Skip to main content

harry potter - How are dark curse users uncovered?


Question behind the question: I was actually thinking about the implications of dark curses: Anyone can use a dark curse on anyone else (provided they are properly educated in magic and so on). For Avada Kedavra and Crucio, that didn't seem too bad. In America, people are allowed to own guns, and abusive people exist. Imperio seems problematic. Anyone can control anyone else? Wow. It's like everyone has a ring of gyges. Perhaps I am cynical, but I highly suspect people would use Imperio if given the chance since they would be unlikely to be caught, or so I assume. Thinking about it more, a lot more people would be dead or abused if their murderers or abusers had higher probability of escaping justice.


The somewhat dumb question: So now I, of course, question my assumptions. How would dark curse casters be caught? In general, how do aurors or anyone catch criminals, solve crimes, uncover mysteries or murder mysteries?


Side question: How do you know anyone is under the Imperius Curse?


I don't think spells can be traced aside from Prior Incantanto, and that's assuming you ever encounter the one who cast the spell.


I'm guessing wizards don't check for DNA or hairs because dark wizards/criminals would likely just say "accio (hair, DNA, evidence, etc)" or something.



Answer



How do Aurors catch criminals?


Very Poorly. Very few Death Eaters are in Azkaban, and only after a string of crimes. Voldemort murdered and stole and did other things for years with no Auror interference or clue. Mundungus doesn't seem to be all that used to the inside of a jail cell either. Knockturn alley has shops doing/selling shady things with nary a Bobby around.


How can Aurors catch criminals?





  1. Same mundane way crimes were solved in Medieval times by muggles.




    • Most criminals (even today) are caught because the blabbed to the wrong person, NOT because of some deeply advanced police work.




    • Means, motive, and opportunity. Especially motive. Everyone in a small community knows that Egan the Wandwavey was annoyed the hell by Iglin the GoodLooking getting it on with Egan's wife. So when something funky happens to Iglin, Aurors kinda know who the primary suspect is (and that's where Prior Incantanto comes into play).





    • Humans produce ~3% sociopaths. Probably wizards, too. So, if something is stolen, Mundungus is kinda the first suspect for the Aurors. If someone is killed, known criminals (Death Eaters) are first suspects.


      This is circumstantially confirmed when nobody has a first idea to look at Tom Riddle when Hepizbah Smith dies.






  2. Magic leaves traces.





    • We saw Dumbledore trace Voldemort's magic in HBP, at a cave entrance.




    • We see wizards are able to identify quacking Undersecretary in PM's office as having been a subject of failed Imperio in HBP.




    • In general, healers at St. Mungo need this ability to be able to perform counter-curses.







  3. Legilimency.


    You can read a victim's mind and see who was around him.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...