Inconsistencies in Harry Potter...
Dec. 10th, 2003 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Somebody posted today, and got me thinking about this. The post was about the death penalty, actually, so how it adds up to Harry Potter, I don't know.
1. Why was Black ever convicted? Why didn't they just interrogate him, and the other accused, with veritaserum? If they hadn't developed it at that point, why wouldn't they have agreed to use it when Harry and Hermione insisted he was not guilty, just to appease them?
2. Similarly, why didn't they use it on Harry during his trial? Why have trials at all when you have a truth serum?
3. And just how many unregistered animagi are running around? If you had the magical power to become an animagi, wouldn't you get a better job than reporter or on the run? Are these students completely unsupervis... nevermind that one.
4. Why, exactly, do they have to hide from the muggles? They say it started when they were feared by nonmagical people... but those people never could hurt them, so why keep hiding? What's the point? And some muggles clearly do know about the wizards, for example, the parents of all those kids. Why aren't they considered a threat by the officials? How are they convinced?
5. Why didn't they tell Harry how to get on Platform 9 3/4 in the letter? They presumably told the muggleborn kids, why not him?
6. In book 3, we find out that Lupin is a werewolf, but mostly he seems human. But in book 2, we find out that Hagrid used to try to raise werewolf cubs. Huh? That sounds like werewolves are mostly wolves!
7. How, exactly, did Hagrid's parents, um, do it? She's a giant, he's small, what exactly did they do?
8. The decree of underage wizardry was passed hundreds of years ago... but Petunia remembers her sister coming home and practicing magic as her homework. Snape remembers zapping flies off the ceiling as a teenager.... what gives?
9. And with all their power, etc, can't the ministry tell the difference between HARRY practicing magic and a HOUSE-ELF practicing magic?
10. Harry (and presumably everyone else) can do some magic without even thinking, like making glass disappear... but we're told that even saying an incantation slightly wrong can completely mess it up. So, is it the correct actions or the correct intent?
This is by no means an exhaustive list. I don't even expect answers, really, as all authors make mistakes. They're just things that have occured to me.
Edit: Here is a reply from Lizziey.
1. Why was Black ever convicted? Why didn't they just interrogate him, and the other accused, with veritaserum? If they hadn't developed it at that point, why wouldn't they have agreed to use it when Harry and Hermione insisted he was not guilty, just to appease them?
2. Similarly, why didn't they use it on Harry during his trial? Why have trials at all when you have a truth serum?
3. And just how many unregistered animagi are running around? If you had the magical power to become an animagi, wouldn't you get a better job than reporter or on the run? Are these students completely unsupervis... nevermind that one.
4. Why, exactly, do they have to hide from the muggles? They say it started when they were feared by nonmagical people... but those people never could hurt them, so why keep hiding? What's the point? And some muggles clearly do know about the wizards, for example, the parents of all those kids. Why aren't they considered a threat by the officials? How are they convinced?
5. Why didn't they tell Harry how to get on Platform 9 3/4 in the letter? They presumably told the muggleborn kids, why not him?
6. In book 3, we find out that Lupin is a werewolf, but mostly he seems human. But in book 2, we find out that Hagrid used to try to raise werewolf cubs. Huh? That sounds like werewolves are mostly wolves!
7. How, exactly, did Hagrid's parents, um, do it? She's a giant, he's small, what exactly did they do?
8. The decree of underage wizardry was passed hundreds of years ago... but Petunia remembers her sister coming home and practicing magic as her homework. Snape remembers zapping flies off the ceiling as a teenager.... what gives?
9. And with all their power, etc, can't the ministry tell the difference between HARRY practicing magic and a HOUSE-ELF practicing magic?
10. Harry (and presumably everyone else) can do some magic without even thinking, like making glass disappear... but we're told that even saying an incantation slightly wrong can completely mess it up. So, is it the correct actions or the correct intent?
This is by no means an exhaustive list. I don't even expect answers, really, as all authors make mistakes. They're just things that have occured to me.
Edit: Here is a reply from Lizziey.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
This is Pidge, I just couldn't resist, sorry
Date: 2003-12-10 09:52 pm (UTC)2. Because using the veritaserum would have proved that Dumbledore was right.. Something Cornelius Fudge didn't want. He and most of the other wizard world were happily living in ignorance with the Dark Load rising to power again, and he really didn't care. Things were easier for him that way.
3. I dunno. It sounds like Rita makes a damn fortune from the drivel she writes about, and it's less dangerous then being a spy and getting paid for that.
6. I'm sure Riddle's comment about the werwolves wasn't too true. I mean, hagrid was a dirty halfblood, and a scapegoat for him, why would he tell the truth to Harry about him?
7. =O No comment.
9. I don't think so, really. They don't keep Squibs like Figg registered, so I doubt they'd keep tabs on a house-elf. It was probably either "oh, the Potter house" or something like that.
10. I wondered about that too. Mostly because of that one part in the Order of the Phoenix where the Death Eater casts a spell on Hermione yet he can't speak. Maybe it's the correct lip and wand movements, since Hermione has chastized them before saying the spell wasn't working because they were swishing it right.
Re: This is Pidge, I just couldn't resist, sorry
Date: 2003-12-11 06:37 am (UTC)But there's apparently a difference of sorts between elf and human magic... can't they just look for human magic?