Molly Carpenter

Molly Carpenter

Species: Human (Wizard)

Occupation: High-school student, oldest child of Michael and Charity Carpenter, and as of Proven Guilty, apprentice to Harry Dresden.

Initially a rebel teen daughter of Michael and his wife Charity, Molly soon becomes a more central character during the events of Proven Guilty.

Margaret "Molly" Katherine Amanda Carpenter, during the events of Proven Guilty, seeks out the help of Dresden when her boyfriend is arrested as a suspect in an assault. As Harry investigates the case, he discovers that Molly has manifested as a wizard and has been unwittingly using dark magic in an attempt to help two friends shake off their drug addictions. Realizing that she has broken one of the Laws of Magic by her well-intentioned interference, Molly agrees to accept the consequences of her actions and face the judgment of the White Council.

By outmaneuvering the Merlin at Molly's trial, Dresden stalled the trial long enough for Ebenezar McCoy, Martha Liberty, and Injun Joe to show up, along with Molly's father, Michael Carpenter. With their help, Dresden managed to keep Molly from the Council's death penalty. Instead, the Doom of Damocles (an equivalent to probation) was placed on her. Because Harry has vouched for her, if Molly violates any of the Seven Laws again, he will also share the death penalty with her, making this the second time he's been under the Doom of Damocles.

In order to guide Molly's magical development and ensure that she doesn't violate the laws again, Harry agrees to accept Molly as his apprentice. This circumstance is similar to his own past, when he was apprenticed to Ebenezer McCoy after killing Justin Dumorne. Harry's willingness to place his life in jeopardy to ensure Molly's safety finally gains him Charity Carpenter's acceptance.

Molly exhibits markedly different types of magical talent than Harry. While Harry is more of a “magical thug”, with a lot of raw power but comparatively little fine control, Molly has been described as “sensitive”. This talent allowed her to use dangerous, complicated mind manipulation magic without any training, and it likely plays a role in her being able to create even better veils than Harry himself (as well as a few of the Wardens), though it has a downside. Her ability to work sensitive magic also makes her sensitive to other magic being used around her. As such she would be rather ineffective during combat.

She has been a positive influence for Harry as well. As he trains her, he also has relearned and practiced some of the basics of concentration so that now some spells/rituals that took him an hour to prepare now take only 15 or so minutes.

As well as being his apprentice, Molly has long carried romantic interest in Harry, possibly starting as a childish crush during her early teens, during the events of Summer Knight and Death Masks, as Harry resembles her father, performs duties similar to Michael's (although with different motives) and through other factors would have appeared as a very interesting person. On top of that, since Charity has vehemently been disapproving of him, Harry admits that that factor alone would have made him interesting to the rebellious teenaged girl. During the events of Proven Guilty, this becomes apparent when Molly turns up in his hotel room, and Lasciel comments that Nelson, Molly's boyfriend at the time, carried a striking resemblance to Harry.
Adding to that is the uncomfortable pausing while she has conversations with him, and the fact that her developing relationship with Harry seems to parallel that of her own parents: Michael saved Charity from a dragon. Harry rescues Molly from Arctis Tor, the Winter Fae capital. He also saves her from execution by the White Council, and takes her in as his apprentice. This all leads to Molly falling for Harry by the end of Proven Guilty, and offering him her virginity. He refuses by pouring a jug of ice-water on her, presumably to cool her desires, and warning her that she was on thin ice with the Council, and that their relationship would be a teacher-student one. After all, she was a child, and on top of that, his friend's daughter. He then paternally hugged her to make sure his actions didn't just devastate her outright.

By the time of White Night, Molly was working with Harry all the time. However, she was rebelling against Harry indicating that everything was unfair. Harry finally gets Molly to understand why things are so dangerous and this helps her learn from him better.

Small Favor shows that Molly is starting to develop in more than one way. She is starting to better magic talents, especially with veils. She is also showing that she has wisdom to know her boundaries though Harry keeps making comments on how a wizard is supposed to act. Even then, Harry shows the "grasshopper", as he fondly calls her, that he is proud of her.

Between the two short stories, "Harry's Day Off" and "The Warrior", Molly shows massive progress. In "Harry's day Off" Molly goes into Harry's lab and through a number of alchemal problems, Molly nearly destroys Harry's lab as well as herself. However, in "The Warrior" Molly shows she is ready to start working in the field and her knowledge of magic is starting to become impressive.

As of Turn Coat, Molly is definitely becoming a strong woman, but not without problems. She shows in one instance that she can, not only, defend others with the magic she has but has also started to become aware of herself sexually by seducing an investigator with a tank top and a cold beer. She does demonstrate that she still might be teetering on the edge of black magic, but is still trying for the best intentions.