The Walls Of Horace Slughorn, Dragon blood...? |
 Jun 13 2006, 02:46 PM
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Eeylops Owl Cage Cleaner  Posts: 221 Joined: 7:54pm February 2, 2005 Location: In Edward-land   |
I was recently pointed out by a friend that:
The "darkly red and glutinous was spattered over the wallpaper" noticed by Harry and Dumbledore in Slughorn's house was dragon blood, because Slughorn himself says: "On the walls? Dragon... My last bottle, and prices are sky-high at the moment." (p. 65) But in the book five: "[Hagrid] picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction." (p. 422) So my question: Is what Slughorn has really dragon blood? What is he doing with it? or is this some other concoction altogther? This post has been edited by feltontheferret: Jun 13 2006, 02:50 PM --------------------  |
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Jun 13 2006, 03:57 PM
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Professional Diagon Alley Window Shopper Posts: 72 Joined: 8:50am July 22, 2005 Location: Southern California |
Hrm...I think we can pretty much take it at face value that Horace was telling the truth, and that he was, in fact, using dragon blood. The only reason that I say so is that there isn't much reason why not.
What possible motivation would Slughorn have for lying about the type of blood he'd put on the walls? I can't think of anything right off hand, except to possibly evoke sympathy out of Dumbledore for the expense he'd gone through to create his ruse, which I expect is exactly what he was doing anyway, whether he'd actually used dragon blood or not. As to the difference in blood color, I think we can assume one of two things pretty safely...Either different dragon species have different color blood, (certainly possible), or Rowling made a small, (even tiny), continuity slip, and had forgotten that dragon blood in her universe was supposed to be green. If it was the latter, she can always use the former explanation as a cover  Slughorn might have had the dragon's blood for any one of 12 possible uses!  That is, we know that dragon's blood has 12 uses, and one of them is something so innocuous as oven cleaner, so he could have had it for anything in the world. His comment that the price was "sky-high", and the fact that Dumbledore didn't question the fact that he had purchased some makes me think that it's not such a rare or questionable substance.Just my thoughts! Cheers!! GTScout (Steve) -------------------- “The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible.”
~Severus Snape  |
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Jun 13 2006, 07:24 PM
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Flesh-Eating-Slug Catcher Posts: 145 Joined: 7:22pm March 22, 2006 Location: London (Home) or Coventry (Warwick Uni) |
I have to say I think it was dragon's blood too. Dumbledore would have known if he was lying, what with having discovered its uses.
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Jun 21 2006, 09:13 PM
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Hiding in the Iron Maiden at Borgin and Burkes Posts: 316 Joined: 4:39pm April 6, 2006 Location: Under the chair in Hagrids Hut |
I agree it would be Dragon's blood. My thought on the difference between the red blood on the walls and the green blood from Hagrid's steak is that Hagrid's steak did seem to be a bit.... old and grotty! Perhaps it was rotting and the decomposition had changed the colour of the blood?
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Jun 22 2006, 07:31 AM
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Disgruntled House-Elf at The Leaky Cauldron Posts: 445 Joined: 3:14pm April 15, 2006 Location: Looking for a Horcrux in Detroit! |
I do believe it was dragon blood. but,i also have a question,not sure if this is the right place,and its off topic(cant find it).
What did Slughorn do with the Spider venom he took(hbp,close to end,when Harry got the info frm him) from Hagrids spider(forgot his name).What was he going to use it for?? --------------------  "Yeah,Quirrell was a great teacher,"said Harry loudly,"there was just that minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head." |
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Jun 22 2006, 08:39 AM
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Stocking Snitches at Quality Quidditch Supplies Posts: 692 Joined: 5:55am March 12, 2005 Location: in my privat book corner |
If the matter won't be explained otherwise in book 7, I think that Jo made indeed a tiny continuity slip. But you could explain it away by what GTScout or Kiwi Gryffindor have said. So there is no problem really, at least not for me.
-------------------- One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrel around, bouncing off the back of his turban. (PS, p.210)
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Jul 21 2006, 04:36 AM
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Cauldron Bottom Measurer Posts: 98 Joined: 11:35pm July 6, 2005 Location: utahh |
I think that theres probably different types of dragon blood. But arent dragons supposed to be rare?? or am I just stupid haha, and why would Hagrid have dragon meat if he wanted to keep one for a pet.. i couldnt ever imagine eating a dog or a cat. Its probably different though.
and arsnape.. i dont know what he did with the venom probably sold it but the spiders name was aragog -------------------- dont shake. i hate to see you tremble.
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Jul 21 2006, 06:48 AM
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Shopping for a New Firebolt Posts: 844 Joined: 9:18pm July 24, 2005 |
There is one other possibility. It might only take a simple charm to change the color of the blood in dragons, which might lend to the usefullness of dragon blood.
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Jul 21 2006, 03:59 PM
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Daily Prophet Photographer Posts: 888 Joined: 1:20pm April 25, 2006 Location: Las Vegas, NV (Home of Lumos!) |
QUOTE(whitestag @ Jul 21 2006, 01:36 AM) [snapback]889967[/snapback] I think that theres probably different types of dragon blood. But arent dragons supposed to be rare?? or am I just stupid haha, and why would Hagrid have dragon meat if he wanted to keep one for a pet.. i couldnt ever imagine eating a dog or a cat. Its probably different though. and arsnape.. i dont know what he did with the venom probably sold it but the spiders name was aragog Well, dragons are rare, hence the expensive nature of the blood. As for Hagrid using dragon meat on his eye - well, people have fish in their aquariums, but still enjoy a nice trout once in a while .
-------------------- "Science without Religion is lame, Relgion without Science is blind." - Albert Einstein
 (Thank you, anguinea!) |
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Jul 21 2006, 04:12 PM
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Disgruntled House-Elf at The Leaky Cauldron Posts: 418 Joined: 6:12pm April 8, 2006 Location: In animagus form watching Snape, and yes, he really is washing his hair on a Saturday night! |
I think it is dragon's blood.
We know how Sluggy adores his luxury items. If he was complaining about the price or how hard it is to come by. I believe it. At least his crystallized pineapple is easier to come by. 
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