Harry opened his mouth, and then, as realization hit him, rapidly snapped his mouth shut again. Godric hadn’t told anyone, nor had Rowena if she’d known; there might have been any number of wizards who’d figured it out and kept their mouths shut. You couldn’t forget if you knew that was what you were trying to do; once you realized how it worked, the animal form of the Patronus Charm would never work for you again—and most wizards didn’t have the right upbringing to turn on Dementors and destroy them -
I read this as meaning that Harry believes Godric could do it. Maybe I’m assuming too much, though, because I really like that idea.
I think he’s just describing what happens when you tell people Dementor’s are Death. He considered that a tactic in the WIzengamut to prevent them from being able to cast a patronus, and gives no thought to the possibility that knowing that would enable them to cast the True Patronus.
I wouldn’t be surprised if changing one’s mind requires the same kind of mental effort required to change habits. Spending willpower is not very pleasant.
I thought that was odd: that they would actually have to understand, and not just be told that Dementors are death. Like in the same way that under-confidence in your ability to perform a physical action actually undermines your ability to do it, which should be relatable if you’ve ever tried to back-flip on a trampoline or forced yourself to perform an action in spite of an anticipation of pain or great displeasure—but so long as you expect being able to do it, you can still do it. But if someone just said ‘Dementors are death’, you’d cast your animal patronus just fine so long as you didn’t grok it. Which made me suspicious of Harry’s possible tactic in the Wizengamot.
I think the problem is the lack of a Happy Thought to confront Death. Harry has one—his absolute rejection of Death as the natural order, and his belief that we shall overcome some day.
As long as you still believe that death is inevitable, that everyone will die—there is nothing happy about that to comfort you.
I believe that Harry internally discusses this point.
If you tell them the whole riddle (“what is most scary, unkillable etc”), then give the answer, I’d say there’s a good chance that it would cast enough doubt for the animal patronuses to fail, at least temporarily. Also, Harry could improve his credibility by casting his human patronus.
True, especially on the last point. It still feels like there’s a large philosophical knowledge-set to convey before their Patronus fails reliably for the right reason. I see what you mean though. Maybe the habit (mental) necessarily built into the Patronus charm would be harder to override more than temporarily due to the strength in habit, or at least without genuinely shifting how that person conceptualises all the relevant stuff.
I read this as meaning that Harry believes Godric could do it. Maybe I’m assuming too much, though, because I really like that idea.
I think he’s just describing what happens when you tell people Dementor’s are Death. He considered that a tactic in the WIzengamut to prevent them from being able to cast a patronus, and gives no thought to the possibility that knowing that would enable them to cast the True Patronus.
Yeah, makes sense. There goes that theory of mine...
(Hm. This “changing your mind” business is strangely unpleasant.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if changing one’s mind requires the same kind of mental effort required to change habits. Spending willpower is not very pleasant.
I thought that was odd: that they would actually have to understand, and not just be told that Dementors are death. Like in the same way that under-confidence in your ability to perform a physical action actually undermines your ability to do it, which should be relatable if you’ve ever tried to back-flip on a trampoline or forced yourself to perform an action in spite of an anticipation of pain or great displeasure—but so long as you expect being able to do it, you can still do it. But if someone just said ‘Dementors are death’, you’d cast your animal patronus just fine so long as you didn’t grok it. Which made me suspicious of Harry’s possible tactic in the Wizengamot.
I think the problem is the lack of a Happy Thought to confront Death. Harry has one—his absolute rejection of Death as the natural order, and his belief that we shall overcome some day.
As long as you still believe that death is inevitable, that everyone will die—there is nothing happy about that to comfort you.
I believe that Harry internally discusses this point.
If you tell them the whole riddle (“what is most scary, unkillable etc”), then give the answer, I’d say there’s a good chance that it would cast enough doubt for the animal patronuses to fail, at least temporarily. Also, Harry could improve his credibility by casting his human patronus.
True, especially on the last point. It still feels like there’s a large philosophical knowledge-set to convey before their Patronus fails reliably for the right reason. I see what you mean though. Maybe the habit (mental) necessarily built into the Patronus charm would be harder to override more than temporarily due to the strength in habit, or at least without genuinely shifting how that person conceptualises all the relevant stuff.