The Nature of a Dementor

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 128417

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_svirn" <a_svirn at y...> 
wrote:
> > I have some difficulty believing your "Dementor as a Spiritual 
> > being" statement. If they are spiritual beings why do they look 
(and 
> > smell) like decayed corpses? And what do you mean by "It is 
> > especially tuned into Human Beings"? Whatever they are they are 
> > certainly not HUMAN beings – that much we can be sure of. 
Besides, 
> > they can't be both human and spiritual. 
> > 
> > ...edited...
> > 
> > a_svirn
> 
> bboyminn:
> 
> First, whether true or not, I think Tonks explanation of the 
Dementors
> was brilliant. In addition, I think you missed one of Tonks' key
> points where she(?) compared Ghosts to Dementors. 
> 
> Ghosts are moving from the physical world to the spiritual world, 
but
> they are stuck half way. While they have become spirits, 
intangible,
> their soul has not crossed over to what Tonks refers to as 'The
> Light', and despite being spirits, they still cling to their 
earthly
> Self, maintaining their earthly shape and personality.
> 
> Dementors in Tonks' theory are moving in the opposite direction, 
they
> are moving from the realm of pure spiritual essense, The Light, 
into
> the physical realm, and much like ghosts, they are stuck half way.
> However because they are moving toward the physical, they do take 
on
> some physical essense, just as ghost have taken on some essense of 
the
>  spiritual.
> 
> It is because the Dementors have not full entered into the realm of
> the physical that they take on the appearance that they do. They 
have
> enough physical essense about them to gore and decay, but not 
enough
> to actually die, and further not enough to actually live or become
> fully physically realized. Again, they are like ghost, trapped 
between
> life and death, just moving in the opposite direction of ghosts. 
> 
> Lending weight to Tonks' theory is the concept of the Angel of 
Death,
> the gatherer of souls, which is most often depicted in physical 
form
> that is VERY close to that of the Dementors.
> 
> Hope I got that right Tonks. In any event, we may never know for 
sure
> if it is true, but it still stands as an excellent speculation.
> 
> Steve/bboyminn

Why Steve, thanks for your explanation. But I didn't miss the 
comparison; I just don't think that we have enough ground to make 
one. (And Tonks didn't provide examples to support her theory, 
anyway). Yes, Ghosts are indeed stuck between the two realms as the 
souls that lost their bodies. But is there anything (I mean 
ANYTHING!) in the books to suppose that Dementors are spiritual 
being moving into the opposite direction? 

Besides, such a journey is kind of pointless: a bodiless soul would 
eventually "join the light" one hopes, but a soulless body? When it 
finally "becomes fully physically realized" as you put, it what? 
Rots away and disintegrates? A strange ambition for "the Angel of 
Death, the gatherer of souls".

And yes, you are right; there is no denying that Dementors have a 
medieval Grim Reaper look about them. But this kind of folk 
mythology has very little to do with dogmatic Christianity or indeed 
any other elaborate theological explorations. I don't think that we 
should boldly identify the Grim Reaper with "Sprits fallen from the 
Light" and even with the Angel of Death for that matter (especially 
since the latter gathers Jewish and Muslim souls as well as 
Christian). JKR writes about witches and wizards practicing their 
witchcraft and wizardry and she delights in playing with medieval 
demonology and folk mythology. Of course, she twists it for her 
purposes and invests it with new meanings, yet her representation of 
Dark Arts is based loosely on medieval concepts of magic and 
necromancy. This is especially true for Dementors: for they owe 
their appearance (and in slightly warped way, their purpose) to the 
medieval Grim Reaper and their Kiss to a Renaissance rendition of a 
medieval legend about the renowned necromant. 

a_svirn