A Pensieve related question

[Hermoine Jean Granger]

Do the memories of dead people remain intact after their death so that they can be viewed in a pensieve??

I know that Snape's memory was viewed by harry in the seventh book but what I wanted to know was whether they can be retrived after their death.

[Azhure]

Hmm, interesting question. There's nothing in canon that says either way (that I can remember).

I would think no. After you die, you're dead. All your life force is gone, your spirit and your memories. I also think that memories can only be *given* to someone. Snape gives Harry his memories. Harry views Dumbledore's memories in the Pensive because Dumbledore put them there himself (I can't remember anything in canon saying that they can be forcefully taken. I could be wrong, though).

Now, whether you can retrieve memories from ghosts is another thing entirely...

~~Azhure~~

[megan_lupin]

If a person is dead, their memories - as far as I'm concerned - are gone. They can't be retrieved from the individual once that person is gone.

However, if a memory is retrieved before the person dies, it can be viewed in a Pensieve at any time after that. (Remember, Harry views memories in HBP of dead people.)

But, once a person is gone, they're gone. Their physical BODY is still there (but that will eventually deteriorate), but their mind, their soul, their being has "gone on". Sort of like a Dementor's Kiss - the Kiss takes a person's soul away, though the body still physically functions. But, when a person dies, their soul "goes on" to the afterlife, and the body stops functioning as well.

~Megan

[Gmariam]

I think Megan and Azhure are right - you can't retrieve a memory from someone after they are dead. JKR has shown us an afterlife of sorts so there is just no way for the memories to still be there. However, I personally think you could receive a memory from a ghost. I think it would be a neat thing to see! I'd suggest creating a new spell, and I think viewing it in the Pensieve would be a bit different - maybe a bit more transparent, or tinged with gray, since it's a memory from the ghost and not the actual person. I also think it would be possible to force a memory from someone - to steal it. I'd consider it pretty Dark Magic - a rape of the mind. I think it would need a very powerful spell or potion.
But that brings up another question: I've always wondered if a person still remembers what they put in the Pensieve (and I know it's been discussed around here as well!) Dumbledore did, after all. He says it unclutters his mind, but then after pulling Harry out he tells Harry what they were seeing. So if a wizard forcibly stole a memory from someone, does that mean that person would forget the memory completely? Or still remember it, and now the other person has a hard copy of it? Interesting.
Good luck with your story!
~Gina :)

[Snape's Talon]

I would have to agree that no, you can't retrieve memories from a corpse. (Or for that matter, an Inferi. o.O )

Remember, there was a reason that Snape was so determined to get those memories to Harry as he was dying - to this end, he performed wandless magic. Snape had to have known he wouldn't survive and that his death would take away any chance of those memories - and the knowledge they contained - being transferred.

[Ravenclaw_Soprano]

More evidence that you can't retrieve memories after death:

Dumbledore makes a point out of getting Morfin's memory about Voldemort; he says that he got the memory just in time, since Morfin died not long after.

~Lauren