Dumbledore

[jferer]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C7772
From: jferer
Subject: Re: Dumbledore
Reply To: [Yahoo! #7758] Dumbledore
Date: 8/25/00 7:45 pm  (ET)

In an interview, JKR said that the hardest thing she had to do was figure
out what magic *couldn't do*; in other words, magic's limits.

In many ways, magic doesn't seem to be a psychic skill. We haven't
seen any telepathy or mind-reading, or extraordinary sensitivity to
others' thoughts. Everybody seems to keep their secrets unless they are
discovered in the "usual" way. A lot of students would really be in hot
water with Professor McGonagall otherwise. Professor Dumbledore resorts
to Veritaserum to question a wizard that has been completely revealed
as an imposter. There wouldn't even be such things as Truth Serums or
Foe Glasses if they weren't needed. The only character with pretensions
to psychic sensitivity -- Professor Trelawney -- is the weakest talent
we've seen.

So it seems that what we're seeing are the limits of what magic can
do, not a weakness in Dumbledore. Raising the dead is impossible, and,
it seems, so is peering into other's minds.