Storm Front (Dresden Files) - TV Tropes

Shout Out

(aka: Storm Front)

The first book of The Dresden Files, Storm Front is lighter on the Shout Outs than most of the later volumes of the series. Harry's Pop-Cultured Badass-ness is just getting warmed up...

• Wishing he had a hobby other than magic, Harry mentions Sherlock Holmes's violin and Captain Nemo's pipe organ.
  • Carmichael sarcastically calls Harry "Sherlock" at the scene of the first heart-ripper murders.
• "There came a knocking, a rapping, at my chamber door." is loosely paraphrased from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". It even happens during a thunderstorm (which you might call dreary) while Harry feels terrible (weak and weary). The only thing wrong with it is that it's not midnight.
• He half expects Marcone to break into Knute Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" speech when they talk in the limo.
  • This, after the inevitable The Godfather reference.
  • Harry also quotes "The Three Little Pigs" when he busts into the Varsity to confront Marcone about his stolen hair.
• On the second page of the first book, wizards are described as "subtle and quick to anger". Compare to famous saying from Middle Earth:

  "Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

  • The postman asks if Harry is like that. Harry denies being subtle.
  • Also doubles as a Hilarious in Hindsight when you reach Changes.
• Harry advertises the exact opposite of what John Wellington Wells does in his song Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer, such as love philters:

  My name is John Wellington Wells,
  I’m a dealer in magic and spells,
  In blessings and curses
  And ever-filled purses,
  In prophecies, witches, and knells.
  * He compares the giant scorpion to Frankenstein's Monster because it's a construct.

• When we're first introduced to Harry's rather humble home he uses the phrase "Basement of Solitude ".
  • Or Doc Savage, who did it long before Superman.
• Murphy says the brass is on her back "like a winged monkey from The Wizard of Oz."
  • She snarkily asks a scruffy-looking Harry if he's planning to have King Kong climb his hair.
  • And she drops a reference to the original The Karate Kid while discussing the heart-ripper curse's power-level with Harry.
  • She (and another character in a later book) comments that Dresden's signature Badass Longcoat belongs on the set of El Dorado.
    • Funnier when you realize very few characters actually WORE a duster in that movie.
• Harry compares the White Council to the Superfriends crossed with the Inquisition.
• Morgan's sword goes snickersnack.
  • Possibly also the reason Murphy's handcuffs go clicker-clack.
• Monica's look is one of wholesomeness, making Harry think of Barbara Billingsley or Annette Funicello. He pegs her age at thirtysomething.
• The photographer claims that women like Linda can make good money posing for porn photos, even if they're not Hugh Hefner's type.
• Outrunning the storm in Mac's TransAm makes Harry feel a bit like Magnum, P.I..
• Bob compares Harry to Sir Gawain when criticizing his (lack of a) love life.
• To ward off the scorpions, Harry animates a broom, much like Mickey does in Fantasia's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment.
• Harry's wind spell animates his duster like Batman's cloak.
• At the very end, Harry ominously paraphrases William Butler Yeats's "The Second Coming":

  Turning and turning in the widening gyre
  The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
  Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

---