What happens to victim's body after the Dementor's kiss?

happybean98 happybean98 at yahoo.com
Fri Mar 26 15:33:04 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 94050

This may seem like a trivial question, but I feel it may have some 
future significance. What exactly happens to the body of someone once 
they have been kissed by a Dementor?

I believe Crouch Jr. is the only character we know of who has 
actually received the Dementor's kiss, (correct me if I'm wrong), "He 
knew what the dementor must have done. It had administered it's fatal 
kiss to Barty Crouch. It had sucked his soul out through his mouth. 
He was worse than dead." GoF p. 703

What happens to him now? I  had just assumed he was now dead and his 
family buried him. However, when I went back to PoA, I wasn't so sure.

Harry says: "What - they kill? "Oh no," said Lupin. Much worse than 
that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your 
brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self 
anymore, no memory,no... anything. There's no chance of recovery. 
You'll just exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone 
forever...lost." PoA p. 247

So, is Crouch Jr. now existing in a "souless" state somewhere? Even 
in OoP, Harry's description to Petunia is a little vague.

Petunia says : "His soul? They didn't take -he's still got his - " 
She seized Dudley by the shoulders and shook him, as though testing 
to see whether she could hear his soul rattling around inside 
him. "Of course they didn't get his soul, you'd know if they had," 
said Harry, exasperated. OoP P. 34 

The reason I'm wondering is because if the Dementors are now loyal to 
Voldemort, there will be more victims of the Dementor's Kiss. Can 
Voldemort still use the victims even if they haven't got souls? Do 
the victims become Dementors themselves? What do they look like?

Kathleen   






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