[HPforGrownups] Wizard Appearances (etc)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 48143

Debbie:

>naama2486 wrote:
>> I've been wondering about something- whenever a student at Hogwarts 
>> gets sick, hurt, beaten, cursed at, whatever they get to Madam 
>> Pomfrey, and get cured farely quickly. And she's only a nurse.
>
>Me: I have wondered about this too. Aren't there any wizard doctors? 
>Or are the "nurses" good enough that "doctors" aren't necessary?

Do we know she's *only* a nurse? There are mediwizards at the QWC and I think 
that some regard Madam Pomfrey as the same. It's not clear that there's a 
distinction between the two disciplines as there is in the Muggle world and 
when you think about it, long ago, much "medicine", at least in our culture*, 
was in the hands of women  - the kind of wise women with knowledge of plants 
and potions who were denounced as witches periodically throughout history. 
The concept of the "doctor" I think only really came in with the discovery of 
"scientific" medicine and its domination by men and that of the "nurse" as a 
professionally trained care giver with Florence Nightingale. Magical medicine 
probably predates both of these and does not necessarily embrace these Muggle 
concepts.

sixhoursahead:

> People were mentioning about why wizards do not correct their 
> vision.  We all know that the magic in HP has definite boundaries, 
> some we have seen, some we have not, and some are hinted at.  Like, 
> why can Bill Weasley conjure tableclothes, but Mrs. Weasley can't 
> conjure new school robes?  Obviously there is a definite limit here, 
> and with good reason, the wizard society is just as apitalist as 
> muggle society. 

JKR explained in interview once that items which are conjured do not last. So 
conjuring tablecloths is OK. The worst that will happen is that you'll 
suddenly find yourself eating off a bare table.

But conjuring robes could have disadvantages. Even given that you could 
conjure a new set, you might not be certain when the ones you were wearing 
would disappear!

It makes me wonder about the sauce that came out of Molly's wand, though. Was 
this just to make the food palatable, whilst having no nutritional value, I 
wonder?

It could be rather dangerous, really. Say you conjured some sweets and got 
lots of sugar into your system, so that your body started producing lots of 
insulin and then the sugar all suddenly disappeared from your bloodstream. 
Could you fall into a hypoglycaemic coma?

 In the same vein, I am tempted to believe that > 
> wizards cannot permanently alter their physical appearances.  If they 
> could, then you would think a large majority of them would look like 
> supermodels.  So obviously they can use Polyjuice Potion for a short 
> time.  Or even shrink their teeth, or sleek their hair for a night, 
> or use some of Madame Pomfrey's medicine to get rid of acne (though 
> when Eloise Midgen tries to simply magick her acne off, there are 
> disastrous consequences).  But I believe that it is impossible for 
> wizards to fundamentally change their appearances just because they 
> want to.  

Although Hermione's tooth-shrinking appears to have been permanent, doesn't 
it?
And they can remove or regrow bones. If Lockhart's de-boning hadn't been a 
permanent thing, they could just have waited for Harry's bones to regrow of 
their own accord.

I do think, though, that perhaps it is only properly trained specialist 
medi-wizards who are capable of effecting such permanent changes reliably. So 
you'd have to visit the equivalent of a Wizard plastic surgeon.

Eloise Midgen and Lockhart were attempting the wizard equivalent of highly 
skilled medicine and it back-fired. Even Madam Pomfrey didn't manage to get 
Eloise's nose back on in exactly the right position, which suggests that 
wizard cosmetic surgery is a difficult and probably specialised art. 

An important exception is Voldemort, who is drastically > 
> physically changed, and looks nothing like Tom Riddle, but obviously 
> these transformations came about through the most powerful of Dark 
> Magic.

Yes, I agree. And I don't think he *aimed* at altering his appearance, but 
that this was a side-effect of more fundamental transformations. Voldemort is 
seeking immortality; the snake is a symbol of immortality and so his 
snake-like appearance may be a  reflection of transformations he underwent in 
pursuit of that specific end.

Eloise
Off to check the position of her nose (and wishing there were a spell to put 
off permanently the fast-approaching hour when she's going to need reading 
glasses.)

* I know that there seem to have been doctors, probably male, in (for 
example) ancient Roman or Egyptian culture.




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