Thursday, April 10, 2014

I is for Invisibility Cloak

Harry's Cloak of Invisibility is unlike any other - it is Death's own Cloak of Invisibility, according to "The Tale of the Three Brothers."  Ron is the first to realize that the Cloak is unique: "I've heard stuff about charms wearing off cloaks when they get old, or them being ripped apart by spells so they've got holes in.  Harry's was owned by his dad, so it's not exactly new, is it, but it's just...perfect!" (416-7).  Dumbledore later confirms this pronouncement, "It was a Cloak the likes of which I had never seen, immensely old, perfect in every respect..." (715).

For being a powerful magical artifact, Death's Cloak of Invisibility sure does have a lot of catches and rules.

Xenophilius Lovegood describes it as a Cloak that "really and truly renders the wearer completely invisible, and endures eternally, giving constant and impenetrable concealment, no matter what spells are cast at it" (411).

Yet, this statement is a little misleading and confusing.  It means simply that the Cloak itself cannot be damaged by spells, not that the wears are immune as well.

We see the Cloak unaffected by magic when a Death Eater attempts to summon it when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are hidden underneath it in Hogsmeade. "Harry seized its folds, but it made no attempt to escape:  The Summoning Charm had not worked on it" (555).


However, there are multiple instances where Harry is frozen while invisible underneath the Cloak.  First, Draco's spell, then later Dumbledore's.

Perhaps most importantly though, Harry acknowledges hiding underneath it could not have saved his family: "The Cloak couldn't have made them curse-proof" (715).
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Tune in tomorrow for J is for J.K. Rowling!

8 comments:

  1. Probably my favorite artifact from these books, would be pretty cool to have one!

    Mr.McLovin at Fuel For The Furnace

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    1. I really liked it in the books too, but I don't think I would find one very useful in real life.

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  2. Nice theme ;) it was certaintly a prominent artifact in the books!

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    1. Absolutely! And it was neat that it was introduced in the very beginning and was present in every novel, too! :)

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  3. Still loving this Harry Potter theme! And yes, I agree with Mr. Mc--this is probably my favorite artifact from the books, as well.

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    1. Thanks Randi! Of the three deathly hallows, it's definitely the one I'd be most interested in having.

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  4. Love your theme! I'm a huge Harry Potter fan! If you have time, and want to, you can come check out my I post.

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    1. You picked Harry Potter for your F (Fantasy) post! Yay! :D

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