To the Extreme - Making it Work

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 164924

Steve:
> So, to make the original theory work, perhaps the
> essense of Merope's magical spirit was wandering
> looking for a kindred spirit, or perhaps that
> essense was looking for redemption, a chance to undo
> the misery her family caused and the misery she felt.
> So, Merope magical spirit was reincarnated in Lily 
> having found in her the essense that Merope felt 
> would redeem her magically and spiritually.
> 
> So, unlikely as it is, here is a way for Merope's
> magic to have been transferred to Lily. It is a
> long stretch, filled with speculation, but there is
> really nothing so far that allows us to flat out
> say it is wrong. 

Magpie:
Yes, but that's exactly what I said about how it becomes about other 
people having to prove that this *didn't* happen rather than any 
real proof from canon that the author has or is writing it. We can't 
say anything's wrong if by "wrong" we mean proving it didn't happen, 
since we can just speculate around any problems.

The issues isn't that this is a horrible thing to do or anything, 
but the question of what we mean to say that we're making the 
theory "work." I mean, this to me is making a fanfic work. It 
doesn't tell me anything about canon or seem to really be connected 
to canon. You've taken an idea made up by a reader, and saying you 
can make it work by using an idea made up by another reader, neither 
of which wrote anything in the books. This particularly theory of 
magic as an entity looking for people to inhabit is an interesting 
fantasy idea, but there's no basis for it in HP. So the theory's no 
closer to "working" in canon than it was if by "working" we mean 
giving us reason to think this is what's happening, what the author 
is writing, or something that will explain things in canon. It just 
explains itself and draws a connection between Rowling's story and 
this one. 

-m