Dementors - How do you defeat them?

[annemehr <annemehr@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50280

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pickle_jimmy <kemp at a...>" 
<kemp at a...> wrote:
> I was just reading Jim Ferer's post about VW2 (voldy war 2) and he 
> mentioned that one thing Dumbledore's side would need to do is 
> 
> "Prevent Voldemort from getting control of Azkaban. Drive out the
> Dementors."
> 
> So my question to the collective genius of HP4GU is "Can you 
> destroy/kill a dementor?"

Hmm... I wonder if enough wizards casting their patronus at once could 
do it?  An overdose of light and hope?

In the following paragraph, I'll break in wherever I have any kind of 
and idea for an answer:
> 
> Where do the dementors come from? Other than using patroni to drive 
> them 'away' can we do anything more to them? How do the ministry 
> control them anyway?

I bet the MoM have some kind of tenuous deal: the dementors will stay 
on their island with the prison and leave the rest of the WW alone, 
and the MoM will see that the dementors get the "food" they want.  NOT 
very conducive to justice for accused wizard criminals, is it?  The 
MoM have skilled patronus-casters to ensure dementor cooperation when 
necessary.

 Do people that are "soul sucked" by dementors 
> become dementors (like werewolves)?

I don't think so.  I see the dementors as non-humans, and the 
soul-sucked as warehoused at St. Mungo's (in a *very* creepy ward).

 How many dementors are there? 
> Could voldemort make more dementors, and if he could why would he 
> need Azkaban - wouldn't he just make his own rather than freeing the 
> already existing ones? Do dementors die or are they dead already? Is 
> this the final state of Voldemort - dementormort?

I just said above that I saw dementors as non-human, but you do make 
me wonder.
> 
> Pickle Jimmy

I haven't been much help, I suppose, but I am about to make things 
worse, because you have brought to my mind some things I just don't 
'get' about dementors.

Dementors are supposed to suck out your soul so that it is "lost 
forever".  Well, as a Christian, I just can't get over something that 
can make you lose your soul apart from your own actions.  The "willing 
suspension of disbelief" won't extend so far when I read this part. I 
just put getting "soul-sucked" into a cubbyhole in my mind marked 
"fate worse than death" and kind of pass over it.  I wonder how many 
other people (of whatever faith) have this same problem with the 
dementor's kiss?  The best I can muster, if I stop to think about it 
at all, is that the souls can be lost inside the dementor, in torment 
perhaps, until the end of time or the end of the dementor, whichever 
comes first (harsh, isn't it?) -- and then it's finally on to "the 
next great adventure."  But in that case, of course, they would not be 
lost forever.  I sure would appreciate seeing anyone else's thoughts 
on this!

Annemehr