I question the Harry Potter books a lot, but there’s one thing in particular that I’ve always more or less accepted at face value, with no regard for how it actually unfolds, and that thing is how the Ministry and others communicate with what are essentially amortal, wraith-like spirits that, as far as I know, do not possess the ability to speak.
I’m of course talking about Dementors. Adding even more mystery to this question is the fact that underneath that hood of theirs, the Dementors have a hole where their mouth is supposed to be, along with some black holes for eyes.
The Ministry’s Control
We know that the Ministry of Magic controls them to some extent, but I suppose you could argue that this is an unspoken arrangement whereby Dementors are allowed to thrive at Azkaban prison in exchange for relative peace between the two factions.
But as it happens, there are passages from the books which strongly suggest Dementors relay the information to Fudge and the Ministry in the form of words strung together. Therefore today I want to tackle the question of can Dementors speak, and equally as important, how?
The Nature of Dementors
For starters, I’m not sure that Dementors are even something that you’d want to communicate with. They are three meter tall, cloaked, amortal non-beings with dark grey scabby skin and a face that looks like a decaying corpse.
And adding another layer of difficulty to attempted communication with them is the fact that when you’re in their immediate presence, they suck away all of your happiness, like moving clouds of depression and despair.
An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest. It was inside his very heart. Harry’s eyes rolled up into his head. He couldn’t see, he was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder, and then, from far away, he heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams. He wanted to help whoever it was, he tried to move his arms, but couldn’t, a thick white fog was swirling around him, inside him.
The Ministry’s Arrangement with Dementors
But in spite of all of this, the ministry appears to have some sort of an arrangement with them. I discussed this in length in my last theory, “Azkaban prisoners are human sacrifices”, but basically Dementors have served the ministry for a long time, dating as far back as 1718.
Then Minister for Magic Damocles Raul saw the Dementors as a potential asset, and rather than trying to get rid of them, felt that he could utilize their abilities in Azkaban, helping to keep dark prisoners in check.
First Contact
This was first contact, how this first contact played out, or how they communicated, is another question altogether. In the end, dementors ended up being the perfect guards, but now you might be wondering why dementors would serve them in the first place.
And the simple answer is that the ministry allowed the dementors to feed on the emotions of the prisoners within its walls, and this was a win-win for everyone. The dementors were given a continual supply of souls, and the wizarding government could put prisoners inside of Azkaban without fear of them escaping.
Evidence of Dementor Communication
But later on, like during Harry’s years at Hogwarts, it seems as though the ministry’s arrangement with the more nuanced.
There are also a number of instances in the books where it is strongly suggested that the dementors have the capability of speech, or at least two-way communication.
This challenges the idea that dementors were simply following orders based on an arrangement that was communicated to them and was mutually beneficial. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Arthur Weasley says the following,
“Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn’t report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Black’s been talking in his sleep for a while now, always the same words, he’s at Hogwarts, he’s at Hogwarts. Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring you-know-who back to power.”
What this passage suggests is that the guards of Azkaban, which we know to be dementors, communicated to Cornelius Fudge that Sirius Black had been talking in his sleep.
And as if that wasn’t surprising enough, it appears they were able to communicate the specifics, explaining that Sirius kept saying, “he’s at Hogwarts, he’s at Hogwarts”.
Other Instances of Communication
There are numerous other instances in which there appears to be some level of verbal communication with Dementors.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, while Harry is eavesdropping on the group of adults discussing Sirius Black in the three broomsticks, Madame Rosemerta objects to the Minister for Magic about the presence of Dementors.
“You know that the Dementors have searched my pub twice,” said Madame Rosemerta, a slight edge to her voice. “Scared all my customers away. It’s very bad for business, Minister.”
“Rosemerta, my dear. I don’t like them any more than you do,” said Fyter uncomfortably. “Necessary precaution. Unfortunate, but there you are. I’ve just met some of them. They’re in a fury against Dumbledore. He won’t let them inside the castle grounds.”
We also see Dumbledore implying that he is going to speak with them.
“I must go down to the Dementors,” said Dumbledore. “I said I would inform them when our search was complete.”
And we see Lupin attempt to communicate with them when they board the train.
“And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked toward the Dementor, and pulled out his wand,” said Hermione, “and he said, ‘None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.’ But the Dementor didn’t move, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away.”
Theories on Dementor Communication
Theory 1: Legilimency
Given that they have a giant hole where their mouths are supposed to be, my first theory is that it’s some form of legilimency. If Dementors can drain your emotions, it suggests that they have the ability to infiltrate your mind on some level. Therefore, it stands to reason that they might also possess the capability to communicate with you telepathically.
Legilimency, as we know, allows a wizard to access and interpret the thoughts and feelings of another. If Dementors share a similar ability, they could potentially implant thoughts in the mind of whoever they are trying to communicate with, similar to the way Voldemort sends messages to Harry of what he wants him to see.
In this way, the Dementors would be accessing the mind in a way similar to the Sorting Hat, which is able to read the thoughts and feelings of students as it sorts them into one of the four Hogwarts houses.
Theory 2: Visual Communication
My second theory, which I am less convinced of, is that rather than communicating the words to you, they are able to show you what they are attempting to communicate. For example, in the case of Sirius Black speaking in his sleep, the Dementors could have relayed that memory to Fudge in a way similar to how one experiences memories in a pensive.
This allows others to understand their communication through visual or emotional I’m not sure this would adequately explain some of the other scenarios in which contact was made with dementors.
Theory 3: Instinctual Understanding
My final theory is that dementors have a sort of instinctual understanding beyond our mortal comprehension. At the end of the day, dementors are highly complicated amortal beings that exhibit a number of qualities beyond our understanding.
Therefore, it’s possible that they possess a form of instinctual understanding that allows them to communicate without the need for words or direct mental access.
This would mean they have an innate ability to interpret the intentions and desires of those they encounter based on body language, emotional states, or even magical vibrations in the air.
This would allow them to respond to human interactions in a way that feels like communication even if it’s not verbalized or consciously understood.
This would mean that their understanding would be more about empathic connection than traditional communication. Relying on an almost animalistic awareness of their surroundings and the people in them.
This one may seem far-fetched, but it’s important to remember that the Harry Potter universe is a magical world filled to the brim with things that we could never possibly understand, so it’s possible that this is just one of those things.
Conclusion
What do you think? How do you think the ministry of magic, fudge and others communicate with dementors? Legilimency, bi-memories, or some sort of innate animalistic communication? Do any of my theories resonate with you, or is there another explanation altogether?
Let me know down in the comment section below.
