It's called a Patronus charm. It's a very old spell that banishes Dark (proper noun) forces; specifically, it chases off Dementors, which are beings that drain the souls of humans. My employer, headmaster of my school, personally found a way to modify the spell to send secret messages during the war. Very few wizards have ever been taught how to do it, and two of them happen to be aboard.
Hate, cruelty, pain, given metaphysical form. Turning your shoe into a lemur is benign; maybe not 'good' magic, but devoid of 'bad', also. Curing someone of the plague, causing trees to grow, are good things. Magic meant to kill is not. We manipulate magic and we do not do so in a vacuum. The power used to make a potion or cast a spell goes out into the world and sometimes what it ends up pulled into isn't pleasant.
It goes on. Hairs are split. Points of view are involved. Morality. Standards. Darkness is opposite of light but it is also infinite shades of grey.
It does not mean darkness isn't real. I have felt and tasted both what is painted with a broad stroke of forbidden for undeniable reasons and what is less or more shadowed.
God isn't real. Death can be tricked. Is that good or bad?
Science has quarks and calls the different types of them flavors. Up, down, strange, charm, bottom, top. They are the little things you look for under microscopes and the little things I move when I change the shape of something.
Do you think you could figure out which one is evil?
You're referring to Gell-Mann's work. If I note down every professor of natural science whose lectures I managed to miss for irresponsible reasons, will you tell me which go on to win Nobel Prizes so I can kick myself appropriately?
I'm not properly qualified on the subject of evil.
To be honest this is about the best I get on with anyone to begin with. I live alone in the dungeons of a castle, you know.
[ stop it immediately both of you ]
Darkness is not inherently evil. Darkness is labeled as evil most of the time by idiots who think things like god and karma are real - and I'm sad to say they populate the wizarding world as anywhere else. A Dementor is a Dark creature born of ill-intent and whatever flavor of quark is the wrong one for souls but the right one for Dementor-making. But a hydra is called Dark also, despite it being a natural creature born of the earth like anything else.
There's a difference when you're up to your neck in it but I'm not sure what it'd be on paper.
Like I said: morality hasn't a place in scientific discovery either but it is no doubt put within such frameworks via the actions of man. If you know Gell-Mann and strangeness, you know of Hahn and nuclear fission.
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[ Professor of science. ]
What is its intended purpose ultimately, just a different means to send prerecorded messages?
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I thought about asking you if you wanted the real answer.
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That sounds like a particularly beautiful spell. I'll be interested to see how you progress with it.
It looked almost like a bird.
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What specifically constitutes a Dark (proper noun) force also?
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Hate, cruelty, pain, given metaphysical form. Turning your shoe into a lemur is benign; maybe not 'good' magic, but devoid of 'bad', also. Curing someone of the plague, causing trees to grow, are good things. Magic meant to kill is not. We manipulate magic and we do not do so in a vacuum. The power used to make a potion or cast a spell goes out into the world and sometimes what it ends up pulled into isn't pleasant.
It goes on. Hairs are split. Points of view are involved. Morality. Standards. Darkness is opposite of light but it is also infinite shades of grey.
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[ Just a guess. ]
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[ Of course there are politics. ]
It does not mean darkness isn't real. I have felt and tasted both what is painted with a broad stroke of forbidden for undeniable reasons and what is less or more shadowed.
It's like quarks.
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Science has quarks and calls the different types of them flavors. Up, down, strange, charm, bottom, top. They are the little things you look for under microscopes and the little things I move when I change the shape of something.
Do you think you could figure out which one is evil?
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You're referring to Gell-Mann's work. If I note down every professor of natural science whose lectures I managed to miss for irresponsible reasons, will you tell me which go on to win Nobel Prizes so I can kick myself appropriately?
I'm not properly qualified on the subject of evil.
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I am. And you're right. It isn't real.
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Good exists. Darkness is not only an opposite of light but an absence of it. That is an unscientific opinion for the record.
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[ stop it immediately both of you ]
Darkness is not inherently evil. Darkness is labeled as evil most of the time by idiots who think things like god and karma are real - and I'm sad to say they populate the wizarding world as anywhere else. A Dementor is a Dark creature born of ill-intent and whatever flavor of quark is the wrong one for souls but the right one for Dementor-making. But a hydra is called Dark also, despite it being a natural creature born of the earth like anything else.
There's a difference when you're up to your neck in it but I'm not sure what it'd be on paper.
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Like I said: morality hasn't a place in scientific discovery either but it is no doubt put within such frameworks via the actions of man. If you know Gell-Mann and strangeness, you know of Hahn and nuclear fission.
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But also power plants.
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