One of the systematic changes in MoR is that things which are sufficiently powerful are artifacts, and things which are artifacts are sufficiently powerful: The Marauder’s Map was originally devised by Slytherin as part of the creation of Hogwarts and only slightly twisted by the Marauders (Ch. 25), and the Cloak of Invisibility is now in a class of its own compared to standard invisibility cloaks or Disillusionment (Ch. 54).
Rowling, of course, wrote that thing with Moody’s eye before she decided the Cloak of Invisibility was a major artifact. So if Moody’s eye can still see through it in MoR, it’s going to be because either Moody’s eye is also a major artifact, or, more likely, a specialized artifact devoted to seeing through invisibility (a specialized, specific artifact can defeat a generally more powerful artifact if the specialization is narrow enough).
Wow… I had imagined that Moody lost his eye in a fight or something—but it would be way more awesome if he cut it out intentionally, to replace it with an eye more suited for the hunt.
The idea of Moody as a voluntarily enhanced magical cyborg is awesome indeed.
In fact, the entire notion of human enhancement using magic would be an interesting theme to explore. It’s already been done to some degree with the idea of defeating death and Harry making a mental note to research mind-altering spells in chapter 12 (intelligence explosion?), but things like Moody’s eye and Wormtail’s hand (which was strong enough to crush stones) show that there are also ways for Wizards to improve their abilities by replacing body parts with magical counterparts. Seeing what the wizarding world and/or Harry think of such ideas would be pretty interesting.
One of the systematic changes in MoR is that things which are sufficiently powerful are artifacts, and things which are artifacts are sufficiently powerful: The Marauder’s Map was originally devised by Slytherin as part of the creation of Hogwarts and only slightly twisted by the Marauders (Ch. 25), and the Cloak of Invisibility is now in a class of its own compared to standard invisibility cloaks or Disillusionment (Ch. 54).
Rowling, of course, wrote that thing with Moody’s eye before she decided the Cloak of Invisibility was a major artifact. So if Moody’s eye can still see through it in MoR, it’s going to be because either Moody’s eye is also a major artifact, or, more likely, a specialized artifact devoted to seeing through invisibility (a specialized, specific artifact can defeat a generally more powerful artifact if the specialization is narrow enough).
Wow… I had imagined that Moody lost his eye in a fight or something—but it would be way more awesome if he cut it out intentionally, to replace it with an eye more suited for the hunt.
The idea of Moody as a voluntarily enhanced magical cyborg is awesome indeed.
In fact, the entire notion of human enhancement using magic would be an interesting theme to explore. It’s already been done to some degree with the idea of defeating death and Harry making a mental note to research mind-altering spells in chapter 12 (intelligence explosion?), but things like Moody’s eye and Wormtail’s hand (which was strong enough to crush stones) show that there are also ways for Wizards to improve their abilities by replacing body parts with magical counterparts. Seeing what the wizarding world and/or Harry think of such ideas would be pretty interesting.
And very Odin-esque.
Mad-Eye Modin?
I’d read a crossover between the Elder Edda and Harry Potter; certainly it’s no stranger than HP & Christianity.
Even better might be a triple crossover of Norse mythology, Harry Potter—and H. P. (Lovecraft).
Calls to mind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Vecna
As you already know, this is already true in canon; it’s just that, as you say, it took Rowling a while to decide this.
I do like that you gave the Map such a great pedigree; it really was too powerful for a few students to make on their own.