a Dresden Files question...

[ratcreature]

I've been reading the series, but I think I missed something in Dead Beat... When Dresden first asks Bob about Kemmler he commands him to forget and to not call the knowledge up again ("I command you never to recover those memories again. Never to let them out again. Never to obey any command to unleash them again."), yet later Cowl steals Bob, and still got the Darkhallow instructions so he doesn't need The Word of Kemmler. How did that work? Could Cowl override Dresden's command because he was stronger?

Also, why was the book title of that Erlking book such a weird mix of German and English and got the German articles wrong? Seriously "Die Lied der Erlking"? *wince* If it was a German title it would have been either "Das Lied des Erlkönigs" or "Die Lieder des Erlkönigs" (because "das Lied" = "the song" and "die Lieder" = "the songs"). I cringed every time I read the book title and unfortunately it appears a lot.

I mean, the article thing is depressingly common in English books using random German phrases. Though who knows why, it's not like it's some kind of arcane system, any dictionary will tell you which article belongs with the noun, and will give you the information on which declination table said noun follows, and then you look at that table in the back of the dictionary to see how it changes with the case and number you want. Any number of languages work this way. It's not rocket science. It still never fails to make me cringe.

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I think Cowl overrode Dresden's authority when he stole Bob; although Bob is fairly loyal to Harry, he's commanded by whoever has their hands on him.

As for the German...I have no idea. I love Jim Butcher a lot, but I think his dictionary failed him on this one. -_-"

[ratcreature]

Not the best way to safeguard Kemmler's work then, though it must have had still some effect because when Cowl put Bob down it wasn't the evil version of Bob that appeared when Dresden made him remember.

[merryish.livejournal.com]

While I don't think it's explained in the book, and while I don't think it is intended to explain that particular issue, you'll find out something in the most recent book that will probably be sufficient to serve as an explanation. =)

My personal take on it is that as much as Harry might like them to, his commands to Bob don't outlive his possession of the skull.

[ratcreature]

That makes sense. I haven't read past Dead Beat yet, though I have the eighth one to read next. I'm still waffling whether I should get the newest one as hardcover or wait for the cheaper paperback edition to come out. If you've read it, is it worth getting as hardcover?

[merryish.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. I think it's his best yet. There are some elements that I had slight issues with - it gets a bit, um, Harry Sue, here and there - but overall? I think it rocked. And really, the whole series is Harry Sue, it's just there were one or two places in this that evoked that particular eye-roll on my part, just for a second. The rest of the time it's low-level hey-he-is-the-hero-of-the-piece-after-all type stuff - you know what I mean, I'm sure.

I'd say go for it. But then, I'm currently trying to get all of them in hardcover. =)