(non)TBAY: Arthur Weasley With Imperius Curse and Small Craft Advisories

Veronica ronib at mindspring.com
Tue Oct 15 14:16:20 UTC 2002


No: HPFGUIDX 45377

Richelle wrote:
> > Elkins, in her lovely TBAY post, said:
> < "It does make sense that some families might be more vulnerable
> > to
> > the Imperius curse," said Veronica. "After all children of
> > alcoholics
> > are more likely to be alcoholics. Perhaps there is a gene that
> > some
> > have that make them less able to fight off that curse. That would
> > explain why Ron has a more difficult time with that curse in DADA
> > class."
> 
> Okay, I have one problem with this.  There's both Barty Crouch Sr 
> and Jr with the Imperius Curse.  It took Jr years to break it, 
> whereas Sr broke it in a matter of months.
> 
> I believe that is the only place where a father/son were both under 
> the Imperius curse, albeit at different times and different 
> people's curse. I am still a bit confused how one maintains an 
> Imperius curse from miles and miles away.  Can the same thing be 
> true for other curses?  The Crucio perhaps?  Can you crucio 
> someone, apparate away, and them still be tortured?
> 

Veronica replies:

I can't even begin to guess how you would continue the Imperius curse 
miles away from someone. That one I will have to chalk up into the 
Faith column (not the Theory, but just that JKR tells us it can 
happen, so it can). I'll let someone else take a shot at that. =)

As for the Crouch Jr. versus Crouch Sr. and the amount of time that 
it takes to break off the curse . . . . I think strength of character 
still has some effect on your ability to withstand Imperius, but I 
think heredity plays a part, too.

To use my analogy of alcoholics, not all children of alcoholic become 
alcoholics--they just have to be more careful, because (as we 
understand it), their genes are working against them. 

Perhaps Mrs. Crouch's genes made Barty Jr. more vulnerable. 

Or more likely (I don't have my books here at work to find the 
lines), but doesn't Barty Jr., under the truth potion, say that he 
was very ill and weakened when he left Azkaban? Didn't he say 
something like, "One dying person came to visit, and one dying person 
left," indicating that both he and his mother were extremely ill when 
they switched places. It makes sense (at least to me) that regardless 
of your genes, if you are that ill, you *could* be more easily 
controlled with Imperius.

Veronica





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