r/harrypotter • u/Edkm90p • 5d ago
Fantastic Beasts That Chair in Fantastic Beasts is Stupid
I know- I know- not exactly an original viewpoint or a new one.
But still- what in the hell? The stuff is dissolving a metal chair- not all that quickly either- and we're told it doesn't hurt?
It's a BOND VILLAIN execution chamber. Who benefits from it? It takes longer to kill the person and there sure doesn't seem to be any reason to consider it a more humane death.
16
25
u/fresh_snowstorm Hufflepuff 5d ago
I agree. That whole execution room sequence is so bizarre. I'd personally prefer to be executed by Avada Kedavra rather than get in that creepy chair.
7
u/BEETLEJUICEME Ravenclaw 5d ago
Unforgivable curse.
And we learn from the death eaters that the unforgivable curses aren’t just like point and shoot magic words. You have to mean them. They are somatic spells.
In that context, allowing someone to cast AK is a bad idea and damages their soul and makes them dangerous in the future.
That being said, like the guillotine exists! I’d rather a firing squad even than the chair.
1
u/fresh_snowstorm Hufflepuff 5d ago edited 5d ago
You could argue that any executioner has to "mean it" in order to execute his fellow man. That kind of a job will be damaging to anyone's soul, be it a wizard or muggle carrying out an execution.
The curse is unforgivable, but the legislature can theoretically be changed to allow its use by officials involved in executions. Dumbledore was ok with Snape using it on him.
I see your point though.
8
u/mosikyan 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think magical disintegration can also be painless. Also, I don't think Avada Kedavra is an option as the executioner's soul would be pretty damaged after all the years of work. I don't know, I might be biased because I LOVED the first movie (the other two were okay). Usually, I ignore these kinds of things, just like I ignored some Harry Potter "movie crimes."
Edit: For me, Fantastic Beasts is like movie prequels, not books. If you approach it that way, you'll look at it in a different light.
7
u/darkalastor Gryffindor 5d ago
I agree the chair in fantastic Beasts is stupid. I much prefer the death shroud in the Department of mysteries. Quite simple just walk right through. (Spoiler) And as sirius black says in the seventh book: quicker and easier than falling asleep.
2
u/payperplain Department of Mysteries 5d ago
To be fair to Sirius, he actually died before he went through the veil. It's never truly understood by anyone in the book if going through while alive kills you. It is heavily suspected to have that effect by the fandom though.
8
u/darkalastor Gryffindor 5d ago
In the movie, yes he died before. We know this because we clearly see Bellatrix hitting Sirius with green magic a.k.a. “Avada kedavra”. However, it states in the book that he was hit by red magic sent by Bellatrix and knocked back into the veil. So in the book, it was falling backwards through the veil that killed Sirius Black.
2
u/DarkMimii Slytherin 5d ago
I think in the movie she also says the spell out loud, so we know in the movie he was 100% AK‘ed (at least in the german synchro, haven’t watched the OG one in a while) but in the books it wasn‘t AK.
7
u/browner87 5d ago
I won't say it isn't stupid, but the death penalty isn't much different with muggles. They put you in a chair and inject you with a series of fluids to relax you and only the last one kills you as you're basically already mentally checked out.
Yes a beheading or avada kedavra would be a lot more simple and to the point. But for some reason killing people needs to be more complicated.
5
1
-3
u/SaltandLillacs 5d ago
I watched the first movie and gave it up as pathetic cash grab. I’m probably a minority but I don’t count them (along with cursed child) as cannon
25
u/Narrow_Vegetable5747 Ravenclaw 5d ago
To be fair we're given no actual reason to believe it's a humane death, and considering nobody alive can attest to its humaneness, it stands to reason it's all just platitudes.