Intention in Magic (was Re: Motivations for Joining DEs)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 141153

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...> 
wrote:
<SNIP>
> 
> This is a good analogy. Well, Harry has smoked several 
cigarettes 
> now, or at least tried to, throwing his nonverbal spells at Snapey. 
> Thank goodness Snape cares enough about Harry's soul enough to try to 
> stop him! ;) Cause I agree dark magic is what tarnishes a soul, and 
> why Dumbeldore goes on about Harry's soul--Harry's never been tempted 
> to follow that path. Yet. He needs to shape up though, and shake that 
> desire to hurt or kill Snape. Intention counts in magic, after all.
> 



Does it?  Does intention count in magic?  If it does, HOW does it 
matter?  I think that is a very important question to which we have no 
really clear answer.

First of all, I'm not sure if Tempted!Harry is the direction JKR is 
going.  It sounds a LOT like Star Wars cross-contamination.  I'm not at 
all sure that JKR views the Dark Arts in the same way Lucas portrayed 
the Dark Side.  Perhaps she does, it would give support to the Addicted!
Snape hypothesis, but that of course raises all sorts of questions 
about why Dumbledore would imperil an addicted Snape by giving him the 
DADA job.

Is Harry in serious moral danger?  I don't know.  If he were a Jedi, he 
would be.  But he's not a Jedi, and this isn't long, long ago in a 
galaxy far, far away, and I'm not at all sure that what we have seen in 
him and his attitudes/actions constitutes being in mortal peril of 
Darkness in JKR's world.

Let us look to the figure who, by common consensus, is viewed as the 
loadstone of Light Magic in the Potterverse, Dumbledore.  DD shows no 
sign of thinking that Harry is on the road to darkness.  Far from it, 
he is serenely confident that Harry is not in danger of such a fall.  
We don't know if he is aware of Harry's attempted crucio at the MoM.  
If he is, however, he seems not to be at all troubled by it.  Nor does 
he say anything to Harry regarding the Sectumsempra episode.  One would 
think that if he felt Harry was in any danger this would alarm him, but 
his attitude to Harry does not change at all, and he appears content to 
let the episode die out without so much as a mention.  And far from 
appearing alarmed at Harry's hatred of Snape before the final 
revelation about Snape and Harry's parents, he seems to be at most 
sadly resigned to it.  Now, he DOES appear alarmed by the final 
revelation, but we have no idea why, and I don't think there is warrant 
to say he's worried that this will push Harry over the edge into some 
abyss.  There are other more mundane, but still critical, problems that 
could arise from the revelation -- such as shattering the grudging 
trust in Snape by the other members of the Order should it get out.

This of course leads very quickly to the whole question of the 
Unforgiveables.  Who makes them Unforgiveable?  Is it because of the 
extreme intention to harm?  Is it because they require hatred to cast?  
Or is it just because they tend to cause deep and lasting harm to 
another person, whether one defines this as violation of subjectivity a 
la nrenka or some other way?

I don't think they can require hatred.  I'd be hard-pressed to argue 
that Wormtail hated Cedric Diggory, for instance, or that Bellatrix 
hated the rabbit she AK'd (if it was, indeed, an AK she used).  But 
they might very well require intent.  I think it is quite clear that 
Wormtail intended to kill Diggory and Bellatrix intended to kill the 
rabbit.

If intent is indeed the essence of unforgiveability, I suppose Harry 
might have something to worry about -- although DD's curious serenity 
on the question makes me doubt it.  Besides, if intent is the essence, 
then Snape is in even worse trouble than Harry, as his intent to kill 
DD succeeded (and I don't buy for one minute any kind of contrived 
scenario about an AK that wasn't really an AK.)  But if intent is the 
road to darkness, then why is an AK any worse than petrifying someone 
and dropping them out a window?

For that matter, if intent is the road to darkness, then how is Harry 
supposed to deal with Voldy and the DEs?  As far as I can determine, he 
intends to kill the man, and DD, loadstone of Light Magic, seems 
perfectly happy with that.

So, in sum, I have my doubts as to whether Tempted!Harry is really a 
theme JKR is interested in exploring, at least in the way many people 
seem to expect.  Maybe she is, but if so then we really need to know a 
lot more about the Dark Arts, specifically what makes them dark and 
what they do to those that practice them.


Lupinlore