T. Tiger's Tribute: the Great Wizard Harry Dresden

I am a lover of books. Earlier this month, my husband and I made a quick stop at the Bellefonte library, and I brought home nine books. All of them looked good, but one of them, I had been greatly anticipating for a while: Battle Ground, the latest offering in the Dresden Files series written by Jim Butcher.

The Dresden Files series (of which I own a few) regales us with the adventures of the great wizard, Harry Dresden, and his cohorts. They can be found dispatching forces of evil throughout the world, but mostly in Chicago. In the latest book, a Titan is unleashed upon the world and Harry and friends must somehow stop it.

I have to admit that I cried at least three times: once, upon the death of a beloved character whose name I won't reveal; once, when the tiny and unlikely hero Waldo Butters steps in front of Harry on the battlefield wielding the great Sword of Faith, Fidelacchius like a lightsaber, and a pure, bright, white light shines out across the battlefield; and finally, when Kringle delivers a cup of special Christmas coffee.

I finished the book on this day, which was sweet torture indeed, for now the story is over again, and I have to wait until he writes the next one. Jim Butcher, are you listening? We are WAITING! (Some of us not quite so patiently!)

So in the heat of our excitement at a grand tale well ended, T. Tiger and I decided to make a tribute photo shoot for the great wizard Harry Dresden. You may see T. Tiger's cloak, warded with spells, of course; his hat; and his wooden staff, engraved with runes of protection. In the picture above, he appears with the book. In the extras, it's just T. Tiger and the Crittergators.

Except that I didn't personally know any runes of protection, so I looked up the only runes I am familiar with: the ones on Led Zeppelin IV, known as ZoSo or the Runes album. So I wrote the runes from the album on it (I liked ZoSo well enough to put it on at both top and bottom for a special infusion of Led Zep magic) with a Sharpie. And yes, good music is some of the best sort of magic I know of in this world!

In the stories, Harry Dresden has a special protective bracelet that he wears. T. Tiger has his own little amulet, a silver dragonfly, which he wears all of the time, including on all of our little photo shoots. The dragonfly is a ward of protection, representing transformation and rebirth.

So here is our tribute to the heroes who get us through. To the good guys (and gals) who finally, sometimes, win big over the forces of evil. And we also salute those who write stories that give us strength, and hope, and that get us through a pandemic.

So here is T. Tiger's tribute to Harry Dresden. But as a very SMALL hero, the Tiger also conjures memories of Waldo Butters and his heroism on the battlefield where far lesser souls may have been tempted to flee. Hats off to the heroes everywhere, especially the very little ones!

Now, since I used the runes from Led Zeppelin's ZoSo, of course, my song must be from that album. It can only be this one: the Battle of Evermore. And I'm including three versions. One is the studio version with the awesome Sandy Denny on vocals. A second is a great live version by Led Zep from the 70s. And a third is a fantastic cover by Heart. Enjoy!