Death and magic

[eloiseherisson at fritter_my_wig.yahoo.invalid]

Monika:

I think  "worse than death" means that there is nothing left but an
empty shell. In  Rowling's world people who die can leave an imprint of
themselves behind by  becoming a ghost, or else they "go on" like
Sirius did (at least Nearly  Headless Nick said so), so there is some
kind of soul involved that lives  on. Dementor's feed on the soul, I
always thought they "ate" it when they  sucked it out of a person, so
this really must be worse than death for a  wizard.





Yes, I've always made this assumption too. But we know very little about  
what the WW actually believes about life after death. 
 
My feeling is that if the soul is just consumed by the Dementor, ceases to  
be, enters oblivion, then it isn't as bad an end as if it had to face some kind 
 of post mortem retribution.
There are worse things than oblivion. Now if the WW believes that everyone  
automatically goes on to some kind of fulfilled existence after death, then  
oblivion isn't so good. But it could be a lot worse, depending on one's fate  
after death. In fact in the case of the truly demented, who have lost all sense  
of identity and pretty well live in an empty shell, the punishment is much  
greater for the relatives and those who care for them than it is for the 
victims  themselves (I'm talking here of extreme cases, where all individuality and  
awareness is lost, not those tragic individuals who live in a twilight  world 
 where they are aware of their condition).
 
What I find especially intriguing about the "worse than death" epithet is  
that
1) we have no evidence of a death penalty as such (Aurors being given  
emergency powers to kill is the nearest we hear about) and
2) the only prison is Azkaban, where incarceration for even a short time  
will lead almost inevitably to mental damage and a long term lead almost  
certainly to madness and death. 
 
Give me oblivion any day. If that is all the Dementor's kiss does, then it  
is much more merciful than a life sentence in Azkaban.
 
Perhaps there's a belief that enduring Azkaban is such punishment that  
crimes are atoned for before entering the "next great adventure", a bit like an  
earthly purgatory, or the cleansing fires to which heretics were consigned. I  
have to say, though, that I find the notion a bit far fetched as the wizarding  
justice mentality we've seen so far seems entirely retributive and we've seen 
 little evidence of any kind of wizarding belief system.
 
All of which leads me to wonder whether the soul does continue to exist at  
some level, but within the Dementor and in a permanent state of misery. Now  
*that* would be Hell.
 
~Eloise


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