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The Basilisk's Stare and Glasses

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Zed, Jun 7, 2009.

  1. Zed

    Zed Third Year

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    It's established that if one were to make eye-contact with a basilisk through another object, they will only be petrified. What about eye-glasses?

    If one characteristically wore eye-glasses, this could be averted as the glasses being considered a part of the individual. But what if someone started wearing sunglasses or something temporarily or rarely enough for it to be considered uncharacteristic? Would it count as a foreign object that could prevent death?

    And what of mirror shades, for that matter?
     
  2. Averis

    Averis Don of Delivery ~ Prestige ~

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    If I'm not mistaken, Moaning Myrtle wore glasses, although I suppose you could say that she was petrified while wearing glasses and then the basilisk lopped her up afterwards. Either way, it's not that big of deal, and I doubt you'll get many people in here talking about it.
     
  3. Richard

    Richard Supreme Mugwump

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    MM saw the snake in the mirror of the bathroom, so it was a reflection. I highly doubt sunglasses or glasses will make any difference seeing as you'll be making eye-contact. That was the whole issue in the story.
     
  4. darklordmike

    darklordmike Headmaster

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    Yeah, I agree that glasses wouldn't make much of a difference. Everyone who got petrified in 2nd year saw it through some kind of reflection.

    A related question, though: how exactly does the basilisk kill its victims? Are they turned to stone a la Medusa, or do they just drop dead? I had thought the former at first, but I guess it must be the latter if the thing has to eat.
     
  5. coleam

    coleam Death Eater

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    I'm pretty sure they just drop dead. I see the petrification/death stare as a sort of extension of the hypnosis that a lot of normal snakes use on their prey. The basilisk is much bigger and magical to boot, so it stands to reason that its stare is more powerful.

    Also, if I remember correctly, Myrtle did look directly at the basilisk. When she tells Harry how she died, she says that the last thing she remembers is seeing a pair of huge yellow eyes in the direction of the sink that turns out to be the entrance to the Chamber. It's not clear as to whether she had her glasses on or not though; she was in the bathroom crying at the time, so she might have taken them off. Also, glasses wouldn't have much of a filtering effect. The only person to be petrified who didn't see a reflection was Justin Finch-Fletchly, who saw it through the filter of Nearly-Headless Nick. Mrs. Norris saw it in the pool of water, Hermione saw it in a mirror, and unless Colin's camera was a point-and-shoot, he would have seen it in a mirror as well. Sunglasses might help, but since it really isn't clear how the power of the stare is transmitted, we can't know for certain if the UV filtering ability of sunglasses would also filter the basilisk's stare.

    I don't think that considering the glasses to be a part of you or not makes any difference. I think it's mostly in terms of reducing the power of the stare. Seen through a reflection or a ghostly mist, it would have less power than if seen directly; plain eyeglasses have little to no filtering capability and thus cannot reduce the power of the stare, so they would be useless as a defense.
     
  6. Immolo

    Immolo High Inquisitor

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    If she had been cut up her ghost would have showed it like Nearly Headless Nick does.
     
  7. Zed

    Zed Third Year

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    Glasses wouldn't have been an issue in Myrtle's case since she always wore them and therefore they were a "part" of her, if you want to go with the exception I suggested in my post.

    EDIT: Now that you mention mirrors, the petrification thing actually makes a lot of sense.

    Seeing the basilisk's eyes through a reflection means you are only seeing an image of its eyes, so it would follow that you would suffer from an image of death. Petrification could be interpreted as this. As for Nick, it could be similar to fog. Shine a light into fog and it will be reflected all over the place but you can still see lights from the other side.
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2009
  8. Sorrows

    Sorrows Queen of the Flamingos Moderator

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    Didn't Creevy see it though his camera lens?

    And, Immolo, I thought Nick was nearly Headless because that was how he died, if Myrtle died of the stare, and her dead body was eaten then it wouldn't show on her ghost.

    But the point is moot because when Harry was in the diary didn't he see them take the covered up body out (or hear them talking about it anyway)
     
  9. Immolo

    Immolo High Inquisitor

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    Myrtle did die because of the stare. He was arguing that it was possible she wasn't killed just petrified and then eaten. I was just making the counterpoint that if she had been petrified then killed her ghost would have shown that fact because that would have been how she was killed.
     
  10. coleam

    coleam Death Eater

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    Depending on the type of camera he was using, he still could have see it in a mirror. A SLR camera uses a mirror to transfer light from the lens to the viewfinder. If it was a point-and-shoot, then he would see it through a separate lens without the mirror. JKR never specifies the type of camera he uses, but in the movie I believe he's using a SLR.
     
  11. Redeye

    Redeye Penultimate Lurker DLP Supporter

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    I suppose if you wore your stunna shades it could lessen the effects of the gaze.
    apart from that I don't think regular eye-glasses help any
     
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