Pottermore-

[mary_j_59]

Okay - I confess; I joined Pottermore, out of sheer curiosity. I want to know if, by any strange chance, I will sort to Slytherin, and also what sort of wand I get. Still, some things struck me at once (I've spent about 20 minutes exploring the first chapter

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

House plans are weird. The house I currently live in has a very similar plan to the one I grew up in, except the front door of the current one is where the balcony was in the old one. So I don't find it surprising that using a written description would result in something close enough to what Rowling had in mind.

The number issue is typical Rowling - her personal idiosyncratic preferences become a judgmental statement about the world. And doesn't it remind you of all those times Harry feels the world is mocking him by having weather that doesn't match his mood?

As for measurements - she could have the Muggles use metric if that matches British usage in the 1990s (but anything from previous generations should be Imperial), but the wizards wouldn't use metric. Hmm, continental wizards would though.

[mary_j_59]

You are so right! It's no wonder that Wizarding values are so antiquated if the population skews so old. Some of these people would have been born in the eighteenth century!

[charlottehywd]

That doesn't necessarily excuse them for not being able to adapt, though. I mean, if I were born in the 18th century, I actually would probably be pretty fascinated by all of the technological changes that have happened since I was a child. I mean, that era was the Enlightenment, after all. At least in the Muggle world, learning and advancement were pretty highly valued. Of course, wizards are already shown to be kind of backwards, so maybe this doesn't apply to them.

[oneandthetruth]

Exactly. To name 3 RL examples of 18th century people who were big on technology: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Ludwig van Beethoven. The first and second were inventors, and the third was fascinated by science and technology. He even composed the piece "Wellington's Victory" specifically for a mechanical instrument called a panharmonicon, which was supposed to be kind of mechanical orchestra. I guess it could be considered one of the first synthesizers. But they were Muggles, so WW rules don't apply to them.

Somebody please explain to me again why I'm supposed to consider the WW so great when it's so clearly inferior to the non-magical world. The smug superiority of wizards and their defenders (JKR and the dittoheads) reminds me of the way white supremacists look down on people of other races, when it's clear they're really the inferior ones.

[charlottehywd]

It might just be my love for the 18th century, but it annoys me how JKR seems to portray that era through her WW as close-minded, backwards and uncreative. Has she never read any 18th century lit? Well, considering that she apparently hates history, I guess not. Though I wonder why she would want to (sort of) write about history if she hates it that much

[sunnyskywalker]

I vaguely remember a fic where Hermione's dad was the British equivalent of a Marine before taking up dentistry, and disarmed some Death Eater and pounded him about six different ways before the DE had time to decide which spell to fire. There should be more of that. Surely wizards are also vulnerable to having anvils dropped on their heads, at least? (If we're in a universe with Snape-shaped holes and anvil-sized hints, you know there has to be actual anvils and pianos waiting to fall somewhere.)

[charlottehywd]

That's awesome

[sunnyskywalker]

You'd think they'd have noticed about bombs when London was bombed to smithereens during WWII. Especially if they hadn't made any preparations to shield Diagon Alley or any other wizarding spots in the city because they hadn't been paying attention to developments in Muggle military technology. And yeah, I don't see why they couldn't be shot easily enough, especially in the back. They might be able to bounce if dropped, but that means their magic has a second or two to kick in, right? Bullets are faster.

It would have been awesome if the power Voldemort knew not was something Muggle. Like logic. Especially if the kids cooperated with actual Muggles to take him down.

[charlottehywd]

Honestly, I thought that was what the 7th book was leading up to. With all of the stuff that was already put in about wizard/muggle interactions, I was expecting those rules to be broken due to necessity (the wizards finally realized the cruelty of muggles not even having the chance to defend themselves), and having the two factions cooperate, beginning the break down of the rigid separation between muggle and magical society. Of course, I also thought that she was leading up to Petunia being a squib, but I was disappointed on both accounts. We can't have anybody upstaging our precious Harry, now can we?

Also, good point about the logic. If only JKR realized that this is one of the major things muggles have over the WW she has created. It could have been such an interesting story.

[i_the_7th_seal]

Petunia can't be a squib - she would need to have magical parents.

It's curious that Rowling herself suggested the importance Muggles-Wizards relations in her "The Other Minister" chapter. I mean, where was she going with that? She was clearly reluctant to leave Harry's head but for a few chapters and this one is now just completely superfluous. Did she think she was being witty with her depiction of the PM's reaction to wizards? If she left it alone, it would've been more understandable that she then treated muggles as ignorant bystanders.

[charlottehywd]

Sorry, I guess that I should have clarified. At the time, I thought that Petunia might have been shown as actually having some sort of magical powers, but that she didn't attend Hogwarts for some reason. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking on my part. I always kind of felt bad for Petunia, actually. I mean, she did turn out to be rather snobbish, but considering that she had a super speshul sister who was adored by her parents and could do no wrong, I could understand how she ended up that way. I mean, imagine if pretty much no matter what you did, you would never be good enough for your family? I'm not excusing her behavior, but I can definitely understand how she got to be that way. I would probably have ended up much the same way if I were in her situation.

[sunnyskywalker]

That's what gets me, too. Not that the story didn't go that way in general, but that she had so many things pointing that way, highlighted in bright colors as if to say HEY IMPORTANT ELEMENT HERE, and then dropped them. You'd think that after introducing Muggle-baiting at the World Cup, then mentioning Muggle murder victims in HBP and having the Muggle PM as an actual PoV character, the Muggle theme would go somewhere. It's the same problem as problem with the magical species subplot. "Look, pay attention, wizards treat them badly! Let's mention goblin rebellions and then bring disaffected goblins onstage, and meet centaurs and then meet increasingly anti-wizard centaurs, and show even more problems with house elf servitude... and then forget about it as soon as we're done robbing Gringotts and make sure Harry gets a sandwich." Does not follow. As you say, if she had just left those bits out, it wouldn't seem so jarring.

[mary_j_59]

The number issue is typical Rowling - her personal idiosyncratic preferences become a judgmental statement about the world. And doesn't it remind you of all those times Harry feels the world is mocking him by having weather that doesn't match his mood?

Good point! It's not as though this (Harry's reaction) is inhuman, or even unusual. In his brilliant novel, Till We Have Faces, Lewis has the princess Orual reflect on the beautiful day as she goes to bury her sister. "Why should my heart not dance?" she thinks, and later adds, "Thus do the gods play with us. They blow us up like bubbles, to prick us for our sport." (quoting from memory - mistakes are mine!) But - Orual is feeling guilty for her joy in the beautiful day, and she is also shown, later, to be at least partly wrong. Harry is never reflective, pushes off his guilt feelings onto others, and is never shown to be wrong.

But, seriously, having such a strong emotional reaction to a common number might help explain the books' aggressive innumeracy, don't you think?

[oryx_leucoryx]

It's not as though this (Harry's reaction) is inhuman, or even unusual.

Once or twice yes, but in this series Harry wants the weather to match his level of anxiety before Quidditch matches, among other things. It just makes him look extremely self-centered.