death to capslock

Heritability of Potterverse Magic

Sun, 19 Sep 2021 17:43:00 GMT

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

All right, I've been kicking this idea around long enough. Time to let everyone else tear it apart and see what comes of it!
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The Decline of Pagan Magic

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 20:54:00 GMT

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

Though the movies contradict the books too often for me to consider them canon, occasionally, a background detail is useful. One is Bathilda Bagshot’s book On the Decline of Pagan Magic, a movie prop in Deathly Hallows Part I. The existence of this book (should we choose to accept it) suggests that Bathilda didn’t only write propaganda for children. It could be propaganda for adults, but even that might include some genuine scholarship.

What might The Decline of Pagan Magic be about? ( Read more... )

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How magical are most wizards?

Sun, 07 Feb 2021 19:33:00 GMT

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

Trying to line up the contradictory statements throughout the series about average magical ability into something coherent is probably a lost cause, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

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Transferred Some of His Powers

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 20:53:00 GMT

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

Dumbledore says that Voldemort transferred some of his powers to Harry, the mechanism for which is later revealed to be the soul fragment lodged in Harry’s head. But the only power he ever singles out is Parseltongue. Were there others?( Read more... )

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Upon the Existence of Muggles

Sun, 27 Sep 2015 21:50:00 GMT

Posted by: terri-testing.livejournal.com

“Any woman can weep without tears, and most can heal with their hands. It depends on the wound.” Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

If there is anything certain about the Potterverse, it is that there is an absolute gulf between Us and Them. There are Muggles and their opposites: Witches and Wizards.

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Indestructible Intermezzo II – Etymological Excursus

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 22:25:00 GMT

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.

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Of Mudbloods and Bathtubs

Mon, 03 Mar 2014 00:57:00 GMT

Posted by: oneandthetruth.livejournal.com

Author’s note: This essay offers a Watsonian explanation for certain things in the Potterverse. It ignores any Doylist explanations for those things, including Rowling’s.

In reply to my DH sporking, chapter 29, maidofkent wrote in part,

You're right that it seems pretty hypocritical to joke about Snape running away from shampoo, when the male Hogwarts students seem so uninterested in cleanliness. (Perhaps the Slytherins, being under the female influence of water, are namby-pamby types who do bathe regularly and Severus was indeed sorted too soon :))

This got me to thinking about a trio of seemingly unrelated subjects: baths, “mudbloods,” and the Slytherin prejudice against the latter. Many commentators have speculated the reason Salazar Slytherin didn’t like witches and wizards from non-magical backgrounds was because they threatened to expose the world of magical people to their non-magical families and friends. That’s a reasonable explanation, but could his dislike be founded on something more simple? Could it just be a matter of cleanliness?

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Rumors about Voldemort / "terrible, yes, but great"

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:55:00 GMT

Posted by: oryx_leucoryx

When Tom Riddle returns from a ten year absence and meets Albus Dumbledore the latter says, "Rumors of your doings have reached your old school, Tom. I should be sorry to believe half of them."

Tom dismisses the rumors as malicious lies of the envious, and describes his own activities as "I have experimented; I have pushed the boundaries of magic further, perhaps, than they have ever been pushed -"

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The Endless Possibilities of Squibs

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Posted by: harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com

Diddle's posts always bring out waves of comments, and for good reason. The points brought up are thought provoking, if not a little depressing. To me, people who would call this community a "bunch of bitter, angry shippers" are incapable of having intellectual discussions. This place is a beautiful thing: we love the series so much that we can point out every miserable, bad, stupid, or nonsensical point and at the end of it, we still know we like the series. That's love right there. Aint it, Will?

Jo, your breath seriously reeks.
But enough flattery. Let's talk Squib.

( Squib means possibilities )

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