In the Harry Potter universe, it's possible to have a tent that appears larger on the inside than on the outside. Is there any reason it wouldn't be possible to place one charmed tent inside another charmed tent? If that is possible, then wouldn't it be possible to place an unlimited number of charmed tents inside of other charmed tents, making an entire charmed tent universe? Furthermore, what limits the creation of charmed tents or charmed spaces in general, and is it possible to remain inside of one when they are folded up/destroyed? I know the Harry Potter universe goes into making seemingly small spaces very large on the inside (charmed tents, Mad-eye's prison), but does it ever go into placing a charmed space object into another charmed space object?
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11Given that Hermione's bag (with the extension charm on it) is carried into a charmed tent several time, I would guess there is no issue. JK Rowling apparently didn't go for the D&D 'Bag of Holding in another or in a Portable Hole problem' from the look of things. Said differently, the problems you see in D&D and the like tend to relate to Physics concepts (based on the outcomes).. in this case the answer may well be 'Because... Magic!'– K-H-WNov 12, 2015 at 0:11
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2On a related note, from HPMOR's final chapter, ""Here's your wand back." Harry took it from his pouch. "And your mokeskin pouch," [spoiler cut out here] That pouch Harry withdrew from a normal pocket of his robes, since he was reluctant to put a bag of holding inside a bag of holding no matter what was supposed to be harmless so long as both devices had been crafted observing all safety precautions."– K-H-WNov 12, 2015 at 0:14
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3Same problem in a different SFF world: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/23846/…– Rand al'Thor ♦Nov 12, 2015 at 0:22
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4There is a limit. If the outermost tent's radius is smaller than the Schwarzschild radius corresponding to the mass of everything that's inside the tent, people (among other things) can't get out. ;)– sampathsrisNov 12, 2015 at 6:55
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1@PaulOmans Yes, you're right. I guess I missed the "another" in the question title. Good question though!– Rand al'Thor ♦Nov 12, 2015 at 17:05
3 Answers
I don’t know why the comments weren’t posted as answers, but I’ll post this anyway:
In addition to the points mentioned in the comments — in particular, the fact that Hermione carried her bag into and out of the charmed tent many times — Hermione carried the tent in the bag:
“… You could get out the tent, Harry …”
“Tent?”
“In the bag!”
“In the … of course,” said Harry.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 14: The Thief
So it appears that the answer is yes, you can place a charmed space object into another charmed space object.
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4Not sure we know enough about how they operate when collapsed, I think the tents may be another of JKRs ill thought out ideas. For instance why not just apparate into an extended area? that way you could have a tiny tent and then just apparate inside. Nov 12, 2015 at 0:38
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@CandiedMango It does make sense to use an extension charm rather than apparate larger area. In DH, none of them had access to a large area to stay that wouldn't be constantly watched/searched by Death Eaters. Even if they had a small place, you'd end up doing an extension charm to make it larger so you may as well have the charm directly on the tent. Plus, many wizards just don't like Apparition - it's repeatedly described as unpleasant, so it makes sense that for a trip like camping, you'd want to be able to walk in and out rather than Apparating home (which would detract from the holiday).– LunaNov 12, 2015 at 12:19
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@Luna I don't mean to say you apparate away from your where you're staying but merely apparate into where you would be staying. I'm not stating anything as fact in my comment merely just saying that the evidence we have is not complete enough. Nov 12, 2015 at 13:38
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Chosen as the accepted answer because it is short, to the point, and remains canon as much as possible with minimal speculation. As far as I know, there isn't a point in the Harry Potter universe where an actual living being is inside of a charmed object while it is being moved (or destroyed), or at the very least the details aren't explained on how the object being moved affects living beings in the inside. Nov 12, 2015 at 16:29
No, probably not
We know that the fields at the world cup were packed with fans and tents so you have to ask yourself why didn't large groups put tents inside tents to give themselves more room? The only logical answer is that they can't.
Also you'd have to think that there would be a whole line of magical tents made for the very purpose of being a great place to set up your tents. If I could I would definitely buy a tent that's sole purpose was to provide a better place to set up my other magical tents. Giving me and my friends a central place to hang out a sort of shared common room if you take the main characters as an example. Where the girls are separated from the boys they could have had a common room to hangout together.
Yes, probably so
I really doubt there is any consistency to this, but if we operate under the assumption that the tents use the same charm as Hermiones bag it would make it impossible for Hermione to take her bag into the tent if this couldn't work.
So why wouldn't you?
As stated by @PeregrineRook It is obvious that you can indeed carry a tent within another extendable object, the real answer may be that witches(and wizards) know better than to get into a tent that is inside another extended object. Getting out of one tent in real life is hard enough if it collapses imagine a humongous tent that collapses onto another humongous tent that in turn collapses.
is it possible to remain inside of one when they are folded up/destroyed?
It definitely seems likely, throughout the entire Deathly Hallows book, multiple items seem to exist within the folded up tent and also within Hermiones bag, also Phineas Nigellus talks from within the bag when it is closed. I expect the point of not staying inside somewhere when it's folded is that you may never get out.
what limits the creation of charmed tents or charmed spaces in general?
Like most magic in Harry Potter there will probably be a limit of what can be done size wise, Hermione mentions that the charm she placed on her small bag was incredibly tricky.
The limits could be interpreted in two ways.
- The limit is dependent on the size of the item you are charming, I.E a small pouch ranging to a large tent
- The limit is dependent on the size of the space you want to create
Both points really have the same limit, if the size of the item you are charming is the limit then you won't be able to create a humongous space, if the space you want to create is the limit there's no point in charming something once that something is larger than the space you can create.
Summary
Without knowing if the charms are all the same and what the limits are for definite, we have no way to concretely ascertain whether or not you can open an extendable tent inside an extendable tent and so on and so forth. There are logical we can conclusions we can make to point towards both "yes you can" and "no you can't" we can also make some assumptions about the limits and whether or not you can stay inside once folder up.
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3"The only logical answer is that they can't." - maybe they just didn't want to? Why would you need a shared common room when the real fun was hanging out with quidditch fans from around the world, outside of your tent(s)? Also, money is always a limitation.– BergiNov 12, 2015 at 6:49
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1its like saying "the only logical reason you would camp on the festival area of an festival is, there are no hotel rooms around". maybe its just the amtmosphere as @Bergi was saying.– ZaibisNov 12, 2015 at 8:54
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@Bergi I didn't mean to say that everyone would be doing but that the logical reason we don't see any evidence of it is that you can't. Money is a limitation for some not all. Go to a festival and you will find everything from a guy who's sleeping on the ground or bumming tent space from a guy he's just met to someone full on glamping. The world breeds variety, If you think I should edit to make this more pronounced please let me know :) Nov 12, 2015 at 9:26
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@Zaibis It's nothing like that, that would remove you from the festival grounds, It's more like Glamping. Nov 12, 2015 at 9:28
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"what limits the creation of charmed tents or charmed spaces in general?" I'd like to add that the skill of the magic-user most likely comes into play as well, with exceptionally powerful wizards/witches able to create especially large spaces inside of smaller objects of increasing disproportion. Actually, size of the original container shouldn't be an issue if more charmed containers can be placed inside of it later. Nov 12, 2015 at 15:51
Dont ask me where i got this from, i dont know and i might be wrong, but ill still just put it out here.
The extended space charm does not extend the space itself but instead links to another space. Which in theory makes it possible to "stack" tents in one another, this will however prove to not be a good thing if a whole lot of people in tents depend on a single entry tent.
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1This answer seems to lack any sort of connection (either relating to the books or films) with the world of Harry Potter.– ValorumNov 12, 2015 at 9:18
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