Skip to main content

harry potter - What Are the Other Four Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?



In reading Why does the Aguamenti spell work? question, Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration came up in DVK's answer.



‘It’s quite straightforward, really,’ said Neville modestly. ‘I’d been in here about a day and a half, and getting really hungry, and wishing I could get something to eat, and that’s when the passage to the Hog’s Head opened up. I went through it and met Aberforth. He’s been providing us with food, because for some reason, that’s the one thing the Room doesn’t really do.’

‘Yeah, well, food’s one of the five exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration,’ said Ron, to general astonishment.

Deathly Hallows - page 465 - Bloomsbury - chapter 29, The Lost Diadem



I personally suspect money is one of the exceptions due to two examples given in the books. In Goblet of Fire, Leprechaun gold disappears after a brief period of time (granted, it could simply be charmed to do so). In Deathly Hallows, in the Lestranges' vault, the Gemino Curse, which causes whatever treasure that is touched to multiply almost infinitely, but the copies are worthless.



‘They have added Gemino and Flagrante Curses!’ said Griphook. ‘Everything you touch will burn and multiply, but the copies are worthless [...]’

Deathly Hallows - pages 433-434 - Bloomsbury - chapter 26, Gringotts



For the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, so far I know and have guessed at food and money respectively:


1) Food

2) Money?
3) ?
4) ?
5) ?


What are the other four exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?


NOTE: I'm looking for a canon-based answer (books, JKR, Pottermore, and the like). I do not prefer answers from the HP Wikia or the Wikipedia. Thoughtful subjective answers in the spirit of canon are fine.



Answer



There's very little explicitly stated about the mechanics of Rowling's "Potterverse". The five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration are taken to be things that cannot be conjured from nothing or transfigured from unrelated items. The only exception given any real attention is food, as you have stated. The other four are left up for speculation.



  • Love - While hardly a substance one can think to have a physical presence, love is considered one of the exceptions to Gamp's Law as it is impossible to create using magic. Obsession or extreme infatuation can be created with so-called "love potions", but they are nothing close to the real thing.


  • Old Life - Interestingly enough, new life can be created through magic, birds from the Avis charm for example, but dead is dead in the Potterverse.

    Even one of the Hallows, a legendary magic item, can only conjure a wraith and not actually bring someone back to life.





These two are that make the most immediate sense and explicitly said in the book to impossible to conjure through magic, although not stated as exceptions to Gamp's Law. There is speculation on other exceptions (such as precious metals and clothing), but nothing substantive.


Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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.
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