Ah, my mistake. I haven't read through Deathly Hallows as much as the previous books so my knowledge is still a bit sketchy. Still, that raises the question of what quality the shield charm on the hats would be. Would they be as 'powerful' as the twins' normal shield charms, and would they be more 'powerful' if someone like Harry or Dumbledore cast them?

Adding on to that, those shield hats would make the wearer pretty much invincible to all but the Killing Curse, because everything else can be blocked by the all-mighty Protego. I can't remember though, would they act automatically if a spell was fired at them? And would they block helpful spells and physical contact like the normal Protego?

Edit: I was thinking of the shield bubble, but I was also thinking of when Harry separated Ron and Hermione with a shield spell in the tent during DH.

 

Assuming that the Weasley twins cast them I would assume the spell would only be as good as they could cast them themselves. This would lead into the answer to your next question: any enchantment will be only be as good as the wizard casting it can make it.

I believe the Protego enchantment was one-use only, and yes they would activate automatically. This would make them useful guards against ambushes - giving the wizard enough time to draw his wand, essentialy. Not, however, omnipotent perma-shields.

And given the many examples of the same spell adapting to fit the situation, I would say they would not block non-harmful physical contact or friendly spells. Although I'm not as sure about the latter part.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Protego can be visible (your example) or invisible (OOTP, when Harry blocks Bellatrix's Accio), depending upon the circumstances).

EDIT: The shield hats are also availible in cloaks and gloves.

 

you guys only forgot one thing. magic =O
i mean...with all these chars to take aways a trunk weight, make something invisible, a shirt that fit whoever wore it and god knows what else the robe wouldnt feel heavy or get in your way

of course~the charms would need a anchor to hold them( idk like...a little crystal on the inside of them?) after all...what the hell would prevent someone to just cast a finite incantatem on your godlike robes just to piss you off and waste your money?

another situation would be prevent you physical harm. aim a reducto on the wall next to you and see if it will hurt to get hit with the tiny little pieces of it

 

What? I think you've read to much fanfiction.

 

Actually I think he has a point here. There must be charms for robes and the like to not get in the way. I mean have you ever tried to run in a cape that reaches the ground. You would be stumbling around like the biggest moron.
You can't tell me that wizards would still wear this stuff, if they didn't have a charm to make it comforting.
Sadly it isn't mentioned anywhere in the books(JKR's dreamworld).

 

I gathered that wizards don't do much running to begin with. The duel in the Ministry between Dumbledore and Voldemort was all magic - no physical dodging at all. They probably see physical exertion as laughable (e.g. Weasleys) or filthy (e.g. Malfoys, Lestranges).

If you're talented enough, you could easily be a threat without running at all.

 

QFT.

Just to play Devil's advocate:

Come on, people, do you really think a wizard would just stand still and let someone fire spells at him, simply because he's wearing armor? That's got Dungeons & Dragons mentality written all over it. "Oh, I know, let's sit the fighter and cleric out front and have them absorb all the hits because, shit, they're the ones wearing the heavy armor."

Really? And I suppose police officers just stand there and let gang bangers take shots at them because they have Kevlar vests? I guess soldiers sitting in a tank never bother moving the tank because, "Hey, we're in a tank, what could possibly hurt us? Let the hits come!"

Just because armor gives you an edge, doesn't mean you don't try to get the fuck out of the way of incoming shit! There's a funny thing about armor: Once it's damaged, it's less effective, and if that damage occurs at the beginning of a firefight instead of the end, I doubt your opponent is going to let you call a time out while you slip into a spare suit. There's a reason Kevlar vests get retired after they're damaged. Besides, any cop who's ever been saved by his or her vest will tell you that being shot still hurts like a motherfucker, and that pain might just distract you long enough for the bad guy to finish you off.

Like birth control, no armor is 100% effective, so standing there like a jackass while people launch spells at you would be suicidal, especially when that dark bludgeoning curse manages to hit your unprotected face.

I imagine not every surface on a dragon is covered in massive armored plates, hello mister rhinoceros, so making form fitting, minimally cumbersome robes with it isn't out of the question.

Not to mention that I have never seen any fic mention dragon 'scale' armor or battle robes, only dragon hide. Who's to say that a dragon's skin isn't still effective armor after the scales have been stripped off?

Also, look at the morality of the Wizarding World and then try to tell me they are above stripping the hide off a young dragon whose scales aren't that large yet.

Finally, if a trench coat can be made of canvas, leather, et cetera, and still be a trench coat, then a set of robes (in the Wizarding sense) can certainly be made of animal hide and still be called robes.

EDIT: I also find the notion that 'skilled' wizards and witches never dodge incoming spells to be laughable at best. I suppose if they were really good baseball players, the pros would never have to jump out of the way of the ball, either? What-the-fuck-ever.

God almighty, when I've started resorting to sports for examples, you know someone has fucked up somewhere.

 

Well...they don't. Because they can apparate, shield, or summon shit.

My German professor gave me this strange approach to learning the meaning of a word: don't think of the word's meaning/translation in your native tongue. For example, if a native German-speaker wanted to explain to another German-speaker what "das Auto" was, the person would not use the English word "car" in the definition. Instead, they would use other terms in the language of the speaker to bring the person to understanding.

Bringing it back to this thread, to "dodge" as defined by a wizard probably is to apparate or shield - and moving out of the way is quite literally foreign.

 

Calm down guy no ones trying to take your cookies so cool it with the angry tone. You guys are taking examples from the muggle world where in canon they have been distinctly seperated from the magical world in terms of progression. While cops leap out of the way because their kevlar vests don't protect them from all bullets sadly they are not able to use full body shields or animating a nearby statue to take death curses for you. Obviously we don't know the mechanics of the Avada kadabra but if a chest piece where to stop an AK why wouldn't your clothes be able to? Does the AK know the thickness of your garments so it knows when to stop?

Regardless of how expensive the "battle robes" are why don't Malfoy,Voldemort, and Dumbledore have any? It seems to me the writers really want a reason to put Harry in armor. Just give him a sword with a magical core and unicorn/thestral mount and go the full nine yards.

 

I still say "Battle" armor is the uniform of a professional dueler. Where the point is to not kill your opponent but to get rid of their wand or incapacitate them. Thus it can be of minor use in a real battle but you wouldn't rely on it.

 

You could say Dumbledore's robe was a battle robe if it would make you feel better. But I don't remember any mention of his robe rebounding or stopping any spells.

 

If you want to stick to reasoning that if something can't be disproven therefore it is real than that's fine you automatically win every argument. But I tend to believe that it's not my position to try to disprove your theory, the burden of evidence is yours to prove something and lack of evidence is not evidence.

 

He was just arguing for argument's sake, which is often termed as -

And Dumbledore didn't have battle armor because:
1. Elder wand wtfpwns animal hides.

2. He's gay. Battle robes simply aren't as flattering to his twinkling eyes as the swirling star/moon robe ensemble. I mean therrriously guyths
/end homo lisp

3. He threw Ministry shit around to block spells

4. I bet his immortal phoenix has taken a coupla curses for him over the years

5. See #2

 

Warlockes whole post was filled with unecessary hostilities. This board used to have intelligent albeit humorous at times discussions about fanfiction. No one tried to enlarge their e-penis by raging for no apparent reason. His bad point could have been made without throwing a hissy fit.

 

Ah, the perils of a textual conversation. I can assure you, every ounce of my post was written calmly and sincerely. Was there a tone? Nope, no tone here. <--and if you think that was sarcasm, you're still wrong.

I'm still not seeing anything hostile in my post, you, however, are coming across like a Drama Queen instead of a Harpy Prince.

Actually, the Harpy part is still accurate.

If I were worried about my e-penis, I'd have started this post off by calling you a silly fucking cunt who was glorying in his ignorant little display of self-righteousness while only coming off looking like a reactionary douchebag. Instead, I prefer to be reasonable.

Seriously. ^ Still written with a cool head, I kid you not.

Was it my use of bold text to differentiate the bits of dialog that set you off? I suppose that could be seen as aggressive, like all caps. *shrug*

Anyone? I'm at a loss here, quite frankly. :?:

Maybe you should calm down and examine whether or not you're merely transferring something onto my post that isn't there. May I recommend double-checking your spelling during this reflection?

Try to keep in mind that without my voice to go by, you may be completely misreading the mood of my post.

See, sometimes I feel like I break my paragraphs too often and come off seeming hyperactive. I know for a fact I overuse commas.

God, here I thought I came off as having made sense more often than that implies.

Definitely a valid point, though I wouldn't say that completely precludes dodging.

Stereotypical lisping aside, dare I say, even more valid? I'd say he doesn't need cheap props like battle robes in order to be a formidable wizard... but there is that whole Elder Wand thing.

And thanks for being a voice of reason.

 

Meh not gonna argue with you. If I was wrong I was wrong, sorry.

Your post still makes me argue the actual usefulness of having the "battle robes" in the first place. If you're still going to dodge spells because you don't know which spells will be blocked and which aren't then why wear them? Neo could cartwheel in a leather trench coat because of the matrix, I doubt Harry could do it to avoid spell fire. Why not just hide behind objects or transfigure objects to hide and protect you?