When Alastor Moody had lost his eye, he had commandeered the services of a most erudite Ravenclaw, Samuel H. Lyall, whom Moody mistrusted slightly less than average because Moody had refrained from reporting him as an unregistered werewolf; and he had paid Lyall to compile a list of every known magical eye, and every known hint to their location. When Moody had gotten the list back, he hadn’t bothered reading most of it; because at the top of the list was the Eye of Vance, dating back to an era before Hogwarts, and currently in the possession of a powerful Dark Wizard ruling over some tiny forgotten hellhole that wasn’t in Britain or anywhere else he’d have to worry about silly rules. That was how Alastor Moody had lost his left foot and acquired the Eye of Vance, and how the oppressed souls of Urulat had been liberated for a period of around two weeks before another Dark Wizard moved in on the power vacuum.
So, it cost the very experienced Moody a great deal, and that was him going all out (‘silly rules’). I don’t think we can rule out that the “powerful Dark Wizard” wasn’t effectively employing the omniscience of the Eye.
Shooting someone with Avada Kedavra through a wall isn’t going to result in the loss of any body parts though, and can be employed before face to face engagement is even an option, unless Moody had some way of teleporting straight into the wizard’s stronghold, which would imply some pretty lousy security.
If the Eye of Vance lets you AK people through buildings, I wouldn’t think the added security of having it would be worth enough to Moody to overcome the risk of trying to acquire it, which would probably be phenomenal unless whoever had it before was an idiot.
It’s much harder though, to dodge a bolt that comes straight out of a wall without any warning because you can’t see the person who fired it, who if they have much sense has deliberately moved around so that they’re not only attacking from a point where you can’t see them or fire back, but from an angle where you won’t see the beam either.
All the best ways I can think of to take the magical eye from someone who can do that, and lives in a place without “silly rules” against actually doing it, wouldn’t place me in a position to lose limbs in the encounter. If he’s not as Constantly Vigilant as Moody, he might be poisoned, but assuming it wouldn’t destroy the eye or render it unretrievable, I’d sooner call in an airstrike. Although it’s chronologically too early for transfigured predator drones, which would be my top choice.
Since every time a new magical element like this is posited, the obvious thing to do is ask how someone like Quirrell could abuse it, I’ll note that Canon Voldemort was capable of instantly creating a better-than-new magical prosthetic for Peter Pettigrew after the latter sacrificed his hand for a ritual.
Limb farming his own Death Eaters is thinking too small, particularly since the prosthetics might be identifiable. I’d go with “Imperius innocent civilians into casting the ritual for you and then memory charm them so they don’t notice their limbs have been replaced.” Although maybe you don’t need to replace their arms, since even when they do find out, what are they going to do about it, really?
I know that this is quite old, but it bears mentioning that consent is often a huge issue with magic, for more or less precisely this reason. We also know that it is important in the Potterverse as well, since Pettigrew’s line was:
Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will revive your master.
Not to mention:
Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe.
This shows that consent is important on both ends. Imperius could easily not count as actually giving consent.
For context, the original backstory:
So, it cost the very experienced Moody a great deal, and that was him going all out (‘silly rules’). I don’t think we can rule out that the “powerful Dark Wizard” wasn’t effectively employing the omniscience of the Eye.
Shooting someone with Avada Kedavra through a wall isn’t going to result in the loss of any body parts though, and can be employed before face to face engagement is even an option, unless Moody had some way of teleporting straight into the wizard’s stronghold, which would imply some pretty lousy security.
If the Eye of Vance lets you AK people through buildings, I wouldn’t think the added security of having it would be worth enough to Moody to overcome the risk of trying to acquire it, which would probably be phenomenal unless whoever had it before was an idiot.
It could be used to force other actions, per Quirrel’s excuse to Harry, and the forced choices lead to limb loss.
It’s much harder though, to dodge a bolt that comes straight out of a wall without any warning because you can’t see the person who fired it, who if they have much sense has deliberately moved around so that they’re not only attacking from a point where you can’t see them or fire back, but from an angle where you won’t see the beam either.
All the best ways I can think of to take the magical eye from someone who can do that, and lives in a place without “silly rules” against actually doing it, wouldn’t place me in a position to lose limbs in the encounter. If he’s not as Constantly Vigilant as Moody, he might be poisoned, but assuming it wouldn’t destroy the eye or render it unretrievable, I’d sooner call in an airstrike. Although it’s chronologically too early for transfigured predator drones, which would be my top choice.
Maybe a dark ritual involving sacrificing a limb to blind someone or something?
Maybe, but I doubt it.
Since every time a new magical element like this is posited, the obvious thing to do is ask how someone like Quirrell could abuse it, I’ll note that Canon Voldemort was capable of instantly creating a better-than-new magical prosthetic for Peter Pettigrew after the latter sacrificed his hand for a ritual.
Limb farming his own Death Eaters is thinking too small, particularly since the prosthetics might be identifiable. I’d go with “Imperius innocent civilians into casting the ritual for you and then memory charm them so they don’t notice their limbs have been replaced.” Although maybe you don’t need to replace their arms, since even when they do find out, what are they going to do about it, really?
I know that this is quite old, but it bears mentioning that consent is often a huge issue with magic, for more or less precisely this reason. We also know that it is important in the Potterverse as well, since Pettigrew’s line was:
Not to mention:
This shows that consent is important on both ends. Imperius could easily not count as actually giving consent.