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Based upon this answer, J.K. Rowlings has apparently stated "You cannot destroy Dementors, though you can limit their numbers if you eradicate the conditions in which they multiply, ie, despair and degradation."

Does this mean that the number of Dementors is always either increasing or remaining the same? If they cannot be destroyed, does that mean they are immortal? Or do they die of "natural causes"?

Community
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Beofett
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    Yeah, Dementors are like... the magical representation of the Entropy. – Kalissar Aug 08 '13 at 08:05
  • I choose to think Rowling means that you can destroy individual Dementors, but you can't get rid of the phenomenon of Dementors forever. Just like the grey men in Michael Ende's Momo, the Dementors exist because people allow them to exist. So even if you go out and destroy each individual Dementor, new ones will get created later as long as there are people in the world with fears. – b_jonas Mar 29 '17 at 10:02
  • One day, there would be nothing left in the universe, but darkness and dementors.. – user931 Apr 24 '17 at 04:38
  • It's not canon, but Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality does great things with this... – Stephen Collings Nov 04 '17 at 02:58
  • @Kalissar Then chuck them into a black hole. – Myungjin Hyun Nov 29 '17 at 12:36
  • You can't kill them, but you can diminish their numbers to something close to epsilon. – RichS Jan 22 '18 at 06:07

4 Answers4

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I interpret what JK Rowling has said to mean that however many Dementors already exist cannot be destroyed by any means, Wizarding or human, meaning there is no spell, potion, curse, etc, that will eradicate them. I expect there is the possibility that Dementors eventually die a natural death. I suspect that the number of Dementors in the world ebbs and flows with their contact with a ready supply of despair, unhappiness, degradation, hopelessness, etc. The less of these emotions they have to feed off of, the less Dementors there will be.

I think it's analagous, as JKR herself says, to depression. Depression is a condition that is never cured, but its severity can possibly be controlled with therapy, medications, and by tweaking other external factors that make it less likely for the depression to be debilitating, if that makes sense.

Anyhow, this is my interpretation of what JKR has said about Dementors.

Slytherincess
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    Also, if it's like a fungus, they are more like a single orgnism :) – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 12 '12 at 14:50
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    There must be a Dementor hunting club, to keep the Dementors rounded up and contained. Otherwise there would be no end of them. There is always a ready supply of depression and despair somewhere in the world. – Xantec Jan 12 '12 at 15:10
  • @DVK - I get your point. But it's weird that they are capable of taking orders and switching loyalties (that may be due simply to the fact that they are loyal to whoever is able to provide them with the most souls to feed on). They're like nature versus nurture amoebas or something like that, lol! :) – Slytherincess Jan 12 '12 at 15:58
  • @Xantec - Maybe it's a department in the Ministry and there are wizards/witches known as Dementor Herders. Perhaps its an eventual offshoot of the Inquisitorial Squad. ;) – Slytherincess Jan 12 '12 at 16:00
  • @Slytherincess Dementor herding ... I wonder if its anything like Nerf herding. – Xantec Jan 12 '12 at 16:08
  • @Xantec - Or herding Tribbles. . . – Slytherincess Jan 13 '12 at 16:44
  • Who said that Depression can't be cured fully? Go check countless research papers on the subject. All you need is 6 weeks of aerobic exercise and meditation (the combination is more effective than SSRI medicines which has reputation of not curing depression fully). I have a personal experience with it. You may wanna replace depression with PTSD, but I believe it is also curable (meditation is very powerful thing; it trains your neural connections to reset or go to positive spectrum). – user931 Apr 24 '17 at 04:52
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Harry thinks in GoF that Sirius went into a southern country and he couldn't imagine a dementor surving for long in sunshine.

I agree with that, I believe dementors can be destroyed (because I don't think they're alive either to be killed) if they are subjected to sunlight for too long and then dissolve into nothingness.

ykombinator
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    Did you mean "...a dementor surfing in sunshine"? :) – sbi Jan 13 '12 at 08:10
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    In the train in part 3 the lights go out when the Dementor comes in. It think they are stronger than the light. Not that they can 'kill' the sun, but prevent the light from being around them. If you get what I mean. Me and my crappy English... – 11684 Sep 11 '12 at 14:48
  • Sunlight bleaching? Seriously?!? – user931 Apr 24 '17 at 04:40
  • I believe it is just people perceiving that the light goes out but it is an illusion – Nikolai Frolov Sep 25 '18 at 16:56
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What is more likely is that Dementors recognize what will kill them, and invariably high-tail it when confronted with such things.

I mean, if not even an uber-Patronus can destroy a Dementor, then why do Dementors flee when confronted with one? They could just make a tactical retreat and then return when the Patronus that forced them away has gone.

EvilSnack
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We-Know-Who spent a lot of time searching for immortality. If dementors were immortal he surely would have harnessed that ability by some dark ways.

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    This might be true, but it seems a bit speculative. Do you have any evidence of whether or not Dementors are immortal from the books? Also, both Horcruxes and Dementors have a relationship to souls…how do we know that Voldemort did not employ study of Dementors in making his Horcruxes? – Adamant Nov 15 '16 at 00:29
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    It’s great that you’ve been helping provide some additional perspectives on various questions recently. However, we generally prefer answers that are well-sourced. Answers that are detailed and supported by quotes and references tend to get upvotes, whereas unsourced answers are often downvoted. – Adamant Nov 15 '16 at 00:32
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    This doesn't seem to answer the question asked. – Valorum Nov 15 '16 at 00:33