Voices and Magic - Eyes & More

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 75003

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, SnapesSlytherin at a... wrote:
> Can people who cannot speak  still do magic?  
> 
> I know that the Silenced Death Eater can (OoP US Hardback Page 792): 
> "*Silencio*!" cried Hermione, and the man's voice was extinguished.
(END QUOTE)
> 
> But was that only because he had had a voice to begin with?  
>
> ...edited...
> 
> ~*~*~Oryomai~*~*~

bboy_mn:

Let's take this one step at a time.

First let's work the old philosophical question, 'If a tree falls in
the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?'.

Let's apply that to magic. 
If a wizard is in the forest, or perhaps in the middle of a vast
desert, and he speaks an incantation, will the magic work if there is
no living being whether man, beast, creature, or creepy crawly thing
to hear it. 

If there is nothing to recieve the incantation, will it work?

I think it's a safe bet to say that it would.

Now let's look at the nature of an incantation. 
What is an incantation and how does it work?
I think an incantation is a harmonizing focusing vocalization, that
tunes the magical mind to the magic that is being invoked by the
incantation. In a way, it is very similar to a meditative mantra. 

To say 'Stupify', produces a set of tone and resonance that call forth
that specific magic. Think of sympathetic vibrations. Let's say you
take a frequency generator, tuning fork, and a loudspeaker. You begin
to sweep the frequency range. When the loudspeaker hits the tuning
fork frequency, the tuning fork will start to vibrate on it's own.
That's an excellent analogy for how an incantation activates specific
magic in a wizard. 

Now let's look at the nature of casting spells.
We have seen wandless magic; spontaneous and intentional. Spontaneous,
Harry turn his teacher's hair blue. Intentional (sort of), Harry says
"Lumos" and his wand, which he is not holding, lights up.

But we have also seen wandless wordless magic. I know there are
several minor examples in the series, but only one comes to mind at
the moment. Tom walks into the private parlor in the Leaky Cauldron,
snaps his fingers, and the fire ignites. I know there are other
examples where people have performed minor magic with just the wave of
a hand. (But I don't remember them specifically.)

Where is this all leading?
Let's say  a wizard surrounds himself in a Silence Barrier. This
doesn't silence the wizard, it just prevents other people from hearing
the wizard. If he cast an incantation inside this silence barrier will
it work?

I think the answer is yes. This is just a variation of the 'tree falls
in the woods' analogy.

Now what if the wizard thinks the words; he mentally vocalizes them.
That is his same voice speaking the same words, only internally. That
should create the same resonance and harmony necessary to make the
spell work. The mind and the magic hear it even if the ears don't. And
indeed, I think that is how wizards do wandless wordless magic. 

So, if the original hypothetical mute wizard is still able to hear so
he knows what the vocalization of the incantation should sound like,
then I see no reason why he couldn't cast the spell with sufficient
practice. Keep in mind, that I think it would be a very difficult, but
I certainly think it is possible.

Now, let me extent the concept into a whole new area.

I predict that we will see Harry and perhaps the other DA's learning
wordless wandless magic. The words and the wands are just focusing
device, they don't produce any magic, they just assist you in applying
your magic in a specific and focused way. 

Harry knows he doesn't need a wand to perform magic. But he hasn't
realized that if he could learn to do that on demand, he would have a
very potent weapon. Imagine Voldemort blowing up like Aunt Marg just
because Harry thought it. 

There is some speculation about the significants of Harry's green
eyes. I speculate that they may become the point of focus when he
learns to do wandless magic. In a sense, his eyes will become his wand.

We know wordless magic can be done. Again, if you are proficient at
it, that represent a tremendous weapon and a tremendous advantage over
your opponent. I think at some point that has to become so obvious
that it would be unreasonable not to learn it. 

I will amend the wandless wordless magic, by saying that for most
common wizards, they are never going to be able to do powerful magic
wordless and wandless. Snap your fingers, a wave of your hand to
perform minor mundane routine magic will be easy. But I think Harry,
at least, is a sufficiently powerful wizard that once he learns it, he
will be able to cast much more powerful spells. But even then there
will be some limits.

Still, even with the limits, you must be able to see what powerful
weapons these abilities could be.

Additional Note: I think the reason we don't see more wordless and/or
wandless magic is that any spell of any significant requires a
tremdous amount of concetration. That pause to concentrate is way to
impractical in battle, and inconvinient in everyday life.

Just a thought. A long rambling thought, conjured way to late at night.

bboy_mn