Priori Incantatem

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25870

> Likewise--
> 
> Kelly wrote:
> 
> >I don't think I understand what anyone expected to see to represent
> these curses.
> 
Amy wrote:

> Hear, hear.  I just don't share the view that the missing spells 
during 
> Priori Incantatem are Flints.  JKR is brilliant at being selective 
about 
> detail, so she doesn't show everything, and this scene is unfolding 
very 
> fast; would Harry recognize a repeated Imperius Curse if he saw 
it?  What 
> would it look like/sound like, anyway?  The first AK against Harry 
is 
> similarly abstract and might not produce any kind of noticeable 
echo (though 
> a crying baby does seem likely and would be heart-wrenching).  And 
as for 
> things like Wormtail starting the fire, maybe a flicker of echoed 
fire does 
> emerge from V's wand; I think it would be a bit tedious of JKR to 
tell us 
> this and every other single thing that came out.  She chooses a few 
vivid 
> things, like the screams of Cruciatus victims and the very concrete 
silver 
> hand, and that's enough in my view.
> 

There are three issues:  what would these omitted spells look like, 
does it makes sense to include them, and can JKR get away with 
omitting them?

As for whether it makes sense to include them, my opinion is that it 
does.  We are literally talking about adding a sentence fragment per 
spell.  Cruciatus = "more shouts of pain" and "More screams of pain 
from the wand."  Wormtail's fire would read as "... then a spray of 
sparks ... "  or some such.  Making the sequence complete would be 
simple, so I think either JKR meant to omit those things for a plot 
reason, or just didn't think of it and decided not to fix it.

As for what thing would come out as Imperius, I have an idea.  The 
regurgitated spells have something in common -- they are the "result" 
of whatever spell it was.  Murdered people are shadows, not a flash 
of light.  Cruciatus is the scream.  So Imperius could be 
the "result" of V's use of the spell -- in the graveyard, Harry's 
saying "I won't."  (Amy, the crying baby is a great idea that didn't 
occur to me at all).

Now, keep in mind that this idea of how to represent the Imperius 
curse is off the top of my head.  If Scholastic told me to go away 
for a week and come up with a list of 5 great ideas for what ought to 
represent the Imperius Curse, I'd accept the challenge, and I'll also 
bet most members of this group could do even better than me.  I don't 
think it is an insurrmountable task.

As for whether JKR just picked the most vivid things and 
intentionally omitted others to avoid clutter . . . well, I'm hoping 
Luke will explain this concept of what things are OK to admit and 
what things are not.  Until then, I have to reserve judgment.

Cindy (wondering what "beating a dead horse" would look like coming 
out of Voldemort's wand)