Things That Make Absolutely No Sense About Harry Potter
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Jobs in the Wizarding world:
There are a lot of jobs in the Wizarding world mentioned briefly or most in depth in the novels, many of which aren't related to the Ministry or are athletes: We have shopkeepers, barkeepers, wandmakers, historians, animal (mystical and otherwise) breeders, cursebreakers, healers, brewers, pharmacists, journalists, radio reporters, photographers, writers, broommakers, bank jobs, Private Security contractors (training trolls for example, fashion designers, advertisers, craftsmen, blacksmiths, translators, and those are just the one mentioned. Argiculture, animal husbandry and many other jobs we see in our world must exist in their world as well. The reason why we mostly see ministry jobs and most interactions are with aurors are because one, Harry gravitates towards such jobs and the books are written from his perspective and two, most people we meet, are part of the Order of Phoenix, a group that attracts aurors.
Marauder's Map and Pettigrew:
Yes, Pettigrew would be visible on the map but why would Fred or George use the map to spy on Ron or Percy (who was the previous owner of the rat. They cared for neither and unlike Harry, they hadn't an invisibility cloak, so in the field they had just time to look what was close to them and not much more as they didn't want to be caught while looking on the map. And when they were alone to explore the map, they probably discovered way too much other things like secret entrances and passages for them to be interested in all the names in the castle. There must be hunderds of people in the castle anyway, not accounting the ghosts, so one name more or less wouldn't catch their eye. Why did it could Harry's eye? Because, the fate of his father and his friends was constant on his mind at that moment.
The Potraits:
While an interesting topic, I wouldn't call non-sensical, just barely explored. It is a literal example of Art imitates life if you ask me. Replications of persons without a soul but with a fabricated mind that's a close, approximation of the real person. So, they think in the same way as their real-life counterparts and can keep learning as shown by the Portrait of Phineas Black (the real Phineas died ages before Harry's birth, yet the portrait gets know Harry and his friends.
Glasses:
Again something that is just unexplored, rather than non-sensical. There are plenty of reasons why this might be not-done. Perhaps they have yet to find the perfect magical solution to alter one's eyesight permanently, as we know that they can be improved with magic, see Polyjuice potion, but never seen it done in a way that sticks. Another more interesting possibility could be that it is taboo. Perhaps there is a taboo in the Wizarding world when it comes to the eyes. And I do have a pretty good idea why this might be the case. There is a saying that the eyes are the window to the soul and we know that the soul in the Wizarding World is sacred. Because it violates the soul, Horcruxes are so reviled that many have no knowledge of their existence and those who do, rarely want to divulge on what they know about them. Perhaps it is considered poor taste to use a spell or potion to improve your eyesight this way and might result in you becoming a paria in wizarding society. Yes, I realize that Alastor Moody had a magical eye but he was a secluse and a war veteran who lost his real eye in battling the dark forces. It wasn't his choice to lose an eye and I think many weren't so accepting of the eye (for several reasons.
Polyjuice Potion
You are right, Polyjuice Potion isn't full proof and this has been demonstrated just about everytime it is used by those who haven't researched subject close enough. Harry and Ron blunder through their interrogation of Malfoy and during their infiltration of the ministry of magic, they again had several very close calls and were extremely fortunate that they were imitating people that were either considered to be beneath the people they encountered or to be too intimidating for long and deep conversations. As for Barty Crouch Jr. He had direct access to Alastor and could force him with the Imperius curse to tell him everything he needed to know for his interactions with Dumbledore. He knew enough about Alastor's reputation to re-enact his behavior and to know what would be in character for him to say or do.
Date: 2020-07-14
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Comments and reviews: 9
Argh
What really doesnt make sense in the wizarding world of Harry Potter is the economy. The value of the galleon seems particularly strange. the Weasleys only have one gold galleon in their wizarding vault and are evidently relatively poor compared to Harry or the Malfoys. Yet Ludo Bagman offers Fred and George 5 galleons for a trick wand that turns into a rubber chicken at the Quidditch World Cup. Yet Harry paid 7 galleons for his real wand. And at the same game a pair of magical binoculars cost 10 galleons, which incidentally is also the amount Dobby the House elf is paid a week, which Hermione describes as not very much. And in the order of the Phoenix, Harry uses a galleon to pay for a pot of tea (just the tea not the pot, one seventh of the value of his wand- which seems extraordinary for something which has supposedly taken great skill, time and effort to produce not to mention the rarity of the materials used. So is the galleon, a gold based currency, worth a lot or not very much? It certainly seems to fluctuate an extreme amount over the course of the books.
And you mentioned the jobs but didnt really delve into it enough. You have extremes of inequality from the Weasleys to the Malfoys, a government worker who barely scrapes by to keep his family in good stead and Malfoy, someone of evidently great inherited wealth with no job to speak of seemingly (think he was a governor at Hogwarts presumably a paid position, but he was fired and whilst he has connections at the ministry he doesnt work there in any position. So how can someone in a regularly employed government job be on the breadline almost, and yet a man with no job and only his family status be in such wealth, especially given the apparent fluctuation of the value of the Galleon?
The limited number of jobs in the wizarding world is sort of explainable. After all magic allows you to get rid of a majority of jobs until youre only left with a core few career paths, a lot service industry based. A lot is free in the wizarding world. education is free (although Hogwarts is clearly modelled after the traditional English public schools which typically cost a fortune each term- Eton, Harrow etc) healthcare is seemingly free (nobody seems to pay for anything at Mungos Hospital. A majority of wizarding families have house elves to do the day to day work unpaid. We dont see anybody renting property or buying property (most seem to have inherited houses) so there isnt much of a magical property market.
Magic can seemingly take care of most peoples basic needs without cost, especially if like the weasleys you keep a decent garden for home grown food. And in an economy where the basic needs are met without much cost and there isnt worries about rent/mortgages the only thing you have left is the excesses in life to drive said economy because basic jobs are unnecessary due to magic. Look at Fred and Georges business, they seemingly run the entire thing themselves producing all the games, toys, tricks etc alone and without that great an investment initially thanks to magic. they dont employ hundreds of people in the manufacture and supply chain to create a trick wand that turns into a rubber chicken. Same is true of Olivander and his wand shop. Huge number of wands all made using seemingly expensive materials and all by one man. The wizarding economy makes no sense.
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What really doesnt make sense in the wizarding world of Harry Potter is the economy. The value of the galleon seems particularly strange. the Weasleys only have one gold galleon in their wizarding vault and are evidently relatively poor compared to Harry or the Malfoys. Yet Ludo Bagman offers Fred and George 5 galleons for a trick wand that turns into a rubber chicken at the Quidditch World Cup. Yet Harry paid 7 galleons for his real wand. And at the same game a pair of magical binoculars cost 10 galleons, which incidentally is also the amount Dobby the House elf is paid a week, which Hermione describes as not very much. And in the order of the Phoenix, Harry uses a galleon to pay for a pot of tea (just the tea not the pot, one seventh of the value of his wand- which seems extraordinary for something which has supposedly taken great skill, time and effort to produce not to mention the rarity of the materials used. So is the galleon, a gold based currency, worth a lot or not very much? It certainly seems to fluctuate an extreme amount over the course of the books.
And you mentioned the jobs but didnt really delve into it enough. You have extremes of inequality from the Weasleys to the Malfoys, a government worker who barely scrapes by to keep his family in good stead and Malfoy, someone of evidently great inherited wealth with no job to speak of seemingly (think he was a governor at Hogwarts presumably a paid position, but he was fired and whilst he has connections at the ministry he doesnt work there in any position. So how can someone in a regularly employed government job be on the breadline almost, and yet a man with no job and only his family status be in such wealth, especially given the apparent fluctuation of the value of the Galleon?
The limited number of jobs in the wizarding world is sort of explainable. After all magic allows you to get rid of a majority of jobs until youre only left with a core few career paths, a lot service industry based. A lot is free in the wizarding world. education is free (although Hogwarts is clearly modelled after the traditional English public schools which typically cost a fortune each term- Eton, Harrow etc) healthcare is seemingly free (nobody seems to pay for anything at Mungos Hospital. A majority of wizarding families have house elves to do the day to day work unpaid. We dont see anybody renting property or buying property (most seem to have inherited houses) so there isnt much of a magical property market.
Magic can seemingly take care of most peoples basic needs without cost, especially if like the weasleys you keep a decent garden for home grown food. And in an economy where the basic needs are met without much cost and there isnt worries about rent/mortgages the only thing you have left is the excesses in life to drive said economy because basic jobs are unnecessary due to magic. Look at Fred and Georges business, they seemingly run the entire thing themselves producing all the games, toys, tricks etc alone and without that great an investment initially thanks to magic. they dont employ hundreds of people in the manufacture and supply chain to create a trick wand that turns into a rubber chicken. Same is true of Olivander and his wand shop. Huge number of wands all made using seemingly expensive materials and all by one man. The wizarding economy makes no sense.
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SomeYoungPunk
You lost me at point number one. Firstly, Harry, Ron and Hermione arent all hired by the Ministry- Ron by then was working at the joke shop at the time of the cursed child. There are plenty of careers in the Magical World. wand maker, Professor, dragon handler, magical merchandise inventor and enchanter, photographer, auror and lower down versions of aurors who deal with more mundane issues, quidditch player, journalist, sports writer, bartender, shop keeper, obviously someone who have to make magical beverages and sweets, potions ingredients collector and seller, potions inventer, magical creature handler, breeders of magical creatures, healers, careers in the ministry, dark artefact dealers, people who deal with the rights of magical creatures, bankers (like Bill, people who make sure muggles dont discover the secret, people who deal with muggle artefacts, people who make and sell potions (Fred and George were even selling pre-made potions, enchanter of novelty items like at the quidditch World Cup, person who sells sports memorabilia, gambling, fashion designer, troll security guard trainer, quidditch commentator, quidditch referee, agricultural (magical folk still need to eat- we even see hagrid growing pumpkins and using magical gardening repellent to make them big, curse breaker, artists, broom stick enchanter/ creator, snitch maker and enchanter, blugger maker and enchanter etc etc, people who deal with cursed objects, builders (houses didnt just pop out of thin air, someone had to make them, even if they used magic, authors like bathilda, historians, book enchanters (remember that book Hagrid assigned? Someone enchanted it, editor, publisher.
And yes, Rowling doesnt go into detail about careers not important to the plot. She probably didnt want to make her books too long and include mundane details about random professions, but assume we would realise that if she mentioned something like butterbeer, we the reader would make the intuitive leap that someone had the job of making it.
As for James and Lily. I thought it was stated that they finished school and went into hiding because of Voldemort. James family was wealthy because his dad invented a grooming potion or something (I remember reading something like that somewhere, so they didnt need to work then. Then they died at 21 or something so couldnt exactly establish careers. Do research before making a video like this, you just look dumb if you dont.
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You lost me at point number one. Firstly, Harry, Ron and Hermione arent all hired by the Ministry- Ron by then was working at the joke shop at the time of the cursed child. There are plenty of careers in the Magical World. wand maker, Professor, dragon handler, magical merchandise inventor and enchanter, photographer, auror and lower down versions of aurors who deal with more mundane issues, quidditch player, journalist, sports writer, bartender, shop keeper, obviously someone who have to make magical beverages and sweets, potions ingredients collector and seller, potions inventer, magical creature handler, breeders of magical creatures, healers, careers in the ministry, dark artefact dealers, people who deal with the rights of magical creatures, bankers (like Bill, people who make sure muggles dont discover the secret, people who deal with muggle artefacts, people who make and sell potions (Fred and George were even selling pre-made potions, enchanter of novelty items like at the quidditch World Cup, person who sells sports memorabilia, gambling, fashion designer, troll security guard trainer, quidditch commentator, quidditch referee, agricultural (magical folk still need to eat- we even see hagrid growing pumpkins and using magical gardening repellent to make them big, curse breaker, artists, broom stick enchanter/ creator, snitch maker and enchanter, blugger maker and enchanter etc etc, people who deal with cursed objects, builders (houses didnt just pop out of thin air, someone had to make them, even if they used magic, authors like bathilda, historians, book enchanters (remember that book Hagrid assigned? Someone enchanted it, editor, publisher.
And yes, Rowling doesnt go into detail about careers not important to the plot. She probably didnt want to make her books too long and include mundane details about random professions, but assume we would realise that if she mentioned something like butterbeer, we the reader would make the intuitive leap that someone had the job of making it.
As for James and Lily. I thought it was stated that they finished school and went into hiding because of Voldemort. James family was wealthy because his dad invented a grooming potion or something (I remember reading something like that somewhere, so they didnt need to work then. Then they died at 21 or something so couldnt exactly establish careers. Do research before making a video like this, you just look dumb if you dont.
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looper
Ok, this has been driving me crazy for seven movies now, and I know youre going to roll your eyes, but hear me out: Harry Potter should have carried a 1911. Heres why: Think about how quickly the entire WWWIII (Wizarding-World War III) would have ended if all of the good guys had simply armed up with good ol American hot lead. Basilisk? Lets see how tough it is when you shoot it with a. 470 Nitro Express. Worried about its Medusa-gaze? Wear night vision goggles. The image is light-amplified and re-transmitted to your eyes. You arent looking at ityoure looking at a picture of it. Imagine how epic the first movie would be if Harry had put a breeching charge on the bathroom wall, flash-banged the hole, and then went in wearing NVGs and a Kevlar-weave stab-vest, carrying a SPAS-12. And have you noticed that only Europe seems to a problem with Deatheaters? Maybe its because Americans have spent the last 200 years shooting deer, playing GTA: Vice City, and keeping an eye out for black helicopters over their compounds. Meanwhile, Brits have been cutting their steaks with spoons. Remember: gun-control means that Voldemort wins. God made wizards and God made muggles, but Samuel Colt made them equal. Now I know what youre going to say: But a wizard could just disarm someone with a gun! Yeah, well they can also disarm someone with a wand (as they do many times throughout the books/movies. But which is faster: saying a spell or pulling a trigger? Avada Kedavra, meet Avtomat Kalashnikova.
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Ok, this has been driving me crazy for seven movies now, and I know youre going to roll your eyes, but hear me out: Harry Potter should have carried a 1911. Heres why: Think about how quickly the entire WWWIII (Wizarding-World War III) would have ended if all of the good guys had simply armed up with good ol American hot lead. Basilisk? Lets see how tough it is when you shoot it with a. 470 Nitro Express. Worried about its Medusa-gaze? Wear night vision goggles. The image is light-amplified and re-transmitted to your eyes. You arent looking at ityoure looking at a picture of it. Imagine how epic the first movie would be if Harry had put a breeching charge on the bathroom wall, flash-banged the hole, and then went in wearing NVGs and a Kevlar-weave stab-vest, carrying a SPAS-12. And have you noticed that only Europe seems to a problem with Deatheaters? Maybe its because Americans have spent the last 200 years shooting deer, playing GTA: Vice City, and keeping an eye out for black helicopters over their compounds. Meanwhile, Brits have been cutting their steaks with spoons. Remember: gun-control means that Voldemort wins. God made wizards and God made muggles, but Samuel Colt made them equal. Now I know what youre going to say: But a wizard could just disarm someone with a gun! Yeah, well they can also disarm someone with a wand (as they do many times throughout the books/movies. But which is faster: saying a spell or pulling a trigger? Avada Kedavra, meet Avtomat Kalashnikova.
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Raybelle
For the jobs thing, they could always work in a shop. Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade both demonstrate positions in retail you can take on after school, plus it's outright stated that you could go into Curse Breaking, Dragon-wrangling, and journalism. We only hear about a few jobs because the focus is only on a handful of characters. I do agree that the Peter Pettigrew thing was weird though. But what really drove me nuts was the fact that there are only 7 wizarding schools on earth, and two of them are in Western Europe. There is only one wizarding school in Asia-- what language do they speak? Does Indonesia and China and Thailand, etc, all get to go there, or just Japan? And what about the school in South America? Do they speak Spanish or Portuguese, or something else? And is Hogwarts just a really tiny school, or on other continents are there just a serious shortage of wizards by comparison? It just drives me nuts to think about.
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For the jobs thing, they could always work in a shop. Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade both demonstrate positions in retail you can take on after school, plus it's outright stated that you could go into Curse Breaking, Dragon-wrangling, and journalism. We only hear about a few jobs because the focus is only on a handful of characters. I do agree that the Peter Pettigrew thing was weird though. But what really drove me nuts was the fact that there are only 7 wizarding schools on earth, and two of them are in Western Europe. There is only one wizarding school in Asia-- what language do they speak? Does Indonesia and China and Thailand, etc, all get to go there, or just Japan? And what about the school in South America? Do they speak Spanish or Portuguese, or something else? And is Hogwarts just a really tiny school, or on other continents are there just a serious shortage of wizards by comparison? It just drives me nuts to think about.
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Moxie
Jobs? How about every shop owner in Diagon Alley and Hogsmead, and the people who worked there? And what about their suppliers? There are several named people, and countless unnamed people who made a living authoring books. Luna's dad published a magazine. Lots of people worked for the Daily Prophet. How many other publications are there that just aren't named? There are entertainers. There are even bus drivers. The Weasley's had a garden, and from that it isn't difficult to imagine that there are probably wizard farmers. There's got to be at least one whole factory of people who do nothing but make Quidditch equipment. How about broom makers? Owl breeders? A world as small as the wizarding world will have limitations, but it isn't nearly as limited as this video wants to make it. You just didn't put enough thought into it.
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Jobs? How about every shop owner in Diagon Alley and Hogsmead, and the people who worked there? And what about their suppliers? There are several named people, and countless unnamed people who made a living authoring books. Luna's dad published a magazine. Lots of people worked for the Daily Prophet. How many other publications are there that just aren't named? There are entertainers. There are even bus drivers. The Weasley's had a garden, and from that it isn't difficult to imagine that there are probably wizard farmers. There's got to be at least one whole factory of people who do nothing but make Quidditch equipment. How about broom makers? Owl breeders? A world as small as the wizarding world will have limitations, but it isn't nearly as limited as this video wants to make it. You just didn't put enough thought into it.
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Kefou
what still makes me crazy is Dumbledore's whole supposedly 'master plan'. There's so many trusted wise powerful allies like Macgonnagal he could've entrusted with for the search for the Horcruxes, instead he relied on three 17 year olds who could've easily gotten killed in the process, the only ones who knew about the Horcruxes. Imagine them dying and there's no one else there to finish the task. Sure there was Snape, but come on, once Harry died, Snape would've cared nothing about the safety of the world. Dumbledore played with sheer blind luck and coincidence hoping everything turns out the way he planned. The older I get, the more this bugs me.
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what still makes me crazy is Dumbledore's whole supposedly 'master plan'. There's so many trusted wise powerful allies like Macgonnagal he could've entrusted with for the search for the Horcruxes, instead he relied on three 17 year olds who could've easily gotten killed in the process, the only ones who knew about the Horcruxes. Imagine them dying and there's no one else there to finish the task. Sure there was Snape, but come on, once Harry died, Snape would've cared nothing about the safety of the world. Dumbledore played with sheer blind luck and coincidence hoping everything turns out the way he planned. The older I get, the more this bugs me.
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Viet
I can let every single one of these things go in the video. The biggest gripe I have with the Harry Potter Universe is Harry's experience with this biological family; he has no relatives left on his father side, that's fine, a convenient love protection spell that only works at home because of Lily Potter's death, that's fine, but why oh god didn't the Ministry of Magic at least put the Dursley family under a charm to make them nice to Harry. They treated him like garbage his entire life and he could have easily been a Draco Malfoy or Tom Riddle level of evil and never befriended Ron and Hermione on the train.
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I can let every single one of these things go in the video. The biggest gripe I have with the Harry Potter Universe is Harry's experience with this biological family; he has no relatives left on his father side, that's fine, a convenient love protection spell that only works at home because of Lily Potter's death, that's fine, but why oh god didn't the Ministry of Magic at least put the Dursley family under a charm to make them nice to Harry. They treated him like garbage his entire life and he could have easily been a Draco Malfoy or Tom Riddle level of evil and never befriended Ron and Hermione on the train.
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21pilots
The Cursed Child is not a sequel of sorts. It's a big flaming dump that was taken on the orginial series. I honestly can not for the life of me. Figure out why JK Rowling signed off on it. Though considering the mess(not bad but a total mess) the Fantastic Beast movies are maybe Rowling has just lost her touch. She for sure doesn't know how to write a movie. I will forever love Harry Potter and her for making it. I however can't pretend i am not incredibly disappointed with her follow up work. She created it so it's hers to do with what she wants, but after FB2 i have zero intrest in the third film.
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The Cursed Child is not a sequel of sorts. It's a big flaming dump that was taken on the orginial series. I honestly can not for the life of me. Figure out why JK Rowling signed off on it. Though considering the mess(not bad but a total mess) the Fantastic Beast movies are maybe Rowling has just lost her touch. She for sure doesn't know how to write a movie. I will forever love Harry Potter and her for making it. I however can't pretend i am not incredibly disappointed with her follow up work. She created it so it's hers to do with what she wants, but after FB2 i have zero intrest in the third film.
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Apurva
1: 21
Proves you've no interest in crosschecking your facts, in correlation with the book.
Harry never found out about Peter Pettigrew's locations.
It was Remus. Now, an interesting and logical response to the question could be that even though the marauder's map showed the location of every person within the span of the the map, the identity of the four creators stayed hidden. It would make sense to keep them hidden, given there's nothing even remotely suggested against it in the books
It's the movie's fault, and not a plot hole.
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1: 21
Proves you've no interest in crosschecking your facts, in correlation with the book.
Harry never found out about Peter Pettigrew's locations.
It was Remus. Now, an interesting and logical response to the question could be that even though the marauder's map showed the location of every person within the span of the the map, the identity of the four creators stayed hidden. It would make sense to keep them hidden, given there's nothing even remotely suggested against it in the books
It's the movie's fault, and not a plot hole.
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