my favorite moments from Skin Game (who am I kidding, it’s every page, but let’s just pull out the top twelve):
1. the one that makes me go absolutely wild every time
The angel held up his hand. “If you do this, I can take no action to protect you,” he said. “And this creature will be free to inflict upon you such pain as even you could not imagine.”
A sudden, sunny smile lit Michael’s face. “My friend …”
Uriel blinked, and rocked slightly, as if the words had struck him with physical force.
“… thank you,” Michael continued. “But I’m not the Carpenter who set the standard.”
HELLO MR. BUTCHER YOU CAN’T JUST THROW THINGS LIKE THIS AT ME WITHOUT ADVANCE WARNING
2. the one that is the MOST badass moment in the entire series, no I do not take constructive criticism
Michael’s eyes widened and went to Nicodemus as he stretched out his right hand, without looking, without needing to look, and withdrew from the canvas package a Sword, a shining length of straight steel with a cruciform hilt. As Michael’s fingers closed on it, Amoracchius exploded into white light, and for the second time in an evening, the quiet, ominous power of one of the Swords filled the air.
Nicodemus’s eyes widened. “You cheat!” he snarled.
“I said I would come out to you,” Michael said. Then he lifted a work-booted foot and kicked the white picket gate off its hinges. It struck Nicodemus across the torso, driving him back into the street, and Michael Carpenter, Knight of the Cross, strode out of the open gate onto the icy sidewalk while the archangel looked on, silver-green eyes blazing in answer to the light of the Sword in Michael’s hands.
“I’m out,” Michael said. “In nomine Dei, Nicodemus, I have come to face you.”
“I said I would come out to you…I’m out”
nothing can top this, ever, don’t even TRY to change my mind
3. IT’S A LIGHTSABER!! A LIGHTSABER!! HOW COOL IS THAT??
His fingers closed around the grip of the broken Sword of Faith, and if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would scarcely have believed what happened.
There was a flash of light.
There was a sound like a howl of holy trumpets backed up by the voices of an entire choir.
And suddenly a shaft of blinding silver-white light three feet long sprang from the broken hilt of Fidelacchius and shone in the first golden light of that day’s dawn, humming with the full power of the Sword, only louder now, more melodic, and physically audible.
Nicodemus’s sword was already falling, and when it met the blade of light, there was a shriek of protesting metal, a flash of sparks, and he reeled back three quick steps, staring at his own weapon in incomprehension.
Fidelacchius had sheared it off as neatly as if it had been paper instead of steel. The severed end of Nicodemus’s sword glowed white-hot.
“Ah,” said a voice next to me, in a tone of intense satisfaction, and I jerked a quick glance up to see Uriel crouching next to me, his teeth showing, his eyes glittering.
Butters came to his feet, and his jaw hung open. He stared at the humming blade in his hands for a second and then suddenly his teeth showed in a joyous smile that was no less fierce for being so.
And his eyes locked on Nicodemus.
Suddenly, there was an incoherent scream from behind one of the vans, and the vehicle rocked, as if something enormous had smashed against it. A second later, Mouse stepped out from behind the van, where its bulk was shielding him from the immediate aim of the slowly recovering squires. The Foo dog’s head was low, his body crouched and tensed, hackles raised, gleaming, sharp, freshly bloodied teeth bared. He was no more than a few feet from Nicodemus’s back, and at his appearance, Anduriel’s shadow form went berserk, flickering and twisting in a dozen directions at once, like a panicked animal running to the ends of its tether.
“Nice try?” Butters said. “Mister, where I come from, there is no try.”
And he lifted the Sword to a guard position and charged, coat flaring dramatically, impossibly.
Butters DESERVED this and so did I, thank you very much
4. this is literally the best “offer a hand to the villain” scene ever written
“It isn’t a matter of belief,” Michael said. “I need look no further than the evidence of my eyes and mind. It’s why I took up the Sword in the first place. To save you, and those like you, who have been used by the Fallen. It’s why I have been given the grace to take up arms again, this very night—in time to offer you a chance.”
“For forgiveness?” Nicodemus spat.
“For hope,” Michael said. “For a new beginning. For peace.” He swallowed and said, “I can’t imagine anything happening to my daughter. No father should have to see his child die.” Michael’s voice stayed steady, quiet, and sincere. “As different as we are, as much separated in time and faith, you are still a human being. You are still my brother. And I am very sorry for your pain. Please. Let me help you.”
Nicodemus shuddered and dropped his eyes.
And for a second, I thought Michael was going to pull it off.
Then Nicodemus shook his head and let out a low and quiet laugh. He stood up again, and as he did, his shadow seemed to accrete beneath him, gathering darkness from all around the room and drawing it into a nebulous pool at his feet.
“Choirboy,” he said, contempt in his tone. “You think you know about commitment. About faith. But yours is as a child’s daydream beside mine.”
“Don’t do this,” Michael said, his tone almost pleading. “Please don’t let them win.”
“Let them win?” Nicodemus said. “I do not dance to the Fallen’s tune, Knight. We may move together, but I play the music. I set the beat. For nearly two thousand years have I followed my path, through every treacherous bend and twist, through every temptation to turn aside, and after centuries of effort and study and planning and victory, they follow my leadership. Not the other way around. Turn aside from my path? I have blazed it through ages of humanity, through centuries of war and plague and madness and havoc and devotion. I am my path, and it is me. There is no turning aside.”
The shadow at his feet seemed to darken as he spoke, to throb in time with his voice, and I shuddered at the sight, at the pride in his bearing, the clarity in his eyes, and the absolute, serene certainty in his voice.
Lucifer must have looked exactly like that, right before things went to Hell.
Michael reaching out to Nicodemus, who has committed unspeakable evils for centuries, and calling him his brother, is peak Christianity, wish more books did that
Nicodemus boasting about his path and how he’s so powerful, and how the speech is just dripping with pride, but then you get whammied with the comparison to the Devil at the end, and you really see where too much pride takes you
5. you may have noticed that most of these center around Michael, I’m not sorry though because my guy deserves to have his spot in the limelight, anyway this is a spectacular scene please enjoy
Nicodemus approached us with his expression entirely neutral, and eyed Michael.
“We needn’t fear further interference from Tessa. It will take her time to pull herself together. How did you do that?” he demanded.
“I didn’t,” Michael said simply.
Nicodemus and Deirdre exchanged an uneasy glance. “All of you, hear me,” Michael said quietly. He turned and stood between them—Fallen angels and monsters and scoundrels and mortal fiends—and me. “You think your power is what shapes the world you walk in. But that is an illusion. Your choices shape your world. You think your power will protect you from the consequences of those choices. But you are wrong. You create your own rewards. There is a Judge. There is Justice in this world. And one day you will receive what you have earned. Choose carefully.”
His voice resonated oddly in that space, the words not loud, but absolutely penetrating, touched with something more than mortal, with an awareness beyond that of simple space and time. He was, in that moment, a Messenger, and no one who heard him speak could doubt it.
your!! choices!! shape!! your world!! you!! create!! your own rewards!! there IS Justice in this world!! and one day!! ONE DAY!! you will receive what you have earned!! CHOOSE CAREFULLY
thank you for coming to Michael’s TEDtalk
6. this whole scene is so well written but alas it’s too long so here’s the absolute best bit, enjoy
I considered the Grail and felt bad for what I was doing, and I didn’t hesitate or slow down for a second. There are weapons that have nothing to do with steel or explosions or vast arcane power, and I used mine. “Do you remember?” I asked in a very quiet voice. “The first time you saw her? The first time she looked at you? Do you remember that change? That shift, when the whole universe suddenly tilted? Do you remember looking at her and knowing that you would never, ever be quite the same person? Do you think the cup will do that for you?”
I flicked him the Grail, sending it in a smooth arc through the air.
His eyes widened in surprise, but he caught it adroitly, his whole body shuddering as its power washed over him.
I watched him, his face, his posture, and put every ounce of scorn I had into my voice. “I don’t know how you said it back in the day, but I’ll bet you anything her first word was ‘dada.’ ”
His chest stopped heaving.
And he said, in an utterly flat, utterly dead voice, “Kill them.”
And that ended the game, right there.
the fact that the Dresden Files consistently brings up that there are things more powerful than magic, like faith or love, is truly one of my favorite things about the series. and here, Harry’s greatest weapon isn’t his spells or anything like that; it’s his insight, and his ability to hit Nicodemus right where it hurts using only words
7. see above re: basic human experiences being more powerful than any magic
There’s power in the touch of another person’s hand. We acknowledge it in little ways, all the time. There’s a reason human beings shake hands, hold hands, slap hands, bump hands.
It comes from our very earliest memories, when we all come into the world blinded by light and color, deafened by riotous sound, flailing in a suddenly cavernous space without any way of orienting ourselves, shuddering with cold, emptied with hunger, and justifiably frightened and confused. And what changes that first horror, that original state of terror?
The touch of another person’s hands.
Hands that wrap us in warmth, that hold us close. Hands that guide us to shelter, to comfort, to food. Hands that hold and touch and reassure us through our very first crisis, and guide us into our very first shelter from pain. The first thing we ever learn is that the touch of someone else’s hand can ease pain and make things better.
That’s power. That’s power so fundamental that most people never even realize it exists.
I said it above, but I’ll say it again: I absolutely love how love and faith and things that anybody can do are often what trump the things that go bump in the night in the Dresdenverse
8. the one that makes me cry, every time
She looked at my face searchingly for a moment and then said, in a tiny voice, “Do you want to be my dad?”
I went blind for a few seconds, until I blinked the tears away.
“Sure,” I said. It came out in a tight croak, but when I said it she smiled at me.
9. Skin Game is full of awesome moments like the ones above but it also has a lot of humor too and I should not leave those out
“Ah,” Nicodemus said, as we reached the pool of light around the conference table. “Mr. Dresden. I’m glad to see you here on time. Will you have doughnuts?”
I looked past him to the snack table. It was indeed piled with doughnuts of a number of varieties. Some of them even had sprinkles. My mouth started a quick impression of a minor tributary.
But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil, damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness … … which could obviously be redeemed only by passing through the fiery, cleansing inferno of a wizardly digestive tract.
Michael approached me with his eyes wide and said, “Dear God in Heaven, Harry. That was amazing. I’ve never seen you move so quickly.”
“Yeah,” I said. “There aren’t many perks to being the Winter Knight, but that’s one of them.”
“Did you shout ‘Parkour’?” Michael asked.
“Well, sure,” I said. “That was kinda Parkour-like.”
Michael fought to keep a smile off his face. “Harry,” he said, “I’m almost certain one doesn’t shout ‘Parkour.’ I believe one is supposed to simply do Parkour.”
“Do I criticize your Latin battle cries? No, never once.”
“That is true,” Michael said soberly.
the friendly banter in this book is to die for
11. idk this scene just always makes me laugh
At the bottom of the elevator ride, I turned to Mab’s bodyguards and said, “Time for you guys to get out and bring the car around.” When none of them moved, I said, “Okay. You guys filled out some kind of paperwork for how you want your remains disposed of, right?”
At that, the Sidhe blinked. They looked at Mab.
Mab stared ahead. I’d seen statues that indicated their desires more strongly.
the timing is just. so perfectly comedic
12. this is last on the list but not last in my heart
At three thirty a.m., we rolled up to the evil lair in a soccer mom’s minivan with a MY KID IS AN HONOR STUDENT AT … bumper sticker on the back. It is worth noting that by the standards of my life, this was not a terribly incongruous entrance.
100/10 entrance, absolutely spectacular, better than any cool action shot of the heroes walking into danger
anyway even if you never read the other Dresden Files books you should read Skin Game because it is truly one of my favorite books of all time for a reason
