How to start the BAT

[u/No-Cause5127]

Grab your tinfoil hats I have a new idea for the beginning of the BAT:We know that every 666 years some kind of cosmic starborn cycle repeats and that Rashid was the Harry Dresden of the last cycle and that he ended up as the gatekeeper. What if each cycles starborn is destined to be the gatekeeper and when he's absent (for example by killing the current gatekeeper) it makes it possible for outsiders to do some evil outsider stuff that starts the BAT. And the way to fix it is to make harry the next Gatekeeper

Any thoughts on this?

[u/ArundelvalEstar]

Well first off we know there isn't just one starborn per cycle. Secondly, we already know how the end game actually starts. A femme fatale comes to Dresden for help, Faith something I can't remember off and

[u/BagFullOfMommy → u/ArundelvalEstar]

Faith Astor, she was Harry's first save and it was the night he met Murph.

[u/No-Cause5127 → u/ArundelvalEstar]

What who said that? 😮

[u/ArundelvalEstar → u/No-Cause5127]

What part? We've known about Faith for the whole series basically, the multiple starborn comes from the last couple books I don't remember what one

[u/No-Cause5127 → u/ArundelvalEstar]

I never heard of faith in which book is she mentioned

[u/Waffletimewarp → u/No-Cause5127]

Crisis of Faith. First story in Side Jobs, Jim’s proof of concept for Harry a s a character when he was in school.

[u/BagFullOfMommy → u/Waffletimewarp]

Crisis of Faith. First story in Side Jobs

Restoration of Faith.

[u/Waffletimewarp → u/BagFullOfMommy]

My mistake!

[u/Anarchist_BlackSheep → u/No-Cause5127]

Faith Astor. A character from the short story Restoration of Faith, which is the first Dresden story Butcher wrote.

[u/ArundelvalEstar → u/No-Cause5127]

Literally the canonical first story of the Dresden files in chronological order. It's a short story, I think it's restoration of Faith

[u/No-Cause5127 → u/ArundelvalEstar]

Ahhh yes I remember the story. But how do we know that she will appear again and start the BAT?

[u/Orthos_ate_my_chair → u/No-Cause5127]

WoJ is that Faith kicks off the BAT.

My money is on her having learned necromancy, tries to bring her grandma back from the dead, and in doing so lets an Outsider in. Also, Kumori is Faith.

[u/Jedi4Hire → u/No-Cause5127]

Per WOJ, Faith Astor is the femme fatal who walks into Harry's office and kicks off the BAT.

[u/Magnits → u/ArundelvalEstar]

Battleground is the first confirmation i think. Listen is starborn per the conversation Harry overhears through Grimalkin between him, Ethnui and Corb.

[u/LightningRaven → u/ArundelvalEstar]

Faith hasn't been confirmed by Butcher, but I've posted several times over the years about the possibilities of her being the "final femme fatale" of the series, due to how Jim likes bringing things full circle and her name is one of the major themes of the series.

It's likely she's Kumori, which makes her a character we've seen before rather than someone coming out of nowhere.

Just to clarify that although Faith fits pretty well, it hasn't been confirmed (as far as I know, it's been a while since I've seen interviews from Jim).

[u/introvertkrew]

Faith Astor shows up, Jim has talked about that a few times. Here's one of the early WoJs about that. 

Arched Doorway Interview 2013 WoJ:

Q: " Will we ever see Faith from the Restoration of Faith short story in a mainstream Dresden Files book?" 

Jim Butcher: "Yes, we will, but not until the big ending. Faith was the first character and more or less the first client of Dresden’s that I ever wrote in that first little short story. So she will show up again to kick off the big apocalyptic trilogy at the end." 

[u/One-Permission-1811]

Harry already has a comparable job. Warden. Granted we don’t really know what being Warden means yet but it’s definitely connected to the Gates and Outsiders. I think Rashid will likely either die or start training a new Gatekeeper but I don’t think it will be Harry who takes up the mantle. Not sure who it will be but it shouldn’t be Harry

[u/bry0816 → u/One-Permission-1811]

This being Harry it’s going to be a thankless pain in the ass

[u/vercertorix]

I'm still expecting some quest or trials any surviving Starborn will compete over for some kind of cosmic Prize, and either the whole thing or part of it will happen beyond the Outer Gates which is why only Starborn can get in on it, anyone else including the greater powers could be corrupted. I'm not sure what that prize was but Kumori wants to stop death, I don:t think a single win of some Starborn backed by Cthulhu or whatever is going to cause Empty Night, but like Nick says, it's about progress, but because this is the one we get to "see", this is the final one they need to cause it.

There are definitely other Starborn, not just one, Listen of the Fomor, and Drakul that we know of so far, guessing Cowl and/or Kumori are on that list too. Rashid was before but don't know if he will be competing this time around, though that might be one reason the Council doesn't like Harry, they already have their horse in the race and don't trust a warlock to win for them or what he'd do with the Prize.

[u/LawExcellent9741]

You set a Loupe Garou on Odin on the 31 October 2020(which is not only a Full Moon, but also a Blue Moon, the second full moon of the month) and thus the Fenris Wolf kills Odin kicking off Ragnarok.

Its at Harry’s Birthday party so he gets to see Santa Claus killed horribly on his birthday, so I can’t see Jim NOT doing this.

Harry has most likely been theorised as being born in 1974, which just so happens to have also been a full moon AND a blue moon making it astronomically siginificant.

[u/BagFullOfMommy]

and that Rashid was the Harry Dresden of the last cycle

You mean the cycle before last? Because Rashid is over 1300 years old.