I HAD A DREAM OR HOW I REALIZED THAT I MAY HAVE BEEN WRONG./ PART 2 sort of

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 167109

> Magpie: 
> > One reason, btw, that I think this is that it doesn't seem like 
> > JKR's style to go that way, with the emphasis being on the magic 
> > rather than what the magic is symbolizing. 
> > 
> >
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Eh? I lost you in this paragraph. You do not think that it is  JKR 
> style to go what way? That AK is horrible or that is not?
> 
> Because it seems to me that AK symbolising intent to kill is very 
> much in tact with the theme of what magic is symbolising.


Magpie:
The distinction I'm making is that I think for JKR it's always the 
thing that she's symbolizing that has the real power--she doesn't 
transfer that power to the spell.

That makes even less sense.

Like, with the AK, I think what's terrible about it is that it is 
the intent to kill, distilled into two words. What I think is bad 
about it is that the person killed someone. That, imo, is what 
causes the soul to tear.

What I think isn't JKR's style is to focus on the mechanics of 
magic, so that, for instance, the AK is bad because using that 
particular spell causes some sort of magical reaction akin to if you 
killed someone using a nuclear device and you got radiation 
poisoning yourself. Because I don't think the mechanics of magic 
really interest JKR--they seem more like they're interesting because 
of the situation they represent.  That's why I don't often think 
it's profitable to focus on the mechanics of how spells are supposed 
to work to figure out what's going on, be they Life Debts or 
Unbreakable Vows or TriWizard Tournament Contracts. I think they 
seem to usually be best understood in the most general sense: it's 
like you feel really indebted to the person, you've promised to do 
something and if you don't you die, you have to compete in the 
Tournament even though you don't want to.

-m