Demon Possession

[Melete]

No: HPFGUIDX 91146


"Actually the word 'demon' is used several times.
Lupin calls the 
grindylow a "water demon' in PoA. I am wondering about
that, 
and also about the 'odd red gleam' that appears for a
moment in 
Tom Riddle's eyes. As Steve has pointed out in the
Lexicon,  the 
Dark Creatures  don't seem to have normal life-cycles.
 They 
seem to prey on fear and suffering rather than flesh
and blood. 
They also don't fit into the Being/Beast/Spirit
classifications 
which Magizoology uses to classify lifeforms. Many of
them, 
though alive, seem to be less than substantial. The
Hinkypunk 
looks like a wisp of smoke, the Boggart has no fixed
physical 
form, and the Dementors' bodies seem weightless,
swooping 
away into the night when Harry defeats them in OOP.  

So I am wondering if there is some sort of evil
entity, lets call it
a Whatsit, since Entity sounds so Stephen King, that
tries to 
colonize magical species and, if it can,  gradually
turn them into 
soulless, bodiless copies of itself. The Grindylows,
Hinkypunks 
and Dementors would be in various stages of this
process.  

Dark Magic, then,  would be any magic which makes it
easier for 
the Whatsit to take possession of a living thing, or
which cannot 
be performed without the aid of the Whatsit. One
wonders if 
Salazar Slytherin was himself possessed by this
Whatsit and if  
Voldemort is now. 

That would be an interesting reason for Voldemort to
seek 
immortality. He wants to free himself but  he knows
that if the 
Whatsit stops possessing him he'll die, as Quirrell
died when 
Voldemort stopped possessing him.

Thoughts?

Pippin"




hmm an interesting idea..although if you are going to
say whatsit..go ahead and say demon.  That's really
the only classic figure I can think that performs
possessions.  (at least in western civ.)  Grindylows
and boggarts however..I like to think JKR was a having
a bit of fun bastardizing folklore faeries and sidhe. 
They are unseelie creatures no doubt but I don't think
I would truly put them in the demonic category.  I
think there can be a bit of confusion over these terms
especially in the British Isles where you find
folklorists collecting tales about the Unseelie and in
their attempts to Christianize the tales calling these
creatures Demons..when they are just a darker form of
sidhe/sith.  

    I think it might be a lack of terminology b/c
Demons in the Westernized Christian sense are fallen
angels..very powerful beings that were twisted by
their rebellion against God.  Now a boggart or
Grindylow or Jenny Greenteeth or whatever creature JKR
wants to pull into the stories is really is more of a
malignant spirit of the land/air/earth/fire
(elements).  ..although dementors are a particularly
nasty creation she has made all on her own.  

   I think a good object lesson on this sort of
confusing terminology can be seen in Inuyasha.  A
fantastic *feudal fairy tale* from Japan : )..I love
this anime. At any rate you have Inuyasha the main
character who is half dog demon and half human.  I
think in this circumstance and series demon is less of
a Western Christian term..is he really the offspring
of a fallen angel --or nephilim..no I don't think
so..Is he the offspring of a powerful animal
spirit..yes.   

    As far as the spirit of Voldemort living on..I
tend to think of him as a really potent stain..All
that dark energy feeding on and on perhaps even
bolstered by the amount of lives he has taken..He
becomes just a bit more harder to take out..even with
that great laundry stick you've just bought.  His
living on Quirrell is a bit confusing but then again
as many people have pointed out the reversal of Aveda
on him and his subsequent connection to Harry do seem
like new and strange circumstances..ones that tend to
break our normal rules of magic and existence.  I
think Voldemort has been twisted so greatly by his
desire for power that this is what posseses him..

But thats IMO..certainly the twisting of his features
and figure from that of his younger self over
time..resemble a sort of possession a la Gollum.  I
just don't see JKR pulling a demon possession as
explanation for Voldemort's behavior..he has been
twisted but I think by his own malignant desires and
by the dark energy he has exposed himself to.


Danielle..


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