Harry talking to his subconscious in Twelve Months - Your opinions

[Xamion]

@Mira, True Love Protection was never absolute. Harry's protection was weak than Arturo's, so we know time is a factor. If something like time is a factor, it is not unreasonable to assume there are other factors.

I don't think it's exactly time that's the crucial factor. Rather I think the more important part is the emotional component (e.g. what is most important for [human] magic in the series), where it does not necessarily matter how much time has passed since your "soulmate" left you, but how *you* specifically still feel about them or not, at the specific time point. That would fit with what Mab told Harry about the "mechanics" of the True Love Protection in 12 Months, and still be somewhat consistent with its portrayal in the books prior. It makes sense that the idea of those mechanics is relatively simple, logically speaking, but being attached to or interacting with a very complex and seemingly irrational thing like human emotions, the reality of it turns out much more complicated, like a true system.

[Bad Alias]

I don't think it's exactly time that's the crucial factor.

It is a factor, or at least Thomas said so.

[Xamion]

Yes, it is *a* factor, in the sense that people's emotions change and can fade over time, in the same way memories do (since they're often one and the same, within the workings of our brains). What I was getting at was the fact, that you could have lost your wife/husband/partner/lover years ago, but so long as emotionally you still have the same feelings for them or your memory/attachment of them, they might be strong enough to still protect you. Possibly strong enough to leave a sufficient imprint on meaningful items even, such as the wedding ring, so long as you still interact with those items daily while feeling those emotions, in essence the exact same principle as enchanting something and refueling it over time.

[Mira]

@Kurtin, Murphy started out irrational. She got better until her and Butters flip flopped over who would be suspicious of Harry, starting in Ghost Story.

@Mira, True Love Protection was never absolute. Harry's protection was weak than Arturo's, so we know time is a factor. If something like time is a factor, it is not unreasonable to assume there are other factors.

The thing is, Harry's love protection shouldn't have been weak, not from his side anyway.  We know he had loved or thought he was in love with Murphy as far back as Proven Guilty, when she turned him down.  I think it's significant that the soul gaze was never completed, so Harry never saw much before she died.  Murphy may have felt or thought she felt true love for Harry, but there also may have been lingering doubts as well on her part and that's why the protection didn't last.  As to time, the protection with Susan lasted over five years, with Murphy only a few weeks?  If anything in those first few months of mourning the love Harry felt would have been more intense than when Murphy was alive.

Re: Harry talking to his subconscious in Twelve Months - Your opinions
« Reply #17 on: Today at 10:04:39 AM »
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Yes, it is *a* factor, in the sense that people's emotions change and can fade over time, in the same way memories do (since they're often one and the same, within the workings of our brains). What I was getting at was the fact, that you could have lost your wife/husband/partner/lover years ago, but so long as emotionally you still have the same feelings for them or your memory/attachment of them, they might be strong enough to still protect you. Possibly strong enough to leave a sufficient imprint on meaningful items even, such as the wedding ring, so long as you still interact with those items daily while feeling those emotions, in essence the exact same principle as enchanting something and refueling it over time.

Yes, exactly, actually in many cases stronger because you tend to remember even more the good times instead of the bad.  One alternative I guess is many people who were very happy in a relationship swiftly look for another partner to be happy like that again.  That could be what's going on with Harry here.