A few not particularly relevant concerns.
Transfiguration is dangerous in MOR, But the type of danger McGonagall discusses is basically the same as any toxin. It’s literally only dangerous if you eat it or breath it. A bubble head charm and enough self control not to eat anything that looks tasty and transfiguration reversion is no danger. So why is Mcgonagall so surprised that Dumbledoor used transfiguration in battle, and is still alive?
That being said, I think transfiguration is second only to time-travel in magics that are dangerous in the hands of creative people. For instance, what about transfiguring antimatter? There’s no way Harry didn’t think of that. I thought of that when I was near his age and reading canon. Obviously this is incredibly dangerous, but if he wants to level Azkaban, that’s the easiest option. There’s plenty of other fun things. For instance he could make an ionizing radiation death ray with a chunk of low half life material eg sodium-24 in a lead chamber with a small exit. Set it up as near Malfoy manor as possible and wait a little.
Transfiguration is dangerous in MOR, But the type of danger McGonagall discusses is basically the same as any toxin. It’s literally only dangerous if you eat it or breath it. … So why is Mcgonagall so surprised that Dumbledoor used transfiguration in battle, and is still alive?
My guess would be that the danger comes from the battle as much as from the transfiguration. Transfiguration seems to take time and concentration, far moreso than the charms and curses that seem to be the mainstays of battle magic, so odds are it’s not generally used in active combat for the same reason that you don’t generally dig a foxhole in the middle of a firefight. In support of this, Dragon and Chaos Armies, and SPHEW, have all used Transfiguration onscreen during battles—but not, to the best of my recollection, in battle.
Combat stress might also tend to disrupt concentration in ways which are dangerous, but that’s more speculative.
This is plausible - and the best explanation I’ve heard. McGonagall was thinking about this in the context of (and in comparison to) laboratory transfiguration dangers, where it’s just your own transfiguration that’s a danger. Also given the transfiguration speed of an adult wizard, I’m not sure that transfiguration ought to be that difficult in battle—though I agree it’s more difficult than charms.
It’s literally only dangerous if you eat it or breath it. A bubble head charm and enough self control not to eat anything that looks tasty and transfiguration reversion is no danger.
Counterpoint: sulfuric acid to bathwater. You’ve been soaking in the tub for half an hour when the transfiguration wears off.
Hmm, good point, there are other potential dangers. They are of the type that are pretty much only dangerous if you don’t know about them. So if your enemy spikes your water supply, you would be in trouble, but that’s not an unintended danger.
Okay, how about: you Transfigure a suit of armor to wear, and your enemy, all unknowing, casts a blasting hex or corrosion curse or something resulting in pieces of your own armor ending up inside you.
Good point: you should treat your own transfigurations like toxin—particularly if you are transfiguring from a toxic material or to a non solid. If the armor was imbedded in you and turned back to a non-toxic solid (wood, stone) that wouldn’t be much worse than steel. I guess you might as well transfigure it out of ice if possible. In this example I think that not transfiguring the armor because you are afraid of transfiguration (a reasonable fear to instill in children, but not adults), and therefore taking a blasting curse to your unarmored chest is worse.
Partially it depends on the difference in size between the base materials and the target form. Things can be Transfigured smaller (Harry’s father’s rock to tiny diamond) or bigger (ice cube to rocket). The rock reverting could tear Harry’s hand off, conceivably- shards of metal (or rust) getting significantly bigger or smaller once inside your body seems likely to be uncomfortable.
That would make for a pretty nasty situation. I had considered throwing a large rock that was transfigured to be smaller, then dropping the transfiguration in the air. This would be even nastier (though maybe not as effective): transfigure a large rock into a needle and throw it at them, then when it’s inside them reverse the transfiguration.
Yeah but antimatter would probably kill the Aurors and the prisoners. Also Harry would probably realize that while subjecting people to dementors is evil, having a prison for people who commit crimes is not.
Yep, it’s not a great solution when you have any vaguely adjacent friendlies. I was mainly referring to his dream of floating above azkaban and incinerating it to the bedrock. Also it seems pretty relevant considering all the talk about nuclear bombs. They aren’t dangerous at all in comparison.
A few not particularly relevant concerns. Transfiguration is dangerous in MOR, But the type of danger McGonagall discusses is basically the same as any toxin. It’s literally only dangerous if you eat it or breath it. A bubble head charm and enough self control not to eat anything that looks tasty and transfiguration reversion is no danger. So why is Mcgonagall so surprised that Dumbledoor used transfiguration in battle, and is still alive?
That being said, I think transfiguration is second only to time-travel in magics that are dangerous in the hands of creative people. For instance, what about transfiguring antimatter? There’s no way Harry didn’t think of that. I thought of that when I was near his age and reading canon. Obviously this is incredibly dangerous, but if he wants to level Azkaban, that’s the easiest option. There’s plenty of other fun things. For instance he could make an ionizing radiation death ray with a chunk of low half life material eg sodium-24 in a lead chamber with a small exit. Set it up as near Malfoy manor as possible and wait a little.
My guess would be that the danger comes from the battle as much as from the transfiguration. Transfiguration seems to take time and concentration, far moreso than the charms and curses that seem to be the mainstays of battle magic, so odds are it’s not generally used in active combat for the same reason that you don’t generally dig a foxhole in the middle of a firefight. In support of this, Dragon and Chaos Armies, and SPHEW, have all used Transfiguration onscreen during battles—but not, to the best of my recollection, in battle.
Combat stress might also tend to disrupt concentration in ways which are dangerous, but that’s more speculative.
This is plausible - and the best explanation I’ve heard. McGonagall was thinking about this in the context of (and in comparison to) laboratory transfiguration dangers, where it’s just your own transfiguration that’s a danger. Also given the transfiguration speed of an adult wizard, I’m not sure that transfiguration ought to be that difficult in battle—though I agree it’s more difficult than charms.
Counterpoint: sulfuric acid to bathwater. You’ve been soaking in the tub for half an hour when the transfiguration wears off.
Hmm, good point, there are other potential dangers. They are of the type that are pretty much only dangerous if you don’t know about them. So if your enemy spikes your water supply, you would be in trouble, but that’s not an unintended danger.
Okay, how about: you Transfigure a suit of armor to wear, and your enemy, all unknowing, casts a blasting hex or corrosion curse or something resulting in pieces of your own armor ending up inside you.
Good point: you should treat your own transfigurations like toxin—particularly if you are transfiguring from a toxic material or to a non solid. If the armor was imbedded in you and turned back to a non-toxic solid (wood, stone) that wouldn’t be much worse than steel. I guess you might as well transfigure it out of ice if possible. In this example I think that not transfiguring the armor because you are afraid of transfiguration (a reasonable fear to instill in children, but not adults), and therefore taking a blasting curse to your unarmored chest is worse.
Partially it depends on the difference in size between the base materials and the target form. Things can be Transfigured smaller (Harry’s father’s rock to tiny diamond) or bigger (ice cube to rocket). The rock reverting could tear Harry’s hand off, conceivably- shards of metal (or rust) getting significantly bigger or smaller once inside your body seems likely to be uncomfortable.
That would make for a pretty nasty situation. I had considered throwing a large rock that was transfigured to be smaller, then dropping the transfiguration in the air. This would be even nastier (though maybe not as effective): transfigure a large rock into a needle and throw it at them, then when it’s inside them reverse the transfiguration.
Huh. I wonder how that interacts with conservation of momentum. (Or if it does.)
I think if you can Transfigure an ice cube into a solid-fuel rocket conservation of momentum is the least of your concerns.
Which is easier: “Become a solid-fuel rocket, which is shaped like this and this and has these parts...”, or “Smaller, please.”
Probably cheerfully ignore them, considering magic’s general relationship with physics.
I wonder if there any charms to protect or clean up radiation damage . . . . .
I imagine healing charms would be at least somewhat effective. If shield charms don’t work this would also be a great dueling technique.
Yeah but antimatter would probably kill the Aurors and the prisoners. Also Harry would probably realize that while subjecting people to dementors is evil, having a prison for people who commit crimes is not.
Yep, it’s not a great solution when you have any vaguely adjacent friendlies. I was mainly referring to his dream of floating above azkaban and incinerating it to the bedrock. Also it seems pretty relevant considering all the talk about nuclear bombs. They aren’t dangerous at all in comparison.