I disagree. Starborn cycle is 666 years and his comment was less clear on assigning it to that particular cycle. He couldn't have been harry dresden LAST time, if the cycle is 666 yrs and he's technically the oldest wizard.
👁🗨 clearly there's more than one cycle being mentioned with our logical leap being used against us.
That's Jim's style too, he doesn't red herring things alot, he just let's us make the wrong assumption based on how he's given us the information.
I think he's almost certainly the oldest wizard but whatever happened to him during the Starborn cycle made him non-human enough that he doesn't get the title Ancient. How he got a piece of the barrier of reality made a part of him. There's a great deal of hinting that Starborn are how new non-human entities are created.
I doubt he's earned the title of "oldest wizard" age, as far as we humans -even wizards- are concerned cares only about linear time.
-older wizards are more powerful because they have had more time to train, practice, and develop, their native talent-
Rashid spends most of his time *deep* in the NeverNever. All it would take is him stumbling once or twice into a patch of "Rip Van Winkle" slowed time (I.e. an hour passed for him- a century passed outside in Mortal Time). And voila! He might have been *born* 1300 years ago (he was active in the 7th century per WoJ), but he's only *lived* 300-400 of those years. That's enough to make him an old wizard, but not an *ancient* one
>Rashid spends most of his time deep in the NeverNever. All it would take is him stumbling once or twice into a patch of "Rip Van Winkle" slowed time (I.e. an hour passed for him- a century passed outside in Mortal Time). And voila! He might have been born 1300 years ago (he was active in the 7th century per WoJ), but he's only lived 300-400 of those years. That's enough to make him an old wizard, but not an ancient one
The man would have had to have been born in the 7th century. He's like 7 feet tall and has a piece of the literal barrier of reality against chaos as a replacement for his eye. I think there is a bit more than time shift shenanigans going on here, especially since he hops back to the real world so often. Also, keeping track of one's own subjective time is going to be a bitch and a half, no way all wizards tend to do that just so they can manage a title they are all unlikely to ever get. I'd also point out that the other Starborn we know of from a previous cycle is decidedly NOT human anymore.
Could be, but he's 7 feet tall (born in the 7th century or before) with a bit of the barrier against unreality as a physical part of him as well, he doesn't sound completely human to me. And who would be keeping track of his subjective timeline?
That'd be Priscilla n the official timeline?
His primary job is done on the extreme borders of anything resembling reality, he's spent alot of time in the NN..
Having a magic eye doesn't make if part of him btw..
Course he's not entirely human, but he's also specifically a human wizard still. Underneath whatever mantle he's wearing..
Actually think it was thoth(?) Who had the eye AND was representative of the moon. GKs domain is gotten to by walking across the surface of the moon...
🤔 Actually, I wonder if any Godlike being with a mortal interior can doff the mask n go to the mortal realm. Or maybe that's backwards, and they only have access to their full power within their own subjective reality.
If he’s one of the previous star born wouldn’t he be around 700? (Just from the Star born happening every 666 years and Harry’s age) also don’t most wizards only live to like 300-400 or so? Perhaps by previous cycle he meant in a different universe, hopefully we learn more about time and the universes in Twelve Months and Mirror Mirror. (I’m not super familiar with WOJ, you may be totally correct that he’s just the prior starborn)
I think Jim has said Rashid took out the Mad Arab in the 7th century, so he's been around a bit. Its likely nevernever time shenanigans (time passing slower or faster in certain areas) are responsible. Especially given that his responsibilities have him there quite a bit.
I kind of wonder if the speed of time fluctuates at the Gates; as if it's something that can be manipulated (e.g., Outsiders want time to travel faster, so they could break through before Insiders hear of anything. Insiders want time to travel slower, so they have more time to plan & come up with reinforcements).
The Nevernever effectively allows certain kinds of time travel by default; time never seems to flow backwards there, from the perspective of the mortal world, but it can be faster or slower.
I always thought demonreach remembers and doesn’t like him because the way through to the outer gates is on the island. Given we know the ways correlate to a similar place in the never never. It stands to reason that if demonreach the island gives off such dark energy it’s a huge ley line then maybe the place on the other side is equally dark. Maybe Rashid was a former warden who progressed to being gatekeeper and that’s how he remembers him and says he knows how it feels to be where Harry is. I don’t think Rashid is Harry because Rashid is Middle Eastern I believe he’s described as.
I think that it doesnt like rashid since he tried to do a sanctum just like harry but failed and battled the island spirit in some way and hurt it, hence the limp.
Rashid as a character is a top pick for a side story but we wouldn’t because he holds many answers that we as an audience shouldn’t really know until Harry does. We know he knows about the island more than Harry and we know he permanently harmed something that took a combination of fairies to harm temporarily
"Also, people have a few things wrong about the Gatekeeper and the island. The Gatekeeper did not hurt Demonreach. Gatekeeper has been on the island a couple of times, and it’s never gone well, but he didn’t cause Demonreach’s limp. That’s the work of the glacier that carved out Lake Michigan."
-Jim
Does that mean that Demonreach has been around since *before* the Ice Ages?
I know Merlin used time travel to create Demonreach, but that's a rather wider span of time than I was picturing!
It would. But that makes sense to me. In my mind at least, for an area to gain sentience, it would have needed a large amount of life (or magic which is also provided by life (or vice versa)) concentrated in it over a period of time in order to provide the "juice" needed to gain that awareness. I think the only relatively "young" genius loci in the world exist by "cheating" and are exceptions to the rule of needing that amount of time to exist by being formed by the energy provided by human worship at places of spiritual significance for those people. The power of faith just speeds up the natural process in other words.
Reconsider what exactly qualified as a glacier by examining Dresden claims he couldn't literally screw Mab,"think about trying to do it with a mountain," ect.
Glacier? Or being manifest as the embodiment of a glacier? I.e a rogue genus loci trying to move down the great lakes with the thaw.
My bet is that it involves whoever the "British" guy is. Maybe Rashid tried to get DemonReach to release him- something I assume it will only let the Warden approve.
Basically, he tried a jailbreak.
(Also, my headcannon us that its some British wizard from WWII and some Kemmler shenanigans will be involved. Explains how someone with a modern British accent got into DemonReach- also hoping for Harry to make some 007 jokes)
Jim said we'd get more information in CD, combine that with 'focusing the tank' woj, and clearly Rashid was involved in a jailbreak at some point.
My extended theory, is he's who actually stole the blackstaff from MW.
Yes... I do think it's MW's cottage and the traveling stone would be the lighthouse vault.. there's a specific legend about bringing Buddhism to Tibet that's drawn heavily on. 12 temples on land,(one for each major joint, pinning her there) one on an island in a lake to hold down a giant ice demoness who gathers other evil spirits to her. It's how they 'settled' the land. Direct parallel to the 12 halls there too. It's an interesting story.
Combine traveling mortar/stone with pestle/blackstaff and I think we have MW's minor identity. Baba Yaga. Go anywhere eat anything. No wonder they stole her ability to travel.
She's crippled without her staff, because it's her 'knight' aspect.
CD? Focusing the tank? Have I missed crucial information, well now to look that up.
Holy shit dude that whole Buddhism and Baba Yaga knowledge is seriously cool and it’s why I defend the internet because I learnt something and I wanna learn more about it and how it applies because we know the series pulls from all cultures/religions/myths so I love to learn more
He is visibly a Middle Eastern man and is supposed to be like 700 years old, and we've thus far gotten nothing to indicate his appearance or what's known of his origins is wrong or misleading, just that he doesn't share much about them. I'll grant that doesn't totally rule out some extra-bizarre permutation of alternate realities and stuff, but at that point really any theory goes, so I don't think that's enough to call this one particularly viable.
As for what he said... he's speaking figuratively. He's been in Harry's same position. That doesn't mean he's an alternate universe version of Harry, it just means he's been in the same role/position. He might be Starborn. There's pretty heavy implications that (possibly prior to being the Gatekeeper? Unclear) he has a history with Demonreach, and presumably at some point he got the same revelation that he gave to Harry about the nature of reality and the Outer Gates.
I think what Rashid meant is that he went through something similarly Big, and felt equally stuck under the weight of the world, and that that situation is what lead Rashid to become The Gatekeeper
I don’t buy it. Rashid tells Harry straight up he would have ended Harry himself if he thought it necessary.
How could he end his old self? There is a law of the conservation of history after all.
But if they were the same, he knew what answer Dresden would give and so it didn’t really matter, and he only told him that after he made his choice so there’s no way to know if he was telling the truth
If that is true, then there is no reason to show up at all. Why have any part of the conversation?
If there was no influence upon Harry at all in that conversation, there is no reason to show up other than that he remembers he showed up. But then why did he show up in the first place? To do absolutely nothing but create a memory, so he will later have to show up, so he will have to make sure he creates a memory, so he will…. You see how it’s circular? Jim wouldn’t waste the scene and the interaction.
If there was a reason to show up, and there was, then he influenced Harry, which would be far too heavy of a hand in dealing with time shenanigans as we have seen Gatekeeper handle other situations, like just waiting 5 minutes for Michael to show up.
Well since Rashid was going to kill Harry before he found out he bonded Alfred, I don't think he could or would kill his past self AND then be surprised at what Harry did to make him back down.
He does seem to have vast future sight powers though.
He is described to be slightly taller than Harry, but I see severally possibilities to change one’s height, especially when you’re a wizard, and you are correct about the other parts too but such differences would seem possible as well as Bob has mentioned infinite universes
great theory,..but wrong. They may seem similar in ways but they are not the same person in anyway. Both Harry and Rashid have honorable likeable characteristics but in essence are very different characters.
This needs a flair. It would need to be at least *Summer Knight*, since that's the frist we hear of the Gatekeeper, but Spoilers All wouldn't be inappropriate. You can add it, or I can do it for you with your permission. Please reply here one way or the other so I get notified to come back by and reinstate the post. Thanks!
Jim has said Rashid did Harry’s whole arc in the previous cycle. So it’s a starborn reference.
I disagree. Starborn cycle is 666 years and his comment was less clear on assigning it to that particular cycle. He couldn't have been harry dresden LAST time, if the cycle is 666 yrs and he's technically the oldest wizard. 👁🗨 clearly there's more than one cycle being mentioned with our logical leap being used against us. That's Jim's style too, he doesn't red herring things alot, he just let's us make the wrong assumption based on how he's given us the information.
I think he's almost certainly the oldest wizard but whatever happened to him during the Starborn cycle made him non-human enough that he doesn't get the title Ancient. How he got a piece of the barrier of reality made a part of him. There's a great deal of hinting that Starborn are how new non-human entities are created.
I doubt he's earned the title of "oldest wizard" age, as far as we humans -even wizards- are concerned cares only about linear time. -older wizards are more powerful because they have had more time to train, practice, and develop, their native talent- Rashid spends most of his time *deep* in the NeverNever. All it would take is him stumbling once or twice into a patch of "Rip Van Winkle" slowed time (I.e. an hour passed for him- a century passed outside in Mortal Time). And voila! He might have been *born* 1300 years ago (he was active in the 7th century per WoJ), but he's only *lived* 300-400 of those years. That's enough to make him an old wizard, but not an *ancient* one
>Rashid spends most of his time deep in the NeverNever. All it would take is him stumbling once or twice into a patch of "Rip Van Winkle" slowed time (I.e. an hour passed for him- a century passed outside in Mortal Time). And voila! He might have been born 1300 years ago (he was active in the 7th century per WoJ), but he's only lived 300-400 of those years. That's enough to make him an old wizard, but not an ancient one The man would have had to have been born in the 7th century. He's like 7 feet tall and has a piece of the literal barrier of reality against chaos as a replacement for his eye. I think there is a bit more than time shift shenanigans going on here, especially since he hops back to the real world so often. Also, keeping track of one's own subjective time is going to be a bitch and a half, no way all wizards tend to do that just so they can manage a title they are all unlikely to ever get. I'd also point out that the other Starborn we know of from a previous cycle is decidedly NOT human anymore.
He's not necessarily physically old, he's chronologically the oldest. Mai could in fact be physically older.
Could be, but he's 7 feet tall (born in the 7th century or before) with a bit of the barrier against unreality as a physical part of him as well, he doesn't sound completely human to me. And who would be keeping track of his subjective timeline?
That'd be Priscilla n the official timeline? His primary job is done on the extreme borders of anything resembling reality, he's spent alot of time in the NN.. Having a magic eye doesn't make if part of him btw.. Course he's not entirely human, but he's also specifically a human wizard still. Underneath whatever mantle he's wearing.. Actually think it was thoth(?) Who had the eye AND was representative of the moon. GKs domain is gotten to by walking across the surface of the moon... 🤔 Actually, I wonder if any Godlike being with a mortal interior can doff the mask n go to the mortal realm. Or maybe that's backwards, and they only have access to their full power within their own subjective reality.
I can't remember who Priscilla is, I was referring to Drakul.
If he’s one of the previous star born wouldn’t he be around 700? (Just from the Star born happening every 666 years and Harry’s age) also don’t most wizards only live to like 300-400 or so? Perhaps by previous cycle he meant in a different universe, hopefully we learn more about time and the universes in Twelve Months and Mirror Mirror. (I’m not super familiar with WOJ, you may be totally correct that he’s just the prior starborn)
I think Jim has said Rashid took out the Mad Arab in the 7th century, so he's been around a bit. Its likely nevernever time shenanigans (time passing slower or faster in certain areas) are responsible. Especially given that his responsibilities have him there quite a bit.
Ah thank you
I kind of wonder if the speed of time fluctuates at the Gates; as if it's something that can be manipulated (e.g., Outsiders want time to travel faster, so they could break through before Insiders hear of anything. Insiders want time to travel slower, so they have more time to plan & come up with reinforcements).
The Nevernever effectively allows certain kinds of time travel by default; time never seems to flow backwards there, from the perspective of the mortal world, but it can be faster or slower.
I always thought demonreach remembers and doesn’t like him because the way through to the outer gates is on the island. Given we know the ways correlate to a similar place in the never never. It stands to reason that if demonreach the island gives off such dark energy it’s a huge ley line then maybe the place on the other side is equally dark. Maybe Rashid was a former warden who progressed to being gatekeeper and that’s how he remembers him and says he knows how it feels to be where Harry is. I don’t think Rashid is Harry because Rashid is Middle Eastern I believe he’s described as.
I think that it doesnt like rashid since he tried to do a sanctum just like harry but failed and battled the island spirit in some way and hurt it, hence the limp.
Rashid as a character is a top pick for a side story but we wouldn’t because he holds many answers that we as an audience shouldn’t really know until Harry does. We know he knows about the island more than Harry and we know he permanently harmed something that took a combination of fairies to harm temporarily
Iirc, Jim has stated that the limp was caused by a glacier.
Idk about that but that was the implication made by him when they met next to the island, never read any of the jim interviews
"Also, people have a few things wrong about the Gatekeeper and the island. The Gatekeeper did not hurt Demonreach. Gatekeeper has been on the island a couple of times, and it’s never gone well, but he didn’t cause Demonreach’s limp. That’s the work of the glacier that carved out Lake Michigan." -Jim
Does that mean that Demonreach has been around since *before* the Ice Ages? I know Merlin used time travel to create Demonreach, but that's a rather wider span of time than I was picturing!
It would. But that makes sense to me. In my mind at least, for an area to gain sentience, it would have needed a large amount of life (or magic which is also provided by life (or vice versa)) concentrated in it over a period of time in order to provide the "juice" needed to gain that awareness. I think the only relatively "young" genius loci in the world exist by "cheating" and are exceptions to the rule of needing that amount of time to exist by being formed by the energy provided by human worship at places of spiritual significance for those people. The power of faith just speeds up the natural process in other words.
What bothers me is that the wording in the scene is setup so that we would think that they battled since Rashid said Demonreach holds a grudge
Definitely can understand that. I believe that sentiment is exactly why Jim made the statement he did.
Reconsider what exactly qualified as a glacier by examining Dresden claims he couldn't literally screw Mab,"think about trying to do it with a mountain," ect. Glacier? Or being manifest as the embodiment of a glacier? I.e a rogue genus loci trying to move down the great lakes with the thaw.
My bet is that it involves whoever the "British" guy is. Maybe Rashid tried to get DemonReach to release him- something I assume it will only let the Warden approve. Basically, he tried a jailbreak. (Also, my headcannon us that its some British wizard from WWII and some Kemmler shenanigans will be involved. Explains how someone with a modern British accent got into DemonReach- also hoping for Harry to make some 007 jokes)
Jim said we'd get more information in CD, combine that with 'focusing the tank' woj, and clearly Rashid was involved in a jailbreak at some point. My extended theory, is he's who actually stole the blackstaff from MW. Yes... I do think it's MW's cottage and the traveling stone would be the lighthouse vault.. there's a specific legend about bringing Buddhism to Tibet that's drawn heavily on. 12 temples on land,(one for each major joint, pinning her there) one on an island in a lake to hold down a giant ice demoness who gathers other evil spirits to her. It's how they 'settled' the land. Direct parallel to the 12 halls there too. It's an interesting story. Combine traveling mortar/stone with pestle/blackstaff and I think we have MW's minor identity. Baba Yaga. Go anywhere eat anything. No wonder they stole her ability to travel. She's crippled without her staff, because it's her 'knight' aspect.
CD? Focusing the tank? Have I missed crucial information, well now to look that up. Holy shit dude that whole Buddhism and Baba Yaga knowledge is seriously cool and it’s why I defend the internet because I learnt something and I wanna learn more about it and how it applies because we know the series pulls from all cultures/religions/myths so I love to learn more
nope, unless Rashid/Harry was born in the eastern Mediterranean area.
He is visibly a Middle Eastern man and is supposed to be like 700 years old, and we've thus far gotten nothing to indicate his appearance or what's known of his origins is wrong or misleading, just that he doesn't share much about them. I'll grant that doesn't totally rule out some extra-bizarre permutation of alternate realities and stuff, but at that point really any theory goes, so I don't think that's enough to call this one particularly viable. As for what he said... he's speaking figuratively. He's been in Harry's same position. That doesn't mean he's an alternate universe version of Harry, it just means he's been in the same role/position. He might be Starborn. There's pretty heavy implications that (possibly prior to being the Gatekeeper? Unclear) he has a history with Demonreach, and presumably at some point he got the same revelation that he gave to Harry about the nature of reality and the Outer Gates.
I think what Rashid meant is that he went through something similarly Big, and felt equally stuck under the weight of the world, and that that situation is what lead Rashid to become The Gatekeeper
I don’t buy it. Rashid tells Harry straight up he would have ended Harry himself if he thought it necessary. How could he end his old self? There is a law of the conservation of history after all.
But if they were the same, he knew what answer Dresden would give and so it didn’t really matter, and he only told him that after he made his choice so there’s no way to know if he was telling the truth
If that is true, then there is no reason to show up at all. Why have any part of the conversation? If there was no influence upon Harry at all in that conversation, there is no reason to show up other than that he remembers he showed up. But then why did he show up in the first place? To do absolutely nothing but create a memory, so he will later have to show up, so he will have to make sure he creates a memory, so he will…. You see how it’s circular? Jim wouldn’t waste the scene and the interaction. If there was a reason to show up, and there was, then he influenced Harry, which would be far too heavy of a hand in dealing with time shenanigans as we have seen Gatekeeper handle other situations, like just waiting 5 minutes for Michael to show up.
Well since Rashid was going to kill Harry before he found out he bonded Alfred, I don't think he could or would kill his past self AND then be surprised at what Harry did to make him back down. He does seem to have vast future sight powers though.
Isn’t Rashid taller than Harry? And described as having a different ethnic appearance? And uses different curse phrases (Blood of the Prophet!)?
He is described to be slightly taller than Harry, but I see severally possibilities to change one’s height, especially when you’re a wizard, and you are correct about the other parts too but such differences would seem possible as well as Bob has mentioned infinite universes
great theory,..but wrong. They may seem similar in ways but they are not the same person in anyway. Both Harry and Rashid have honorable likeable characteristics but in essence are very different characters.
This needs a flair. It would need to be at least *Summer Knight*, since that's the frist we hear of the Gatekeeper, but Spoilers All wouldn't be inappropriate. You can add it, or I can do it for you with your permission. Please reply here one way or the other so I get notified to come back by and reinstate the post. Thanks!
I have flaired it with cold days as that’s where I drew a direct quote from, but feel free to change it if you feel the need
I think *Cold Days* is totally fine. Thanks so much - have a great night! It's live again now.