This entry is a placeholder. I will be expanding upon it over the next few days. Note that you can link to individual characters using the formatting [[[The Carpenter Family#NameOfCharacter|LinkText]]].
We first meet Michael, Charity, and young Harry Carpenter in Grave Peril, but the children don't get personalities until the next times we see the family, in Death Masks and Proven Guilty. They are, in order of age: Molly, Daniel, Alicia, Matthew, Amanda, Hope, and Harry.
Michael
Michael Carpenter is a Knight of the Cross and one of Harry's strongest allies. He is a devout Catholic. We the audience first meet him in Grave Peril, but Harry has known him a good deal longer.
Charity
Charity is Michael's wife. They met when Michael rescued her from the dragon, Siriothrax.
Molly
Molly is the Carpenters' oldest daughter, born 11 (or 12—see below) years Before Storm Front. Harry first meets her at age 12, when she's still "in pigtails." Her birthday is sometime after July (when PG takes place) and before late February (when DM takes place). Her age is given as 19 in White Night, but this is an error. She is 18 at the time. However, as I have been informed that this extra year is held consistent in Jim's yet-to-be published works, we just have to assume her age has been retconned. Clearly, Molly has recently spent time in a DeLorean or a certain spaceship cunningly disguised as a Police Box. She's an inch or so under six feet, like her mother, and naturally blonde, though she's taken to dyeing her hair in crazy colors: cotton candy pink and blue in PG, bleached white in WN.
In Death Masks, she is 14 and already a rebel. Harry finds her knowledge of the birds and the bees deeply disturbing, especially when she refers to "fun-time handcuffs" and suggests he tie Susan up so that they might "bleep" safely. She also tricks Sanya into making a series of prank-calls, which Harry finds highly amusing.
In Proven Guilty, she is 17. This is her breakthrough story, as her personality and powers develop. Molly found that she has some small ability with magic, and proceeds to break the Fourth Law of Magic on her friends. Her intentions were noble, but this act precipitates a confrontation with the White Council, a breakthrough in hostilities with the Red Court, and finally, a deadly rescue from Arctis Tor, the stronghold of Queen Mab herself. Due to her activities the White Council have levied the Doom of Damocles on her and her new mentor, Harry Dresden.
The Jawas
"The Jawas" is Molly's nickname for her siblings, a reference to a species of alien from the Star Wars films, noted for their shortness. She also refers to her mom's minivan as the Sandcrawler, the Jawas' preferred mode of transportation.
Daniel is 16 at the time of Proven Guilty. Harry thinks's he's "maybe old enough to take a driver's test." When Molly leaves, he becomes "boss kid." He's thin, and both he and Matthew share Michael’s dark hair and solid, sober expression. Based on his reaction to the fetches in PG, we know that he's definitely his father's son!
Matthew is 13-14 in Proven Guilty.
Alicia, or "Leech" as Molly nicknames her, is about 11, and she is "as gawky and skinny as Molly had been when I first met her." She has short dark hair, black-rimmed glasses, and a serious expression, and she endures her despised nickname with a long-suffering air.
Amanda we meet in Death Masks. At that time, she is five and a half, and her daddy says she's a princess. As her family "already has a Harry," she dubs him "Bill." She's almost 9 in Proven Guilty. She has curly blonde hair and a fondness for bright-colored clothing. In DM, she wears a pink dress with a clashing orange sweater and bright purple shoes and a red coat.
Hope, or "Hobbit" is 6 or 7 in Proven Guilty and delights in her nickname, preferring it to her real name. She, like Amanda, has curly blonde hair.
Harry was born during Grave Peril, making him 4 1/2 in Proven Guilty. I feel like he was described as having dark hair at some point, but I can't find the reference.
From Jim, here "What's critical to this particular equation is the fact that Charity was consciously and deliberately neglecting her talent—which hadn't been all THAT hot to begin with. She went through the time she got engaged to Michael, all the way through Molly's term, all the intervening time, etc, before she got to Daniel. It had been more than two, maybe three years since she'd done anything with her magic by the time Daniel was conceived." Also: "The Carpenter kids' births are all pretty much within six months of being annual occurrences."
