So I was thinking yeah, it's a shock but you'll get over it. I'm not sure if this kind of thing has already been talked about or maybe tackled by the fanfiction world but I figured I woul chuck it out here anyway.

I was wondering if there was a possible event of a kind of magical Y2K, but where it would actually happen. Something like this:

All interlocking ministry magic was someone attacked and completely collapsed. Anything that came in contact with Ministry magic instantly stopped working and all out failed. Wands, floo travel, Detection charms, any animal controlling spells and stuff all just cut out. However, independent magic; Apparation, wandless magic, animagus etc were still capable of running.

Chaos would ensue, and the Wizarding World falls into anarchy with riots and the like. Whats left afterwards is a few small warring factions that fight to survive in whats now basically a destroyed wizarding world.

Thing is, would wards and runes come under the independent or ministry controlled magic? Does the fighting wizarding world get revealed to Muggles and everything?

It's just an idea, I was wondering if we could have a super DLP debate about it. Unless we already have but I did a quick search and couldn't find anything.

 

All depends on how you believe magic exists.

Sub-dimensionally?
Ley-Lines?
Ley-Nodes?
Internal Self-Sustaining Core?

If it's sub-dimensionally, why not collapse the entire dimension when a muggle super-bomb detonates and either warps or shuts down magic like EMP?

If Ley-Lines...ignite them all with a magical cataclysm that would scour them from the earth for all time.

Ley-Nodes? Make them implode/ explode/ neutralise them.

If ISSC, a muggle/ magical cross-species disease that subtly alters the person, not allowing them to utilise magic and as it builds, have them Spontaneously Combust.

 

I've seen such a story a while back. Voldemort is slowly bringing down all the Ministry-controlled anti-muggle wards and no one knows how to fix them (the secret has been lost ages ago). Muggles discover wizards and a war breaks out. Decent ideas, but I remember giving up because the story itself was crap.

 

I just thought it would be good to see magical people fighting with no wands or anything, apparation and animagus transformations everywhere and all that.

It could be like Waterworld or Mad Max even, with some wizards finding a way to get magic up and running again, feeding a small community with it. The muggle wards could lock or fail, trapping wizards in magical-only areas or something.

 

Perhaps have Nuclear occur, and all the radiation seriously disrupts the way magic works. You could have the wizards and a slightly larger portion of muggles survive.

Wizard magic would be different, only apparation, animagus, and wandless or some such rot. Muggles would be able to compete. It would be an interesting struggle.

I'd keep potions working.

 

I like the nuclear fallout idea, ,but if it happened then potions really wouldn't work. Everything would be tainted with radiation. It would give the ingredients all kinds of different properties.

 

How would you attack magic? What exactly do you mean by ministry magic? Every wizard/witch is shown to have a connection to magic. The ministry doesn't provide it to the people, they were born with it. You need something to affect the magical connection of people.

In that case, you could have the connection partially disrupted on most people. Let's say people were able to fight off the thing that's taking away their connection eventually. With some of their connection stripped away, they would only be able to use some types of magic. Or, their magic could become unstable.

Every spell they use becoming either too strong or too weak. Though it's up to you to explain where magic comes from, and what's disrupting it. I'm also against the nuclear radiation theory. We have no proof that it disrupts the magical process. If it somehow did, then I'm sure the wizards would act.

Despite the vast incompetence of the ministry, the unspeakables would be looking out for something like this. I'm sure they would be a little bit wary of this. Furthermore, is it the radiation that disrupts the connection, the EMP pulse, or simply the shockwave? In any case, all of these carry a form of energy.

Which is why I don't agree with this theory. The only way I see how energy could affect the wizards magical connection, would be if the connection is linked to the environment, and if wizards draw their magic from the earth itself.

However you have many problems with this. If the connection is disrupted by energy. Then wouldn't it have been in Canon? There are spells that can block dragon fire. That's a lot of heat right there. Perhaps the same amount given by a low-yield nuclear bomb.

Yet, there's also a problem with that. Wizards should be affected by spells too. As they attract magic from the environment shouldn't they gather energy from spells too? The dragon fire too would be gathered as energy. In Canon we are shown that spells aren't affected by the environment surrounding it.

If magic is drawn from let's say another dimension. Then the connection would have to travel through space to reach the place where the magic exists. However, there are supernovas and gamma ray bursts occurring in space all the time.

These are far more powerful than a nuclear bomb, yet the connection is seemingly not disrupted in the slightest. As the connection is shown to be able to resist these high amounts of energy. You would need something very unique in order to take away people's magical abilities.

 

Reyhkt: If magic is bound to the earth then the disruption of the planetary lay out may shift things up. Please don't lean on the Unspeakables. They run a ubber secret lab that a bunch of 5th year students can break into. We know little about their what they do or their competence. What we do know does not impress me.

Jon: Cool idea, but please don't forget that we have Goblins. I don't really see the post fall-out world as being Wizard vs. Muggle, as the Wizards would be closer to muggle level. I would think it would somewhat like feudal lords and all that rot. Wizards would not have to lead every society.

However, magic draining vampish wizard mutants could be cool.

 

The only thing running through my head right now is Mak Attax.

 

I was not saying that magic was bound to earth, merely that it is possible that it draws it's energy from the environment. In fact I believe this would be impossible to apply to the Harry Potter universe. A nuclear device will not damage the connection to people's magic at all. Simply because magic cannot be drawn from the environment.

If it was it would have effects that we would have been able to see in Canon. If magic is drawn as energy from the environment, then the amount of magic will change depending on the energy of the environment.

A nuclear device could severely disrupt one's magical connection, since it releases an enormous amount of energy. However as shown in Canon, magic is not affected by the energy in the environment. If it were true, then spells would be enhanced by other spells.

As spells contain a special type of energy that can change the matter surrounding it, then magic should absorb the energy emitted from these spells. Magical places such as Hogwarts, where there is ambient magic (therefore energy too) in the air should supercharge spells. There is no indication however that spells in areas with lots of ambient magic are affected. They are the same as when one is out in the countryside.

That is why wizards cannot draw their magic from the environment. A self sustaining core wouldn't work either. Since if magic is drawn from one's body then people could get exhausted from using too many spells. However in Canon wizards are not at all tired from using too many spells.

Therefore I propose that wizards and witches draw their magic from a different dimension or parallel universe. If this is the case then the magical connection would still be able to resist a nuclear blast.

Now it is possible that in order to achieve the connection with the source, then the connection must span across the universe until it reaches it's boundaries. Whereupon it will cross the boundary of the universe and enter the parallel one, where it can siphon the energy which we call magic. In this case the connection would have to be very strong.

Like I said gamma ray bursts, black holes, and supernovas are a danger to these connections. However people can use their magic with seemingly no disruptions at all. If these magical connections can resist these enormous powers, what chance does a puny nuclear explosion have?

As these events trigger far more energy than a nuclear blast, we can conclude that the magical connection cannot be disrupted by energy on our universe. Indeed nothing we can do will disrupt the magical connections of wizards.

The best thing to do really is to create a magical disease that directly affects the mind of the caster, not the connection. The mind after all is what controls the persons connection. This could severely disrupt one's ability to use magic. Blocks created by this virus could even be placed on the mind, which limits the caster to using only a specific part of their magical ability.

 

Your reasoning here is extremely flawed. Remember, Reyhkt, it is the wizard that determines how much energy goes into the spell, nothing else. Spells get supercharged because the wizard decides he wants to put extra energy into the spell. Simply put, the amount of energy in the environment - in the assumption that the source of magic is the environment, at least - is completely irrelevant unless there is an absolutely pathetic amount of magic in the environment.

 

Yes it is the wizards's mind that regulates the magic. While there may need to be a low amount of magic in the environment to have an effect on the spell. The wizards will need skill to concentrate, corresponding with the different amount of energy in the environment. In Hogwarts, spells could be cast much more easily. While in the countryside it will be harder to do.

So while each spell could come off with the same energy and effect despite the environment. Wizards will have to concentrate differently depending on the environment. In Canon it is not shown that the wizard must put more power into the spell in the countryside, instead of a zone with lots of ambient magic.

The spell comes out with the same effect and energy, even though people do not concentrate more or less at all. The spell, and the mind of the caster is shown to be not affected in the slightest by the environment. Also it is important to know that while magic can be diminished by the environment, it can also be increased.

During the first task in the GOF, Harry ducks behind the boulder in order not to get scorched by the fire from the dragon. Now why didn't he use a shield charm? If magic was indeed drawn from the environment, then Harry could leech off the energy from the flame, and use it to power his shield without the need for a more advanced shield charm.

 

Again, so long as there is sufficient magic in the environment, the amount of magic in the environment is irrelevant. The wizard needs X amount of magic for spell Y. Environment A has magic equivalent to, say, Z, an amount far greater than X. Wizard draws out X amount of magic, and casts spell Y. Then, he goes to Environment B, which has magic equivalent to, say, 3Z, and casts spell Y. Does the fact that Environment B has 3 times as much magic in it than Environment A matter? Absolutely not. In fact, the wizard had no idea how much magic was in either environment, because it was irrelevant. There was enough magic in the environments to cast the spell; that is all that matters to the wizard.

Have you ever heard of the fight or flight reflex? It makes thinking difficult. Harry dodged behind the rock because he didn't think of the shield charm. Simply put, Harry, under the fight or flight reflex, sees an incoming attack and something that he can put between him and the attack, so he does just that.

 

Large parts of your arguments are irreverent. You can't 'create' magic; its energy, and energy can not be created or destroyed.

However, I think the both metabolic, gravitational, and magnetic forces can convert food/gravity/magnetics into magic. I also submit to my interpretation of The Gospel, Potter's Resistance.

And Man did have his own magic, and nature did as well. And in unison, a spell was crafted of both, to smite Harry's enemies. And Harry did so fight against the Wild Barrier, that he might unite the forces within and without him.

I think you recharge from environmental magic, which, in my Magical Theory, is Hawking Radiation, and from food. Having a spell be fueled entirely by whats around you isn't believable, JKR describes Harry feeling 'weak' after large bursts of magic.

And, concerning the OP:

I had a similar brainwave recently that is going to be a story I right after I finish -- never mind, you don't care.

Anyway, Voldemort released a Warding equivalent to a computer virus that crippled all Runemachines. Apparition is bye-bye (mine is Ministry-controlled.) and some cheap wands (that aren't pure Animatory runes and have some Warding schemes) are destroyed, and all infrastructure is caput, along with ships delivering foreign aid. But most magic works. The virus has a burn-out, and Europe tries to recover with both Voldemort and the new mini-countries that were founded on its corpse raising hell.

As for Apparition theory: I think that it would be Ministry controlled, or people would get much more exhausted. Transporting matter from A to C without passing B would mean either taking 'd' or a wormwhole (this is also how my portkeys work). What I've thought of in my raving obsessions is shrinking down to the size of an electron (admittedly, probably quite difficult. Thats why it would be the Ministry's machine's job) then falling through a wormwhole to the top of a carbon nanotube. As you fall through, the pressure is equalized. Near the bottom, you rip open another wormwhole to your final destination. This would explain the 'squeezed through toothpaste' feeling and your magic would only need to make two tiny wormwholes. Since each passage is only made of one molecule, it would be cheap and space efficient. One square inch could transport, at once, every human from now 'till kingdom come and still have room to spare.

 

Ah, I see what you mean know. However, I would think that wizards would deliberately overpower their spells in this case. If they were fighting for example, why not leech energy emitted from people's spells? It would not take more skill to draw magic from the environment, since there is more magic in the environment to supply the caster.

That's possible. Though I would think he would plan before hand wouldn't you? Furthermore, if my theory is correct shield charms would be impenetrable. As the energy to supply the shield can be drawn directly from the source affecting it.

 

They probably want to avoid causing the spell to backfire. On the drawing energy from spells vs the environment...drawing it from the environment would be easier, because it isn't focused, it isn't formed, whereas an opponent's spell is. This means that, when attempting to draw from an opponent's spell, you have to eliminate its form, refocus it, and send it back at the opponent, all while it is being sent at you. Or you could just dodge the damn thing and just draw the raw energy from the environment.

I believe it is best stated in one of Murphy's Laws of Combat (if it's not Murphy's, do correct me):

"No plan survives the field of battle."

 

Wands should not be considered 'ministry' magic. Wands were around for 2000+ years before the ministry was formed. There's really no reason for wands to stop working.

And usually wandless magic in a fic = instant fail. Canon shows that intentional wandless magic is pretty much impossible. You can make subtle changes here and there, but if you have the whole populace doing wandless magic, it drifts too far away from HP.

 

1: Reyhkt, I'm not going to bother arguing with you. Nuking shit is a easy plot devise that doesn't divide wizards and removes most muggles. It can be twisted to get rid of most forms of magic without making the ministry ubber pwoerful. Any other who isn't creative enough to come up with a reasona as to why has no business writting.

2. Lets go with you alternate universe therory.

In the began, God had to take a shit. He shat is several different places, this became kewl arches (see the on in the DOM). Through these arches Wizards gain their easy access to the alternate universe. Nukes fall. Goodbye arches. Now wizards are unable to perform complex magics simpley. However, within every wizard is an access point to this alternate universe. It is tiny, but it is there. They, like all magical creatures, sustain their internal magically nature through this. Because they still have this little access, they can still perform magics that affect their own bodies. Granted, a great deal of work and training is needed for much of this, like the animagus transformation. It now takes a great deal of time and energy to perform complex spells, and to do so the rules of magic have to be re-invented.