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Blood Wards

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Seraphym, Mar 12, 2006.

  1. Seraphym

    Seraphym First Year

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    Ok, so the Blood Wards that are on number 4 are recharged within a month or two, then last for about a year right? So what are the actual benefits of the wards for Harry? Do they somehow affect the protection his mother gave him, or is that what is used to recharge the wards, and they just protect the house?

    If they are just to protect the house, then it seems to me that Dumble has serious issues with protecting and supporting the scum of human kind.
     
  2. Tinder

    Tinder Seventh Year

    Joined:
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    Magic Name: Blood Wards
    Branch: Plot Device
    Caster: None
    Effect: None

    There are two ways you can look at this.

    1) Dumbledore is a cheeky scallywag who lies to Harry all the time - the so called blood wards don't actually exist and Dumbledore just tells Harry they do in order to make him go back to Privet Drive.

    2) Rowling is a cheap, worthless excuse for an author who made Dumbledore talk about how important the blood wards are and then didn't flesh it out at all and overrid them whenever was convenient to her.

    Number two is almost certainly the truth, but for the purposes of fanfiction, number one is often useful. The fact is, there is practically no evidence for the blood wards. Dumbledore rams it into Harry's head that they exist and are crucial, but why this is is unclear. Apparently they are based on Lily's love protection from '81, and are recharged by Harry's proximity to 'his relatives' - why should this be the case? Lily's protection was based on love, not blood, and there is certainly none of that at the Dursley's. Also, Petunia and Dudley have no magic - where is the 'power' that recharges these wards supposed to come from?

    Now admittedly that could possibly be explained, but Rowling neglects to do this, making the wards as holey as they seem...

    What do they stop? What do they DO? They didn't stop Dobby. They didn't stop the Order members who 'guarded' Harry - and if the wards were so wonderful and important, what were the guards there for? So they don't stop magic users, and clearly they don't stop those with bad intentions towards Harry (perhaps Petunia and Dudley could be considered part of the wards, but Vernon is not a blood relation of Harry's).
    When Harry kills Quirrel at the end of PS, we are led to believe the blood protection works against Voldemort - it certainly doesn't work against anyone else. So, if the wards don't protect from magic users, and they don't protect against people with bad intentions towards Harry, necessitating the Order guards, they must be effective against Voldemort.
    Not so. GoF shows us very clearly that Harry's blood protection is no longer effective against Lord Anagram.
    What range do they have? Just the house? They didn't stop Sirius or the Dementors so we have to assume so, in which case, why is Harry allowed out of the house? It completely invalidates the purpose of the wards.

    So, they have no effect outside the house, do not stop any of Harry's enemies, and even if they did him being allowed outside them makes them totally useless.

    The only logical conclusion is that, as above, either Dumbledore is playing Harry for a fool, and Harry is indeed to foolish to realise it, or Rowling is too lazy or careless to create a consistent plot.
     
  3. david9

    david9 Banned

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    If you're looking for the works of a literary genius in the Harry Potter books, you're looking in the wrong place. There are plot holes abound (CoS linked by indoor plumbing, a murderer [Hagrid] is allowed to be "keeper of the keys", Harry getting absolutely no training other than what he and Hermione decide to do themselves, etc etc).

    Plot device pretty much sums up the whole point of the blood protection, since Manipulative-Dumbledore will never happen.
     
  4. cazten

    cazten Slug Club Member

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    The blood wards are most likely just a way for the author to send Harry back to private drive so everyone reading feels sorry for him...

    If they were that damn important dumbledore would send private tutors to private drive and keep harry caged for the rest of his life. In real war you have to do mean, crappy, scary, bad things. Keeping one child locked in an inpenetrable location for training, when hes the only hope for the world doesnt seem so damn bad when you look at the big picture.

    One thing that doesnt add up though again. They say that Lily sacrificed her self to keep harry alive. her love for him blocked the killing curse. Why didnt the hundreds of other families block the killing curses with love for their children? The killing curse is unforgivable becuase it cannot be blocked. Somehting else must of happened that night, something huge and phenonmenal. NOT Lily's love.

    The bloodwards are pure bullshit. Lily didnt do shit except get hit by the AK and die.
     
  5. david9

    david9 Banned

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    What training? Lily's protection helped rebound the AK and helped HP kill Quirrel in PS, but now it's all but useless. The prophecy is probably more protection than Lily dying now.
     
  6. Midknight

    Midknight Middy is SPAI! DLP Supporter Retired Staff

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    Not to be an ass, but if I see you spell privet drive one more time as private drive I'm going to command Gio to go to your home with the participants of the Office story lol
     
  7. david9

    david9 Banned

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    Can you please do that for all the fics that say that too :)
     
  8. Ginny Killer 2.0

    Ginny Killer 2.0 Third Year

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    think about it logicly here loads of mother would gladly sacrifice themselves for their children and they dont get saved from AK. the only reason harry survived that night is because of the prophesy ( spelled that wrong i think). there cant be any real blood wards there. i mean there is no love there just because you go and live with your relitives doesnt mean that you are instantly protected from all harm. though if they were there for some odd reason it would be sololy charged from harrys magic and it would explain why harry is such a fucking pansy in canon.
     
  9. Randeemy

    Randeemy Headmaster DLP Supporter

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    Good point, but it is unlikely that voldemort would give parents the choice of living. The case with Lily was an exception. Dont know why he gave her the choice, it makes no sense, but that is why lilys love saved harry, or at least that is how JKR explained it. That is why lily didnt survive after James ran off to fend Voldemort off...
     
  10. Necrule Paen

    Necrule Paen DLP Elite DLP Supporter

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    You guys forget that not many mothers are given the opportunity to dive in front of the AK for their kid. How many times in history is the kid the target? How many times is the mother intended to be left alive, which is strongly suggested that night.

    Furthermore we don't know if jumping in front of the AK is all Lily had to do, she may have done some kind of ritual first like dance around naked and take a piss in his ear or something. They knew Harry was the target, and Dumbledore is the kind of guy who would want contingency plans.

    As for the wards, we don't know what they protect against, but we know that their presence stayed Voldemort's hand for much of GOF, and they don't protect against the connection probably because the connection had to breach the protections in the first place in order to exist at all.
     
  11. Tinder

    Tinder Seventh Year

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    She didn't jump in front of it.
     
  12. Necrule Paen

    Necrule Paen DLP Elite DLP Supporter

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    Is that what I said? No she didn't jump in front of the AK, but she was shielding Harry with her body. How often is a mother in that position and how often is the mother killed to get to the child, usually they are either kept separate or the mother was killed with the kid instead of in protection of the child, rarely is the child the target and not the mother.
     
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