Only one death [was:Re: Sirius was right, Dumbledore was wrong]

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 93355

> Kneasy:
> > As for Sirius' death in the Ministry, doesn't anyone else find it 
> > odd that in this melee with spells zipping everywhere there is 
only 
> > *one* death? Almost seems as if they weren't  trying the rest of 
> > the time. Sirius died for a reason, and it'll probably be a much 
> > more significant plot reason than Harry's emotional development.
> 
> Susan:
> Yes, it is odd.  I know that the DEs were supposed to be careful of 
> what they did, for fear of hitting Harry & causing the prophecy to 
be 
> dropped & shattered, but still....  

Neri:
A good question. First, most of the spells zipping around were indeed 
stunners and other non-lethal stuff. Even Bella, who relishes killing 
and torturing, was shooting stunners most of the time, including that 
shot that nailed Sirius. Why? Bella said that the Unforgivables 
require emotional investment to be effective, and this might take 
some time and concentration. So it is not surprising that in the 
middle of a melee, when response time and rate of fire are critical, 
she'd rather use a conventional stunner. Now, why wasn't the DEs 
using more that slashing hex of Dolohov? It isn't an Unforgivable, 
but it had almost finished off Hermione. I think the reason is that 
nifty Protego spell, which acts not only as a shield, but also as a 
mirror. I can see why a DE would prefer to shoot something non-lethal 
when he knows that his spell might rebound at him. So as in many 
other things, the magical version of a shooting melee is also 
preferable to the muggle version.

A slightly different question is why were they missing so many times? 
As to that, I can testify from my own military experience (luckily 
not very extensive) that JKR is quite realistic. It is much easier to 
miss than hit your target even at the range, not to mention while you 
also try to avoid getting shot yourself. I've once read an article by 
some military theorist who calculated that the number of the expended 
bullets in modern wars is larger than the number of causalities by a 
factor of about a million, and I find this number quite believable.

I personally like JKR's description of the battle. I find it much 
more convincing than the choreographed kong-fu that Hollywood 
produces. I notice how none of the participants, either the bad or 
the good guys, manages any move that looks heroic, or even just well 
planned and executed. I think it was Pippin who once called it "sheer 
buffoonery". JKR doesn't want any of her readers to think even for a 
minute that battles are heroic. Even Neville's sacrifice is rendered 
comical by his broken nose. Actually, Harry the veteran explained 
this exact point to Ron and Hermione when they first suggested that 
he'll teach them DADA. I don't have any idea how JKR knows this, but 
she is right. There is indeed nothing heroic or coordinated in real 
battle. It is typically a mess in which nothing works the way it was 
supposed to, the participants would have look funny if it wasn't 
about life and death, and you are much more likely to stay alive 
because of the enemy's ineptitude than by your own aptitude. Magical 
battles are slightly less bloody than the real battles, but they are 
still a mess. 

Neri