Thoughts on the Dementor's Kiss

kiricat2001 Zarleycat at aol.com
Sun May 5 19:31:24 UTC 2002


No: HPFGUIDX 38487

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Bernadette M. Crumb" <kerelsen at q...> 
wrote:
> 
> The Dementor appears to take the soul into itself, but is it
> consumed and ceases to exist?  Or, and this is what gave me
> nightmares last night, does the awareness remain, but trapped
> inside the Dementor along with all the other mad souls that had
> been Kissed by that Dementor?  And if it is an aware but
> non-corporeal being, doesn't that mean that it must still suffer
> the same effects of the Dementor's presences as it did while
> inhabiting a living body, but with NO way to escape the horror?

Yikes!  Thanks for creeping me out with this thought.  I'll be having 
nightmares about this whole idea.

<snip>
> 
> And what scares me even more than the whole concept described
> above is the thought that perhaps the powers that be in the MoM
> know EXACTLY what happens to the souls of the Kissed.  I really
> hope that they DON'T know; that they truly believe that it's a
> much more merciful end than the victim would otherwise receive.
> The idea that the people in power allow--nay, encourage--such a
> horrific thing to happen, knowing just how bad it is for the
> victim makes me very glad that I don't live within their
> jurisdiction!
> 


I suspect that at least those in very high positions of authority 
must have some idea of what happens to these souls.  Maybe that's a 
naive belief that the people with the highest authority who can order 
the use of the most destructive weapons generally don't use those 
weapons, precisely because they know what destruction the weapons can 
do.  

I would also suspect that wise wizards with years of experienc and 
knowledge know a lot about these particular dark creatures.  My only 
reason for believing this is Dumbledore's abhorence of the 
Dementors.  He refuses to allow them on school grounds during PoA, he 
is horrified that Fudge allowed one in in GoF that promptly sucked 
out Barty Jr.'s soul, and, he warns Fudge that the Dementors must be 
removed from Azkaban, as they are guarding V's most ardent supporters 
and will join him at the drop of a hat. 

Where did the Dementors come from? How long have they been used at 
Azkaban?  If, as Dumbledore believes, the Dementors will support V 
because he can offer them more than the MoM offers, were they 
supporting V during the first war?  If so, how did the MoM get them 
to switch sides afterwards?  Perhaps the offer was "You act as guards 
at Azkaban and we won't destroy you.  We will also let you feed on 
the emotions of our prisoners, and slowly drive them crazy. That 
gives us the double assurance of knowing what you're up to, and 
having you do the dirty work of mentally torturing the bad guys."

Ugh! What depressing thoughts on such a beautiful day.

Marianne, who, depressed or not, really wants JKR to bring us to 
Azkaban





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