- Invitation Status
- Not accepting invites at this time
- Posting Speed
- Speed of Light
- Slow As Molasses
- Online Availability
- It varies a lot depending on my schedule, unfortunately.
- Writing Levels
- Advanced
- Adaptable
- Preferred Character Gender
- Primarily Prefer Male
- Genres
- Psychological horror
Body horror
Supernatural
Giallo
Splatterpunk
Dark fantasy
Historical
Low fantasy
Magipunk
Weird West
Noir
Thriller
Gothic horror
Southern Gothic
Gaslamp fantasy
Cyberpunk
Space saga
Clockpunk
Space Western
Space opera
Paranormal
Modern fantasy
Dieselpunk
Post-Apocalyptic
Crime drama
Medieval fantasy
Hogwarts is the most haunted building in Britain, claiming six ghosts that are actually named, and there's an implication that there are others. There's no particular reason given, but it's not hard to extrapolate that at a building that old and with so much wizarding history there'd be a lot of weird deaths where people bowed out too soon and had things left unresolved.
Ghosts are actual ghosts. Spirits of dead people. They aren't created by wizards and there's no magic that can make them stick around if they don't want to. As has been mentioned, ghosts are around by choice. They're not tied to any one location, either; it's mentioned that Moaning Myrtle followed around a girl who bullied her and haunted her until her death. Presumably, then, a lot of ghosts return to Hogwarts because it's where they feel most at home.
Many of the major characters feared death but only in the sense that most people do. Dumbledore specifically called death "the next great adventure" and set up his own death, so he was prepared to die and at peace with it, so he didn't stick around. Sirius was a risk-taker (arguably unafraid of death) and possibly wanted to be with James and Lily more than he felt a need to stick around with Harry, because he trusted the people around Harry to look out for him. (There's also a high possibility that the Veil he passed through prevented him being a ghost.)
Ghosts are, in a way, incorporated into politics because the Ministry has a Beings and Spirits division that includes dealing with ghosts. But wizards are asshats and tend to only care about wizards, so beyond that there's nothing.
Basically though, even though Britain in general is the most heavily haunted country in the world, there aren't enough ghosts to start setting up their own Ghost Towns or trying to vote. Most ghosts are pretty selfishly concerned with their own unfinished business, anyhow. Most don't do a whole lot of interacting with the living except to spook the shit out of them. Professor Binns is an exception and there's some debate as to whether he even knows he's dead.
As far as portraits, THOSE can be created with magical paint if a wizard sits for it while still alive. The thing about portraits is that they aren't really the subject. They are impressions that have been enchanted to imitate behavior, remember some common phrases and memories, and have sentience and movement of their own. Basically they're AI that can only go between other portraits in close vicinity or to other copies of their own portrait.
As far as the Bodhisattva thing goes, while there may be cases of that in the Wizarding World somewhere, it goes against the themes of the books as death being part of life and that we should not fear moving on from this one. Voldemort's entire character premise is someone so afraid of death that he was willing to do monstrous things and literally cut his soul to ribbons to become immortal. Harry, meanwhile, lives a life touched by death and then briefly dies in order to ultimately defeat him. The members of the Order keep fighting knowing they may lose their lives even when Dumbledore himself is dead. Dumbledore sacrifices himself knowing it would be the only way to set Snape up as unimpeachable for Voldemort. Including something like a ghostly savior would not only significantly alter the plot and take away a lot of the tension, it would undermine one of the largest thematic elements of the series.
Ghosts are actual ghosts. Spirits of dead people. They aren't created by wizards and there's no magic that can make them stick around if they don't want to. As has been mentioned, ghosts are around by choice. They're not tied to any one location, either; it's mentioned that Moaning Myrtle followed around a girl who bullied her and haunted her until her death. Presumably, then, a lot of ghosts return to Hogwarts because it's where they feel most at home.
Many of the major characters feared death but only in the sense that most people do. Dumbledore specifically called death "the next great adventure" and set up his own death, so he was prepared to die and at peace with it, so he didn't stick around. Sirius was a risk-taker (arguably unafraid of death) and possibly wanted to be with James and Lily more than he felt a need to stick around with Harry, because he trusted the people around Harry to look out for him. (There's also a high possibility that the Veil he passed through prevented him being a ghost.)
Ghosts are, in a way, incorporated into politics because the Ministry has a Beings and Spirits division that includes dealing with ghosts. But wizards are asshats and tend to only care about wizards, so beyond that there's nothing.
Basically though, even though Britain in general is the most heavily haunted country in the world, there aren't enough ghosts to start setting up their own Ghost Towns or trying to vote. Most ghosts are pretty selfishly concerned with their own unfinished business, anyhow. Most don't do a whole lot of interacting with the living except to spook the shit out of them. Professor Binns is an exception and there's some debate as to whether he even knows he's dead.
As far as portraits, THOSE can be created with magical paint if a wizard sits for it while still alive. The thing about portraits is that they aren't really the subject. They are impressions that have been enchanted to imitate behavior, remember some common phrases and memories, and have sentience and movement of their own. Basically they're AI that can only go between other portraits in close vicinity or to other copies of their own portrait.
As far as the Bodhisattva thing goes, while there may be cases of that in the Wizarding World somewhere, it goes against the themes of the books as death being part of life and that we should not fear moving on from this one. Voldemort's entire character premise is someone so afraid of death that he was willing to do monstrous things and literally cut his soul to ribbons to become immortal. Harry, meanwhile, lives a life touched by death and then briefly dies in order to ultimately defeat him. The members of the Order keep fighting knowing they may lose their lives even when Dumbledore himself is dead. Dumbledore sacrifices himself knowing it would be the only way to set Snape up as unimpeachable for Voldemort. Including something like a ghostly savior would not only significantly alter the plot and take away a lot of the tension, it would undermine one of the largest thematic elements of the series.
