A general thread for discussion of the Harry Potter books. Any new books set in the same world are also on-topic.
Games, films and other adaptations may be more appropriate for other threads if they're being discussed in isolation.
The HBO tv series has its own thread
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Mod Notes:
- Media threads are primarily for fans of the works they cover. Not everyone will like everything, of course, and that's especially true in a franchise like Harry Potter. It's fine to say a particular story within the franchise doesn't work for you, or to talk about why it doesn't work for you. But please try not to dwell on the negativity for too long. Complaints shouldn't take up too much space on a thread that's intended for fans.
- This is a thread to talk about Harry Potter and the content of the stories, not a place to talk about J. K. Rowling's more controversial views. If there's something newsworthy where Rowling's activities become relevant (e.g. it affects her relationship to new Potter works and adaptations), that's fair enough. Otherwise it's all been said already and we don't need to repeat it.
there doesn't seem to be a general HP topic...
Edited by Mrph1 on May 27th 2025 at 9:17:24 AM
wut
You mean, that's not an indicator of how powerful a wizard he is?
Dude... Dark creature's aren't just things like Grindylows. They're things like Dementors and Lethifold.
Also, where are we ever given any indication Hogwart's walls are made of anything but regular stone?
There are too many toasters in my chimney!Obfuscating Stupidity, my friend.
And Quirrel met Voldemort while studying abroad. The guy was most certainly qualified.
It's not over. Not yet.Or use a broomstick to fly over the chessboard.
edited 10th Feb '11 5:09:50 AM by Medicus
It's not over. Not yet.Or Fawkes just teleported him in.
I'm surprised that never came up anywhere else. "Hey Fawkes, we need to go into Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts vault, can you help us?"
edited 10th Feb '11 5:28:07 AM by Medicus
It's not over. Not yet.The question is, can you transfigure the doors along the third-floor corridor? If we logically assume that the castle is permeated by old magic from the Founders, then I'd expect the doors to be transfiguration proof because they're going to be ripe for prank material.
Refute me if I'm wrong; i.e. there's an actual case of someone transfiguring a Hogwarts door in the actual books.
^ That's a valid point. Fawkes would teleport anyone he trusts after some great coaxing, methinks.
Wait, I just remembered something that makes my entire argument moot: Augustus Rookwood brought the ceiling down in the Battle of Hogwarts, killing Fred. My bad, then.
Also Cygan, Confringo is the spell name for the Blasting Curse; it's not an incendiary spell.
EDIT 2: Rookwood was able to bring the ceiling down after the wards had been breached. It's probably still safe to assume that you can't blast your way through Hogwarts while the wards are still up.
edited 10th Feb '11 5:36:21 AM by MiyaKousaka
nishishishi~ Nii-nii no baka... .__.Which works by rapidly superheating an object. Ergo, fire.
Also: It was never specifically stated what the wards did, but they always seemed to be more anti invasion than defensive.
edited 10th Feb '11 5:53:57 AM by CyganAngel
There are too many toasters in my chimney!^ Silly me, how could I have forgone something so obvious in physics, derp.
As to the wards, I'd always thought that "anyone with malicious intent on the castle or any of its inhabitants" was what they were countering.
Except for the dubious DADA professors, since they were already inside and didn't bother with trying to blow objects/doors/walls up
edited 10th Feb '11 5:57:56 AM by MiyaKousaka
nishishishi~ Nii-nii no baka... .__.Dumbledore wanted the other professors to feel important; Leadership!
As for ancient magic...I guess it's just one of those gropes leftover from Older Than Steam.
- In story...inbreeding? All those highly destructive magical wars
and ethnic cleansingmagical species control campaigns. - Or maybe the Romans were that good.
- Makes me wonder, does the politics and nationality of the Wizarding World always match up with the Muffle World?
- Is there still The Roman Empire? Or The Roman Republic?
- Makes me wonder, does the politics and nationality of the Wizarding World always match up with the Muffle World?
edited 10th Feb '11 6:43:41 AM by DrRockopolis
[[tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=12919183980B30760200 Liveblog of]] John Carter Of Mars
In my fanfiction, I have it mentioned off-hand that the United States is actually 49 states according to Wizards, because native Hawaiian magic is a very, very bad thing to get on the wrong side of. Therefore, according to wizards, Hawai'i is its own nation that chills out with America.
It also gives the US cred in terms of Arithmancy: it started as 13 colonies, very unlucky, but ended up as 49 - 7x7, as good as it gets. Therefore, the US has a reputation for being very lucky.
... I did overthink this, yes, why do you ask?
Probably one of the things that made the Hogwarts founders so renowned is their ability to have created a building that had so much enduring, protective magic built into it. (BTW the Room of Requirement lives.)
Also, the other guards on the Philosopher's Stone, besides the Mirror, weren't exactly meant to kill the intruder, but to slow them down, so that by the time the Headmaster receives an alert (he got an alert, right?) the intruder is still in the Chess Room and desperately summoning all their strategic know-how short of "How fast can I run?" (I speak as someone who has only ever won one chess game in her life, and that against a five-year-old with ADD.)
Plus, until you know Fluffy's weakness, he's a good guard dog.
No, it's pretty clear that the obstacles were designed for Harry, Ron and Hermione to get through. All of them play to their strengths. It was all a set up by Dumbledore to reinforce to Harry The Power of Friendship. As fiction, it works remarkably well. In reality, like pretty much everything else in Harry Potter, it fails logic forever.
I like to think the US is the de facto world superpower in the magical world as well as the muggle world. It has one of the largest magical populations in the world, swelled by Europeans fleeing persecution and war. I wonder how many made the exodus to the US and former White Dominions during Voldemort's first reign of terror...
It's not over. Not yet.

New to the thread. Just realized something about the first book; if Albus really wanted to keep Tom away from the Stone, then the traps would be like this:
- Rubeus Hagrid - Can't do anything about Fluffy's weakness.
- Pomona Sprout - Devil's Snare, however, the room contains Muggle explosives. If someone casts Incendio, they explode. Lumos isn't powerful enough to drive Devil's Snare away.
- Filius Flitwick - All the flying keys are unsummonable and the right key is imbibed with both the Geminio and Flagrante curses (the curses on the objects in the Lestrange vault).
- Minerva Mc Gonagall - When you win the game of chess via checkmate, all your pieces turn on you.
- Quirinus Quirell - discount this; after all, he is the one trying to steal the stone.
- Severus Snape - Fill each and every potion bottle with poison, making the flame wall impassable to anyone except him or Albus.
- Albus Dumbledore - Leave the mirror as is.
nishishishi~ Nii-nii no baka... .__.