Begging and pleading on the subject of wards

[lexin]

Pet peeve: wards.

Wards turn up in story after story, and sometimes they're used well and sometimes they're used badly...but you know what? They're not canon.Nowhere in the five books so far does JKR mention "wards" in the sense that fanfic writers use them. I've encountered them in other fantasy - I think Katherine Kurtz used them often in her

Comments

[laura_the_auror]

You know, ever fic I read I wonder where this 'wards' business started, and I wonder if the authors are even aware that it is fanon. It has got to the point where I wonder if readers would notice the term actually missing from a fic.

[dipping_sauce]

I used wards in my first fic, and I was about three-quarters of the way through the first chapter when I realised they weren't canon...

I just crossed my fingers and hoped no one would notice.

[laura_the_auror]

No one ever does!

[tiferet]

I never thought about whether or not it was in canon. It's a proper English word and it's the right word for what I am trying to say. So I use it and will continue to.

Should JKR make up a stupid word to replace the proper English word for what she's trying to say (as she did when she replaced "numerology" with "Arithmancy" and "mesmerism" with "Legilimency") I'll start using that. Until then, I will use the word that is in the language I am writing in which all my readers understand the meaning of.

[anna_kat]

You see me flabbergasted. I never questioned the validity of wards. I could have sworn that they were canon.

Now what? How will witches and wizards protect their houses when they can't ward them?

[laura_the_auror]

Magical keys? Shagging so loudly it scares people off? Not cleaning the floo?

[anna_kat]

Lol. Okay.

[lyras]

*g*

I just turned back from this entry to the section of fic I'm working on, only to find Snape hoping "that the appropriate wards had been put in place".

Needless to say, that sentence has now been reworded!

[cspinks]

Molesworth!

Because I don't want to reply with only that, can somebody please tell me about 'wards'? I've never seen fan fiction with wards. If they are protection spells, don't the books have those in various forms even if they aren't referred to as wards?

[lexin]

don't the books have those in various forms even if they aren't referred to as wards?

They do, and that's part of my point. JKR is quite specific and careful about what her protection spells do. 'Wards' (and they are used a lot) are a universal fanon spell which can do anything the writer wants. Or nothing at all.

[lyras]

Wards are used in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books - there may be others, as I've a feeling they're a frequently called-upon "given" in fantasy. Jordan uses wards to conceal the people setting them up from the outside world, IIRC.

I love my Molesworth icon :). It was made by lycanfae and is taken from this short and very funny crossover: http://www.alice.dryden.co.uk/ho_for_hoggwarts.htm.

[meri_oddities]

On the other hand, there is nothing in canon that says wards are not used. I'm not sure where it comes from, but it's magical. I'm just saying...

[lexin]

Well, I just searched through my electronic copies of the books and though JKR uses various kinds of protection spells (Muggle repelling charms, makting things unplottable, the blood-kin protections around 4 Privet Drive) she's always quite specific about their limitations and effects. "Wards" may have a specific occult meaning which I'm not aware of, but as used in fanfic they seem to me to be a bit vague and waffly.

[meri_oddities]

To ward means to guard. I've always thought of them as magical burglar alarms. :-) I'm pretty sure I use them that way. :-)

[tiferet]

Wards actually are generally used in occult practise to keep non-physical beings and influences out of a space that's been cleared, so that when you're working, there's nothing there you didn't ask to be. Sometimes they also are tweaked to let you know if an area's been intruded upon.

In fantasy, they sometimes also have a 'trap' component--that is, they can damage people who force their way past them.

[amberdiceless]

*Shrugs* I'm an old AD&D'er and a fantasy junkie from way back. I'm so used to the term that I doubt I could stop using it if I tried. It's just another way of saying "protective or security spells or enchantments," which we know do exist in canon (example, the Chamber of Secrets only opening for a Parselmouth would qualify. So does the age barrier on the Goblet of Fire and the Fidelius Charm

[amberdiceless]

Addendum: FWIW, I just remembered that the anti-Muggle enchantments on Hogwarts could also be termed "wards." So they're maybe a touch more common that I was thinking, but still not universally used.

[lorazia]

I tend to agree with you - "wards" are clearly used in canon, even if they are not refeed to as such. My guess is that JKR sometimes intentionally does not follow magic uses to their logical ends in order to make her world more familiar, especially to young readers.

Love your icon, btw.

[lorazia]

referred, not "reefed." sigh.