Animagi (was: Animagus vs. Transfigured)

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 30482

Dana wrote:

> 
> I'm a newbie to the list.  

Welcome, welcome, welcome!  I enjoyed your post, and I think it is 
quite possible that you are completely correct.  Here are a few 
random thoughts, not by way of disagreement BTW.
 
<snip my comments and Gwen's comments about whether animagus 
transformation is governed by power, character, choice, or talent> > 

Dana wrote:

>You know, I had assumed, based on Lupin's explanation of MWPP's 
> history, that Sirius, James & Pettigrew all specifically chose 
their 
> forms for function.
> 
Lupin says:
> 
> "They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company 
as 
> animals," said Lupin. "...They transformed...Peter, as the 
smallest, 
> could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the 
knot 
> that freezes it.
> 
> "...Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were 
> able to keep a werewolf in check...."
> 
> My assumption was, from this, that it was necessary for one of 
their 
> three to be small enough to reach the knot on the Willow, and for 
the 
> remaining two to be large enough to control a werewolf.  If they 
> couldn't determine such an outcome (one small, two large) in 
advance, 
> what would be the point of spending three years and risking great 
> danger in learning to become Animagi on the sly?  

Hmmm.  I kind of viewed the adventures of MWPP in two stages.  The 
first stage is that they decide to try to become animagi just to keep 
Lupin company, and the plan is just to go to the willow after Lupin, 
press the knot (using a stick if necessary), transform, and go inside 
and spend the night with Lupin.  Stage two is when they realize that 
they can keep a werewolf in check, so they start wandering around.  
So had all three of them turned into rats, they wouldn't have 
abandoned the animagus plan; they still could have kept Lupin company 
as rats, but they wouldn't have been able to leave the Shrieking 
Shack.

Dana again:

>But if 
> they couldn't be certain of the animals they would become, I think 
> they would have dropped the Animagus plan as a waste of time, and 
> looked into other means of helping their friend.
> 

I wouldn't necessarily assume that a person who wants to be an 
animagus works on it for three years and then -- pop! -- it works, 
and they find out what they are.  It could be that you work on it for 
a bit, and you sprout antlers or something.  Then you work for the 
rest of the time on getting the rest of it right.  Krum's half-shark 
transformation suggests that this might be correct.  So they figured 
they've have a go, and perhaps they would have dropped the idea if 
they had gotten a clue that they would all become blue whales.

Dana again:

> Also, I don't think the end-product of the transformation could 
have 
> *as* much to do with level of power, because the Animagus 
> transformation is made out to be extraordinarily difficult and rare 
~ 
> something that not all wizards are capable of, nor want to attempt, 
> regardless of their skill level.  

 Maybe so.  So far, we've brought up four possible factors that 
influence the type of animagus a wizard becomes:  choice, power, 
character, and talent.  It could well be some combination of those 
things.  Choice must play a role (contrary to what I said last week 
<vbg>) because Krum apparently chooses shark (not crab or guppie), 
which he needs to be in the second task.  Power and talent could play 
a role, because maybe more "impressive" transformations require more 
power to achieve.  Shark is king of the ocean, so maybe that means 
Krum is pretty talented and powerful to get it half-right on short 
notice.

Now, character could play a role.  But I've never liked the idea 
much, because then Sirius has to be pretty dim not to figure out that 
the spy is the rat.  

Hollydaze wrote:

> Looking at this [JKR] quote it seems that you don't have any choice 
about what you turn into as an animagus.

Drat!  JKR's interview contradicts everything I said.  Well, she may 
have changed her mind about the number of students, the wand order, 
and James' Quiddich position, so maybe JKR will refine animagus 
issues in subsequent interview, too.

Cindy (wondering if it is really bad form to imply that JKR doesn't 
know what she's talking about)