| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | %% This isn't Troper Tales or a forum. Refrain from first person entries, speculation, and "replying" to entries. Administrivia/RepairDontRespond is in effect here as much as any other page. |
| 5 | %% |
| 6 | %% |
| 7 | %% "Fridge" that demands an answer goes on the Headscratchers tab. |
| 8 | %% If you want to add a fridge example that needs an answer, or see a fridge example you want to answer, move it over to Headscratchers. |
| 9 | %% |
| 10 | %% |
| 11 | %% This page is for series-wide fridges. Place any specific ones in their respective pages. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ! Warning: Marked and Unmarked spoilers throughout the page. Read at your own discretion. |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | !!Book/Film Specific Entries |
| 16 | [[index]] |
| 17 | * ''[[Fridge/HarryPotterandthePhilosophersStone Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' |
| 18 | * ''[[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheChamberofSecrets Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]'' |
| 19 | * ''[[Fridge/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerofAzkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' |
| 20 | * ''[[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheGobletofFire Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'' |
| 21 | * ''[[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheOrderofthePhoenix Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'' |
| 22 | * ''[[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheHalfBloodPrince Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'' |
| 23 | * ''[[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheDeathlyHallows Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'' |
| 24 | [[/index]] |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!FridgeBrilliance |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder:General Part 1]] |
| 31 | * [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Wand_woods The page of wand wood lore]] just adds a whole slew of this. For instance, Holly wands often choose wizards engaged in dangerous or [[MessiahCreep spiritual]] quests. |
| 32 | ** Ron and Neville are notable cases of this, as they often saw themselves as mediocre wizards at best, when they were actually hampered by having wands that did not choose them. In the former's case, his first wand had previously belonged to his brother Charlie. Said wand had possibly the worst possible wood/core combination for Ron: unicorn hair (which are said to be the wands that stay the most loyal to their original owners) and ash wood (clings to its original master and loses power and skill if gifted or passed down). Neville's wand, while of materials unknown, may have been of a similar combination as it hampered his magical skills and it previously belonged to his father. Ron's second wand in the third book is said to be made of willow wood, which according to Ollivander tends to choose owners with (often unwarranted) insecurities, much like Ron has. Meanwhile, Neville gets a wand made of cherry wood in the sixth book, which are said to be exceptionally powerful and even lethal, befitting Neville's inner strength that starts to show during the final three books. |
| 33 | * Dumbledore makes it very clear that Harry has to specifically die to the Killing Curse by Voldemort himself in order to destroy the piece of Voldemort's soul inside of him as well as allow Harry to survive. But why couldn't Harry die by any other method, why did it have to be those two conditions specifically? That's for one simple reason. While Voldemort's blood link with Harry tethered Harry to life, if Harry had say, been stabbed and bled to death, poisoned, tortured with the Cruciatus Curse to death, etc., that would have done irreparable damage to his body. So even if he revived right after, he'd probably die again immediately due to too much sustained damage in his body and permanently gone. However, the Killing Curse specifically only does one thing to the person it hits, which is rip their soul away from their body, but it doesn't cause any actually bodily harm to them. This is confirmed as corpses such as Voldemort's father were said by muggle autopsies to have no bodily harm, as if the person just dropped dead from fear and shock alone. It's confirmed that Harry "died" from the curse because if not, the piece of Voldemort in him wouldn't have been destroyed (and for a Horcrux to be destroyed, its' container must also be destroyed in some way). However, because of the blood link, Harry's soul was severed from his body which sent him to the afterlife Kings Cross where he meets Dumbledore, but the link allows his soul to be guided and return to his body, which has sustained no bodily harm and can function properly again upon reuniting. As for why Voldemort specifically had to do it, it's because if anyone else had tried to kill Harry, they could have done it in ways such as poison, blunt trauma, causing bleeding out, etc. which would make his body unable to function properly upon his revival and just result in his permanent death. However, Voldemort ALWAYS uses the Killing Curse against Harry no matter what when he tries to finish the job and kill him, nothing else. He'd never use a spell like Reducto or Crucio to do the curse due to his pride, which ensures that if he kills Harry, his body would be intact to allow Harry to resurrect without any issue. |
| 34 | * Beware, lots of unmarked Horcrux spoilers to follow: The inconsistency of Harry's scar is confusing. His glimpsing Voldemort's plans from a distance in book four when the only thing that happens in book one is some pain? Not to mention book seven, where it steadily gets harder for even Voldemort to block the connection, to the point where Harry only has to close his eyes during the final battle to view what Voldemort's doing, as opposed to book five where it only happened when Harry was asleep. However, the strength of the connection corresponds with the destruction of the horcruxes. Or, more accurately, the ratio of Voldemort's soul held by Harry versus held by Voldemort himself. |
| 35 | ** Book One: Harry only feels minor pain when in close proximity to Voldemort. |
| 36 | ** Book Two: Tom Riddle's diary is destroyed, strengthening the connection. |
| 37 | ** Book Four: Harry sees a few dreams of Voldemort's actions in hiding, but not sense his emotions while watching them. Voldemort doesn't know Harry can see into his mind at this time. At this time however, a new horcrux is created, Nagini. |
| 38 | ** Book Five: Harry can now glimpse Voldemort's thoughts and actions while asleep. Voldemort can send false messages, but in the end starts employing Occlumency to block Harry out. |
| 39 | ** Book Six: Another horcrux is destroyed. |
| 40 | ** Book Seven: Voldemort can't block Harry out of his mind anymore. Harry now glimpses Voldemort's thoughts and memories while awake, though only when Voldemort's feeling strong emotions. The locket and the cup are destroyed, and during the final battle, all Harry has to do to activate Voldy-vision is basically just close his eyes. Voldemort is completely unaware of this, and has no control over it. This suggests that as the Horcruxes are destroyed, Harry's control over the connection gets stronger and Voldemort's gets weaker. |
| 41 | * A common plothole brought up by a few people before is 'why don't they just use veritaserum?', in any situation really. When Hagrid was originally expelled from Hogwarts, or if it wasn't around back then, when he's sent to Azkaban during the 2nd book? Or when Harry is on trial in the 5th? If they have this magical truth-telling formula that never-ever-ever fails, why wouldn't they just use that? And then it hit me: they don't want the real culprits, they just want to stop thinking about it. The later books gave us more and more looks at the world of magical politics, and showed us quickly just how corrupt the Ministry of Magic really was at times. It seems almost too obvious that [[HeadInTheSandManagement they'd be more willing to accept a scapegoat for literally any problem they come across]], rather than waste time and resources investigating for the real criminal. |
| 42 | ** Not only that, but this goes a long way to explaining two more things. First, why nobody ever believes the heroes. Of course, it could just be typical storytelling, that the heroes are the underdogs and [[NotNowKiddo nobody ever believes what they say]]… or maybe wizards just have a natural propensity to ignore the difficult and accept the simple, even if the simple might be false. |
| 43 | ** Furthermore, this explains how Voldemort was so notorious for so long. Surely all it'd take is one well-aimed Killing Curse from some vigilant individual and, bam, problem solved, right? Well, yeah, except maybe for years nobody ''believed'' in Voldemort, and all that he did kept getting blamed on other people who were falsely arrested for his crimes. It'd explain why he went to such efforts to be noticed, what with the Death Eater masks, the Morsmordre spell… it's like Voldemort is signing his name with everything that he does, despite the fact that he avoided capture for so long. And why was the Order of the Phoenix started? To fight Voldemort… because the Ministry of Magic wasn't doing it already. |
| 44 | *** Also, given Voldemort's use of Horcruxes, one Killing Curse ''wouldn't'' be enough to end him. Sure, it'd put him down for a time (that's exactly what happened when his own Killing Curse rebounded on him in his failed attempt to kill Harry), but he'd be back eventually. Of course, very few people knew about the Horcruxes, so this might raise still more questions. |
| 45 | * According to Dumbledore, it is his use of Dark Magic in general (and of Horcruxes in particular) that led Voldemort to turn himself from a handsome dark-haired boy into a noseless snake-man who LooksLikeOrlok. Now, ''most'' of the damage is understood to have been caused by his making so many Horcruxes. Indeed, the only other character who is known to have possessed a Horcrux, the Ancient Greek wizard [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Herpo_the_Foul Herpo the Foul]], who only made one Horcrux, looks a ''little'' snakelike, with a rather flat nose and slightly slit-pupiled eyes. |
| 46 | ** On the same topic, a neat little piece of continuity that is exclusive to the movies (and might have actually been accidental): when we see him on the back of Quirrel's head in ''Philosopher's Stone'', Voldemort does look rather snakelike, but, among other details, still has an actual nose, if a rather flat one. When we meet him again in the flesh in ''Goblet of Fire'', he now completely lacks a nose. Well, of course he does; he's just come out of an ''extremely'' dark resurrection ritual that involved drinking snake's venom, someone cutting off their own hand, and torturing a teenager. If ''that'' couldn't corrupt Voldemort, we don't know what will. |
| 47 | *** More likely is that turning Nagini into a Horcrux, which in the books happened between the first and fourth books, provided the final degradation that robbed him of his nose. |
| 48 | * In the first book, it's stated that Draco reminds Harry of Dudley. The comparison makes sense — both kids are heartless, spoiled-brat bullies with lackeys who verbally and physically abuse everyone and get away with it. But as the series commences, the parallels end up going further than that. Both get just barely redeemed and turn out to not be all bad. Both have mothers (with flower names) who turn out to truly care about them and not be all bad themselves (each of them has issues with her sister). Neither Draco nor Dudley's fathers get redeemed at all. The difference? The Dursleys (mostly Vernon) are intent on remaining a hundred-percent Muggle, not acknowledging the magical world in the slightest, and they hate all wizards and regard them as freaks. The Malfoys (mostly Lucius) want to kill off all the Mudbloods, whom they regard as utterly worthless, and place wizards in control. The families are perfect mirror images of one another, but on opposing sides. |
| 49 | * [[HeroOfAnotherStory Neville]] spent the best part of six years being told that he wasn't brave enough to belong in Gryffindor, and we know it hit home. We also know that Godric Gryffindor's sword presents itself to any member of its House that it views as worthy of receiving it, going with Dumbledore's statement that "help will always be given at Hogwarts to those that need/deserve it". During the first part of Book Seven, Neville becomes the leader of an underground resistance against the Death Eaters, taking several levels in [[TookALevelInBadass badass]] as he goes: this basically involves him standing up to Snape — the man whose form his ''boggart'' used to take (i.e. his greatest fear). He then proceeds to talk down '''VOLDEMORT HIMSELF''' and fight half of the Battle of Hogwarts armed with only a sword. To reiterate — he pretty much brought a knife to a gunfight, albeit a magical one. The FridgeBrilliance comes in when you remember him standing up to the Trio back in Book One, and realise that Neville has been so brave, and so deserving of the Sword, all along. It's the quote from Dumbledore that it "shows great courage to stand up to our friends and not just our enemies" that is evidence to him always being brave. Not to mention that that's exactly what Dumbledore felt he hadn't been able to do in regards to Grindelwald. |
| 50 | * Resident Slytherin bitch Pansy Parkinson is always described as being "pug-faced" by Harry in the books. Pugs are a kind of dog. In other words, Pansy Parkinson has a bitchy face! |
| 51 | * It always seemed like somewhat weak writing that Harry never showed any curiosity about his family or the wider wizarding world, requiring Hermione to explain everything to him (and us) at every turn. It may seem Harry wasn't too bright, but the Dursleys spent a decade beating any curiosity out of him and never answered his questions honestly. He's not dumb, he just still hasn't gotten over that part of his horrible childhood, poor kid. |
| 52 | * Voldemort's ''name'', for heaven's sake. In French, "vol-" means "escape," "-de-" means "from", and "-mort" means "death." His entire name is a mashup of the phrase "escape from death." "Vol" can also be thief, or theft, too; both stealing from death, and stealing death itself. You can really tell J.K. Rowling was a languages scholar. |
| 53 | * Remus Lupin = werewolf = Remus was one of the two wolf-raised brothers who founded Rome, and Lupin from lupīnus, the Latin for wolf. |
| 54 | * Dolores Umbridge: "Dolor" is Latin for pain or grief, which she gives both out in large quantities. "Umbrage" means taking offense, annoyance, and displeasure. ''Everyone'' is annoyed and displeased by her tyrannical nature. She takes umbrage at a great many things, which she uses to justify her painful punishments. She's a parody of oppressive politicians, who justify their mean policies with stories about how immoral and deserving of punishment their targets are. |
| 55 | ** The related word "dolorous", close to "Dolores", means full of, expressing, or ''causing'' pain or sorrow. |
| 56 | *** There's a simpler explanation: "Dolores" just straight-up means "pain" in Spanish. |
| 57 | * It's bothersome that Slytherin House is painted as almost unequivocally evil, but: That's not bad writing, ''that's BRILLIANT writing!'' See, we're explicitly told that Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw are the "good" houses, so we just expect that anyone from those houses will do the right thing. Slytherin, on the other hand, has a reputation for churning out Dark witches and wizards like a machine, so we just expect anyone from that house to be evil. So when a Slytherin does something noble (i.e., [[spoiler:Regulus Black]] stealing one of Voldemort's Horcruxes to try and destroy it) and a Gryffindor/Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff does something horrible (i.e., [[spoiler:Peter Pettigrew]] turning James and Lily over to Voldemort), it's that much more of a shock. It's proof of Dumbledore's statement: "It is not our abilities, but our ''choices'', that determine who we really are." Not to mention that this takes place at one of the heights of the conflict between the houses. Evidenced by the Sorting Hat's song in the 5th book, the animosity was so great the Sorting Hat felt the need to address it, which it has only done a few times in history. One of the Aesops of the series is that anyone can be good or evil, but Harry only fully grasps that by the end of the series (which is not so coincidentally the time the reader starts to see that as well). |
| 58 | ** It's also brilliant writing because the books are told from the point of view of Harry, who is eleven years old at the start. At that age, you have a naive view of the world, and don't realize how people aren't defined by what they are, so of course he would view all Slytherins as evil after everyone tells him how bad they are. Part of Harry's character arc is understanding, as Sirius puts it, that "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". People are complicated. Thus it's important for Harry to see that Slytherin can produce a good person like Slughorn, or more complex people like Draco and Snape. It's also important for Harry and the reader to see that Gryffindor (which values bravery), can produce a [[DirtyCoward coward]] that Wormtail, that Hufflepuff (which values kindness), can produce a {{Jerkass}} like Zacharias Smith, and that Ravenclaw (which values intellect) can produce a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} like Luna. |
| 59 | * The whole Statute of Secrecy thing never made sense. If Muggles can't use magic, it surely wouldn't hurt anyone if they tried? But there's an interview where Jo said that Muggles couldn't use magic, but if they happened to pick up a recently used wand, it could suddenly "explode" with magic. A Muggle who had heard about magic would probably try to use it. If a Muggle picked up a recently-used wand, they could damage themselves and people around them. It was also created to hide wizards from the increasingly violent witch hunts going around Europe and later America at the time. |
| 60 | ** Actually everything about this theory doesn't make sense and it doesn't work. First of all, Rowling has explained all of this in the past, and these are the things that she has said. Muggles cannot use magic AT ALL. They simply don't have magic within them. They don't carry the magical gene/DNA inside of them. Only wizards and witches do. And wands are not what produces magic. Again, all the magic comes from the individual witch or wizard themself, but not the wand. The wand is quite literally only used because it's a tool to help a witch/wizard to focus and control the magic inside of them. And that's because without the use of a wand, their magic would be out of control. Only the most advanced and intelligent witch or wizard is able to use flawless wandless magic. If a muggle tried to use a wand, then one of two things would happen; either nothing would happen, or the wand will "backfire" as in cause a muggle to be flung across the room and knock them out. It's basically the wands way of saying "hey, you're not magical! Get away from me!" The Statue of Secrecy is in place to protect and hide magic from muggles since exposure could put them at risk. Muggles might want to try to take over and use magic to their benefit (even though they can't) or they would try to exterminate the magic world for being "of the devil". You never know. That's why it's safer for them to always remain hidden. |
| 61 | * Consider the contemptible treatment of Muggles even by the best of the wizarding world. At best, Muggles are seen as sort of amusing children or even intelligent pets, but almost never are they seen as equals, or even remotely intelligent. (Another smaller Fridge Brilliance: The Muggle Prime Minister actually remarks on this in the sixth book, heavily disliking Fudge's condescending attitude each time he appears in the PM's office, despite the fact that he, Fudge, is not exactly competent himself.) It's a great cultural tidbit because it's so imperialistic. The real-life Europe — and by extension Muggle Europe in HP — probably had this very same attitude towards the indigenous populations of the countries they colonized. So in that sense, one could argue that this plot device shows that Muggle culture and wizarding culture have that much more in common with each other — and neither group even realizes it. JK herself even said that Harry leaves the Muggle world and finds that the exact same problems exist in the wizarding world. It definitely shows that whatever wizards might think about Muggles, they're more connected to them than they know. |
| 62 | * You know how drinking a unicorn's blood gives you a cursed life? Now what is a unicorn's blood supposed to look like? Mercury, which turns anyone who handles it insane. Not only that, but one of the goals of alchemy was creating an elixir of life, which unicorn's blood works as, even if it does invoke WhoWantsToLiveForever. Mercury was common in alchemy, as well as medicine. |
| 63 | |
| 64 | [[/folder]] |
| 65 | |
| 66 | [[folder:General Part 2]] |
| 67 | * Cruciatus is the root for the word "Excruciating" — an appropriate adjective for the curse's effects. It is also taken from the Latin word for "to Crucify". |
| 68 | * The Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, has its own FridgeBrilliance to it. 'Aavaa' in Tamil is become, and 'Da' is a suffix to indicate another person. Thereofore, 'Avada' means 'You Will Become'. And Kedavra; well, a Cadaver is a corpse, so Kedavara seems like an amalgamation of that word. Fully, the spell translates to 'You Will Become a corpse' |
| 69 | * Why do the Wizards live in castles, and write, eat, and dress as if they were living in the middle ages? Because they always had magic, so their world never needed to evolve technologically like ours did. |
| 70 | ** There are some Muggle implements that could help them; for example, replacing the ink and quill with ball-point pens. But they're clueless about basically anything Muggle-related, so they have no idea that they could just get them from a Muggle shop. (They also write on parchment while using paper for newspapers and books, so maybe it's just an aesthetic preference.) |
| 71 | ** Honestly it's probably more a reflection of the blind traditionalism inherent in British wizarding society at the time of the books. Muggle-born or Muggle-raised young wizards that grew up nearly to adolescence in Muggle society would probably introduce contemporary Muggle fashion or other ideas and learning as they melded into wizard society. But the reason a lot of it just never took off is partly because wizards substitute magic for ''some'' science - but partly because there's blood prejudice all the way up to the highest levels of government and a lot of that sort of wizard would eschew anything they thought as Muggle-derived as a matter of principle, even if the opportunity was there to weave magic into it to make it even more useful. Example: The Weasleys' flying car. |
| 72 | * Almost every single character trait exhibited by Harry can be linked back to his time at the Dursleys: He's a good seeker because he was malnourished enough to be small and fast, and had gained excellent reflexes from constantly dodging their swings at him. He wants to protect and help others, because no-one helped him. He hates bullies, like Malfoy, because he was bullied. He doesn't try at school, because he was never encouraged at home, and in fact, was probably punished if he did better than Dudley. And so on. |
| 73 | * Films-only, and possibly accidental. In the last film, Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Nagini all die and shatter into small pieces. With Bellatrix, that's because of the weird... liquid nitrogen spell that Molly Weasley used. With Nagini and Voldemort, it could call back to the very first movie. Remember Quirrel when he touched Harry. Instead of burning, like in the books, Quirrel actually crumbled into ash, piece by piece. Scary, yes, but if that's a deliberate CallBack, that's ''pretty cool.'' |
| 74 | * Look at the cover of ''Philosopher/Sorcerer's Stone''. Look at the cover of ''Deathly Hallows''. ''Stone'' has a sunset in the background. ''DH'' has a sunrise in the background. Symbolically, you'd think it should be the other way around, until you realize every end is a beginning and vice-versa. The end of the Marauders is the beginning of Harry Potter. The end of his story is a new beginning for the wizarding world. Another way to take this bit of symbolism is that the series, metaphorically, is a descent into the dark of night (Voldemort's second reign). Harry going to school in the first book means that the prophecies (etc.) about Voldemort and Harry are going to come true, soon, and so the 'day' that happened after Voldemort's first reign of terror was ending. As others have mentioned, the artwork gets progressively darker, until things are "darkest before the dawn", like in the sixth book when Death Eaters have killed Dumbledore and are actively taking over the Ministry. Finally, in ''DH'', the long night of Voldemort is over, and so the cover shows the dawning of a new, Voldemort-free day. The covers were all done by the same artist, Mary [=GrandPré=]. She uses a more mature style as the series progresses and the story lines become more mature. |
| 75 | * Alan Rickman does a great job of capturing Snape's complex character. So much so that watching the film version of ''Order Of The Phoenix'' and watching his scenes involving the Occlumency lessons makes you realize: Snape shows almost genuine worry for Harry, describing what Voldemort could do if he got into Harry's head. He also seems to disparage traits associated with James or Sirius (such as being sentimental, foolhardy, or arrogant), whilst also praising traits such as self-control, mastery of the mind, and other such traits… that could easily be associated with Lily's strengths! |
| 76 | * Rickman was the only person besides JKR who knew that Snape had been in love with Lily before ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' came out, so not only was JKR dropping hints in all of the books, Rickman has been dropping some very subtle hints in his performance. The only character movie!Snape ever looks in the eyes is Harry. |
| 77 | * Three Brothers: |
| 78 | ** In ''Deathly Hallows'', Xenophilius tells the story of the Three Brothers. One died for power (the Elder Wand), one died for love (the Resurrection Stone), and one greeted Death like an old friend (the Cloak of Invisibility). In the Battle of Hogwarts, three very important characters die: Voldemort dies for power, Snape dies for love, and Harry greets Death like an old friend. Right down to age order. |
| 79 | ** And the one who greeted death like an old friend was the one who had the invisibility cloak, which Harry also has for years. And considering Harry is the direct descendant of that brother in particular, you can say ItRunsInTheFamily. |
| 80 | ** And who managed to claim all three Hallows before either of the three of them? Dumbledore. Dumbledore is also repeatedly said to be "The only one [Voldemort] ever feared"; as we gradually learn throughout the course of the series, Voldemort's greatest fear is Death. And when Harry willingly dies and passes into the Afterlife, who does he warmly greet "as an old friend"? ''Dumbledore''. Voldemort, Snape, and Harry are stand-ins for the Three Brothers, and Dumbledore is a stand-in for Death. |
| 81 | ** Another stand-in for the three brothers is Dumbledore, Snape, and Harry. Dumbledore is the eldest brother because he coveted power and it cost him dearly and he also had the Elder Wand for ~50 years. Snape is the middle one because he was never able to let go of Lily like he was for his fiancée, but ultimately died for love. And for Harry being the youngest, it’s explained above. |
| 82 | ** Add another view to Gellert Grindelwald: He suffered through the fate of the three brothers, right down to age order too: In his young, like the oldest brother, his hunger for power made him seek and finally master the Elder Wand, only to see it get taken away from him by the new Master. In his last year, like the middle brother, the only one who loved him and being loved by him is dead, making him a [[DeathSeeker death seeker]]. In his final day, like the youngest brother, he "welcomed death". And who is representing Death? Dumbledore, his old friend, his "equal". |
| 83 | * In ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', Draco Malfoy seems a funny character. But seen in the series as a whole, Draco Malfoy seems to be crafted into a classic ThresholdGuardian, as every decision that Harry made in book one that defined him as a hero for most of the school year happened in response to Draco being a douche. |
| 84 | * At the end of the last book/film, when Harry died, he was allowed to choose whether he wanted to stay dead or come back to life for the final battle against Voldemort. This was because at the time, he was the owner of the invisibility cloak, the resurrection stone, and the elder wand. He was the master of death; that's why he got to choose for himself whether to live or die, even in the face of an Avada Kedavra curse. |
| 85 | ** Actually, it was mostly because of Harry being an accidental Horcrux. The piece of Voldemort that was inside Harry took the brunt of the blast, but Harry was still hit by it enough to be given the option of truly dying. |
| 86 | * The symbolism of the wands. Voldemort's wand was made of Yew, the whole "death tree symbolism", but [[spoiler:his and Harry's wands were connected by the same phoenix, the bird of rebirth — the whole "horcruxes of each other" thing with the ''core'' being the same and all phoenix-connected, and Harry's wand was made of Holly, connected to rebirth in several mythologies, including Christianity, ''to mirror'' Voldemort's wand. Because even though they both come back, Harry's the one who ultimately lives]]. |
| 87 | * Lily Potter's wand was made of willow, which is traditionally associated with healing, '''protection''', and '''love'''. Her last act on Earth was to give her son the [[PowerOfLove protection of her love]]. Also, Elder (sometimes known as witchwood) is linked magically to protection, '''often against lightning strike''', but bad luck will fall on anyone who uses it without permission. In other words, Voldemort's use of a wand that wasn't strictly ''his'' brought about his death via a certain young man with a '''lightning''' scar. |
| 88 | * Dumbledore loses the wand and is killed shortly afterwards, which Trelawney predicts as "the '''lightning-struck''' tower". Disarming him caused his death because it robbed him of that magical protection against lightning strike, thus a hint that he held the Elder Wand. |
| 89 | * The Elder Wand's ''core'' is of thestral hair. Thestrals can only be seen by those who have both witnessed and accepted the reality of death. Voldemort ''has never'' accepted death as anything but a disgrace or something to be defied, so has '''never''' accepted its reality despite having murdered hundreds of people. Harry, though he's only seventeen, has witnessed many, many deaths, accepted it can't be undone or defied, and walked uncomplainingly to ''his own'' death. Guess which one of them understands the Elder Wand's inner nature, and is worthy to receive it? |
| 90 | * In ''Half-Blood Prince''. The scene involving [[spoiler:Harry making Dumbledore drink the potion]] was nasty enough to begin with, but it becomes ''much'' worse when you realize what that potion actually does, as hinted by the flashbacks in ''Deathly Hallows'': [[spoiler:It makes you live through your worst memories over and over, presumably worse each time]]. |
| 91 | * The name of the Killing Curse might not be a play on words like we thought. Avada Kedavra sounds like a play on the "Muggle" magic word Abracadabra, but what if it's the other way around? As much as the wizarding world is kept under wraps, it's likely that some faint whispers and rumors can escape into the regular world — for example, the most feared and infamous curse ever. Some Muggles must have heard the words Avada Kedavra from some wizards and misheard or mutated it into "abracadabra" over time. |
| 92 | ** It's actually more likely to be the other way around. The theory that the phrase "abracadabra" came from "Avada Kedavra" is unlikely, as the Killing Curse was invented in the Early Middle Ages (6th-10th century A.D.) and the earliest known use of the phrase "abracadabra" is from the 3rd century A.D. If anything, the incantation for the Killing Curse is a bastardization of the Muggle phrase. |
| 93 | |
| 94 | [[/folder]] |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:General Part 3]] |
| 97 | * Prophecies and predictions: |
| 98 | ** People's predictions aren't as far-fetched as they seem. [[spoiler:At every opportunity starting with Harry's first divination class in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', Trelawny has insisted that Harry will die a premature death (with one exception in ''Order of the Phoenix''). Guess what? ''[[{{Foreshadowing}} He does.]]'' She also references the Grim, which is supposed to herald death, and he even sees it a few times, but it turns out to be Sirius — whom Harry sees before he dies. Also, in ''Half Blood Prince'', Dumbledore says that Slughorn has a knack for predicting who will go on to become famous. Slughorn then invites Ginny to his elite club after witnessing her Bat-Bogey hex. Fast forward to the epilogue, Ginny's become [[WordOfGod the senior Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet after a successful career with the Holyhead Harpies team]] and is the wife of the most famous wizard of all time: Harry Potter. Not only that, but Harry and Ron's predictions for each other also come true: Ron predicts Harry will have a 'windfall of unexpected gold', and the next year Harry wins a thousand Galleons in the Triwizard Cup. Harry predicts that Ron will face 'trials and suffering' but also have 'great happiness.' Ron suffers as much as anyone in the series (apart from Harry himself, perhaps), but in the end, lives happily ever after with his [[NerdsAreSexy hot nerd love, Hermione]].]] |
| 99 | ** Remember how Trelawney in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' makes a big fuss of there being thirteen people at the dinner table, because the first to rise will die? In ''Order of the Phoenix'', there are thirteen people at dinner in Grimmauld Place: [[spoiler:Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Bill, Arthur, Molly, Mundungus, Tonks, Remus, and Sirius]], and [[spoiler:Sirius]] rises first. Also J.K. Rowling is oft quoted on fan rumour pages as saying that a huge fan of Harry's was going to die. People took this to mean Colin Creevey or Ginny, but as she says in ''Order of the Phoenix'', Harry is the person [[spoiler:Sirius]] most cares about. |
| 100 | *** As it turned out, [[spoiler:there were already thirteen people at the dinner table in ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. Scabbers, aka Peter Pettigrew, was in Ron's pocket. Dumbledore was the first person to rise from the table, and he was the first person in that particular group to die]]. |
| 101 | *** This also repeats in ''Deathly Hallows''. After [[spoiler:Moody's death]] and the successful plan of escorting Harry to the burrow, there are thirteen people remaining at the house. They all gather and raise a toast to [[spoiler:Moody]] – and [[spoiler:Remus Lupin]] gets up to leave first. |
| 102 | ** Other prophecies no one gave credence to that came true: 1. Harry made up that Buckbeak the hippogriff image he saw in his Orb during his Divination exam was flying away. This seems to be a stubborn reflection of his hopes that Buckbeak will live. But that is exactly what happens. 2. Trelawney predicts the end of ''Half Blood Prince''; when Harry encounters Trelawny, she is playing with a pack of cards and predicts the events at the end of the book (not even she believed it, though). 3. In ''The Philosopher's Stone'', the centaurs always say "Mars is bright tonight". Mars is the Roman god of war. They are predicting the oncoming war of the last books. |
| 103 | * If you read "The Prince's Tale" with the mindset of "Snape views Dumbledore as a father figure" (which, considering Snape's [[AbusiveParents real father]], is not that far-fetched of an assumption), it adds a whole new dimension to Snape's resentment of Harry: Snape is very much the WellDoneSonGuy, constantly putting his life on the line for Dumbledore and doing everything he asks, which condemns him to a life of being hated by the entire Wizarding World when he kills Dumbledore, while Harry (in Snape's mind) will do much of the same and be ''worshipped'' by the Wizarding World, because everyone wants to see Voldemort killed. ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Unfortunately, this makes Dumbledore seem pretty cold and even more manipulative than he already is]], because it reads as though he deliberately took advantage of Snape's desperation for approval by a father-figure and tormented him with it.) |
| 104 | * On the first trip on the Hogwarts Express, Ron has a smudge on his nose that won't come off. If you pay close attention to the conversation on the platform, it seems to be implied that the twins put the smudge on as a practical joke. |
| 105 | * Snape and Sirius: |
| 106 | ** In ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', when Snape confronts Sirius, he says: "Give me a reason. Give me a reason to do it and I swear I will." Pretty harsh, but remember, this is the guy that almost got Snape eaten by a werewolf. Then in ''Goblet of Fire'' and ''Order of The Phoenix'', they're a bit more civil to each other, but still obviously carrying grudges. Fast forward to ''Deathly Hallows'' [[spoiler:and Harry's magical mystery tour through Snape's memories shows him that Snape was in love with Lily]]. And the realization hits with a big KA-BOOM. Like the entire rest of the magical world, Snape had thought that '''Sirius''' betrayed the Potters and was responsible for [[spoiler:Lily's death]], and only found out the truth after Voldemort's return (when he went to Voldemort two hours after the Triwizard final and would have seen Pettigrew there). Instantly did two things: put a whole new spin on that entire confrontation, and made you realize how far in advance JKR had planned out the whole thing. |
| 107 | ** [[spoiler:Finding out that Sirius was the one who suggested Wormtail for SecretKeeper probably amped up Snape's hatred for Sirius, because it was basically still Sirius' fault that Lily died.]] |
| 108 | ** Also, Snape was in the Shrieking Shack while Sirius and Lupin were explaining the whole thing. The creak in the stairwell that is heard is Snape. He was late to the party, however, and only heard about his childhood days at Hogwarts: nothing about the Secret Keeper. He still thought Black was the one who betrayed the Potters and that he was deluding Harry, Hermione, and Ron. |
| 109 | * Why is Hermione so good at giving relationship advice to Harry? It's not just that she's generally bright, it's also that she's ''almost a year older''. While it may not matter for adults, it's a big difference for teenagers; and then add that to the fact that girls normally mature earlier… |
| 110 | ** It also helps Hermione's insight that, like Cho Chang, she is also dealing with conflicting feelings for two different boys. |
| 111 | * "Stand aside:" |
| 112 | ** At first it seem that Voldemort's line "Stand aside, you foolish girl" and offering to spare Lily's life was unimportant. Then ''Deathly Hallows'' rolls around, and Snape admits he begged Voldemort for Lily's life. Because of this, he offered to spare Lily if she let him kill Harry, and ''she'' offered herself in his place. This bargain literally gave her the chance to willingly sacrifice herself for Harry, as if she had been killed like James was (not having a chance to properly defend his wife and son at all), or if Voldemort had used a spell to push her out of the way and immediately tried to kill Harry after, Harry would have had no magical protection and would have died at the age of 1. But because she willingly gave up her life to save him, which was only possible because Snape asked for Lily to be spared, Harry became the Chosen One! It never could have been anyone else, as it's very unlikely this series of events would've occurred had Voldemort targeted Neville. ''That'' is brilliant. |
| 113 | ** This also shows how the cycle of Love (even in different forms like Snape's one-sided love) keeps on going and passing onto everyone that it touches. Snape's love for Lily allowed Voldemort to give her a chance to survive. That love reached Lily, and Lily's love for Harry is what gave her the courage to stand against Voldemort and sacrifice herself willingly, which gave Harry magical protection. Lily's love touched Harry, and that love is what eventually leads to Harry's love for his friends allowing him to make the same sacrifice as his mother, which protects them from Voldemort's spells, and also allows him to survive due to her protection living on in Voldemort and tethering Harry to life. |
| 114 | ** On a deeper level, this is also the final reason why Snape hates Harry. Harry is proof that Lily rejected him to the last. In the end, even when Voldemort held up his side of the bargain and gave Lily the chance to live even if James and Harry were to die, she told him to get bent. It's bad enough that Snape is UnbalancedByRivalsKid, but it must be worse to know that Lily willingly traded her own life for her son with James Potter. |
| 115 | * Luna was shot from either knee or waist height, or from a distance so that her feet were out of focus in the film adaptation of ''Order of the Phoenix''. The only time that the camera showed her feet clearly was when she and Harry were in the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by the Thestrals, and Harry asked why she was barefoot. |
| 116 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', by rallying against Umbridge, they were rallying against the Ministry. If Umbridge hadn't been the DADA teacher, there would have been no reason for Dumbledore's Army to form. Dumbledore's Army was kind of its own family, and Umbridge helped form an allegiance between the entire student body and the teachers, as well as the ghosts. Without the family of DA or the entire schoolwide allegiance already established, nobody besides a few teachers would have been so willing to take up arms against Voldemort, both at the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, or the Second Wizarding War. Harry's support system would have been severely diminished, especially at the end of the seventh book. Harry would probably have not so eagerly led a group in rebellion, if it hadn't been for Dumbledore's Army. Basically, the whole reason anything in the sixth or seventh book worked at all, not to mention with as relatively few casualties there were, was because of Umbridge, and her Ripple Effect over the entire school in the fifth book. Jo, you are one clever bastard. |
| 117 | * Take a good look at the prophecy lines "marked as his equal" and "has power he knows not". First, consider that [[spoiler:Harry was a horcrux, which meant he couldn't kill Voldemort without dying first, whereas Voldemort clearly had no such restriction… making them not necessarily equals]]. Secondly, due to Voldemort's obsessive belief that Harry was the chosen one, it meant that he disregarded most everyone else's abilities as irrelevant. Now look at Neville, who 1) would be free to defeat Voldemort [[spoiler:without dying]], and 2) clearly not deemed as important to Voldemort, would possess abilities which Voldemort did not know what they were. In short, up until the very end, ''it was still up in the air exactly whom the prophecy applied to''. |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:General Part 4]] |
| 121 | * JKR is known for her placement of ChekhovsGun[=s=] throughout the novels, like the locket and the diary, which are given an importance later on (though in the case of the diary, it was more of an explanation for why it could do what it did). And the reason Harry was able to get glimpses of Voldemort's plans… [[spoiler:was because he was bonded to Voldemort… as a Horcrux]]. |
| 122 | * When Petunia reveals that she knows what Dementors are (in the 5th book), she blushes and says "I heard that… awful boy telling her years ago" and Harry angrily says "If you mean my dad, just say his name". But after you read the 7th book, you discover that she didn't mean James at all. She was referring to Snape. It's a brilliant reference that frames the relationship between Lily, Snape, and Petunia, seeming like a useless remark from both characters until you read the last book. |
| 123 | * The entire "Snape's Worst Memory" sequence was set up to be much more meaningful in hindsight. At first, it appears that it is his worst memory simply because it shows him being bullied by James and his friends and ostracized at school. His encounter with Lily is just an afterthought as Harry is pulled out of the memory. Harry angsts about his father not being the hero he had pictured, and we move on. However, we later find out that this was his worst memory because, in an angry attempt to save face, he called Lily, his best friend who he had loved for years, a "filthy Mudblood", ruining their friendship (since he had already been hanging out with anti-Muggle, future-Death-Eater students who Lily hated, this was the last straw) and destroying his chances at being with her. |
| 124 | * In the film version of ''Goblet of Fire,'' [[spoiler:Fake!]]Moody does a pitch-perfect imitation of Hagrid saying "Marvelous Creatures, Dragons." While kind of cool, it seemed to serve no real purpose. But: [[spoiler:While in the book series, the Polyjuice Potion changes people both externally and internally, it's established in the film versions of ''Chamber'' and ''Hallows'' that Film!Polyjuice '''DOES NOT CHANGE YOUR VOICE'''. Thus, Barty Crouch Jr. was set up as being adept at Vocal Mimicry, another reason he was able to successfully pass as Moody. This was a neat little final clue before the potion wore off.]] |
| 125 | * It seemed at first that Voldemort cursed the position of the DADA teacher purely out of spite (if I can't have it, nobody can). Then, after the evidence of the abysmal ineptitude of the general wizarding population were presented (like the ''Ministry of Magic'' having to buy hats imbued with a Shield Charm from a prank shop), the strategic magnificence of V's move becomes clear. He ensured that the DADA classes would become a total mess, no consistent teaching routine would be possible, and before long, the school would run out of decent DADA teachers completely, thus dealing a crushing blow to the opposition. |
| 126 | ** To further that point, it seems like the curse goes out of its way to permanently incapacitate (often years after they left) whoever takes the position, which makes sure they can't come just back later. All DADA teachers we see through the series suffer this fate, with the more competent ones ([[spoiler:Quirrel, Lupin, Moody and Snape]] outright dying, while Lockhart and Umbridge, the 2 bad teachers we see, are still alive, but unable by circumstance to teach [[spoiler:(the former having lost all his memories and still hasn't recovered while the later, per Word of God, is now imprisoned in Askaban after Voldemort's fall)]] |
| 127 | * Sirius' nickname Padfoot seems just a sort of pun like the rest of them because dogs have padded feet. But in some British Isles mythology, the black dog is a death avatar that goes by many different names. One of them happens to be Padfoot. Now Trelawney's prediction makes a lot more sense. Sirius also is a death avatar; his friends from school all die rather violent deaths, so does Harry, and his cousin Tonks. |
| 128 | * Throughout the series, characters speculate on why Dumbledore never gives Snape the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. Generally, the idea is that Dumbledore doesn't trust him near the subject. Actually, it's because [[spoiler:Dumbledore knew the job was jinxed so that no one would last more than a year, so he put off giving it to Snape to make sure Snape was always around… until there came a time when he ''knew'' that Snape would be leaving before the end of the year anyway]]. |
| 129 | * Lily might have been so good at potions (according to Slughorn) because she was [[spoiler:friends with Snape]]. If that's the case, then Slughorn was right about [[spoiler:Harry being just like his mother. They both got their potions skills from the Half Blood Prince]]. |
| 130 | * The Marauders are first mentioned in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' in the order "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs". This just happens to be [[spoiler:the reverse of the order in which they die — James first, then fourteen years later Sirius, then two years later Peter at Malfoy Manor, then a few weeks later Remus during the final battle]]. |
| 131 | * We find out in the epilogue of ''Deathly Hallows'' that Neville became the herbology professor at Hogwarts. However, WordOfGod stated that he served briefly as an auror. Although he proved in the books to be adept at both herbology and auror-ing, it seems a bit of a strange career change to make. But it would make perfect sense if he ever found out his wife Hannah was pregnant — Neville was probably worried about being in such a high-risk profession, not out of fear for his own safety, but because he didn't want his kids to grow up without a father the way he had to. |
| 132 | ** Goes even further: his parents were attacked and tortured into insanity ''after'' Voldemort was defeated the first time around. Dumbledore himself said that the attack came as a shock to the wizarding world because it came when everyone thought they were finally safe from Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It's like that Neville chose to become a professional Dark Wizard hunter upon Voldemort's final defeat because he wanted to make sure that something like what happened to him and his parents wouldn't happen to anyone else. |
| 133 | * Why is Hermione still a buck-toothed geek in her fourth year? Because her Muggle dentist parents want her to stay with braces. Why do they want her to have braces instead of the inordinately faster, cheaper, and more painless shrinking of her front teeth? Because they haven't figured out [[MundaneUtility all the little exploits]] of magic yet, or don't want to figure it out. |
| 134 | ** She does say that her parents don't think magic and teeth should mix. Her parents seem mostly accepting of magic, but were maybe a bit weirded out (or perhaps pride-wounded) thinking about using it for something they've spent years in school to learn to do. |
| 135 | * The first thing we ever learn about Uncle Vernon is that he works at a company which manufactures drills. That's right: Uncle Vernon's job is literally ''boring''. |
| 136 | [[/folder]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | [[folder:General Part 5]] |
| 139 | |
| 140 | * Harry's ultimate plan for [[spoiler:the Elder Wand]] was to put it back where it was, and die a natural death undefeated in order to break its power. On the surface, and given WordOfGod that he becomes an Auror, this seems like a bad plan. But [[spoiler:the Elder Wand's]] ownership passes from one owner to the other upon the first person's defeat or murder. The opponent doesn't even need to know what they'd done, as proven by [[spoiler:both Harry and Draco Malfoy]] doing it by accident. So in the event that Harry is ever defeated, possession would go to that person, and if ''that'' person were defeated, it would go to whoever beat him, and so on and so on until [[spoiler:the Elder Wand's]] power is effectively broken by the simple fact that nobody knows who's ''supposed'' to be using the thing. |
| 141 | * In the ''Half-Blood Prince'' movie, when Dumbledore is trying to convince Draco that he doesn't have to kill him, he says "Years ago, I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices, please don't become him." He seems to be referring to Tom Riddle, especially since this echoes his words at the welcoming feast in the beginning of the movie. However, I realized that it makes more sense if he's referring to Regulus Black. There are very few parallels between Draco and Tom Riddle, while Word of God has said that Draco and Regulus are very similar. They both got in a little too deep, but they weren't prepared for the consequences. Dumbledore doesn't seem to see Draco as someone who could possibly become the next dark lord. He seems to see that he's trapped and wants to help him. As far as Dumbledore knows, Regulus is a boy who made the 'wrong choice' to join the Death Eaters, got too far in, [[HeelFaceDoorSlam backed out, and got killed for it]]. Dumbledore doesn't want Draco to suffer the same fate, and perhaps wishes to offer Draco the protection he couldn't give to Regulus. |
| 142 | ** Another possibility is that Draco is being compared to Snape, whose Dark choices as a teenager turned out to be the biggest regret of his life. Naturally Dumbledore would know the whole story. |
| 143 | ** There's also the possibility that Dumbledore is actually talking about himself and the whole incident that results in his sister Ariana's death. |
| 144 | * Just a small one from ''Chamber of Secrets'': the flying car plummets out of the sky at the precise moment that it crosses the boundary of the Hogwarts grounds. That is, when it hits the various enchantments and protections, negating its Hovering Charms. |
| 145 | * Slytherins ''are'' ambitious, but it's not the way one first thinks when asked to describe someone whose defining trait is ambition. They're grabbing what power they can ''in any way they can''. Crabbe and Goyle didn't subjugate themselves under Malfoy because they're minions, they did so because they were presumably taught from a young age that they would be nothing on their own, and they could only grasp power by being the (non-intellectual) giants on whose shoulders Draco stood while holding onto his bootstraps as he rises to the top. Petty, cruel bullies like Pansy Parkinson and overtly violent bullies like Millicent Bulstrode push everyone else ''down''; they are ambitious in the short-sighted way that bullies in high school, middle school/junior high, and even elementary school are bullies. As long as they're better than any random person, and especially anyone who stands against them (thus challenging their dominance), and can prove it one way or another, that's all they need to be better than everyone. Even Draco in the sixth and seventh books is showing ambition (a steady and sharp decline from his lofty expectations of the first couple or few books), be it in an increasingly desperate way: he's still playing the field as of the end of the sixth book, not necessarily hesitating out of courage or loyalty and ''certainly'' not hesitating because he calculated his best odds of survival, and by the time of the seventh book, he's doing everything he can to survive under Voldemort's reign (until the PowerOfLove prompts a change in philosophy). If the houses were more integrated, Slytherin would probably pick off the easiest-to-manipulate First Years from Hufflepuff, but as it is, there are too many aspiring leaders and not enough lackeys, so nobody (except Draco, who got Crabbe and Goyle ahead of time thanks to family connections) can build up enough of a power base to get out of the [[TallPoppySyndrome Crab Bucket]]. |
| 146 | * The reason Harry and Ginny's relationship doesn't get as fleshed out as some people would like is that those are ''their'' moments. Harry's famous (both in-series and out), but it's mentioned that the moments he has with Ginny are just ordinary, sweet, romantic moments, and he feels as if they were stolen from the life of someone without a lightning scar. The author decided to give Harry some privacy. It's not just lazy writing — Harry's relationship with Cho Chang got plenty of development before it crashed and burned. Not to mention the fact that Ginny and Harry aren't exactly strangers by the time they finally start going out. A lot of the fleshing out of their eventual relationship was done ''before'' the relationship became official. Another thing that wasn't described in detail was Ginny and Harry's interactions when they ''lived together'' in the Burrow over the course of several weeks every year. Starting with ''Chamber of Secrets'', Harry's at the Burrow or otherwise living with the Weasleys for the majority of each summer and every single winter holiday. By contrast, Cho's attraction to Harry, not counting her complicated emotional state, looks that much more shallow. |
| 147 | * In an old (pre-''Order of the Phoenix'') chat interview, someone asked about Riddle's mention (in ''Chamber of Secrets'') of Hagrid raising werewolf cubs under his bed, and whether they were "the same kind of werewolves" as Lupin. Rowling stated that this never happened: "Riddle was telling lies about Hagrid, just slandering him". Of course, back in ''Chamber of Secrets'', no one would have batted an eye at a mention of werewolf cubs, but Professor Lupin gets introduced later and we find out that werewolves are really just people with an incurable magical disease. To call their children "cubs" and imply that they can be raised under a bed like dogs is seriously offensive FantasticRacism, but coming from the young Voldemort, it's no surprise. [[spoiler:It's also consistent with the way Voldemort uses Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf who's succumbed to and embraced his animalism, essentially as a dog to bite and frighten his enemies.]] |
| 148 | * In ''Order of the Phoenix'', when Molly Weasley encounters a boggart in a locked cabinet, we're told what forms it takes — the lifeless bodies of her family: Ron, Bill, Arthur, Fred and George, Percy, and finally Harry. Did you notice that one tiny detail? Fred '''and''' George. Not even in Mrs. Weasley's worst nightmares could she imagine the twins being separated. [[spoiler:Come ''Deathly Hallows'', and the twins are permanently separated, making this a FridgeHorror.]] |
| 149 | * Dumbledore, Riddle (Voldemort), Snape, and Harry are four of the important characters in the series, and shared more than a few similarities. All four could be considered the best representatives of their respective generations. All four were half-bloods. All four considered Hogwarts their true home. |
| 150 | * Lily and Petunia (and Narcissa) have flower names. Sure, but there's nothing really ''brilliant'' about it — until you think about the flower meanings of both. One of the meanings of the lily is death, the petunia can mean anger and resentment, and the narcissus means selfishness that leads to tragedy. |
| 151 | * While still irresponsible, Fudge's skepticism regarding Harry's assertion that Voldemort was back makes a lot more sense when you consider what had happened (or, as it turns out, Snape convinced him had happened) the previous year: specifically, that Harry had been confunded by Sirius to convince him that the guy was innocent. We don't know a whole lot about the mechanics of the Confundus Charm, but just look at Dawlish's experience with it in ''Deathly Hallows'', where being charmed lets everyone and their grandma (literally, in Neville's case) get the drop on him. Throw in Rita Skeeter's various articles throughout ''Goblet of Fire'', and it's not that surprising that Fudge would see Harry as mentally addled at best, crazy at worst. All the evidence was indicative of just that! |
| 152 | ** This is why Snape tried to corroborate Harry's and Dumbledore's story by showing the Dark Mark on his arm. Snape has had a year to absorb and accept the truth about Peter's betrayal, and realizes that Fudge would rather retreat into a comfortable false narrative than accept the hard truth that Voldemort is back. So Snape showed the Minister the Dark Mark on his own arm, and explained how it worked. The fact that Snape even had to explain the Dark Mark reveals that the Ministry had never conducted a competent investigation into Voldemort and his followers in the first place. |
| 153 | ** In GOF, Sirius is confused when Harry tells him that Karkaroff showed Snape something on his arm. This indicates that Sirius, like probably a lot of other people, doesn't know that the Death Eaters had the Dark Mark tatooed in their arms, even though he was highly involved in the fight against Voldemort during the First War. It makes even more sense that Fudge wouldn't take Snape's darkening Mark as proof of Voldemort's return. |
| 154 | * Why would Voldemort, who Dumbledore claims is afraid of the idea of death, use Inferi (AKA Dead bodies reanimated by magic)? You would think that the Inferi would remind him that no matter how much magic someone has, they will still die. But it makes sense when you consider that Voldemort uses them to convince himself that he has some sort of control over death. |
| 155 | * Who Hermione would have become if she hadn't befriended Ron and Harry: Percy Weasley. And that explains why Ron made her cry so easily. He struck right where it hurt immediately and didn't even think about it probably because that's how Percy is treated in his family (notably by the twins). The fact that Hermione realized that those two were ready to risk their lives to save her made her lie to protect them in return and generally gave her the first clue that rules aren't always the most important things, which gave her the chance to prove how remarkable she could be under her bossiness. It's sad that Percy never had the chance to show this. |
| 156 | ** Well since she becomes good friends with Ginny and Luna in the books and films as well, she might have become a better person already just by being friends with them, if not with Harry and Ron. Her development just would have come later. |
| 157 | * The dormitories for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are above ground in towers, while those for Hufflepuff and Slytherin are in the cellars. This arrangement corresponds to each House's animal mascot: lions like to stand atop tall rocks to survey their territory and eagles perch on clifftops or trees, whereas badgers and many species of snakes retreat underground to sleep. |
| 158 | * It is heavily implied by various official sources that in the H.P. universe, JKR is a squib who wrote Harry Potter's biography and sold it to the Muggles as fiction. This is wonderful because imagine the sheer joy of all the Muggleborns who will be told the world of their favorite book is absolutely real. It also means that explaining the ins and outs of the wizarding world will be much simpler than before the books were published. Despite this, prime ministers will have an even harder time believing what they are told on their first night "Harry Potter really exists! Don't be ridiculous!" |
| 159 | * Hermione's Patronus is an otter, and otters are members of the ''weasel'' family. Yet more proof of whom she'd marry! |
| 160 | * In the movies, the Death Eaters' appearances were modelled after the Nazis and KKK. It made the comparisons to those organizations a little too blatant and Anvilicious. But dressing up like the Nazis and KKK would work to frighten and intimidate Muggles and Muggle-borns, the Death Eaters' primary victims. Not only would both victims would have knowledge of these groups from Muggle history, but both their names and appearance have become practically synonymous with evil over the years. |
| 161 | ** And the ones wearing KKK hoods? They're loudly proclaiming how magical they are by wearing the biggest, most intimidating take on the RobeAndWizardHat their victims have ever seen. |
| 162 | * Several people have complained about the wizarding world only giving 7 years of formal education. This is internally consistent. In ''Half-Blood Prince'', Voldemort says that 7 is the most magically powerful number. If the nonmagical world discovered that x number of years of education is ideal, then we would ensure that people received x number of years of formal education. |
| 163 | * A lot of people find it surprising that muggle-borns like Lily or Hermione can be so adept at magic. Well, it's not that they're naturally gifted with magic, they're just better at school because they've had five or six years of muggle education, which taught them skills like basic writing and academic discipline. Their wizard-raised counterparts are just starting school for the first time, and therefore have yet to adapt to the academic environment. If you compare Ron, Harry, and Hermione, you'll note that they're all pretty intelligent, but Hermione has more discipline as she applies herself most at schoolwork and is a good writer. Ron, on the other hand, is very lazy and clueless when it comes to writing essays. Harry's somewhere in the middle, as he did go to Muggle school, but probably didn't get as much out of it as Hermione because of mistreatment by both the Dursleys and other kids. And ''why'' don't most pure-blood wizarding children go to Muggle primary school? Because the pure-bloods are generally seen as the WW's "aristocracy" (old and often powerful families), and until extremely recently, all aristocratic children were schooled at home until they were old enough for a school like Eton or Harrow. |
| 164 | ** Muggleborns also may study twice as hard because of a feeling of inadequacy; kids from wizarding families have been steeped in magic for years, while they barely know the first thing about magic. Conversely, this may also lull purebloods into a false sense of security, especially the pureblood supremacists who think that they are naturally going to be better at magic. |
| 165 | ** Another possibility: When Muggleborn students find out magic exists for the first time, of course they're going to be excited by the prospect of being able to use it, and more interested in learning all the intricacies of it. For children who've lived in the wizarding world their whole lives, magic is just another part of daily life to them, and not as fascinating or mystifying as it would be to a Muggleborn just discovering it. |
| 166 | * Voldemort's FatalFlaw was [[EvilCannotComprehendGood his inability to understand the views of others]]. In the end, [[TheyJustDontGetIt he never really got it]]. He thought that becoming the 'Master of Death' meant that [[CompleteImmortality you wouldn't die]] when it really meant that you [[FaceDeathWithDignity would accept it without fear]] like so many of his enemies. So, despite all he did, because of the aforementioned flaw, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption he would have never gotten it]]. WordOfGod says that because of [[CastFromHitPoints the damage]] he's done to himself by creating [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the horcruxes]], he doesn't have enough of a soul [[FateWorseThanDeath to send to an afterlife of any kind or even leave a ghost]], just stuck in [[IronicHell a limbo as a shriveled husk]]. Tom Riddle's worst fear and the one thing he fought for in the entire series was to avoid death, and now, [[GoneHorriblyRight unfortunately for him]], he [[AndIMustScream succeeded]]. |
| 167 | * Avada Kedavra. The most feared spell in the entire wizarding community isn't the one that gives you complete control of another, or one that fills them with mind-breaking pain. It's an unblockable killing curse[[note]]well, ''magically'' unblockable (outside of ThePowerOfLove, and that requires a HeroicSacrifice), at least; it's been shown numerous times, especially in the films, that Avada Kedavra's nature as a ProjectileSpell gives it [[LogicalWeakness the inherent weakness]] that [[TakeCover physical shields work just fine against it]], albeit usually [[ItOnlyWorksOnce only once]] [[SingleUseShield per barrier]], as Avada Kedavra can destroy most non-living objects that it makes contact with[[/note]]. Why? There are many worse curses that kill in much more unpleasant ways (burning, crushing, freezing), but a spell that kills someone so quickly they don't even feel it is punishable with a life sentence. In the Muggle World, while it might be disliked, no country would ever outlaw it. It's too humane a method of killing. But wizards haven't fought the large-scale conventional battles that Muggles have throughout history. Their 'warfare' is mostly one-on-one duels or a series of magical hit-and-runs, similar to Muggle gang or guerrilla warfare, rather than armed conflicts involving millions of soldiers. The fate of an entire country would be decided by one unblockable lucky shot. Obviously, that couldn't be allowed. Furthermore, using it is an automatic proof of a premeditated murder ("you have to mean it"). Which, as is shown in the books, damages the caster's soul. The other two Unforgivable Curses are also single-use spells with severely adverse effects. Compare with a Stunning spell, which can be lethal, but that it is not its basic function. |
| 168 | * Harry thinks of Snape as a SadistTeacher and is devastated when he becomes the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but when you think about it, he and Lupin the only ones out of six teachers who haven't tried to kill and/or injure Harry directly. |
| 169 | * Yet another reason why Harry and Hermione didn't happen. At the end of the sixth book, Harry alludes to Ginny being "tough" as one of the things he loves about her. As in, he likes that she's rarely weepy. In the previous book, Harry found all of Cho's crying very unattractive — and it was one of the things that turned him off her. Hermione… well, let's face it, the girl is very dramatic. She cries openly in front of Harry and Ron multiple times. So Harry not liking the crying type is another reason why he doesn't have an interest in Hermione. Note that when Harry is confronted with a crying girl, he behaves very awkwardly and wishes for it to be over. But when Ron is, he comforts said girl. |
| 170 | ** Ginny is less openly emotional than Hermione, but she is much weaker and has less mental resilience. JKR describes Ginny as tough, but she is not good at fighting. During the Battle at the Ministry of Magic, she immediately breaks her ankle and needs to be carried by Luna, and she doesn't use spells with her wand even though she could. Hermione continued to fight until the moment she was taken out. |
| 171 | ** Why are some people still talking about Harry and Hermione as if they "could" have happened? There was never any hint that they could have been a couple at all. They've always only seen each other as brother and sister. And Rowling herself has said that Harry and Ginny are meant to be soulmates just like Ron and Hermione are. Ron and Hermione were perfect for each other. |
| 172 | * The Dursleys' mistreatment of Harry is seen as being because they're small-minded bigots. Petunia is later shown to have loved her sister Lily. They were probably very close, since Lily wrote and asked about Petunia coming to Hogwarts with her and Petunia being so upset about not being allowed to go. Petunia hates magic because she sees it as what destroyed her relationship with her sister and as what ultimately got her sister killed. This is why she's shown to dislike Harry. It's not him, it's what he has; magic. |
| 173 | * What was the date of Voldemort's first defeat? October 31, or Halloween. What's the term 'Halloween' short for? '''All ''Hallows'' Eve.''' |
| 174 | * Why do the Unforgiveable Curses carry the maximum penalty automatically? Because of a successful casting's [[ItGetsEasier effect on the caster's character]]. |
| 175 | * The prophecy: "One must kill the other, for neither can live while the other survives". [[spoiler:The repetition of "the other" is not at all a coincidence. One [Voldemort] must kill ''the other'' [Harry], for neither can live... *{{Beat}}* ... while ''the other'' [still Harry] survives.]] |
| 176 | ** Or, alternative interpretation: [[spoiler: One [Harry] must kill the other [Voldemort], for neither can live while the other [still Voldemort] survives. Voldemort isn't going to just live and let live, and thanks to his horcruxes, Voldemort isnt really truly "alive" anymore, either.]] |
| 177 | * The Weasley clan's FamilyThemeNaming is a bit subtler than most of the examples of that trope in this series, but it's clear that they're all named after British royalty and/or Arthurian heroes: the patriarch of the family is "Arthur", the sole daughter is "Ginevra" (Guinevere), the middle son is "Percy" (Percival), and the others are "Bill" ([[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William]]), "Charlie" ([[UsefulNotes/CharlesII Charles]]), "Fred" ([[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover Frederick]]), and "George" ([[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover ...George]]). It can seem a bit odd that the most prominent member of the family, Ron, is the only one whose name ''doesn't'' follow the pattern. That's not an accident: it's a hint that Ron considers himself TheUnfavorite, as the naming choice marks him as the odd man out. |
| 178 | * A sort of general one, in the first book, Hagrid casts several spells with his broken wand, and a few of them without incantations. We're given evidence that silent spells are difficult and don't seem to be cast until about sixth year. Hagrid was expelled in third year, but casts with an advanced technique with a broken wand. What does that say about Hagrid as a wizard? |
| 179 | ** Hagrid's spellcasting ability leads to another bit of brilliance. Officially, he was expelled in his third year. However, he spent the next 50 years as the groundskeeper of said school, and he sits at the faculty table during meal time, next to the professors. Hagrid probably is working with 50 years of practice and unofficial lessons from the friendlier professors in their spare time. |
| 180 | *** Even more important is one important fact that hasn't been noted yet. Hagrid mentions that Dumbledore repaired his wand and that the pieces are in his umbrella. Dumbledore ''has the Elder Wand'', which '''''can literally repair broken wands'''''. Hagrid's wand is ''not'' broken; he's working with a fully functioning wand. Any problems are due to the fact that he's a half-giant, underestimating what he can do, letting the stigma of the fact that he's a half-giant get to him, and only got an education up to the age of thirteen. |
| 181 | * A ''lot'' of people have mocked Dumbledore's idea that "the power he knows not" was love, but think about it this way. How does Harry defeat his challenges? In every year, Harry needs the help of his friends to survive and win. What does Harry have that Voldemort never could? He has allies, comrades, ''friends''. ThePowerOfLove is not, in the end, some kind of mystical spell, but the simple ability to make friends who can aid Harry in his quests. Also, it's been noticed that ThePowerOfLove in Harry is the ability to gather friends and allies, while Tom's FatalFlaw was to be unable to understand others, and both of them are instrumental in his downfall. The latter causes him not to understand why Snape actually wanted Lily to live, and that's what lead to Snape's HeelFaceTurn, and he only has subordinates, not friends nor allies, most of them following him out of fear or ambition, instead of true loyalty (and that's why, without him, his regime doesn't even last one day), and he's unable to understand their motivations. There's exactly one among them who actually loves him, Bellatrix, and she was the one to see that Snape was faking his loyalty; had Tom listened to her, Dumbledore's plan would have been stopped. Also, by the end of the fifth book, Snape most likely told Dumbledore about Bellatrix's doubts, but we wouldn't have found out until the next one, hence that choice of words becomes a subtle TakeThat from Dumbledore and a really subtle bit of {{Foreshadowing}} from JK herself. |
| 182 | * So why do the Dursleys' do less to try and keep Harry from leaving in the later books? In the second book, they literally ''lock him'' in a room. Later on, the parts of the stories involving the Dursleys get shorter. They spent about ten years trying to squash the magic out of Harry — but by the time he was officially a teenager, what's the point? Granted, being forced to see all the bad things Dudley did probably contributed. |
| 183 | ** Also, after a certain point not pressing the issue became the lesser of two evils. Probably after the second year and the flying car escape, they realized - when they weren't told outright - that Harry was well-acquainted enough that if they mistreated him too badly or tried to block him coming to school, more people with powers and abilities they did not understand ''would'' physically show up at 4 Privet Drive looking for him, possibly including a 10-foot giant that can bend a rifle in half, an ex-con fresh off a 13-year prison bid, a one-eyed bloke that served in the wizarding equivalent of S.W.A.T. or Special Forces, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts himself. And after the Aunt Marge incident, they likely don't want to take the chance on what Harry himself could do to them if they pushed him too far again. Far safer to give him a room to sleep in for a few weeks a year at most and not raise too much of a fuss about anything he does. |
| 184 | * Some have criticised Dumbledore sending Harry to the Dursleys when there may have been alternatives (as an example, at the point he made those arrangements he had no reason to be aware of the fact that Harry's godfather was an apparent traitor and Sirius could have certainly provided a reasonably secure upbringing). However, looking at Dumbledore's own past, his actions can be taken as him essentially seeing similarities between his own past and Harry's familial background that caused him to make various flawed assumptions. Not only could he have assumed that Harry would become arrogant if he grew up aware of his own prestige based on how Dumbledore himself became arrogant due to his reputation at school, but Dumbledore may have assumed that Petunia would get over her own issues with Lily after her death based on how the death of Ariana shocked Dumbledore out of his own issues with his family. By the time Harry started at Hogwarts, Dumbledore would have been aware that at least his assumptions about the Dursleys were flawed, but he also would have genuinely had no better alternatives that could guarantee Harry's safety without turning him into a different kind of prisoner, as the familial blood wards were still reasonably reliable whereas securing another residence would have drawn too much attention. |
| 185 | * Throughout the series, it's something of a RunningGag that everyone at Hogwarts hates taking History of Magic, as they find it too boring to concentrate on. While that might ''seem'' like just a welcome bit of levity in a fairly dark series, it's also a sly bit of metatextual humor on Rowling's part. Because Harry and his friends can never focus on Professor Binns' boring lectures on the history of the Wizarding World, we barely ever get to hear about the background of the ''Harry Potter'' universe in any great detail… which is Rowling's way of saying that she doesn't consider world-building important, and that the present-day characters are more important than the history of their world. In fact, aside from plot-important stuff (and a short segment on why it was useless to BurnTheWitch), The History of Magic seems to only be about goblin rebellions, rather than mess up the flow of the plot by name dropping a historical event that people would want explained. |
| 186 | * A RunningGag and one of Hagrid's flaws is his inability to see monsters as dangerous and treat them if they were cuddly pets even when they're demonstrated to be uncontrollable and harmful to humans. A good example is the blast-ended skrewts from Book 4. At first, this could be attributed to Hagrid being larger, stronger, and therefore hardier than regular people, which could make underestimate the perils of being around monsters; after all, it's not like they ever bothered ''him.'' Then in Book 4, it's revealed that Hagrid is part giant and kept it secret in fear of what other wizards may think of him due to giants being portrayed as brutal and violent. So Hagrid's treatment of magical creatures may be him trying to be nonjudgemental towards them as he hopes others will be towards him despite his ancestry. |
| 187 | ** It might also not ''just'' be Hagrid's inability to see them as dangerous. Dumbledore knows that Voldemort will return eventually — and having very large, very dangerous creatures on ''their'' side, rather than Voldemort's, is a good thing. A well trained half-giant, a whole goddamn army of giants, a forest of Arcomantulas, werewolf cubs, and Dragons... you get Hagrid to take care of those and train them well... and you have ''very'' deadly weapons! |
| 188 | * This is related to the Fridge Entry about ComingOfAge above, but if we compare Harry's generation to the generation of Dumbledore, Riddle, and the Marauders, aren't they really unimpressive? Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, is a {{Bookworm}} who hasn't really created anything as impressive as Snape's Potion improvements or the Marauder's Map. Draco Malfoy, the "Dark Wizard" of his age, is a poor gloss on Snape and Riddle in terms of ability, ambition, and talent. Harry himself essentially gets everything handed down to him by genetics (natural talent in Quidditch), patronage (special lessons from Lupin, broomsticks from [=McGonagall=] and Sirius), money from his parents and Sirius, Invisibility Cloak from his father, and later some spells from Snape's Potions book. The whole magic war has led to the loss of the best minds of that generation, including some in their middle ages like Snape or Lupin, who never really fulfilled their potential. But then consider the fact that Horace Slughorn's Slug Club led to the lack of careerism and inter-house mixage which brought the best minds together, the repeated failures of the D.A.D.A. post, and you realize that this decline is a natural consequence and it's consistent with the series saying that love and courage are the best magic of all. In a broader scale, the finale is something on the order of TheMagicGoesAway in that wizards and witches, as seen in the Epilogue, are no different from Muggles. And it also ties to the fact that most of the really dangerous and impressive magic comes from the past rather than made in the present or the future. It's also consistent with what happens in the real world, where the best in art, medicine, and engineering most often is produced in times of war — heck, part of the reason the Internet was created was so the world could remain connected if the Cold War [[NukeEm went]] [[WorldWarIII hot]]. |
| 189 | ** A part of this also reflects the notion that these are kids still in their adolescence and have yet to truly come into their own. A large part of the extended future describes their achievements where they go on to accomplish a variety of different things that they could not have done in the books. What this highlights isn't that the golden generation are gone, but that the potential exists in every generation to have their own achievements and that while Harry's story ends there, it does not mean that his exploits as an adult are any less impressive as they would be when he was a kid. |
| 190 | * On a related note, Harry comes out as unimpressive, compared to Dumbledore and Tom, because he mostly has things handled to him (either by nature or influential mentors), while the former two both developed significant innovations. However, in the end, what turns out to be mastery over Death? ''Acceptance''. Harry might have less qualities on his own, but that also means he never actually sees himself above the others, while the others couldn't do that because of their egoes, an issue that was adressed both in the three brothers' tale and in Harry and Dumbledore's final confrontation. |
| 191 | * Hufflepuff: |
| 192 | ** With Hufflepuff's persistent reputation as the house of washouts and outcasts, it's easy to forget one crucial thing about the House: while Salazar Slytherin is remembered for his ideas on Pureblood superiority — and for swearing to ''only'' accept students of the purest ancestry — Helga Hufflepuff is remembered for her ideas on human equality, and for swearing to teach ''all'' willing students, regardless of their ancestry or previous deeds. The Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry is such a lynchpin of the series that it's easy to forget that '''Hufflepuff''' (not Gryffindor) actually has the values most antithetical to Slytherin's. With that little detail, Rowling might be making a subtle point about how the most idealistic and good-hearted people are those who are least likely to make the history books. Consider, for instance, that even Voldemort shows some considerable courage (Gryffindor's primary virtue) over the course of his career, as he had to endure the fracturing of his soul in the course of his quest for immortality. But courage isn't a hero's most important virtue: what's ''really'' important is '''what you do with it'''. |
| 193 | ** This is somewhat {{Lampshaded}} by Draco in the first book. He expressed strong disdain for Hufflepuff when he first met Harry. Also, both houses have their dormitories located in the dungeons, but while the Slytherin common room is gloomy and cold, from what we know of the Hufflepuff common room, it's warm and cozy. And yes, Gryffindors are more opposed to the Ravenclaws, in a RedOniBlueOni way, even with matching colors. Note that Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw also had diametrically opposed ideas about how to choose the worthiest students: unlike Hufflepuff and Slytherin, they seemed to support making Hogwarts a meritocracy, and they both wanted to look at students individually and choose them based on personal qualities — but Gryffindor thought that a history of brave and noble achievements was the most important personal quality, while Ravenclaw thought it was inherent cleverness. |
| 194 | ** Also: ''Pottermore'''s official introduction for new Hufflepuffs outright states that Hufflepuff House has produced fewer Dark Wizards than any other Hogwarts house, and that that fact is one of their greatest points of pride (though they seldom brag about it). By contrast, Slytherin House has — of course — produced ''more'' Dark Wizards than any other House, and their official introduction even acknowledges that fact. |
| 195 | * [[BookEnds Harry survived both his first and last confrontations with Voldemort because of Snape.]] Yes, '''both'''. Sure, we all know that Harry won in the seventh book because [[spoiler:Snape guided him to the Sword of Gryffindor, prevented Voldemort from claiming the Elder Wand, and told Harry how to destroy the final Horcrux]]. But in the first book, we also learn that Voldemort failed to kill Harry as an infant because Lily willingly sacrificed herself after Voldemort offered to let her live. In the last book, we learn that Voldemort only made Lily that offer because [[spoiler:Snape begged him to spare her]]. If he hadn't, there's a very good chance that Voldemort would have killed Lily and James without a second thought, and Lily's protective charm wouldn't have taken hold. |
| 196 | * [[SignificantGreenEyedRedhead The colors of Lily's eyes and hair.]] [[EmeraldPower The green of her eyes]], which Harry inherits and Snape always remembers, symbolize her closeness to [[spoiler:Snape, a Slytherin]]. [[RedIsHeroic The red of her hair]] is, as with the Weasleys, her characteristic Gryffindor bravery and self-sacrificing spirit. Harry's eyes, on the other hand, superimpose the same symbols with [[SicklyGreenGlow Voldemort's powers]] [[spoiler:and the bit of Voldemort's soul within him]]. |
| 197 | * In the film of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', Dumbledore stalls for time while signing Buckbeak's death warrant by saying "I have a rather long name, you know." In ''Order of the Phoenix'', it's revealed that he has three middle names, none shorter than 5 letters. They were reading the books! |
| 198 | * Sirius's seething dislike for Snape in adulthood seems strange on a couple of levels, especially given that he's known for years that it was not Snape who ultimately betrayed James and Lily, but Peter Pettigrew. Most of whatever he did toward Snape when they were students together was because he was following James's lead. However, consider this: while Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, his brother, Regulus, was sorted into Slytherin a couple of years later, by which time Snape had likely befriended the future Death Eaters. So Snape was likely part of the group of future Death Eater students that convinced Regulus (at this point an impressionable kid already indoctrinated by the beliefs of his family) to join up. Regulus, though, ultimately had too much good in him to stay the course, and turned against Voldemort, which eventually cost him his life. It's very possible — especially for a guy that spent most of his adult life in Azkaban up to that point — that Sirius held Snape at least partially responsible for his brother actually joining the Death Eaters and eventually dying. (Sirius probably assumes Voldemort killed Regulus for some sort of failure, as Kreacher was the only one who knew how Regulus actually died.) |
| 199 | * Snape going from his talk with Lily of how blood purity doesn't matter, to Death Eater sympathizer as a student, isn't far of a stretch for one reason — his dad. Tobias Snape was [[{{Jerkass}} a bit]] [[AbusiveParents of a jerk]] and abused Eileen and probably, to some degree, Severus himself. It's implied that he bullied Eileen into submission and unwillingness — possibly even an inability — to use her magic to protect herself and her son. Snape led a lonely childhood, and the other Muggle he likely knew around his own age was Petunia Evans. Of course he'd come to Hogwarts thinking less of Muggles when the only two he knew coming up were thoroughly unpleasant people. |
| 200 | * Slytherin is castigated for advocating not teaching Muggle-born witches and wizards, but if you think about it, there was actually a fair amount of logic to his position at the time. Remember that, at the time, Muggles generally believed all magic to be BlackMagic. So there's a very high chance of Muggleborns 1) trying to tell the witch-hunters where to find Hogwarts, 2) Doing horrible things to themselves or even committing suicide in an effort to exorcise the demons that they think give them their powers, or worst of all 3) Saying [[ThenLetMeBeEvil "Well, if I'm damned to hell anyway, might as well enjoy it"]] and becoming Dark Lords. |
| 201 | * For all his rejection of his father as a disappointing, filthy Muggle, Voldemort sure turned out just like him. Both were haughty, arrogant {{Jerkass}}es who looked down on anyone they considered beneath them, both attracted the love of a pureblood they were either oblivious to or dismissive of, and ended up dying at the hands of a half blood they pretty much created — Tom Sr., of course, not only sired Voldemort, but his abandonment shaped his personality and actions his whole life. Voldemort marked Harry as his equal, guaranteeing that the infant he tried to kill would grow up into the man who would end him. |
| 202 | ** Also, despite his disparagement of his father, it is likely Tom Marvolo Riddle would never have been such a powerful wizard without his father's genes to stabilize his own. Voldemort was never the stablest of individuals, but it's heavily implied that, had the Gaunt family continued with their tradition of inbreeding, Voldemort would have been completely unable to function in the real world at all, either due to an inability to hide his homicidal nature (Marvolo and Morfin were unable to hide theirs) or due to his magic not being very strong (Merope's wasn't, though this could have been due to the abuse she suffered at the hands of her family). Because of the fresh blood his father injected into their bloodline, it's entirely possible that Voldemort was born with even stronger powers. At minimum, it is noted on many occasions that he was handsome and charismatic as a youth — he likely got both of those traits directly from his father. |
| 203 | * Has anyone else noticed that some of the most important people in Harry's life are redheads? His mother, his best friend and his family (which includes Harry's future wife), and even Dumbledore had auburn hair in his youth. |
| 204 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', the chambers guarding the Philosopher's Stone all align with the values of the four Houses of Hogwarts. Rubeus Hagrid (a Gryffindor) guards the Stone with a vicious three-headed dog, requiring seekers of the Stone to have the courage to face it; Pomona Sprout (a Hufflepuff) guards the Stone with a Devil's Snare plant, which can only be overcome by resisting the urge to fight and remaining immobile; Filius Flitwick (a Ravenclaw) guards the Stone with a charmed door, which can only be unlocked if one has the clarity of mind to select the correct key out of a multitude of them; Severus Snape (a Slytherin) guards the Stone with a simple logical puzzle, requiring simple cunning rather than specialized magical skills; Minerva [=McGonagall=] (a "hat stall" between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw) forces seekers to play a charmed chess game, which requires the courage to risk death on the chessboard and the strategic intelligence to negotiate a path to the finish line. But even if one overcomes all of those obstacles, there's still the Mirror of Erised, put in place by Albus Dumbledore. The Mirror of Erised only surrenders the Stone to people seeking it for the right reasons, regardless of whether they displayed the magical aptitude to overcome the previous challenges — reflecting Dumbledore's belief that "It is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show who we truly are." |
| 205 | * Hagrid fetching Harry: |
| 206 | ** Hagrid is the one who brought Harry to the Dursleys, later reintroduced him to the Wizarding World, and then brought him away from Privet Drive for the last (on-screen) time. Hagrid is Hogwarts' ''Keeper of Keys''. Who better than him to lock Harry out for his own protection, later reopen his door to the Wizarding World, and finally bring Harry out of Privet Drive for good? |
| 207 | ** Also, many fans complain that Dumbledore sent a 'janitor' to retrieve Harry, who is revered as a hero by the wizards. Thing is, [[AlmightyJanitor Hagrid's two jobs at the time are rather important]]: as the Groundskeeper, he controls access to Hogwarts' grounds, and as the Keeper of the Keys, he controls access to the castle. As much as Draco Malfoy dismisses him as a servant, he's effectively the third-most-important member of Hogwarts' staff. |
| 208 | *** Not to mention the fact that Hagrid is one of the people Dumbledore trusts absolutely, Hagrid is someone who can handle himself without resorting to magic (in case the Dursleys proved difficult), plus it gave Hagrid a chance to use some magic when he normally wasn't allowed. |
| 209 | *** There's also the fact that Hagrid ''is a half-giant''. Hardly any spells affect him — thus, the chances of anyone actually bringing him down to steal Harry is ''basically impossible.'' |
| 210 | * Early on in the series, Harry and Hermione end up having to solve a simple logical puzzle in order to reach the coveted Philosopher's Stone, which baffles Harry because he (understandably) considers it a pretty weak defense. It even includes ''hints!'' But Hermione points out that it's actually an ingenious way to foil a Dark Wizard, since the Wizarding World is actually full of brilliant Wizards who depend so much on magic that they forget how to use basic skills like logic. Say, what was the "power the Dark Lord knows not", again? It was ''love'' — another seemingly basic concept that the brilliant sorcerer Voldemort didn't have the least bit of knowledge about, which allowed Harry to defeat him because he understood things like brotherhood, compassion, and self-sacrifice. In an odd way, the potion challenge is an early hint that magic isn't the most powerful weapon in the world, and that even the cleverest Wizards can be defeated by seemingly simple forces. |
| 211 | * Madam Pomfrey never reports any students to Dumbledore or their Head of House even when she obviously knows they've been breaking rules. Harry explicitly says that she "never asks too many questions" in ''Chamber of Secrets''. It makes perfect sense that the person whose first and foremost responsibility is the health of the students wouldn't get people in trouble because that would discourage them from coming to her for help (such as when Ron is scared that she might recognize a dragon bite in ''Philosopher's Stone''). Many universities in the United States have similar policies regarding underage drinking: even when doctors at the school infirmary recognize the signs of alcohol poisoning, they're not required to report students, because helping them is supposed to be their first concern. Students also don't get in trouble for calling 911 for a friend who has been drinking, even if they have been drinking themselves at the same time. |
| 212 | * In ''Goblet of Fire'', Voldemort explicitly states that three Death Eaters are absent from the meeting because they died in his service. Sure enough, only three Death Eaters are known to have died in the first war: Wilkes, Evan Rosier, and Regulus Black. The first two were already mentioned earlier in the book, but the third is not mentioned until the next. However, then Sirius speculates that Regulus had fallen out of favor and was killed on Voldemort's orders, which would decidedly not be considered having died in his service. It is not revealed until ''Deathly Hallows'' that he died betraying Voldemort, who was unaware of this and incorrectly assumed that he died loyal to him, while outsiders incorrectly assumed he had been killed by his fellow Death Eaters. |
| 213 | * The values of the four Houses of Hogwarts seem even more meaningful when you realize that they correspond perfectly to the four most "honorable" career paths in the Middle Ages, when Hogwarts was founded; Gryffindors are the students best suited to becoming knights, Hufflepuffs are well-suited to becoming monks (or nuns), Ravenclaws are likely to become scholars, and Slytherins are likely to be members of the nobility. To elaborate: |
| 214 | ** Gryffindor's House Ghost is '''Sir''' Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, who was clearly knighted when he was alive, and their Common Room is guarded by the armored knight '''Sir''' Cadogan at one point. Their core values (courage, camaraderie, self-sacrifice, etc.) correspond quite closely with the tenets of the law of chivalry, and their emblem (a lion) is an animal usually portrayed as a natural warrior. Their founder, Godric Gryffindor, is also strongly implied to have been a knight, as he had a sword as his IconicItem, and he believed that people with a history of brave and noble deeds were most worthy of studying at Hogwarts — a philosophy befitting a "man of action" who valued deeds and accomplishments more than ancestry or personal traits. |
| 215 | ** Hufflepuff's House Ghost is the Fat Friar, who was clearly part of the priesthood when he was still alive, and their Head of House (Pomona Sprout) is a botanist who spends most of her time cultivating plants — the kind of trade that keeps many monks occupied while they're sequestered in their abbeys and monasteries. Their core values (honesty, compassion, hard work, humility, etc.) quite aptly describe the lifestyle of monks, who are committed to caring for the sick and needy, and always keep themselves busy while resisting the allure of glory and wealth. Their founder, Helga Hufflepuff, also notably wanted to make Hogwarts open to '''all''' willing students who wanted to study there, much like monasteries have historically been places of sanctuary open to all, and much like the priesthood has historically been a career open to everyone (hence, why it was often seen as a "last resort" for people trying to escape their old life). And Helga Hufflepuff's IconicItem was a chalice, an item associated with the Christian communion. |
| 216 | ** Ravenclaw's founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, openly believed that ''"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure"'', she wanted to accept only the most intelligent students, and her house's values (intelligence, independence, creativity, etc.) correspond perfectly to the lifestyle of scholars and academics who devote their lives to pursuing the truth, even if it means flouting social conventions. It's likely not an accident that their Head of House, Filius Flitwick, is the one who teaches the main trio the first spell that we see them learning. And their House Ghost, the Grey Lady, is later revealed to have died as a result of pursuing an artifact that could have given her great knowledge. Also note that their emblem, the eagle, is an animal that's infamously difficult to train and domesticate — hence why "falconry" (the art of training birds of prey for hunting) is a highly specialized discipline that's often considered a mark of great education. |
| 217 | *** Ravenclaw's emblem is not an eagle, it's a raven. A raven is arguably the most intelligent of birds with reasoning skills rivalling apes. It still fits the idea of intelligence being important, even going so far as recognising intellect in a type of animals not normally associated with it (birds). |
| 218 | ** Slytherin's House Ghost is the Bloody '''Baron''', and the two most prominent Slytherins in the series are '''Lord''' Voldemort and Severus Snape — who calls himself "The Half-Blood '''Prince'''". From what we see of Slytherin, their members tend to be much wealthier than the average Hogwarts student, and they tend to prize students from prominent Pureblood families over those of mixed ancestry. Their founder, Salazar Slytherin, even believed that Hogwarts should be open to only students of pure Wizarding ancestry — reflecting the values of nobles, whose entire world revolved around ancestry and familial inheritance. A major plot point in the second book even revolves around the identity of Salazar Slytherin's heir, making him the only one of the founders whose surviving bloodline actually plays a role in the plot. Their core values (ambition, self-preservation, cunning, leadership, etc.) also correspond quite well with the traits of nobles who are burdened with the responsibility of governing realms, and must sometimes do morally questionable things for the good of their subjects. If you've read Machievelli's ''The Prince'', you'll notice that his philosophy overlaps pretty well with the Slytherin way of life. |
| 219 | * WordOfGod has established that three of the four Hogwarts founders were from the three nations making up modern mainland Britain (Godric Gryffindor was English, Rowena Ravenclaw was Scottish, and Helga Hufflepuff was Welsh). And though the fourth founder (Salazar Slytherin) has never had his birthplace officially established, several details about him seem to evoke popular representations of Ireland, Britain's neighboring isle. |
| 220 | ** Gryffindor's colors are red and gold, and their symbol is a lion — evoking many common symbols in English heraldry. England's flag includes the red Cross of Saint George, their military has historically worn red uniforms, and a gold lion is traditionally a symbol of the English monarchy. The gold in their heraldry is also fitting for the wealthiest region of Britain, and their association with courage and martial prowess (hence Godric Gryffindor's sword being his IconicItem) is appropriate for the seat of chivalry in Britain, since most of Britain's knights historically came from the English ruling class. |
| 221 | ** Ravenclaw's primary color is blue (the primary color of the Scottish flag), and their association with the element of Air is appropriate for the most mountainous region of Britain. Considering their association with the values of intelligence and curiosity, it's probably not an accident that Hogwarts itself — the seat of all magical learning in Britain — is located in the highlands of Rowena Ravenclaw's native Scotland. According to WordOfGod, Ravenclaws are also known to value independence and nonconformity far more than the other Houses, symbolically tying them to the famously independent Scots. |
| 222 | ** Hufflepuff's association with the element of Earth is appropriate for the fertile farmlands of Wales, their humility and mild attitude is appropriate for the most politically stable area of Britain, and their association with the values of unity and teamwork are appropriate for the region that has historically had the strongest alliance with the ruling English. Their founder also had a magical chalice as her IconicItem, evoking the Holy Grail; many scholars believe that the historical King Arthur might actually have been Welsh, and that many Arthurian legends can be traced to Wales. |
| 223 | ** Slytherin's primary color is green, the color most often associated with Ireland in the popular imagination. Salazar Slytherin was said to hail "from fen" (i.e. "from swampland"), which could easily describe the bogs of Ireland, and the house has a snake as its animal symbol, evoking the popular legend about Saint Patrick (the patron saint of Ireland) banishing all snakes from the isle — especially since Slytherin could ''speak'' to snakes. Ireland is also an island nation separated from the isle of Britain by sea, which is quite appropriate for the house with Water as its element. |
| 224 | * Once you know the big twist in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince The Half-Blood Prince]]'' about the Defense Against the Dark Arts post being [[spoiler:cursed by Voldemort so that no one can keep the job for longer than a year]], all of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors retroactively seem even more fitting for the job in hindsight. To elaborate: |
| 225 | ** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Professor Quirrell]] and [[spoiler:[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Barty Crouch Jr.]]]] are both loyal Death Eaters who were trying to use their positions at Hogwarts to resurrect Voldemort. Neither of them were planning to stay on at Hogwarts longer than a year, and it's quite possible that Voldemort [[spoiler:''told'' them about the curse]] so they knew that [[spoiler:it was pointless to stay longer than a year anyway]]. |
| 226 | ** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Gilderoy Lockhart]] turns out to be a thoroughly mediocre wizard who [[spoiler:faked most of his accomplishments]]. Dumbledore was probably only willing to tolerate his idiocy because [[spoiler:he ''knew'' that he would be gone by the end of the year]], and knew that the job essentially amounted to [[spoiler:a temp position]]. |
| 227 | ** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Remus Lupin]] and [[spoiler:[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Professor Snape]]]] are both long-time members of the Order of the Phoenix who are shown to be unfailingly loyal to Dumbledore. Even if they knew the truth about [[spoiler:Voldemort's curse]], both of them would be more willing than almost anyone to "take one for the team" and accept the risks of the position if Dumbledore asked them to. |
| 228 | ** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Dolores Umbridge]] is a CorruptBureaucrat who is intent on denying any and all rumors of Voldemort's return — meaning that she'd probably be the Hogwarts professor least likely to believe the truth about [[spoiler:Voldemort's curse]]. |
| 229 | * Voldemort's attack on the Potters closely resembles his first murder, that of his father and grandparents: he shows up unexpected while the family is home, with the intent to murder all of them with the Killing Curse. Uninvolved men (Frank Bryce and Morfin Gaunt in the case of the Riddles, Sirius Black in the case of the Potters) were WrongfullyAccused of having something to do with the murders. The major difference is that Harry survived and Tom Sr. didn't. Murdering the Riddles was the beginning of his campaign as the Dark Lord, with few people knowing about the crime and even fewer knowing who the true killer was; while murdering the Potters was one of his most publicized crimes and marked the beginning of his downfall. |
| 230 | * Everyone knows that Sirius and Regulus were named after two stars — one in Canis Major/Great Dog, also known as the dog star, one in the constellation Leo. Some also point out that Regulus is specifically at the heart of the Leo constellation, foreshadowing Regulus' true nature just as Sirius has a dog's loyalty and energy. But Canis Major's legend, specifically, states that it was in its earthly life a hound fated to always catch whatever prey it chased[[note]]until [[YinYangClash it happened upon a vixen that was fated to never, ever be caught]], whereupon the conundrum was solved by placing both into the sky as constellations[[/note]]. Which sounds awfully similar to how driven and determined Sirius is to find a certain rat in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', going as far as hurting his own cause by acting suspiciously… |
| 231 | * The dramatic way Snape speaks in the films, accompanied by many pauses? He often has to use Occlumency while talking, which requires a fair bit of concentration. And since OOCIsSeriousBusiness, he must adopt this style even when no Occlumency is involved. |
| 232 | ** This is brilliant. Would also likely be an explanation for his air of superiority when he talks to people — he spends all of his time fooling people that think they're smarter or more powerful than him, and it feeds his arrogance. |
| 233 | * Throughout the series, whenever Harry faces the Dementors, he's forced to relive his parents' last moments alive through his memories. However, thinking logically, Harry was only a baby when his parents died and shouldn't have any clear memory of that night, so how can he be reliving something he shouldn't have any recollection of? Simple. With the knowledge that [[spoiler:Harry is a Horcrux who has carried a piece of Voldemort's soul with him ever since the night his parents died]], we can guess that what's most likely happening is that Harry is actually reliving [[spoiler:Voldemort's worst memory – of the night he came the closest he ever had to death]]. |
| 234 | * Albeit an accidental one, one should notice that Harry's initials spell HP, which, as every gamer knows, refers to your HitPoints, which determines your life force. Harry is known as "The boy who lived." |
| 235 | * Harry's eyesight seems to be really, ''really'' bad without his glasses — to the point where he's almost literally BlindWithoutEm. While it's passed over in the film series as probably being [[InTheBlood genetic]], as James is seen with glasses in his portrayals, it doesn't say specifically whether James wore glasses in the books. So why are Harry's eyes so messed up? [[SarcasmMode Surely it didn't have anything to do with their being exposed to an extremely bright light at point-blank at barely a year old.]] On top of that, green light is one of the colors of light to which the human eye is the most sensitive. Harry's eyes weren't naturally that bad. It, like the scar, was a physical side effect of the encounter with Voldemort. It's very likely that, had Voldemort not tried to Avada Kedavra Harry [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange at close range]] [[BoomHeadshot to the face]], Harry's vision would have been simply below average as opposed to awful. (Note that ''none'' of Harry's three children seem to have to wear glasses.) |
| 236 | ** Even if Harry's kids don't need glasses because the Wizarding World developed some way to fix eyesight problems in between Voldy's defeat and the Epilogue (which would make sense since Muggles invented LASIK during that time), Harry would still need glasses since his eyesight was damaged by Dark Magic, which can't be reversed. |
| 237 | * Trevor (Neville's toad) almost comes off as a pet that Rowling forgot about, but if you pull back and take a look at the series through a wide lens, he's actually a bit of extremely well-written symbolism. Trevor's existence [[EstablishingCharacterMoment flags Neville's character immediately]]. In the book, right before Hagrid gifts Hedwig to Harry, he makes a passing mention that toads, although they're an approved pet at Hogwarts, aren't considered to be in style and are treated as an invitation for ridicule from fellow students. So the introduction of Trevor immediately flags Neville as… well, a socially awkward loser that gets ridiculed by other students. But Neville is first introduced ''losing'' Trevor, and this lose-again[=/=]find-again cycle continues throughout the books until, at some point around Book 5 or 6, Trevor just isn't seen anymore. Pottermore explains that Trevor left Neville to go to the Black Lake and Neville didn't bother looking for him. This lines up almost perfectly with Neville [[TookALevelInBadass becoming several degrees more self-assured and confident as well as developing his talents as a wizard]]. By the end of the series, he's no longer a cripplingly awkward loser, but a brave hero relatively comfortable with himself whose awkwardness, if it exists, is more endearing than a subject of ridicule. But remember, Book 1 Neville also stood up to both the biggest bullies in the year ''and'' to the closest things to friends he had when he didn't agree with what they were planning on doing. (The latter Dumbledore noted very publicly was a special kind of bravery, and one that Dumbledore had failed at himself when he was in his youth.) If you read Trevor as a representation of Neville's social awkwardness and lack of confidence hiding his real self, he (it) ''was trying to escape Neville for the whole series'', only for them to keep reuniting — until, at last, toward the end of the series, they separated for good. |
| 238 | * Why is it so common for members of the same family to be from the same house? It's very likely they meet their future partners in the common room, and end up teaching their children the same values as that house. |
| 239 | * Snape seems to hate Hermione nearly as much as he hates Harry, and occasionally goes out of his way to be nasty to her (namely, "I see no difference"). But consider Hermione in a broader sense: a clever Muggle-born, unquestionably the brightest witch of her age, in Gryffindor, who is inseparably close with a Potter. While Harry reminds Snape of James, Hermione probably reminds him of Lily, and not in a good way. |
| 240 | * Voldemort told Lily to stand aside--and not just once, either; he gave her many chances to move out of the way before he killed her. He was actually going to honor Snape's request to spare her. ''Voldemort'' was going to let Muggle-born Lily Potter live, because Snape had asked him to. Snape must have been a truly loyal servant indeed before his HeelFaceTurn, for Voldemort to grant him such a request. |
| 241 | * From a [[CombatPragmatist purely pragmatic perspective]] most forms of serious life-or-death wizard duelling don't make a huge amount of sense when one remembers that Avada Kedavra, [[OneHitKill a curse that instantly kills the opponent with no defense or countermeasure barring a last-second dodge]] (or ancient protective magic from a loved one's sacrifice), exists. In a life-or-death situation any moment you're not using the Killing Curse on your opponent is a moment when your opponent could use the Killing Curse on you. So why isn't wizarding combat considerably more lethal with all participants firing off Killing Curses like pistols in an old-timey Wild West fight? Well, it's established (if not outright stated) that one's ability to perform magic is affected by a combination of factors most prominently a) a wizard's innate magical potential, b) how developed (well-exercised, if you would) that potential is and c) the emotional and mental state of the wizard at the time of casting (especially relevant for things like Patronuses). In ''Goblet'' Professor Moody (actually Barty Crouch Jr.) outright states that his entire class could hit him with Killing Curses simultaneously and he'd likely receive no more than a nosebleed, while in ''Phoenix'' Harry tries to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix he only knocks her off her feet because, according to her (who has no small amount of experience with the Cruciatus Curse), he didn't have the raw ''want'' to cause her pain. From this we can conclude that casting a curse as powerful as the Killing Curse requires a great and well-honed reserve of magical ability ''and'' a high degree of KillingIntent on the part of the caster. With this in mind, it makes sense why Voldemort is considered so terrifying by the rest of the Wizarding World; He has a vast reserve of magical ability from his ancient bloodline [[HybridPower with enough fresh genetics to really bring out his potential]] and an utterly sociopathic and loveless psychology that makes the will to murder come incredibly easily to him - no wonder he's the magical equivalent of a nuke in a game of rock-paper-scissors. This also explains why so few other wizards use the Killing curse; they simply don't have the raw will to kill, [[ThouShaltNotKill least of all Harry Potter.]] |
| 242 | * Ginny usually is very supportive of Harry, so it may seem surprising that in ''Half-Blood Prince'' (at least the movie) she sides against him when he doesn't want to reveal who the potions book belonged to. In fact, since ''Chamber of Secrets'', Ginny knows better than anyone how dangerous it can be to use a shady book. |
| 243 | * Dumbledore asking Harry something personal (whether he and Hermione ...) seems unusual. However, as it later turns out, Dumbledore at this point is in the process of writing his testament and deciding whom to leave the Deluminator to. He later sees Ron whisper Hermione's name in the hospital wing. In his testament, Dumbledore leaves the Deluminator to Ron, which later leads Ron back to Hermione apparently via their romantic connection. Ron thinks that this was planned by Dumbledore. |
| 244 | * Why is it that fifth year prefects get to lead new first years to their dormitories as opposed to the higher ranking sixth year prefects or the Head Boy/Girl? It's because the youngest prefects are the ones who will spend the most time at Hogwarts with that new class of first years. It's better to introduce the first years to a fellow student that they'll be able to rely on for several years as opposed to someone who will have already graduated by next year. |
| 245 | * Harry's behavior makes sense when one remembers how he was raised. He was made to live with his aunt and uncle, being openly treated as TheUnfavorite, blamed for anything going wrong, and was always being bullied by his cousin. When Harry finds out about Hogwarts, he also learns that his remaining relatives had lied to him about his heritage and how his parents actually died. Being raised in an abusive household has left Harry with severe trust issues towards adults and authority figures in general. It's no wonder that Harry oversteps boundaries when talking to some teachers, and refuses to rely on them for help because he grew up with the idea that those that are supposed to protect him did not do so. |
| 246 | ** These trust issues are reinforced in Book 3, when pretty much ''everyone'' knows the full story behind Sirius Black and his relationship to Harry's parents, and they're determined to keep Harry LockedOutOfTheLoop. Harry eventually finds out on his own when he overhears Fudge talking to Madame Rosmerta, [=McGonagall=] and Flitwick, and he's understandably angry that nobody told him the full truth (or at least, what they thought was the truth). In Book 5, the adults once again are hellbent on keeping Harry in the dark, which only fuels his anger and frustration even more because he ''knows'' they're keeping things from him, and even worse because it's not the first time. |
| 247 | * Fairly minor, but in one game there's a mention of one [[https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hedley_Fleetwood Hedley Fleetwood]] having a mammoth for a patronus, which as members of the elephant family have tusks. [[StealthPun Now who else]] [[Music/FleetwoodMac share that surname and have an album called]] ''Music/{{Tusk|1979}}''? |
| 248 | * Small one, but many of Hogwarts' professors pull double duty as the head of one of the four houses; Professor [=McGonagall=] for Gryffindor, Professor Flitwick for Ravenclaw, Professor Sprout for Hufflepuff, and Professor Snape for Slytherin. Dumbledore presumably had a hand in choosing these heads of house, possibly the ''only'' hand... so why did he put resident {{Jerkass}} Snape in charge of Slytherin, a house infamous for churning out dark wizards? Because he's an ex-Death Eater. He's a living example that even those students which start down the path to the Dark Arts don't have to ''stay'' on it, and he knows better than most what the early warning signs of a dark wizard in the making look like. Fitting choice, coming from a man who believes so much in redemption. |
| 249 | [[/folder]] |
| 250 | |
| 251 | ---- |
| 252 | |
| 253 | !! FridgeHorror |
| 254 | |
| 255 | [[folder:General Part 1]] |
| 256 | * Unsorted because it really applies to two books. In book one, the Dursleys said that they meant to 'squash' the magic out of Harry with years of abuse. Come book six, we meet the Gaunts, where we learn that such a thing is all too possible. A few people have pointed out an AlternateCharacterInterpretation that makes the Dursleys (or at least Petunia) into [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned extremists]] — if the magic was squashed out, then in Petunia's mind, nobody would come after her family again. |
| 257 | ** However, the Fantastic Beasts prequel series reveals that attempting to squash out magic, in the right conditions, will create an extremely volatile parasitic mass of dark magic called an Obscurus, which will occasionally burst out of the host to wreak havoc. According to WordOfGod, if the Dursleys had made it clear they were abusing him because of his magical abilities, then he would have become an Obscurial, which also have short lifespans [[spoiler: (Credence was an exception)]]. If Petunia had taken an even more extreme approach to squashing out her nephew's ability, the series would have gone ''VERY'' differently. |
| 258 | * Voldemort's support: |
| 259 | ** Consider the following: Voldemort had an army. In order for someone to have an army — and to even spend some time with power in their hands — there has to be at least some measurable degree of support. In the real world, even the most horrid regimes are supported, if not by a majority, by a loud and not-too-small minority of the people in it — or they would simply fall apart in a few days rather than in a few years. It must, in short, be politically viable. So, Voldemort might be a very powerful wizard, yes, but he only gathered an army and managed to actually control things for a while because his ideology is politically viable in that particular environment. Meaning that, unless there was [[ThePurge a purge]] of sorts (and these [[GenocideBackfire aren't exactly foolproof]], nor necessarily much of a way to keep the moral high ground) or something, his ideas are still shared by quite a lot of people, some of whom have money and/or political/magical power (the Malfoys being the most iconic example, and they clearly lived through the first war). Said people might, in that setting, try and get into power by hook or by crook in the future. |
| 260 | *** That the mass murder of Muggles and Muggle-borns is safely within magical Britain’s Overton Window, but repealing the Statute of Secrecy isn’t, is itself evidence this society is BeyondRedemption. |
| 261 | ** Not to mention that the prejudice against Muggle-Borns goes back ''centuries'' before the start of the series, all the way back to Salazar Slytherin and his kinsmen (and probably before even him). As uplifting as the ending may be, centuries-old prejudices definitely '''don't''' vanish overnight. In a way, it's almost scarier to think that Voldemort was just the spark that set off years of anti-Muggle sentiment. One Dark Wizard can be defeated in a duel, but centuries of deeply ingrained racial hatred are a bit more complicated. |
| 262 | * Harry never goes beyond "mediocre wizard" at best… and he was never supposed to. Harry Potter is a story about an average boy who was inexplicably targeted by a terrorist (because of a prophecy) when really he's not worth being a blip on Voldemort's radar. The story wasn't about the rise of a hero — it was about a kid getting caught up in events that he couldn't handle (just like most kids today couldn't handle either). |
| 263 | ** More like anyone can be a hero under the right circumstances. Harry might have been a mediocre wizard in the end, but he still ended up becoming the only one who could defeat Voldemort [[SelfFulfillingProphecy entirely due to Voldemort's]] [[NiceJobFixingItVillain own]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard actions]]. |
| 264 | * The Killing Curse is this when you consider that wizards aren't any less likely than Muggles to be serial killers or mass murderers. Someone could suddenly die one day, and without witnesses, '''nobody''' knows what happened to them or who killed them, or who the killer could be. The killer could keep ''right on going'' until they got caught, got tired of killing, or died themselves. We've already seen Wizarding law enforcement officials duping Muggles into thinking Muggle victims simply died of gas leaks or heart attacks. This is, of course, assuming that the magic doesn't leave a trace somehow, which would enable wizards to figure out that the victim was in fact murdered, but it still wouldn't leave any clues as to who the killer is. Someone could kill off loads of people just because they can't get caught unless there are witnesses, or other circumstantial clues that would point to a possible suspect. This actually occurred ''in universe'': [[spoiler:Tom Riddle]] murdered his own family, at least one of his customers, and possibly other unknown people before anyone even suspected him of wrongdoing. It's likely that only [[spoiler:Dumbledore and Harry]] are even aware of his early murders. |
| 265 | ** They’re the only ones besides [[spoiler:all Horcuxes of Tom Riddle and Voldemort himself]] who know that it was him. Everyone else thinks it’s Morfin, Voldy’s uncle. |
| 266 | * Polyjuice Potion. By drinking it, you will become a perfect copy of the original person, even taking on the eyesight. It can have some horrible consequences, like somebody else posing as you to commit a crime. But, this also means that your privacy is gone. You want to know what a person looks like naked? Drink their potion! Stalkers would love it… |
| 267 | * While the wizarding community is small, it still doesn't seem to be small enough to explain why there seemed to be so few people in Harry's year. It seems like a case of WritersCannotDoMath, and Rowling even admitted it was, but there's another possible explanation: knowing the Death Eaters' propensity for WouldHurtAChild, it's entirely plausible that they [[ForTheEvulz killed]] many of the children that would've otherwise been in Harry's year. |
| 268 | ** Although that could be partially based in reality. Several European countries have 'weak years' caused by the generation that grew up during WWII (which had a low number of children being born and high mortality) growing up and having children of their own. |
| 269 | * In ''Goblet of Fire'', it's stated that kids around Harry's age frequently and adeptly don Muggle clothing and seem to keep up with Muggle fashion to a degree (i.e. jeans and tees). Even Malfoy — raised isolated in the Wizarding World — doesn't identify Harry as being part of the Muggle world in Madam Malkin's, despite the fact that he'd obviously have been wearing Muggle clothes, which demonstrates that even pureblood kids are used to seeing it. [[note]]There's also the fact that Draco Malfoy knows what a helicopter is — he'd have to in order to brag about evading them on his broomstick.[[/note]] Meanwhile, Wizarding adults range from patchy to utterly hopeless at blending in with Muggles. At first, this seems like a throwaway detail. But on closer examination, it seems strange that in just a generation, thousands of years of wearing robes and other extremely dated clothing would give way to casual adoption of and acceptance of Muggle fashion. But then you realize that a great number of wizards who opposed Voldemort were murdered in the years before Harry's first defeat of him, and the children they would have had (or had and who died with their parents) never made it to Hogwarts as discussed above, leaving Harry's year and the decade or so before him much smaller than they would have been if they had normal numbers of purebloods and half bloods who'd been raised in the WW. Therefore, starting probably around the time Bill Weasley entered Hogwarts, there was a much higher ratio of Muggleborns at Hogwarts than in generations past, and an entire generation of Wizarding children grew up with proportionally more Muggleborns, who would have normalized and possibly imported their clothing, among other things. |
| 270 | ** May also explain why, except for the Slytherins, nobody seems to care about blood status much at Hogwarts during Harry's time and little is assumed by blood status, despite the adults from all houses being comparatively obsessed with it. This loops around into Fridge Brilliance as it means that Voldemort [[HoistByHisOwnPetard inadvertently sabotaged his own cause]], possibly beyond repair. |
| 271 | * Let's think for a moment on Wizarding Britain's Pureblood elite for a moment. Their entire raison d'être is keeping their family line as pure as humanly possible for as many generations as possible and we know that there are certain families (the Blacks and Malfoys) who are considered "purer" than the rest. However, if we look at some of the members of these families, especially the Black family, we can see some disturbing signs of inbreeding resulting in various mental conditions. Bellatrix is psychopathic and prone to bouts of extreme anger, as is Sirius' mother. Crabbe and Goyle are so dimwitted that Draco is actually surprised to learn they can read. It seems like the main Pureblood families, because they have such an almost obsessive need to be "pure", have narrowed down the gene pools to such a degree that they are turning into ''Harry Potter''[='=]s answer to the [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire Targaryens]]! |
| 272 | * Olive Hornby did not die of natural causes. Myrtle said that Olive never forgot her to her dying day. Assuming she was Myrtle's age, she's only a year older than Hagrid, who's a rather spry 63 in modern day. (Even by non-magical standards, this age might be a good time to think of retirement, but hardly one foot in the grave.) If she's older than Myrtle (and then she's a real swine for picking on someone younger than her), even then, the most she could be is five years older than him. Did Myrtle's haunting of Olive drive her to suicide? |
| 273 | ** Myrtle haunted Olive until the wedding of Olive's brother, where Myrtle's appearance was the last straw and Olive asked the Ministry to rein Myrtle in. After that, Myrthe was banished to remain at Hogwarts, or at least to leave Olive alone. That likely was decades before the events of the series, or a decade or two after Myrtle's murder. It's still possible that her haunting and the guilt did have something to do with Olive's death, it is likely she lived a while longer after Myrtle stopped haunting her. |
| 274 | * Transfiguration is objectively horrifying. You are teaching pre-teens and teenagers how to use magic that can create life, and destroy it just as easily. For instance: |
| 275 | ** [=McGonagall=] starts her lessons with first years by turning her desk into a pig and back. For the few moments the pig was alive, it must have been terrified, not knowing what was happening, and then it just stopped existing. That is one of many ways to ponder the situation, were the desk not simply acting appropriately as a pig in some automated sense. Then again, readers may wonder if the desk could have either been a pig transformed into a desk long ago, or if it was a desk all along, having essentially swapped places with a living pig and back. |
| 276 | ** In the film of ''Chamber of Secrets'', Scabbers is half-transformed into a water goblet due to Ron's broken wand as a one-off gag. Keep in mind that Scabbers is just a transfigured human being — who knows what poor Peter Pettigrew was feeling? |
| 277 | ** In [[VideoGame/HarryPotter the video games]] (especially the console version of ''[[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]''), it's common to kill enemies with a transfiguration spell, turning it into anything from a burst of orchids to a flock of birds to a pumpkin. They're monsters in the context of the game, yes, but the fact that Harry, Ron, and Hermione do this in such a blase manner has rather disturbing implications. |
| 278 | ** In both the book and the film of ''Goblet of Fire'', "Moody" (really Barty Crouch Jr.) transforms Draco into a ferret which he proceeds to float around with magic as a punishment. Draco is traumatized by the experience, showing that he was at least partially aware of what happened while in this form… |
| 279 | ** Vanishing spells. Oh dear lord, ''vanishing spells''. A vanishing spell essentially atomizes the form of the thing you cast it on. The fifth years start out practicing it on snails, and the most difficult thing it's performed on are ''kittens''. Hermione — who owns a cat — is the only one able to do this successfully, and seemingly does so without objection. This spell essentially kills if you can do it right - keep in mind that the only other spell that can OneHitKill anything in ''Harry Potter'' is ''Avada Kedavra'', which is a curse that is banned under penalty of imprisonment in Azkaban. That at least leaves behind a body to be buried! Now, think about the fact that, in the last two books, several people go missing and are never heard from in the rest of the series... |
| 280 | * Rereading the fifth book, it becomes clear that Harry's "attitude problems" are a clear result of PTSD acquired from what happened in that graveyard with him and Voldemort. Realistically, his trauma should have become worse with Sirius' death, the Department of Mysteries fiasco, and knowledge of the prophecy, and that's not even getting to the [[ThereAreNoTherapists lack of emotional therapy]] in the Wizarding World. It makes the AngstWhatAngst charges against ''Half-Blood Prince'' easier to stick... |
| 281 | * To anyone who has read science fiction, you might have heard the phrase "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Now apply this phrase to Harry Potter. Muggles have been advancing technology quite rapidly over the years, while wizards seem to have stayed the same for the most part. It's quite possible that Muggles will reach a point where their technology might eclipse magic. Kind of a scary thought, both for wizards and Muggles. |
| 282 | * ''Fantastic Beasts'' introduces the concept of Obscurials, kids that turn into essentially sentient hurricanes due to having to keep their magic hidden away. Vernon's justification in the very first book for his (mis)treatment of Harry was to stamp Harry's "freakishness" out of him, imagine if he'd gone the CorporalPunishment route... |
| 283 | ** Is sceptical becoming an Obscurial requires being aware of ones magic and wanting to suppress it. Harry was never aware of his magic, nor wanted to surpress it. Maybe if Harry had been older when he was sent to the Dursleys and was at least aware his parents were magical, and he was likely to be magical too.... |
| 284 | *** Ah, but what if, against all odds, Hagrid appeared told him he was a wizard and then the Dursleys somehow managed to stop him going to Hogwarts? |
| 285 | *** And remember ALL magical kids can cause things to happen if they experience high emotions, knowing about their magic or not. |
| 286 | *** Even worse, keep in mind that [[spoiler:Harry's a horcrux, that can occasionally influence his behavior. If Harry became an Obscurial, and then the Voldemort soul fragment took advantage of that, who knows what would've happened, but it sure as hell wouldn't have been good...]] |
| 287 | ** This could have also potentially been applied to Arianna Dumbledore, who spent the rest of her life trying and failing to get the magical power out of her ever since three Muggle boys, er... "accosted"... her after catching her using magic by accident when she was ''six'' and [[SelfMadeOrphan accidentally got her own mother killed]] in one such futile attempt laber on. Due to her state of mind because of her stress and emotions throughout all those years of wanting to never be a witch but being unable to accomplish that, she might have been on her way to becoming an Obscurial herself for all we know -- before the duel between her two brothers and Grindelwald ended up with her dead. |
| 288 | * The love protection magic that's being used to protect Harry is very neutral at best, malignant at worst, if you think about it. I mean, it's ancient magic, so its rules are going to be different. But the way it works is, as long as Harry calls #4 Privet Drive home, he's safe. Sounds fine, right? But consider this: Harry considered the place a prison ever since he started going to Hogwarts, even feeling like Hogwarts was his real home, yet he was still protected at Privet Drive? Then ''Half-Blood Prince'' came, and revealed the damning evidence. Harry doesn't need to feel at home in #4 Privet Drive in the modern sense of the phrase. All he needs is for Petunia to willingly continue to provide him with houseroom, no matter how reluctantly. Also, here's something else: If Harry ever leaves the property line before he turns 17, with the full understanding and intent of never returning, then every bit of protection that magic grants him will vanish in a snap, including his defense against pure evil. Think about it, the ultimate defense against evil Harry had required Harry to return to a very neglectful, borderline abusive household each summer, until he turned 17. Brrr. |
| 289 | * Werewolf pups. Explained in length [[http://kalu-chan.tumblr.com/post/157381393159/harry-potter-werewolf-pups here]], but the short version? Two werewolves in wolf form can mate (Fridge Horror in its own right, considering neither can give consent), causing the girl to get pregnant and give birth to a litter of incredibly intelligent wolf cubs. |
| 290 | ** Actually, this scenario has been debunked by J.K. Rowling herself as stated in an earlier Fridge Brilliance post. In an old (pre-''Order of the Phoenix'') chat interview, someone asked about Riddle's mention (in ''Chamber of Secrets'') of Hagrid raising werewolf cubs under his bed, and whether they were "the same kind of werewolves" as Lupin. Rowling stated that this never happened: "Riddle was telling lies about Hagrid, just slandering him". Of course, back in ''Chamber of Secrets'', no one would have batted an eye at a mention of werewolf cubs, but Professor Lupin gets introduced later and we find out that werewolves are really just people with an incurable magical disease. To call their children "cubs" and imply that they can be raised under a bed like dogs is seriously offensive FantasticRacism, but coming from the young Voldemort, it's no surprise. |
| 291 | ** According to canon, those "werewolf" cubs were, as said above, just a normal pack of incredibly intelligent wolf cubs... but Voldemort just sees "werewolf" and discriminated by lumping them together — we know this, since he refers to Tonks' and Lupin's then unborn child as "cub" — so it's possible Hagrid was raising ''those''. |
| 292 | *** That in itself might imply that at least two more werewolves might have attended Hogwarts as students within the same time period... and [[TeenPregnancy had children]]. ''With each other.'' Granted, the more logical explanation is that the cubs were brought to Hogwarts instead of being born on school grounds, but it's still possible. Improbable, yes, but not impossible. |
| 293 | * In the Battle of Hogwarts, most of the Slytherin students refuse to fight, and this is chalked up by the cast to them essentially siding with Voldemort. But hold on — most of the Death Eaters were Slytherins during their time at Hogwarts, which would mean a majority of Voldemort's forces could have children at Hogwarts… children who were probably sorted into Slytherin. So it's not so much that Slytherin house isn't interested in defending the school so much as they don't want to risk fighting and possibly killing their own parents. |
| 294 | ** It's not actually that at all; it's the Slytherin trait. Self-preservation. If Voldemort wins, they can say they were locked up/didn't fight and fit into the world… if Voldemort loses, they can ''also'' say they were locked up/didn't fight, so they can't be blamed… it's saving their own butts. |
| 295 | ** Apparently, some Slytherins returned to fight alongside Professor Slughorn after he gathered reinforcements from Hogsmeade. |
| 296 | ** What if it was the other way around? What if [=McGonagall=] had no desire to force the Slytherin teens to fight their own parents or close relatives but suspected or ''knew'' Voldemort would have no such hesitation the other way around? |
| 297 | * Consider Squibs, wizarding folks born without magic. As magic is such a fundamental part of wizard culture, they are basically social pariahs. For one, they are unable to acquire the only form of education the Wizarding community recognizes, which in turn affects their employment opportunities, even for something as mundane as being a shopkeeper — who'd hire a clerk who needs to manually sweep the floor or stock shelves instead of waving a wand to do it? The only people who'd do that are those like Dumbledore's hiring of Filch, which he did out sheer human decency. Now, one might say "They can just live as Muggles", but remember how most wizards are woefully ignorant of the muggle world (to the point of being unable to dress convincingly as one even if their jobs involves traveling among Muggles daily); how is a Squib who spent 18 years with little to no exposure to Muggles supposed to begin this new life? What are the odds of a poor Squib without a muggle family member to take them in of fitting in? Never mind the fact that the only currency they own is utterly alien to muggles. One needs only to look at Mrs. Figg, whom Harry regarded for most of his life as a CrazyCatLady to see that fitting in is hard for them. And furthermore, this means leaving their heritage and culture behind. Heck, with both Filch and Figg having a close bond with their pets rather than humans (Though in Figg's case it's at least ''partially'' an act), it paints a sad portrait of people who are unable to identify with anyone — regarded as broken or impaired by Wizards (when not worse, see later), and oddballs and weirdoes by muggles, and whose sole companionship comes in the form of their pets. Add the social stigma and prejudices — we know from Figg's testimony before the Wizengamot that the Ministry of Magic doesn't even keep records of Squibs, unlike Wizards (which basically should amount to denying them citizenship from the wizarding world). Being born a Squib is an awful affair no matter how you look at it. |
| 298 | * The extremes that some wizarding families go to, to make sure that their children are definite witches/wizards, remember in book 1 Neville recounting how his family found out he was a wizard, when he was a baby, his UNCLE hung him out a WINDOW! the only reason he didn't die from his uncle dropping him (for a cuppa no less!) is because of his magic making him bounce, imagine what would have happened if he was a squib... |
| 299 | * Obliviate. The knowledge that any competent wizard or witch could have done anything to you and then violated the sanctity of your mind to ensure they never get in trouble for it. Such a thing could be abused in so many ways. |
| 300 | ** Just by being non-magical, it would essentially encourage that this spell be used on you just for happening to be in the vicinity of magic being used. |
| 301 | * Child Voldemort took two of his fellow orphans — Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson — into a cave. They "refused to speak" about what he did to them and Mrs Cole says "They were funny... Never the same again". It's implied ''that he raped them.'' |
| 302 | ** If it's possible to make that worse, this might. Tom Riddle, conceived under the effects of a love potion, can not feel love or affection properly. This might well have been his attempt to understand it. |
| 303 | ** Or... It could have been the journey getting into the cave alone, as J.K. Rowling mentioned in an interview. Or any number of other things... Were there already dead bodies in the cave? Could Tom have introduced those poor orphans to an Inferius, even if it wasn't one he himself created? Used his powers to half-drown them and then retrieve them from the water, repeatedly? Or — being that caves are dark, dank places, could he have summoned snakes and called them to himself and tormented the orphans with the idea that they'd be killed? Or used the power of his magic to shake the cave walls and ceilings, threatening to make them cave in? Whatever he did, it's likely he used magic to do it, since he regarded himself as above "normal people", and non-magical rape might be something he viewed as being mundane and Muggle. |
| 304 | ** Umn... He wasn't even eleven at the time, seems far too young to have had his... [[{{Squick}} Uhh]], sexual awakening. Also, how did he know about the cave beforehand instead of like... discovering it, randomly? He and the other orphans were only there for a short vacation, after all. |
| 305 | * ''Literature/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' points out that a werewolf bite turns not only wizards and witches, but ''muggles'' into werewolves too. One of the worst possible ways of becoming aware of TheMasquerade, and as the person in question is now part of the magical community (in Beast status) and gets a painful reminder thereof at least once a month, there's no real reason to bother with memory charms. |
| 306 | ** According to the official Wizarding World site, whether or not it's technically ''possible'' for a Muggle to become a werewolf, it's a lot ''rarer'' for a Muggle to survive a werewolf bite than for a wizard. |
| 307 | * It seems difficult to believe that the HP wizarding world, in all its manifest incompetence and total ignorance of technology, could keep its existence as secret as it is shown to be. Somebody would screw up. Some real knowledge would get out. And were the Muggle world to discover the horrifying nature of the Wizarding world, with its insane and deadly superhumans, nearly every nation would resolve to neutralize this threat. Even if the wizards could, by and large, evade these efforts, some knowledge and some people would inevitably be caught, some wizards would defect, and the Muggle world would begin to get some idea of the nature of what it was they faced. There could then very well occur a horrific scenario: Investigation into the phenomenon begins. Captured wizards are experimented upon in an effort to understand the source of their power. Enough wizards are coerced into providing countermeasures against magic to ensure magical security for those agencies that need it. With the aid of fifth columnists, governments place wizards in concentration camps. A wizard breeding program starts to provide magical manpower. After sixteen years, these slave-wizards provide the manpower for the final assault. By means of scientific understanding of the magical system, magic is horrifically developed and weaponized. The wizarding world is destroyed. Those wizards deemed superfluous are exterminated. The few remaining wizards are slaves or living weapons in the arsenals of the "muggle" nations. A terrifying new era of thaumaturgy has begun. |
| 308 | ** I doubt it for good reason; basic human rights. Getting people into concentration camps would be a great way to get yourself into serious trouble head-on. Most likely, they will do certain tests, but only if the magicians themselves allow it voluntarily. |
| 309 | * Due to the wizarding world's insistence on TheMasquerade and letting the Muggles solve their own problems, what are the chances that an apocalyptic scenario would just as likely affect the wizarding world as much as the muggle world? |
| 310 | ** This is pointed out in ''The Half-Blood Prince''. They only inform the Muggle PM about what's going on, but not give him any advice on what to do or how to help, remember Voldemort and his followers are actively killing people, muggle and Magical alike, using werewolves and giants in the UK. The Magical Government doesn't actually do anything to help except to place Kingsley as a bodyguard, probably not to protect the Muggle PM, but to make sure he can't be subverted. Remember, 2 years before Rufus met the Muggle PM, they didn't consult him — just inform him that they were bringing 4 fully grown ''Dragons'' along with their egg clutches, including the incredibly dangerous Hungarian Horntail, to the UK. Mind you, the school system isn't much better, considering they willingly allow Acromatula to nest right next to the school grounds, only kept in check by the fact that their Patriarch cares for Hagrid. |
| 311 | * Wizards are implied to be rather longer-lived than muggles, even when they don't resort to artificial life-extending magic like the Sorcerer's/PhilosophersStone or [[SoulJar Horcruxes]]. Dumbledore was around 150 at death, Grindelwald was 115, and Voldemort was cut down in his (comparative) prime at ''71'' in spite of his attempts at immortality. What would life be like for wizards with muggle parents, [[MayflyDecemberFriendship friends]], or [[MayflyDecemberRomance spouses]], watching their loved ones age and die twice as quickly as themselves? Do squibs share wizards' longevity? If not, that could be an extra reason for magical parents to be saddened at the prospect of giving birth to a non-magical child. |
| 312 | * Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans include such [[SarcasmMode lovely]] types like vomit and earwax. If there really are no limits to what flavors can be included, is there [[{{Squick}} a semen-flavored bean]] out there? How about a human-flavored one? Or poop, tobacco, hard drugs, or lava? Especially worse once you consider these are very popular with ''children''. |
| 313 | * The Red Caps in the Harry Potter universe are mainly attracted by human blood. In some of the video games, they are enemies the characters fight and appear in some areas like the Lower Dungeons, Flitwick's Carpe Retractum challenge and the passage to the Shrieking Shack. This begs the question: did some students or even teachers die in these areas at Hogwarts? |
| 314 | * Snape only accepted students into N.E.W.T. Potions class if they got Outstanding on their O.W.L. If he taught Potions long enough, Wizarding Britain would eventually have a major shortage of Healers, Aurors, and anything else that requires a N.E.W.T. in Potions. Given the lifespan of wizards and the fact that he started teaching in his early twenties, he could have been doing it for several decades. |
| 315 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Fridge / HarryPotter
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
