Two things strike me as odd that I don’t seem to have seen yet in other comments (but I might have missed them).
How could the “torture” option work ? From my understanding, if Voldemort gains consciousness again, he can leave his body. And you can’t torture someone who is unconscious. The wand in Azkaban pit could work, but the “call Moody to torture Voldemort” option I really don’t see how it could work.
How can it be so easy to Obliviate Voldemort ? Can’t perfect Occlumens protect themselves from mind-altering spells even when unconscious ? Everyone needs to sleep. If you can just Obliviate even the most powerful Occlumens so easily, why didn’t either Voldemort or the Order (Moody or Dumbledore) think about it and use that trick massively ?
I’ve seen it suggested that V can leave a possessed body (becoming a disembodied spirit) but not his own. I don’t recall seeing anything (either in canon or in HPMOR) that confirms or refutes that.
I share your concerns about #2, although generally “once you have physical access to the hardware, it’s over”—if you can catch Voldemort or Dumbledore or whoever asleep, you can smash their head with a big rock or something.
Can’t perfect Occlumens protect themselves from mind-altering spells even when unconscious ?
I don’t think we’ve seen any evidence of that in the story.
If you can just Obliviate even the most powerful Occlumens so easily, why didn’t either Voldemort or the Order (Moody or Dumbledore) think about it and use that trick massively ?
For what purpose? If you’ve got your enemy at your mercy with their shields down, you either kill them, or you do something more useful with them (e.g. Imperius). I don’t see what you’d get out of Obliviating them instead of either of those options.
Imperius isn’t fail-safe, you can’t Imperius strong-willed persons (at least not in cannon), I don’t think you can Imperius Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Dumbledore, Moody, … Even Harry can resist the Imperius in cannon.
And while it’s true for the “bad guys”, AK is more efficient than Obliviate, for the “good guys” who have restraints in killing (like Dumbledore and at least half of the Order of the Phoenix) using Obliviate on death eaters would seem much better than killing them or sending them to Azkaban. I always assumed they didn’t do it because it wasn’t that easy (long/delicate casting, don’t work on Occlumens, …) to wipe memories massively like that.
Lucius Malfoy claimed to be Imperiused during his time as a Death Eater. That claim needs to have been credible enough that his allies in the Wizengamot could use it to justify voting not to send him to Azkaban. That doesn’t mean it has to be very credible, of course. But it had better not have been common knowledge that Imperius only works on weaklings.
On the other hand, the good guys are bound by the law, which dictates that surviving Death Eaters go to Azkaban, whether Dumbledore and co. want it or not.
Two things strike me as odd that I don’t seem to have seen yet in other comments (but I might have missed them).
How could the “torture” option work ? From my understanding, if Voldemort gains consciousness again, he can leave his body. And you can’t torture someone who is unconscious. The wand in Azkaban pit could work, but the “call Moody to torture Voldemort” option I really don’t see how it could work.
How can it be so easy to Obliviate Voldemort ? Can’t perfect Occlumens protect themselves from mind-altering spells even when unconscious ? Everyone needs to sleep. If you can just Obliviate even the most powerful Occlumens so easily, why didn’t either Voldemort or the Order (Moody or Dumbledore) think about it and use that trick massively ?
I’ve seen it suggested that V can leave a possessed body (becoming a disembodied spirit) but not his own. I don’t recall seeing anything (either in canon or in HPMOR) that confirms or refutes that.
I share your concerns about #2, although generally “once you have physical access to the hardware, it’s over”—if you can catch Voldemort or Dumbledore or whoever asleep, you can smash their head with a big rock or something.
I don’t think we’ve seen any evidence of that in the story.
For what purpose? If you’ve got your enemy at your mercy with their shields down, you either kill them, or you do something more useful with them (e.g. Imperius). I don’t see what you’d get out of Obliviating them instead of either of those options.
Imperius isn’t fail-safe, you can’t Imperius strong-willed persons (at least not in cannon), I don’t think you can Imperius Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Dumbledore, Moody, … Even Harry can resist the Imperius in cannon.
And while it’s true for the “bad guys”, AK is more efficient than Obliviate, for the “good guys” who have restraints in killing (like Dumbledore and at least half of the Order of the Phoenix) using Obliviate on death eaters would seem much better than killing them or sending them to Azkaban. I always assumed they didn’t do it because it wasn’t that easy (long/delicate casting, don’t work on Occlumens, …) to wipe memories massively like that.
Lucius Malfoy claimed to be Imperiused during his time as a Death Eater. That claim needs to have been credible enough that his allies in the Wizengamot could use it to justify voting not to send him to Azkaban. That doesn’t mean it has to be very credible, of course. But it had better not have been common knowledge that Imperius only works on weaklings.
I think it was more that it works for nearly everyone, not only on weaklings.
On the other hand, the good guys are bound by the law, which dictates that surviving Death Eaters go to Azkaban, whether Dumbledore and co. want it or not.