Homunculi, Thermodynamics, CS Lewis, gypsies, Canal Boats

[Brooks A. Rowlett]

No: HPFGUIDX 1566

  Homunculi are in magically created miniature human-shaped creatures
more or less conjured out of inaminate ingredients, usually depicted as
2 feet tall or less - and are sometimes mis-shapen or misformed and not
fully functional; this belief was possibly inspired by some birth
defects, or cases of severe dwarfism.  They sometimes winding up being
possessed by some wandering spirit/elemental/demon.  

  Thus I suggest that Pettigrew conjured up a homonculus possibly using
some ingredient that had been directly associated with Voldemort in past
(there is the mystery of where Voldy's wand has been all these years for
example?); and this made it a natural host for the previously wandering
spirit/consciousness of Voldy.  It is also possible that Voldy had done
something like the classic magician's trick of removing one's heart from
one's body so one cannot be killed (most recent example probably Mad
Hettie in Sandman), and that Pettigrew retrived it from the hiding place
and used it as an organic component of the homunculus spell.  Or it
might not be the heart, yet the anti-death transformations Voldy
underwent may also have involved removing some part of portion of his flesh.

The magic in Harry Potter APPEARS to contradict the laws of
thermodynamics (which might be one definition of magic!), but perhaps
does not- there is really insufficient data.  JKR has not tried to
explain where the energy that powers certain things comes from.  For
example, the energy of the magic may actually be being drained from some
alternate dimension.  Or there could be magical energy stored at the
string level of the universe....

I really like reading CS Lewis essays - they are great reading for deep
thinking about theological and'real world' issues.

It should be remembered that 'Gypsies' are not just a random set of
people who wander, but a specific ethnic group that oroginated in
Northwest India centuries ago.  Their name for themselves is Roma or
Rom, their language called Romany, and it is often forgotten that they
too were targeted for containment, isolation and extermination by Nazi
Germany.  Probably 100,000 Gypsies at a minimum died in the
concentration camps as well.  In fact my draft story has a Roma wizard.....

One of my friends, to whom I described my idea of canal boats as the
pre-Hogwarts Express transport, with the boat across the lake as a
tradition honoring that old method, liked that very much and thought it
was very clever, so i am going to use it. She also liked my explanation
for the origin of the Hogwarts locomotive, which ties in to Dumbledore's
London Underground scar, so I will definitely keep that in as well.  Now
if I can just find time to write some more, i might actually put those
chapters up for comment....


-Brooks