Department of Mysteries

[dasfres]

I agree that Love is an excellent guess, but it just doesn't make any sense why or how Love could possible be locked up in the first place. The MoM hasn't been around for eternity so it would have to be something that was once free. Love is free right now, so I don't see what good locking it up would achieve.

[Marchese]

Maybe it's someones love specifically?

[MHPFAN]

Originally Posted by Marchese

I highly doubt that the US cover art is the "Room of Love" as some of you are calling it.

It's still a possibility. Anything is possible in the HP world.

Also, that's a good point about the mention of the room in OotP. If it's there, then yes, it will be significant in DH.

[Dedalus Diggle]

Originally Posted by dasfres

I agree that Love is an excellent guess, but it just doesn't make any sense why or how Love could possible be locked up in the first place. The MoM hasn't been around for eternity so it would have to be something that was once free. Love is free right now, so I don't see what good locking it up would achieve.

But the Time room does not contain all of Time and the Death room does not contain all Death. The brain room does not have all the intelligence - well, maybe now that Dumbledore is gone. The Department of Mysteries does not confine ALL of a 'thing' - just has it in sufficient concentration to study.

[dasfres]

Originally Posted by Dedalus Diggle

But the Time room does not contain all of Time and the Death room does not contain all Death. The brain room does not have all the intelligence - well, maybe now that Dumbledore is gone. The Department of Mysteries does not confine ALL of a 'thing' - just has it in sufficient concentration to study.

Yes, but it's rather difficult to study something if you can't get into the room. I had figured that it was keeping something hidden or confined. Maybe only unspeakables have access through the door?

[redhead_warrior]

Falcon121-I wonder if Harry will be able to focus and manupilate that force(the force DD was refering to)...and use it against Voldemort...

hahaha!! "Harry, love beam now!!" ....

anyway...hmmmm... did anybody notice that even though this is supposedly Harry's weapon against Voldy-shorts the only two people affected by the room were Ron and Hermione?

[firebolt57]

am I being mistaken in thinking that Dumbledore did say that the locked room was concealing what voldemort couldn't have, love? Or did I hear that in mugglecast....I swear it was....wow....it's weird how harry Potter discussions make you think what happend in the books...that's why I'm taking a break off of fan fics!

[theribit]

Right, well, I think it's pretty much definitely Love - there's quite a bit of evidence for it and people have mostly already mentioned it so I won't belabor that point.

However, as to getting it into the room to study - I don't think it works quite like that. I mean, in all the other rooms, it's just artifacts and things that have to DO with the subject being studied. I mean, Time Turners aren't exactly time itself, but they do manipulate your position in it.

This in mind, I think the power behind the door isn't some kind of intangible love force thingie. Instead, I think it will refer to things that are powered by, or have to do with, or perhaps manipulate, love.

And when I say manipulate love, I certainly don't mean love potions - those just create an obsessive attraction.

I think the idea is that love is more powerful than magic - or has the potential to be. It is, in my mind, completely irrational and illogical. While magic does follow rules of some kind, love is (as cheesy as this may sound) boundless in capacity. An example of this (as many have pointed out) is Lily's sacrafice for Harry. When Voldemort finds out this is how Harry survived, he says that he should have realized it and that it was an ancient magic; but I think it's just a bit deeper than that. Love, I think, is supposed to be its own kind of magic, and it has the ability to trump pretty much any force, magical or otherwise.

As to the door being locked and how to gain entry, I don't think it has anything to do with being willing to sacrafice yourself for love or anything like that. Rather, I think the Ministry, realizing that love is basically the most powerful thing in the universe, has simply put very very VERY highly advanced magic on it to make sure it stays locked.

[katishere]

Hey if love really is what's in that room and love made Quirrel dissolve in book one, Harry should just spend his time in book seven rounding up all Voldy's horocuuxes and then shove them all along with Voldy into the room and they'll all like explode or melt or something hahahah....just kidding.

[The_Scifanac]

Love would fall under the classification of an idea, and as such it is insubstantial, so how the Ministry ever got around to collecting it and storing it in a room in the Department of Mysteries is beyond me. I am very hopefull that we will see the room in Deathly Hallows and even it being a final battle site. But what I'm most curious about is how JK would portray a physicall tangible manifestation of Love. But hopefully she's not thinking of a giant rosey heart stuck in a vile or something, that would be too cliche!

[Emmzers93]

I really hope this has not been discussed, but I searched multiple times with multiple variants of "locked door" and "department of mysteries" and didn't get anything. Feel free to close this if there is another thread.

Anyway, on to the point.

I was flipping though the fifth HP book the other day, and noticed when Dumbledore told Harry about the locked door in the department of mysteries, US p 845:

There is a room in the Department of Mysteries," interrupted Dumbledore, "that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there..."

The myth of Pandora (aka Anesidora), simply put, is that Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. Angry, Zeus created woman, and Pandora. She was outrageously beautiful and given a unique gift from each of the gods (Pandora means "all gifted"). She was sent down to be the bride to Epimetheus, who fell in love with her despite his brother's (Prometheus) warnings about the god's gifts. The gods also gave Pandora a jar (box is a misinterpretation) that she was forbidden to open, but curiosity got the better of her and she unleashed horrors upon the world that had not existed beforehand: sickness and disease, poverty, and human evils such as greed, jealousy and hatred. The gods put the worst things in the box.

Now I thought of Pandora's box because she closed the box in time to keep one thing in: Hope. (Eventually she visited the jar again and hope came out. Until then, man lived in darkness and suffering). Hope, love, truth and all those types of things have always been closely related, even if they are not synonymous. The door is locked and melts Harry’s knife. Dumbledore describes the "force" stuck in the room as "more wonderful and terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature."

How can hope be bad? Wikipedia (link below): Pandora

In another, more philosophical version of the myth, hope (Elpis) is considered the worst of the potential evils, because it is equated with terrifying foreknowledge. By preventing hope from escaping the jar, Pandora in a sense saves the world from the worst damage.

If the room is an alternate version of the myth, and describes another power (love, etc) it would still work, I believe. Love can be a terrible force: it can push people to do what they would not normally do, or can break hearts, spark hatred. Any other forces are welcome as well. Any human happiness can also fuel evil. The danger obviously warranted extreme security over the room, making it unable to be opened.

That explains the "more wonderful and terrible than death" part. Now, as to what role it will play.

I think that this may actually have a huge role. Dumbledore also states that Harry possesses that force in such quantities (the "power that dark lord knows not"), leading to be more evidence that the power is love. Anyway, the door's opening could defeat Voldemort, but at a cost. The opening of the door could help and harm Harry and co. all at once.

That theory sounded more and more unlikely as I typed. Ah well. Food for thought, anyway.

Bye!

[Voldemorts8thHorcrux]

voldemort will go in there, see the light of love and have his soul destroyed in there by the love

[Carinae]

As someone who spends time thinking about the mysteriesof life (some may call it a waste of time that should be used for practicality), the Department of Mysteries is incredibly interesting to me.

* The bell jar with the hummingbird is wondrous yet scary at the same time. Time can be a frightening thing. I can't imagine being that hummingbird - life and death on a never-ending loop. What a life, eh? Err..lives...

* The brains in the tank are fascinating. If I were in that world, I wouldn't mind becoming an Unspeakable and sitting in one of the seats around that tank to examine these mysteries.

* The locked room. Many dismiss the idea of Love being in there as sappy or cheesy. Things that may come to mind are "Darling, I love you..*smooch*" etc. We seem to be underestimating Love in general, between friends, between parents and children, and so on - it really IS that important...cheesy or not. I wonder why the room is locked. Is it dangerous somehow?
What exactly do the Unspeakables study inside and how do they do it?

How great would it be to be an Unspeakable...

[katishere]

I would just say that it's a room where they study love in its many forms and all its magical properties. There might not be a specific item that represnts love, like I don't see them having a tank full of hearts or anything like that but maybe it's some sort of connection to ancient magic like the veil. The veil was described as the ruined portion of something ancient, perhaps there was once a center of ancient magic on the location where the Ministry was built and there is a portion of it stlll standing that holds the power of love similar to the power of death room and that that is why it is locked. I don't know. I don't think we'll ever find out for sure....

[Mythael]

I believe there is more to the DoM than we saw in OotP. We can only assume what is beyond its walls but we know that it has extraordinary power. Now for the power that Harry has over Voldemort is love but we all know that but what we need to fully comprehend is that the dark lord is lonely by choice he has all the friends who would ever need that would die for him in an instant but he wishes to be alone.

For me it's what lies behind that door relates to the fateful night, the horcruxes and R.A.B

[HeatPhoenix]

The department of mysteries has got to come again

[Carinae]

JKR could write a whole book about the Department of Mysteries and I'd buy it. It's such an interesting place...totally captures my imagination and curiosity.

[Snapes_Girl]

Originally Posted by chowie

Anybody's guesses on what is inside that door?

I have no clue. I hope JK will clear it up for us.