Theories on some peripheral details in the Harry Potter universe
Or, things I think of (but not including donuts) when I should be thinking of something else.
1. Why does Voldemort not have a nose?
Law of conservation of mass, or something like that. The 'ingredients' put in the cauldron were Tom Riddle, Sr's skeleton (or just one femur, too lazy to check), Wormtail's hand, and a couple of microliters of Harry's blood. The skeleton's there, so no problem, or if it was just a femur then the bones would be made of really thin matrix. Just a few drops of blood were in the Dark Lord's body that's why he's so pale. The tissue in Wormtail's hand would be stretched out and only used for the important/useful organs - brain, heart(?), eyes, respiratory system (or just the upper RT, I think) - to be able to think, speak and move. The soft tissue from Wormtail got severely stretched out and the integrity of the Dark Lord's body is only held together by magic. He has little muscle, perhaps paper-thin and only serves to move his feather-light body.Suspend your disbelief when it comes to where the Dark Lord gets his nourishment, and he was never seen eating in the movies, anyway. Magical nourishment. There.
Why does he not have a nose? He has nostrils, so there's the inlet for his air for talking. The turbinates would regulate airflow, yes, but he does not need to regulate his airflow, I think, if I remember anatomy and physiology correctly. He would not have to smell anything, what with all his Death Eaters, so he would not need the turbinates to direct the air towards the olfactory bulb. He does not have a lot of internal organs, either. He ain't got time for eating or shitting.
Maybe he has no anatomical brain and most of the magic concentrated in creating a magical brain in his cranium. That's something I haven't thought of much.
This theory is came from the statement: "Voldemort does not have a nose or an ass."
2. Why can't all wizards perform wandless magic after Hogwarts?
First of all, were they able to perform wandless magic before? Yes, but uncontrolled. Wizards get their first wands after receiving their Hogwarts letter, at age 11, and before that, they already show signs of having magic. In Hogwarts, they are trained to control their magic with the use of wands, but if we use the movies as a reference, it is still possible to use magic without the use of wands or other magical items. This, however, could only be done by a few wizards (I can remember Albus Dumbledore [and Draco, according to HP wiki, but the scene could be easily interpreted as otherwise]).
What happened? (I am using knowledge from Cracked.com and maybe Discovery channel here so it's very possible that I would present inaccurate stuff, but the gist's here.)
During the toddler years is when humans have the most number of synapses and that enables toddlers to accept a shitton of information. These synapses get pruned at, if I recall correctly (actually, I don't recall, I am just assuming) at age 3-4, around preschool, I assume, or a little earlier. Pruning is used quite literally - get rid of the synapses that won't be of use in the future. This also occurs after puberty. Or at puberty. I don't remember.
Perhaps with wizards, magic synapses get pruned during the first few years in Hogwarts. Synapses that would have been used for, I don't know, flying Superman-style are pruned because they won't be used anyway, same for the Force-style telekinesis and blowing up your nasty relatives with your mind. And then to be able to perform wandless magic again requires great skill and late neurogenesis which wizards could do because of their neural tissue's late telomere shortening or whatever. (I don't remember physiology anymore, I'm a bad student.) Wizards would, therefore, have at least three periods of pruning their synapses.
This brings me to another theory of mine, which I could only explain properly by use of an example. A wizard kid that we shall name Jackie showed magic in the form of flight. Jackie could fly but could not control it because Jackie's untrained. Jackie's future holds two possibilities: a. Jackie learns to control flight and practices even during Hogwarts, and b. Jackie does not learn how to control flight, or does not practice during Hogwarts. A would have Jackie flying like a boss and B would have Jackie like any other Hogwarts student.
And those are my theories.
I am amused at what I think of sometimes. Sometimes good amused, sometimes bad amused.
1. Why does Voldemort not have a nose?
Law of conservation of mass, or something like that. The 'ingredients' put in the cauldron were Tom Riddle, Sr's skeleton (or just one femur, too lazy to check), Wormtail's hand, and a couple of microliters of Harry's blood. The skeleton's there, so no problem, or if it was just a femur then the bones would be made of really thin matrix. Just a few drops of blood were in the Dark Lord's body that's why he's so pale. The tissue in Wormtail's hand would be stretched out and only used for the important/useful organs - brain, heart(?), eyes, respiratory system (or just the upper RT, I think) - to be able to think, speak and move. The soft tissue from Wormtail got severely stretched out and the integrity of the Dark Lord's body is only held together by magic. He has little muscle, perhaps paper-thin and only serves to move his feather-light body.Suspend your disbelief when it comes to where the Dark Lord gets his nourishment, and he was never seen eating in the movies, anyway. Magical nourishment. There.
Why does he not have a nose? He has nostrils, so there's the inlet for his air for talking. The turbinates would regulate airflow, yes, but he does not need to regulate his airflow, I think, if I remember anatomy and physiology correctly. He would not have to smell anything, what with all his Death Eaters, so he would not need the turbinates to direct the air towards the olfactory bulb. He does not have a lot of internal organs, either. He ain't got time for eating or shitting.
Maybe he has no anatomical brain and most of the magic concentrated in creating a magical brain in his cranium. That's something I haven't thought of much.
This theory is came from the statement: "Voldemort does not have a nose or an ass."
2. Why can't all wizards perform wandless magic after Hogwarts?
First of all, were they able to perform wandless magic before? Yes, but uncontrolled. Wizards get their first wands after receiving their Hogwarts letter, at age 11, and before that, they already show signs of having magic. In Hogwarts, they are trained to control their magic with the use of wands, but if we use the movies as a reference, it is still possible to use magic without the use of wands or other magical items. This, however, could only be done by a few wizards (I can remember Albus Dumbledore [and Draco, according to HP wiki, but the scene could be easily interpreted as otherwise]).
What happened? (I am using knowledge from Cracked.com and maybe Discovery channel here so it's very possible that I would present inaccurate stuff, but the gist's here.)
During the toddler years is when humans have the most number of synapses and that enables toddlers to accept a shitton of information. These synapses get pruned at, if I recall correctly (actually, I don't recall, I am just assuming) at age 3-4, around preschool, I assume, or a little earlier. Pruning is used quite literally - get rid of the synapses that won't be of use in the future. This also occurs after puberty. Or at puberty. I don't remember.
Perhaps with wizards, magic synapses get pruned during the first few years in Hogwarts. Synapses that would have been used for, I don't know, flying Superman-style are pruned because they won't be used anyway, same for the Force-style telekinesis and blowing up your nasty relatives with your mind. And then to be able to perform wandless magic again requires great skill and late neurogenesis which wizards could do because of their neural tissue's late telomere shortening or whatever. (I don't remember physiology anymore, I'm a bad student.) Wizards would, therefore, have at least three periods of pruning their synapses.
This brings me to another theory of mine, which I could only explain properly by use of an example. A wizard kid that we shall name Jackie showed magic in the form of flight. Jackie could fly but could not control it because Jackie's untrained. Jackie's future holds two possibilities: a. Jackie learns to control flight and practices even during Hogwarts, and b. Jackie does not learn how to control flight, or does not practice during Hogwarts. A would have Jackie flying like a boss and B would have Jackie like any other Hogwarts student.
And those are my theories.
I am amused at what I think of sometimes. Sometimes good amused, sometimes bad amused.