Formerly a... well... you get the picture...



My “actual” question is about ‘Intent Only Casting,’ as described by Filius Flitwick way back when Harry was a firsty. *(Professor Flitwick closes a door, it's not a big deal from a narrative perspective, but from a Magic perspective was kinda interesting)

I thought of shear willpower overcoming the Age Line (going so far as to planning a oneshot where Santi’s Harry succeeds using this method) … But am interested in people’s thoughts.

Once you get good enough, Dumble/Volde level, when casting your intent… all you need is DESIRE?

 

Oh God, not another spin-off topic. :facepalm

 

I'm starting to really enjoy these.

I think that no matter how much you want something, you must both understand the spell/incantation in your head and complete the wand movement.

 

Can't be or Harry couldn't have cast Sectesempra the first time. All he knew at that point was "For Enemies"

 

Right! just the incantation and wand movement then.

 

Sorry for the derail mates, I stupidly posted an ironic joke because of all the… derails. So Yeah, my own fault!

Anyway the Intent-Only-Casting was a serious question, I was kind of interested in what Santi fans thought of that conversation with Flitwick

Guess I should have posted it in the ‘Questions that don't deserve their own thread’ Thread, instead of posting it from a bed, in the stead of Zed, who bled, pretending his name wasn’t Ned, hiring a head, of some major corporation who led, the thread…
(Laws need to be passed preventing me from rhyming!)

'​

Mr. Minion? Can this be shunted to that? And if not can you blitz the thread completely? It's an embarrassment!​

 

Fixed: 'I agree, that rhyme was awful'.

But, on topic, I agree with Gambit. I think if you make will power alone enough it invalidates the point of magical education. Hogwarts would just teach a few spells to prove it's possible then have the students meditate, in the same way they do for non-verbal casting or apparition.

I understand the sectumsempra spell kinda disproves the need for prior knowledge but perhaps behind the scenes something about the wand motion and/or the incantation (its similarity to rictumsempra or other spells) helped Harry gather the necessary understanding to cast the spell.

And, a need of an in-depth knowledge of the relevant magical theory pertaining to a specific spell or sub-branch of magic would help to explain why it's considered difficult - why it's high level magic. It'd help to show that a wizard or witch is of a certain level of competency and significance.

EDIT: The cheap shot was for the rhyme rather than the actual thread which is what I think some people are misunderstanding. I deeply and sincerely apologise for the upset and emotional trauma I have caused to any and all members concerned. Now shut up about something unimportant.

 

To be fair to the OP: Who are you again, Blorcyn? I've made that nub move, but don't go telling people to quit posting. You're no mod.

Anyways...

As I've been apt to say lately, we must all remember that we had both an unreliable narrator and an unreliable author. Because JKR didn't have a system of magic truly set in stone, Harry himself wasn't made as the type of character who would ever care to think about the whats and whys of magic.

Thus, we will never the answers to certain questions: Is there a 'magical core'? Do spells require mental visualization, intent, proper wand movements and incantations, or some balance of them all? Can a shield spell stop physical attacks, even up to the speed of a bullet? Following the line of thought of the previous question, do spells work in such a way that, for example, a summoning spell literally, simply summons in any manner the caster wishes, or was the 4th year version of summoning the end-all-be-all of it affects?

These questions have been asked, argued, discussed, broken apart, cited, and despised by every theoretically inclined user of this site to the point that it's hard to find the 'first thread' they were brought up in.

Therefore, when some newbie brings them up, most people just don't respond. Others link older threads (which anyone interested should go read)- but I'm not that person, because I'm a lazy fuck. Other newbs bandwagon and say 'lol, you're so dumb! Stop posting.

I write long posts no one will read, because it's late, I'm bored, and I sorta wish I was back in time when this shit was actually interesting again! Q_Q

Edit: I've written posts half that size and gotten either tldr'ed or just utterly ignored. When I write short sentences, especially witty ones, the masses read them and lulz apparently occurs. /shrug

 

Bitch, please. You call that a long post?!?

 

:facepalm

I have an idea for you sir:

1. Take that vicious, and pointless comment
2. Change the subject to yourself because of your needless rudeness.
3. Slap yourself for me. Everyone does stuff like this, and when you do it (and you will), I shall be there to mock, and be unnecessarily rude.

Peace out.

 

It also explains Harry's use of Sectumsempra. He may not know much about that specific spell, but he knows a lot about the Dark Arts. As well as having a natural talent for it and excelling at the coursework in this area, he's also read around the subject reasonably widely - e.g. the series of DADA books Sirius and Remus give him, which I think we can assume he read.

 

This is where I fail to agree, Taure. He used Muffliato, Langlock, and Levicorpus all with the same amount of ease. None of those are particularly related to the Dark Arts or even DADA.

In the end, I think it's more likely the the separation of magic into 'sections' is just as silly of an idea as that of 'magical cores'. It was Harry's growing ability to use all magical spells that allowed him to, more and more often, use spells without practice and without even knowing what they were.

What I think is actually interesting about the Sectumsempra example is exactly what knowledge Harry had of the spell before he used it: a vague intent and effect- 'for enemies,' an incantation he didn't know how to specifically say (remember Wizard Buffario and WinGARdium LeviOsa), and at least moderately vague wand movements.

As Harry had no way to know he was correctly casting the spell, yet the spell came out in such a way that Snape knew exactly what it was with a glance, obviously none of those three things are essential to a spell's success.

But what does that leave us with? I'm not honestly sure there's anything left to call the key ingredient to spell use. I think the only think I can say accurately is that Harry, had he been earlier in his Hogwarts education, would not have been able to cast Sectumsempra with so little understanding of the spell.

 

I would hazard a guess that it all depends on the spell. We know that the Cruciatus needs to be backed up with the intense desire to cause pain... it's why Harry casts it unsuccessfully on Bellatrix. Wand movements and the incantation are enough to cast a weaker version of the curse, but not one strong enough to create torture. The Patronus, as well, has the requirement of being cast with a particular happy memory in mind, one of the reasons it's so difficult to execute properly. We don't know how technically complex Sectumsempra is (difficulty, what year would theoretically be taught to in school, etc.). It's possible that it's no more complex than Lumos, for example, which doesn't need any volition behind the words.

I also agree with other posters that Harry's growing ability to use magic has to have helped, along with the anger and fear he was feeling toward Malfoy as he started an unprovoked (aside from being caught crying) duel with Harry. Harry was already suspicious of Malfoy and certainly considered him an 'enemy' at that point, which is why I think the spell worked so well.

 

Right. But DADA isn't the only class he's taken.

 

I think for anyone possessing the proper talent, spells can be a point-and-say matter, with wand movements added for more complex spells or spell efficacy.

 

I mark being a fully-fledged Wizard, capital W, as granting you several abilities and privileges.

Number one is that you are never, under any circumstances, late.

The second is that you have magic. Ergo, you don't have to explain shit.

In HPverse canon, casting magic does not make you tired, or mentally strain you beyond the effort it takes to remember the spell (to my knowledge). We also know that spells technically need no vocalization, meaning there is no reason Neville Longbottom couldn't cast a Stunner by saying Stubefy given proper focus, seeing as the words really don't matter.

For these reasons, I interpret the answer to the original question of the thread as being 'yes', and answer the unasked question of 'what's stopping every wizard in HP from being god-mode all the time' as 'goddamn nothing but their imagination', assuming no other laws than those stated in canon exist.

It's one of the reasons I'm leery of going into the magical mechanics of a world like the HPverse as opposed to, say, Name of the Wind. Certain things don't make any goddamn sense, like, say, the existence of material poverty in a wizarding family (the Weasleys), where wizards are perfectly capable of violating natural laws of physics at zero subjective cost beyond the decision to do so, and therefore capable of producing the work output of dozens, hundreds or thousands of Muggles (depending on the field of industry and level of skill required) by themselves.

After all, to my knowledge, the Statute of Secrecy only prohibits actively doing magic in front of Muggles or (assumedly) indirectly revealing magic to them (and let's not even talk about how they monitor or police that). There's nothing to stop a wizard from say, building a completely mundane country mansion in a day and selling to a Muggle housing agency. Or chopping down an entire forest and selling it to lumber company at the cost of the output and labor. Then, seeing as there is almost zero chance that Muggle and wizard capital don't have an exchange rate, you are officially making bank. If you're not a multi-millionaire in a year you're a lazy fuck.

Basically, once Hermione gets her hands on an economics textbook it's all over. I like to personally keep a little headcanon that the muggleborns in the book are just the small percentage who aren't abusing the ever-loving shit out of their powers in the Muggle world.

Getting a little off-topic. Essentially, forget unmentioned spells. Take just the spells listed and grind the fuck out of them. They're already rule-breaking as shit.