History HarryPotter / TropesJToR

* ProbabilityPileup: ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'' revealed that Voldemort can store a snippet of his soul in an object (his teenage diary) and come back through it by his previously established ability to possess people. In the sixth book, ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfbloodPrince Halfblood Prince]]'', Dumbledore suspects that more of these objects exist and finds one (a ring). He and Harry peer through Voldemort's backstory and find that they are called Horcroxes and there are five more of them.

* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Though few of the places mentioned in the books are real, many are based on real places
in the British Isles (for example, Harry's home town of Little Whinging is a generic London commuter-belt suburb). However, [[http://members.madasafish.com/~cj_whitehound/Fanfic/Location_Location.htm one fan]] attempted to figure out the precise locations of some of the locations in the series:

* MonstersFavouritePettingSpot: ''The Monster Book of Monsters'' is a Care of Magical Creatures textbook that is actually a furry, sharp-toothed monster itself, and will try to bite the reader if s/he doesn't stroke its spine first.

** PlayedStraight among the three Black sisters. Andromeda is a WhiteSheep among their virulently racist family, and an ally to the Order of the Phoenix (Nice). Bellatrix is a violent, sadistic, fanatically loyal and deranged Death Eater who commits familicide against her own family if she perceives them as "blood traitors" (Mean). Narcissa is a racist, elitist distant supporter of the Death Eaters and she helped Lucius raise [[SpoiledBrat Draco]], but she's not as fanatical as Bellatrix, and love for her family comes first (Inbetween).
** The Peverell brothers linked to the Deathly Hallows' origins are portrayed this way in ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard''. Ignotus (Nice) lacked the other two's arrogance, never did anything obnoxious, and accepted his death as an old man while passing his Hallow which had enabled him to evade Death down to his son. Antioch (Mean) thought about nothing but power when tailoring his Hallow, and he went on to use it to murder a man in a bar brawl, then sealed his fate by arrogantly boasting of what he possessed. Cadmus (Inbetween) tailored his Hallow for two purposes: to humiliate Death even further than the brothers already had, and to resurrect his dead fiance; killing himself when he realized that his Hallow couldn't achieve the latter.

** In ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', when Harry has a vision of [[spoiler:Voldemort torturing Sirius at the Department of Mysteries]], he immediately runs off to go rescue him, prepared to deal with any Death Eater he comes across.

* {{Revenge}}: Subverted in ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' immediately after [[spoiler:Sirius Black is killed by Bellatrix Lestrange]]. [[spoiler:Harry is so overcome by grief that him, prepared to deal with any Death Eater he pursues Bellatrix and says he's going to kill her, and ''he even tries to use the Cruciatus Curse on her'']]. However, [[spoiler:the duel between them is interrupted by Lord Voldemort's arrival and Bellatrix's subsequent escape]].comes across.

** In ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', both Harry and Ron go after [[spoiler:Ginny Weasley]] when they learn that [[spoiler:she's been dragged off to the Chamber of Secrets]].
** In ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', when Harry has a vision of [[spoiler:Voldemort torturing Sirius at the Department of Mysteries]], he immediately runs off to go rescue him.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Subverted in ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' immediately after [[spoiler:Sirius Black is killed by Bellatrix Lestrange]]. [[spoiler:Harry is so overcome by grief that he pursues Bellatrix and says he's going to kill her, and ''he even tries to use the Cruciatus Curse on her'']]. However, [[spoiler:the duel between them is interrupted by Lord Voldemort's arrival and Bellatrix's subsequent escape]].

* NemesisWeapon: Harry's [[MagicWand wand]] is one of two which share cores from the same phoenix. Whereas his is made of holly, a wood well-suited to his dangerous life, its brother, which went to Voldemort, is made of yew, a supreme material for DarkMagic. The connection between the wands makes them almost unable to defeat each other, and every showdown between Harry and Voldemort using them ends in a draw. Voldemort catches on to this late in the series and starts looking for a more powerful wand.

* MagicAIsMagicA: Present, although not followed perfectly. Rules of magic that are directly stated tend to be followed at least the book it appears in, although there are some instances of perviously stated rules being contradicted in alter books. For an example of it being followed, it is repeatedly stated that it's impossible to teleport into or out of Hogwarts, which is true throughout the series. Even during an Apparition test it's explicitly noted that the room they're practicing in has temporarily had the blocking field suspended, so they shouldn't try it after the lesson's over. Whenever someone wants to teleport to Hogwarts, they're instead forced to teleport nearby and travel the rest of the way though another means.

* ReformationAcknowledgment: Dumbledore vouchs for Severus Snape, stating he reformed. Although at first some are very cautious about this claim and are later seemingly proved right, Dumbledore was ultimately [[TheMole proved right]] about Snape.

* MightyWhitey: Although allegorically speaking, Muggles and Muggleborns are people of colour, and Purebloods are white people, there is still a bit of this in Muggleborns joining a culture they haven't grown up in and besting the people who have grown up in that culture at magical subjects. Averted with Squibs (people whose parents are witches and wizards but cannot do magic themselves) who basically get the worst of both worlds, being unable to fully be a part of the magical world, but are always worse at Muggle things than Muggles due to a lack of exposure to it.

** It is worth noting that had Voldemort gotten his way, he would have been the direct cause of Wizardkind going extinct.

** Played Straight with Cormac Mc Laggen in ''Half-Blood Prince'', when Harry is appointed Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. He arrogantly believes in his own Quidditch abilities and belittles Ron Weasley, and he also bosses the other players around, even though he doesn't have the authority to do so.

** It's shown as a negative when Slytherin's quidditch team is given preferential treatment, such as when Mr. Malfoy buys them top tier brooms or Snape allows them to practice when the Gryffindor team has the field reserved. However, it's treated as a positive when McGonagall similarly bends the rules to allow Harry, as a first-year student, to own a broom, and similarly buys ''him'' a top tier broom.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Seeing as it takes place at a boarding school and all. Let's see: The protagonist PowerTrio, about a baker's dozen worth of significant classmates, the entire Potter and Weasley families, about a dozen teachers (two of which are hardly ever shown, admittedly), another dozen guys from the Ministry of Magic, and about half a dozen on the antagonist side. And that's just for starters. All told there [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harry_Potter_characters are over 200 named characters in the seven books]].
** In-universe, Dumbledore's Army, which contains pretty much every non-Slytherin student Harry knows.

** Bellatrix was 25 years younger than Voldemort and Eva was 23 years younger than Hitler. Bellatrix's maiden name was Black which is the name of a colour in Bellatrix's native language and Braun means brown in Eva's native language, which is also a colour.

** Bellatrix Lestrange's love and devotion to Voldemort is based on Unity Eva Braun who was married to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Rowling modelled the Black Family on the famous Mitford sisters:
** Bellatrix Lestrange's fanatical devotion to Voldemort is based on Unity Valkyrie Mitford who was obssessed with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and socialized in his circle in the 30s and was believed to have tried to attract the generally asexual Hitler, and was in Berlin when Hitler declared war on Britain, and was so broken that she tried to commit suicide, failed and sent back to England where she was committed to an asylum.
** Narcissa Malfoy is based on Diana Mitford who married Oswald Mosley of the British Union of Fascists (a marriage with Hitler and Goebbels as witnesses).
** Andromeda Tonks and Sirius Black are based on Jessica Mitford (one of Rowling's heroes), the family WhiteSheep who ran away from them to fight in the Spanish Civil War and became a lifelong leftist.

** Snape, a bitter, misanthropic, cynical bully, is one of the major sources of suffering for Harry and his friends for most of the book. He's hateful and antagonistic to nearly everyone, but especially to the children he teaches. Like the Malfoys, his one redeeming quality is that he ''is'' capable of loving someone other than himself, though this isn't demonstrated until ''very'' late in the series.
** Dolores Umbridge is installed as the government-sponsored professor (and later headmaster) in Book 5, and manages to maintain a ZeroPercentApprovalRating throughout her entire tenure through a combination of her shamelessly pushing govenrment propaganda, heavy-handedly usurping the authority of other professors, inflicting cruel punishments on students for the most minor infractions, creating a secret police force out of the worst students she can find, and doing all of it in the most obnoxious manner she can. It's noted that many readers reserve more hatred for her than even the main villains of the series.

** Harry himself, from day one. He is described in whispers as The Boy Who Lived, a nearly mythical person who is the only one to have ever survived a murder attempt by Voldemort and being somehow responsible for the loss of his power. All as a baby. Harry himself is deeply uncomfortable with this, as he was too young to even remember the event that made him famous.
* Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, believed to be the most powerful wizard to have ever lived. He's the only wizard that Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard of the age, has ever feared, and is responsible for defeating Voldemort's predecessor Gellert Grindlewald. The final book reveals that the truth is far more complicated than the legend purports, and Dumbledore himself is extremly humble because of it.

** Divination is treated ambigiously by the series. The only Divination experts we meet are Sybill Trelawney, who is all but stated to be an arrant fraud, and Firenze, one of the notoriously superstitious centaurs. They methods they use, such as tarot cards, tea leaves, and astrology, are ones that even muggles could use, and Dumbledore has considered axing the subject at Hogwart for good. On the other hand, Trelawney ''is'' a genuine seer -- though her powers are not under her control and come in short bursts -- and her predictions are generally accurate, even if her ability to interpret them correctly is woefully subpar. It's never made entirely clear whether it's a legitimate field of magic that is simply too imprecise to be practically useful, a hereditary skill that cannot be meaningfully taught or learned, or simply a bunch of dressed-up guesswork that may occasionally offer accidental insights.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: Dumbledore is often analogized to [[FranchiseStarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]] in terms of his appearance, demeanor, and role in Harry's life, so readers naturally expected this to come to pass. [[spoiler: Sure enough, this is exactly what happens the sixth book.]]

* MorallyBankruptBanker: The goblins at Gringotts, though they are portrayed less as evil and more as possessing a BlueAndOrangeMorality that makes them unpredictable. Their views on ownership make them highly possessive of goblin-made goods and generally have more regard for objects than people. Its also suggest that wizard distrust of goblins is rooted in them simultaneously viewing goblins as an inferior species and depending heavily on them for commerce and smithing, which has enough RealLife subtext to create the UnfortunateImplications that their portrayal is infamous for.

%%* {{Jerkass}}: Many characters are of the sour, unpleasant variety. Special mentions go to the Dursleys, the Malfoys, Snape, Cormac [=McClaggen=], Percy Weasley, '''Dolores Umbridge''', and sadly, James Potter (from what we see in his youth during Snape's flashback). Even Harry has his moments.

%%* LivingLegend: The Boy-Who-Lived. You-Know-Who/He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named/Voldemort. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

%%* MagicalSeventhSon: According to Creator/JKRowling, Ginny is the seventh child of a seventh child.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: From the books alone, Voldemort's curse on the role of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher may or may not actually ''be'' a magical curse (although [[WordOfGod Rowling]] confirmed a jinx on the position), and some of it is down to a self-fulfilling prophecy because of the very rumour that it is cursed (Gilderoy Lockhart was the only applicant for that role during Harry's second year). All of the teachers meet their end in very different circumstances, only one directly influenced by Voldemort.
** Quirrell turned out to be carrying Voldemort's spirit on the back of his head and died attempting to kill Harry.
** Lockhart was exposed as a fraud, not helped by the fact he was the only applicant, and had his memory erased by a damaged wand he was using.
** Lupin resigned when his lycanthropy was publicly exposed by Snape.
** Moody [[spoiler:was actually Barty Crouch Jr. impersonating him, and had his soul removed by a Dementor after he was exposed trying to personally kill Harry. The real Moody was only planning to stay for a year anyway, suggesting Dumbledore had given up trying to permanently fill the position and was trying to avoid anything terrible happening to Moody by [[ObviousRulePatch making sure he left at the end of the year]].]]
** Umbridge (imposed on the school by the Ministry of Magic after Dumbledore was unable to find anyone) pretty much turned the entire school against her and then insulted the wrong race of sentient beings, leading to a very undignified exodus.
** Snape [[spoiler:had to flee Hogwarts after killing Dumbledore, but also in order to protect Draco Malfoy]].
** Carrow [[spoiler:was a Death Eater and sent to Azkaban after being defeated in the Battle of Hogwarts]].

%%* MemoryWipingCrew: Obliviators, employed by the Ministry of Magic.

%%* MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:Sirius, Dumbledore, and Lupin. In that order.]]

%%* MindRape: Dementors are living embodiments of this, and it's why so many wizards are afraid of being sent to Azkaban, the wizard prison. This is also what will happen if you get on the wrong side of a Legilimens.

%%* MistakenForGranite: The guardian statue at the entrance to Dumbledore's study.

%%* MorallyBankruptBanker: The goblins at Gringotts

%%* MultipleDemographicAppeal: A major factor in the series' runaway success.

%%** Voldemort also had a few, due to having a great magical insurance policy for awhile.
%%* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: The horcruxes, which don't look unusual at all.

%%* PostVictoryCollapse: A lot.

** Magic generally interferes with electronics, to the extent that they don't in Hogwarts at all. Most {{Muggles}} have no idea magic exists, and wizards are largely disdainful or entirely ignorant of Muggle technology, to the extent that they often use far less convenient tools (like using quills and inkwells rather than pens). Interestingly, although wizards can do many things much more quickly and efficiently with magic, there are a few cases where the wizard method just ''sucks'' compared to the technology. For example wizards have nothing as effective as (albeit then-primitive) cell phones or Internet. They send letters by owl, which is better than the postal service, but nowhere near as good as an e-mail. The closest commonly-used thing they have to a phone is sticking your head in a magical fireplace, and although there are enchanted two-way mirrors that work like magical webcams they don't seem to be widely used, for some reason. On the other hand, there are implications, primarily in ''Order of the Phoenix'', that owls can be teleported for more secure communications. Why the letters themselves aren't just sent this way by default isn't clear.

* OutNumberedSibling: Ginny is the only girl in a family with seven children.