Time-Turner Questions?!

[cdayr]

No: HPFGUIDX 111346

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Susana da Cunha" 
<susanadacunha at g...> wrote:
> Time travel has been a science fiction pet since forever. Being 
a science
> fiction fan, I will try to explain the two main hypotheses usually
> considered:
> 
(snip)
> 
> 2 - Time travel cannot change events. This hypothesis states 
that you can
> only do what has already been done - there are no "alternative 
futures"!
> This is what happens in PoA 

CDR:

Thanks for this detailed post- my mind is reeling but I think you 
really cleared up some of the specifics of HP-brand time travel.
I have a few additions to your thoughts:

I really appreciate JKR's type of TT because it is very limited and 
therefore cannot be used to solve every problem. For example, 
no one can TT back and save Lily and James because they have 
already died- this cannot be changed. If Sirius had been 
dementorized before they made it to him in POA, they could not 
have gone back and changed that either.

An additional limitation seems to be in the length of time you can 
travel back. There is- as yet- no evidence that you can move 
forward in time once you have gone back. So once you've gone 
back, you are stuck there until you relive the passing time up to 
the present when you originally left. This could create some 
serious problems and really limits what you can do.

For example, say Harry wants to go back and chat with his past 
self of two years ago. (Or a jury is sent back to see the scene of a 
crime, or whatever) First, he would have to turn the time turner 
17, 520 times for all those hours. (Ok, maybe there are turners 
that go back further with each turn, but we haven't seen those yet) 
Then he would chat with himself. But then what? He now has to 
relive those two years up to the moment that he left originally, 
while remailing completely hidden so no one realizes there are 
two of him walking around. Then, when he finally gets back to his 
present time, he would suddenly appear to have aged two years 
overnight. 

So, it seems to me TT can only be used effectively if someone 
realizes something is about to happen (that hasn't happened 
yet) that they have to change, and can go back a short amount of 
time (usually hours, a day or two at the most) and make the 
change. Which is exactly what happened in POA.

Of course, if it turns out there is a way to flash yourself back to 
the present after you have travelled to the past all of this is 
meaningless- but no evidence so far of that.

CDR - who loves TT as a plot device when it is done well