Understanding Goat's Law [BLOATED] + realities; locked room, etc

[Neil Ward]

Pippin proposed:

<< What you find  inside the locked room is what you bring with you. 
And that faith is the key. It's been said (can't remember by who) 
that the theme of modern fantasy is, "Believe in yourself, then 
believe in something larger than yourself." >>

I've just read a scene towards the end of OoP, where Harry fires a 
Crucio curse at Bellatrix and it merely upends her.  She tells him 
that with Unforgivable Curses, "you need to mean them, Potter! You 
need to really want to cause pain
"

So, Harry's curse fails because it doesn't have his full conviction 
behind it; he blames himself partly for the death of Sirius and is 
thus unable to channel unreserved hate at Bellatrix (if he were 
capable of that at all).  So, rather than unconditional love in the 
locked room, it's more unreserved faith or conviction in something 
that gives it power, whether it be something good or bad?  If that's 
what you mean, yes, that makes sense.

Pippin moved on to realities in fantasy worlds, citing Tolkien:

<< Voldemort is depicted as part of primary reality, and we're told 
his actions are going to have effect in the Muggle world, so I 
suspect the key to defeating him will be depicted as part of primary 
reality also. Does that make sense? >>

You could say I am Grawp to Pippin's Hermy when it comes to 
Tolkien – I don't have the advantage of a deep knowledge of his 
work.  However, I think I get the idea of primary and secondary 
realities.  The problem I have is in the blurring between actual 
reality and primary and secondary fantasy realities.  

The Muggle world is not the real world; it's an alternative reality 
within, or alongside, which sits a secondary reality.   When 
applying `real world' rules to the realities of JKR's universe, we 
cannot know to what extent the usual rules apply in contrast to her 
invented rules in any part of her universe.  There may be some 
fundamental truths to which JKR must adhere to avoid appearing 
before the Mythopoeic Wizengamot, but where is the line drawn?   

Mike posted further on the differential between primary and 
secondary reality. In his first point, he says: 

<< By "primary world" Tolkien means the world *we* live in, or 
perhaps more acurately our world, as the author perceives
it
 By "secondary world" Tolkien means the world created by the 
mythopoeic author. >>

Okay, as I see it, JKR's primary world would still be fictional, not 
strictly the real world, so hasn't she created one world with Muggle 
and wizarding parts that each draw upon the real world, the former 
more so than the latter?   

Mike's point 3 included: 

<< In many (though not all!) fantasy stories there is *also* a 
distinction between what I would call the "outer world" and 
the "inner world." >>

Okay, I'm with you on this one, although I guess the logic could 
apply equally to the idea of the worlds being parallel, interlaced 
or coincident in parts, rather than one being strictly within the 
other.  

Mike added:

<< The outer world in fantasy fiction is an incomplete world, with 
the potential of completion through the discovery of the inner, 
magical world. >>

I'm not sure I understood the caprine logic on this one. Are you 
saying it's one world, with the inner part being hidden from the 
outer with the potential to be discovered, but not vice versa?  In 
other words, by an "inner" world perhaps you mean the "hidden" part 
from the perspective of the main viewpoint, as this would cover a 
scenario involving multiple variant universes, as with His Dark 
Materials and much of Diana Wynne Jones' work. 

Mike's fourth point was more intriguing:  

<< it's between a "lower supernatural" (say, falling out of a window 
and bouncing) and a "true supernatural" (things like love, 
vulnerability, forgiveness – or whatever *you* find inside the 
locked room). And whereas the lower supernatural things are limited 
to [JKR's]  secondary, inner world (i.e. the wizarding world), the 
higher supernatural things can be found (and lost) in all worlds. >>

I understand what you're saying, but I wouldn't class love, 
vulnerability and forgiveness as supernatural things.  They are 
natural and subjective experiences (so perhaps intranatural would be 
the correct term?), but certainly powerful.  What is supernatural is 
the fact that Harry and Voldemort are conjoined in this inner world 
of experiences.      

<< Put otherwise: [JKR] holds the "higher" supernatural things
to be as much present in our own "unmagical" reality as in the 
magical reality of Hogwarts>>

If you're meaning the real real world, rather than the Muggle real 
world, I think the difference is that these "higher" supernatural 
things appear to create or enhance forces in the Potterverse, rather 
than being experienced only by the inner self.

I'm probably more confused now then when I started writing this, but 
that's the nature of things (or is it the supernature?)

Neil, soon disapparating for a few days