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"Tamper with the deepest mysteries — the source of life, the essence of self — only if prepared for consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind."
Adalbert Waffling regarding the first law[src]
Voldemort's mutilated soul

The consequences for those who tampered with their soul

The Fundamental Laws of Magic were a number of principles about the general nature of magic. They were formulated by the magical theoretician Adalbert Waffling, the first of which is quoted above.[1] It was unknown how many Laws Waffling outlined.

First law[]

In essence, the first Fundamental Law of Magic stated that, as a rule, the further somebody went towards meddling in the deepest underlying laws of magic, the more drastic and terrible the subsequent consequences would be. As this was only a general principle, the exact consequences might vary, with different consequences for different violations.[1] For example, those who deliberately split their soul in the making of a Horcrux would be doomed to eternal suffering in Limbo, unable to move on or return as a ghost.[2]

During Albus Dumbledore's discussion of the first law in his notes on the well known fairy tale "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" (in The Tales of Beedle the Bard), he mentioned that "in seeking to become super-human this foolhardy young man renders himself inhuman".[1]

Likewise, Dumbledore also noted that the creation of a Horcrux evoked the first law, tampering with the essence of self or rather "dividing what was clearly not meant to be divided...body and soul".[1]

Evokers of the first law[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Voldemort created the number of Horcruxes he did solely in order to fulfil his perennial goal of evading death. Therefore, when he was finally killed the result is almost as karmic as the aforementioned warlock's: in seeking to fix himself immutably to one plane forever he renders himself eternally removed from all of them, save "the between-space".
  • It may be that the consequences of the first Fundamental Law of Magic (when evoked) mimic Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
    • In this light, it has been suggested that Merope Gaunt may also have been a victim of this law - she is suspected by Dumbledore of having been using Amortentia to tamper with affairs of the heart, which appear to be inextricably linked with the essence of self in the Warlock's Hairy Heart (and indeed, love is counted amongst the deepest mysteries of magic).
    • This theory is supported even further by the grave and ironic consequences that Merope is seen to have incurred in her quest to magically manufacture true love, e.g. driving away forever the very person she sought to be eternally bonded with, as well as rendering herself devoid of all positive feeling (depressed) in her attempt to reproduce one particular emotion above all others. Likewise, the only tangible thing her struggle for a union of true love ever produced was a being completely incapable of even comprehending the notion, who would go on to preach a campaign of hatred long after her death.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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