in harry potter , can a boggart actually harm.?

Question

like in prsoner of azkaban harry potters boggart was a dementor.. and then prof lupin came in the way of dementor(boggart) and potter.

Answer 1

Yes, boggarts can harm people, and even kill them.

In Chapter 7: The Boggart in the Wardrobe, Lupin never lets Harry close enough to the boggart for it to take shape. The boggart wasn closest to Ron and he turned it into a legless spider, Lupin stepped between it and Harry, then the boggart takes the shape of a floating silvery-white orb (that no one initially reconized as the full moon). Lupin turns it into a cockroach and it becomes Snape again when it gets close to Neville again and it dies (explodes in puffs of smoke) after Neville hits it with the Riddikulus charm a second time and the class laughs again at Boggart-Snape in a dress.

In Chapter 8, Lupin explains to Harry that he assumed that the boggart would take the form of Voldemort and did not want panic to spread from stories of Voldemort appearing in a classroom at Hogwarts. He did not know Harry was thinking of the dementors on the train, until after Harry told him.

In Chapter 12: The Patronas, Lupin finds a second boggart (hidden in one of Filtch's filing cabinets) and uses it in Harry's private lessons. The boggart affects Harry in much the same way as the real dementors do and cause him to blackout.

Dementors feed on the happy emotions and memories of its victims, and that draining effect is what causes their target to become weak, blackout, and eventually become another dementor once they have been "kissed" by the dementor and the last bit of their soul is sucked out.

Boggarts also feed on their victim's emotions, but instead of happy memories, it feeds on fear. The boggart gets stronger the more frighted their victem is. It is most likely that boggarts feed off the victim in "sessions" so that their "meal" can last as long as possible. It takes shape and feeds on the victim's fear and this intense fright along with the drain of emotions (similar to the draining when dementor's feed on happiness) causes the victim to pass out. The boggart then backs off and hides in a dark spot nearby, since the unconcious victim does not generate any emotions of fear. When the victim regains conciousness the boggart remerges from the shadows and feeds again as the victim becomes frightened again. The feeding weakens the victim, just like if the draining were done by a dementor, the boggart continues this cycle of "scare and wait", until the fatigued victim eventuall dies of fright and there is no more fear for them to feed on.

Boggart in the form of a dementor can kill it's victim, but it cannot perform the "dementor's kiss" so a boggart-dementor cannot suck out souls and create real dementors from their victims.

Answer 2

I don't think it can, based on the fact that Harry isn't effected by the fake dementor the way he was with the real ones. The fear was there, but it was a boggart underneath the entire time, so I don't think it had any power to suck out souls.

If I'm remembering correctly, in the classroom, Lupin stepped in front and stopped Harry from having his turn because he assumed Harry's boggart would be Voldemort, and he didn't think the class could handle even a fake Voldemort in the classroom.

In the practice sessions, I think he stepped in front when he sensed Harry couldn't take it anymore.

Maybe they could actually harm, just not to the extent the real dementors could, which is why Harry could withstand being around them longer than the real ones.

Answer 3

I would say no. The boggart "takes the form" of what scares you most, but it wasn't mentioned if they also acquire the powers. If that were the case, the You-Know-Who would have gathered them all up years ago.

My guess is that in book 3 Harry's boggart would have hovered around but never been able to give a dementor's 'kiss'.

Answer 4

Lupin did that, because he thought that Harry would see Voldemort, and even the image of a boggart as Voldemort would be too much for the class.
They had a conversation about it later in the book and in the movie.

Answer 5

i've got study some fantasy of boggarts in the past and searched with the aid of Harry Potter lore. because it seems, the boggart does have a real style, in spite of the undeniable fact that it is going to in basic terms demonstrate itself if somebody is very frightened of "what the boggart particularly sounds like". in between the myths and lore I study, a guy had a boggart residing in his trunk, and he became continually afraid to open it because of the fact the boggart might scare him. at last, he mustered the braveness to open the trunk, yet nevertheless frightened of what the boggart might appear as if. whilst the boggart recognized, it confirmed itself as a large rippling reflective sphere of a silvery metallic substance. My wager is that stands out as the real variety of a boggart, as a residing rippling reflect sphere.

Answer 6

I don't think that the boggart can physically harm you like the real thing can (like if it became a werewolf it couldn't bite you). But I think the boggarts powers are more in messing with your head.

Answer 7

i don't think so because ittake the form of the thing you fear alot

Answer 8

i think so. i think thats why it chooses what your most scared of, b/c most people freeze when they get scared.

Answer 9

no it uses fear as it's weapon