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wonga
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 7:07 am Reply with quote
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 95 Location: Australia
Unless I missed it, nowhere in the book is it stated exactly how the unbreakable vow works.
I am assuming that somehow the magic binding the two somehow senses that the promise has not been upheld and so kills the breaker. If this is so how can it tell that Draco has failed, making the task fall to Snape?
It can not be fully established that Draco has failed, sure he didn't kill Dumbledore at that time but he still had time to do it later meaning perhaps the task did not fall to Snape and maybe never would. Did it need a confession from Draco that he was not going to kill Dumbledore for the task to finally fall to Snape? If so as far as i remember Draco made no such confession.
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Owlbait
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:06 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 92
wonga wrote:
Unless I missed it, nowhere in the book is it stated exactly how the unbreakable vow works.
I am assuming that somehow the magic binding the two somehow senses that the promise has not been upheld and so kills the breaker. If this is so how can it tell that Draco has failed, making the task fall to Snape?
It can not be fully established that Draco has failed, sure he didn't kill Dumbledore at that time but he still had time to do it later meaning perhaps the task did not fall to Snape and maybe never would. Did it need a confession from Draco that he was not going to kill Dumbledore for the task to finally fall to Snape? If so as far as i remember Draco made no such confession.


The words of the vow were "Should it prove necessary ... if it seems Draco will fail". The geas is on Snape, not Draco. If Snape believed Draco wasn't going to be able to do it at all - and it surely looked that way - the curse would operate. At least that's how I read it. I think Snape realized Dumbledore was dying and there would be no further opportunities for either Draco or himself to kill him.

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Lady Whitehart
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 4:37 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 38 Location: East Coast USA
On pages 325-326 (US Edition) Ron describes an incident in which Fred and George tried to trick him into making an Unbreakable Vow. Long story short: You break it; you go belly-up.

With this bit of knowledge, coupled with the aragument Hagrid overheard, I am more or less convinced that Dumbledore would sacrafice his life to keep Snape in the picture. Unfortunately, who's going to listen to the murderer of the Greatest Wizard That Ever Lived? I want to see how that reality was planned for.


Last edited by Lady Whitehart on Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:05 pm; edited 1 time in total

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SlytherinSexGod
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 5:01 am Reply with quote
Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 20
hmm... i don't think fred and goerge would do summinnt that might kill ron... but then again... Twisted Evil

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Diana
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:10 am Reply with quote
Head Moderator Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 116
Hi,

Just a reminder. Please read the posting rules located all over these forums BEFORE posting.

Proper capitalisation and grammar, or at least an attempt, is required. No one has time to attempt to decipher netspeak or belligerent writing. Save us all the trouble of skipping over your posts and just follow the rules.

All future postings that do not follow the posting rules will be deleted. We've been very lax on this issue due to the excitement surrounding the release of HBP. However, if you are posting in the HBP forum at this point, I think it is safe to say that the excitement is wearing off.

Thank you.

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wonga
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:33 am Reply with quote
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 95 Location: Australia
What I mean is, is how do they know the vow was not fulfilled? As I said at the start of this I can't find anywhere that says how. All you get from Ron is what it does, not how it works. If in deed the binding magic can sense this then I doubt it could be fooled, which means even under polyjuice the magic would know.

I think Dumbledore is dead, as JKR once said (about Sirius), dead is dead.

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Lady Whitehart
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:20 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 38 Location: East Coast USA
*Shrugs*

Maybe the binding flames become part of you, and if the magic within is broken it causes your death. Possibly it can detect a change in the person's thoughts to contradict the spell or an alteration in body chemistry. Similar to a fuse being blown or an incomplete chemical reaction. Just guessing.

That sounded really geeky, didn't it? Please don't hurt me. Rolling Eyes

Just something else JKR should try to explain in book 7. Cool

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wonga
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:12 am Reply with quote
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 95 Location: Australia
That is a good point. I thought the magic just sensed it or something! No particulars really! Smile

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