The nature of Patronuses (Patroni?)

richter_kuymal richter at ridgenet.net
Tue May 9 01:57:14 UTC 2006


No: HPFGUIDX 152016

Julie:  What we've learned about Patronuses so far:
> 1. A first Patronus is (or can be) a spontaneous formation,  
representative  of some part of the wizard's character or nature. 
<section reluctantly snipped> 
2. A wizard's Patronus can change/can be changed. 
<more snippage of an excellent post>
 3. While a Patronus can chase away Dementors, there are also 
> other methods of repelling Dementors. Harry's method of choice is
> a Patronus, but apparently this is not Snape's method, if we go by
> Harry's comments in HBP. 
><snip snip> 
What we don't know about Patronuses:
> 1. As mentioned above, can a wizard consciously change a 
> Patronus, or  does the Patronus spontaneously change in response
> to an alteration in the wizard's nature?
>  
> 2. More importantly, can a wizard create a Patronus that does 
*not* reflect his nature or character? 
<snip snip>  
> 3. Stretching it a little further, can a wizard give or will a  
Patronus  to someone else? I do realize that more than one wizard 
could have a certain type Patronus, i.e., several wizards could have 
a  hawk, or a wolf, or an otter as a Patronus. (<snip>Say, if the 
phoenix Patronus bears the exact
> features of Fawkes, rather than of some generalized phoenix?
>> 4. Since Tonks changed her Patronus, how did Snape know it was
> hers? Did she identify herself within the message? Can a wizard
> choose not to identify him/herself if that is preferred?
>  
> 5. I've been thinking along the lines of someone else having a 
> changed Patronus in Book 7 (okay, yes, Snape!), but I also have
> been wondering why Tonks' changed Patronus wasn't identified.
> I mean, we all (or most of us) are assuming it was a wolf, that
> it represented Lupin and Tonks' feelings for him. But Snape never
> exactly identifies the Patronus.Why didn't JKR just have Snape
> sneer that it was a wolf? Or a dog (if it represented Sirius)? Was
> it just such a throwaway moment, or a moment specifically there
> to foreshadow a changed Patronus in Book 7, that she felt it
> unnecessary to waste words identifying the exact Patronus? Or
> was she just trying to keep the mystery of Tonks' wan, changed
> appearance and attitude from being revealed? (I ask this being
> one who wondered if Tonks was Imperioed or something because
> she was acting so strange.) Or could it be the identity of Tonks'
> new Patronus will be important in Book 7 thus couldn't be revealed
> to Harry, or us?
>  
> 5. Finally, will the mentioned difference in Harry's and Snape's
> approaches to repelling Dementors have significance in Book 7?
> If so, how? (I've been speculating that Harry might save Snape  
from
> the Dementors with his Patronus--it makes some poetic sense for 
> Harry to save Snape's soul--though how Snape's unknown method
> might play into such a scene I don't know.)
>  
PAR: it was hard to snip julie's post, but I didn't want this to be 
too long.  From POA (American paperback, page 237) we have Lupin's 
description: "A kind of anti-dementor -- a guardian that acts as a 
shield between you and the dementor.'..."The patronus is a kind of 
positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor 
feeds upon -- hope, happiness, the desire to survive ...each one is 
unique to the wizard who conjures it".  

Based on that, I would postulate that no, it can't be willed or 
passed on.  Each one is unique to an individual's hopes, desires, 
and joys.  Tonks' patronus changes because as she matures (or falls 
into love) her hopes and desires change.  It may well be that 
Harry's initial patronus is a stag because as a child he saw that of 
his father and associated it (however subconciously) with safety, 
happiness, love.  It would be interesting to know what Lily's 
patronus was.  The stag is also a recurrant symbol of strength, and 
has been used for both a christian symbol and a pagan one (the stag 
god Herne, for one).  

As for the reason JKR doesn't have Snape identify Tonks' patronus -- 
first, wolves and dogs can look a lot alike (most "wolf type" dogs 
such as German Shepherds/Alsatians, Siberian Huskies and the like 
are regularly mistaken as wolves and Harry isn't a dog expert.  JKR 
however, does have dogs and the crups are based on hers). 
Identifying Tonks' patronus at this point would be tipping her hand 
as to which person Tonks loves -- Sirius or Lupin.  Snape probably 
DOES know, but why bother telling Harry? He's talking (or sniping, 
actually) at Tonks.  And keep in mind, Tonk's patronus is NOT a 
werewolf.  It is either a true wolf or a dog (dogs being the 
domestic edition of a wolf and thus often symbolizing positive 
aspects where wolves don't).  If it had looked like padfoot or a 
werewolf, Harry would have recognized it.

I don't think Snape would be able to do a DD-patronus.  He might or 
might not have a phoenix as his patronus, but if he did, if Lupin is 
correct, it would NOT be identical to DD's.  I rather doubt it is a 
phoenix -- Snape's nature  -- that combination of hope, happiness, 
desire to survive, etc, that goes into a patronus is highly unlikely 
to be similar to DD's. I see Snape's patronus being a raven --for 
one thing, severus snape makes an anagram of RAVEN ESP USES, and a 
raven rather nicely fits his image, including the mythological 
context of a raven.  JKR did the usual careful selection of a name 
for Snape -- I found this in an etymology dictionary: snape (v.)  
"to be hard upon, rebuke, snub," c.1300, from O.N. sneypa "to 
outrage, dishonor, disgrace." 

PAR








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