Expecto il padrino

2021-10-17T20:08:00Z

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

A bit of silliness.

I stumbled across the blog post "The meaning of Expecto Patronum: From Hogwarts to Ancient Rome," which discusses the meaning of "patronus" in ancient Rome, and notes that a patron is more like a (legal) Mafia don bribing officials to protect you from the law than a sparkly representation of your soul protecting you against supernatural evil. Which is an interesting choice for the spell, "unless she really intended for Harry Potter to be calling on The Godfather," as the author says.

Of course, others have noted the similarities of the Roman patronage system to modern wizarding Britain. For example, pharnabazus's 2004 series Expecto Patronus: or how the wizarding world really works. It holds up pretty well despite being written before book six. Dumbledore as a powerful wizarding patron with many clients, which makes him a political heavyweight other patron-networks in the Ministry might reasonably conclude is a threat to their own influence, seems just as accurate after book seven.

Coincidentally, I've been re-watching series one of the original British House of Cards. If you want patronage networks and backroom backstabbing, here you go! Chief Whip Francis Urquhart is such a nice, grandfatherly fellow who appears above all that petty factionalism and can explain how destroying his rivals' reputations and the occasional straight-up murder is really for the greater good. ("This is a mercy killing.") And he knows absolutely everyone's dirty little secrets and how to manipulate them. How very...familiar. Not that I'm saying Dumbledore would ever spike someone's cocaine with rat poison, oh no. He would never--just ask him! And I'm sure it's a total coincidence how many powerful young witches and wizards who threaten his position or don't obey him completely end up dead or otherwise neutralized. Honest.

Still, it raises a probably-most-irrelevant question: is the position of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot roughly equivalent to Speaker of the House of Commons or Lord Speaker, as I think most fans have assumed, or is it the equivalent of being Chief Whip? I mean, I'm sure Dumbledore knows as much as he can about Wizengamot members regardless, but it would be amusing if his actual job was to know everything and use it to pressure them into voting the "right" way for his faction.

Dumbledore: a version of Francis Urquhart who decided that controlling people behind the scenes was actually a much better job than being the top boss after all?

By Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Fair use, Link

"You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment."

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Indestructible Intermezzo II – Etymological Excursus

2015-09-10T22:25:00Z

Posted by: condwiramurs.livejournal.com

Indestructible Intermezzo II – Etymological Excursus

While preparing the next post with our other set of miscellaneous cards and thinking further about Severus, I started playing around with an etymological dictionary to see what hidden meanings I might uncover for the terms of our discussion. To see what sort of a resonant background layer I could piece together, if you will.

I found some interesting things.

( Read more... )

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death to capslock

Expecto il padrino

Indestructible Intermezzo II – Etymological Excursus