Harry's Army

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 143768

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Rebecca Johnson
<nymphandoracallel at y...> wrote:
>
>> SSSusan:
> >> 3) Mirrors--set to return according to JKR. Was his 
> >> specifically the Sirius-James two-way mirrors, or something
> >>  more general than that?  I can't remember the interview 
> >> comments. How many of us expected the two-way ones to reappear
> >> in 6, though?  I know I did.  Maybe Harry will utilize them 
> >> while he's away on Horcrux hunts?  <<
> 
> alora:
> >I would love to see this.  Maybe, if Harry's true desire was
> >to find the horcruxes, the mirror of Erised could help also.
> >  ... <


> NymphandoraCallel:
>    
>   I had wondered the same thing about the Mirror of Erised, 
> but Dumbledore said that the mirror would provide you with 
> *neither knowledge or truth*.  ...edited...
>    
> NymphandoraCallel ~ who hopes that one day Harry can look in
> the mirror with Ginny at his side and see only their reflections
> ....
>

bboyminn:

Let's not get too literal here. Just because you can't absolutely
depend on the true of what is shown in the mirror doesn't mean that
everything it shows is a lie. In fact, everything it shows is TRUTH
within a certain context. It is true Harry desires his parents. It is
true the Quirrel imagines himself handing the Stone to his Master. It
is true that Ron desires to be better than all his brothers. However,
despite the /truth/ of these visions; seeing them doesn't make them
reality. 

In context, Dumbledore, in making his statement about 'knowledge and
truth', is pointing out to Harry that it is pointless to spend all his
time dwelling on dreams and visions of his parent to the point were he
forgets to live his own life. 

The Mirror CAN be depended on to show you the /truth/ of your desires,
but desires themselves are not necessarily reality. In the Quirrel
scene with the mirror Quirrel could not find the stone because he
sought personal gain from finding it. Harry on the other hand wanted
to find the Stone for completely selfless reasons, and because of
this, the Stone showed him the /truth/ of it's location. Now, this
exact 'selfless' mechanism is a enchantment that Dumbledore created to
play off of the general nature of the Mirror. So, the 'selfless' part
is not a natural part of the mirror, but the true of the Stone's
location is a natural part of the mirror and it is /truth/. 

My point is that it might be possible to learn the location of one or
more Horcruxes using the Mirror, while I say that, I also acknowledge
that much like the problems Quirrel had with the Mirror, wanting the
Horcruxes might not work out exactly as you had planned. 

In a sense, the Mirror of Erised is a /context/ driven object in the
same sense as the Room of Requirements. When Harry wanted to find out
what Draco was doing in the Room of Requirements, he could never frame
his desire in the proper context to allow the Room to allow Harry to
gain entrance. In the end, Harry was able to find the Room that Malfoy
was using because he discovered the correct context in which to frame
his desire. 

The same would be true for the Mirror, if you can't frame your desire
in the proper context, then the Mirror is never going to show you what
you need to know. In that sense, it can not be /depended on/ to show
absolute knowledge or absolute truth. But in a more general sense,
just because the Mirror can't be counted on to show absolute knowledge
or absolute true doesn't mean that everything it shows you is a lie.

Just trying to add some perspective.

Steve/bboyminn