[the_old_crowd] Re: Death and magic

[Eva Thienpont]

Jo wrote: 


<I've been thinking about death and its varieties in HP and come up with the following observations.

Individuals consist of a body, a soul and magical power. Death results from the loss of body either through accident or natural causes and the PS extends life by restoring the body.  Accidental disruption of the body as in splinching does not kill you, so in some respects, magical power protects against physical death. Death also results from the loss of the soul as in the dementor's kiss or in an AK which appears to eject the soul from the body. >

 

Sigune:

Question: does the Dementor's Kiss really kill? I understood it removed the soul but left the body alive, the result being 'worse than death'. I am ready to accept that my restricted command of the English language may be responsible for this, but for me something 'worse than death' means it is not the same as death. Or else it depends upon how you define 'death': is it purely physical, or rather spiritual?

Also, it seems to me that AK evicts the *life* from its victim's body, rather than the soul specifically.

But here, again, I may be taking a view with which you may not necessarily agree, namely that: when life goes from a body, the soul goes with it; but when the soul goes from a body, life does not necessarily go with it.

 

Jo continued:

< The soul usually moves on at the point of death and we can presume that the magical power is dispersed at that time as ghosts have no magical ability. Voldy is unique because when his soul was ejected from his body he retained some power, enough to possess other beings and therefore survived without becoming a ghost. >

Sigune:

Or, alternatively, just like magical power, life force is dispersed at the moment of death. But because of Voldy's many pursuits into magic that aims at immortality, his life force was not dispersed by the AK rebound - he just lost his body and became a kind of vapour - his life and soul, but with no physical shape worth speaking of. As magical power seems to be closely linked to the body, he did not have much of it left.

 

Jo:

< If magical power holds the key to surviving death then Voldy must have been exceptionally powerful, uniquely powerful, unnaturally powerful. Where did he get that power from? If magical power is dispersed at the time of death it would be a neat trick to be around to appropriate surplus generated when someone dies.  Neater still to generate death at your own convenience, say around supper time. >

Sigune:

Reminds me of Highlander :)...

I think the fact that Voldy can/could cheat death has to do with two separate things: his own pretty formidable magical ability (comparable to Dumbledore's) on the one hand, and his specific research into the subject of immortality on the other. There are spells, objects etc that deal explicitly with making/keeping life, like the PS - magic dealing with life and death seems to pose a particular challenge to the gifted witch or wizard - even Dumbledore, who professes death to be only 'the next great adventure', has interestingly been hanging around Nicholas Flamel. Whereas Dumbledore has apparently moved on to other fascinations such as magical oven cleaner, Voldy's fascination with it continues and he applies his power to it.

Sigune


		
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