Animagi

[magyk001]

It all depends on their personality. Personally, i don't think that Hermione's personality would be shown through a cocker spaniel. What about the cocker spaniel is simlar to Hermione's personality? Yes, Severus' animal form could be a lion, but i don't think that is the form it would take. You need to dig deep into Severus' personality, and you'll get his animagus.

New question. What steps do you think would be involved in becoming a Animagi?

[JCCollier]

What steps do you think would be involved in becoming a Animagi?

I believe a well-practiced knowledge of transfiguration would be the basics to start with (i.e., learn to change other things before changing yourself). With the goal of becoming an animagus, one would focus on spells on living organisms, such as changing a boy to a ferret.

Becoming familiar with the feeling of one's own body transformation would be helpful. A student may practice with Polyjuice potion so his mind is at ease when he does initially accomplish an Animagus form. Personally, I might be a little panicked the first time I was suddenly a dog or a rat.

Learning non-verbal spellcasting could be a requirement if there are actual Animagus spell words, and knowing ones Patronus form first may give the student a hint on what form his Animagus will take.

I believe Animagi transformation would require a similar focus of mind as apparition (destination, determination, and deliberation, with the 'destination' being your animal form), so the training would be similar. Could a novice Animagus incompletely transform himself only halfway?

Obviously, accomplishment of this difficult magic would be built upon simpler skills mastered first.

My question: Could an Animagus' animal form be another creature such as a centaur or house-elf, since in biology we are all animals? How would magic 'know' to differentiate this?

[OliveOil_Med]

I also imagine that a person, because an Animagus form is supposed to represent one's personality at their inner core, a lot of self-searching would be involved.

This could mean anything really. It could be meditations, some kind of Native American-style vision quest, or just spending hours upon hours deciding what animal strikes a chord with you.

But I think a good understanding of who you are as a person is essential. This might be why becoming an Animagus is so difficult; there might be certain things inside of a person that they just aren't willing to face.


Could an Animagus' animal form be another creature such as a centaur or house-elf, since in biology we are all animals? How would magic 'know' to differentiate this?
I doubt this. From my understanding, Animagus transformations are strictly animal transformations, and creatures like centaurs and house elves are considered Beings.

Besides, I think one of the main points of becoming an Animagus is to be able to travel undetected. How useful would a centaur tranformation be for that?

[JCCollier]

Besides, I think one of the main points of becoming an Animagus is to be able to travel undetected. How useful would a centaur tranformation be for that?

It would be useful travelling through a forest of centaurs . My point was that elves and centaurs for example are 'Beings' only by wizards intellectually designating them as such, and weren't always considered officially so in wizard history. Nature, however, does not choose to stop considering any living thing an 'animal' just because that living thing upgrades its label to 'Being' in its own mind. If magic is part of nature (as it must be because of all those fantastic magical beasts) and somehow influences what animal form an Animagus takes, well... how do Magic know?

[Inverarity]

Well, if an Animagus can become a centaur or an elf or a goblin, one might as well ask whether an Animagus can become a human. As in, another human form, different from your own.

I'm inclined to agree that the Animagus transformation involves becoming a form that reflects one's inner self. This might not necessarily be the form that you would consciously choose, or believe to represent yourself (did Peter Pettigrew really think of himself as a rat, and do you think that's the form he would have chosen?), and the connection to your true character might not be obvious, but it's still something that comes from deep within your psyche.

I would guess that in theory, it might be possible that someone truly, deep down, thinks of himself or herself as a centaur or a house-elf, and thus would take that Animagus form, but I can't see it being a likely occurrence.

This also implies that your Animagus form would be culturally influenced; a Japanese wizard with a cat form might have a very different character than a European cat Animagus, because cats don't have the same cultural significance in Japan that they do in Europe.

That raises another interesting question, though: to what degree does one's own awareness affect the Animagus form one takes? In other words, could your Animagus form turn out to be a creature you'd never even heard of before?

I'm picturing the amusing albeit unlikely scenario of a British wizard ignorant of Australia turning into a platypus...

[Josh]

Is it possible for an Animagus to choose what form he/she takes?

I think it would be as in POA, I thought Sirius said Peter was made a rat so he could easily touch the "button" on the tree and that James + Sirius were big enough to control Remus. I've always thought of it as being like the Polyjuice potion where they'd put a bit of animal they wanted into the magic somehow.




My question: Could an Animagus' animal form be another creature such as a centaur or house-elf, since in biology we are all animals? How would magic 'know' to differentiate this?
I don't think so, but even if you could, is it possible that the Centaurs might have performed magic so no one can. We know they're a very proud race and wouldn't want to let other, "less-worthy" beings become one of them. I don't think the purpose of an Animagus is necessarily just to avoid detection as people may want them for their abilities such as to fly or to be more agile.

The others are probs right, sorry If I've totally messed this up, my first post!


~Josh

[magyk001]

Good to see that other people are as much interested in Animagi as i am.

Could an Animagus' animal form be another creature such as a centaur or house-elf, since in biology we are all animals? How would magic 'know' to differentiate this?


I dont think that an Animagi would be able to turn into a house-elf. They dont seem to be animals, but another type of being. As for Centaurs, that is a maybe. They may have amazing intelligence, and they may have human body parts, but they are still animals. I think that it would be very rare for an Animagi to turn into a Centaur. I also agree with Josh that there is a chance they would have some sort of magic performed so that no one can become them.

New Questions!!

If a person did not truly understand himself and performed the Animagi process, Would it go wrong? Also, would the person's animagus form come out differently?

[lupins_girl2006]

magyk001, I'm not sure how to answer your question, but I have a question that just pooped into my mind because of your question ().

How would one know what they would turn into? I mean, many character traits may mean more then one animal. That, and the fact that not everyone truely knows all their traits, do they?

Just a question for people to think about.

~Allie

[magyk001]

How would one know what they would turn into? I mean, many character traits may mean more then one animal. That, and the fact that not everyone truely knows all their traits, do they? ~Allie

That is what i mean. Before reading this thread i always thought of the Animagi process being one that would discover your inner traits for you. I mean, maybe James and Sirius did not actually choose to be the animals they turned into, but that's the animals that were chosen for them.

[lupins_girl2006]

I think we should write a letter to Mrs. Rowling and ask her how people know what their form will take, how they go through the process and all the other things involved with becoming and Animagus. She has to know. If she doesn't then that would be kind of awkward, wouldn't it?

~Allie