Difference between Q and Harry Potter wizards?

[DarthTom]

I re-watched over the weekend a couple of the Harry Potter films and caught a couple of TNG episodes and it got me thinking. What fundamentally is the difference between the Q as depicted in Trek [or for that matter all powerful beings throughout all of the series] and the wizards in Harry Potter?

The Q apparently snap their fingers to engage their 'magical abilities,' whereas the Harry Potter characters cite lines of Latin-magic-BS and use wands to wield their magic - but fundamentally aren't they using the same type of "magic," to use their powers?

 

[Pingfah]

The same type of magic? I'm not sure that actually means anything at all.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Clarke's 3rd Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I assume the Q use technology whereas Harry Potter and friends channel some latent natural energy through possession of a genome that doesn't express Muggleness. I've never been remotely interested in reading the books or watching the films so this is my uninformed speculation. Even the Q get pretty tiresome...

 

[DarthTom]

Clarke's 3rd Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Exactly. Which means that the Potter wizards could also be using technology in combination with their inherited traits.

I assume the Q use technology whereas Harry Potter and friends channel some latent natural energy through possession of a genome that doesn't express Muggleness. I've never been remotely interested in reading the books or watching the films so this is my uninformed speculation. Even the Q get pretty tiresome...

There is no dialogue in Trek that leads us to believe the Q use technology. In fact, the episode where Amanda Rogers is discovered as a Q - implies like with Potter - it's channeled and inherited power.

 

[sojourner]

Considering the Q don't have to use incantations, wands, herbs, etc I'd have to say, no. they don't use the same type of "magic". There's also the matter of scale. The Q can change the gravity constant of the universe on a whim. Potter magic? not likely.

 

[Sindatur]

Yea, Q magic, seems to be something you really don't need to study or learn, if you've got it, you can do whatever you want, wether you've done it before or not, and you don't need any tools to do it.

Potter Magic (And don't forget the House Elves have a different brand of magic as well), only the most skilled wizards can do wandless magic, and you can't just do whatever you want, you have to learn how to do spells, which involves the Wand as a focusing tool, and the words to make to happen. Yo have to feel the magic, learn the words (And in the caseof Potion brewing the recipes), have the right wand motion...

 

[DarthTom]

Yea, Q magic, seems to be something you really don't need to study or learn, if you've got it, you can do whatever you want, wether you've done it before or not, and you don't need any tools to do it.

Well Amanda Rogers had to learn how to use her powers. IIRC she was creating puppies spontaneously and the elder Q had to help her learn how to teleport herself.

But yes - no big castle full of Q going to class.

 

[gblews]

Potter Magic (And don't forget the House Elves have a different brand of magic as well), only the most skilled wizards can do wandless magic, and you can't just do whatever you want, you have to learn how to do spells, which involves the Wand as a focusing tool, and the words to make to happen. Yo have to feel the magic, learn the words (And in the caseof Potion brewing the recipes), have the right wand motion...

Sounds like "tech" to me at least with respect to the wands and potions.

 

[DarthTom]

Sounds like "tech" to me at least with respect to the wands and potions.

Exactly. With regard to the Q we simply have no idea how they wield their powers other than a vague reference in Voyager's Q and the Grey where Q says that they dream up "Q weapons," which manifests itself as bullets and mortar fire.

 

[Sindatur]

Yea, Q magic, seems to be something you really don't need to study or learn, if you've got it, you can do whatever you want, wether you've done it before or not, and you don't need any tools to do it.

Well Amanda Rogers had to learn how to use her powers. IIRC she was creating puppies spontaneously and the elder Q had to help her learn how to teleport herself.

But yes - no big castle full of Q going to class.

Yea, she had to be schooled for about 10 minutes on how to use the powers in General, but, she didn't need to be taught how to do each individual thing, once she knew how to use the pwoers in general, she could use them for whatever she wanted to make happen. Blow up a sun, transport to outside the hull, create flowers, all could be done just by understandinghow to use the powers. In Harry Potter, every little thing has a different incantation and wand movement. So, knowing how to do the Jelly legs curse, doesn't get you any closer to making something fly across the room.

 

[BoxWhatBox]

Q can manifest food and water and ability the Wizards in Harry Potter do not have.

 

[Kemaiku]

Considering the Q don't have to use incantations, wands, herbs, etc

Yup. Potterverse uses evocation magic, they all need a foci or it doesn't work. Only the exceptional ones like Dumbledore and Voldermort can achieve anything substantial without one.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

It seems like comparing a .22 caliber rifle with a ship-mounted rail gun.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Essentially, the Q are the Star Trek equivalent to omnipotent Gods.

The other guys are pretty much just wizards.

 

[Klaus]

Q is cool...

 

[DarthTom]

Q can manifest food and water and ability the Wizards in Harry Potter do not have.

I don't recall any dialogue [at least in the films] that addresses this one way or another. Did I miss something?

 

[DarthTom]

Essentially, the Q are the Star Trek equivalent to omnipotent Gods.

The other guys are pretty much just wizards.

The Q have the ability to execute each other. Amanda Rogers parents were killed by the Q and the other Q on Voyager committed suicide.

Can Gods be killed?

 

[Edit_XYZ]

Can Gods be killed?

Historically, many gods could be killed and were killed in various mythologies (including the Christian one).
And many gods needed ships - well, their mythological equivalent.

What is a god, though? Which is a definition of the concept?:
-The creator of the world/universe;
-An omnipotent being. And what exactly is 'omnipotent'? - this is a reference to the 'can god create a stone he can't lift or not?' paradox. The Q, apparently, can create such a 'stone' (weapon that can kill them, in their case) - and they get killed by the 'stones' they create;
-A being of immense power;
-A being many believe to be a god;
-Combinations of the above.

By most of these definitions (even all - Q did claim he created the universe), Q is a god - whether Picard likes it or not.
By one, your standard cult leader is a god.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Essentially, the Q are the Star Trek equivalent to omnipotent Gods.

The other guys are pretty much just wizards.

The Q have the ability to execute each other. Amanda Rogers parents were killed by the Q and the other Q on Voyager committed suicide.

Can Gods be killed?

Google Balder and Ragnarok.

 

[Kemaiku]

Q can manifest food and water and ability the Wizards in Harry Potter do not have.

I don't recall any dialogue [at least in the films] that addresses this one way or another. Did I miss something?

Deathly Hallows, in the books anyway, it's stated that food cannot be created with magic. Magic can be used to animate the tools used, create a fire to cook it, but not the food stuff itself.

Spoiler: Feasts

Eventually leading to the revelation of the mass kitchens directly underneath the Great Hall where a small army of enslaved house elves cook day and night, the food is simply teleported directly upward to the tables.