Skip to main content

harry potter - Why Doesn't the Ministry Ever Modify the Dursleys' Memories?


Thinking about it while I was writing up my other question about Dudley's pig's tail, it occurred to me that I cannot think of a single instance in which the Dursleys -- Verrnon, Petunia, and Dudley -- had their memories modified, even though they have witnessed numerous incidents of a witch or wizard performing magic.


They witnessed Hagrid giving Dudley the pig's tail. They've witnessed numerous owl post deliveries. They've noticed that wherever they go, or Harry goes, they can always be found. They witness Dobby dropping the pudding on Mrs Mason in CoS (they think Harry did it, though) and of course there's the incident with Aunt Marge. Marge seems to be the only Dursley whose had her memory modified by the Accidential Magic Reversal Squad; meanwhile, the Ministry allows Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley to keep their memories of what happened to Marge. They're allowed to keep their memories of the Dementor attack, and when George, Fred, Ron, and Arthur come to Privet Drive to collect Harry in, I believe, GoF, and one of the twins feeds Dudley Ton-Tongue Taffy and Dudder's tongue grows about six feet long, there is no consequence from the Ministry, it seems. There are plenty of other examples.


Why doesn't the Ministry ever modify the Dursleys' memories?


★ I don't prefer an answer from the HP Wikia or the Wikipedia.



ETA: I really do get what people are saying about Muggle families with witches in wizards in them, and how they cannot be Obliviated for every little thing. That makes sense now that people have explained it. But I still wonder about Dudley's piggy tail because that would have essentially been introducing a magical pig's tail into the Muggle world via a Muggle hospital, to Muggles doctors who have no familial connection to the Dursleys. Would the Ministry want that happening? It truly surprises me that no one had their memory modified as a result of the pig's tail incident.



Answer



I suspect as guardians of Harry Potter they have the right to know about the magical world. It would be crazy to expect them to raise a wizard and constantly be deleting the memories of their experiences (this isn't Heroes after all).


This may or may not extend to members outside the immediate family. It is possible that the Dursleys requested that Aunt Marge's memory be modified. If she knew they had a "freak" in the house they would lose her respect.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more