10 Things Magic CAN'T Do - Harry Potter Theory

[Music] hey everyone welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory today we're going to be discussing a topic near and dear to the Harry Potter Story magic within the greater wisting World Magic flourishes at every turn captivating readers and transporting them into a world of wonders from spellbinding duels to extraordin enchantments The Wizarding World exhibits an extraordinary amount of mystical potential at times the capabilities of magic even seem boundless however looking beneath the surface of this magical tapestry lies a fascinating question what are the limitations of magic forget what magic can do let's instead focus on what it can't do taking this approach I think we're in for a much shorter list let's dive in gamp's law notice discussion surrounding the limitations of magic is complete without first addressing gamp's law of Elemental Transfiguration a magical law within the Wizarding World that governs the rules and limitations of transfiguration I should also point out that law in this context refers to a set of scientific principles and not a piece of prohibitive legislation in the Harry Potter Universe conjuration is a form of transfiguration magic that involves the summoning or creation of objects creatures or subst es through magical means it is a branch of magic focused on materializing things out of thin air or transforming existing objects into something else and according to gamp's law there are five principal exceptions as far as what can be created out of thin air your mother can't produce food out of thin air no one can food is the first of the five principal exceptions to gamp's law of Elemental Transfiguration it's impossible to make good food out of nothing you can summon it if you know know it is you can transform it you can increase the quantity if you've already got some as shown above the first known principal exception to Camp's law is food however what's interesting is that even though the law prohibits creating food from scratch it does allow for food to be transformed multiplied or altered through Transfiguration magic and though we know food to be number one on the list of five principle exceptions to gamp's law the other four remain unpublished in official wisting World law however this does leave the door wide open for theories and I happen to have a few exception number four gold given that gamp's law seems to be centered around conjuration I think it's reasonable to infer that the other four exceptions were simply other categories of substances which could also not be created from nothing based on what I know about witing Society I suspect that one of the other main exceptions is somehow related to money or gold this would explain why in the flourishing and plentiful Wizarding society and poor witches and wizards exist and also how Wizarding poverty could exist at all I can't imagine that the Weasley family or RIS Lupin were poor by choice and it's important to note that even witches and wizards would need some form of incentive to work so I think that the inability to conjure currency fits quite well here it's also likely that the exceptions with gold were deeper rooted than food as if gold could be multiplied as F could be then it still wouldn't really be any kind of an issue being too lazy to multiply your own gold is not exactly an excuse for being poor so I imagine it's just not a possibility furthermore if it was possible to transfigure things into gold then the Quest for the fabled philosopher stone which does just that wouldn't have been going on for centuries exception number three life I strongly suspect that another one of the exceptions to gamp's law is Conjuring life at first first glance there are a few instances in the series that would contradict this like herione being able to conjure a swarm of birds however it's important to note that these conjured animals are not truly alive but rather intricate replicas of Life while they may appear remarkably real they lack the ability to grow reproduce or go through a life cycle thus they do not violate gamp's law as they are not considered living beings furthermore the ability to conjure living objects such as animals would apparently conflict with another aspect of gamp's law which prohibits the conjuration of food for instance even if one were to conjure a transfigured chicken it would merely be a replica and provide no nourishment if butchered and consumed furthermore one of the underlying themes of Harry Potter is that no matter how you choose to go about it death is an inevitability cheating death is simply not possible and I feel that creating artificial life would somehow undermine this messaging exception number two love in the Harry Potter series love is a powerful and recurring theme it is depicted as a force that transcends magic and influences the actions and relationships of the characters it's also portrayed as a driving force that can conquer evil protect loved ones and Inspire acts of bravery and sacrifice so given the power of love it seems a fitting exception to gamp's law however I suspect your minds may now be deviating towards a specific potion Amenia AKA The Love Potion amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world it is distinctive for its mother of pearl Sheen and steam rises from the potion in Spirals and Malena smells different to each person according to what attracts them and while Amenia may be labeled The Love Potion there is an important distinction that needs to be made here you see while amentia mimics love and induces powerful infatuation it does not create genuine love just a semblance of love that is derived from strong Obsession real love is not something that's achievable via magic and this is reinforced by slug horn himself exception number one knowledge information the realm of magic includes the ability to manipulate thoughts memories and emotions while altering thoughts and memories is considered a legitimate form of magic techniques like legilimency and oomancy do not fall under the purview of Transfiguration this is because thoughts are intangible and spiritual in nature not physical substances Transfiguration on the other hand deals with the magical alteration Conjuring and manipulation of physical objects as a result thoughts cannot be modified created or erased through the use of transfiguration furthermore although it is possible to enhance one's intelligence acquire knowledge improve cleverness transfer information from one mind to another and generally manipulate what one knows finding a ready-made Solution by waving a wand is not possible while there are tools such as correcting feathers and answer writing quills their abilities are limited in certain ways otherwise characters like Dumbledore could effortlessly obtain vast amounts of information about Tom Riddle in an instant or create entirely new spells within moments therefore while it is possible to gather information and increase one's intellectual capacity it remains impossible to conjure information out of thin air and those five would be my guesses for the exceptions to gamp's law food love life love and knowledge however the exceptions outlined in gamp's law are certainly not the only limitations to Magic in reality there are many other things that magic can't accomplish let's dive into some more aging the process of aging and the desire to Hal or reverse it is a recurring theme in fiction but in the Harry Potter Universe magic does not as far as I can tell serve as a means to control or manipulate age witches and wizards do have various superphysiological benefits when compared with humans such as a slower rate of aging and or longer lifespans but stopping or slowing aging with magic doesn't seem possible all too often we have witnessed Wise Old Wizards with white beards trailing down to the floor and to suggest that this could be controlled with a bit of magic seems unlikely however no conversation surrounding aging would be complete without mentioning the philosopher stone or more specifically the elixir of Life The Elixir of life was a potion created from the philosopher stone by Nicola Fel that extends the taker's life both Nicola Fel and his wife took the potion for most of their lives and it allowed them to live upwards of 600 years old however the long-term effects of the philosopher stone are largely undocumented whether drinking the potion could truly result in eternal life is not known the potion does suggest that witches and wizards have some degree of influence over their rate of Aging but I would classify use of the rare and sought-after philosopher stone to be a bit of a one-off resurrection the act of resurrecting the dead is portrayed as highly complex and near impossible in the Harry Potter Universe while there are instances of characters returning from apparent death such as vort and Harry Potter these cases involve unique circumstances and Powerful Magic Resurrection is not a common or easily achievable feat and even when attempted it comes with significant risks and consequences if the tale of the Deathly Hallows is anything to go by then we know that death is an inevitability and that attempts to cheat or circumvent death are futile this is reinforced through use of the Resurrection Stone which only brings back shades of the former individuals more physically solid than a ghost but less so than a living body there's also the infer but but that's hardly a resurrection the inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by dark wizard spells it is not alive it is merely used like a puppet to do the Wizard's bidding healing cursed wounds although there are healing spells and magical remedies within the Wizarding World that can cure a variety of ailments it should be mentioned that there are limitations to what magic can heal especially when it comes to Cursed wounds in the Harry Potter story there are a variety of characters that sustained every reversible injuries such as Madi Moody George Weasley and even Dumbledore had these cursed injuries been treatable madii wouldn't have lost his eye George wouldn't have lost his ear and Dore may not have lost his life cloning to an extent this one sort of falls under the category of Life mentioned above the concept of cloning isn't really explored in the Harry Potter series and as far as we can tell there is no indication that creating identical copies of living beings is a possibility within the known magical framework the duplication of individuals through magical means such as poly juice potion allows for temporary impersonation but does not involve the creation of independent and identical clones now I know what you're thinking what about the much younger version of Voldemort AKA Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets wasn't that a clone well not quite yes at one stage there would have been two Voldemort present in the world but no the new Voldemort wouldn't be a of the old Voldemort the two would still share a life force and so the destruction of one could mean the destruction of the other however the most important thing to remember is that the present day Voldemort would be far too arrogant to accept that another version of him exists in the world one who is his equal to quote Highlander there can only be one the soul the concept of the soul is explored in the Harry Potter series quite a lot particularly through Voldemort's attempts to split his soul and create Haw rugs however the idea of completely regaining or restoring a damaged or fragmented soul is not addressed as a possibility the process of fragmenting the soul is depicted as irreversible and morally reprehensible with severe consequences for those who engage in such dark magic and that concludes my list of the limitations of magic I'm sure I've left some things out of my discussion here so please do comment any limitations of magic that come to your minds down below until next time remember it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to [Music] live

Channel: Harry Potter Theory

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Keywords: harry potter, fantastic beasts, hermione granger, avada kedavra, wizarding world, harry potter theory, harry potter explained, j.k. rowling, slytherin, gryffindor, history of wands, grindelwald, dumbledore, hogwarts, deathly hallows, voldemort, snape, weasley, hidden details, easter egg, theory, folklore, death eaters, spells, behind the scenes, elder wand, sirius black, azkaban, weasleys, pettigrew, plot holes, mistakes, thestral, hole, magic, limits, history, top 10, gamps law, transfiguration

Id: oFjjBiRNGfM

Length: 12min 45sec (765 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 03 2023