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harry potter - Why Did Mrs. Crouch Die While Taking Polyjuice Potion?


So I've been re-reading Goblet of Fire and after reading Barty Crouch Jr's recounting of how he and his mother switched places in Azkaban via Polyjuice Potion, I'm unclear why Mrs. Crouch died while she was still taking Polyjuice.


If Mrs. Crouch's body was terminally ill, each time she took the Polyjuice wouldn't she have had Barty Crouch Jr's body, which was not terminally ill? Why, then, did she die very soon after Barty Crouch Jr was smuggled out of Azkaban? Shouldn't she have had her son's strength and health from the Polyjuice? Yes, Barty Crouch Jr was weakened by Azkaban, but he wasn't dying.


Deathly Hallows shows that the physical limitations or disabilities of the person providing the hairs for the Polyjuice Potion are transferred to the person taking the potion:



‘Harry, your eyesight really is awful,’ said Hermione, as she put on glasses.

Deathly Hallows -- page 49 -- Bloomsbury -- chapter 4, The Seven Potters



It would seem the same would go for healthy characteristics. As long as Mrs Crouch had a supply of Polyjuice Potion, shouldn't she have remained alive? It could be said that she ran out of Polyjuice and then died, but Barty Crouch Jr says implicitly that his mother died with Barty Jr's appearance, meaning the Polyjuice was still in her system and working at the time of her death.


Why did Mrs. Crouch die while taking Polyjuice Potion?



Answer




I believe it has everything to do with the limitations of the Polyjuice potion. Since we don't know what she died of, disease seems the most likely to me. And by looking at the effects of polyjuice potion, if my theory is right, it would explain why it didn't keep her alive.


Polyjuice potion alters the appearance of a person, meaning altering physical external characteristics to match that of the person being copied. It's clear that the polyjuice potion does not alter everything about the drinker. Some things must remain unchanged. For example, it must leave the brain alone, or the user would lose his or her personality.


Poor eyesight generally has to do with the shape of the cornea, or damage to it - an outward physical trait that would be copied exactly the same as the shape of the lips or leg. Hermione's eyesight was affected simply due to outward physical changes. It had nothing to do with sickness or disease.


Polyjuice potion appears to affect the shape of the body - at many levels, and various body parts, and also the color of the skin, hair, etc to effect the transformation. Diseased flesh, transformed to a different shape and/or color is still diseased.


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