How can LV win the war in three weeks
nkafkafi
nkafkafi at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 18 03:39:17 UTC 2004
No: HPFGUIDX 93288
>Erin wrote:
> Though I love the idea of the Imperius virus (extremely scary), I
> don't believe it would work. That you can just give someone orders
> and let them go is not how I see the curse working in the books.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> GoF, American 1st ed. Ch. 14, pgs. 212-213
>
>
> Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it
in
> the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then
pointed
> his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"
>
> The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and
began
> to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched
> out its legs rigidly, then did a back flip, breaking the thread and
> landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody
> jerked his wand, and the spider went into what was unmistakeably a
> tap dance.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> All right. The thing is, we don't see Moody give verbal orders for
> any of the tricks the spider performed. And it's a sure thing the
> spider didn't come up with them on its own.
>
> So Moody must be maintaining a mental link with the spider. This
is
> how I believe the Imperius curse works. It allows for mind
control,
> and verbal commands are only for greater emphasis.
>
> Therefore, Krum under the Imperius curse can be forced to crucio
> someone, but would not be up to taking over someone else's mind and
> controlling it for long periods of time. I also think that it
would
> be very difficult for a single wizard to have multiple other
wizards
> under Imperius simultaneously. I don't know what the limit is, but
I
> know there is one.
Neri:
Here are the results of a quick research on the Imperius curse,
something I should have done before:
When imposter!Moody practiced the Imperius on Harry and the rest of
the kids in his class, he seemed to first cast the spell, then give
them verbal commands. Maybe the spider didn't understand English, so
it had to be controlled by will.
The real Moody spent 9 months in a trunk with nothing to bind him but
an Imperius curse.
Crouch Jr. was held in his house for 11 years by an Imperius curse
his father put on him. The father was not at home during working
hours, at the least.
Crouch Sr. himself visited Hogwarts twice under the Imperius curse
(in GoF, during the announcement of the champions and during the
first task), while his controller (LV) was elsewhere. His behavior
does seem suspicious in hindsight, but at the time even DD did not
uncover him. He made decisions that were directed to him by LV, but
he made them in the correct context as if they were his own
decisions.
Lucius Malfoy, who performed many crimes during the first war
(probably including the Imperius curse), got off by claiming he was
under the Imperius himself. Although this was a lie, it wouldn't have
worked as an excuse if it were known to be impossible.
To conclude: it is not necessary to guide imperio'ed people by
continuous remote control. They can operate as autonomous agents
based on verbal commands given in advance. We don't have specific
canon that an imperio'ed wizard can be directed to effectively
imperio another wizard, but it certainly seems a possibility. Even
excluding the idea of the Imperius virus, it seems a prudent
precaution to devise a test that uncovers imperio'ed agents. Does
anybody have an idea?
Neri
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