Dresden Files
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Ernest Armand Tinwhistle,[1] also known as Binder, is a hack male wizard mercenary. He first appears in Turn Coat.

Description[]

Binder is a mercenary; Harry Dresden describes him as a "One Trick Pony". He excels at the summoning and control of beings from the Nevernever. He has been wanted by the White Council, but he is careful not to break the laws of magic, so they cannot prosecute him.[1]

He is apparently British, since he speaks with a Cockney accent. He is described as a blocky bulldog of a man, and of medium height, but heavy, muscular, with a slight bit of fat. His face is blunt and rounded, like "water worn stone". He has grey buzz-cut hair, and small, hard, green eyes.[1]

In the series[]

Turn Coat[]

In Turn Coat, Binder is searching for Donald Morgan, to get the bounty on his head. Some person, entity, or group advertised a wanted notice in covert language on Craigslist online. He had summoned around forty Grey Suits. Then Binder has them chase Harry Dresden and Karrin Murphy through a storage facility. Dresden closes a circle around Murphy and himself and since the Grey Suits can't get at them there is a stand-off for a while. Molly Carpenter and Morgan in a wheelchair sneak up behind Binder under a veil—Molly closes her own circle that cuts Binder off from his fae goons resulting in the goons dissolving into ectoplasmic goo. Binder attempts to flee but Murphy chases, captures and then arrests him.[1]

Dresden and Murphy interrogate Binder in an attempt to determine who is directing his actions. During the interrigation, Murphy grabs Binder's head by the hair and thumps it on a table, removing a few strands of hair as she does. Binder is then released. The hair is used for a tracking spell, which Dreden knows will ultimately fail. It was a clever ruse. Believing that Binder will know that he is being tracked, Dresden bets that Binder will attempt to disrupt the tracking spell. Binder does. However, Dresden also hires Vincent Graver to tail him as well. The tail is successful. Graver reports that Binder is on his way to the Hotel Sax.[2] Dresden, Murphy and Graver meet in the Hotel Sax lobby; he tell Dresden which room he's in and that he is with a woman and they ordered champagne with two glasses. Dresden eavesdrops on him and Madeline Raith in their room at the Hotel Sax. in an uncanny way, Binder figures Dresden has Morgan back in his apartment. He suggests that Madeline burn down Dresden's building which would bypass Dresden's wards and kill Morgan. Madeline says that she already told the White Council that Dresden is hiding Morgan.[3]

Near the conclusion of the book, he and Madeline Raith conduct an assault on Demonreach in an attempt to kill Dresden and his company.[4] Dresden eventually captures him after shooting him in the leg with his .44 Magnum. Dresden lets him go, on the condition that if the two ever cross paths again, Dresden will kill him. Current whereabouts unknown.[5]

Skin Game[]

In Skin Game, Binder is part of Nicodemus' team and works together with warlock Hannah Ascher. His primary role is to distract any mortals that might interfere with the robbing of the Vault of Hades.[6] He is last seen joking around with Michael and Charity Carpenter, telling them a possibly dirty story, which makes Charity laugh and Michael blush. He takes his share of the loot, and offers to take another to Marcone to try and bribe him into leaving them all alone, but Harry Dresden says that he knows Marcone, and that he will talk to him, to which Binder responds by jokingly asking Dresden to try and send a signal to them if Marcone kills him.[7]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Turn Coat, ch. 19
  2. Turn Coat, ch. 31
  3. Turn Coat, ch. 32
  4. Turn Coat, ch. 42
  5. Turn Coat, ch. 43
  6. Skin Game, ch. 33
  7. Skin Game, ch. 51
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