The “soulsplosion,” in Hermione’s death, was extremely hard to miss. But it was notably absent in a previous wizarding death we supposedly witnessed: Harry’s mother’s death. This has provided some unexpected confirmatory evidence for an old pet theory of mine: that Harry’s memory of his parents’ death was faked. I can only assume someone else brought a similar theory up around here before, so I won’t go into too much detail.
If it were a false memory, though, why would the soulsplosion be missing? Well, we get an answer for that in Chapter 86: some things can’t be adequately faked in false memories. If whoever created the false memory had included a false wizard’s death, Harry might have wondered what exactly the strange light show was; if he had researched it, he might have realized that what he remembered was faked. But Harry had never seen a wizard die before; an omitted soulsplosion would therefore arouse no suspicions, whereas a faked one might. Hence there was none.
There is no reason to believe the burst of magical energy happens in every magical death. It could be something that only happens under particular circumstances, or for particular types of wizards/witches. For example, the killing curse might kill people too quickly for them to understand that they are dying.
Another possibility is that it can only be perceived under certain circumstances.
For example, the killing curse might kill people too quickly for them to understand that they are dying.
Or the Killing Curse destroys the soul (as does the Dementor’s Kiss), whereas bleeding to death merely releases it from the body.
A test: Are there any ghosts of people killed by Avada Kedavra? Ghosts are noted as being only echoes of the dead person — but if they are echoes formed by the release of an intact soul, then there would not be one for anyone killed in a way that consumes the soul, such as Avada Kedavra or the Dementor’s Kiss.
(I can’t think of any in canon. The four House Ghosts were all killed by mundane means, and Moaning Myrtle by a basilisk’s stare.)
Do the temporary ghosts of resurrection stone and “priori incantatem” count for you ?
That could only work if “permanent” ghosts are really made from souls (Dumbledore hypothesis), but the temporary ghosts are made from memories (HJPEV hypothesis). While it’s not impossible to have both mechanism, Occam’s razor gives it a low prior, I would more suspect the same mechanism behind both.
On the other hand, Quirrell says that it will “instantly kill anything with a brain.” I’d be careful about assigning too much evidence to McGonagall’s pronouncement, since it’s likely that she doesn’t really have the information necessary to isolate that conclusion.
That hypothesis is one that I considered. However, Harry can see every other magical effect just fine; he has no problem with the Avada Kedavra or any of Voldemort’s special effects. Of course, if the memory is real, it must have been stored magically, and “enough magic to record magical memories but not enough to see the special effects” sounds like a very specific level of magic. The AK rebound, if it actually happened, may also indicate that Harry had enough magic for his resonance with Quirrell.
In canon, it seems to be visible. to Muggles. The scene where Voldemort kills the Riddle House caretaker seems to imply that (although not fully since it turns out we are getting the scene from Harry’s mental connection to Voldemort).
I might accept that if it weren’t for the fact that I have plenty of other good reasons to suspect that particular memory. This piece of evidence, like any other, isn’t conclusive. But it certainly helps. (Also, all of your qualifiers incur some complexity penalty, particularly “types of wizards.”)
The “soulsplosion,” in Hermione’s death, was extremely hard to miss. But it was notably absent in a previous wizarding death we supposedly witnessed: Harry’s mother’s death. This has provided some unexpected confirmatory evidence for an old pet theory of mine: that Harry’s memory of his parents’ death was faked. I can only assume someone else brought a similar theory up around here before, so I won’t go into too much detail.
If it were a false memory, though, why would the soulsplosion be missing? Well, we get an answer for that in Chapter 86: some things can’t be adequately faked in false memories. If whoever created the false memory had included a false wizard’s death, Harry might have wondered what exactly the strange light show was; if he had researched it, he might have realized that what he remembered was faked. But Harry had never seen a wizard die before; an omitted soulsplosion would therefore arouse no suspicions, whereas a faked one might. Hence there was none.
There is no reason to believe the burst of magical energy happens in every magical death. It could be something that only happens under particular circumstances, or for particular types of wizards/witches. For example, the killing curse might kill people too quickly for them to understand that they are dying.
Another possibility is that it can only be perceived under certain circumstances.
Or the Killing Curse destroys the soul (as does the Dementor’s Kiss), whereas bleeding to death merely releases it from the body.
A test: Are there any ghosts of people killed by Avada Kedavra? Ghosts are noted as being only echoes of the dead person — but if they are echoes formed by the release of an intact soul, then there would not be one for anyone killed in a way that consumes the soul, such as Avada Kedavra or the Dementor’s Kiss.
(I can’t think of any in canon. The four House Ghosts were all killed by mundane means, and Moaning Myrtle by a basilisk’s stare.)
Do the temporary ghosts of resurrection stone and “priori incantatem” count for you ?
That could only work if “permanent” ghosts are really made from souls (Dumbledore hypothesis), but the temporary ghosts are made from memories (HJPEV hypothesis). While it’s not impossible to have both mechanism, Occam’s razor gives it a low prior, I would more suspect the same mechanism behind both.
In the original HP canon, people killed by AK appeared to Harry near the end of the last book, when he ambiguously crosses over into the afterlife.
McGonagall tells Harry that the Killing Curse “strikes at the soul, severing it from the body”.
On the other hand, Quirrell says that it will “instantly kill anything with a brain.” I’d be careful about assigning too much evidence to McGonagall’s pronouncement, since it’s likely that she doesn’t really have the information necessary to isolate that conclusion.
Well, looks like that objection is dealt with.
How did this get here?
Or that it’s detected via one’s magical sense, and baby-Harry didn’t have it properly developed yet.
That hypothesis is one that I considered. However, Harry can see every other magical effect just fine; he has no problem with the Avada Kedavra or any of Voldemort’s special effects. Of course, if the memory is real, it must have been stored magically, and “enough magic to record magical memories but not enough to see the special effects” sounds like a very specific level of magic. The AK rebound, if it actually happened, may also indicate that Harry had enough magic for his resonance with Quirrell.
He doesn’t see anything a Muggle wouldn’t see. There’s no reason to think the green light part of Avada Kedavra is magical.
In canon, it seems to be visible. to Muggles. The scene where Voldemort kills the Riddle House caretaker seems to imply that (although not fully since it turns out we are getting the scene from Harry’s mental connection to Voldemort).
I might accept that if it weren’t for the fact that I have plenty of other good reasons to suspect that particular memory. This piece of evidence, like any other, isn’t conclusive. But it certainly helps. (Also, all of your qualifiers incur some complexity penalty, particularly “types of wizards.”)