Myrtle's glasses

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 78498

 Ephrem-
> >  I can say a majority of people who wear glasses will take them off
> if they're crying for a long period of time so they can wipe their
> eyes more frequently and easily.  So it's a possibility that she
> wasn't wearing them when she was attacked.
> 
> Dave-
>   I thought of this possibility too, however if she hadn't been
> wearing her glasses, how would she know that she had seen the eyes?

Wearing glasses doesn't make you blind without them. There is no canon 
for the vision quality of Myrtle. I myself wear glasses but can see 
colours and shapes quite far away. What I cannot is *read* at a 
distance (making catching buses a bother, as well as reading 
blackboards and such). All Myrtle had to see was the eyes of a giant 
(20+ feet long) snake at a distance of maybe 6-10 feet. That is *very* 
easy. To not see the eyes at that distance, you'd have to be *very* 
shortsighted (and of course, we cannot forget that she might be, for 
all we know, longsighted - i.e. need the glasses to read).
 
> Wouldn't it have been just a blur.  Also if she were not wearing her
> glasses when she died,she wouldn't have had them as a ghost, would
> she?

No, that's not true. NH Nick frequently changes clothes, and it is 
downright unlikely (and unbelievable) that he was wearing all those 
sorts of clothes when he died. Besides, if Myrtle was crying and had 
taken the glasses off, she would've still been holding them in her 
hand.

> Back on the topic of the camera lens and the distortion it
> causes, would a person who is nearsighted (and therefore has
> distorted vision) die?
>   -SD

A (reflex) camara has a prism inside it that sends the image up into a 
mirror which then reflects it onto the person's eye. In essence, there 
are two mirrors inside a camara, which is why Colin got stoned and not 
killed. Besides, lens don't cause distortion (unless they're unfocused) 
but deliver a clear image (yes, there is no canon for a reflex camara, 
but Colin is fanatical enough to have a proper reflex camara. Besides, 
they're not that expensive, if it is your main hooby, even for a 
milkman).

And of course, we're back to the problem of just how blind Myrtle is. 
Many people wear glasses with minor eye problems, and of course it was 
a giant snake (thus, with giant eyes) at a relatively short distance. 
Then we have to consider exactly how the power works. Why seeing the 
eyes directly kills you while seing their reflection (or through a 
ghost) just stones you? There is no physical explanaition I can think 
off, but how bad your eyes are is probably little defence - or else 
Basilisks wouldn't be that feared, since not everyone has 20/20 vision.

hope that helps,

Grey Wolf