Animagi..............

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49504

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dmitri Mosier
<dmtranscript at a...>" <dmtranscript at a...> wrote:
> Once they finally master the spell, do they get to pick what animal 
> they become? 
> 
> I haven't seen any evidence that says so, but I get the feeling that 
> each animagus just "changes" and which animal is left up to 
> either "fate" or maybe some decision of the "liscencing 
> authority"........no, that would leave out the unregistered 
> ones........
> 
> but anyway, you get the idea. 
> 
> Any theories?
> 
> Douglas
> Iowa City, Iowa
> Hufflepuff forever!

bboy_mn:

JKR has given some indications in interviews that the type of animal
you transform into is based on your personality. But I can read that
two ways; 1.)your personality dictates the animal you get, 2.)your
personality dictates the animal you choose.

Ask yourself what animal you would choose? JKR thought she would be an
otter, apparently, she has some affinity for otters, but she said it
in a way that implied that it would be dictated not choosen.

That seems pretty arbitary to just allow nature to assign an animal
form to you. That does reveal something about the persons inner-self
that may not normally be evident. But considering all the bad,
worthless, pointless animal form possibilities, I don't know if I
would want to take all the time, effort, and most important risk only
to discover that I transformed into a fruit fly with 24 hour lifespan.

Rita Skeeter does 'bug' people, so a bug would seem natural. But being
a bug is not very safe. Looking for a distraction from the
conversation he was overhearing, Harry could have easily squashed her
as she sat on the reindeer listening to Hagrid. Hermione or Krum could
have just as easly squashed Rita when she was in Hermione's hair after
the second task. True being a bug does give you a very high degree of
stealth, but it's leaves you pretty defenseless.

Now Sirius dog form has a reasonably high degree of stealth
capability. A big dog like that can travel long distances although not
very fast. It also has high survivability and defensive capabilities.
To survive in dog form, Sirius can eat rats and even somewhat spoiled
rancid food that would make a human sick. He also has the power,
strength, speed, and sharp teeth necessary to capture his own food;
like rabbits and rats. He has good defensive capability in that no one
is likely to attack a dog the size of a small bear. 

Every animal has pluses and minuses, a monkey has good manual
dexterity, but poor stealth. Pretty hard not to spot a monkey walking
around the English country side. An Eagle has great survivability, can
easily get food, and has reasonably good defensive capability. I
wouldn't want to be attacked by an eagle. Plus, eagles are protected
so it's unlikely that anyone would shoot you. You have good stealth
capability and the ability to travel long distances.

So, if I were going to tranform into an animal, I would want one that
had a good blend of stealth, survivability, transportability, and
defensive capability. An eagle would be nice, but a bug would really suck.

I know that doesn't quite answer your question, but I find it hard to
believe that this is all left to chance.

just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn