Transfiguration Question

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 58889

Freddie Mac wrote:
> > While wizards can change the shape of something (glass to
> > book), can they change the *essence* of something from the
> > original object to the new object?  This is a bit clearer
> > (or more convoluted, depending on your perspective) if you
> > consider living things.
> > 
> > A ferret (*grin*) can be changed into a human-shaped
> > ferret, but can the essence of a ferret be changed into the
> > essence of a human?  
> 
And Tammy replied:

> Well, I don't remember WHERE it says this, though I think it was in
QTTA, but my 
> understanding is that, if a wizard transfigures himself into, say, a
bat, so he could fly 
> somewhere (NOTE:  I'm not talking about Animagus transformations
here), he'd be 
> kinda stuck as a bat, not having proper hands with which to wield a
wand, living a 
> bat's life in a bat's body until his mind forgot he'd ever been a
wizard.  I feel that the 
> essence you're talking about, at least when it's a human being
transfigured, retains 
> its original 'form', if you will, for some time, before molding
itself to fit the new form.

Actually, the exact quote is:

"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 want to go the moment they take flight." (QTTA, pg 1).

So it's not the physical limitations but rather the mental limitations
that prevent the wizard from traveling or retransfiguring.

This seems to be proof that a person tranfigured into an animal does
indeed lose his or her higher-thinking abilities.  This makes sense,
being that an animal's brain (in this case, a bat) is limited.  In a
more physical sense, suppose that a human's brain equals a one gallon
container, while the bat's brain is only a few ounces.  If the one
gallon container were suddenly replaced with the smaller one, some
thoughts and abilities would have to be lost due to overflow.

However, I'm not sure whether the reverse would hold true.  A ferret
tranfigured into a person would now have the machinery necessary for
higher thinking.  If a small container suddenly expanded, there would
be no need to lose thoughts as in the previous case.  Instead, you
would get a big container with only a few thoughts and abilities and a
lot of empty space.  My theory is that the same thing occurrs during
transfiguration: The ferret-person now has a human-sized brain, but
only a ferret's worth of thoughts, with most of the brain inactive.  
Perhaps with instruction, the ferret could eventually learn, but this
seems doubtful being that Mr. Ferret is lacking many of the mental
qualities a person is born with.

So, overall, I think the "essence" arguement depends on whether a
tranformation is from low to high complexity or from high to low.  Low
to high would yield the same "esseance" as before, while high to low
would result in a loss of any no-longer-supported qualities.  None of
this is supported by canon though, so take it with a grain of salt.

-Corinth