Skip to main content

harry potter - Why do the Effects of Some Magic Wear Off After the Caster Dies, While Other Magic Continues On?



Straight forward question, really.


Why is it that some magic wears off after the caster dies, whereas other forms of magic stick around long after the casters death?


In the Half-Blood Prince, we learn that Lily Potter had once transfigured a lily into a fish for Professor Slughorn, and that when Lily died, professor Slughorn found the bowl that held the fish to be empty (i.e. the effect of the magic wore off). Additionally, towards the end of Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore casts a full body bind on Harry, that is lifted after Snape kills Dumbledore.



However, in other places throughout the series, we see that the death of a witch/wizard does not necessarily result in the effects of the magic they have cast disappearing. For instance, the permanent sticking charms that Sirius placed on the decor in his bedroom in the House of Black (or for that matter, the ones that Sirus's mother places around the house) or the curses that Moody places on the entrance way to the House of Black to prevent Snape from entering/speaking of the house (tongue binding curse, and the dust corpse of Dumbledore). I also think Mr. Weasely references a biting teapot set that passed from a witch to a muggle in Chamber of Secrets.


So what is it that causes some magic to wear off after death? Is it the type of magic (i.e. transfiguration requires a higher concentration of magic, therefore is less likely to continue after the caster's death)?


Speculation is welcome, but cannon support will be helpful.


Please note, I did find this question which addresses what would have happened to Hermione's enchantment on her parents' memory had she died, but it did not fully explain why some magic outlives its caster (in my opinion).


Additionally, as pointed out by Phantom42 in the comments, there is this answer which addresses that some magic lives on past the time the wizard who casts it passes, while other magic does not (giving examples of where we see each in the books), and this question which asks if a spell is forever, but gets the same response that some spells are, while others are not.


What I want to know is WHY some magic lasts pasts its caster's death, while other magic does not.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...