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Is there any canonical evidence of cultural or regional "styles" of magic in the Harry Potter series or related interviews/speeches/writing from Rowling? By styles, I mean a certain methodology or particularity associated with the spellcasting of wizards and witches from one area.

For example: Maybe certain areas are known for training aurors about dueling in a specific fashion, or the environmental and cultural factors of other areas shape the magical education that students receive.

Any ideas?

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    Interesting question, but I'm not sure how much information there is on this - the Potterverse is quite strongly based in the UK in my experience! Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 3:18
  • Well the next book is based in America, so that might be answerable in the future.
    – user16696
    Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 3:33
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    @cde what next book? Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 5:14
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    @N_Soong I believe s/he refers to the film about Newt Scamander, see for example this piece of news, which include a Hogwart-like school of Magic in North America. Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 8:40
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    @DVK That's a lot of Scots and Irish people you've just offended by saying "England has"! And Whales are only in the sea ;-)
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 20:19

1 Answer 1

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We know that there's different regional styles. In book 7, there's an editorial that references specialized Egyptian magic. The editorial about Dumbledore's friend mentions that it used to be customary to travel the world to study various branches of magic, after finishing school. It specifically mentions Egyptian magic. Furthermore, when Ron's dad won the lottery, they went to Egypt, and Ron mentions Egyptian wizards setting up curses on tombs.

Furthermore, some spells are just going to be uncommon in certain areas. For example, the spell to turn a person into a shark would be obscure in a desert area.

Additionally, different schools teach different magical fields. For example, Drumstrang teaches the Dark Arts explicitly, whereas most schools skip that in favor of defensive magic. Magical creatures, and thus the magic to handle them, also varies. Dementors are unknown in tropical areas, and Yetis are unknown outside of tundra.

Furthermore, Herbology, the study of magical plants, will vary radically. Different areas have different plants. Some guy in Nepal grows gravity-resistant trees. This affects Wandlore. Different areas have different plants, so naturally the materials for Wandlore would be varied, as would their use. For example, in a high-altitude area, such as Tibet, the variety of trees that naturally grow there would be so limited that the field would be simple for the function of manufacturing. Yet in Brazil, where you've got half the trees known to man easily available in the Amazon, the field would have a lot of experimentation.

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  • You should expand on drum and the Egyptian article if you can.
    – user16696
    Commented Jun 19, 2015 at 16:42
  • We're not really told much about Drumstrang's Dark Arts program, so I can't on that front. I'll do the other one. Commented Jun 19, 2015 at 16:44
  • Very thorough, where examples on this topic were few and far between! Thanks! Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 23:33

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