Not My Canon!

WTF: Magic Hands

Bwahahahaa! After reviewing my writing from yesterday, I had to squeeze this in before we got to the good stuff!

At the end of my last post, I joked about Harry being able to "send a bolt back" at Delphi during the final battle when he was already disarmed. How is Harry sending spells without a wand? I balked at this (Bowked? Bowked Jr.?) because it seemed like a giant editorial oversight. Come on, guys, this is kind of a massive franchise. Let's make sure Harry has a wand in his hand before we have him casting spells. Mmmkay?

But no...I was totally wrong. They ACTUALLY BELIEVE HE'S CAPABLE OF DOING WANDLESS MAGIC! This is absurd. Although I'm loathe to use Pottermore in any objection, their explanation is divine in its gotcha-ness.

To perform magic without a wand is beyond most wizards. As much like fire, magic can be raging, chaotic and volatile - that's why wizards use wands to channel it - and requires the utmost skill and discipline to control. Wandless magic is like riding a bike with no hands - during an earthquake.

How do I know they were intentional in having Harry perform wandless magic out of nowhere? Because they had Delphi doing it just a few lines earlier. I don't know how I missed it the first time around!

DELPHI: Father...

She tries to get a glimpse of his face again - there is almost a dance happening here.

You are not Lord Voldemort.

DELPHI unleashes a bolt from her hand. HARRY matches her.

Incendio!

HARRY: Incendio!

The bolts meet in a beautiful explosion in the middle of the room. And with her other hand DELPHI sends bolts to both doors as they try to open them.

DELPHI: Potter. Colloportus!

HARRY looks at the doors, dismayed.

What? Thought your friends were going to join you, did you?

She sends a locking spell with her other... her other hand? Let's forget for a moment that Colloportus is easily countered with Alohomora, which Hermione Granger (who was now unable to re-enter the church and fight Delphi) had perfected in her FIRST YEAR AT HOGWARTS.... and just stick with the "no wand" bit.

*squints*

*breathes heavily through nose*

All this magic hand nonsense reminds me of a favorite passage about a wandless fellow from the final book:

Wandless, helpless, Pettigrew's pupils dilated in terror. His eyes had slid from Harry's face to something else. His own silver fingers were moving inexorably toward his own throat.

"No -"

Without pausing to think, Harry tried to drag back the hand, but there was no stopping it. The silver tool that Voldemort had given his most cowardly servant had turned upon its disarmed and useless owner; Pettigrew was reaping his reward for his hesitation, his moment of pity; he was being strangled before their eyes.

"No!"

Ron had released Wormtail too, and together he and Harry tried to pull the crushing metal fingers from around Wormtail's throat, but it was no use. Pettigrew was turning blue.

(Hehe. That rhymed. Fred and George would like that. Very much.)

I know it may seem strange to devote a whole post to this, but, to me, it shows an utter lack of attention toward established magical abilities and a suffocating level of imbecility. Although I'm expecting JKR's biggest supporters to tell me that Harry was more advanced at this age and that the story had developed Delphi into an uber-witch (Oh-KAY, Mike! Maybe you should try a little harder to not blaspheme against Lord Rowling!), I'll allow the books to address that argument for me:

"Dumbledore cornered!" he said, and he turned to a stocky little woman who looked as though she could be his sister and who was grinning eagerly. "Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, well done!"

Ah, yes. The books. Back to the original source. The reliable OS-Canon. When the magic made sense. When wandless hands were typically helpless hands, even for the most powerful wizards.

How, Jo? How did you let this happen? How did you participate in this utter drivel? Wandless magic. C'mon, gurl. You know better.