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Seeing is believing
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hp100 challenge this week is Thestrals. And while I was trying to think up a good idea for my entry, I got to wondering about them.
Hermione says, so we know it must be true, "The only people who can see Thestrals are people who have seen death." It seems from Harry's experience that you've got to see another human being die in front of you. Killing the memory of Tom Riddle isn't enough to do it for him.
Thestrals also have a keen sense of direction. Basically, you just need to tell them where you want to go and they'll take you there.
The like blood and raw meat. Oh, and they're great bony reptilian winged horses.
Some questions:
- What enables you to actually see the Thestrals? Is it some change in your vision? Are there other things you can see now too? Death-vision. Or does the death just change something in your aura that the Thestrals can sense and so they make themselves visible to you?
- Can Muggles see Thestrals?
- Why can't Harry see the Thestrals at the end of GoF? There's a scene where they all see the "horseless carriages". (OK, I know the answer to this one is that it's a big continuity error.)
- Why can't Harry see the Thestrals from the very beginning? Judging from his experience with the dementors in PoA, where he heard his mother pleading with Voldemort, he was right there when his mother was murdered by Voldemort. However, I suppose he could have heard the exchange from an adjoining room.
- How does a Thestral know where to go when you give it a London street address, like Harry does? It's a place Harry's been before, so perhaps it can somehow read the necessary info from his mind. But Hagrid says, "Once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' sense o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go."
- Why are their names always capitalized?
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My guess is that the process of coping with seeing a death changes something in the way your mind processes, and that change is what makes it possible to see them.
Can Muggles see Thestrals?
Possibly, though I'd guess they rarely run into them.
Why can't Harry see the Thestrals at the end of GoF? There's a scene where they all see the "horseless carriages".
See above answer about processing the death - I don't think Harry had gone through enough coping with Cedric's death - it was too recent, and the change wasn't complete yet.
Why can't Harry see the Thestrals from the very beginning?
He probably didn't actually see his mother die. For example, she might have been holding him and his eyes could have been shielded. For another, he might have been too young to understand her death (he was definitely too young to consciously remember it) and therefore to deal with it in a way that would change his brain to be able to understand thestrals.
How does a Thestral know where to go when you give it a London street address, like Harry does?
Thestral magic - inherent, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Why are their names always capitalized?
Real answer - Rowling is too damn fond of capitals.
Fake answer - well....er...*whistles innocently*
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So, then, someone could see death, but so long as they hadn't entirely processed it -- perhaps by being in denial -- they still wouldn't see the Thestrals. Hrm.
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In the big interview JKR did right after OotP came out, she said something along the lines of "after you experience death, you have to give it time to sink in." She said she didn't want to mention them without having time to explain them. But it's still continuity error-ish. :)
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And I don't think I buy this "death has to sink in" idea either. If it's not a literal binary "seen death/not seen death" then maybe you could come to the same realisations without actually seeing a person die -- just start being aware of your own mortality.
Or maybe if you saw an illusion of someone dying, then it would have the same effect, so long as you believed it.
As always, the more I think about these things, the more complex they become. *g*
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But that's not "seeing death", either - I can be aware of my own mortality without having seen someone die, just like I can heartily believe and even vividly imagine that on the Moon one doesn't way as much without having been to the Moon myself. If I were ever to go to the Moon it would still be a valid experience, no matter how vividly I'd imagined not weighing as much. Same principle.
I do think that end-of-fourth year bit was slightly sloppy writing, but I'm willing to let it slide. Now, what really annoyed me was that we're never told how Harry got the Marauder's Map back...
Or maybe if you saw an illusion of someone dying, then it would have the same effect, so long as you believed it.
See, now that I could believe. And possibly JKR does too, she's just had no reason to reveal it yet.
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Why are their names always capitalized?
Doesn't JKR capitalize the names of most (all?) magical creatures? Opening to a random chapter in GoF, I see "Blast-Ended Skrewt." Though when she's just referring to "a skrewt" it's lower case.
And it's not just creatures - the students are working with Bouncing Bulbs in Herbology, and the Invisibility Cloak and the Quick-Quotes Quill also get capitalization. So I guess it's magical creatures, plants, and objects? I have no idea what the rule is called, but it seems similar to capitalization for grandma or aunt - if I refer to "my Aunt Agatha" or "a Blast-Ended Skrewt" everything is capitalized as part of a proper name, but if I said "I have three aunts" or "the students were walking the skrewts," or "six or seven thestrals," the words are not capitalized.
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But, yes, JKR loooooves to capitalize things. Sometimes when I write, I lowercase them, like "Apparate", because I think they look weird. But I do the same in LotR fic with "Elf", "Dwarf", and "Man".
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What enables you to actually see the Thestrals?
I think it's having developed an awareness of death and of what death actually means. In some ways, it's like a loss of innocence. (Outside of the HP books, kids have a similar experience; death isn't really real to them until someone they know dies.)
Can Muggles see Thestrals?
Hmm. I don't know. Can Muggles see dragons or unicorns or any of the other magical creatures? If so, then I'd guess yes, but that they don't often encounter Thestrals.
Why can't Harry see the Thestrals at the end of GoF?
It's a weak answer, but perhaps he's still in shock and hasn't really come to terms with Cedric's death?
Why can't Harry see the Thestrals from the very beginning?
I don't think it's the having been in another room thing, because I think I remember reading that Lily had been standing between Voldemort and Harry by placing her body in front of the crib. Then again, perhaps he couldn't see out of the crib? Or perhaps one has to be able to comprehend death at the time for the vision to take effect.
How does a Thestral know where to go when you give it a London street address, like Harry does?
Well, a Thestral isn't the traditional "pale horse," but it's certainly very closely associated with death. Death goes everywhere and comes to everyone, sooner or later; therefore, I think the Thestrals could go everywhere that death does.
Why are their names always capitalized?
They are? I hadn't noticed that (US edition of the books, fwiw). I'll have to go back and look. Someone else above had a good discourse on capitalization, though.
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Wow, I love this. This I will think on further. Good thought.
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I think it's a typical fairy-tale loss-of-innocence thing. Once you've seen a person actually die and come to grips with your own mortality, your mind is open to a lot more philosophical things.
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