[HPforGrownups] Re: Time Turner...(TT during PoA)

[TrekkieGrrrl]

No: HPFGUIDX 122926

>
>> Gah. Now my head spins.
>>
>> ~TrekkieGrrrl
>> (who loves timetravel stories)
>
>
> Hello TrekkieGrrrl,
>
> I am SO sorry for starting this one! Headaches all round, and more to
> come....
> Anyway, thanks for replying, your ideas were great to read! I was doing 
> fine
> until you started on the Timeline B and Timeline C theories, and then
> something exploded inside my head... now I'm not sure of my own name
> anymore...

Don't be sorry. Youve given me reason to talk about Star Trek in a Harry 
Potter forum ;o)

>
> I love those time paradox scenarios, because the actual answer always
> remains elusive due to so many potential answers being right... or wrong.
> Sometimes a writer tries to tackle them by suggesting theories, rather 
> than
> leaving them for readers/viewers to wonder about (or miss completely). 
> Have
> you read The Guardian Of Time? That's what got me started on all this Time
> Line theorising - there are whole sections intended to 'help' but nobody
> understands them even in the book. I love to laugh without being made to 
> feel
> foolish at my own intelectual limitations!
>
> I'm going to apologise to you for repeating the next section from replies 
> I
> gave to other people about all this, so please don't feel I'm being lazy. 
> This
> next bit occurred to me when Sirius died in Book 5:
>
> There's another issue here - I think all the HP stories are undermined by 
> the
> Time Turner's own existence. If the spell or technology exists which can
> influence time, nothing is final unless the ability to create such a piece 
> is very,
> very restricted. Which in Harry's world, it isn't. I would have thought 
> that
> anyone with such a piece could change whatever they wanted. If the
> all-powerful Voldemort got hold of it, he could prevent Harry being born 
> either
> in a very subtle way (prevent Mr & Mrs Potter marrying) or by going back 
> in
> time and killing Harry at any stage of his life. Likewise, Dumbledore 
> could do
> the same to Voldermort... and let's not forget that Harry could go back 
> and
> save Sirius in Book 5, or prevent the death in Book 4 (forgotten the poor
> chap's name). And maybe, just maybe, he could give it a really good spin 
> and
> go back and save his parents etc etc... you see where this is going?
> So because the Time Turner exists as it is shown to, nothing is final. 
> Whoever
> holds that holds a huge amount of power, because that power is not
> restricted or regulated. And don't get me started on the potential if 
> there's
> more than one Time Turner - after all, why shouldn't there be? In my view,
> the whole series of stories gets horribly undermined by one simple 
> plot-aid in
> Book 3. Doesn't it?
>

Yes. Unless you go for the alternate realities theory. So when Harry from 
Timeline A uses the timeturner and thus creates Timeline B, timeline A will 
still continue too. In an alternate time/universe.

But I agree that it was a very dangerous idea to introduce timetravel at all 
in HP, at least in a seemling so accessible form. Sure TimeTurners aren't 
something everybody has, but they're available. And that's a mistake IMO, 
because it raises the question: When Harry could go back and save Sirius 
from the Dementors, why can't he do it again and save him from falling thru 
the veil?! (as well as a lot of other things, which you mentioned yourself)

So, although it's a nice plot device, it opens far too many holes in the 
future. I agree with you on that one. IMO it had been better if a timeturner 
was something EXTREMELY RARE (as in one single one in existance) and that 
one then was (accidentally) destroyed.

> By the way, if you love time-travelling stories do have a look at The 
> Guardian
> Of Time. It's my absolute favourite book, and turned my brain to mush with 
> all
> the Parallel Time Lines and Temporary Alternate Realities... it's very 
> funny,
> but I hardly know anyone who's read it. I love the Harry Potter series, 
> and that
> one is a nice diversion!

I don't know that one but it sounds like one I'll have to read :o) Thanks 
for the rec.

~Trekkie