Questions that have popped into my mind
Aug. 20th, 2006 01:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
1. In Harry Potter, do the Wizards have a Deaf community? Would their spells be completely different, or would they have to simply adapt to saying things aloud that they couldn't hear? Would they sign "broom for sweeping" differently for "broom for flying" just because? Because, I mean, I totally would.
2. In keeping with that, do very different areas (Asia, Australia, the Americas) separate from Europe have entirely different spells? Maybe spells that only translate partially, not entirely? Like, Summoning Spells in England bring things right to you, but maybe Summoning Spells in Ethiopia drop them five feet away on the ground, and maybe in Japan they hover above your head....
3. How do we know wandless magic is really rare/impossible? It seems logical that wizards had to, at one point, invent wands - and to do that, they must have already had some form of controlled, wandless magic. Perhaps it's simply a lost or mostly-lost art, rather like flint knapping. (I know people have gone through this before, but the question appeared to me now, so now I type it up)
4. Why is that spelled knapping?
5. Why would one want to tickle a sleeping dragon? That seems especially foolhardy and pointless.
6. Why are both Weasley parents redheads? I know there's a high level of inbreeding going on with Purebloods, but still! It doesn't seem to me that we've seen any other redheads in the series....
7. Is it just me, or are Wizards an awful lot like Borrowers, taking things from the rest of the world and then thinking they came up with them themselves?
8. Why is the scoring in Quidditch so messed up? I know JKR sucks at math(s), but this is absurd!
9. What if every book, every story, every stupid fanfic (even the really bad ones) were true in an alternate universe? Is this a scary thought or a fun one?
10. Is Hermione's method of completely and totally assimilating into Wizarding society, to the point where she seems to hardly ever see her parents (much less ever tell them anything about her life) normal? Or do other kids usually have more resistance?
11. Tell me again why Wizards, with their portkeys and floo system and apparation, don't have primary schools...? They really ought to get on that.
12. Tell me again why Hogwarts has no facilities for the mundane aspects of education, like "how to write" and "literature" and "basic mathematics"? Or even "foreign languages"? Most jobs in the Wizarding world seem to be identical to their Muggle counterparts, except that the people involved can use magic. How did Rita Skeeter even learn to write articles? It certainly wasn't at Hogwarts - and I can't imagine entering any form of journalism course with only the education in that respect attained by age eleven (with a few intervening years of practical experience but no direct instruction).
13. How many Squibs, would you say, are killed by their well-meaning (or not) parents? Much like real-life changelings of old, they can't be a desired outcome by most.
14. Why are the Squibs we know so tied to the Wizarding world? If I were a Squib, and I were otherwise me, I'd want to get as far away from the Wizarding world as possible, straight into the culture where my lack of magic was normal, not disabling and pitiful. How self-loathing does Filch have to be to voluntarily spend so much time in a school full of children who hate him and who can do things he can't?
15. Why do Wizards respect current (Muggle) national boundaries? When the Statute of Secrecy was signed, the political map was entirely different! Why are American Wizards not English instead? Or, why did they divide the same way? Maybe, while Muggles were having the Civil War in the US and the North won, Wizards had a similar war and the nation was divided into little bits, each state or region being independent unto itself. Now, that would make for some interesting fics.
2. In keeping with that, do very different areas (Asia, Australia, the Americas) separate from Europe have entirely different spells? Maybe spells that only translate partially, not entirely? Like, Summoning Spells in England bring things right to you, but maybe Summoning Spells in Ethiopia drop them five feet away on the ground, and maybe in Japan they hover above your head....
3. How do we know wandless magic is really rare/impossible? It seems logical that wizards had to, at one point, invent wands - and to do that, they must have already had some form of controlled, wandless magic. Perhaps it's simply a lost or mostly-lost art, rather like flint knapping. (I know people have gone through this before, but the question appeared to me now, so now I type it up)
4. Why is that spelled knapping?
5. Why would one want to tickle a sleeping dragon? That seems especially foolhardy and pointless.
6. Why are both Weasley parents redheads? I know there's a high level of inbreeding going on with Purebloods, but still! It doesn't seem to me that we've seen any other redheads in the series....
7. Is it just me, or are Wizards an awful lot like Borrowers, taking things from the rest of the world and then thinking they came up with them themselves?
8. Why is the scoring in Quidditch so messed up? I know JKR sucks at math(s), but this is absurd!
9. What if every book, every story, every stupid fanfic (even the really bad ones) were true in an alternate universe? Is this a scary thought or a fun one?
10. Is Hermione's method of completely and totally assimilating into Wizarding society, to the point where she seems to hardly ever see her parents (much less ever tell them anything about her life) normal? Or do other kids usually have more resistance?
11. Tell me again why Wizards, with their portkeys and floo system and apparation, don't have primary schools...? They really ought to get on that.
12. Tell me again why Hogwarts has no facilities for the mundane aspects of education, like "how to write" and "literature" and "basic mathematics"? Or even "foreign languages"? Most jobs in the Wizarding world seem to be identical to their Muggle counterparts, except that the people involved can use magic. How did Rita Skeeter even learn to write articles? It certainly wasn't at Hogwarts - and I can't imagine entering any form of journalism course with only the education in that respect attained by age eleven (with a few intervening years of practical experience but no direct instruction).
13. How many Squibs, would you say, are killed by their well-meaning (or not) parents? Much like real-life changelings of old, they can't be a desired outcome by most.
14. Why are the Squibs we know so tied to the Wizarding world? If I were a Squib, and I were otherwise me, I'd want to get as far away from the Wizarding world as possible, straight into the culture where my lack of magic was normal, not disabling and pitiful. How self-loathing does Filch have to be to voluntarily spend so much time in a school full of children who hate him and who can do things he can't?
15. Why do Wizards respect current (Muggle) national boundaries? When the Statute of Secrecy was signed, the political map was entirely different! Why are American Wizards not English instead? Or, why did they divide the same way? Maybe, while Muggles were having the Civil War in the US and the North won, Wizards had a similar war and the nation was divided into little bits, each state or region being independent unto itself. Now, that would make for some interesting fics.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 07:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 03:41 pm (UTC)I don't think we know what most of the kids look like, except for Harry, the Weasleys, Draco, and Dean (btw, I don't know if you're one of the people who gets up in arms over the fact that the American Sorceror's Stone says he's black and the British Philosopher's Stone doesn't, but apparently that was a very late change to the British edition after the American edition had already been submitted to Scholastic—just read an interview the other day, yes I have too much time on my hands sometime). I guess we can assume Cho is Chinese and the Patil twins are Indian, but I don't think most of the kids are ever described.
I thought that JK Rowling said in an interview that some kids attend the village/town/city primary schools where they live.
I always assumed the political boundaries are related to the fact that there's a relationship between the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister (etc.).
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:02 pm (UTC)2. You mean the equivalent of those spells? Like, an Ethiopian wizard who Summons something using his own spell is expecting it to plop on down five feet away?
14. Maybe it's because they don't know anything else? To go and live in the Muggle world, there's a whole lot of things to suddenly learn and understand, and from waht I can remember, most wizards are confused and a little put off by allthese strange things. A Squib would have to 'move into' the Muggle world early on, or be lucky with parents that like Muggle technology (and know how to use it.).
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:34 pm (UTC)If Wizarding children attend muggle schools, and this has been happening for years, why on earth are Wizards so very, very ignorant about muggle culture? Doesn't compute - so I chalk it up to JKR not thinking things through. She writes a good story, but she doesn't always put the pieces where they seem to logically fit.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 06:22 pm (UTC)But these are the same people that are mystified by telephones. It's the logical answer, but it's a lot harder in reality, with all these people and stuff.
The HP world is as messed up as the Pokemon one. v_v
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 09:36 pm (UTC)And now you've got me doing it too.
1. Maybe there's a magical treatment for deafness? Or a magical hearing aid that interprets sounds and transmits them directly to the brain?
2. If spells don't require English (and to my recollection, they don't; the magic words are generally latinish) there might be a universal magical language, or maybe a couple of dialects thereof. Or maybe the intent of the spellcaster controls the spell, and the words are merely the focus.
3. My guess: wandless magic was pretty weak. Someone figured out how to enhance magic with a wand, then the magic got better and the wands got better over time. Or maybe not. Maybe somebody stumbled across magic while performing some religious ritual; ritual magic becomes real magic with an immediate, demonstrable effect when they start using a staff or a phoenix feather or some such thing. I often wonder how somebody figured out how to make bread for the first time; it doesn't seem intuitive to me.
4. Knapping, knife, knight, knapsack, knave, kneel, knock, knell, knickers, knob, knowledge, knuckle, knot ... I haven't got a freakin' clue where the silent initial "k" comes from.
5. Suicidal? Or maybe to impress the other guys with your foolish bravado?
6. I assume there are a fair number of red-headed wizards and witches out there, maybe showing up in crowd scenes and such, who just weren't identified as such in any of Rowling's descriptions.
7. It's not just you.
8. I never noticed the scoring was messed up. I thought the point of the game was "whoever captures the snitch wins" unless their team played so badly that they were outscored by at least sixteen goals. What am I missing here?
9. Really, really, really scary. Also pretty gruesome.
10. It's probably normal for Hermione. I don't think it would be normal for me.
11. Huh. Good question. No clue.
12. Yeah. Good point. Got me there.
13. Oh. Never thought of that. It probably happens, doesn't it? That's a really gruesome thought, but given the attitudes of the Malfoys of the Wizarding world, I can really see it. It wouldn't be any different from the sick, twisted breeders of this world putting their children to death for one perceived imperfection or another.
14. I imagine that Squibs grow up with the attitude that the Wizarding world is the place to be and the Muggle world, and Muggles generally, are inferior and undesirable. Perhaps to many Squibs, they'd prefer the superiority-by-association of being a second-class citizen of the Wizarding world to being lumped in with the Muggles. Plus, the Squibs grow up in the Wizarding world, and learn to deal with their handicap ... so it's the world they know, while the Muggle world is strange and scary. I've noticed a fair number of people in the real world who are pretty miserable with the lives they lead, and could change their lives, but either don't see they can change or perceive the change as too difficult or scary to take the step.
15. We've seen the Wizarding world maintains contacts with the highest levels of Muggle government, although they rarely are used. There may be formal (if secret) agreements between the wizarding world and the Muggle world for the Wizards to respect Muggle political boundaries in their dealings with Muggles -- although clearly, Wizards ignore them when it comes to matters like customs and immigration. There may be practical reasons for the Wizards to adopt the language, culture and customs (or fair analogs, anyway) to the Muggle world where they live. A lot of Wizards spend a fair amount of time venturing out among them, it seems, even if it just means walking Muggle streets between Wizarding destinations.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 09:49 pm (UTC)The fact that, with the scoring as it is, everybody on the team other than the beaters and the seeker are largely irrelevant. They ought to score it so that catching the snitch gains you less than 150 points. Perhaps only 50 points.
And maybe structure the game in parts - three parts, three chances to catch the snitch per game.
Heck, they could even have multiple snitches at a time with different point values, or more goals (again, with different point values depending on how hard it is to get the ball in the goal).
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 10:05 pm (UTC)But if I did, I'd be all over this one in a heartbeat.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-22 12:06 am (UTC)And I am guessing deaf wizards use the silent magic hearing-abled wizards are taught.
For school, I always assumed the kids went to muggle schools, because harry did, but there is that whole "they know little about the muggle world" thing, so I don't know.
Shall we just wait and see what happens when they come up with spells to detect magical-ability in uetro? Will abortion make an appearence? :/
no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 02:28 am (UTC)12. Seems to me that there must be a vast difference in how basic, intermediate, and advanced non-magical subjects are taught. Basic reading/writing/math are probably taught via homeschooling or tutors or whatnot before the kids are old enough to go to Hogwarts. Intermediate writing may not be officially taught at Hogwarts, but the school assigns plenty of reading and essays - probably no fewer than a Muggle high school. They probably correct grammar and spelling as necessary; I didn't have any classes on grammar and spelling after 6th grade, and the schools I went to spent msot of the class time in English classes discussing literature, so other than discussion of proper essay and report format, I doubt I got any more formal writing education than the kids at Hogwarts do. I will note that once I got to college I discovered just how incomplete my high school English education was - they taught me how to write literary criticism, but I was totally unprepared for technical papers, art history papers, research papers, etc.
For Mathematics, there's Arithmancy. I suspect that whatever need for high-school-level mathematics wizards have is covered by Arithmancy. Potions would teach the proper care of hazardous materials, how to measure things, and whatnot - the stuff one gets out of a high school chemistry class. There's a history class, physics is largely irrelevant... not much that's taught at high school is really missing.
The real mystery is what kind of college-level education wizards get. Perhaps the wizarding world subscribes to the model where if the job has requirements beyond the high school level, there's some kind of apprenticeship period?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 07:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 03:41 pm (UTC)I don't think we know what most of the kids look like, except for Harry, the Weasleys, Draco, and Dean (btw, I don't know if you're one of the people who gets up in arms over the fact that the American Sorceror's Stone says he's black and the British Philosopher's Stone doesn't, but apparently that was a very late change to the British edition after the American edition had already been submitted to Scholastic—just read an interview the other day, yes I have too much time on my hands sometime). I guess we can assume Cho is Chinese and the Patil twins are Indian, but I don't think most of the kids are ever described.
I thought that JK Rowling said in an interview that some kids attend the village/town/city primary schools where they live.
I always assumed the political boundaries are related to the fact that there's a relationship between the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister (etc.).
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:02 pm (UTC)2. You mean the equivalent of those spells? Like, an Ethiopian wizard who Summons something using his own spell is expecting it to plop on down five feet away?
14. Maybe it's because they don't know anything else? To go and live in the Muggle world, there's a whole lot of things to suddenly learn and understand, and from waht I can remember, most wizards are confused and a little put off by allthese strange things. A Squib would have to 'move into' the Muggle world early on, or be lucky with parents that like Muggle technology (and know how to use it.).
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 05:34 pm (UTC)If Wizarding children attend muggle schools, and this has been happening for years, why on earth are Wizards so very, very ignorant about muggle culture? Doesn't compute - so I chalk it up to JKR not thinking things through. She writes a good story, but she doesn't always put the pieces where they seem to logically fit.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 06:22 pm (UTC)But these are the same people that are mystified by telephones. It's the logical answer, but it's a lot harder in reality, with all these people and stuff.
The HP world is as messed up as the Pokemon one. v_v
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 09:36 pm (UTC)And now you've got me doing it too.
1. Maybe there's a magical treatment for deafness? Or a magical hearing aid that interprets sounds and transmits them directly to the brain?
2. If spells don't require English (and to my recollection, they don't; the magic words are generally latinish) there might be a universal magical language, or maybe a couple of dialects thereof. Or maybe the intent of the spellcaster controls the spell, and the words are merely the focus.
3. My guess: wandless magic was pretty weak. Someone figured out how to enhance magic with a wand, then the magic got better and the wands got better over time. Or maybe not. Maybe somebody stumbled across magic while performing some religious ritual; ritual magic becomes real magic with an immediate, demonstrable effect when they start using a staff or a phoenix feather or some such thing. I often wonder how somebody figured out how to make bread for the first time; it doesn't seem intuitive to me.
4. Knapping, knife, knight, knapsack, knave, kneel, knock, knell, knickers, knob, knowledge, knuckle, knot ... I haven't got a freakin' clue where the silent initial "k" comes from.
5. Suicidal? Or maybe to impress the other guys with your foolish bravado?
6. I assume there are a fair number of red-headed wizards and witches out there, maybe showing up in crowd scenes and such, who just weren't identified as such in any of Rowling's descriptions.
7. It's not just you.
8. I never noticed the scoring was messed up. I thought the point of the game was "whoever captures the snitch wins" unless their team played so badly that they were outscored by at least sixteen goals. What am I missing here?
9. Really, really, really scary. Also pretty gruesome.
10. It's probably normal for Hermione. I don't think it would be normal for me.
11. Huh. Good question. No clue.
12. Yeah. Good point. Got me there.
13. Oh. Never thought of that. It probably happens, doesn't it? That's a really gruesome thought, but given the attitudes of the Malfoys of the Wizarding world, I can really see it. It wouldn't be any different from the sick, twisted breeders of this world putting their children to death for one perceived imperfection or another.
14. I imagine that Squibs grow up with the attitude that the Wizarding world is the place to be and the Muggle world, and Muggles generally, are inferior and undesirable. Perhaps to many Squibs, they'd prefer the superiority-by-association of being a second-class citizen of the Wizarding world to being lumped in with the Muggles. Plus, the Squibs grow up in the Wizarding world, and learn to deal with their handicap ... so it's the world they know, while the Muggle world is strange and scary. I've noticed a fair number of people in the real world who are pretty miserable with the lives they lead, and could change their lives, but either don't see they can change or perceive the change as too difficult or scary to take the step.
15. We've seen the Wizarding world maintains contacts with the highest levels of Muggle government, although they rarely are used. There may be formal (if secret) agreements between the wizarding world and the Muggle world for the Wizards to respect Muggle political boundaries in their dealings with Muggles -- although clearly, Wizards ignore them when it comes to matters like customs and immigration. There may be practical reasons for the Wizards to adopt the language, culture and customs (or fair analogs, anyway) to the Muggle world where they live. A lot of Wizards spend a fair amount of time venturing out among them, it seems, even if it just means walking Muggle streets between Wizarding destinations.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 09:49 pm (UTC)The fact that, with the scoring as it is, everybody on the team other than the beaters and the seeker are largely irrelevant. They ought to score it so that catching the snitch gains you less than 150 points. Perhaps only 50 points.
And maybe structure the game in parts - three parts, three chances to catch the snitch per game.
Heck, they could even have multiple snitches at a time with different point values, or more goals (again, with different point values depending on how hard it is to get the ball in the goal).
no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 10:05 pm (UTC)But if I did, I'd be all over this one in a heartbeat.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-22 12:06 am (UTC)And I am guessing deaf wizards use the silent magic hearing-abled wizards are taught.
For school, I always assumed the kids went to muggle schools, because harry did, but there is that whole "they know little about the muggle world" thing, so I don't know.
Shall we just wait and see what happens when they come up with spells to detect magical-ability in uetro? Will abortion make an appearence? :/
no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 02:28 am (UTC)12. Seems to me that there must be a vast difference in how basic, intermediate, and advanced non-magical subjects are taught. Basic reading/writing/math are probably taught via homeschooling or tutors or whatnot before the kids are old enough to go to Hogwarts. Intermediate writing may not be officially taught at Hogwarts, but the school assigns plenty of reading and essays - probably no fewer than a Muggle high school. They probably correct grammar and spelling as necessary; I didn't have any classes on grammar and spelling after 6th grade, and the schools I went to spent msot of the class time in English classes discussing literature, so other than discussion of proper essay and report format, I doubt I got any more formal writing education than the kids at Hogwarts do. I will note that once I got to college I discovered just how incomplete my high school English education was - they taught me how to write literary criticism, but I was totally unprepared for technical papers, art history papers, research papers, etc.
For Mathematics, there's Arithmancy. I suspect that whatever need for high-school-level mathematics wizards have is covered by Arithmancy. Potions would teach the proper care of hazardous materials, how to measure things, and whatnot - the stuff one gets out of a high school chemistry class. There's a history class, physics is largely irrelevant... not much that's taught at high school is really missing.
The real mystery is what kind of college-level education wizards get. Perhaps the wizarding world subscribes to the model where if the job has requirements beyond the high school level, there's some kind of apprenticeship period?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 08:24 pm (UTC)