Animagus vs. Transfigured (was: Lagging in Transfiguration?)

[Hillman, Lee]

No: HPFGUIDX 28593

Hi, folks!
 
David (?) asked:
> 
> Could someone explain why you can only be an anamagi for one type of 
> animal (which is also your patronus), but you can tranfigure yourself 
> into anything?  What am I missing?  Why doesn't transfiguration trump 
> the limits of being an animagi? 
 
And Szabina responded:
> If I understand the concept of a patronus correctly,
> it is a protective image/spell.  In cannon, Harry is
> not an animagi.  His patronus is a stag.  The stag
> represents his father (who would naturally be
> protective of him and was a stag animagus).  In canon
> it is rare to be an animagi.  So most wizards/witches
> could not have their patronus be their animagus form. 

Right you are, Szabina. I don't believe the Patronus and the Animagi form
are linked in all cases, just in Harry's, because in Harry's case the
Patronus happens to represent a force that he must feel protects him. Note
that it must have been a subliminal or subconscious desire that determined
the form of the Patronus--which I believe makes a good case that no one can
make a conscious choice of the Patronus's form, but that it is linked to the
psyche of the caster.

To answer David's original question with my take on the books, there are
differences between an Anigmagus and a transfigured person:

1. The Animagus can only transform into one animal, and does NOT get to
choose which. We can only guess that the nature of the mage has some
determining factor regarding the type of animal. (This parallels the
Patronus as an extension of the individual's psyche, too!)

2. The Animagus can perform this transformation at will and presumably
without need for a wand.

3. The Animagus *retains his thoughts and identity* while in animal form;
transfigured humans do not.

In other words, the Animagus who transforms is still a wizard, whereas
presumably if a wizard were to transfigure into an animal, he would for all
intents and purposes BE that animal until turned back. It's also implicit in
this reasoning that the Animagus transforms himself; another wizard must
perform the spells to transfigure one from human to animal and back (or at
least back). It should be noted that the Animagus transformation is still a
form of transfiguration, though, so Remus and Sirius can use a counterspell
to force Peter to return to human form. I rather think this is the same
counterspell any mage would perform to help out an attempted Animagus
transformation when the wizard got stuck in animal form.

Evidence for these differences include the introduction of QTTA,
Dumbledore's, McGonagall's, and Hermione's dialogue in PoA, and the entire
sequence in the Shrieking Shack. Also when Peter and Sirius transform in the
forest later that night, neither has a wand.

 
Gwen