Boggarts

In creating the Boggart, Mrs. Rowling seems to have lifted a word out of Celtic mythology,¹ only to then entirely disregard the backstory that mythology would normally imply.

Level of Intelligence

Like the [Dementor], this is fairly debatable. Mrs. Rowling [tells] us of several boggarts that have taken on the shape of humans for fairly long durations.² What she does not tell us is enough detail to know if these boggarts could pass a "Turing Test".

Analysis

Unlike the [Dementors], there are no obvious inconsistencies with the boggarts. That is not to say there are no concerns. These particular [non-beings] exemplify the problems with the [balance of power] more clearly than, I think, anything else in the books do. They can become anything, including having a reasonably effective facsimile of that something's magic (thus it can become a [Dementor]. Even if it is a somewhat weakened facsimile, the fact that it can resurrect a suppressed memory and cause [Harry] to faint means that it is still a frighteningly over-powered creature.

[Harry]: </Harrypedia/people/Potter/Harry James/>/ [tells]: https://www.rowlingindex.org/work/pmbog/ [Dementors]: /Harrypedia/non-beings/dementor/ [Dementor]: /Harrypedia/non-beings/dementor/ [non-beings]: /Harrypedia/non-beings/ [balance of power]: /Harrypedia/balance/