FWIW, the Summon Death ritual is a reference to the Rite of AshkEnte, from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. The usual purpose of summoning Death in that context was to ask him questions, and a counterspell to dismiss him wasn’t required because he was always in a hurry to be back about his business, as soon as the summoning wizards let him go.
I interpreted it as creating a … King Dementor or something, that has wide-ranging effects when lit up with True Patronus (probably the Counterspell To Dispell Death).
Remember his anti-Batman resolution from a few chapters ago, where he said that a dead body means the gloves come off and he quits trying to fight a bloodless war.
Noted. I think it’s still a fairly accurate summary of his mental state, however.
Edit: Half of Ch. 85 is still basically in this vein.
Harry closed his eyes, swallowing hard a few times against the sudden choking sensation. It was abruptly very clear that while Harry was going around trying to live the ideals of the Enlightenment, Dumbledore was the one who’d actually fought in a war. Nonviolent ideals were cheap to hold if you were a scientist, living inside the Protego bubble cast by the police officers and soldiers whose actions you had the luxury to question. Albus Dumbledore seemed to have started out with ideals at least as strong as Harry’s own, if not stronger; and Dumbledore hadn’t gotten through his war without killing enemies and sacrificing friends.
Are you so much better than Haukelid and Dumbledore, Harry Potter, that you’ll be able to fight without a single casualty? Even in the world of comic books, the only reason a superhero like Batman even looks successful is that the comic-book readers only notice when Important Named Characters die, not when the Joker shoots some random nameless bystander to show off his villainy. Batman is a murderer no less than the Joker, for all the lives the Joker took that Batman could’ve saved by killing him. That’s what the man named Alastor was trying to tell Dumbledore, and afterward Dumbledore regretted having taken so long to change his mind. Are you really going to try to follow the path of the superhero, and never sacrifice a single piece or kill a single enemy?
In canon, it’s also Unicorn blood.
It could also be Harry using Godric Gryffindor’s sword to murder someone (Bellatrix?) in order to power the Summon Death ritual.
I’ve always interpreted the Summon Death ritual to just create a dementor.
FWIW, the Summon Death ritual is a reference to the Rite of AshkEnte, from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. The usual purpose of summoning Death in that context was to ask him questions, and a counterspell to dismiss him wasn’t required because he was always in a hurry to be back about his business, as soon as the summoning wizards let him go.
I interpreted it as creating a … King Dementor or something, that has wide-ranging effects when lit up with True Patronus (probably the Counterspell To Dispell Death).
That is completely out of character.
Remember his anti-Batman resolution from a few chapters ago, where he said that a dead body means the gloves come off and he quits trying to fight a bloodless war.
Eliezer edited out his explicit resolution at some point before these updates began.
Noted. I think it’s still a fairly accurate summary of his mental state, however.
Edit: Half of Ch. 85 is still basically in this vein.
Not anymore. .
Or he could just go all brutalist utilitarian.
You mean like this?
Ooops. No. I mean more like Grindelvaldesque.
Would Harry have access to the sword, being a Ravenclaw?