Skip to main content

magic - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Why didn't Dumbledore Apparate?


In the movie, unlike the book, Harry and Dumbledore Disapparate from the Astronomy Tower. "Being me has its privileges," Dumbledore said. When they returned from the cave and Draco disarmed Dumbledore of his wand, Dumbledore didn't Apparate.


Could there be any chance that you have to have your wand to Apparate/Disapparate, or was there anything else preventing Dumbledore from Disapparating? Rowling must have approved this for it to occur in the movie.



Answer



A wand does not appear to be necessary for Apparation/Disapparation. The three Ds of Apparation are: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. The actual physical act of Apparation comes during Deliberation, but is contingent upon appropriate Determination:



‘Focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!’

Half-Blood Prince - Page 360 - British Hardcover



I kind of relate Apparation as closer to Transfiguration than spell casting. It seems, for example, becoming an Animagus would require the same characteristics: form, determination, and destination (actually taking shape of the animal form.) Similarly, Apparation/Disapparation involves the transformation of one's body from one place to another. I'm not saying it's a perfect analogy, but I liken Apparation more to Transfiguration in theory than I do to, say, Charms (which requires a wand).


Dumbledore chose not to Disapparate from the Astronomy Tower the night he was killed. He and Snape had a plan worked out that Dumbledore was determined to follow through with. It wasn't that Dumbledore couldn't have Apparated away in HBP the movie, it's that he chose not to, instead facing his final moments of life. It's really not Dumbledore's style to run from anything.



ETA: I should clarify. JKR has some input into the movies, but it is limited mainly to production and script approval. Her characters are owned by Warner Brothers, and the screenwriter (Steve Kloves is the main one, I believe) has a lot of discretion in shaping the scripts. That said, JKR had consulted with Steve Kloves regarding which parts/plots cannot be altered, as they were integral to the over-arcing plot.


Here is one movie!canon discrepancy for you though: In HBP Professor Slughorn asked Hermione what her parents do for a living, and Hermione explains dentistry to Slughorn as if Slughorn doesn't know what a dentist is; however, in the movie Chamber of Secrets, one of the points on the Weasley's big family clock says "Dentist." ;)


Comments

Post a Comment

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...
1 comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more