CHAPDISC: HBP4, Horace Slughorn

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 143353

Marianne wrote:

> As Betsy said, it [the Dark Mark] doesn't seem like it's such a big
deal - just a green glittering thing in the sky. Sort of like a
permanent firework. I'd suspect, with no canon to support me, that the
spell or charm for this might be connected with having the Dark Mark
on one's arm, if for no other reason than that this would be another
symbolic trapping for use by the DEs. Not because it's difficult,  but
because it's another weapon in their arsenal to set themselves apart
from others and to because it is something that everyone who sees it
will associate with them.  I see it as somewhat analogous to people
who scrawl swaztikas on synagogues.
> 
> Plus, even if it's a simple charm, who'd want to use it, even as a
joke? Maybe Fred and George can come up with some anti-Dark Mark where
all of a sudden the skull sprouts flowers in its eyes and the snake
turns into a butterfly...
>

Carol responds:
We're told in OoP that only Death Eaters know how to cast it, so it
may involve something more than simply knowing the words to the spell,
just as using your Patronus to send a message seems to involve
something more than knowing the formula "Expecto Patronum." In any
case, I think it's significant that the spell required to cast the
Dark Mark is "Morsmordre," a pseudo-Latin phrase meaning "to bite
death." The connection between this phrase and the name "Death Eater"
is very clear; casting the Dark Mark in essence identifies you as a
Death Eater.

Also, it's not just a glittering green firework; it's a skull with a
serpent tongue protruding from it, Voldemort's mark, identical to the
mark on the Death Eaters' arms except for its color. The skull
signifies death and the snke tongued suggests the connection of
Voldemort to Salazar Slytherin as a Parselmouth. (It reminds me of the
Basilisk coming out of the mouth of the statue of Salazar Slytherin in
CoS.) The color is no doubt the same venomous green as the blast of
light from the Avada Kedavra curse, Nagini, and the potion (poisoned
memory?) in the cave. 

I think the Dark Mark is meant to be evil in itself or at least to
signify evil. I can't imagine a good person wanting to cast it for any
reason, especially since it suggests that someone has been murdered by
the Death Eaters. Sending it up would bring the Aurors, just as a
false alarm in the RW brings the police or the fire department, and in
times like those the WW is experiencing, it would be a very good way
to get yourself arrested. Just knowing the curse and being willing to
cast it would be regarded as evidence that you're a Death Eater. (Stan
Shunpike was imprisoned for less.)

I don't think that the analogy of scrawling a swastika in a synagogue
is quite accurate because the whole purpose of the Dark Mark is to
convey terror. (Barty Jr. used it to show his loyalty, to send the
message to the other Death Eaters that a loyal Death Eater was out
there, but the usual message is to show that a murder has been
committed.) To me it seems more like the mark of a terrorist
organization to show that the terrorists, as a group, are responsible
for a particular death. It erases the individual identity of the
perpetrator, making him the anonymous agent of the organization or its
leader. To cast it is, IMO, to mark yourself as the willing servant
and agent of Lord Voldemort. It's quite possible, as you suggest, that
only those who have the Dark Mark burned into their arms can cast it.
And, as you say, it's "another weapon in their arsenal," not, IMO, a
spell that any witch or wizard on the side of good would cast for any
reason even if he or she knew how to do it.

For that reason, I'm very uncomfortable with Slughorn's casual
attitude toward the Dark Mark as simply a detail that he missed.

I wouldn't put it past Fred and George to cast a parody of the Dark
Mark, maybe pink and fuzzy like Umbridge's cardigan with a normal
tongue doing a Peeves-style raspberry, but they would have to alter
the spell to do so. I can't imagine them casting or wanting to cast
the real thing, especially since their uncles were murdered by Death
Eaters when they were small, and they should understand the
significance of the mark even if they don't remember the event itself.

Carol