Mr. Roberts and the Memory Charm
Apr. 23rd, 2013 06:34 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockI decided I needed to review what canon says about the effects of Obliviation. Barty Junior told us that the (only) reason Bertha suffered permanent, apparently irreversible, damage to her mind was because his father’s Memory Charm had been “too powerful.” (GoF 35) What about standard use by authorized Ministry experts? We have Mr. Roberts to examine, before, during, and after.
What follow is quotes from canon, GoF 7.
A man was standing in the doorway, looking out at the tents. Harry knew at a glance that he was the only real Muggle for several acres. When he heard their footsteps, he turned his head to look at them.
“Morning!” said Mr. Weasley brightly.
“Morning,” said the Muggle.
“Would you be Mr. Roberts?”
“Aye, I would,” said Mr. Roberts. “And who’re you?”
“Weasley—two tents, booked a couple of days ago!”
“Aye,” said Mr. Roberts, consulting a list tacked to the door. “You’ve got a space up by the woods there. Just the one night?”
“That’s it,” said Mr. Weasley.
“You’ll be paying now, then?” said Mr. Roberts.
“Ah—right—certainly—” said Mr. Weasley. He retreated a short distance from the cottage and beckoned Harry over. “Help me, Harry,” he murmured, pulling a roll of Muggle money from his pocket and starting to peel the notes apart. “This one’s a—a—a ten? Ah yes, I see the little number on it no… So this is a five?”
“A twenty,” Harry corrected him, uncomfortably aware of Mr. Roberts trying to catch every word.
“Ah yes, so it is… I don’t know, these little bits of paper….”
“You foreign?” said Mr. Roberts as Mr. Weasley returned with the correct notes.
“Foreign?” repeated Mr. Weasley, puzzled.
“You’re not the first one who’s had trouble with money,” said Mr. Roberts, scrutinizing Mr. Weasley closely. “I had two try to pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps ten minutes ago.”
“Did you really?” said Mr. Weasley nervously.
Mr. Roberts rummaged around in a tin for some change.
“Never been this crowded,” he said suddenly, looking out over the misty field again. “Hundreds of pre-bookings. People usually just turn up….”
“Is that right?” said Mr. Weasley, his hand held out for his change, but Mr. Roberts didn’t give it to him.
“Aye,” he said thoughtfully. “People from all over. Loads of foreigners. And not just foreigners. Weirdos, you know? There’s a bloke walking around in a kilt and a poncho.”
“Shouldn’t he?” said Mr. Weasley anxiously.
“It’s like some sort of… I dunno… like some sort of rally,” said Mr. Roberts. “They all seem to know each other. Like a big party.”
At that moment a wizard in plus-fours appeared out of thin air next to Mr. Roberts’s front door.
“Obliviate!” he said sharply, pointing his wand at Mr. Roberts.
Instantly Mr. Roberts’s eyes slid out of focus, his brows relaxed, and a look of dreamy unconcern fell over his face. Harry recognized the symptoms of one who had just had his memory modified.
“A map of the campsite for you,” Mr. Roberts said placidly to Mr. Weasley. “And your change.”
“Thanks very much,” said Mr. Weasley.
The wizard in plus-fours accompanied them toward the gate to the campsite. He looked exhausted: His chin was blue with stubble and there were deep purple shadows under his eyes. Once out of earshot of Mr. Roberts he muttered to Mr. Weasley, “Been having a lot of trouble with him. Needs a Memory Charm ten times a day to keep him happy. And Ludo Bagman’s not helping. Trotting around talking about Bludgers and Quaffles at the top of his voice, not a worry about anti-Muggle security. Blimey, I’ll be glad when this is over. See you later, Arthur.”
Love that term: anti-Muggle security. Really puts it on the table, doesn’t it?
Note, first, that it’s not just the memory that Obliviate modifies. Suddenly forgetting what he’d just been talking about would not, in itself, make a sharp, canny, and suspicious observer like Mr. Roberts become “dreamily unconcerned,” or “placid.” Rather the reverse, in fact. If all that that spell modified was the victim’s short-term memory, its immediate emotional aftereffect should be either embarrassment or terror, depending on whether the victim thought s/he had momentarily lost the thread in a trivial conversation, or registered that s/he had lost a serious chunk of the recent past. Even one thought the lapse trivial in itself, having it happen ten times in a day would lead to fears that one was developing mental problems. Nor had Mr. Roberts’s true memories apparently been replaced by a false one of a conversation more to the WW’s taste; he simply seems unconcerned that he can’t remember more than vaguely what’s been going on.
Remind me: what spell do we encounter later in GoF that gently wipes away every thought and worry, leaving nothing but a vague untraceable happiness? Obliviate apparently mimics its effects at least in part.
In fact I’m starting to wonder if the “memory charm” might merely be a special case of the more general spell.
“Forget!”
But the spell is not, apparently, designed to have an effect on future speculations and observations, if Mr. Roberts “needs” (nice verb!) repeated doses ten times a day to “keep him happy” as incompetents like Arthur and criminals like Seamus and Lucius continue to do things that arouse his suspicions.
(And BTW, where in canon had Harry earlier seen a Memory Charm performed, that our Bubble-Boy can instantly and accurately assess Mr. Roberts’s reaction as “the symptoms of one who had just had his memory modified”? Am I forgetting something? Marge was Obliviated, true, but Harry never saw it.)
Now on to our final view of Mr. Roberts, after the Obliviators wiped out his memories, not just of grossly suspiciously behavior and clear evidence of collusion among his weirdo tenants, but of an assault on him and his wife and children in which he’d feared for their lives (Gof 10):
… they left the campsite as quickly as possible, passing Mr. Roberts at the door of his cottage. Mr. Roberts had a strange, dazed look about him, and he waved them off with a vague, “Merry Christmas.”
“He’ll be all right,” said Mr. Weasley quietly as they marched off onto the moor. “Sometimes, when a person’s memory’s modified, it makes him a bit disoriented for a while… and that was a big thing they had to make him forget.”
Yep, like Bertha was all right after the “big thing” Barty Senior had “had” (poor man, beleaguered victim of necessity) to make her forget.
How inclined are we to credit Arthur’s reassurances?
What follow is quotes from canon, GoF 7.
A man was standing in the doorway, looking out at the tents. Harry knew at a glance that he was the only real Muggle for several acres. When he heard their footsteps, he turned his head to look at them.
“Morning!” said Mr. Weasley brightly.
“Morning,” said the Muggle.
“Would you be Mr. Roberts?”
“Aye, I would,” said Mr. Roberts. “And who’re you?”
“Weasley—two tents, booked a couple of days ago!”
“Aye,” said Mr. Roberts, consulting a list tacked to the door. “You’ve got a space up by the woods there. Just the one night?”
“That’s it,” said Mr. Weasley.
“You’ll be paying now, then?” said Mr. Roberts.
“Ah—right—certainly—” said Mr. Weasley. He retreated a short distance from the cottage and beckoned Harry over. “Help me, Harry,” he murmured, pulling a roll of Muggle money from his pocket and starting to peel the notes apart. “This one’s a—a—a ten? Ah yes, I see the little number on it no… So this is a five?”
“A twenty,” Harry corrected him, uncomfortably aware of Mr. Roberts trying to catch every word.
“Ah yes, so it is… I don’t know, these little bits of paper….”
“You foreign?” said Mr. Roberts as Mr. Weasley returned with the correct notes.
“Foreign?” repeated Mr. Weasley, puzzled.
“You’re not the first one who’s had trouble with money,” said Mr. Roberts, scrutinizing Mr. Weasley closely. “I had two try to pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps ten minutes ago.”
“Did you really?” said Mr. Weasley nervously.
Mr. Roberts rummaged around in a tin for some change.
“Never been this crowded,” he said suddenly, looking out over the misty field again. “Hundreds of pre-bookings. People usually just turn up….”
“Is that right?” said Mr. Weasley, his hand held out for his change, but Mr. Roberts didn’t give it to him.
“Aye,” he said thoughtfully. “People from all over. Loads of foreigners. And not just foreigners. Weirdos, you know? There’s a bloke walking around in a kilt and a poncho.”
“Shouldn’t he?” said Mr. Weasley anxiously.
“It’s like some sort of… I dunno… like some sort of rally,” said Mr. Roberts. “They all seem to know each other. Like a big party.”
At that moment a wizard in plus-fours appeared out of thin air next to Mr. Roberts’s front door.
“Obliviate!” he said sharply, pointing his wand at Mr. Roberts.
Instantly Mr. Roberts’s eyes slid out of focus, his brows relaxed, and a look of dreamy unconcern fell over his face. Harry recognized the symptoms of one who had just had his memory modified.
“A map of the campsite for you,” Mr. Roberts said placidly to Mr. Weasley. “And your change.”
“Thanks very much,” said Mr. Weasley.
The wizard in plus-fours accompanied them toward the gate to the campsite. He looked exhausted: His chin was blue with stubble and there were deep purple shadows under his eyes. Once out of earshot of Mr. Roberts he muttered to Mr. Weasley, “Been having a lot of trouble with him. Needs a Memory Charm ten times a day to keep him happy. And Ludo Bagman’s not helping. Trotting around talking about Bludgers and Quaffles at the top of his voice, not a worry about anti-Muggle security. Blimey, I’ll be glad when this is over. See you later, Arthur.”
Love that term: anti-Muggle security. Really puts it on the table, doesn’t it?
Note, first, that it’s not just the memory that Obliviate modifies. Suddenly forgetting what he’d just been talking about would not, in itself, make a sharp, canny, and suspicious observer like Mr. Roberts become “dreamily unconcerned,” or “placid.” Rather the reverse, in fact. If all that that spell modified was the victim’s short-term memory, its immediate emotional aftereffect should be either embarrassment or terror, depending on whether the victim thought s/he had momentarily lost the thread in a trivial conversation, or registered that s/he had lost a serious chunk of the recent past. Even one thought the lapse trivial in itself, having it happen ten times in a day would lead to fears that one was developing mental problems. Nor had Mr. Roberts’s true memories apparently been replaced by a false one of a conversation more to the WW’s taste; he simply seems unconcerned that he can’t remember more than vaguely what’s been going on.
Remind me: what spell do we encounter later in GoF that gently wipes away every thought and worry, leaving nothing but a vague untraceable happiness? Obliviate apparently mimics its effects at least in part.
In fact I’m starting to wonder if the “memory charm” might merely be a special case of the more general spell.
“Forget!”
But the spell is not, apparently, designed to have an effect on future speculations and observations, if Mr. Roberts “needs” (nice verb!) repeated doses ten times a day to “keep him happy” as incompetents like Arthur and criminals like Seamus and Lucius continue to do things that arouse his suspicions.
(And BTW, where in canon had Harry earlier seen a Memory Charm performed, that our Bubble-Boy can instantly and accurately assess Mr. Roberts’s reaction as “the symptoms of one who had just had his memory modified”? Am I forgetting something? Marge was Obliviated, true, but Harry never saw it.)
Now on to our final view of Mr. Roberts, after the Obliviators wiped out his memories, not just of grossly suspiciously behavior and clear evidence of collusion among his weirdo tenants, but of an assault on him and his wife and children in which he’d feared for their lives (Gof 10):
… they left the campsite as quickly as possible, passing Mr. Roberts at the door of his cottage. Mr. Roberts had a strange, dazed look about him, and he waved them off with a vague, “Merry Christmas.”
“He’ll be all right,” said Mr. Weasley quietly as they marched off onto the moor. “Sometimes, when a person’s memory’s modified, it makes him a bit disoriented for a while… and that was a big thing they had to make him forget.”
Yep, like Bertha was all right after the “big thing” Barty Senior had “had” (poor man, beleaguered victim of necessity) to make her forget.
How inclined are we to credit Arthur’s reassurances?
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no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 01:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 09:22 pm (UTC)Actually, what this shows--indirectly--is how terribly little influence anyone with normal ancestry or connections has in the Ministry, and/or how thoroughly Muggleborns are alienated from their families of birth. Anyone who has a nerdish cousin who goes to sci-fi conventions or a family friend who's into historical re-enactments would have come up with such a cover story in a heartbeat.
Yet the Ministry, which has had 500 wizards (note that they do seem to be all wizards) working on security arrangements for a year, does not..
Either no one at the Ministry knews enough about their Muggle relatives to make such a suggestion, or no one who does maintain enough connection with Muggle culture to come up with the idea, was in a position to be listened to.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-25 02:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-30 01:41 am (UTC)Because that would have required forethought and planning. We know from following Harry through seven years in the WW that wizards aren't good at that.
Also I've always wondered about two things with Mr. Roberts. Number one: why did they need to obliviate him just because he was talking to Arthur about the odd people using his campsite? I just spent the weekend at a comic convention. Those of us there talked about how awesome all the costumes were etc. and those people who don't go to those things talked about how weird we all were. It's nothing out of the ordinary it's just idle chit-chat. It Arthur had such a problem with it all he had to do was politely ask for his change and say he was sorry he couldn't talk longer they had a lot to set up at the campsite.
And number two is, if they were so concerned about anti-muggle security why the hell did they book everyone in at a fucking muggle-run campsite!?
no subject
Date: 2013-04-30 08:14 am (UTC)And of course, if the WW knew that Muggles considered there to be mulitple alternate realities, orthodox to the mainstream, which mainstream Muggles understood dreamers to inhabit--they would have been less concerned, yes?
For your last question, there was no other place to book them.
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Date: 2013-04-30 12:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-30 11:07 pm (UTC)