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Is Merope's wish that her son would turn out to look like his papa, actually a spell or charm that works similar to the spell that made Harry "The boy who lived"?

n611x007
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    Hoping that one's child will be good-looking is not on the same level as a mother sacrificing her life to save that of her child. Merope Gaunt, for whatever reason, chose death rather than motherhood; Lily Potter died as a mother doing anything to protect her child and ultimately giving her life for Harry. Unfortunately, I think it's comparing apples to oranges. Others may see it differently, though. :) – Slytherincess Jun 16 '12 at 21:14
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    While that wish doesn't seem to be an action of love like the one with Harry, the thing she wished for could be the most crucial thing she thought she missed for a happy life, or even for life itself. She might thought that her missing beauty is what made Tom Riddle (Sr.) go away, what made her father and brother humiliate her. This missing quality led to a life that she cannot any more live. With her final wish she may have wanted her son "not to be like her", to provide a better life for her son. – n611x007 Jun 17 '12 at 09:04
  • It's definietly not similar in a way of "self-sacrifice for what must be done", and in that regard it may or may be not work as a "providing" spell for that reason.

    On the other hand, it should be considered that maybe it still could work as a spell, maybe not a nice one. I mean something like a "spell of reversed effect", instead of a protecting spell, it still may be a spell for avoiding. Maybe I overcomplicate it, but it seems possible that in a way she wished that her son should be kept away from her as much as possible. What's more bizarre this would add to Voldemort's fear of death. :)

     – n611x007 Jun 17 '12 at 09:05
  • See also http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/45520/4918 "Did Gandalf cast a spell on Butterbur's beer?" – b_jonas Jul 17 '16 at 20:57

2 Answers2

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No. Lily's magic was the magic done from the supreme act of love - sacrificing your own life to protect your child's life.

Merope on the other hand did NOT sacrifice her life - she basically stopped caring enough to live, with no intent of her death to benefit her child whatsoever despite wishing something good for him.

Merope definitely did a bad thing by Harry's accounting (recall his tirade about Lupin leaving Tonks, saying "Parents should never leave their children, unless they have to").

DVK-on-Ahch-To
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Could be. Say if a wizard (or witch) had strong enough emotions then he could perform wandless magic, transfigure or shield objects or living things. One example is Harry's hair which insisted growing back or Dudley's ugly sweater :

Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) -- The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.

Merope was abused from childhood but i think she had exceptionally strong (if dormant) magic her son inherited. It was mostly repressed while she lived, but it might have been triggered after giving birth as delivering a child is an extremely painful and emotional experience. It may have been ( in her interpretation) some sort of protection to wish her son to be good looking like his father and such have people treat the boy better. If a teenage wizard's wish can alter reality (hair, sweater etc.) then what's the limit, really?

Both Lily and Merope knew they would die and wanted to protect the kid they left behind. Maybe the 'last, dying wish' part makes the magic especially powerful, and not the self-sacrifice part?

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