Lesson One
A beginner's guide to transfiguration
"I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn,
I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know,
turning something into something else,
of course, it's supposed to be very difficult —"
"You'll be starting small,
just matches into needles and that sort of thing —"
I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know,
turning something into something else,
of course, it's supposed to be very difficult —"
"You'll be starting small,
just matches into needles and that sort of thing —"
Welcome to your first Transfiguration lesson. First of all, we shall define the skill as such. I advise you take notes, for we have to cover a lot of things today and it is a rather short period we have available to go through our curriculum.
Mainly, Transfiguration is a branch of magic which strictly focuses on changing the appearance - including shape, colour and size of an object - as well as the existence of the object itself. The fact that it is a branch of magic implies the involvement of supernatural forces. Those supernatural forces allow us to alter matter on a fundamental level, which is the main principle behind Transfiguration.
The main foci of Transfiguration, as mentioned previously, are appearance and existence of matter. Depending on the various types of changes upon an object, Transfiguration is categorised as follows: Transformation, Vanishment, Conjuration and Untransfiguration. Our lesson distribution will mostly be based on these categories.
The object of Transfiguration can be anything from inanimate items and matter to living creatures and even humans. Transfiguration can also be categorised on the basis of the connection between the initial or original object and the end product or the finial object. They basically further divide transformation into inanimate to inanimate, inanimate to animate, animate to inanimate and animate to animate transformations.
Now that we know the very basics, we can move on and start expanding our knowledge. Unlike Charms, which offers a lot more freedom and creativity, Transfiguration has got many strict rules, limitations and even law regulations which must be respected. In order to succeed in this area of Magic, one must be disciplined and have a scientifically oriented mind.
These rules and limitations are the reason we cannot produce money, food or other things of similar nature when we need them or simply want them. The ultimate limitations are explained by Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and the regulations which can be found in the Ministry of Magic Rulebooks. We will cover them all in the rest of the lesson.
Food can be summoned if one knows where it is. Of course, the greater the distance, the harder it is to summon something. It helps knowing where the summoned object is, but the spells are more difficult to perform farther away from the object, especially if it is not in one's eyesight.
Food is also transformable, meaning that one can turn it into something else, but one has to be careful as it is impossible to turn anything else into food. Food can be increased in quantity by only a certain amount, meaning that one cannot make unlimited supplies of it just because they have some. Basically, one can only summon, transform and change the quantity of food within reason. The only thing one cannot do is produce food out of nothing, which is the First of the Gamp's Laws.
The Second Law is that no one can create true love using magic. It is impossible to wake a feeling of true love in someone who does not feel it on their own. There are some, informally said, quasi-love potions which try to mimic the effect, but they are only able to create a strong obsession, never true love.
It is possible to produce life using magic. Although, one cannot produce humans or any other intelligent creatures such as centaurs, ghosts, goblins, trolls (even though their intelligence is quite questionable), etc. Either way, it is possible to make some sort of life and take away life using Transfiguration. The emphasis here is that it is not possible to bring back life which was once taken away. Death is permanent and magic cannot do anything about it except try to produce a faded shadow of memories, so to say. That is the Third Law.
The Fourth Law is very important, especially if you wish to succeed in my classroom. It states that it is impossible to summon or gather any kind of information, knowledge or intelligence. Everything has got to be learnt and taught. You cannot be jinxed or cursed to become smarter or more intelligent.
Of course there are means which attempt to simulate intelligent behaviour. Let us take the anti-cheating quill as an example. One cannot simply have the quill know everything it is asked. The quill has to be taught everything it learns and will not be able to provide any output in unfamiliar territory. This exact law is the reason why you should take notes. Bottom line: The lesson will not learn itself. Information can only be multiplied (in the form of copies or similar) and spread (imagine a message-spreading patronus charm or a howler).
Last, but definitely not least, is the Fifth Law, which says that it is impossible to make one wealthy. One cannot produce money or reputation with magic. That is something you simply have to earn one way or the other, none of which are magical.
These are the natural limitations of Transfiguration. Other than that, there are regulations prescribed by the Ministry of Magic which do not limit your abilities, but forbid you to use them in certain manners due to moral obligations or simply require a permission to be performed. An example of a permission based regulation is the ability to transform oneself into a certain animal at will, which requires a lot of monitoring before being able to acquire a licence. We shall talk more about this in the lessons to come.
That said, we are through with the introductory theoretical part and will be focusing on applying the theories we have just learnt.
Mainly, Transfiguration is a branch of magic which strictly focuses on changing the appearance - including shape, colour and size of an object - as well as the existence of the object itself. The fact that it is a branch of magic implies the involvement of supernatural forces. Those supernatural forces allow us to alter matter on a fundamental level, which is the main principle behind Transfiguration.
The main foci of Transfiguration, as mentioned previously, are appearance and existence of matter. Depending on the various types of changes upon an object, Transfiguration is categorised as follows: Transformation, Vanishment, Conjuration and Untransfiguration. Our lesson distribution will mostly be based on these categories.
The object of Transfiguration can be anything from inanimate items and matter to living creatures and even humans. Transfiguration can also be categorised on the basis of the connection between the initial or original object and the end product or the finial object. They basically further divide transformation into inanimate to inanimate, inanimate to animate, animate to inanimate and animate to animate transformations.
Now that we know the very basics, we can move on and start expanding our knowledge. Unlike Charms, which offers a lot more freedom and creativity, Transfiguration has got many strict rules, limitations and even law regulations which must be respected. In order to succeed in this area of Magic, one must be disciplined and have a scientifically oriented mind.
These rules and limitations are the reason we cannot produce money, food or other things of similar nature when we need them or simply want them. The ultimate limitations are explained by Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and the regulations which can be found in the Ministry of Magic Rulebooks. We will cover them all in the rest of the lesson.
Food can be summoned if one knows where it is. Of course, the greater the distance, the harder it is to summon something. It helps knowing where the summoned object is, but the spells are more difficult to perform farther away from the object, especially if it is not in one's eyesight.
Food is also transformable, meaning that one can turn it into something else, but one has to be careful as it is impossible to turn anything else into food. Food can be increased in quantity by only a certain amount, meaning that one cannot make unlimited supplies of it just because they have some. Basically, one can only summon, transform and change the quantity of food within reason. The only thing one cannot do is produce food out of nothing, which is the First of the Gamp's Laws.
The Second Law is that no one can create true love using magic. It is impossible to wake a feeling of true love in someone who does not feel it on their own. There are some, informally said, quasi-love potions which try to mimic the effect, but they are only able to create a strong obsession, never true love.
It is possible to produce life using magic. Although, one cannot produce humans or any other intelligent creatures such as centaurs, ghosts, goblins, trolls (even though their intelligence is quite questionable), etc. Either way, it is possible to make some sort of life and take away life using Transfiguration. The emphasis here is that it is not possible to bring back life which was once taken away. Death is permanent and magic cannot do anything about it except try to produce a faded shadow of memories, so to say. That is the Third Law.
The Fourth Law is very important, especially if you wish to succeed in my classroom. It states that it is impossible to summon or gather any kind of information, knowledge or intelligence. Everything has got to be learnt and taught. You cannot be jinxed or cursed to become smarter or more intelligent.
Of course there are means which attempt to simulate intelligent behaviour. Let us take the anti-cheating quill as an example. One cannot simply have the quill know everything it is asked. The quill has to be taught everything it learns and will not be able to provide any output in unfamiliar territory. This exact law is the reason why you should take notes. Bottom line: The lesson will not learn itself. Information can only be multiplied (in the form of copies or similar) and spread (imagine a message-spreading patronus charm or a howler).
Last, but definitely not least, is the Fifth Law, which says that it is impossible to make one wealthy. One cannot produce money or reputation with magic. That is something you simply have to earn one way or the other, none of which are magical.
These are the natural limitations of Transfiguration. Other than that, there are regulations prescribed by the Ministry of Magic which do not limit your abilities, but forbid you to use them in certain manners due to moral obligations or simply require a permission to be performed. An example of a permission based regulation is the ability to transform oneself into a certain animal at will, which requires a lot of monitoring before being able to acquire a licence. We shall talk more about this in the lessons to come.
That said, we are through with the introductory theoretical part and will be focusing on applying the theories we have just learnt.