Harry Potter

Pretty much the flipside of what you brought up before, since most fic writers don’t want Harry Potter characters to get punked. Some cases straight up change how magic works for them.

Edited by Cross on Mar 16th 2023 at 7:25:12 AM

I do notice there's a lot of crossover fanfics where Harry is super OP as shit.

Almost as much as Voldemort gets punked in crossovers.

Hmm, to be fair, while HP magic is a little underpowered, I'd say LOTR magic is pretty subtle itself. Granted it's basically dying at that point of the story but it does kinda tend to go from one extreme to the other, holding back to avoid breaking everything but to the point you just kinda do parlor tricks. Or Muggle repellant fields.

LOTR magic is something that's outright divine in nature. It's not treated nearly as casually as magic in HP.

LOTR Vala and Maia could perform more spectacular magic if they choose so.But they do not because it will destroy Arda if used recklessly.

HP magic is fairly egalitarian. Assuming you're born a wizard, your innate magical power is the same as everyone else's. Voldemort and Dumbledore are more dangerous than your average wizard, but it's the same sort of difference that exists between experts and novices in any field.

While most fantasy settings will have a handful of really powerful magic users whose power puts them a league above everyone else, in Harry Potter everyone's operating at about the same Super Weight. Like, Bellatrix is one of Voldemort's most powerful lieutenants, but a sufficiently P Oed Molly Weasely can still get the better of them.

Really glad HP didn't go for something like power levels and that every wizard is born with the same level of magic and it's effort that sets apart Wizards.

Granted, DBZ made the power levels specifically so they could be proven wrong, but other writers and fans missed that part.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 11:20:37 PM

I'm going to adopt Dungeons and Dragons rules for this and make a decision on this sort of question as if I was storytelling:

Q: What would happen if Voldemort tried to turn the One Ring into his horocrux?

A: Voldemort and Sauron's essence in the ring would merge and he would essentially become possessed by it, rename himself Sauron II and try to destroy Sauron or seize his power for himself. It is oddly the one time Sauron might lose because the resulting creature would be identical to him and it would be impossible to say which is the real Sauron.

There was a great fanfic I enjoyed as a teen, called Seventh Horcrux, where Voldemort's horcux soul fragment in Harry's scar ends up making Harry think he's Voldemort/allowing Voldemort possessing him/merging their minds and making a new person.

It's funnier than it sounds.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 11:35:41 PM

I always liked it that you get hints that Voldemort was, for a while, on some level, terrified of Harry, because he didn't know why Harry was able to repel his curse, or what he was exactly. The memory of Tom Riddle that was linked to the diary pointed out the similarities between Harry and himself, even that they looked alike. I got the impression that he might have thought the universe created someone to counter him (which is the kind of thing someone with his kind of ego might imagine).

I always had the impression that Harry was powerful, but not refined because he didn't really have a keen interest in developing his powers unless he had to (he became good with attack and defense spells because he practiced a ton during...I think it was Goblet of Fire?).

I admit I liked the twist that Harry thinks he's got some Voldemort related powers and parseltongue because of their connection.

But, in fact, he has parseltongue because Salazar Slytherin lived a 1000 years ago and his descendants include Harry.

Er.... Where does it state that?

Harry indeed can only speak parseltongue because of the Voldemort Hocrux inside him.

And when it was destroyed, the book state that Harry lost that ability.

Thought it was was, which is why he doesn’t have the ability anymore?

He got it back in Cursed Child.

Well, that's stupid.

JK Rowling stands for Just Kidding Rowling for a reason amirite?

Yeah Harry lost the ability after Voldemort died for real.

But Harry and Voldemort are distantly related because both of them are descended from the third brother or something.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 11:59:47 PM

Yeah, but only the ones most directly descended from Salazar Slytherin were natural Parselmouths. The rest of the descendants lacked the ability.

It should be noted that while magic power in general is more about effort than birth, some specific abilities are inherited:

• Parselmouths

• Metamorphmagi

• Seers

Edited by M84 on Mar 17th 2023 at 12:02:55 AM

@ Charles.

Here's the bit that states Harry and Voldemort are distantly related to each other.

"J.K. Rowling spoke about Harry and Voldemort’s link at a Bloomsbury Live Chat in 2007, saying: ‘Yes, Harry and Voldemort are distantly related through the Peverells. Of course, nearly all wizarding families are related if you trace them back through the centuries. As was made clear in Deathly Hallows, Peverell blood would run through many wizarding families.’"

Harry isn't explicitly related to Salazar's bloodline though. But it's plausible considering how small the Wizarding World is and the Potters were Pureblood.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 17th 2023 at 12:03:23 AM

That doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense. What makes one line of kids more "directly descended" from someone than another?

Usually, that distinction is titular, not genetic. A direct descendant is from a family line acknowledged by the state (be that monarchic patriarchy, or modern marriage lines, etc), whereas a non-direct descendant is from a family line that was cast aside.

Though I guess in Voldemort's case, it could also just be code for "most inbred."

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:04:43 AM

The Gaunts were inbred.

Yes, that's why I brought it up.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:07:35 AM

Yeah I was confused at this bit as well.

Chalk it up to Rowling not thinking this through.

Shit, really makes you wonder about the intentional and unintentional inbreeding in the Wizarding World.

Hell, Harry and Ginny are also distantly related. Very distant cousins though.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 17th 2023 at 12:06:13 AM

Did Rowling specify that they're related by blood?

Cause I'm trying to figure out how in the world Harry and Voldemort could be related by blood (and not by marriage, presumably), but Voldemort can be related by blood to Slytherin while Harry isn't, and... I don't know if that works.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:08:22 AM

Well it is lore that a lot of the Pureblood families are related to each other. Presumably the Weasely family is also included in that list of families descended from the third brother.

As for Voldemort and Harry, she does specify that the third brother's blood runs through them, so both of them trace lineage from him.

EDIT: Yeah, I'm confused as well and this sort of thing isn't exactly in my expertise.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 17th 2023 at 12:10:31 AM

... okay, then.

In that case... it only works, I think, is if the third brother married into a family descended from Slytherin, and Voldemort is a descendant of that union while the other is a descendant of one of the other brothers. Or vice versa - if one of the other brothers married a Slytherin descendant and Voldemort descended from that, while Harry is descended from the third brother directly.

That's not what she said, but it's the only way it works.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:11:05 AM