Limitations of magic

[i_am_erasmas]

No: HPFGUIDX 40883

Hi,

Eledhwen wrote:
> I've allways wondered about the limitations of magic. . . . 
> My theory is that you can conjour things up only for a certain 
amount of time and then they disapear. . . 

> Got any ideas or opinions?

I've thought a fair bit about what the limitations, or as I think of 
it, the rule set that operates in the story. 

Many of the rules, like the limitations on conjuring material items 
that Eledhwen mentions, could be extracted from the books through 
careful inductive reasoning, so long as they're consistent. In a 
number of interviews, Jo speaks of these rules saying she spent a 
long time early on deciding what wizards and witches can't do, to 
give a framework for what could be done within the plot. 

It seems to me that the rule set would form a basis for testing the 
different theories that we see in this list. I haven't been reading 
the messages here for long, but I've tried to search to see if any 
members have attempted to rebuild the rules that the stories operate 
on. Haven't found anything, but it's likely i'm just using the wrong 
search terms. 

I'm wondering if any of the veterans to these boards know of any 
lists of rules have been developed over the years? I'm thinking of 
rules in a broader sense that what I've found in places like the HP 
lexicon, that lists spells and what they do but as far as I've found 
fall short in terms of general laws applied to the wizarding world. 
Anyone want to have a go at this? Think it's worth while?

Erasmas