deathtocapslock | 11 Magical Schools

The recent Pottermore blurb about Durmstrang says, "Durmstrang once had the darkest reputation of all eleven wizarding schools, though this was never entirely merited." IOW there are 11 wizarding schools worldwide. I find this number surprisingly small, considering that the magical population served by Hogwarts comes from a population of roughly 64 million (UK) plus 4.7 million (Ireland) totaling some 69 million, out of a global population of about 7 billion, so just under 1%. I was expecting there to be several dozens of schools, not fewer than one dozen. (Yes, we only knew about 2 other schools in Europe, but surely those were merely the oldest ones, and additional schools could have been founded over the centuries?)

So how do we reconcile these?

If the proportion of magical to non-magical people in the UK is typical, then one possibility is that other schools have about 10 times the student body of Hogwarts, supporting the impression some readers here have of Hogwarts as a magical backwater.

Alternatively, it is possible that some parts of the world do not use wizarding schools as the way to pass on magical education. It is possible that some areas rely on home-education, private tutors serving improvised small groups of children, or apprenticeships with locally famous wizards. Perhaps some traditional societies still have magical folk living openly within the local non-magical community, with no requirement for separate education, just specific training in magic with a local adult wizard on top of whatever education is typically available in that community.

Or perhaps the UK and Ireland have an exceptionally high proportion of magical folk, and there really aren't all that many wizards in the world. Or other wizarding communities don't make an effort to include every magical child in their educational system as Hogwarts does with the quill. We are told (by Draco) that Durmstrang doesn't educate Muggleborns. Perhaps anyone who doesn't have parents that know about the magical school or whose parents don't make an effort to get their child into the magical school doesn't learn there. Not only Muggleborns, but also orphans like Tom Riddle (or only orphaned of their magical parent, like Dean), children of parents who didn't like the school or disagree with how it is run, children of neglectful parents, children of parents who lack the means to provide transportation, and so forth. In this case, there may be many undiscovered wizards within non-magical society, while the magical society outside of the UK and Ireland would be significantly more inbred.

What is your preferred scenario?

Also, where do you think these schools should be located?

In this blog post Andrew claims:

However, Goblet of Fire does also briefly mention an unnamed Brazilian wizarding school, where Bill Weasley once had a pen pal. In Wonderbook: Book of Potions, which also includes new content written by J.K. Rowling (as both Book of Spells and Book of Potions were created through an extension of Sony’s “Pottermore partnership” with Rowling), we also learn of a wizarding school in Japan named the “Mahoutokoro School of Magic” (see the Harry Potter Wikia), as well as one in Russia and another in South Africa, the names of which I was not quite able to catch while playing this game.

If we accept the details then the Russian school may be a 4th European school, or it may be somewhere in Siberia. IMO there should be more Asian schools, maybe in Tibet or Nepal, serving wizards from China, India and other parts of eastern and southern Asia. Then there should be a school serving wizards from the Middle East and northern Africa, perhaps with connections to the alchemy center in Alexandria. No Quidditch in this school, but they may race flying carpets. Probably 2 schools in the Americas?

Any thoughts?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com

Ooooh yes. Language. We know for sure that Durmstrang at least has to take students from several different nations, because of those fur-lined cloaks, which are a required part of the uniform. Given that Bulgaria, the homeland of the only named, current Durmstrang student we know, borders on Turkey and Greece, a fur-lined cloak sounds a bit in excess of probable requirements. The school sounds more likely to at least be on the Baltic ocean, and possibly more north than that. It's also an indication that if there is a division between its catchment area and Beaubatons' it is likely to be between west and east rather than north and south.

But in fact there is probably no official catchment area for either school, and both take students from wherever they can get them.

Of course there seem to be translation spells, but I'd hate to base my education on one.

From:

sunnyskywalker

Poking around a bit, it seems Bulgaria has some nice mountains and parts can get quite cold... but the way Viktor describes the glacier and the forests, plus the fur cloaks and Germanic (-ish) school name, does sound like it's meant to point farther north. The headmaster is named Igor (a Slavic name, and Karkaroff is probably supposed to be as well). We know Gellert Grindelwald (er... Swiss, and into skiiing? though turns out Gellert can be a Hungarian name as well as German...) was a former student. Stuff outside the books gives the founder of the school as Nerida Vulchanova, and her successor as Harfang Munter. I'd bet on "somewhere north." Quite varied possibilities for the student body, too, so yeah, I would not want to rely on a translation spell. The more I think about it, the more I think wizarding European schools just never quit using Latin like Muggle schools did. Little Viktor probably learned it at his mother's knee, to be prepared for school when he was old enough.

From:

jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com

Thinking a little more, I suspect that the real issues of both the European schools is some specialization of the curiculum. We know that Durmstrang does actually teach the Dark Arts (we do not know in what context, but I doubt that Amycus Carrow's handling of the subject would have passed muster). I would imagine that there is some specialty for which Beaubatons is justly famed as well.

Hogwarts appears to mainly teach only English-speaking students and doesn't appear to teach them anything out of the ordinary -- although it is possible that one of the optional subjects may be a Hogwarts specialty. I doubt that Divination, Muggle Studies, or Ancient Runes would be the specialty, but Care of Magical Creatures or Arithmancy seem at least possibles.

From:

oryx_leucoryx

And the appointment of Hagrid first as Groundskeeper, later as teacher put the end to this specialty?

From:

annoni-no.livejournal.com

Hogwarts would be well-suited to specialize in magical creatures given its proximity to the Forbidden Forest. They were able to conceal four dragons there for the Tri-wizard Tournament in addition to the colony of acromantulae and the herd of thestrals it normally conceals. It's also home to a number of centaurs and who knows how many other magical beasts and beings.

Durmstrang is so paranoid about secrecy it probably doesn't want large numbers of difficult to control magical beasts living nearby. Beauxbatons may be poorly positioned to maintain them while protecting Secrecy.

If so, then I think we have further evidence of Dumbledore sabotaging Hogwarts as an educational institution. Weren't even the thestrals brought in under Dippet?

From:

sunnyskywalker

Depends on whether they have to keep the beasts nearby to have it as a viable class. Could they Floo the students over to the dragon reserve in Romania and wherever else for classes twice a week? Maybe Charlie is actually the plucky token foreigner on the team over there.

It would still be easier to actually have it all on site, since constant Flooing or Portkeying still opens potential security holes. But it might not be as tricky as it would be for a Muggle school facing an equivalent challenge.

From:

jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com

Not necessarily. Kettleburn was a complete flake by all accounts and he was the previous instructor.

Frankly, I'd say that Arithmancy is about the only real likely *subject* to be a specialty of the school. Although more than one of the instructors of the core subjects are probably *very* highly rated.

From:

oryx_leucoryx

Hmm, that would explain why Hermione really wanted to learn this subject - it would be the most glamorous. And perhaps it would explain why the British wizarding bank considers itself entitled to Egyptian treasures. Arithmancy is a requirement for curse breaking. If Hogwarts trained the best Arithmancers maybe British curse-breakers were the only ones who could get to those treasures.

From:

jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com

That makes a tremendous amount of sense. And Arithmancy probably is very useful in a number of other fields as well. British-trained Arithmancers may be an certain elite group -- not that we would ever assume so if the only person we listened to regarding wizarding society was Ron Weasley.

But yes, Hermione would have picked up exactly that kind of information by the end of her first year -- in the remote chance that it wasn't mentioned in any of her prep reading before she ever boarded the Hogwarts Express. And she's fortunate that she has the kind of mind that can handle the demands of the subject. Wizardly illogic is not advantage in anything that deals -- however peripherally -- with math.

From:

oryx_leucoryx

Also, during the Yule Ball (ie just past winter solstice) Viktor mentioned to Hermione that Durmstrang had very little light in winter. I take that to mean it was further to the north than Scotland - pretty much has to be in Scandinavia or nearby parts of Russia.

But consider what Bulgaria was when Durmstrang was founded. It was an important empire that rose from the 7th century and expanded to capture the areas settled by southern Slavic people. To their north were the Rus - northern Slavs who were at the time still ruled by the Norse (Slavic tribes with a thin Norse ruling class). In the 9th century Bulgaria was invaded by the Byzantines who demanded that the Bulgarians convert to Christianity. Meanwhile the Vikings founded an empire of their own in the Ukraine, with Kiev as its capital, but this empire became Slavic shortly as the Norse ruling class became assimilated. Over the course of the 10th century Bulgaria declines to non-existence, while Kievan Rus expands. More areas of eastern Europe are converted to Christianity, including the Rus. These areas receive a strong Greek influence through Byzantium.

In the 11th century Kievan Rus breaks up in civil wars while the Duchy of Moscow rises. In the 12th century a smaller second Bulgarian empire is established. Meanwhile The Holy Roman Empire invades Slavic territories.

I think the background to the founding of Durmstrang had to do with the greater Christian influence - which brought both classical magic (Greek wandmaking, Latin spells) and persecution of magical folk. I am guessing the Bulgarian founder and her Germanic heir chose a place that was far from the fighting and not settled much by non-magicals. Perhaps the founders were tribal magicians that lost their positions when their respective tribes became Christian.