Moved from Questions thread, where it most definitely not belongs.

Keep it on topic (this very specific one). Derail it, and it's going to be closed faster than you can type guns.

-Sesc

I'm of the opinion that since the Shield Charm can only be defeated with magic and is immune to physical attacks then it can withstand nuclear explosions.

 

Do you think it would block the radiation as well? Given that you can see through the Shield Charm, I would say it couldn't.

The Shield Charm is a pretty inelegant solution to firelegs, in any case. Ties up the wand and requires the caster to be aware and watching the danger. Should be a simpler solution to just create a charm that turns bullets into flowers as they close on you.

 

Where exactly have you gotten this idea from?

 

I honestly don't remember. If it's wrong, I would be glad to be corrected.

 

Pretty sure you would have gotten it from one of Taure's big essays and the bit working out how much force a Shield can take scientifically.

 

Now we got to the Science vs Magic part.

 

Not really; an example was taken where a Shield Charm repelled a quantifiable amount of physical force and a threshold was extrapolated from that.

I think.

Of course, HP magic is such soft fantasy that you could make it work however much you like with varying levels of evidence/backing.

 

So...no nuclear bomb blocking Shields?

Unless the plot demands it of course

 

You'll have to look up Taure's magic mega document. Never read them through myself.

 

The idea behind what Xandrel was saying, I think, is that it's magic, and the name of the spell is 'Protego.' If the point of the spell is to 'protect,' then it should be able to protect you from any attacks or other external phenomena that might cause harm, no matter what they might be, so long as it isn't specifically designed to overcome magical shields (e.g., the Killing Curse). If it is a magical shield with only several specified weaknesses, and it 'protects,' then it should be able to protect you, if cast properly, from anything short of an AK. Even other unforgivables can be blocked (either canonically or presumably) and overcome.

It is known as "the" shield charm, with few variations, implying that it is and has been useful enough, to date, to be kept in use. We are also told that it is difficult enough that most wizards can't even cast it properly.

So, if you want to have a fallible Shield Charm, don't make the Shield Charm limited - make the wizard limited. Make it a complex spell that takes years to master to the point where it is almost always a very useful form of protection. But, canonically, there's really nothing to suggest, in theory, that it couldn't protect you from anything mundane, at least.

Note also that it doesn't always completely nullify an attack, per se. Harry would use it from time to time in the books, and still be knocked off balance, or thrown a few feet, etc. The thing is, it always blocked enough of the damage for him not to be truly harmed. He could always get back up, given that the shield was cast in time.

 

I got that, it's just that in a nuclear explosion there is more worry than the kinetic blow, like the sheer heat and of course the radiation, so it seems a bit far-fetched that a simple Protego would do the job. On other hand, its variation, Protego Maxima, would be a safer bet. As safe as it could be against a nuclear explosion I guess.

 

Why would heat and radiation be any less mundane of a force than kinetic energy? Why does it seem far-fetched - is it just the fact that a nuke is the deadliest Muggle thing you know of?

Is Protego Maxima book canon? Thought there was just 'Protego Horribilis.'

 

Eh, it's Protego Maxima in the wiki but I do think that you are right about the incantation being that one in the books.

It's more about how the bomb affects his surroundings. Just like you said the wizard could still be knocked out of balance, what would do such a strong impact to the shield? He would probably be sent flying very fast and the human body wasn't made to resist that kind of stuff. Also, what do you think would happen with the area's oxygen? The explosion's fire would suck out all the oxygen around and...bad end again.

He could survive these scenarios by using other spells, though. Magic is pretty versatile.

 

I would just think that a properly cast charm would block as much heat/radiation/kinetic force as necessary for the wizard's person to remain undamaged, while keeping enough air within its radius for the wizard to breathe until the explosion was over or the wizard could apparate or otherwise evacuate the space.

Someone like Dumbledore is left standing unscathed in the crater like a bawss.

Someone like Harry comes out battered and smoking, but alive and kicking.

Someone like Crabbe casts it improperly and is incinerated or launched head first into the nearest hard surface, etc.

 

Can you specify the times where Harry was hit by the recoil of a blocked attack?

 

Nice, it seems consistent with the more conceptual views in HP magic, sometimes I do have difficult in thinking like that, years and years of reading sword/gun-wielding Harry slaughtering poor and unaware wizards I guess.

Though, if we go by that definition it would mean that the Protego is very complex, how does it determine what is harmful and what isn't? And the part of keeping enough air? Geez, makes me want to say "It's magic" and forget about it.

Also, poor Crabbe...

 

Yes, this is pretty much what you should do.

On topic, I believe that if you could the shield charm like a bubble around you, it'd protect you from pretty much anything mundane, including a nuclear explosion, but a general shield shape in front of you and you'd possibly get fucked by the heat and radiation coming from the sides. Kind of like a rock wall protecting you from an avalance.

 

Why didn't they just nuke Voldemort.

 

If Accelerator couldn't survive a nuke, the average shitty wizard can't.

 

People never have a problem with shields stopping nukes in sci-if like Stargate, Independence Day etc. I don't see why HP shields should be met with greater scepticism. If anything, HP shields should be subject to less scepticism because at least they don't purport to be governed by the same physical laws as the nukes in question.

It's also worth mentioning, as usual, that a shield doesn't need to counter the entire nuclear blast. It just has to create a person sized area of safety. So if the sheer energy of a nuclear bomb, or the size of the blast, is the sticking point then this is a non-issue. The only energy the magic needs to cancel out is that in, like, one square metre of the total blast radius.

Just a couple relevant thoughts. I won't provide a systematic argument this time as it'd be no different to the other times I've discussed this.