[HPforGrownups] Re: The Useless Animagus

[Patricia Bullington-McGuire]

No: HPFGUIDX 53654

On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, Steve wrote:

> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "psychodudeneo"
> <psychomaverick at h...> wrote:
> > Something's been annoying me.  Wizards aren't allowed to choose
> > their Animagus form, although one would hardly be able to tell 
> > this from the books.
> > 
> > ...edited...
> > 
> > "psychodudeneo"
> 
> I'm pretty sure that JKR implied in an interview that your animal form
> is a reflection of your personality. Which in turn, implies that you
> do not get to choose it.

There is a difference, though, between an Animagus form being unchosen and
it being random.  I'm not at all surprised that a wizard or witch's
animagus form tends to be useful to what he or she is choosing to do with
the rest of his or her life.  A person's profession, hobbies, friends, and
so forth are all chosen in large part based on that person's character:
what they value, like, dislike, are talented at, etc.  And those are
exactly the same things that I would expect to influence an animagus form.  
So while the form may not be consciously chosen, it is very likely to fit
neatly into the rest of the wizard's life, assuming he has chosen a path
that actually suits him.  I would suggest that a would-be assassin whose
animagus form turns out to be a rhinoceros is probably generally lacking
in stealth and may have chosen the wrong profession.

It is also possible that one's sub-conscious self-image affects the
animagus form as well.  So in addition to the fact that Sirius is powerful
and loyal, his awareness of the meaning of his name ("Dog Star") may have
influenced the determination of his animagus form.  

> I agree that there is indeed a risk not only in the tranformation
> process itself, but in the animal you become. Someone a while back
> sited the example of a certain type of fly that lives for only 24
> hours. That would certainly be limiting. 

Peter Pettigrew didn't seem to be limited by the normal lifespan of a
common rat, despite his form, so I wouldn't expect a mayfly animagus to be
vulnerable to the rapid onset of old age either.  However, a mayfly (or
any very small animal) would seem to be exceptionally vulnerable to
predators.  I'm a bit surprised Rita Skeeter has never gotten picked off
by a bird, considering how much time she seems to spend in beetle form.  I 
suppose it would be a bit of an anti-climax, though. ;)

----
Patricia Bullington-McGuire	<patricia at obscure.org>

The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered
three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the
purely hypothetical.  They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each
nonexisted in an entirely different way ... 
                -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"