Skip to main content

harry potter - Can a dementor decide which people around it will be affected by its magic?


Quoting from here and here:


From a Leaky Cauldron chat:



Samantha: Was snape the only death eater who could produce a full patronus


J.K. Rowling: Yes, because a Patronus is used against things that the Death Eaters generally generate, or fight alongside. They would not need Patronuses.




I always had the impression that just the presence of a dementor should have an effect on any human around, DE or otherwise. However, this quote makes it sound like DE's are exempt from the effect of the dementors. However, from Sirius's description in book 3, we know every prisoner in Azkaban was affected by dementors, which can further be corroborated by the fact of how much Barty Crouch, Jr. was scared of being thrown into Azkaban. Moreover, if the dementors didn't affect the DE's at all, throwing them in Azkaban wouldn't be much of a punishment either.


So,


Can dementors decide who to affect or not?



Answer



Probably not.


I'm going to say they probably can't decide who to affect, based on their effect on Hogwarts in HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban.


If they could be so selective, they would surely have been ordered, either by Dumbledore or the Ministry, not to harm the kids in the school. Yet there they were, coming into the grounds and even the Hogwarts Express, and the students had to be warned to be careful of them. They certainly had an effect on Harry more than once, when they should have been hunting only for Sirius Black.



As for why the Death Eaters don't need Patronuses, maybe it's because Dementors can't have so much of an effect on evil people. Their main effect is by sucking away people's happy feelings and leaving them with bad ones. But if someone's happiest memory is of torturing Muggles, say, and all their emotions are bad ones, maybe the Dementors wouldn't have much to take away from them. That's why the Lestranges, for instance, survived Azkaban without being driven any more insane than they already were.

You say "if the dementors didn't affect the DE's at all, throwing them in Azkaban wouldn't be much of a punishment either", but prison is still a punishment. Being thrown in prison in the real (Muggle) world is a pretty strong punishment, even without evil magical prison guards that suck every happy emotion out of your body. It would be as bad as that for the Death Eaters in Azkaban, even if the Dementors had no effect on them whatsoever.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do Pokemon trainers collect their winnings?

According to Bulbapedia , Prize money is the money that a Trainer pays out at the end of a battle. So we know that the money comes directly from the trainer that just lost, and not some third-party committee or sponsor. But how is this done? It can be easy seeing the random trainers who challenge you along the way wanting to wager and then, after admitting defeat, sticking to their word and handing over their hard-earned pokebucks. Then there are the likes of Team Rocket and Giovanni, who also give money once they lose. This doesn't seem like something people in a criminal organization would willingly do. From this it appears that trainers have no say in whether or not they cough up the dough after losing, but I can't find anything on how exactly the funds are transferred from loser to winner. So how do Pokemon trainers receive their winnings?
Post a Comment
Read more