Death and time

[Audra1976 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 49209

In a message dated 04/01/2003 13:57:49 Eastern Standard Time, 
Malady579 at hotmail.com writes:

> Buckbeak never died; so therefore, the Time Turner did not "save" his
> life.  It just allowed what happened in the past to happen with people
> from the future.  :D  So then, Cedric could not of been saved by the
> TT.  He is, unfortunately, dead.

Me:

Okay, I understand that concept that Buckbeak never actually died and Cedric 
did, but Buckbeak *would* have probably died had someone not used the Time 
Turner to remove him from Hagrid's yard.  So TT users are obviously able to 
mess with past events.  Their actions have consequences in the future that 
would not exist had the TT never been used.  

I think Cedric *could* possibly have been saved by the Time Turner.  If a 
character used it to travel back to just before the Third Task and 
(successfully avoiding their past self) bonked Cedric on the head, or stunned 
him or something, and tied him and prevented him from going into the maze, 
then he probably would still be alive, right?  That has nothing to do with 
bringing someone back from the dead because Cedric would not be dead.  
Because of the TT, Cedric never would have actually died, just like Buckbeak 
never actually died.  Actually, he would never show up to the Third Task at 
all.

The problem is there would necessarily be other changes to time after the 
character stopped Cedric from going to the maze.  For example, in the changed 
timeline, Harry might not have finished the maze, or Harry might die in the 
graveyard, or any number of things could happen differently.  The changes are 
unknowable.  I think that Dumbledore, although he regrets Cedric's death, is 
generally satisfied with the way things turned out with Harry and Voldemort, 
and wouldn't risk changing that, so he did not suggest using the Time Turner 
again.

Audra


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