I have always wondered how exactly the house elves are bound in the first place.
It seems to me that we often think of it as some combination of a genetic predisposition to serve and a magical binding. I have started to think that both of those things play a role, but that the there also has arisen a strong cultural norm that reinforces the servitude and represses what is obviously very strong magical abilities -- that at least part of the equation includes come ways in which the house elves are complicit in their own enslavement. After so many generations of servitude perhaps they are like the captive elephant who does not know that he could easily escape the chain binding him to the stake. This helps to explain (for me anyway) why both Dobby and Kreacher could act in ways that were not strictly in their master's interest.
I like to think that many factors came together to allow them to act. Hermione's gifts of clothes over the years could finally have been claimed, at least by some. I would have loved to have seen them coming into the battle wearing her knitted hats and such. Dobby's example could have had an impact. Of course it is also true that the Hogwarts house elves could have been bound to defend the place.
I guess I like to think that it is sort of like Huge the Borg in Star Trek -- once the idea that they could be free was out there it became a sort of virus weakening the whole system that binds them.
Well. That was perhaps a bit too much thought on the topic. I should work now.
It seems to me that we often think of it as some combination of a genetic predisposition to serve and a magical binding. I have started to think that both of those things play a role, but that the there also has arisen a strong cultural norm that reinforces the servitude and represses what is obviously very strong magical abilities -- that at least part of the equation includes come ways in which the house elves are complicit in their own enslavement. After so many generations of servitude perhaps they are like the captive elephant who does not know that he could easily escape the chain binding him to the stake. This helps to explain (for me anyway) why both Dobby and Kreacher could act in ways that were not strictly in their master's interest.
I like to think that many factors came together to allow them to act. Hermione's gifts of clothes over the years could finally have been claimed, at least by some. I would have loved to have seen them coming into the battle wearing her knitted hats and such. Dobby's example could have had an impact. Of course it is also true that the Hogwarts house elves could have been bound to defend the place.
I guess I like to think that it is sort of like Huge the Borg in Star Trek -- once the idea that they could be free was out there it became a sort of virus weakening the whole system that binds them.
Well. That was perhaps a bit too much thought on the topic. I should work now.
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I think it is a bit murky who the Hogwarts elves are bound to but it seems unlikely that it is the students as they rarely cross paths.
Hmmmm.
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