More on Harry Potter

I’ve been thinking more about Harry Potter, and I’ve sort of come to one essential question: what, exactly, are wizards? A wizard can be born from two muggles, and at the same time, a muggle (squib) can be born from two wizards. So then, wizardness must be some obscure genetic mutation (think: albino). Magical animals could be like albinos as well, all stemming from other species but changing gradually after the mutation becomes prevalent, like with deep vein rats.

So then wizards are born with magical potential, but to unlock their real abilities, they have to choose to school themselves, and this is where it gets complicated. Hogwarts isn’t a public school. You have to pay to go there. Yes, Tom Riddle gets financial assistance, but some families probably can’t afford to go into debt to send their kids to school, meaning that there are a whole bunch of untrained wizards out there.

Furthermore, as opposed to having to get a degree required to start using magic outside of school, there is an age limit. If the untrained wizards and witches were using magic freely and without training after turning 17, then I bet the laws would change, so we can assume that if you can’t go to the school, most people choose not to be part of the magical community. Why not? Well, despite having magic, wizards don’t seem superior to muggles in any way. They still have sickness and disease, they still die after a semi-normal span of years, they age without grace, have problems with poverty and civil unrest and seem completely unable to use their combined power to any affect. I mean, their world is threaten by a band of a dozen oafish wizards and witches who, by any reasonable standards, are completely transparent during work hours a troop of what pretty much amount to giant muggles with social problems and a self-detrimental culture and some creatures who can be defeated by thinking happy thoughts. I mean, I bet some people who can afford to go to Hogwarts choose not to, just because it’s a stupid culture that functions with even less efficiency than muggles.

All in all, the wizard world seems more like a cult than a race. Actually… that description fits pretty stunningly well. Attempts to take over government: check. Generally a knat to society with a superiority complex but no real desire to try to improve anything: check. Poor criminal investigation as the only public service offered by a ministry that otherwise seems totally pointless: check. Random arrests made of public enemies that basically amount to vigilantism: check.


Also: why does everybody trust the Dumbledore so much? Sure he’s an old, white dude who speaks with authority and his eyes flash alternately with laugher and anger so terrible it makes the dark lord tremble like a puss in boots, but he also seems really, really dumb. In the first book it’s suggested that Albus let Harry try to stop Voldemort on his own as some sort of a test (which seems really unfair), but what’s his excuse after that? He fails to put extra security on the DADA position even though he knows it’s cursed, he pits the houses against each other even though everyone- including the sorting hat- seems to realize it’s unwise, he repeatedly exposes his students to danger, he plays favorites to a ridiculous extend, he doesn’t tell Harry information that could be vital to his life and for the most part seems completely checked out, leaving a 12 year old to solve the school’s problems. I mean, second year? Come one. Kids couldn’t have been dying, and Dumbledore was too busy to walk a circuit around the school to look for traces of Voldemort magic? Come on.