Why didn't they die?(was: Petrification )

[Becky Walkden]

No: HPFGUIDX 51568

 
 "Steve <bboy_mn at yahoo.com>" <bboy_mn at yahoo.com> wrote:--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Jeanne Blade <jeanneblade at y...>
wrote:
> 
> ... WHy weren't there more deaths resulting from the Basilisk? FB ..
Basilisk has very venoumous fangs, and it also kills by looking ....
So there were circumstances surrounding the Petrifications everytime? 

Jeanne

I think there is shall we say too much analysis concerning this subject?  First, a Basilick is a "magickal" creature and these animals do not act predictably like real life animals do. The simple fact is, Ms. Rowling didn't WANT a whole lot of dead students in this book so all the victems were saved my what is in short a miraculous set of coincidences.  IE looking at the snake through water on the floor, or through a ghost or through a camera lense or a mirror.  So nobody looked at the snake directly and were only turned to stone instead of killed.  Afterwards, well, the Basilick isn't going to break it's teeth on stone!  You can't kill a petrified person!  So ergo, nobody died but only by "luck" and the whim of the author.   

Huggs Becky