Word Power , Sorting, Diary

[Amey Chinchorkar]

No: HPFGUIDX 105791

>> Carol,
>> BTW, has anyone noticed the contrast between Dumbldore's practical,
>> almost real-world approach to words and names (don't use euphemisms;
>> call it by its name) and Gandalf's and Aragorn's in LOTR, where words
>> do seem to have power <snip> It strikes me
>> as odd that Dumbledore, who knows what words can do when used as
>> spells, takes their power so lightly.

Amey:
My take on this is that, he is teaching others the power of words. I mean, look at the way all DEs react to the name of LV.  They are either afraid of the name or they keep others from saying the name. How many times have we heard that Dumbledore can fearlessly say the name because 
he is the only wizard LV is afraid of. So, I think he is telling others that it has nothing to do with his power, but just a name. What matters here is the intention behind the words (like Harry found out when he tried to use Crucio). The simple words are not enough to cast the 
spell, the intention and the power (sometimes) of the person matters.

Going slightly OT, in LOTR, the words are important because there more focus is on the spellwords, and as we can see at the gates of Moria, any person who can say the word (friend) can work out the spell (loosely used). So the focus of magic or spells in both the cases is entirely different.


>> Jen, who doesn't think JKR would bother creating the mysterious 
>> Florence if she wasn't going to be important later on.

Amey:
I am feeling a touch of MarkEvansitis here. :D

>> Del replies :
>> I mean, honestly ! He even tried to *force* Lily to go out with him !

Amey:
He wasn't forcing Lily to go with him. It was just a ploy. Even if Lily had agreed to this, I 

don't think James would have ceased teasing Snape (as we know he didn't.) *Snape was a special case as he also never lost a chance to hex James*. So it was just a question, the other part of it (I will never raise a wand on Snape) was inconsequential in both person's minds.


>> Del replies :
>>  I stick
>> to the facts :-) (Must be the Physics : try telling a Physics teacher
>> "well yes, the particle went this way, but honestly I'm sure it meant
>> to go *that* way instead." LOL !)

Amey:
Are you trying to apply laws of Physics and Logic to human emotions? They don't apply here. Otherwise 
1. Snape is working for Order
2. Sirius is working for the same Order
3. They are working on same side, so they are friends.
would be true.


>> Cathy:
>> I think the scene you're pointing to was DD telling Harry that, yes, indeed he did have >> several 
>> of the qualites Slytherin looked for in students but Harry, himself, chose Gryffindor and it >> is 
>> "our choices more than our abilites" that make us who we are.  He then indicated that the >> sword 
>> had once belonged to Goderic Gryffindor and "only a true Gryffindor" could have removed it >> from 
>> the hat.  Which would seem to indicate that the Sorting Hat can be wrong.

Amey:
This is not Sorting Hat being wrong. It saw properties of both the houses in Harry's head, and so it went for Harry's choice. After all, it is Gryffindor's hat, and if he put the brains in it, it is clearly going to put the person's choice above his abilities. (As we saw also in case of Hermione and most probably in case of Sirius and Neville).


>> Del wonders :
>> Interesting. Does that mean that Tom *intended* it for a girl to find
>> and use the Diary ? Or is it just that customs have changed since
>> Tom's time, when boys maybe wrote more often in diaries ?

Amey:
Need not be, but if a person wants to write something down, he will surely choose a diary or notebook, those are most common things which we associate with writing. Also, he planned to give it to his successor, who should be in Hogwarts as student, and the most common things students carry in Hogwarts for writing are parchment. Now it is anybody's guess why he chose diary above parchment (I mean, we don't have any canon here). 
But he was a muggleborn, and like Harry I think he might have found out that Parchments are not welcome in outside world. That will give his successor very little time to study it. Also, a person writing on a parchment over and pver again is slightly more open to suspicion (like we saw Snape suspicious of the Map), and also parchment is also more prone to being mislead  by someone who doesn't know anything about it. A personal diary is kind of sacred, in the sense nobody will touch it, or take it.

>> Del wonders :
>> For all we know, Sirius seethed with rage for weeks.

Amey:
Again no canon. But I can say one thing for sure, his parents (especially his mother) must have seethed with rage. I wonder where Regulus landed up?

>> Kneasy
>> Does not compute.
>> Snape asking is fanciful; him accepting what Sirius tells him
>> at face value becomes far-fetched.


Amey:
We already know Snape was spying on Marauders. What if Sirius delibarately showed him how to go past the Willow? 

>> Kneasy
>> It certainly adds a new dimension to the Snape/DD relationship.
>> Why would Snape *ever* trust DD again?

Amey:
Well, whatever the history, everybody was sure that Dumbledore is only person to take on LV. So  he knew if he has to help against LV, he must come back to Dumbledore. What made him decide to come back and what he told Dumbledore is of course open to discussion.

Amey



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]