Is it just me or does it seem like the part where ron speeks parsetoung is a tad hurried?

i mean, in the second book everyone goes on about how hard its supposed to be, and its apparently really rare to come across a wizard who can do it.

So how was ron able to just do it?

It's not that its hard, just a very rare gift to even have. Ron got to hear Harry use it on several occasions. He wasn't actually speaking it, just imitating a sound he heard.

what do you mean by "hurried"? Ron heard Harry use Parseltongue before, and in all fairness I didn't think it would be too hard to make a hissing noise. Besides, Ron only imitated the hising sounds of a snake, he didn't actually speak it. So it was enough to get into the Chamber, but it wouldn't be sufficient to, say, control the Basilisk or any other type of snake for that matter. And, actually, that was a brilliant idea of Ron's, using a Basilisk fang. Although-wouldn't the poison have dried up over the years since the Basilisk's death? I mean, it has been 5 years... Any ideas on why the poison's still in the fangs?

I agree that it mustn't be too hard to imitate a hissing sound. As for the poison, isn't basilisk venom extremely toxic. The teeth would still have a trace of poison even if the substance had dried up. Think of it like crust or rust.

It's not actually difficult to imitate most anything when it comes to languages. I listen to a lot of music in other languages and imitation is easy when you get used to hearing the same thing over and over again. He's not so much speaking it as imitating. ((Like Dainsie and Ginny_Weasley_Potter said))

And the basilisk's venom is very concentrated and potent. They also left the... giant snake body in the Chamber. Five years wouldn't be long enough for it to fully decay or anything like that. I'm not sure exactly where the venom sacs would be for a basilisk, but I doubt they would have dried out quite yet.

I think even if the poison did dry up (which I don't think it would have - the Chamber was underground etc so I think it would have preserved it well) it would have been enough that the fangs had once contained it and there was a trace on it - like with the sword a bit.

Ron heard harry speaking parseltongue so ron just imitated him. I can imagine it's not that hard to imitate a hissing noise

i was kind of surprised when i heard that, but i think it is easy to imitate hissing voices

Ron heard what Harry had said and he just..... imitated it. It's as simple as that. Someone could learn parstletounge if they really wanted to.

I think the very fact that Ron successfully opened the Chamber of Secrets is a huge contradiction. In CoS, it is stated that the big thing about the actual Chamber is that only the heir of Slytherin can open it and release the beast from within, not just controlling the Basilisk. The only reason Harry was able to open it was because of his scar's connection with Voldemort, who actually is the heir of Slytherin. But Ron has no connection with the heir. So it makes no sense that he could open it, even he was able to mimick Parseltongue.

Also, the whole cavern is in rubble, or at least the entrance is. When Lockhart used the Memory Charm, part of the entry way to the chamber was blocked. (Isn't that why Ron couldn't go with Harry, or is that just in the movie?)


So, to answer your question, it definitely does seem rushed. It should've taken them quite some time to actually get to the cavern where the dead Basilisk would be.


And actually, the moment any animal dies, it immediately begins to decay, starting with autolysis. This is where tissues and enzymes are broken down. Since a snake's venom is a composition of toxins and enzymes, it would most likely be almost or completely gone within a span of five years (seeing as there was only one fang left). And since it was underground and there was a less than normal amount of diatomic oxygen (O2), it would only magnify the rate of decomposition. since it would be in a more anaerobic environment.

I agree with most of you--Ron heard Harry speak Parseltongue on a number of occasions, and he just repeated what it sounded like to him. So he didn't actually speak it, but it was enough to get him into the Chamber of Secrets.

^^Couldn't agree more. Ron only needed to imitate it enough to open the chamber, not to control the basilisk. Wouldn't be too hard to make a few hissing noises to open it..PLUS he was speaking to the snakes on the chamber..not like he was trying to imitate it face to face with one ya know?

Also just a thought..the venom being in the chamber wouldn't have 'dried' up..the chamber is a dark, DAMP and cold..so with the chamber being damp/moist there'd be no way it could dry up..Not like the basilisk was out sitting in the sun in a desert..Maybe then the heat/dry weather could have changed the make up of the venom? Just a thought.

the last time Ron heard Harry say 'open' in Parseltongue was in the Forest of Dean and Hermione did say it took a couple of tries as it did for Harry in CoS. I think Hermione may have meant more than a couple though.

The legend said that only Slytherin's Heir would be able to open the Chamber, but no one knows if that is correct. It's possible that the only enchantment Slytherin place on it was that you needed to speak Parseltongue to open the entrances, whether you shared his blood or not. He probably assumed that only an heir would know the language. Also, who knows how many pureblood wizards have a little Slytherin in them, since most of the purebloods married within the family down the line. Since the Weasley's are technically purebloods, maybe Ron also had a little Slytherin in him as well.

As for the language itself, I think you could learn it just like you can any other foreign language. A true Parselmouth is born able to speak it automatically, but they could teach others to speak it. The problem is, what wizard who has that rare gift would teach others the secret? Dark wizards like Voldemort would never do something like that, which ensures that the taught version will never be passed around.

That's what I thought at first. But then again, like everyone said. He just imitated Harry when he had said Parseltongue. But Parseltongue is only a language, it can be imitated right? It could be taught and learned.

That is really intriguing but his family is really extended so he might have at least one relative from her mother's or father's that had such ability.

He sounds really smexy in the film. (sorry, that was quite inappoprite).