Psychic Invasion and Personality-Disorder-Mort

So, This is the post where I try to demonstrate that I was correct on my theory that what the Avada Kedavra curse is is radical psychic invasion, and that this is based in a wand being a unique channel - show that this was born out in the text of Deathly Hallows. (Oh, as a SIDE NOTE: before I forget, on wands and non-wand magic: I was wrong about apparition being non-wand magic - it appears from DH, unless I am wrong, and somebdoy can correct me if I am, that a witch or wizard cannot apparate without a wand in hand, hence Harry's command to Ron in Malfoy manner to "catch and go" as he tosses him a wand [DH474 ... dangerous thing about looking up text details is the temptation to get sucked in again, to just start reading and not stop :) ] ... but from what Voldy said in GOF, possession is non-wand magic (the one "power" left to him after he lost his body, and thus the use of his wand. I suspect that potions is similar to apparition, that it does not utilize the wand for a spell but is necessary for a wizard or witch to do the magic of potions making, but I don't know about brooms, although I would not be surprised to find the same being true. I still maintain a difference though, concerning the wand as symbol - that potions and apparation "rub Harry the wrong way" because of the very fact that, while requiring the presence of the symbolic element, the wand, they do not emphasize the symbolic element by employing it directly in a spell, a verbal recitation almost like creedal statements. A broom, though, as I said, is itself a symbolic element of the transcendant) Anyway, on the presence of psyche in magic: 1. Scarcrux Theory Proven Right DH 686: "On the night Lord voldemort tried to kill him, when Lily cast down her own life between them as a shield, the Killing Curse rebounded upon Lord Voldemort, and a fragment of Voldemort's soul was blasted apart from the whole, and latched itself onto the only living soul left in that collapsing building." Now, this was obviously a pretty decisive confirmation of the scar-as-horcrux theory (just as the fact that Harry was able to read Voldemort's thoughts that showed not the slightest inclination that the ring or the locket had ever even been sought, let alone acquired and destroyed, was a sure coffin nail to the "scar-o-scope" theory), but my interest here is with the implications for the psychic invasion quality of the AK. Basically, I believe the evidence is inconclusive but points in a certain direction, that of the AK as psychic invasion. I do not think it inappropriate that the evidence is inconclusive ... I would not expect a full scale exposition of the psychic-physics aspects ... otherwise this would be a textbook and not a story. But in fact I would even say that the evidence is decisively inconclusive, indicatinn possibly a concrete desire for the matter not to be able to be decided conclusively. The "rubrics" given are that the soul portion wnet looking for another soul to latch onto and found the only living soul left around, Harry (IE, this in and of itself would point simply to a portion torn through murder and then it seeking a home when the rest of Voldy's soul was no longer accessible through a body, which is the definition of a "living soul" - that it is animating a body and accesible to other souls through that body). So, why do I say I think the evidence points in the direction of the wand being a channel of individual psychic energy and the AK as psychic invasion by that route? Well, the first thing to note is what I think would be the reason for the author desiring that the matter not be able to be pinned down entirely ... this is VERY dark magic we are talking about, and there is something to Dumbledore's prohibition on books containing such dark magic as horcruxes - that even knowledge of details of such things taints the person somewhat. I think it is a mark of goodness on Dumbledore's part that he makes the guess the way he does, that he does not speak of, and maybe does not even allow himself to think out the ... but I think the lacunae leave a trace trail of the reality of the thing (or at least that is what I am trying to argue for) Here are the missing pieces I would suggest. First, we know that murder rends the soul, but we are not given anymore (again, that thing of a certain taint in having too much knowledge of evil things). I believe that is tears the soul because the soul is involved so intimately in it ... all murder is, I think, an assertion of one person's identity over another's to the point of the exclusion of the latter's from the world of the living, and I think the AK as a psychic invasion of the same effect through a wand-cast spell is a symbolization of this. Secondly, I don't think that soul portion had to go searching "blindly" for another soul to latch onto ... I think it had a "trace" to follow: the psychic path of the AK itself when cast, that led right to Harry. If it had had to go searching "blindly," what would have kept it from eventually dissipating? All the other soul portions in the Horcruxes disappear when the object is destroyed ... if the AK itself and the intended victim of the murder, and possibly also involving the intention in the soul already to create a Horcux from the murder, why did it seek another object and latch onto a soul, when the soul in the locket did not seek to attach to Ron or Harry when Ron stabbed the locket with the sword? 2. The Wand Thing DH 711 (Dumbledore's explanation of the wand in King's Cross): "I believe your wand imbibed some of the power and quality of Voldemort's wand that night, which is to say that it contained a little bit of voldermort himself. So your wand recognized him when he pursued you, recognized a man who was both kin and mortal enemy." "Imbibed some of the power and quality of Woldemort's wand" = "contained a little bit of Voldemort himself." I think any wand in general is always "familiar" with the particular psyche because it is always channeling the particular person's psychic energy ... but a person like Voldy, for whom the AK is as much a "signature shot" as the XP becomes for Harry - then the wand picking up "a bit of Voldy himself" is very characteristic if the wand is by nature a channel of specifically psychic energy and the AK is specifically psychic invasion. So, there you have it in a nutshell, the reasons I think my interpretation of "wand magic" as the channeling of psychic energy and the AK as specifically psychic invasion is the most consonant explanation of the meaning within the text in these areas. Personality-Disorder-Mort But the issue of Voldy's soul raises all kinds of questions, especially for those of us who read Voldy as anti-social personality disorder. For one ... no backstory on any dementors involved in any statement on any childhood history of voldy and how his soul got the way it was when he started ripping it up and making horcruxes. I still think this is a possibility and one that is consonanst with many other things in the texts, but now that it is a closed corpus it officially falls outside the realm of "interpretation of the text" (unless Rowling happens to write anymore "canon" on the matter, such as in the encyclopedia she has talked about) - it can only be, at least for present, a new imaginative creation of. Of course, I would note again that it can be very, I think, consonant with the text because the text does not preclude it ... the text simply does not go there. Well, the consonance is I think also coming from elements of places the text does go ... but what I am going to address here is another matter, which is the significance of the fact hat the text does not go there in particular. Is Voldy a APDo? Is he culpable for what he is doing? Or was he already "so far gone" from the effects of whatever nature or nurture was there in and acting upon him from an age before the age of reason, to the extent that, while what he does is evil, his culpability is lessened. I definitely think there is enough textual evidence to indict at least half the ministry of magic of serious moral flaws in the events since Harry was born, but what of Voldy himself? The text simply does not answer that question ... but it does show Harry trying one thing, suggesting remorse to Riddle. And that one particular thing relates morally culpable actions. But I do not think this proves the matter - I think it is still the case of the text not going there. What I do think it brings through very powerfully is the "predicament" of such things as personality disorders, and also their "murkiness." I have tried for a while now to pin down certain "definitions," or at least to see if they can be pinned down. And as a "layman" investigating, the best that I can come up with is that the scientific understanding of such psychological malady is that any of the definitions of specific disorders really connotes a combination of various factors including bio-chemical factors (psychiatry/nature), psychological behavior conditioning factors (nurture) and even the impact of volitional action. Beyond that it seems to me there is no "ironclad" litmus test to be able to say "you are x." Certain cases are drastic enough to say with clarity that a person is bi-polar etc. But things such as bi-polar are a spectrum of different mixtures of the factors I just talked about. In cases of full blown mania etc - yes, if the guy is trying to jump off the building not because he wants to die but because he thinks he can fly ... he's full blown manic state. But for many people with bi-polar etc, it is not this clear cut (I have a friend with some relatives who are definitley bi-polar, one legitimately diagnosed and hsopitalized once or twice for manic episode). In all of these though, as far as I understand it, it is always mixtures of factors in varying degrees - certain physiological condition certainly contirbute, but there is no blood test that can tell you, in and of itself without a trained psychatrist investigating the other factors, the psychological factors, "yep you'r ethis count is here and your that count is there and therefore you are technically, verifiably, quantifiably X personality disorder and not culpable for your actions." I believe that the cause and the cure mirror each other and go hand in hand. Is the source of Voldy's "malady" a purely "external" one such as physiological, bio-chemical factors (that is "external" to the volitional qualities of "spirit") that could be symbolized The murkiness of the cause is concommitant with the further question of the cure - how much culpability there is, how much culpable volition has entered into the matter, and therefore how much the answer is maybe medications to (in my experience, including talking to regular psychaitrists, IE those working the field of prescriving medications, and not just people with "an opoinion" on the matter, the answer is never just medication alone), and to what degree is something like exhortation to repent or "try some remorse" the answer. As I said these things vary ... it seems that sometimes the "external" factors such as nature and nurture have exercised such force on the person during formational years that very little volitional is left. but I think the thing with Harry and Voldemort is that while a person walks upon this earth the will still operates at least in some capacity, and in that situation in the great hall Harry has an obligation at least to make that appeal ... at least to suggest remorse on the chance, no matter how slim or "outside" the chance may seem or be, that the appeal will strike a chord with a person like Voldy. In the case of, say, personally disorders, as I was saying in dicussing the whole annulment thing, the impact of whatever mix of factors there are (nature, nature, habituation of choices) may have damaged the person to the point where they simply are not capable of giving themselves the way that is necessary for marriage, and this would thus provide a "deriment" to sacramental marriage. But the person still can use there will to get into counseling and to work with the St Mungo's staff of healers, as it were (whatever combination of psychiatrists, psychologists, pastors, spiritual directors, priests etc) ... and maybe at some point work back into the capability of making that gift of self in that way. That is how I read Harry's suggestion to Riddle that he try some remorse: "I don't even pretend to be able even to begin to understand what point you are at or how damaged you are [although that thing in the King's Cross chapter was pretty bad] ... but as long as you are still here in this world, why not at least take the last chance you have left and at least do what you can to cooperate with healing?" It doesn't answer the question "Is Voldy APDo to the levelof not being culpable?" - rather it symbolizes how murky the question is but also tries to at least give a little pointer in the direction of something that might at least possibly help, might at least hold some possibility of helping a person in a bad state to focus on getting help. There may not be much hope, it may be like Gandalf in the 3rd LotR movie: "hope? there never was much hope ... just a fool's hope" ... but it's what you got to go on. Somebody I was talking to once, discussing these kind of things, said there is an addage: "I'm not responsible for my addiction, but I am responsible for my recovery."