The
Dresden Files justifiably gets a lot of criticism over the years
(reasons vary according to individual readers). I, on the other hand,
love the books and they remain one of my all-time favorite series. Their
action, humor, and world-building are things I've only found a few
series like and it has been a major influence on my own writing.
However, one area I'll always give the books credit is their handling
of anarchist sentiment. What? You don't think it’s an anarchist series?
Allow me to disagree. The books are incredibly anti-authority,
hierarchy, and systems of control. This essay will prove this by showing
his relationship to the White Council, police, and how Harry uses
anarchist methods to undermine both in the name of justice. It will,
necessarily, also contain spoilers up to the most recent book, Battle
Ground, as well.
I hope you enjoy!
WHAT IS ANARCHISM?
For the purposes of this essay, we'll be going with the dictionary
definition of anarchism: belief in the abolition of all government and
the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without
recourse to force or compulsion. This isn't to say that Harry isn't
going to believe in certain undying principles, very much the opposite,
but these have to be compelled through willingness to follow the rules
out of a desire to do so rather than through fear of force.
It will come up repeatedly that the fear of punishment is something
that flat out doesn't scare Harry and it is an attitude he encourages in
his apprentices. Instead, Harry teaches his reasons for following
principles like the Laws of Magic on the basis of them being good ideas.
It also sets the stage for his everlasting hostility to authority and
those who attempt to govern through the threat of force like the White
Council and police.
HARRY AND THE WHITE COUNCIL
The books are noir pastiches and while they moved toward high
fantasy, they've never entirely shed their detective novel roots nor
have they lost the unremitting hostility they have toward hierarchy. Our
protagonist, Harry Dresden, begins the book as that classic staple of
Les Miserable "the innocent man hunted by a rabid cop."
In this case, Harry killed a dirty cop (his mentor, Justin, was a
Warden despite being a warlock) in self-defense and has been harassed
and pushed toward violence by Morgan for decades thereafter. Morgan
won't just gun Harry down but wants to agitate him into giving him
plausible deniability. Interestingly, enough, Harry believes passionately in the Laws of
Magic and continually makes excuses for the White Council as well as
their harsh methods even as he's a subject of their persecution. They
even are willing to wage war on the Red Court when he starts a war on
them, which buys them a lot of points with Harry.
However, from the very beginning, the White Council's support of
Harry is tepid at best and there are questions of turning him over to
the Red Court for peace and Harry never improves in his opinion of their
handling of the Laws of Magic's enforcement. We also slowly find out
that Harry gets as much slack as he does due to nepotism. Literally, the
only reason he wasn't executed was the Blackstaff was his grandfather
and chose to adopt him after Justin's death.
The corruption and arrogance of the White Council goes beyond the
"few bad apples" Harry initially suspects the Black Council to be but
soon become clear to be entirely the ethos of the organization and how
it relates to the rest of the world. They are heavy-handed, ruthless,
and dismissive of any talents not powerful enough to be full wizards to
the point of doing nothing to protect them against persecution by groups
like the White Court. Harry, himself, is also the only wizard to
actively defend the public against supernatural threats since most of
them are covered by the Unseelie Accords.
At one point, Harry himself, becomes a Warden and the lover of their
leader. This should have been a great moment for establishing the White
Council's perspective as well as how Harry has been misjudged. Instead,
it just further exposes Harry to the dark side of "his" supporters and
after successfully stopping a Black Council agent that had been
mind-controlling them all for years, they blame Morgan as well as elect
another corrupt agent to their highest ranks.
It's no wonder that by the time Harry returns from his "coma" that
he's lost all cachet with the younger Wardens, who have become
radicalized true believers in the White Council's "us against them"
mentality and every bit as eager to believe in Harry's guilt as Morgan.
Truly, a sense of how Jim views authority can be shown with the kangaroo
trial of Molly Carpenter where they come within inches of killing a
holy knight of God's daughter even if it would destroy dozens of lives
as well as alliances.
HARRY AND THE POLICE
Harry works with the police, which would normally disqualify him as
an anarchist hero, but Butcher nicely lays the seeds for just how
fragile and one-way his relationship with the Chicago PD really is.
While they're willing to hire him as a consultant, he is a figure of
derision and mockery even as he continually aids them against horrifying
threats. No matter how many innocent lives Harry saves, the police view
him as a necessary evil at best.
Many longtime fans of the series believe I'm exaggerating because
Harry's most permanent ally in the book is Lieutenant Karrin Murphy, who
would right at home in a Law and Order spin-off. Surely as an honest
cop, Karrin is a rebuttal that the Dresden Files are anti-authority.
Indeed, it is the lengthy arc of said character that mirrors Dresden's
own in reverse and helps show exactly where the series stands on its
politics.
For me, the groundwork was laid in Fool Moon rather than Storm Front.
While Storm Front established Harry was a rogue hated by the White
Council's chief enforcer, Fool Moon shows just how easy it is to get the
police to turn on Harry. Indeed, Karrin herself shows that allying with
the police necessitates turning on Harry and she even blames him for
not informing her of the supernatural goings on. As we later discover,
telling the police about the supernatural doesn't help matters and most
of them are either in the pocket of Marcone, the Formor Court, the Red
Court, the White Court, or some combination thereof.
It's not too much of a spoiler to say Murphy's character arc is to
have her attempt to follow the spirit of the law and protect the public,
only to be slowly edged out of the police before being expelled
entirely. By contrast, the originally seemingly decent cop, Rudolph,
increases his wealth as well as influence within the CPD the more he
becomes a contemptible corrupt weasel.
Butcher's depiction of the Chicago PD is actually fairly vicious and
contrasts heavily on the romanticized view presented by television or
other media. Marvel comics was incredibly hesitant to have Frank Castle
AKA The Punisher ever kill a cop (even a dirty one). The first one he
did was actually a SHIELD agent to avoid the controversy. However, Jim
Butcher has Molly Carpenter openly confessing to doing so in Ghost Story
as she explains that the Chicago PD was turning a blind eye to the
trafficking in children by the Formor.
Perhaps the most blatant example of how contemptible the police in
the Dresden Files is when Rudolph accidentally kills Murphy in what is
the most controversial moment of the series. He isn't even attempting to
do it but it happens because of poor trigger discipline, cowardice, and
incompetence. His misplaced sense of priorities in a crisis paints what
is arguably the most realistic example of police malfeasance I've seen
in urban fantasy yet.
The Dresden Files rarely gets into specifics regarding issues of
profiling, minority abuse, and police brutality but the depiction of the
police is largely one of a useless organization when not actively
abetting the forces preying on the public. They have their moments,
especially when the Formor turn on their allies and openly attack the
city, but there's no indication the organization will change for the
better. Especially as Rudolph planned to go after Harry and Murphy just
hours before.
HARRY THE ANARCHIST
All of this could just show the world is a crapsack one and that
Harry isn't an anarchist, but I actually think Jim shows our protagonist
using said philosophy's methods to undermine the traditional authority
of his world. As early as Fool Moon with Kim Delaney and later
reinforced with the death of Kirby in Turncoat, Harry realizes that
keeping himself above his less powerful allies is a recipe for disaster.
This actually lays the groundwork for Harry, not as a lone wolf
soldier, but as the unlikely agitator and organizer of a large scale
anarchist resistance.
Harry's aid is important in helping lay the groundwork for the
Paranet that protects practitioners against the supernatural forces that
used to prey on them with impunity. He and Karrin recruit the Alphas,
Order of the Large Cooking Pot, and others to start becoming a power
block outside of traditional structures. Their alliances with
individuals like Odin and Marcone are uneasy ones but show how
grassroots organizations can become entangled with questionable forces
in the name of larger goals.
Harry attempts reform from within as well by helping create the Gray
Council and working as a Warden among younger forces but these things
are ultimately unsuccessful. The Blackstaff, his own grandfather, proves
willing to murder him due to his hatred of Thomas Raith. Ramirez, his
closest ally among the Wardens, turns on him as we've mentioned before.
To quote Audre Lord, "The master's tools will never dismantle the
master's house."
Ironically, it is Harry's relationship forged with the Demifae that
provides one of his largest advantage. Even Harry doesn't seem to
realize that by simply acting with kindness and letting them organize
under his protection, he had created a vast alliance of a overlooked
minority. This proves decisive in the Battle of Chicago when the White
Council and Unseelie Accords prove useless along with the US military.
Harry is a champion of the people, and his army is the people against the Man.