Chapter 67 was a lot of fun, but why was everyone just standing around long enough to have big speeches, watch individual duels, etc? Haven’t they read their TVTropes? ;)
edit: Also, I’m not sure how it was meant, but Daphne seemed more like she was under a literal spell than a figurative one, given that her crush reached sanity-compromising levels so quickly. Or was it supposed to be a long-running thing?
becoming more serious has made him less serious about battles, so he’s willing to slightly hurt their chances of winning in order to make the battle more awesome and fun
he’s especially willing to let Neville be awesome, since Neville’s development is one of his projects
Harry & Neville don’t really have to defeat the entire Sunshine army, they just need to stall them while the rest of Chaos defeats Dragon (this is conveyed through Draco’s thoughts), so pausing for a dramatic duel might actually help Chaos’s chances
Sunshine was probably glad to have a chance to defeat half of the army that they were facing while only putting one soldier at risk.
I would have assumed that the bulk of the Sunshines as whole would have at least kept trying stuff (and maybe hit one of them in the face with Somnium) rather than become passive so quickly.
The Knights of Chaos are covered from head to toe in the gray cloth, while the rest of the officers in Chaos are only wearing breastplates. It’s probable that their faces are not protected, but Sunshine lacks the visual clues that Dragon Army has to make that leap.
Besides, they’re wee ickle firsties. Their magical reserves are tiny, it could be that many of them aren’t attacking in hopes that someone will figure out the trick and then they wouldn’t be useless because they blew all of their magic. Or they’re currently scared sheep terrified of the invincible Knights of Chaos. Who knows?
I assumed it was because none of them knew how to hit Harry, and Potter just wanted to watch a lightsaber duel. If any individual Sunny had tried to hit him with a Somnium, they knew it would probably fail, and Harry would probably curse them.
Also, I’m not sure how it was meant, but Daphne seemed more like she was under a literal spell than a figurative one, given that her crush reached sanity-compromising levels so quickly.
Sanity-compromising? Because she cast a complicated spell during a play-fight?
Also, everyone seems to be shouting their incantations, which seems just dumb.
Harry could have also just Somniumed Daphne, after she has reflected his first Stunner and was currently cumbersomely battling Neville – it would cost him just the magical cost of a Sleep Hex itself.
Instead he risks Neville getting heavily fatigued or even stunned and chats on.
Also, everyone seems to be shouting their incantations, which seems just dumb.
Agreed, but they’re first years. Plus, I got the impression that the dueling incantations were shouted for effect, and that Stupefy was such a large spell for them that they couldn’t spare the concentration not to shout, that in fact they needed to shout in order to generate the required amount of magic (I forget what it’s called, but there’s a concept in some martial arts that making a sharp noise as you strike increases the strength of the blow. A similar concept could apply here).
Yes, he could have, and in some ways he should have. But would it have had the same effect as everyone saying that he defeated almost every Sunshine soldier by himself? Harry has already shown that he’ll do what he needs to to boost his legend.
I’m not sure of the details of the spell she and Neville were using (I don’t think it appears in cannon) but I had assumed that is protected both of them from everyone else for the duration, which would make sense if its purpose is to allow two aristocratic wizards to have their own private duel.
Once again Harry’s voice shrieked “Stupefy!”, and later on, when she was remembering this, she could never quite believe she’d managed to do it, but she slashed out with her blade of light like it was a Beater’s bat, and hit the stunbolt back at Harry who just barely managed to twist out of the way.
Seems more like just a further Star Wars reference to me.
Well, even if she was somehow protected, note that she was not passively protected (not like a shield spell) - she still had to move to deflect and:
They were both moving slowly, and Hermione guessed that the spell was taking a lot of strength out of them.
So she probably did not have the agility to deflect another shot—especially in the middle of a block or similarly.
Also: A reflected or friendly-fired Somnium could harm neither Harry nor Neville, so there was really little harm in trying—even if Harry came to your hypothesis, he still should have tried it – right after he made sure that she wouldn’t be cut in half subsequently.
As for the other Sunshine soldiers blocking it—I confess that I do not remember how exactly the first-year Contego shields work and what their limitations are (I do not think this has been elaborated upon), but Daphne seems to be out of the main Sunshine cluster here (if there still is one), wielding a sword, as is Neville (so other would tend to distance themselves—they already have, before). She should be quite hard to protect.
Of course, there might not be any Sunshine cluster anymore, if Sunshine rushed in-between the enemies, as they planned. But it rather seems to me that that plan failed before it was even initiated. (Their formation is not mentioned in the chapter.)
I confess that I do not remember how exactly the first-year Contego shields work and what their limitations are (I do not think this has been elaborated upon),
They were directional, not particularly large but large enough for one or two people to stand behind, could not be fired through, and had to be maintained with the wand.
The larger versions expand that up to a full sphere that can be fired through and only require concentration to maintain once cast.
It seemed that each hit would drain the shield caster’s magic, so your shield strength depended directly upon the strength of your magic.
Chapter 67 was a lot of fun, but why was everyone just standing around long enough to have big speeches, watch individual duels, etc? Haven’t they read their TVTropes? ;)
edit: Also, I’m not sure how it was meant, but Daphne seemed more like she was under a literal spell than a figurative one, given that her crush reached sanity-compromising levels so quickly. Or was it supposed to be a long-running thing?
From Harry’s POV,
becoming more serious has made him less serious about battles, so he’s willing to slightly hurt their chances of winning in order to make the battle more awesome and fun
he’s especially willing to let Neville be awesome, since Neville’s development is one of his projects
Harry & Neville don’t really have to defeat the entire Sunshine army, they just need to stall them while the rest of Chaos defeats Dragon (this is conveyed through Draco’s thoughts), so pausing for a dramatic duel might actually help Chaos’s chances
Sunshine was probably glad to have a chance to defeat half of the army that they were facing while only putting one soldier at risk.
I would have assumed that the bulk of the Sunshines as whole would have at least kept trying stuff (and maybe hit one of them in the face with Somnium) rather than become passive so quickly.
The Knights of Chaos are covered from head to toe in the gray cloth, while the rest of the officers in Chaos are only wearing breastplates. It’s probable that their faces are not protected, but Sunshine lacks the visual clues that Dragon Army has to make that leap.
Besides, they’re wee ickle firsties. Their magical reserves are tiny, it could be that many of them aren’t attacking in hopes that someone will figure out the trick and then they wouldn’t be useless because they blew all of their magic. Or they’re currently scared sheep terrified of the invincible Knights of Chaos. Who knows?
I assumed it was because none of them knew how to hit Harry, and Potter just wanted to watch a lightsaber duel. If any individual Sunny had tried to hit him with a Somnium, they knew it would probably fail, and Harry would probably curse them.
Sanity-compromising? Because she cast a complicated spell during a play-fight?
Also, everyone seems to be shouting their incantations, which seems just dumb.
Harry could have also just Somniumed Daphne, after she has reflected his first Stunner and was currently cumbersomely battling Neville – it would cost him just the magical cost of a Sleep Hex itself. Instead he risks Neville getting heavily fatigued or even stunned and chats on.
Agreed, but they’re first years. Plus, I got the impression that the dueling incantations were shouted for effect, and that Stupefy was such a large spell for them that they couldn’t spare the concentration not to shout, that in fact they needed to shout in order to generate the required amount of magic (I forget what it’s called, but there’s a concept in some martial arts that making a sharp noise as you strike increases the strength of the blow. A similar concept could apply here).
Yes, he could have, and in some ways he should have. But would it have had the same effect as everyone saying that he defeated almost every Sunshine soldier by himself? Harry has already shown that he’ll do what he needs to to boost his legend.
The term you are looking for is probably kiai.
I’m not sure of the details of the spell she and Neville were using (I don’t think it appears in cannon) but I had assumed that is protected both of them from everyone else for the duration, which would make sense if its purpose is to allow two aristocratic wizards to have their own private duel.
Seems more like just a further Star Wars reference to me.
Well, even if she was somehow protected, note that she was not passively protected (not like a shield spell) - she still had to move to deflect and:
So she probably did not have the agility to deflect another shot—especially in the middle of a block or similarly.
Also: A reflected or friendly-fired Somnium could harm neither Harry nor Neville, so there was really little harm in trying—even if Harry came to your hypothesis, he still should have tried it – right after he made sure that she wouldn’t be cut in half subsequently.
As for the other Sunshine soldiers blocking it—I confess that I do not remember how exactly the first-year Contego shields work and what their limitations are (I do not think this has been elaborated upon), but Daphne seems to be out of the main Sunshine cluster here (if there still is one), wielding a sword, as is Neville (so other would tend to distance themselves—they already have, before). She should be quite hard to protect. Of course, there might not be any Sunshine cluster anymore, if Sunshine rushed in-between the enemies, as they planned. But it rather seems to me that that plan failed before it was even initiated. (Their formation is not mentioned in the chapter.)
They were directional, not particularly large but large enough for one or two people to stand behind, could not be fired through, and had to be maintained with the wand.
The larger versions expand that up to a full sphere that can be fired through and only require concentration to maintain once cast.
It seemed that each hit would drain the shield caster’s magic, so your shield strength depended directly upon the strength of your magic.
I think if he’d tried to Somnium Daphne, the other sunnies would have blocked it.
And now we have it. Harry Somnium’d her, but waited until the others were distracted to do so.