“What?” said the old wizard. “No! I would not have done that even to him—”
The old wizard stared at the young boy, who had straightened, and his face changed.
“In other words,” the boy said, as though talking to himself without any other people in the room, “it’s already known how to keep powerful Dark Wizards in prison, without using Dementors. People know they know that.”
I’m pretty sure that both canon and MoR are silent on how it’s done, which is a real pity.
In canon there is a scene where Voldemort breaks into Nurmengard to ask Grindelwald where the Wand is, and then kills him. In a non-magical world I’d say that the fact that somebody can break in means that somebody can break out too, with help from the outside. Even if that’s not the case in a magical world, it means that his followers could continue to communicate with him. Not good.
On the other hand there seems to be magic in canon that cannot be broken or circumvented, except for a very specific trigger. Think of the Fidelius charm, which hides a building from everybody, except those that the secret keeper has told the location. Or the potion in the cave that must be drunk, and cannot be vanished, transigured or otherwise “magiced”. Maybe a similar kind of “absolute” magic exists that can be used to imprison people reliably. So reliably that no Auror need to stand guard, and are tortured with humming.
the fact that somebody can break in means that somebody can break out too, with help from the outside
There is the issue of wands. Wandless magic is, at least for humans, much less powerful than wand magic. So it’s perfectly conceivable to me to have obstacles that are virtually impossible to overpower if you’re wandless, but possible to overpower if you’re a wand and are a good wizard (which Voldemort surely is).
The “his followers could continue to communicate with him” is indeed a real problem. But it seems (both in canon and in MOR) Azkaban itself is not so hard to break from the outside, only (almost) impossible to escape from inside.
That seems like a significant plot point. Do we know how that is done?
In canon it’s definitively done.
But how?
I’m pretty sure that both canon and MoR are silent on how it’s done, which is a real pity.
In canon there is a scene where Voldemort breaks into Nurmengard to ask Grindelwald where the Wand is, and then kills him. In a non-magical world I’d say that the fact that somebody can break in means that somebody can break out too, with help from the outside. Even if that’s not the case in a magical world, it means that his followers could continue to communicate with him. Not good.
On the other hand there seems to be magic in canon that cannot be broken or circumvented, except for a very specific trigger. Think of the Fidelius charm, which hides a building from everybody, except those that the secret keeper has told the location. Or the potion in the cave that must be drunk, and cannot be vanished, transigured or otherwise “magiced”. Maybe a similar kind of “absolute” magic exists that can be used to imprison people reliably. So reliably that no Auror need to stand guard, and are tortured with humming.
There is the issue of wands. Wandless magic is, at least for humans, much less powerful than wand magic. So it’s perfectly conceivable to me to have obstacles that are virtually impossible to overpower if you’re wandless, but possible to overpower if you’re a wand and are a good wizard (which Voldemort surely is).
The “his followers could continue to communicate with him” is indeed a real problem. But it seems (both in canon and in MOR) Azkaban itself is not so hard to break from the outside, only (almost) impossible to escape from inside.
Nope.