What *are* the Dark Arts?

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 7789

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Jim Flanagan" <jamesf at a...> wrote:
> The "Defense against the Dark Arts" course seems to be a very mixed 
> bag,

Very true, but there is some semblence of scope and sequence here. 
They start with the basics and work up to the more dangerous things. 
Creatures are fairly exciting but not particularly dangerous, but 
then they start the more frightening types (e.g. Boggarts) and then 
they begin learning about Curses. There is a logic here.

Part of the problem in implementation at Hogwarts is the rapid 
turnover of DADA staff. Part of it too is the poor quality of some of 
the teachers they do get (can you say Lockhart?) It suggests in the 
books that the Ministry of Magic has set a curriculum for these 
classes (and probably all the others too) but Dumbledore lets 
individual teachers stray from the Ministry's requirements quite a 
bit. There is an underlying goal, however, to teach kids to identify 
and defend against all the various types of creatures, spells, 
objects, and eventually ideologies that are aligned with Evil. 

 as it includes how to deal with critters like Cornish pixies, 
> hinkeypunks and boggarts, and how to recognize werewolves.  Since 
> these creatures are just acting according to their nature, I don't 
> see how learning about them qualifies as dark "arts."

These are not simply creatures who happen to kill humans. We're 
talking about beings who have evil intent. They kill for reasons 
which have nothing to do with killing prey for food. Nor are they 
animals in the standard sense. For example, the Red Cap is a magical 
creature which haunts old battlefields or watchtowers and bludgeons 
unsuspecting passers-by to death. The blood of the victim is used to 
dye the cap of the creature, and when the color fades, a new victim 
is selected and attacked. This is not natural, this is an evil 
magical creature. All of these creatures have in one way or another 
aligned themselves with the Dark (i.e. Evil) side. In the Wizarding 
world, unlike our own, there is a clear-cut division between the two 
sides, and it appears in more than just human hearts. A magical 
object can be a Dark Magic Item, which means that it's inherently 
Evil. We say, by way of example, that guns don't kill people, PEOPLE 
do...well, in the Wizarding world, that wouldn't necessarily be true, 
you could have an Evil gun. 

Presumably, a place can be inherently evil as well. 

> 
> Perhaps a better name for the course than "Defense against the Dark 
> Arts" would be "Defensive Magic." 

No, that would be Charms. That's where they teach Hex-Deflection, for 
example. Flitwick is a former champion Dueler. Defensive magic, as 
opposed to fighting Evil, is part of the sport of Wizard Dueling, 
which is taught in Charms classes. 

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon