I suddenly have the urge to do an analysis of what worked and didn’t work with Harry Potter story- and worldbuilding- wise, since most of the discussions I’ve seen about it focus on the author’s bigotry or just don’t delve very deeply

It would take forever to exhaust everything I could say about Harry Potter, but I’m thinking about the specific kind of shallowness to the worldbuilding that leads it to not question or explore itself at all. These books are so vivid and creative about exploring the “what” of the world and so limited about exploring the “why” and “how.”

In really, really good fantasy, the worldbuilding creates implications that drive the story. Fantasy is about exploring a reality different from our own, and really good examples of the genre get the story-driving conflicts in them from the questions that different reality raises. One of the major ways Harry Potter is flawed, imo, is that in many ways, the main story doesn’t come from the questions the worldbuilding brings up. The story the main plot tells actually actively avoids the questions the world is bringing up.

The reason Dolores Umbridge is a far better villain than Voldemort transcends the fact that she’s just...well, more memorable, and rage inducing. She’s also a lot more relevant to the implications of the world.

Harry Potter starts off pretty strong actually. You have a world where magic is real and there are wizards, but they live in hiding. “What if someone who grew up not knowing this suddenly found out they were a wizard” is a question that sort of world makes you ask. That’s part of why the story is compelling.

But later on the books basically barge on through all of the world’s implications with the delicacy of a combine harvester. The Statute of Secrecy is such a huge part of the main concept—but we only get a vague, hand-wavey explanation for why it exists. Voldemort’s villainous agenda centers on his prejudice toward Muggles and non-purebloods—but the books largely validate the negative view of Muggles; after all, being a wizard is what makes you special. Much of the day to day petty conflict that drives the books has a lot to do with the house system—but its legitimacy as a way of judging character is never questioned. There are potions that can make someone fall in love with you or force them to tell the truth—but we’re not going to talk about the ethics of this? The plot’s conflicts repeatedly return to the pattern of Harry being under the power of authority figures who abuse him—but the people and systems that let those people abuse him are never questioned either??

This tendency eventually turns the Harry Potter world into a fridge horror factory, as a lot of the everyday accepted realities of the wizarding world are actually horrifying and completely insane, and I’m actually convinced that this is part of why Harry Potter’s worldbuilding feels so authentic. The Dementors being used by the corrupt Ministry of Magic to condemn people to a fate worse than death, the fact that slavery exists and no one talks about it, the apparently constant and widespread use of memory-altering to maintain the Statute of Secrecy—

—these things aren’t as glaringly obvious as they should be because they’re perfectly in line with the fact that the real world is filled with things that are horrifying if you look twice at them—the many forms of abuse that are normalized, the institutional violence of the prison system, the gigantic problems we have, culturally, with consent. Let’s be real, a lot of the abusive authority figures in Harry Potter are so effective because people actually behave that way and abuse is actually excused that way. The wizarding world is just like our world—corrupt, unfair, just fucked to the core, but if you have certain privileges you might not quite notice.

The problem is that this isn’t an astute and intentional feature of the worldbuilding; that is, the story doesn’t seem to notice a lot of the fridge horror things are fucked up either, which is where it falls flat.

Returning to the main point about the plot, though—Voldemort is a pretty forgettable villain. I’m honestly struggling to remember much about his motivations, but I don’t get the sense that the world of Harry Potter created Voldemort; he’s the big demonstration of Harry Potter’s lack of self awareness because he doesn’t really emerge from any of the questions the world makes you ask.

Voldemort’s quest for immortality is a big part of him, and the exploration of death connects with the Deathly Hallows, but the Hallows always came completely out of left field as a piece of worldbuilding for me. Voldemort’s quest to conquer death is shown throughout as being pursued through deeply unnatural and evil means, but in the broader context of the worldbuilding, there’s no...reason for that to necessarily be the case. Harry Potter is not exploring an implication of the quest for immortality, it’s just making it so that in-story, you have to do it in a horrible and evil way, which is ass-backwards in terms of making a compelling villain.

But the real problem with Voldemort is that the world of Harry Potter extensively shows institutional corruption, but then the villain is a guy who wants to upend the status quo, and the heroes protect and defend the status quo. (Also, the theme that abusers are often ‘respectable’ people that others will defend keeps coming up, but the main villain is described as having a face like a skull with like...demon snake eyes.)

I hope you don't mind me derailing this a bit, but it's so frustrating to me that Dumbledore is genuinely one of the most interesting characters, but in a way that's completely accidental.

Going back to his childhood, he was a genius. A prodigy. He was expected to do great, world changing things after graduating from Hogwarts. But his whole world came to a halt when he was suddenly orphaned after his younger sister had a magical outburst that killed their mother.

And the whole story there is that his sister, Ariana, became an obscurial due to abuse from muggle children who caught her doing magic. Their father was then sent to Azkaban for seeking revenge on these muggle children and intentionally demonstrating magic before them, and he dies in prison. Their mother was left caring for and hiding this young girl who was so traumatized by all of this that she didn't have proper control over her magic, and tried to repress it.

So Dumbledore returns home to care for Ariana, as well as his brother, Aberforth, who is a bit more independent.

And that's when he meets Grindelwald. Regardless of whether or not you believe them to be gay or just friends, (I'd argue that it's more interesting if you view this as a romantic relationship, but I'm not giving JKR credit for a sloppy, last minute attempt at queer rep) this relationship has a huge impact on Dumbledore's life. Grindelwald and Dumbledore instantly become close due to their shared intellectual bond, regard each other as equals, and think they're smarter than everyone else. But what they really bond over is Grindelwald's plan to collect the deathly Hallows and have wizards rule the world with Dumbledore at his side. Grindelwald's belief is that wizards are superior by virtue of magic, and that muggles have forced them to live in fear and in hiding, and because muggles are a danger to everyone and are destroying the world. Now, Dumbledore has just been forced to give up his studies to return home after losing both parents because some muggle children hurt his sister so badly that she was traumatized for life. He totally agrees with Grindelwald, partially because of grief, and partially because, selfishly, he just doesn't want to give up his whole life to staying at home.

That ALONE is so much more compelling than Voldemort's "I want to be immortal, also, muggles suck because I have daddy issues." This is genuine "we're forced to hide because muggles don't understand us and fear us." And it's even more interesting that Dumbledore's genuine desire for equality could be spun into Grindelwald's desire supremacy and power. Things like the Salem witch trials are canon in HP universe, wizards are hurt by muggles for using magic, and thrown into jail and left to die by other wizards - there's plenty of reasons for wizards to want to fight against that. Harry, the protagonist of the story, is abused for showing any signs of magic! His parent's death, his magic, all of it was hidden from him for years! He has every right to be outraged!

But instead, every character that seeks to fight against this system is painted as evil!

Grindelwald and Dumbledore have an argument, Dumbledore thinks Grindelwald is taking things too far and being too extreme, they duel, a misfired spell hits Adriana, she dies. Grindelwald flees, Aberforth holds it against Dumbledore forever, Dumbledore loses the only family he had left and is haunted by the possibility that he was the one who performed the spell that killed Adriana, he has to chase down Grindelwald and stop him. Interestingly, he cites this as the reason he doesn't ever become minister of magic despite being offered the position multiple times.

Instead, Dumbledore goes to Hogwarts and works his way up to headmaster. His students generally adore him, he bonds with misfits especially, Harry being the most notable.

But the first time we see Dumbledore call on a student for help, he's still just a professor. He asks Newt Scamander to help him chase down Grindelwald, as he can't do it himself due to the blood pact he made with Grindelwald in his youth. Newt looks up to Dumbledore and agrees because Dumbledore was the only teacher who stood up for him and kept in contact after he was wrongfully expelled from Hogwarts.

Then there's Hagrid, the half giant who was already treated as an outcast, expelled for similar reasons to Newt. He's invited to teach at Hogwarts as an adult. As are Lupin, suffering from the taboo of lycanthropy, and Snape, a former death eater. He houses Trelawney after she's fired, helps Sirius hide when he escapes Azkaban, and generally seems to come to the aid of the oddballs and outcasts, including Harry, who lost his parents to Voldemort.

All of these students, of course, have use to him. Newt helps him defeat Grindelwald, Hagrid is willing to follow Dumbledore through anything, Trelawney is a prophet and unknowingly aids in the fight, Lupin, Sirius, Snape, and Harry are all willing to die for him.

Even in the books Aberforth tells Harry he's being used, and that Dumbledore has a history of using his students 'for the greater good.' He has no issue sacrificing his students for what he deems to be a good cause. But that's the true reason why he denied the position of minister of magic - he has far more power as headmaster. He got to know every young wizard in the UK for generations, and was able to leave a positive impression at a young age, so that, when he needed it, he always knew just who to go to for the job. And they always agreed, because they felt as though they owed their kind old teacher a favor.

Voldemort attempts to go down the same route, but Dumbledore recognizes his plan and refuses to hire him. Dumbledore is the only man that Voldemort fears because he basically has control (or, at the very least, some major influence) over every wizard in the UK. He could squash Voldemort. But he doesn't. He sends an 11 year old to do the work for him.

But forget Voldemort, the idea of Dumbledore gaining this amount of power with the right amount of charm, kindness, and manipulation is one of the most interesting things in the story! Imagine if it had actually been utilized! Dumbledore already had a whole arc about his bad experiences with muggles, his desire for equality, imagine if he had quietly pushed generations of students towards revolution! And JKR does nothing with this! She builds up this story of oppression, abuse, and dedicated a huge chunk of the last book to Dumbledore's rise to power - and throws it all away.

Harry questions it all for 5 minutes, becomes a cop and upholds the broken system, names his kid after one of his abusers, the end.

Wow…😎😏

 ok but what about

@triruntu

@elodieunderglass uhhhhhh… Birb?

I Suggest we Consider:

AQUATIC (penguin)

I dunno, I kinda love it… :D

It’s a fine line to tread when you’re breeding your phoenix. A swan is good:

But take it a few genes to the left and you’ve got a GOOSE

(Make no mistake, a swan will mess you up just as hard as a goose. But it is the difference between being slain with a katana and getting whacked with a bag of old potatoes.)

It got better

@elodieunderglass

Oh my God someone actually drew a Good Version of my Dubious Penguin????? And THEN someone added a sweonix (swan phoenix)? Oh man, this is the stuff you miss when you’re in the middle of a reblog chain.

@english-history-trip that is some powerful art, and I respect the trip that it represents from the sublime to the absurd, for in this journey we find enlightenment.

@keire-ke your magnificent penguin art represents the other side of the journey, which takes us from the absurd to the powerful. In this journey we find truth.

yknow the more jk rowlings world falls apart in america (race relations, international history, population, etc) the more i like to think that america just straight up doesnt have the statute of secrecy. european countries are falling over themselves hiding magic but come to georgia and theres a drunk redneck wizard wingardium leviosa-ing the shit out of a tractor to the delight of his drunk redneck muggle buddies in a walmart parking lot.

wizard on muggle violence is prevented by virtue of there being like a 50/50 chance that muggle is packing heat. muggle on wizard violence is prevented by knowing that wizard can give you boils spelling LIL BITCH on your forehead if you try to start something.

america is the weird redheaded stepchild of the magic world.

im not gonna stop reblogging this until this is the next Hot Fanon

english muggles come back to england and suspicious wizards meet them at the airport. 

‘did you witness any strange or inexplicable acts while you were in america?’ they demand. 

the english muggles just laugh in their dumb fucking faces. mate, it’s america. 

what’s the difference between a werewolf and an animagus?

english wizard: *two hour lecture on legal history*

american wizard: six beers

concept: instead of hedwig, Harry goes into the pet store and this little snake in the back of the store talks to him, obviously gets his attention more than the other animals, and harry feels sorry for it so he takes it home. Then the snake helps Harry throughout his years at hogwarts as harry carries it wrapped around his hand all like “pssssst, haaarryyy, the dark lord isss coming sss” or just petty shit like “haaaarrryy, now is the time, assskkk out cho chaaannngg”

The snake getting really agitated in second year and Harry like ‘Aw, what’s wrong little friend?’

And snake’s like ‘Nah don’t worry it’s cool, it’s just that big fuck-off snake in the pipes that keeps making you think you’re hearing things—it’s like, ten thousand foot long, and I’m a corn snake, so you know. Bit intimidating.’

Third year he eats Scabbers and saves them all a lot of time

my hand slipped

“Tell yeh what, I’ll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh’d be laughed at - an’ I don’ like cats, they make me sneeze. I’ll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they’re dead useful, carry yer mail an’ everythin’.”

Harry looked up at Hagrid’s broad smiling face. He didn’t want to screw this up but he had to ask.

“Hagrid? Can I… can I come with you?” Hagrid’s brow furrowed and Harry hurried on, hoping he hadn’t offended the giant. “Not that - I’m sure you’d pick out a great owl, I just… Never had a pet before. I’d like to choose.” His voice had shrank by the end of the sentence until he wasn’t sure Hagrid could hear him. To his surprise, Hagrid’s face split into an even bigger smile and he cuffed Harry on the back, nearly knocking him over.

“O’ course, Harry, what were I thinkin’? A pet’s a special thing. Knew you’d be one for the magical beasts like me. This way, then.”

The shop Harry followed Hagrid into smelled like… Well, Harry couldn’t begin to put a name to it. There seemed to be a million glittering eyes, a thousand claws, a billion feathers. There were toads and snakes, rabbits, cats, rats, lizards, hedgehogs, even what seemed to be an elephant the size of a tea kettle, but remembering what Hagrid had said, Harry focused on the owls.

There were dozens of them, of all species, some looking more haughty, others more friendly. He was studying a pretty white one, wondering if it would understand him when he talked to it, when a small, sleepy voice near him said quite distinctly, “Mouse.”

Confused, Harry glanced around. The shopkeeper was up front talking happily to Hagrid and there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the shop. Harry had just turned back to the owls when,

“Mouse. No…. Come back.” There was something odd about the voice and it took Harry a moment to recognise what it was. It sounded like when Dudley was having a bad dream. Harry looked around again. There was a small tank with a tarantula in it, rows of softly hooting owls, stacks of old Daily Prophet’s for use as cage liners, stacks of owl treats … and a tiny snake curled up in the bottom of a cage.

It appeared to be asleep. It was no bigger around than Harry’s finger and was patterened in light pink and white. As he watched, a tiny tongue slid out of its mouth and it muttered, “I smell you, mouse…. Come back.” Now that Harry was looking at it, it was obvious to him that the snake was talking in its sleep. He moved closer. The very tip of the snake’s tail was twitching as it dreamed.

His shadow fell on the cage and the snake woke up. “Drat,” it said, yawning hugely. Its tiny mouth stretched and wobbled as it yawned and Harry fought the urge to laugh. “You’re not a mouse.”

“No. Sorry.” It was all he could think to say. The snake uncoiled, rising slowly to look at him seriously.

“You’re going to Hogwarts.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” said Harry. “I’ve come to get an owl.”

“Take me with you.” The snake’s tiny eyes sparkled.

“Why?” Harry asked, surprised. Hagrid hadn’t said anything about snakes.

“No one else can speak to me,” the snake replied simply, winding up the bars to get closer to Harry. “No one understands me. We could be great friends.”

“No one?” It seemed a bit too eager to Harry but before the snake could say anything else, a voice behind Harry said, “Ah! You’ve met Siggi!”

“Siggi?” asked Harry. In the cage, the snake went, “Ugh,” quietly.

“Yes, isn’t she a darling? She’s a corn snake, an albino one, and she’s just the cutest thing. Of course, these days, we have the hardest time selling snakes, what with You-Know-Who and all that. I keep telling people, who’s going to think you’re a Death Eater with this little princess on your arm but no one listens to me.”

“Yes, she always talks like this,” Siggi said with a little snake sigh, as if reading Harry’s mind. She slithered away from the bars. “I told you.” The shopkeeper kept talking about the snake as though she wasn’t there and Harry realised that Siggi was telling the truth - he was the only one who could hear her.

“Could I…hold her?” Harry was surprised to find he was the one speaking.

“Why of course, dear.” The cage was opened and Harry found the tiny corn snake being placed on his arm. Siggi made a little snake noise of happiness.

“Warm!” She immediately began slithering up Harry’s arm to his collar, where the skin of his neck was exposed. “Warmwarmwarm.” She draped herself over the back of his neck, her tongue flicking at his ear. “You taste…nice. Like a nice person. Let’s go to Hogwarts. Is it warm there? Are there mice?”

Her weight was comforting and Harry found her happy chatter in his ear pleasant. He stroked her side with a finger and she made a lazy, happy noise. She was silky smooth and very friendly.

“Harry!” Hagrid sounded so shocked that Harry jumped. “What’re yeh messin’ with a snake fer? That’s dark magic, that is.”

“Oh, Hagrid,” scolded the shopkeeper, “I wouldn’t expect you of all people to hold onto that superstitious nonsense.” But Harry was already hastily scooping the snake off his neck and feeding her back into the cage.

“I wasn’t - I just…” But Hagrid and the shopwitch had started arguing and neither were paying attention to his feeble excuses. What <was> he doing? He’d come here to buy an owl.

He turned his attention back to the perches and the formidable birds gazing down on him. Suddenly, they didn’t seem so beautiful. They were kind of frightening, all huge beaks and talons. And aside from their hoots, they were silent. Siggi didn’t say anything else, but he could feel her reproachful eyes on the back of his head as he looked at the owls.

Mail, Hagrid had said. But how useful was that? He had no friends, no family to write to. One of the raptors spread its wings and beat the air with powerful wings, screeching loudly. That or a little friend to talk to, a friend who liked him even just for his body warmth. If Siggi was telling the truth, she might never get to talk to someone again. Even living under the stairs he’d been able to talk to Dudley sometimes, get a glimpse of the news. How could he leave Siggi alone in a cage?

He turned around. “I want the snake.” The expressions on the shopkeeper’s and Hagrid’s faces as they froze mid -argument were comical.Before anyone could say anything else, Harry opened the cage and scooped the waiting Siggi up to his chest, where she crawled happily into his coat.

“Thank you,” she said, from somewhere over his heart.

“We’ll get you a better name,” Harry whispered back, patting her gently. “We’ll be friends.”

sometimes the onion is a little too real

What was your favorite prop or costume from the “Harry Potter” films?

Voldemort wearing garter belts.

Do you know how this makes me feel.

*we interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcasting* ….This is honestly neither a statement for nor against the movies, but I felt that everyone definitely needed to see it. For… reasons?

I cannot unsee Voldemort in Stockings.

#I’d heard the story behind this but never seen the pictures…

Plus Garters, Minus Nose: The Voldemort Story

Heck, I bet there’s a special, secret lounge accessible only to students who convincingly give the door an answer it hadn’t had in mind.

Do you think Ravenclaws ever argue with the door to their tower? I bet they do. Like, the eagle says their answer to the riddle is wrong, but they argue the point and the eagle eventually comes around to their side and lets them in. 

Okay, but I actually think about this all the time. Ravenclaws and their problems with their dormitory door. 

Like, imagine Su Li and Lisa Turpin coming back from dinner having some conversation or another about how they have some Herbology essay due tomorrow and neither of them did it because they were too distracted with a tangent they got on while doing their Potions homework. And Lisa’s going, “Alright, Su, Tony’s already got the books, so we just have to buckle down and do this. We got this. It’s fine. We’ll just go in and work our asses off.” They get to the door and knock, still talking, entirely on muscle memory. They’re barely listening when the eagle asks them, “Where do Vanished objects go?” Lisa’s brain is a little too fried with worry to think at the moment, but she’s not too concerned about getting in because Su looks calm and thoughtful about this one. And then Su turns to her and goes, “Where DO Vanished objects go?” Damn it all to hell, Lisa knows that look. “Su. Su, no. It’s a riddle, Su. It’s just a riddle.” “Yeah, I know it’s a riddle, but it’s also a legitimate question. I mean, Vanished objects have to go SOMEWHERE, right? For you to Conjure them again afterwards? Or are you just creating an identical object out of nothing? Or maybe not nothing… what are Conjured objects made of, do you think?” “Su, we really have to write this Herbology essay.” “I know. But it’s an interesting question. I bet somebody’s done a study on this. I heard Padma say that Conjured objects are different to real ones. Do you think that there’d be a way to tell if your Conjured object was the same one you’d Vanished? Like, if you bespelled it with a charm and it came back with the spells?” “Well… I once heard an upper-year say that Vanishing bespelled objects is tricky. They were looking into it for their Curse-Breaking apprenticeship. But it might be possible. I definitely don’t think it’s possible to Conjure bespelled objects from nothing.” “It might be. I read this book where somebody talked about conjuring a Sneak-o-scope and those are definitely enchanted objects.” “Was it a Gilderoy Lockhart book? Because that sounds like bullshit to me.” “No, I can show you. It was in a Auror’s Memoirs. I just returned them to the library this morning, so I bet nobody’s taken them out yet. And-” “That sounds like an unreliable source.” “AND I was reading this Charms book the other day that referenced a book on the specifics of Vanishing objects that had an author who was an expert in their field and a retiree from the Department of Mysteries with the same last name as the book by the Auror.” “I’m not believing this until I see a source.” “Fine, come on!” The eagle knocker has long since settled back into its resting state by then, Su and Lisa immediately run off to the library, arguing the whole way, and the next day, Professor Sprout gives the extremely apologetic students an extension on the essay while sighing, “Ravenclaws.”

Or imagine there’s some Muggleborn student who has an astrophysicist for one parent and a biologist for the other, and they think magic is amazing, but they’re also really into Muggle science as well. “Which came first,” the eagle knocker asks them at one point, “the phoenix or the fire?” And they’re immediately like, “the fire.” While their friend is like, “Benny, no, that’s not how this works. My brother told me about things like this, it’s one of those paradox questions.” “What? No way. Fire came first.” “Benny…” “Fire is a chemical reaction and, as far as I can tell, phoenixes are a fiery bird that probably evolved just like everything else did on this planet. We’re a really small speck on the cosmic calendar, Raleigh, and I’m saying that unless phoenixes are actually aliens - which would be AWESOME, you-” “Benny…” “-have to admit - fire came first. There are trillions of stars that haved burned and died billions of years before our sun was even born. This is just like that chicken and the egg question, in that it sounds like a paradox but it’s actually not, because the egg existed long before the bird we know as the chicken ever evolved-” “Benny!” “What?” “You… the door opened.” “What? Oh cool. Finally, someone who recognizes science in this nutty place.” About a week later, Benny completely disrupts and derails their Astronomy class by arguing with Professor Sinestra about the school curriculum (that hasn’t been updated in more than fifty years or more) being “WAY TOO OUT OF DATE, PROFESSOR! THIS TEXTBOOK WAS WRITTEN IN 1910! THESE TELESCOPES ARE RIDICULOUS! WHEN’S THE LAST TIME A WIZARD WENT TO AN ACTUAL PLANETARIUM?! OH MY GOD, DO WIZARDS EVEN KNOW THAT THE AMERICANS HAVE GONE TO THE MOON?” And the wizardborn kids are like, “The Americans have WHAT?” While poor Raleigh has his face in his hands and isn’t even surprised.

Or imagine other things. Like that time the first years has to stand around for two hours after the Welcoming Feast because their Prefects gave them a short speech, a small tour, and then got into an “academic disagreement” (as the house of Ravenclaw has come to call them) over the riddle. So there’s this group of eleven-year-olds playing party games in the hall while their fifteen-year-old “mentors” yell at each other over the riddle. And they only got inside in the end because someone actually managed to notice that the first years never came in and “Hey, that’s sort of weird”, and sent some second year to go look for them.

Or when NEWTs season came around, and there was a seventh year SO STRESSED that they came back from the library at three in the morning and when the eagle knocker asked them a riddle, they just burst into tears and sobbed against the door for ten minutes before the eagle awkwardly declared, “Nicely answered!” and let them in anyway.

I mean, Ravenclaws… they’d be a mess.

#oh god I can’t stop giggling#this is so perfect and accurate though????#like#oh my god#I love shit like this#I can just… so perfectly imagine that seventh year just curling up on the floor WEEPING while the eagle is just like….#Rowena never fucking prepared me for this

Actually, I bet my butt that Rowena DID prepare the eagle for this. After all, a lot of academic solutions come from stress. A lot of inventions, too! So the seventh year will be weeping, and the knocker will ask “So what are you going to do about it” and the seventh year will give a tearful answer and the knocker will go “well phrased” and open the door! Learning isn’t always about memorising things. Sometimes it’s finding a solution.

I experienced magic in Central Park today

nailed it

On the origins of magic: how the wands came to be. (4/?)

From: Postcolonial resistance in the mythologies of the magical peoples of the South Asian subcontinent ed. Sunil P. Patil (1991).

Old magic. Old magic old magic old magic.

How could people forget?

How could people forget the magic that had helped raise the great stones, that had marked the stars that pyramids pointed to, that had sunk ancient cities and raised rivers from deserts?

How could they forget?

All too easily, the answer rang back, all too easily. They had forgotten how to live, breathe and drink magic. Had forgotten how the men of yore had lived without wands; how without those twigs the magic was channeled through movement and sway and song and sacrifice. How without those twigs the only barrier to the magic you could make was yourself, was your own mind, your own sacrifice. How without those twigs you could do anything when you had enough strength.

Magic was a muscle, the elders said. Practice with it and it shall grow, just as by lifting rocks and timber each day your muscles shall grow. But take one of those sticks, those little twigs and you are using a lever to do that work for you, you are letting yourself be weak when you could be so so so strong.

The young ones ignored them, pointed at them laughed at these elders stuck in their old ways with dreams of a great and ancient past but naught to show for those dreams, and argued that now they were old how could they sway and sing and sacrifice? Was it not better to do less for more? To conserve, waiting for a greater task, The Great Task? Why offer themselves up mind, body and soul to magic when in a moment, with a mere flick of a wrist, with a wand they could do the same thing just as well? And these elders could lament wands all they liked, but they had nothing to show for all their boasts of glory, could not with such precision, with such finesse accomplish the things these children could.

The elders’ faces were impassive. 

The elders’ faces betrayed nothing.

So it went, for years and years, the children slowly outnumbering the elders, growing proud and mighty in their strength until the elders worried. Worried that in their pride the children would grow reckless, would forget that magic was no toy but a powerful force, one to be reckoned with - one that would demand its pay.

A great council they summoned, drawing magical folk from every corner of the uncivilized world and told them of their fears - of how they feared the children had forgotten the old magics of the world, had forgotten what it meant to channel power and force, what it meant to be responsible.

They fought. Father against son. Mother against daughter. 

And late that night elders from every corner of the uncivilized corners of the world met in an old forest, untouched by time and human hands, still throbbing with the ancient magic of the world, deep and dark. There they breathed their old and ancient magic for the very last time, letting it seep through their veins, rich and heady and intoxicating. Then with calls foreign to all, they rose and bound their children.

You want wands? they asked the magic they worshipped and worked with, You want levers and magic getting weaker?

Then so be it.

They bound the magic and their children all at once, forever cursing those who took in hand the twigs they called wands, weapons, to be doomed to a life torn away from the old magics of the world. So it was that when a child used a wand, working wandless came to be a burden, a path fraught with great difficulty that few except the most dedicated would ever tread.

It is their punishment. The consequence of their folly. 

When you see them, with their wands, remember the old magic, the magic that you breathe, drink and live. It is this magic in your veins, the magic of the civilized lands of the world. Dusty, old with time. Exercise it, children, use it, concentrate, feel it, let it flow through you, lest it be taken from you and lost forever.

I am disappointed, of course, that father never got to see this book. I think he would have quite enjoyed it. Would have found plenty of good use for it in his research. 

Naturally, as you might imagine, the book is popular only among a few select academic circles in the wizarding world. Wands as punishment? Sacrilege! Though I suppose one ought to be thankful it did not receive the Myths of Magical Europe treatment. A.R.

(Submitted by essayofthoughts, with a few minor edits on my part.)

Today JKR confirmed that wandless magic is indeed much more difficult than wand magic & that the use of wands is a largely European/American practice.

Random Headcanon: The reason the Wizarding World in Harry Potter uses such arse-backwards technology isn’t cultural elitism. (Well, not entirely.) Rather, it’s because if you enchant anything more complicated than a screwdriver, it tends to become sentient over time. Devices that use electricity are particularly bad for this, and almost always “wake up” eventually. Arthur Weasley’s car going rogue and running off to live in a forest is actually a fairly favourable outcome; the students still tell horror stories about what happened to the guy who smuggled in (and subsequently enchanted) a digital wristwatch.

this is the best answer to this plot hole i’ve ever heard

A group of Slytherin students camping outside the common room because the password is something bigoted and they refuse to say it

a group of Slytherin students having a sleepover in the Hufflepuff dormitory because the Hufflepuffs found out

A group of ravenclaw students trying to magically change the doors password when the hufflepuffs tell them

a group of Gryffindors trying to forcibly remove the door when they finally find out

“#im so into the idea of the ravenclaws being like #‘we tried every spell we could think of and we cant get it to change the password or let us in without it’ #and the gryffindors are just like #‘ALRIGHT EVERYONE STAND BACK WE’RE EITHER GONNA JINX THIS DOOR INTO OBLIVION OR BLOW IT THE FUCK UP WITH LITERAL EXPLOSIVES BUT WE ARE GETTI #*GETTING IN WITHOUT THAT PASSWORD ONE WAY OR ANOTHER'” (via: detectivejoan)

All while the Hufflepuffs provided the Gryffindors with the explosives (who are confused because these little puffballs have explosives? But also very impressed because these little puffballs HAVE EXPLOSIVES), along with cookies and words of encouragement for every house. And the Ravenclaws are munching cookies in the Puff common room while they work with the Slytherins to write a strongly worded letter to the head master. 

and all the while everyone is getting along. Is happy and there is no prejudice. It’s actually the opposite. And the Gryffindor’s finally getting the door down at two in the morning. But the Slytherin’s wanting to stay with the Puff’s. So they all have a Sleepover. And Professor’s walking into the Slytherin common room in the morning finding it deserted. Then looking in the other houses to find them all sleeping in the common rooms. All of them. (Alright next person :3) 

And then this becomes a regular thing, not just between Slytherin and Hufflepuff but the other houses get involved too, and each weekend it’s at a different house

And they invite professors and everyone having a blast+McGonagall sharing embarrassing stories for past eras

And McGonagall goes to the sleepovers once a months asks what story they students want to hear this time. She has many stories, but the school ha one favorite. A story about three misfit gryffindors, the brightest witch of her age, the king, and the boy who lived, who saved the wizarding world. This is the story she is asked to tell every time she goes to a sleepover. 

She sits down in the center of the chosen common room and all the students sit around her in a circle. The room falls silent as McGonagall begins her story, “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of Number Four Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Omg it got better!!! I already reblogged this, but I’m doing it again because reasons!

I think one of the reasons the Harry Potter Epilogue was so poorly received was because the audience was primarily made up of the Millennial generation.

We’ve walked with Harry, Ron and Hermione, through a world that we thought was great but slowly revealed itself to be the opposite. We unpeeled the layers of corruption within the government, we saw cruelty against minorities grow in the past decades, and had media attack us and had teachers tell us that we ‘must not tell lies’. We got angry and frustrated and, like Harry, Ron and Hermione, had to think of a way to fight back. And them winning? That would have been enough to give us hope and leave us satisfied.

But instead. There was skip scene. And suddenly they were all over 30 and happy with their 2.5 children.

And the Millennials were left flailing in the dust.

Because while we recognised and empathised with everything up to that point. But seeing the Golden Trio financially stable and content and married? That was not something our generation could recognise. Because we have no idea if we’re ever going to be able to reach that stage. Not with the world we’re living in right now.

Having Harry, Ron and Hermione stare off into the distance after the battle and wonder about what the future might be would have stuck with us. Hell, have them move into a shitty flat together and try and sort out their lives would have. Have them with screaming nightmares and failed relationships and trying to get jobs in a society that’s falling apart would have. Have them still trying to fix things in that society would have. Because we known Voldemort was just a symptom of the disease of prejudice the Wizarding World.

But don’t push us off with an ‘all was well’. In a world about magic, JK Rowling finally broke our suspension of disbelief by having them all hit middle-class and middle-age contentment and expecting a fanbase of teenagers to accept it.

Also. Since when was ‘don’t worry kids, you’re going to turn out just like your parents’ ever a happy ending? Does our generation even recognise marriage and money and jobs as the fulfillment of life anymore? Does our generation even recognise the Epilogue’s Golden Trio anymore?

#i think this one of the reasons why the james/lily/albus naming theme bothered me #because there’s a sense of going in a circle rather than pressing forward #the only way the wizarding world will survive if it changes dramatically from this point #having the station seem exactly the same #right down to the names being thrown around #makes it seem stagnant #so i’m guessing another dark lord should turn up in a couple of decades (x)

YOU PUT IT IN WORDS