W6 - a low-grade essay about weapons of wizard war

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 118731


"kizor0" <ryokas at h...> wrote:
> 
> This is a pretty short thing. I have intentions of expanding and
> refining it later. I'll post the later versions here, unless enough
> people tell me not to. Got your own suggestions or ideas? Please tell
> them.
> 
> Wondrous and Wicked Ways of Waging Wizarding War
> <lots of snipping>

Neri:
An interesting research. Thanks to Alla for noticing it (I've long
gave up the attempt to read even most of HPfGU posts).  
 
> The Premise
> 
> It's quite clear that the war will not be a military campaign in the
> Muggle sense of the word. Even if the wizarding world was unconcerned
> with revealing itself, it'd still lack the required numbers. The Order
> of the Phoenix was operating with less than twenty-five people during
> the first war. Guerrilla war and small precision strikes will be the
> order of the day, then, instead of a `grab a rifle and go get shot'
> grinder. 

Neri:  
Very good points. I'd add two more reasons why war in the WW is very
different than muggle war:

1. The ability to effectively use non-lethal weapons (curses other
than the Avada Kedavra, the Imperius curse), and in fact accurately
control the degree of lethality/non-lethality, means that there is
much less need to employ the "bigger gun" and "all out war"
approaches, which is one reason why muggle wars frequently escalate
out of all intended proportions (the "we'll finish this and be back
home by Christmass" syndrome, which typically ends up with a several
years war and a monstrous butcher's bill).   

2. In the WW fighting ability is directly proportional to one's
magical power. The leaders are usually the most powerful wizards (in
our case LV and DD, both over 70 yrs old), and they are also the most
powerful fighters. This means that they don't need large military
organizations and a dedicated class of professional soldiers to carry
out their missions for them. In this situation the conflicts are
largely kept on the personal level, and duels and assassinations are
much more probable than large-scale war.
 
> The strongest point about the non-existence of aides is the battle in
> the Department of Mysteries, a genuine magical battle that only used
> wands. My feeble defence is that two of the three groups involved
> scrambled immediately, as in every second counts, while the Death
> Eaters were going against a group of young teenagers with the
> advantage of surprise and two-on-one numbers. Why should they have
> armed themselves for definite overkill? 

Neri:
I think it is an excellent defense. In fact, the DEs probably weren't
waiting even for 6 children. More likely they were waiting for Harry
alone or the Trio at most. 

I'd also add that we have the duel between DD and Voldy as an example
of a really high level battle, but again both sides didn't plan it in
advance.

> - Defensive drones: While no magical means can stop an Avada Kedavra,
> the spell has been absorbed by another object on a number of
> occasions. Drones that stay close to the user and throw themselves to
> the path of incoming curses could be a tremendous asset. 

Neri:
As the statues from the Fountain of Magical Brethren demonstrate,
although I'd call them robots rather than drones. 

At the time when The Battle On Hogwarts finally ensues, I fully expect
the suits of armor to rise and defend the castle.  

> - Intel drones: Stick a piece of the kind of mirror-glass Sirius used
> on a drone, or install sensor-equivalents and a transmitter using
> whatever the Wizarding Radio Network does, and voila! You have a scout
> or a sentinel. 

Neri:
I suspect this is high-tech way of thinking rather than magical way of
thinking. As demonstrated by DD (using the statues and the portraits)
and Voldy (using possessed Nagini) there are kinds of magic that can
endow inanimate objects or animals with the ability of being either
autonomous agents or effective remote control devices. Even emotions
can be crystallized into powerful protective agents with a degree of
autonomy  (the patronus). There is some indication the DD uses his
patronus not only for defense but also communication: in GoF he sends
a "silvery bird" from his wand to call Hagrid from his hut, and JKR
lately said that DD's patronus is a phoenix. I wonder if it is
possible to use one's patronus to gather intelligence too. 

Also, since owls clearly have the magical ability to locate the
addressee anywhere, I wonder about using owls to deliver the
equivalent of a letter bomb (demonstrated by the Rita Skeeter's reader
who sent Hermione a letter with bubotubber pus in it).

 
> 
> The Uses of Near-Instantaneous Travel
> Apparating for short distances and Portkeys for long ones allow travel
> with neglible delay. Presumably it's still a second or few, making the
> methods unusable in battle (otherwise, I for one would not have barged
> to the Death Room through a door but Apparated two feet above Lucius
> Malfoy's head with steel boots) with the possible exception of
> fleeing. 

Neri:
I think you are still ignoring the DD vs. LV duel, in which
short-range apparating was effectively used by both sides. However, it
seems that this ability is unique to the most powerful wizards. There
is much that we don't know about apparating. In 12GP Fred and George
apparate into Ron's and Harry's room and mistakenly appear on Ron's
knees instead of on the bed. Their excuse was that "it's more
difficult in the dark", but I'm sure they apparated into this room
many times before. Apparating into a room you never been in before,
exactly above one's head when you don't know where exactly in the room
he is, this is probably much more difficult. 

 
> Give Order operatives a set of a few Portkeys to Grimmauld Place and
> other strategic locations <snip>  The fact
> against this is the low number of Order members present at the
> Department of Mysteries. No Snape, no Weasleys. 
> 

Neri:
Yes, I've complained here in the past on the very poor communication
abilities of the Order. 

> 
> Command Centers
> The wizarding world has the means to make a center of operations at
> least as advanced as the Muggle world. As the Weasley's wonderful
> watches show, items can be made to show a faraway person's status
> without delay. <snip> We don't know how hard it was to make the
> Marauder's Map and how much did the makers have to know about
> Hogwarts, but having a Phoenix's Parchment of at least some important
> locations sounds likely. 

Neri:
Add also that the Ministry must be operating some sort of "magical
radar" that immediately locates underage magic. However, we don't know
how easy it is to block or fool all these devices. I'm sure the
Ministry "radar" is easily blocked by any accomplished wizard who
knows what he's doing, since the Order's advance guard didn't have any
qualms of doing magic in the Dursleys house. This means the radar is
efficient against underages, but not against the big shots. 

> If contact lenses are too small, well, that brings a rather unpleasant
> mental image of Order members tearing one of their own eyes out and
> replacing them with their own versions of Moody's. Having a
> freaky-looking face beats being a good-looking corpse. With wizard
> medicine, it's very likely that the eyes could be preserved and rather
> replaced anyhow.

Neri:
I don't think there's need to resort to such measures. I'm personally
sure that DD's half-moon glasses work similarly to Moody's eye. In CoS
DD demonstrated his ability to detect Harry and Ron under the
invisibility cloak in Hagrid's hut. 

> 
> Space-warping
> As cauldrons, cars and tents show, an object's size is no indication
> of the volume of space it holds. This removes much of the restrictions
> the size and weight of wargear places, and offers the chance of
> high-risk infiltration missions – if the effects are strong enough,
> one person can carry many in concealment.
> 

Neri:
Hmm. About that scenario of sending LV a letter bomb by owl, why not
send him the whole Order with DD included, tightly packed inside a
space-warped package? Does anybody know if the space wrapping magic
also breaks the mass conservation law?

> Wizards may have some kind of spell that
> makes Muggle projectile weapons infeasible

Neri:
I expect some kind of a shield, probably a close relative of the
banishment charm.

> a few flashbangs (concussion grenades; temporarily blind and deafen
> the enemy while causing no permanent damage) in the DoM would have
> been a great asset.

Neri:
Fred and George's fireworks could do that. Come to think about it,
these fireworks also have some drone capabilities and built-in
defenses again common curses. BTW I have high hopes of many of your
ideas will actually be  employed by the Weasley Wizarding Weezies, who
will be secretly manufacturing weapons for the Order.
   
> Operation: Human Shield
> How's this for vile? The Death Eaters attack a disco, school or other
> suitable establishment and Imperio the large amounts of children or
> adolescents there, then pass out AK-47s. 

Neri:
The Imperius curse might be employed in a much more vile and effective
way. See
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/92918 and
following thread for details.

Neri