what is behind the veil?

I am surprised there wasnt a thread about this already lol


Does anyone have any theories about what is actually behind the veil.

a theory i found which i think i believe:

Quote :

I think the the veil is something like the death penelty because they say something about a "death chamber" and i think if a dark wizard/witch is sentenced to die they make him walk through the veil but the dark wizard/witch doesnt really die they just cant come back through the veil.

An interesting thought, and very possible, but does that mean an innocent can come back? Could this be sirius' way of coming back. I believe JK mentioned somewhere that sirius would be proven to be innocent.

I think it's to simply represent death - and when someone falls through it, they die. I read a theory on the rooms at the DoM and I can't for the life of me remember what it was...

But if we look at the other doors:

-The thought chamber
-The space chamber
-the time chamber
-the hall of prophecy
-the door that won't unlock
-the death chamber (the veil room)

We can see that each room sort of corresponds to 'mystery of life' - time, thought, space, future, love (door that won't unlock - DD reveals it to be love), and death.

So I think that it's nothing more than something which causes death, and as such Sirius is definitely dead.

So it could be used to kill people? Or are you saying that it is another part of 'the mystery of life'? Though if there is death behind it, why the voices? why can only certain people hear them? Is that todo with seeing death firsthand?

I think it's just something that represents death. But we have seen that it can take someone's life, so perhaps it's some archaic method of execution in the wizarding world?

Perhaps, if we're looking at the death symbolism, it's the equivalent of the river styx, the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

I remember when I first read about the veil, and Sirius going through it, I toyed with the idea of it being like in His Dark Materials, when they've passed the harpies and gone into the land of the dead and meet the ghosts of Roger, Lee and Will's dad. I'm not sure what I think of that theory now though, but it would be an explanation of the voices...

Say it is a boundary between worlds - every story through history (that i know of anyway lol) say that if there is a was into this paradox (is that the word?) then there is a way out. does that mean it is possible that sirius can escape?

There are voices behind the veil. We know this because Harry and Luna can hear them. Where there are voices there has to be people or spirits or ghosts. Possibly, everyone that has ever died by going through the vail still lives on in spirit form. They are trapped there and presumed dead but can still speak.

Here is what I think. Back in the older days of the ministry I bet they used this veil as a death sentace carryout. There were seats all around the veil like an ampatheater. This is where death sentence trials were probably tried before the Wizengammot. We use the electric chair or lethal injection. This was probably their way of doing things. People were simply pushed through the veil. They are then dead and stuck there forever.

Probably over time the veil was considered cruel punishment by more modern witches and wizards and was simply no longer used. So they simply abandonded it and locked it in the Department of Mysteries.

I bet the voices behind the veil are going to play a huge part in the 7th book. Especially now that Sirius Black will be one of those voices.

I think its a doorway to the dead. Like when you walk through your dead. Thats probably what their studying their how to maek it to way

Your theories are interesting - I particularily like the "door to the Dead" and "Styx river". As to whether Harry will be able to speak to Sirius through it... hm, I rather think not. It seems to me that the voices were too indefinite for that to be possible.
And to the "veil = death sentence" - I thought that myself, when I first read OotP. But I'm urmmm 50% sure that Jo said it wasn't. :-S And I have another reason to belive it - they still have Dementor's kisses (don't they?) and those are worse than stepping into a black veil and dying painlessly.
But whatever the veil really is - it's probably also a way to study death. Anyway, it seems that studying all kinds of stuff is all they do in the DoM so.. it would fit.

Well since its in the death room it probably is something the wizards used to study death..... After all death can be a mistery in life....... Maybe they were trying to communicate with the afterlife and since certain people can hear them maybe no one tehre heard anything so they just gave up and forgot about it. (Just gussing)

I think it was like LIMBO or something for wizards like a "waiting room" for those who havent crossed over yet.

As interesting as the theories of this being some older version of the wizarding death penalty, I find it a little hard to believe just because there are other creatures such as Dementors who are just as effective at doing so...if not worse. However, it's definitley an interesting theory...

I think the veil is just the Ministry's way of studying death and it signifies the boundry between life and death. Who knows how it was made, but I think it's strictly for studying rather than as a way of execution.