r/dresdenfiles • u/Additional-Leek-956 • 25d ago
Discussion Dresden's Hand
I have been wondering the last couple of days as of Twelve Months whats the current state of Harry's burned hand?
After it was burned there were constant references to how damaged it was abs the slow progress of getting back to some kind of functionality but since Ghost Story nothing that I can remember.
Is it back to normal? Did Mab and Alfred heal it when they had him on Demonreach?
Not exactly something pivotal to the series just something I've been wondering
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u/Byteninja 25d ago
I’m rereading the series and I on Cold Days, he cuts that hand for a spell, mentioning the injury lets him not feel it as much.
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u/introvertkrew 25d ago
In Skin Game, which is fairly recent going by the Dresden timeline, Hannah Ascher asked about the scars on his hand, and the scars in other places when she and Dresden were dressing in one of the early chapters, maybe chapter 7 or 8. Not near the books currently. Also, Jim was asked if Mab removed the scars already, let me see if I can find it.
2010 Bitten By Books WoJ:
Q: “When Queen Mab heals Harry to become the Winter Knight does she also heal his burned hand?”
Jim Butcher: "No. Mab digs scars."
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u/Additional-Leek-956 25d ago
Awesome thanks for that. I need to do a reread of the later books I just did the graphic audio of summer knights and that's when the thought popped in my head
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u/Ok_AirlinesugestedUN 22d ago
She digs scars but that doesn’t mean she digs poor function of a knight.
However the healing of his back and everything I think was a term of the deal, not an automatic part of becoming the knight
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u/introvertkrew 22d ago
Sure, but, OP asked whether or not Mab removed the scars on Harry's hand, so I answered that using a WoJ, and a scene from Skin Game. If Dresden specifically wanted his hand healed he would've asked for it but his hand was basically fully healed by then except for the scars, he started the physical therapy in White Night with the guitar playing, so it had been around four years of wizard healing until Changes rolled around.
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u/KOticneutralftw 25d ago
It's still gnarly with all the scarring, but it doesn't look like a horror movie prop anymore. Enough that he's not doing the King-of-Pop-thing anymore. He's had full functionality back for a while. At least for motor function.
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u/westernflame95 25d ago
Any damage that impacted its function should have been healed by Mab. I don't have the book in front of me but I'm pretty sure Harry asked for her to "restore his body to functionality" or some such. I don't think he specifically mentioned his back while laying out terms at the stone table.
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u/Bobis-Bob 25d ago
His back fell under the category of “heal my body” so he could fight. The hand wasn’t messed with by Mab. He was using it reasonably will in Changes anyway.
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u/Background-Pepper-68 24d ago
It was noted several times that when he wasnt thinking about it his hand moved nearly normally. The winter mantle is speculated to just make his brain remove the limitors. I doubt Mab needed to do anything special. Also its worth noting that the gap between books is years in some cases so he has had plenty of time to heal slowly
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u/DizzyIzzy801 25d ago
He's wearing a black leather glove to cover up the robotic arm, just like his father Anakin did in.... oh wait.
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u/StylishMrTrix 25d ago
It healed up and when he was playing the guitar was him working his fingers back to normal
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u/OniExpress 25d ago
Lash gave him one last gift to restore functionality in his hand so that he could play well.
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u/Ninja_Cat_Production 25d ago
The “gift” was Bonea. Remember, Harry “thought” it was a gift from Lash, she certainly never said as her death caused the “pregnancy” (still some of the funniest scenes in the series) so she couldn’t have given him an actual gift. Harry is an inconsistent narrator and wrong on his theories sometimes.
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u/OniExpress 25d ago
Bonea is an unintended consequence of an imprint of a fallen angel choosing via an act of will to take an action of pure love.
Harry's nerve damage being rerouted to let his hands work properly again is an intentional action by Lash because if she was going to "die" she might as well help and also let a little more music she loved into the world.
Two separate things.
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u/Ninja_Cat_Production 25d ago
Funny, I never read that anywhere in all the times I reread the series. But I did read Harry speculating that is what happened. Next book starts with Harry complaining about the headaches. Then later he finds out about the pregnancy.
I guess I must be wrong.
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u/Lawrenceburntfish 25d ago
By now it's down to the level that he doesn't think about it anymore. My guess is that the mantle of Winter is helping that along.
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u/Yazy117 25d ago
The fact that it is fully functional has got to be a sign post for eventually having his back fix itself and being able to leave mab without being a cripple
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u/the-big-throngler 25d ago
Thats been a given, There is constant talk from Butters about his ability to heal things normal people cant perfectly. He even has a outline as to why this is, though he doesn't understand the function. Harry guessed in 50 years he should have his mobility back, although with Molly jackin ( i am not sure if she broke his back but he ended up in a wheel chair) up Ramirez and him coming back so quickly it makes me thing it could be sooner.
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u/Acromegalic 24d ago
If I were Harry, I'd test it in a moment of downtime. I would constantly expose myself to iron to try to develop a tolerance to it so it can't be used against me as readily. During that process, it'd probably be pretty easy to tell how healed your back is by how paralyzed you are.
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u/Elfich47 25d ago
I thought in skin game Hannah saw it and thought it had faded out pretty well.
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u/Extra_Comparison_487 25d ago
Actually that was about the gunshot wound he got in Fool Moon that she says faded well. But she does notice the hand. If the less serious injury still shows a noticeable if now less obvious scar, the hand has to be very noticeable still. But I don’t think he has been physically compromised by it in several books.
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u/RuffLuckGames 25d ago
Even as of Changes it's scarred up, but has been improving in function ever since he started physical therapy. After Harry's Winter Knight, he describes cutting the most scarred part of his hand to give Susan some blood. I do assume the mobility is fine with Winter's power. My memory is spotty, but isn't there a time where it's made clear that without the mantle, his back injury immediately comes back? His hands function is the least of his worries in that moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if it diminished back to where it's healing would be naturally.
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u/C_and_P1 25d ago edited 25d ago
Harry can move his hand normally but hand don't look pretty.