Curses! Foiled again.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 160791

Potioncat wrote:
>
> I found this via the Leaky Cauldron and HPANA. JKR has updated her 
> site. Get a load of the Wizard of the Month!
> 
> http://www.hpana.com/
> 
> Why is it that the more JKR tells us, the less we know?

Carol responds:
As in "part vampire"? So vampirism is inheritable--and witches or
wizards can marry vampires? (Will remus Lupin's children be "part
werewolf"?) Or did you mean something else?
> 
Potioncat:
> I've copied a portion of her comments on spells from this site:
> 
> http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=24
> 
> >>>>>>Hexes:
> Has a connotation of dark magic, as do jinxes, but of a minor sort.
I see 'hex' as slightly worse. I usually use 'jinx' for spells whose 
> effects are irritating but amusing.
> 
> Curses:
> Reserved for the worst kinds of dark magic.<<<<<<<<<
> 
> "Connotation of dark magic? Connotation???"  Is there is such a
thing as being a little dark? So, now we get to start the discussion,
"What is Dark Magic?" all over again.

Carol responds:
You snipped her definition of Charms (spells that alter the properties
but not the essence or nature of a thing), which is essentially what I
had already inferred in my attempts to distinguish Charms from
Transfiguration (for example,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/158267 ). As for
hexes, curses, and jinxes, I speculated in post 156664 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/156664

and elsewhere that hexes and jinxes were minor curses and noted that
the dictionary definition of "hex" is barely distinguishable from that
of "curse" in the sense of a spell cast on someone or something,
whereas "jinx" implies bad luck. However, it seemed to me then that
JKR (except in OoP, where most of the minor curses are called "jinxes"
and "hex" is rarely used) generally uses "jinx" for a minor curse cast
on an object or amorphous thing, such as the DADA position, and "hex"
for a minor curse cast on a person (e.g.,. Bat-Bogey Hex."

I can *almost* accept her definition/distinction. For example, the
Jelly-Legs Jinx comes as close to being "irritating but amusing" as
any spell in the books, but I'm not sure that the Trip Jinx is
amusing, and the so-called jinx on the DADA position most definitely
is not. (Certainly, the person in that position has bad luck, but
sometimes it's *very* bad luck, indeed. Any spell that brings about
the fate of Quirrell or of Fake!Moody (or even the real Moody) or
causes Snape to kill Dumbledore goes beyond bad luck and is most
certainly not amusing. Moreover, it's the position, not the teacher
that is jinxed--or rather, cursed--though the teacher is its victim
and apparently falls victim to his own tendencies or flaws, whether
those are paranoia (Moody), prejudice against nonhuman (Umbridge), or
werewolfism (erm, guess who).

JKR's explanation implies that there are degrees or shades of Dark
magic (calling to mind bb_boy's distinction between "dark" and
"Dark"). All the hexes and jinxes that our boys (and occasionally,
girls) throw at each other on the Hogwarts Express and in the hallways
are slightly Dark. (I never liked them. Maybe that's why. ;-) )
Uncivilized and rather dangerous, like Quidditch and the Twins'
Wizarding Wheezes (or COMC class when Hagrid is teaching). Seriously,
is Petrificus Totalus a hex or a jinx? It's a rather effective
defensive spell and not very amusing, even (or especially) when
first-year Hermione uses it on first-year Neville. (Note that Ron
calls her "a bit scary" at that point, unless I'm confusing the movie
with the book.) If it's the same as the Body-Binding Curse, is
first-year Hermione practicing Dark Magic (and sixth-year Harry
defending himself from DEs using Dark Magic? Surely not, or what can a
good DADA teacher like Snape teach except to show kids how to defend
themselves with Dark Magic against still Darker spells?

The Lexicon lists the following hexes: Bat-Bogey Hex, canary
transfiguration hex, Hurling Hex, knee-reversing hex, Stinging Hex,  
  Twitchy Ears Hex, and toenail-growing hex, some of which I don't
recall encountering in canon and most of which sound no more dangerous
than the so-called jinxes (some of which I don't recall from canon,
either): Anti-Disapparation Jinx, Backfiring Jinx, finger-removing
jinx, Impediment Jinx, Jelly-Brain Jinx, Jelly-Legs Jinx, snitch jinx,
    Stretching jinx, and Trip Jinx. The finger-removing jinx sounds a
bit more than irritating, and amusing only if you're Bellatrix
Lestrange. The distinction between jinxes and hexes is unclear from
these examples. Is Hermione's Snitch Jinx really less Dark than
twitchy ears or long toenails, both of which appear to be temporary
(or easily reversed by Madam Pomfrey)? IMO, the only logical reason to
call it a jinx rather than a hex is that Hermione jinxed the parchment
rather than the person, but that doesn't appear to be JKR's line of
thinking.

As for spells labeled as curses, is the Conjunctivitis Curse (which
Viktor Krum used on his dragon and Sirius Black intended to advise
Harry to use on his) really that much Darker than the Bat-Bogey Hex or
the Confundus Charm (not to mention our much-hated Memory Charm)? What
about the Babbling Curse, the Impediment Curse (Impedimenta?), the
Leg-Locker Curse, and the Jelly-Fingers Curse (listed in the Lexicon)?
Those seem to fit JKR's definition of *jinxes* (irritating but
amusing--to the spectator, anyway), yet they're labeled curses. Now
granted, the Entrail-Expelling Curse really does sound Dark (and
gruesome), and Sectumsempra can be deadly and is likely to be
classified as a curse, along with the unquestionably Dark
Unforgiveables. But the Sponge-Knees Curse (again from the Lexicon)?
How is that Darker than Jelly Legs?

It seems to me that most if not all of these spells, even the
Confundus Charm, are really curses, ranging from minor (and amusing,
if you're JKR) to fatal. I suppose that they're also Charms since they
change the properties rather than the essence of the victim, usually
temporarily (except for the AK and the innocent-sounding Memory
Charm). So does Hogwarts teach (or allow its students to teach each
other) minor Dark Magic? Just what are the Dark Arts that Durmstrang
teaches, then? (How to kill your friends and turn them into Inferi?)

If JKR's explanation were valid, the only actual curses listed in this
post would be the Unforgiveables, the Entrail-Expelling Curse,
Sectumsempra, and possibly the euphemistically titled Memory Charm.
The Conjunctivitis Curse (so-called because it alliterates, IMO) would
be a hex and the Twitchy Ears Hex a jinx.

Nope. She simply hasn't thought it out. Maybe the current definition
was a work in progress when she was writing OoP, which would explain
why the students start jinxing rather than hexing each other (most of
the time), but as I see it, she chose the names chiefly for their
sound, particularly in the case of those few that alliterate
(Conjuntivitis Curse, Hurling Hex, Jelly-Legs Jinx).

If the curse that's on the DADA position is a jinx by JKR's
definition, I'll eat slugs.

Carol, glad that kids can't really hex or jinx each other in school
corridors and glad that at least some Hogwarts teachers can maintain
discipline in the classroom