Poll of the Day > One thing that always bugged me about Harry Potter

(+) Yeah! (+)

Is the fact it would have been more likely to be a nerd or hit the books hard.

He was an abused and lived like a slave. A person in his situation would have ate the magic world up and tried to learn as much as possible you would think

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If he wasn't exactly studious in other subjects, there's no reason to expect him to be studious when it comes to magic.

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Zeus posted...

If he wasn't exactly studious in other subjects, there's no reason to expect him to be studious when it comes to magic.

Exactly. If his record at Hogwarts is anything to go by, he would have been a fairly average student in primary school. IIRC, in OOTP he even thinks to himself that his and Ron's grades aren't that different, and Ron is known as a middling student.

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I dont think he ever thought as himself as abused / a slave. It was more that he was ignored. The Dursley family treated him as if he didnt exist. And the Wizarding World treats him the exact opposite it. Hes the most famous wizard of his generation, and his facial scar being instantly recognizable.

He has a fairly low key / relaxed personality, and doesnt particularly love the attention so he deals with that by trying to be as normal as possible.

Not to mention hes a bit of a slacker to begin with. He really only has time in his mind for particular subjects like Defense against the Dark Arts and combative spells

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how about how they never used the time turner after book 3
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

how about how they never used the time turner after book 3

Because it was a literal Deus Ex Machina to get out of a situation, which the author wrote herself in :D

I would prey on poor muggle minds like some sort of evil wizard that just watched something like Dark City.

You could also say the students who were Muggle-born would've been blown away by learning that magic is real and would've been chomping at the bit to perform some. But Hermione was one of the few really studious ones, and even then it wasn't because she thought magic was fascinating, she was just a huge nerd.

GNS1991 posted...

Because it was a literal Deus Ex Machina to get out of a situation, which the author wrote herself in :D

Harry and his friends get jumped by Death Eaters while retrieving the Prophecy at the end of Order of the Phoenix. This is specifically written so they'd end up in the Time Room and someone would destroy the Time Turners, and Rowling wouldn't have to bring them up ever again.

If I remember correctly he actually got decent grades, just not perfect grades.

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Why don't they just put a wrist strap on their wand so it won't be disarmed?

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DrPrimemaster posted...

If I remember correctly he actually got decent grades, just not perfect grades.

He tended to do better on end of year exams, also. But I'd bet a lot of us were like that LOL.

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VeeVees posted...

Why don't they just put a wrist strap on their wand so it won't be disarmed?

i asked j.k. this, her reply was shut up, and the clark duke in the hp universe was gay, ok?

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Krazy_Kirby posted...

how about how they never used the time turner after book 3

Well, not counting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, anyway. Though I half-imagine we'd all rather pretend that one doesn't exist.


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Zeus posted...

Well, not counting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, anyway. Though I half-imagine we'd all rather pretend that one doesn't exist.

Cursed Child? Wasn't that just a theatre play-script?

GNS1991 posted...

Cursed Child? Wasn't that just a theatre play-script?

It's roughly the reading length of Sorceror's Stone, but runs about 100 pages longer because the script format takes up more space than prose.

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The lack of more "magitechnology" was a minor bummer. But it at least made sense in-setting due to the politics of the ministry of magic, who actively try to AVOID letting wizards mess around with anything invented in the past 100 years any more than is necessary.

There was also never really much description given to how one actually creates magical items other than potions (which themselves are not really crafted WITH magic as they are crafted out of magical items with some help from some other magical items). Which is strange. I mean, there ARE at least three classes that seem like they would be teaching this, from googling a list of hogwarts subjects, and one of them is apparently only briefly mentioned in some external book. At least from the DESCRIPTION of the classes.

Charms. Supposedly the class is centered around spells that give an object a new or different property. But most of the spells that were taught there are instantaneous effect spells and spells that wear off after a bit (i.e. a mending charm, the ever-famous wingardium leviosa, and a some curses that immobilize/make you dance, etc).

Transfiguration. Part of its description includes transforming the form/shape of an object. These changes are very drastic, but don't seem to really give the result any magical properties other than halfway-changes from non-living to living things not appearing to be particularly bothered with their incomplete state. Which itself is quite impressive, but which seems to mostly depend on what you are turning to what.

Alchemy (different from Potions). Not mentioned in the main seven books, and very little info on it other than it is an advanced class for 6th and 7th years which supposedly is something like a merging of techniques from transfiguration, potions, and possibly muggle chemistry.

But yeah, making magical items is something that we don't see brought up much despite how many there are. There are clearly things like wand makers, and broom makers, and of course a ton of other things. If I had to guess from the description alone, charms would be the primary one, and for more advanced stuff you'd sort of mix together charms with transfiguration, and then add knowledge from the potions class.

We just don't see much in the way of spells that would be used in the making of such items. Even though the Weasely twins seem to specialize in them.
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I just want to say that Harry Potter is the most overrated series of all time.

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Neglected kids generally don't perform as well academically as kids raised in a loving home. He wasn't a nerd because of academic interests, he was a nerd because his silence and social withdrawal was an adaptation he learned to tolerate living with the Dursleys.

He became much less nerdy as the series went on, likely due to the admiration the wizard world gave him.

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Harry is actually a jock since he's the star of his sports team and super popular in the wizarding world

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Harry has never been portrayed as the intellectual type.

Even ignoring that most of the "studious nerds" are shoved into Ravenclaw, and the Sorting Hat telling him he would have ended up in up in Slytherin if he didn't oppose the idea so strongly, Harry is a guy of average (to below average) intelligence ruled by his emotions, that's more concerned about fun, and sports than reading or studying.

You claim someone in Harry's position would likely work hard to better himself, but he was experiencing the world of magic just fine without working for it. If anything, the world of magic keeps coming for him because of his relation to Voldemort.

The idea that someone coming from a poor living environment world work extra hard to escape it isn't true anyway, but this wasn't even necessary because Harry was wealthy from his dead family's inheritance money.
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I_Always_Die posted...

I just want to say that Harry Potter is the most overrated series of all time.

In what regard? Just the fact that it's so massive in regard to its quality or that the quality itelf is so sorely lacking?

faramir77 posted...

Neglected kids generally don't perform as well academically as kids raised in a loving home. He wasn't a nerd because of academic interests, he was a nerd because his silence and social withdrawal was an adaptation he learned to tolerate living with the Dursleys.

He became much less nerdy as the series went on, likely due to the admiration the wizard world gave him.

Harry wasn't a nerd. Nerds are smart.

TigerTycoon posted...

Harry has never been portrayed as the intellectual type.

Even ignoring that most of the "studious nerds" are shoved into Ravenclaw, and the Sorting Hat telling him he would have ended up in up in Slytherin if he didn't oppose the idea so strongly, Harry is a guy of average (to below average) intelligence ruled by his emotions, that's more concerned about fun, and sports than reading or studying.

You claim someone in Harry's position would likely work hard to better himself, but he was experiencing the world of magic just fine without working for it. If anything, the world of magic keeps coming for him because of his relation to Voldemort.

The idea that someone coming from a poor living environment world work extra hard to escape it isn't true anyway, but this wasn't even necessary because Harry was wealthy from his dead family's inheritance money.

tbh, given that the books fit into that wish fulfillment category, making the character studious rather than average (or subpar) whose main virtue is being "the chosen one" wouldn't have jived as well with the purely-escapist portion of the readership who wishes they were special but doesn't want to put the work in to make themselves special.

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why did black make them switch secret keepers in the 1st place? he knew he would be the target, but did he think he would end up talking under torture?

because if so, he would have ended up telling who they needed, and his choice clearly wouldn't have withstood any torture... even if they were loyal
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hypnox posted...

A person in his situation would have ate the magic world up and tried to learn as much as possible you would think

unless they didnt react that way to their new environment

people react to situations very differently

Harry had never known anyone that actually acted kind towards him or acted like they cared about him so the main things he valued and focused on were his friendships with other students and some of the professors which essentially were his family

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Krazy_Kirby posted...

why did black make them switch secret keepers in the 1st place? he knew he would be the target, but did he think he would end up talking under torture?

because if so, he would have ended up telling who they needed, and his choice clearly wouldn't have withstood any torture... even if they were loyal

Sirius was going to go into hiding, possibly had intended to leave the countr, Voldemort's influence at that time was almost totally in the U.K. Plus as we saw from PoA onward, a wizard or witch can make themselves unfindable by magical means, otherwise the Ministry could have tracked him down. Voldemort would have had the same problem. He also says that both he and Lupin would have died rather than betray James & Lily, so he probably would have been prepared to kill himself if push came to shove.

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^
which further proves that it made no sense to switch
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tweetyweety posted...

You could also say the students who were Muggle-born would've been blown away by learning that magic is real and would've been chomping at the bit to perform some. But Hermione was one of the few really studious ones, and even then it wasn't because she thought magic was fascinating, she was just a huge nerd.

Harry and his friends get jumped by Death Eaters while retrieving the Prophecy at the end of <u>Order of the Phoenix.</u> This is specifically written so they'd end up in the Time Room and someone would destroy the Time Turners, and Rowling wouldn't have to bring them up ever again.

They could have created more.
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