The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter (38 page)
Read The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter Online
Authors: Tere Stouffer
Chapter 13
Advanced Wizardry
In This Chapter
•
Changing your appearance at will
Changing your appearance at will•
Enlisting the help of a protector
Enlisting the help of a protector•
Looking beyond symbols
Looking beyond symbols•
Reading someone’s mind and emotions
Reading someone’s mind and emotions•
Becoming a prophesier
Becoming a prophesier•
Speaking with snakes
Speaking with snakes•
Keeping a secret and a promise
Keeping a secret and a promise•
Saving your soul
Saving your soulBeyond the herbology, potions, and spells discussed in the previous three chapters, the greatest wizards practice advanced magic that ranges from morphing the shapes of their bodies to getting inside another wizard’s thoughts to conversing with snakes … and the most evil of all advanced wizardry, splitting one’s soul in an attempt to achieve immortality. This chapter gives you the lowdown on what the best (or worst) and brightest wizards are up to.
Being an Animagus or MetamorphmagusAdvanced wizards can change their appearance at will (that is, without the help of a wand or potion):
•
An
Animagus,
combining ani (from animal) with
magus
(Latin for magician), is a wizard who can transform into the shape of an animal at will. This difficult skill can be learned. For werewolves (see Chapter 2), the transformation happens without the control or consent of the person, so a werewolf is not considered an Animagus.
AnAnimagus,
combining ani (from animal) with
magus
(Latin for magician), is a wizard who can transform into the shape of an animal at will. This difficult skill can be learned. For werewolves (see Chapter 2), the transformation happens without the control or consent of the person, so a werewolf is not considered an Animagus.
•
A
Metamorphmagus
(meta means “change” or “alteration,” morph means “form”) is a wizard who can change appearance at will. This is not a skill that can be learned, although wizards can change a portion of their appearance—such as the size of their teeth—with spells or potions (but the effects might be temporary) . Metamorphmagi are born with the skill.
AMetamorphmagus
(meta means “change” or “alteration,” morph means “form”) is a wizard who can change appearance at will. This is not a skill that can be learned, although wizards can change a portion of their appearance—such as the size of their teeth—with spells or potions (but the effects might be temporary) . Metamorphmagi are born with the skill.
An Animagus takes only one animal or insect form (cat, dog, deer, rat, or beetle, for example), and that form often resembles the human in some way. Because Animagi are unrecognizable as humans, however, and because an Animagus transformation is difficult magic that’s fraught with danger, all Animagi must register with the Ministry of Magic, indicating what sort of animal they transform into and what that animal’s particular markings are. Failure to register is considered a serious crime.
Powerful wizards can return an Animagus to his human form, even against his will. This practice allows unregistered and/or criminal Animagi to be exposed as their true selves.
A Metamorphmagus, on the other hand, does not need to register the skill of changing hair length and color, nose shape and size, and eye shape and color.
\Shapeshifting is certainly not new in literature; in fact, it is one of the most common abilities among gods, wizards, fairies, elves, and others in mythology and fantasy, especially in Celtic lore but also in the following:
•
Ged, the young wizard in Ursula Le Guin’s
The Wizard of Earthsea,
can transform into a hawk.
Ged, the young wizard in Ursula Le Guin’sThe Wizard of Earthsea,
can transform into a hawk.
•
In Patrice Kindl’s
Owl in Love,
a 13-year-old girl transforms into an owl at night.
In Patrice Kindl’sOwl in Love,
a 13-year-old girl transforms into an owl at night.
•
Merlin turns young Arthur (before he becomes king) into several different animals in T.H. White’s
The Sword in the Stone,
so that Arthur can learn from the animals.
Merlin turns young Arthur (before he becomes king) into several different animals in T.H. White’sThe Sword in the Stone,
so that Arthur can learn from the animals.
•
Similarly, in Christopher Paolini’s
Eldest,
Eragon learns the nature of the universe by inserting himself into the minds of animals, from ants to squirrels, and viewing the world through their eyes.
Similarly, in Christopher Paolini’sEldest,
Eragon learns the nature of the universe by inserting himself into the minds of animals, from ants to squirrels, and viewing the world through their eyes.
•
In C.S. Lewis’s
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,
Eustace is turned into a dragon for a time, and through this experience becomes an almost nice person.
In C.S. Lewis’sThe Voyage of the Dawn Treader,
Eustace is turned into a dragon for a time, and through this experience becomes an almost nice person.
•
In Caribbean and African folktales, young men regularly turn into birds, insects, and animals of all sizes and shapes.
In Caribbean and African folktales, young men regularly turn into birds, insects, and animals of all sizes and shapes.•
In the Grimm Brothers’ “Hans, My Hedgehog” and “Beauty and the Beast,” the love of a woman transforms a beast into his beautiful human self. In fact, princes and princesses are regularly turned into frogs, beasts, and other animals as the result of a punishing spell, and these effects are temporary until the proper conditions exist for the reversal of that spell.
In the Grimm Brothers’ “Hans, My Hedgehog” and “Beauty and the Beast,” the love of a woman transforms a beast into his beautiful human self. In fact, princes and princesses are regularly turned into frogs, beasts, and other animals as the result of a punishing spell, and these effects are temporary until the proper conditions exist for the reversal of that spell.•
In the movie
Shrek,
a princess takes the form of an ogre each night. In both versions of Disney’s
The Shaggy Dog,
men are turned into sheepdogs, and hilarity ensues.
In the movieShrek,
a princess takes the form of an ogre each night. In both versions of Disney’s
The Shaggy Dog,
men are turned into sheepdogs, and hilarity ensues.
•
Mythological gods and goddesses often took animal forms, and just as often, they punished others by turning them into animals.
Mythological gods and goddesses often took animal forms, and just as often, they punished others by turning them into animals.•
Apuleius’s
The Golden Ass,
Ovid’s
Metamorphoses,
and Homer’s
The Odyssey
all contain instances of humans transforming into animals.
Apuleius’sThe Golden Ass,
Ovid’s
Metamorphoses,
and Homer’s
The Odyssey
all contain instances of humans transforming into animals.
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