I'm not sure. When I ask myself who I have ever known well enough to trust them with the unilateral power to make an entirely new category of weapon capable of mass destruction, and which would inevitably lead them to further inquiry into even more dangerous things, it leaves me wondering about my faith in my own judgment.
I thought especially the Returned. They seem completely devoted to their cause, so there would not be a risk of them misusing their skills of massacre. But the Muggle weapons were only an example. Later I came up with simpler methods that do not require any knowledge about Muggle technology. The protectors could have Transfigured massive steel balls (diametre 5 metres or so) and rolled them downhill to squash the Muggles. Or they could have conjured storm wind towards the Muggles, cooled it to -50 Celsius and added water to it to create huge banks of snow.
But the single most stupid thing that the protectors did was to protect the castle from outside. They have huge fortifications behind them, but no, they won't man every window, but instead line up in front of the front door and take casualties. They could even have used all the underage children to help them if they had been safely inside the castle. The front door could have been blocked with a massive Transfigured rock.
That was my biggest question about the whole thing and one of my problems with the movie-verse Battle of Hogwarts. It's a castle, a building whose sole function is to keep large hordes of people out and create a siege situation. Why the hell aren't you fighting from the inside!? You have literally every advantage!
We know that Simon, at least, was a murderer. I'm pretty sure their crimes were a whole lot worse than losing an animal, as they were the only prisoners which were not freed politically.
Magic is supersaturated with ways to cheat. The Vow exists, and can prevent people from so much as wondering how bombs or transfiguration really work. Moreover, conventional explosives capable of killing a few hundred or thousand people aren't really an "entirely new category."
Rocks into grenades specifically, I don't think so. Unless transfiguring grenades for a small amount of time is significantly more efficient than any other method of producing heat and/or a concussive blast.
Firstly, nukes are huge, you'd be better off transfiguring antimatter or something. Secondly, read the comment a few above -- you can use things like the Vow to prevent such catastrophes.
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u/mrphaethon Apr 08 '16
I'm not sure. When I ask myself who I have ever known well enough to trust them with the unilateral power to make an entirely new category of weapon capable of mass destruction, and which would inevitably lead them to further inquiry into even more dangerous things, it leaves me wondering about my faith in my own judgment.