in the group, and appropriately ancient and inhuman). Harry, they decided, is Sam: things rarely go his way, but he never gives up, and he's the real hero of the story. Oh, and Thomas labels Martin-- the well-intentioned traitor who dies for their cause-- as Boromir. And lo, there was Fridge Brilliance.
    • Heck, on the second page of the first book, wizards are described as "subtle and quick to anger". Compare to famous saying from Middle Earth:

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

    • And then in Changes, when he decides to throw some wrath at some deserving vampires, he references it again.

"Fuck subtle."

  • Harry's description of the potential results of the Darkhallow: "Phenomenal cosmic powers and all the living space they can grab."
  • Harry's famous battle cry in Summer Knight, "I don't believe in faeries!" is a shoutout to Peter Pan. Really funny because the source material says that every time someone says that, a fairy drops dead somewhere. Perfect war-cry.
    • Later in that same scene, when Harry first steals the Unraveling from Aurora and runs like hell, he makes sure to give her a hearty "Meep, meep!"
  • Lampshaded at the end of Summer Knight when a character remarks that he can't believe they just had an entire faerie adventure and no one had referenced Shakespeare. A mistake that was quickly corrected.
    • Double points for the battle taking place at Midsummer. At Night. On Clouds.
  • Harry quotes from Star Wars during the Luke, I Am Your Father moment in Blood Rites, too.
    • Not just there, either.

Musty? Little? My home this is.

    • And he calls Molly "padawan" a lot.

Molly: I think it is possible to reference something other than Star Wars, you know.
Harry: *screws up eyes in Muppetly wisdom* That is why you fail.

    • Let's face it, there's a ridiculous amount of Star Wars references.
    • In White Night: "The Black Council had been, if you will pardon the phrasing, a phantom menace."
    • Even Uriel the Archangel, Heaven's spymaster, says he prefers Star Wars to Star Trek just after appearing to Harry during Molly's Battle in the Center of the Mind
    • Ghost Story is rife with Star Wars references, the best of which being when Harry's ghost proved its identity to Molly by quoting Empire Strikes Back.
  • Harry actually calls Molly "Grasshopper" more often than "Padawan".
  • There's a shoutout to David Eddings' Belgariad[1] when Harry asks the Archive -- the living repository of all written and spoken information, in the body of a seven-year-old girl -- if her bodyguard Kincaid can be trusted. It's almost an exact quote.

"What about him?" I asked the Archive, and nodded towards Kincaid. "Can he be trusted?"
"Kincaid?" the girl asked, her voice whimsical. "Can you be trusted?"
"You're paid up through April," the man replied, his eyes still scanning the street. "After that, I might get a better offer."
"There," the girl said to me. "Kincaid can be trusted until April. He's an ethical man, in his way."

  • Harry says his skull must have gotten an adamantium upgrade, considering that it's still intact despite all the beatings he's taken.
    • And in Ghost Story, he defines all of his neat abilities as a ghost in terms of what mutant has those powers.
  • "Maybe it was a grue."
  • Nothing beats mocking a vampire by doing an impression of Count von Count.
  • Harry telling Injun Joe in Turn Coat that he wants to die by being "stepped on by an elephant while having sex with identical triplet cheerleaders" is a reference to the Book of Amber. Corwin also wants to die by being stepped on by an elephant while having sex.
  • In Dead Beat, the Necromancer whose book everyone is after is Heinrich Kemmler, a reference to the Vampire Counts character from Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Heinrich Kemmler, Lichemaster. Jim Butcher has mentioned that he is a fan of WHFB.
    • A more obvious one in Changes: "This is ridiculous. I look like the Games Workshop version of a Jedi Knight," explains the armour better than the preceding couple of paragraphs...
    • In the Side Jobs story "The Warrior" we learn that Father Forthill, Michael's handler in his war against evil, is technically an inquisitor. Of the Ordo Malleus, to be more specific.
  • The prequel, "Welcome to the Jungle" is pretty obviously a reference to the Guns N' Roses song.
    • Coupled with the early narration courtesy of Harry, the title makes another obvious reference to Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, which was set in early 20th century Chicago. Harry even lampshades it by quoting from the book.
  • At the beginning of Blood Rites, Harry and a little dog fight flying monkeys.
    • In the short story Something Borrowed Harry mentions wanting to chant "There's no place like home!" while in a slight panic.
  • Dead Beat references Alice in Wonderland several times. Morgan's sword even goes snicker-snack.
    • Not just Morgan's sword. It might be due to Harry retelling these, but the "snicker-snack" has been used for several instances when a character is cutting up something. Murphy with the chainsaw, for instance.
    • Not to mention the sequence with Malcolm Dresden. Harry asks him for a vorpal blade, but all he's got is a Snickers snack..
  • Harry advertises the exact opposite of what John Wellington Wells does in The Sorcerer.
  • In Changes, when Thomas comes to the rescue, Harry responds "Go Team Dresden!"
  • Justine is a very clear reference to De Sade's novel Justine, The Misfortunes of Virtue which follows the sex- rape-filled life of a virtuous but naive young girl.
  • In Turn Coat Harry makes an impressively smooth transition from Metal Gear Solid straight into The Pirates of Penzance.

Toot's body practically convulsed in excitement. Had a giant yellow exclamation mark appeared above his head, I would not have been surprised. "A Major-General?"
I couldn't resist. "Yes, yes," I said solemnly. "A Major-General."

  • The captured woman in the short story Heorot is named Elizabeth Braddock.
  • In "Love Hurts," Murphy's line about disliking coincidence is very similar to a common phrase used by Spenser. This is further established when Harry comments on Murphy's dislike of "reading Parker." (There's actually a very strong Parker influence on The Dresden Files in general; the often-used blurb of "Spenser crossed with Merlin" is very apt.)
  • "My lips touched dog lips! Get me some mouthwash! Get me some iodine!"
  • Evil Dead: "Shop smart. Shop S-Mart."
    • Not to mention the multiple uses of the exclamation, "Groovy," throughout the books.
    • In the short story "Something Borrowed," Harry sarcastically says "And maybe Elvis and JFK are shacked up in a retirement home somewhere"--a reference to Bubba Ho-tep, another Bruce Campbell film.
  • The RPG books include a great number, both in Harry, Bob and Billy Will's margin notes and in the index. Including:
    • Regarding Cassius's favorite spell:

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

    • Harry responds to an example where a PC leaps out of the shadows to attack a mook with "Totally Batman."
    • There's a note written by Harry next to the Might skill which reads "Hulk Smash!" Between this, "the Tao of Peter Parker," and the Wolverine joke, he does like his Marvel, doesn't he?
    • Marvel Comics shows up again in a reference to TSR's Marvel Super Heroes RPG when Harry notes in the margins that "The Alphas aren't Amazing(50) -- they're more like Remarkable(30)."
    • One of Nicodemus's aspects is "Been Around a Long Long Year".
  • On the subject of comic books one of the Alphas is named Kirby.
    • The section describing the Sixth Law of Magic ("Never swim against the currents of time") has a note from Billy in the margin that says, "This is all very Doctor Who." Harry responds that he liked Tom Baker best.
    • The index includes an entry that says "Robot from the Future Needs Beer".
    • The index uses a code system to show which book and page contains the information: YS means "Your Story" (the player and GM handbook), and OW means "Our World" (the sourcebook). One entry uses this to good effect:

Who is Number One?: UR#6

  • In Summer Knight, the Stone Table is probably a reference to the object/place of the same name in The Chronicles of Narnia.
  • Harry's name could also count, since he's named after three stage magicians (Harry Houdini, Bellamie Blackstone, and David Copperfield), which he explicitly points out. And though Harry doesn't mention it, Word of God confirmed that it's also notable that his last name is Dresden. As in, "Firebombing of."
  • In the RPG, a note by Harry on Stunts reads, "Juggler + Riposte = It's All In The Reflexes!"
  • When we're first introduced to Harry's rather humble home he uses the phrase "Basement of Solitude ".
  • Even Yogi Bear, with Harry looking through Susan's basket during the oft-referenced Masquerade during Grave Peril.
  • In the short story with Thomas' birthday, when a Black Court vamp starts threatening them over the intercom, Harry quickly asks what she was like in life. One girl responds that she wasn't all that popular, and some of the kids picked on her.

Harry: Crap. Code Carrie.

  • In Dead Beat, when Cowl asks Harry for the book about the Erlking, Harry says that Cowl must be a Schubert fan. Cowl responds with "Goethe, actually." Goethe wrote a poem called "Der Erlkonig", and Franz Schubert adapted the poem into a song.
  • In the first chapter of Ghost Story, Harry references one of the running gags from Terry Pratchett's Discworld:

Harry: "For crying out loud, didn't I just say that death wasn't scary anymore? Tell that to my glands."

  • When Billy points out in the RPG that Harry first saw the Black Dog (Welcome to the Jungle) that attacked him in the rear view mirror, and points out that it could use mirrors as a point of entry or as part of its manifestation, Harry remarks "Check out the big brain on Billy!"
  • The entire subplot from Ghost Story dealing with Fitz and his trouble rescuing his friends from Aristedes is a either a pastiche or homage to Oliver Twist.
  • In a flashback during Ghost Story, young Harry is frightened by a Sinistar arcade machine.
  • Mortimer Lindquist in Ghost Story: "Don't have a gun. Never really felt like I needed one"
  • In Ghost Story, Uriel reveals that one of the Fallen tempted Harry to arrange his own death with seven words and that as a result Uriel can use seven words to help Harry. Considering that Jim Butcher and Patrick Rothfuss are friends, this may be a shoutout to The Name of the Wind
  • And again in Ghost Story, at one point Harry says that for someone to take on Murphy, they'd have to be "a Terminator. From Krypton."
  • In Ghost Story, Inez gives a shout out to Jim Butcher himself, when she tells Harry "They'll write books about you."
  • Also in Ghost Story, he uses his tracking spell, commenting "Crombie, eat your heart out"
  • In White Night, Dresden refers to Mouse's hanging around with Molly as the dog doing his Clifford impression.
  • In "Ghost Story" Mort's hybrid car is said to boast a computer that "Looked like it could have run the NYSE and NORAD, with enough attention left over to play tic-tac-toe. Or possibly Global Thermonuclear War." in a shout-out to WarGames.
  • In Ghost Story, one of the Alphas is a young woman whose werewolf form is lightly-built and colored a bit like a coyote. In trying to recall her name (Marci), Harry's second guess is "Mercy", which is the name of Patricia Briggs' coyote-shapechanger heroine; like Harry, she hangs out with werewolves and fae.
  • And again in Ghost Story, there is the description of what Evil Bob looks like when he manifests. A tall, Evilly Affable man with a skull for a head, who traipses about in an SS uniform? You don't say.
  • Also from Ghost Story is Molly's Star Trek defense system.
  • In White Night, we have a Harry facing off against Vittorio Malvora, a super fast vampire, specializing in throwing knives.
  • Forget which book, but at one point Harry grouses about his situation with "in the words of my generation, this blows goats", which somewhat updates someone's Famous Last Words from Independence Day.
  • In White Night, they have not just one but two open portals between the regular world and the Never Never... they all refer to them as a gate, we have to guard the "gate", get the innocents back through the "gate" and so on... also at this point Murphy has her shiny new FN P90 SMG, aka the Stargate gun (used in the later seasons of Stargate SG-1).
  • And in Changes, Harry refers to the Red Court as "One big bloodsucking Brady Bunch."
  1. ↑ Jim Butcher says Eddings was one of the authors which got him started on fantasy
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