5

Say that I want to become an Animagus, and am really hoping to be a certain animal (say, a stag). I study a whole bunch and manage to perfect the technique. Do I get to pick the animal I wind up as, so that I wind up being a stag like I want? Or is it something where I just find out what I turn into (and if I wind up as a dung beetle, tough luck)?

This is not a duplicate of Can an Animagus take the form of any animal? because that question is about which animals an Animagus can potentially transform into. Mine is about if I can decide which potential animal I wind up being.

Thunderforge
  • 51,516
  • 43
  • 212
  • 431
  • @ibid How is this a duplicate of "Can an Animagus take the form of any animal"? That one is asking if animals of different sizes or exoticness are potential animal candidates. My question is if the person can decide if they want to be a stag or a cat or beetle or whatever. – Thunderforge Dec 03 '17 at 02:47
  • 2
    @Thuderforge - One of the answers there is a quote from Rowling that the animagus animal is locked as the patronus animal. – ibid Dec 03 '17 at 02:49
  • @ibid But the questions are not duplicates. That's what the SE text says: "This question was marked as an exact duplicate of an existing question. If this question is different". The two questions are not duplicates, even though an answer to an unrelated question contains it. – Thunderforge Dec 03 '17 at 02:50
  • 2
    We close as duplicates if the answers from one can apply equally well to the other, even if the questions themselves are different. – ibid Dec 03 '17 at 05:48
  • @HarryJohnston - Both answers to the other question perfectly answer this one. – ibid Dec 03 '17 at 18:08
  • 2
    @ibid., DVK's answer mentions it in passing, but provides no evidence. The quote in your answer could be interpreted as meaning that your Patronus changes form to match your Animagus form, which doesn't rule out the possibility of choosing it, and you don't actually mention that you can't choose your Patronus form, either. Neither would be a dreadful answer to this question, but neither would be good. We should only close as a duplicate if the existing answers on the old question would make good answers to the new question. Otherwise we're pointlessly lowering the quality of the site. – Harry Johnston Dec 03 '17 at 20:32
  • 2
    ... also, the current voting on the meta question you post to suggests that opinion is now marginally against the policy you're talking about. – Harry Johnston Dec 03 '17 at 20:35

1 Answers1

11

You cannot choose your Animagus animal

If we could choose our Animagus, you can rest assured we’d all be lions, adorable puppies, or magnificent eagles. But realistically, an Animagus is closely linked to your personality. For example, the brave and rebellious James Potter is famously a stag, whereas the conniving journalist Rita Skeeter is a beetle.

Everything you didn’t know about Animagi - Pottermore

and

Q: When you turn into an Animagus, can you choose what animal you become? Or does this get "assigned" to you?

JKR: No, you can't choose. You become the animal that suits you best. Imagine the humiliation when you finally transform after years of study and find that you most closely resemble a warthog.

JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, March 4, 2004

Community
  • 1
Valorum
  • 689,072
  • 162
  • 4,636
  • 4,873