Peace Talks characters

Appears from the start

Chicago's wizard, the Winter Knight, warden of Demonreach - and, these days, a father trying to build something like a normal life with his daughter Maggie. When the Fomor propose peace talks to the assembled supernatural nations, Mab drafts Harry as Winter's muscle for the conference. Then his brother commits an unforgivable crime in front of everyone, and Harry has to choose between the duties everyone can see and the loyalty he can never explain.

First appears in chapter 2

Harry's half-brother, a vampire of the White Court, their kinship still a closely held secret. Thomas has been steadier since Justine's pregnancy was confirmed - which makes it inexplicable when he attempts to assassinate the king of the svartalves on the eve of the peace conference, an act of war under the Accords. Captured and beaten nearly to death, he will not say why he did it, even to his brother.

First appears in chapter 2

Thomas's beloved - a onetime thrall of the White Court whose long recovery left her able to survive a vampire's love. She is pregnant with Thomas's child, news that reshapes both brothers' worlds. When Thomas is taken, Justine's desperation becomes one of the engines of the book: whatever it costs, whoever must be bargained with, she wants him back.

First appears in chapter 3

Formerly of Chicago PD, still recovering from the injuries Nicodemus gave her - a shattered knee and arm that ended her fighting career as she knew it. She and Harry are finally, properly together. Sidelined from the front line but not from the fight, Murphy applies what she has always had: nerve, judgment, and an absolute refusal to be protected out of relevance.

First appears in chapter 4

Warden Commander of the White Council's western American territories and one of Harry's few genuine friends inside the Council. Carlos arrives with the delegation for the peace talks - and with bad news delivered as friendship: the Council's patience with Harry Dresden is exhausted, and powerful voices want him expelled. The conference forces Carlos to weigh that friendship against duties Harry keeps giving him reasons to doubt.

Also known as The Blackstaff

First appears in chapter 6

Senior Council member, the Council's sanctioned assassin, Harry's old mentor - and his grandfather, a secret shared between them but not with the world. Ebenezar comes to Chicago for the talks and for family reasons of his own, carrying a lifetime of hatred for the White Court, whose kind destroyed people he loved. He does not know Thomas Raith is his grandson, and that ignorance is a loaded weapon lying between him and Harry.

First appears in chapter 8

Effective ruler of the White Court of vampires, reigning through her puppet father. Lara is brilliant, patient, and dangerous in every register from boardroom to battlefield. Winter owes her two favors - a debt Mab has assigned Harry to pay - and the crisis around Thomas gives Lara every reason to spend them. Her interests and Harry's align exactly as far as she wants them to.

Also known as The Winter Lady

First appears in chapter 9

The Winter Lady - Harry's former apprentice, now several years into a queenship she never asked for. Molly moves through the conference as Winter's poised, formidable young queen, her mantle's power worn like tailored armor, while the Carpenter family still does not know what their daughter has become. She lives under svartalf patronage, which places her uncomfortably close to the book's inciting crime.

First appears in chapter 10

The Queen of Air and Darkness, attending the peace conference as one of its presiding powers. Mab's agenda runs, as always, several layers deep: the security of the Accords, the debts she owes and collects, and the positioning of her Knight - whom she volunteers for duties that serve purposes she does not explain. Her instructions to Harry about Lara Raith are exact and non-negotiable.

First appears in chapter 12

King of the svartalves - the ancient, scrupulous artisan folk hosting the peace conference at their Chicago embassy. Etri is a being of stone-hard honor and long memory; his people's hospitality is sacred to them, and the attempt on his life under his own roof is an offense their law answers with death. He is not cruel, but he is utterly unbending.

Also known as The Last Titan

First appears in chapter 30

The last of the Titans, walking out of humanity's oldest nightmares into a Chicago conference room - an immortal of world-breaking power, bearing the Eye of Balor. Ethniu arrives with the Fomor delegation, and it becomes clear the talks were never the point: she has come to deliver a declaration, and she considers the assembled nations of the Accords beneath fear.