| Re: Spectres and Dementors
I think the point to be made is: do the Spectres and Dementors serve their own unique purposes within the confines of their stories?
Rowling has said many times that her Dementors are a personification of depression, which she has suffered herself (hence the joke that chocolate can ward against them!). Thus they have a deep-rooted emotional 'truth' in the story, and so can be said to be an original creation, however much they may look like Black Riders, Spectres or whatever.
Spectres are more subtle - they seem literally to leech your consciousness, turning you into a zombie. They are therefore quite a different creation, an embodiment of a different (if related) phenomenon.
While we're on the subject, we could add Tolkien's Black Riders to the list. They are, as it happens, a bit like Dementors... only they do not embody depression as such, but despair.
Interesting that all these 'negative forces' have been dressed up by their respective authors in flowing hoods and cowls, isn't it? I wonder why that is. Why do the demons of our nightmares look like monks?? |