Transfiguration Question

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 59234

> Mark wrote:
> 
> > <<Obviously it was enough of a dog to distract the dragon (for a
> moment), but it didn't have the "mind of a rock".  It was very "dog
> like".>>
> 
> And Brief Chronicles questioned:
>  
> > You've got a good point. When Cedric turns the rock into a dog, if
> >we're all right that the essence of the original thing is what
> governs >its actions, then the dog ought to just sit there... like a
> rock.  :)  >Why doesn't it?
> 
> 
> Corinth: 
> 
> I'll modify my original thoery based on this.  When transfiguring
> from low to high complexity, the original intelligence of the object
> is maintained.  However, some qualities can be added based on the
> "definition" of the new form.  Let me see if I can explain what I
> mean by this.

I've arrived somewhat late to this discussion, but I'm going to throw 
in my own theory of transfiguration, if only to muddle the waters. But 
first, I have to make a crucial distinction. It is not the same to 
transfigure than to become an animagi. Animagi's minds are still very 
much human-like (although, according to Sirius, the emotions are 
animal-like). This is suported by QttA, where it is said that the few 
wizards that can enjoy flying without a broom are those few lucky whose 
animagi form happens to be able to fly ("Those few Animagi who 
transform into winged creatures may enjoy flight, but they are a 
rarity", QttA). On the other hand, other transfigurations give you the 
mental capacity (which is not the same as ability) of the animal: "The 
witch or wizard who finds him- or herself transfigured into a bat may 
take to the air, but, *having a bat's brain*, they are sure to forget 
where they wanted to go the moment they take flight." (emphasis mine), 
QttA.

For the purposes of this post, from now on I'll ignore animagi 
transfiguration, which seems pretty straightforward: it retains human 
intelligence.

Now, this question came up once before, as a more metaphysical 
question: does a person transfigured into a table loose his/her soul 
(note: soul as in "whatever the ghosts are made of")? Does a table 
transfigured into an animal gain a soul? I tried to look it up in 
yahoomort's archives, but as always it was futile. So I'll just repeat 
myself, as I am used to doing.

Now, certainly soul and intelligence are not the same thing, but the 
same principles apply. A rock has no soul or intelligence, and yet 
Cedric's pet rock moved around and barked. How is this possible? As 
Corinth points out, it is part of the spell. Cedric has an image in his 
head of what a dog is suposed to act like, and his spell changes the 
rock into that image. It is still a rock, though (and luckyly so, 
because, if not, poor dog, created just to be fed as bait to a dragon).

Things get more muddy when we start and finish with an animal/human, in 
the intelligence department. The problem is that while we know that 
humans become animal-like, we've never seen a pig transformed into a 
human, so canon is scarce. Now, according to my theory of spell intent, 
a rat turned into a human would *seem* to act and think as a human, 
because that is what the spell is suposed to do, if properly 
formulated. The spellcaster has an image in his head of what a human is 
suposed to act like, and that's what you get. The rock acts as a dog, 
the ferret acts like a human.

However, this raises an interesting question: how much *like* a human 
will it act? It is conceivable that when you canst the spell, you're 
thinking of someone in particular - maybe yourself, and thus the spell 
would use you as a pattern to create and fill in the transfigured 
creature's brain. I certainly cannot imagine Hermione (or anyone else) 
creating something more intelligent than themselves - the magic has to 
copy it from somewhere. But I think that it would indeed fill the brain 
with at least some knowledge. For example, when transfiguring you might 
expect a human to be able to talk, read and do basic maths (in this 
particular day and age. In the Middle ages, drop maths and read, add 
swordplay), and thus the spell would use your knowledge of those areas 
to give those expected abilities in the creature. But, if you expect 
your human to know advanced nuclear phisics, but you've got no idea of 
what that is in reality, the spell will probably not give you real 
knowledge - more likely, only your perception of how someone who knew 
would act. I hope I've made sense here.

Now, pressing on to the oposite effect, humans into animals. This is 
even muddier. From the quote in QttA, it seems that you get an animal 
mind with the spell, but then, is it that bad that Malfoy gets turned 
into a ferret? According to my theory, not when in ferret form 
(although the bouncing was a nice touch, and what prompted the ferret 
to try and run away from Moody). But I have the feeling that when you 
are transformed back, you get back all your missing intelligence, *and 
you can remember what it was like not to have it*. Malfoy is certainly 
a little out of sorts when he's transformed back. But maybe it is just 
the bouncing. Still, I like to think that he's suddenly realised how 
limited his brain had become when in ferret form, and that' what 
acausing his eyes to pop out of their sockets.

So, in conclussion, I agree mostly with Corinth's theory of 
comunicating containers (although I've added that the "extra" water 
that didn't fit in the smaller container is given back when back to the 
big one, which (s)he forgot), and I have expanded somewhat the theory 
of intelligence gaining.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf