To the Extreme

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 164885

Ken writes:
> I think you are quite wrong to criticize your fellow readers/plot
> theorists on this one. The three magical techniques you mention are
> supremely powerful. All three of them have been used to do mischief
> right under Dumbledore's nose. Readers are not wrong to suspect that
> they could be used again. The onus is on the author to explain why 
on Earth they would be left unused, in fact. It would be rather like
> modern people not using electricity, computers, or automobiles. Oh
> yeah, we've got them but, I dunno', just too much bother I suppose.
> The other obvious possibility is that readers are right when they
> suspect these techniques would appear prominently in the last book.
> The author has nothing to explain if they are being used. If some 
very powerful element is introduced and then never used again or is 
used infrequently it becomes a serious flaw unless an explanation is 
given. So far I have not heard an explanation that precludes the use 
of these three again. It may offend you and others to have polyjuice 
used in every instance where it would be effective but it offends 
many of the rest of us when a obviously applicable device is not used 
in every situation where it would advance some character's plan. Will 
this play end with dozens of loaded but unfired Chekhov guns 
littering the stage??


va32h here:

Well on one level, I would argue that Polyjuice Potion has now been 
used three times, Animagi have been used twice, and the Imperius 
Curse has been used twice so those guns are hardly being left 
unfired. 

My objection is not to the speculation that either of those elements 
is ever used again, but at the methodology. 

Rather that looking at the text and seeing where it leads, "to the 
extreme" theorists seem to want to start with their fantastical 
premise and work backward. 

If a character is seeming to behave OOC, then perhaps Polyjuice 
Potion is possible reason, providing there is another character with 
motive to want to impersonate the first, and with sufficient access 
to Polyjuice Potion. In GoF, we didn't know who Barty Jr. was, but we 
were given clues that someone in the castle was brewing Polyjuice 
Potion, and we were given a clue that something unusual happened to 
Moody shortly before his arrival at Hogwarts. 

In the case of Rita Skeeter, we had clues that she was obtaining 
information in unusual circumstances, and the open window, the bug in 
Hermione's hair, Draco talking to his hand...etc. 

Those are examples of going where the text leads. 

Arbitrarily choosing two characters and saying "X is really Y using 
Polyjuice Potion" is just making things up. Even if one goes back to 
the text and unearths some "evidence" that if interpreted in just the 
right light, gives a slight credence to the theory. 

In the example given in the original post for this thread - Merope 
gives her powers to Lily Evans. What in the text would suggest such a 
thing? Nothing. Lily Evans is not even of Merope's generation, so it 
is logistically impossible. 

It's inventing a wild premise, for the sake of inventing a wild 
premise.

va32h