Thomas Raith

Thomas Raith is introduced as a vampire of the White Court (an incubus) in Grave Peril of the contemporary fantasy series The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. It is revealed in Blood Rites (novel) that Thomas is the half brother of Harry Dresden, the protagonist of the series, and, until Changes, Harry's only known living family.

Thomas does not appear in the TV series. However, he appears in every book since Grave Peril, and is the star of his own novelette, entitled Backup.

As a White Court vampire, Thomas is stronger and faster than other humans, at least when well-fed. Thomas is comfortable in hand-to-hand combat and swordplay in Grave Peril, and uses a shotgun in Proven Guilty.

The vampires of House Raith feed off people's emotional energy, usually through sex, and can result in death. However, Thomas can also feed lightly from many individuals through intimate, personal contact. Thomas has learned to "sip" and satiate his hunger without harming his female hairstyling clients (although he notes that they may be slightly addicted to the experience). He possesses a sort of glamour that creates a strong sexual attraction to him in both men and women, and even led to him being attacked by a Jehovah's Witness. Unfortunately he is unable to turn it off, which can make it difficult to hold a "normal" job.

White Court vampirism is hereditary. Thomas states in Blood Rites that his siblings begin to show the cravings during their late teens or early adulthood; once they feed, they are full vampires. However, if they fall in love first, their love will break the curse and they remain human. Love also protects humans from being fed upon; in Blood Rites, Thomas' sister Inari is burned, her mouth blistered, from kissing Harry Dresden, since the last woman he was with was Susan (whom he is in love with). It is stated that the love must be reciprocal for it to harm a White Court vampire.

White Court vampires are apparently extremely long-lived; Thomas' father has lived centuries. Their exact life span is unknown. They are possibly immortal; Harry has referred to them as immortals on several occasions.

Thomas has much the same overall appearance as Harry—both are tall, with long faces and strong jaws. However, Thomas' vampire heritage gives him a more ideal, beautiful appearance. He also has very pale skin, muscular body, and dark curling hair; Harry comments at one point that he looks like the "long lost Greek god of body cologne" and the "high priest of Bowflex." A running joke through the series is that people are always assuming that Harry and Thomas are a gay couple, apparently not noticing the resemblance. Harry has even used this to his advantage occasionally.

Unlike the stereotypical vampire, Thomas tends to dress rather casually. He dresses in rich, sometimes over-the-top clothing in the vampire court, but when living with Harry, he dresses in spare sweats and cutoff jeans. He also tends to rely on outside weaponry such as a sawed-off shotgun and a Desert Eagle pistol, but he is capable of great speed and strength when he is sufficiently fed. He is also skilled in sword play,and has recently taken to using a kukri in battle.

He is stated to have a pentagram amulet identical to Harry's, with a communication spell linking the two.

Thomas initially is very flippant and seemingly arrogant, even swearing by "my towering ego" and acting in a rather flaky manner about poisoned punch. He is immensely charming and apparently immune to verbal barbs. However, he has more of a sense of humour than most vampires, similar to Harry's. Perhaps because of his highly dysfunctional family, he also likes Harry from the very moment he meets him. It is unknown at exactly what point he becomes aware of Harry's relationship to him.

It's gradually revealed that Thomas is a deeper, more caring person than he wants to reveal. His flaky attitude turns out to have a purpose—all his vampire brothers have been murdered by their father, and he risks putting his lover Justine in danger if he shows more than passing affection for her. When Harry and Michael were about to throw him out, Thomas switched from being flippant to genuinely pleading. He is the only White Court vampire shown to be capable of true love, which is rare even by human standards in the Dresdenverse; it should be noted that as the actual son of a king, this theoretically makes him almost uniquely suited to wield Amoracchius, should the need arise.

One of Thomas' major traits is an overpowering loyalty to his family. With the definite exception of his father, he is willing to put his life on the line to save any one of them, and has done so for Harry on more than one occasion before they had any sort of a relationship. In the case of others, he can be rather brutally blunt, such as describing Butters as a coward and advising Harry that the nervous coroner would only endanger him.

Like all White Court vampires, Thomas is not harmed by religious items, sunlight or garlic. Unlike most of them, he experiences guilt over his incubic nature, and tries to minimize the damage he causes—perhaps the legacy of his late mother. Like his brother, he is a monogamist at heart, and tries to keep his seductiveness in check.

His dislikes include Red Court vampires, unnecessary clothing (i.e. shirts, shoes) when indoors, polka music, secrets (that he isn't in on), and his father. Thomas is also a massive slob: he lives almost exclusively on beer and microwave meals, and leaves the private rooms of his chic apartment an undecorated mess. Unlike many fictional vampires, he has a sense of humor about his nature, even showing up at a duel wearing a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" T-shirt.

Thomas was first introduced in the third book of the series, Grave Peril, where he showed up at the ball hosted by Bianca, a vampire of the Red Court. His presence there, instead of the presence of his father, was an insult to Bianca planned by Thomas's father, Lord Raith. He showed up with Justine, his girlfriend, whom he had "poached" from Bianca. However, as Thomas is a vampire, he feeds on Justine, causing damage to her soul. He ends up betraying Harry to save Justine, but helps him and Michael later, after Justine is kidnapped by Bianca. He returns Michael's sword to him, and helps them journey through the Nevernever.

In Death Masks, book five of the series, Thomas shows up as the second in a duel for Ortega, a Count of the Red Court who was sent to kill Harry. Once again, his father's presence had been requested, and Thomas was sent as an insult. Although Thomas appeared intoxicated during most of the duel, he was actually helping Harry to some extent.

In Blood Rites, book six of the series, Thomas comes to Harry asking for a favor. He asks Harry to investigate the set of Thomas's friend Arturo's movie, a pornography film. It is later revealed that the White Court is heavily involved in the pornography industry, and that Thomas is attempting to take power from his father, the king of the White Court. Thomas reveals that the reason he has helped Harry is that they are half brothers, sharing the same mother. Thomas was born at least five years before his half-brother, to a human mother and the White Court Vampire king. His mother was little better than a slave, and when Thomas was a preschooler she managed to escape. Thomas apparently was aware that his mother gave birth to another child before her death, but Harry did not know of his brother's existence until Thomas reveals himself.

Thomas is then nearly sacrificed by his father in a ritual meant to kill Harry, but Harry and Karrin Murphy intervene in time to save him. When his sister Lara takes control of the Raith family, she is forced to exile Thomas from his family, to continue the illusion that their father is still in control. Lara promises to care for Justine. Harry, having no other family, welcomes Thomas into his apartment.

Also, in book six, it is shown that Thomas's relationship with Justine goes beyond that of predator and prey. He loved her, and after receiving a near fatal injury, he fed on Justine to the point where she should have died. However, somehow he held back, and they both managed to survive, although Justine was greatly weakened. Moreover, the true love she displayed for Thomas means that he can no longer touch her skin without suffering severe burns and blistering.

Thomas spends the next few years living with Harry in a cramped basement apartment and attempts to live on only occasional sexual encounters with women he only meets once. (This is complicated by the fact that wizards are at war with vampires; if a vampire is found in Harry's apartment it will cause trouble.) In Dead Beat Thomas is shown as increasingly frustrated, both because he can't hold down a job due to his vampiric powers, and because he feels Harry doesn't sympathize with his hunger. After demonstrating to Harry how it feels, he seems to calm down. But Harry still worries about him, especially in Proven Guilty where Thomas vanishes during the day for months at a time, with no mention of where he's been, and moves out of Harry's apartment.

In White Night, book nine of the series, Thomas becomes a suspect in several murders/disappearances. Once Harry tracks him down, however, he discovers that Thomas has been taking women who are being targeted by the White Court to safe houses, protecting them. Thomas helps Harry to find and confront the real killers, and helps him fight off an army of ghouls summoned by Cowl. He is briefly reunited with Justine, who has recovered somewhat from her draining.

At the end of the book, it is revealed that Thomas' money and messages are due to his new profession—a hairdresser. Apparently shampooing and cutting hair creates a feeling of intimacy that allows him to feed in small bites from the women frequenting his salon/coffee shop. He was afraid that Harry would laugh at his new job, but admits that he doesn't care if his brother laughs anymore because it feels so good to be well-fed. Despite his well-fed status, his newly reduced hunger does not keep him from being tempted by sexual energy or weak humans, so he needs to stay away from sex clubs and hospitals.

It also turns out that he has been reluctantly allowed to rejoin the Raith family's ranks, because of his contribution to saving the White Court. Though this would allow him to live in wealth and luxury, Thomas seems uninterested in leaving the new life he has made for himself.

In "It's My Birthday Too," Butcher reveals that Thomas's birthday is in fact February 14, Valentine's Day.^[1]

Small Favor has Harry calling in his brother as his backup, and shows that their formerly tense relationship has softened now that Thomas no longer feeds sexually. Thomas has apparently bought a Hummer with all the luxurious trappings, which Harry refers to as the "oil tanker," and is able to wear the best quality casual clothes with a scarf crocheted by Justine. Thomas is repeatedly tempted by the Denarians throughout the book, since they could allow him to reunite with Justine, and Harry does his best to help his brother overcome these temptations since he knows more of the Denarians' natures. By the end, he seems to have gotten over this temptation. Mab says that she might offer the post of Winter Knight to Thomas, even though this post usually goes to a mortal, saying that "He's in love. That's mortal enough for me."

"Turn Coat" is a turning point of sorts for Thomas, who is kidnapped by a Native American skinwalker who attempts to bargain for Morgan using Thomas' life. In the meantime, it tortured him mercilessly, "fed" him young women, before torturing him again. This seems to have broken Thomas' resolve to live without sexual feeding, as he claims he was stupid to try to live with "nibbling," and that he only sees food when he looks at humans. He has rejoined the Raith household rather than living on his own, and indicates that contact with Harry will be limited (despite Harry's repeated refusals to shun his brother). However, he shows some signs of his other personality when Harry fries his radio and asks about Justine, indicating that hope is not lost.

"Changes" Thomas has returned to feeding his vampiric nature, taking "large bites" instead of "nibbling".His initial appearance in the novel depicts him as nonchalant.Later however, He and Molly soulgaze and He is shown to be suffering , likely from the torture he endured in Turn Coat. Also during the soulgaze He loses control of his hunger and almost/may have fed to some extent on Molly. Thomas teams up with Harry and company for the final battle at Chichen Itza to help save Harry's daughter (his niece), Maggie. When Molly is injured Thomas gives his word to Harry to protect her and calls in a favor to get her extracted and medical treatment. Because of this Thomas may be in debt to his sister Lara. Thomas also leaves Harry the keys to the "Water Beetle" as a place to stay.

In his own story seen through his eyes, Thomas reveals more of himself, showing how deeply his demon influences his choices, possibly increased due to his new "vegetarian" diet. Several moments throughout the story show him struggling to keep himself controlled around the women in his life; while Thomas shows care and consideration for the bonds he has created, his demon regards them as food and playthings, urging him to give in and act upon his monstrous appetites. He also explains that his skills at magic are rather simple compared to Harry's, just barely achieves a tracking spell.^[2] This story also reveals that Thomas is part of a secret organization to keep certain entities at bay by concealing information of their existence, as they draw power from those that think about them. This group has not been previously mentioned in any novels, most likely due to their very purpose.

• The Dresden Files: Thomas Raith
• SFBooks Review of Blood Rites
• SFSite Review of Blood Rites