Re: death (possible spoilers)

In message <news:5VVLe.1402$nL3.87563@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
"T.M. Sommers" <tms@xxxxxx> enriched us with:
>
> Troels Forchhammer wrote:
>>
>> In message <news:RM0Le.347$A%3.263@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> "Efren Irizarry, II" <iri10aspam@xxxxxxxxxxx> enriched us with:
>>>
>>> Troels Forchhammer wrote:
>>>>
>>
>> Small spoilers for GoF/OotP (15 lines)
>>
>> 199 197
>> 193 191
>> 181 179
>> 151 149
>> 139 137
>> 109 107
>> 103 101
>> 73 71
>> 61 59
>> 43 41
>> 31 29
>> 19 17
>> 13 11
>> 7 5 3

<snip>


>> How, for instance, would the ghost-soul differ from the anchored,
>> but un-encased, soul-part of a wizard who has created a Horcrux?
>
> You said it yourself: the horcrux contains only a partial soul,
> whereas a ghost would contain the whole soul.

I can't believe that that is the only thing. For example: how would
that difference prevent the ghost from possessing a new body (one
would think that a whole soul would be even stronger)?

A better way to ask this question would be to look at life and death.
What, exactly, does it mean that the living soul-part is alive, while
the ghost is dead? And how exactly is that difference created?

Though I suppose there is an even more fundamental question to ask:

<snip>

>> I think it could be done, but it will only be for fun -- I have
>> long since rejected the idea that Rowling's intention includes a
>> detailed physical explanation ;-) (I do suspect that she intends
>> the normal laws of nature to apply in general, but that she's
>> completely indifferent to the specifics).
>
> I don't think there is any hope of explaining Potterverse ghosts
> in terms of anything remotely resembling real physics.

I can't help thinking of Arthur C. Clarke's third law. If a
sufficiently advanced technology is truly indistinguishable from
magic, then there can be nothing that you can achieve using magic
that cannot also be achieved using a 'sufficiently advanced
technology' (though it is, of course, possible that Clarke wasn't
thinking of indistinguishable in scientific terms <G>).

But using a few basic assumptions about magic, I actually think it
can be done -- not with a perfect match, but sufficiently good to
support the illusion.

One of my main points is that magic doesn't constitute a violation of
physics as we understand it, but an addition to it. I know that this
probably can't be carried through all the way, but it does work for
nearly every situation we see (you do have to allow for magic to be
an almost limitless source of both positive and negative energy that
is capable of interacting with 'mind' -- but that's where the
addition thing comes in <G>).

> If, for instance, petrified Nick could be wafted along the
> corridor by a fan, why aren't ghosts always being buffetted
> about by breezes?

That's easy -- he was unconscious and thus not in control of his
magic, EM and Higg's fields ;-)

When he is conscious it is his own belief that he cannot interact
with solids etc. that prevents him from doing so. Basically Nick the
Ghost behaves according to the tradition of ghosts because that is
what he believes he should.


Yes, it's foolish, but I think it could be made to work. The whole
exercise would be for fun -- another kind of fan fiction (magical
theory is as fictional as any of the other subjects of fan fiction),
but one which I probably would find more amusing than the traditional
kind ;-)

--
Troels Forchhammer
Valid e-mail is <t.forch(a)email.dk>

Taking fun
as simply fun
and earnestness
in earnest
shows how thouroughly
thou none
of the two
discernest.
- Piet Hein, /The Eternal Twins/
.

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