Wandless Magic

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24722

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "princesskatie115 -" 
<princesskatie115 at h...> wrote:
> Alfredo Ramirez (or JB
which do you prefer?) wrote:
> 
> Actually, I don't think Dumbledore is actually doing magic here. I  
get the 
> feeling, that much like the food that appears and  disappears  on 
plates, 
> this is actually done by house-elves simply obeying their  master's 
orders. 
> After all, decorations and cleaning do seem to fall under the 
jurisdiction 
> of our poor mistreated house-elves. :-)
> 
> And Rrishi wrote:
> but I was guessing in the case of Tom that the fireplaces were 
charmed 
> beforehand to light up when Tom snapped his fingers. Makes things 
easier, 
> doesn't it?
> Or, does practice enable a wizard or witch to do simple and very  
familiar 
> spells without the aid of a wand? But this is an old topic...
> 
> And Jackie B. Wrote:
> 
> So, while it could be that house elves were helping out, or that 
the 
> fireplace was programmed to respond automatically, I believe it is 
also 
> clear that certain types of wandless magic can and do occur. If you 
consider 
> that the wand in part is used to focus magical energy then for me 
it seems 
> reasonable that more accomplished wizards could train their mind to 
achieve 
> some of this goal as well. IMO that would be a very useful tool in 
many 
> situations.
> 
> 
> I'm choosing to believe that all  these points are logical. At this 
point I 
> think I'll base my understanding of wandless magic on the idea that 
things 
> can be charmed to work at the snap of a finger or various other 
commands, 
> that house-elves help out, that you can practice until a spell is 
like 
> second nature to you, and that very accomplished wizards can do 
lots of 
> spells without their wands.
> 
> In GoF
Voldemort is talking to the Death Eaters (chapter: The Death 
Eaters), 
> and he says (and this time I dug out the book, so it's an actual 
quote
), 
> `
for I had no body, and every spell which might have helped me 
required the 
> use of a wand
'
> 
> I wonder what way I should take this
 Because it seems to me that 
it can be 
> taken a few different ways. For instance:
> 
> a) There are spells that do not require wands, but they weren't 
relevant to 
> his needs.
> 
> b) He could not do magic, because he didn't have a wand
period.
> 
> c) He wasn't powerful enough anymore to perform those spells 
without his 
> wand, though he might have been able to at the height of his power.
> 
> d) He never was powerful enough to perform spells without wands. 
(But then 
> again, I don't think Quirrell was, and he made ropes to tie up 
Harry appear 
> out of thin air. I always thought that Voldemort was channeling his 
powers 
> through Quirrell and that was why he could snap his fingers and 
make ropes 
> appear.)
> 
> e) I would consider Voldemort an accomplished wizard, possibly as 
> accomplished, or even as powerful as Dumbledore, who seems to 
exhibit the 
> ability to do magic without a wand. Now, if he was indeed this 
powerful 
> (according to the aforesaid theory that accomplished wizards could 
do spells 
> without wands), what would it matter if he didn't have his body to 
work a 
> wand with? He seemingly still has some magical essence (since I 
don't think 
> that was sucked out of him by the rebounded curse), and should have 
been 
> able to do those spells on his own anyway!  Right
.?
> 
> 
> Any thoughts??
> 
> 
> Katie**

Katie, I'd guess that the wandless magic thing isn't too terribly 
complex.  Each wizard probably can do a few things wandless, and this 
depends on their powers and what they've practiced.  But Voldemort 
needed a wand to get his body back because so much was involved, i.e. 
it is a difficult and complex spell.  Consider that Sirius, one of 
the most talented wizards around, couldn't drive off dementors 
without a wand (either at Azkaban or at the end of PofA), and he has 
never been seen doing any magic without a wand (using Snape's wand to 
transport him, to reveal Pettigrew, and to attempt to kill 
Pettigrew).  

I'll bet Sirius could conjure some fire if he needed to, though.  He 
just hasn't needed to do anything simple yet.  And while we're on the 
subject, I think Sirius is so powerful that he was going to disarm 
Snape in PofA even if Harry, Ron and Hermione had not intervened.  
After Snape is knocked out, Sirius says "You should have left him to 
me."  Sirius must have had some magic in mind, and probably wandless 
magic to take on Snape, who was armed.

Cindy

> *******************************************************************
> 'Aha,' he said vaguely, 'we've won.'
> And he fainted.
> *******************************************************************
> 
> 
> 
> 
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