94
We don't need to argue about reproductive fitness to explain this.
Here in the real world, the fertility rate falls off as the standard of living increases. Until quite recently, the magical community has had a much higher standard of living than Muggles. (Arguably, they still do!) So we would expect their fertility rate, historically, to be similar to ...
88
You're looking for the Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud, the first book of which is "The Amulet of Samarkand"
A brief summary of the trilogy from the wiki (spoilered for those who haven't read the series yet):
Each of the three books is named for a magical artifact or spell: the Amulet of Samarkand, named after the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, ...
67
The best explanation is that the first two Discworld aren't really "Discworld" books as much as they are "Rincewind" books. They're much more aimed at being parody of a large number of fantasy genres than they are designed to be a unique work that starts a brand new franchise.
There's tons of inconsistencies between the early books and the later. In the ...
53
First let me say that I don't believe it is a real spell.
The thing we need to realize is that Ron did not know enough spells to differentiate between fake and real spells. Mr and Mrs Weasley would have used Nonverbal Spells at home.
We also know that Ron blindly trusted his brothers which is normal at that age.
Instance 1:
“So we’ve just got to try on the ...
53
Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs.
The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials.
Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes:
‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke! Now, after a Kwikspell course, I am the centre of attention at parties and friends beg for the recipe of my ...
51
Crucio
From the Order of the Phoenix:
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before; he flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, 'Crucio!'
Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had – she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry ...
50
The use of the word "discovery" is used in another instance in the Harry Potter books:
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS
Considered by many
the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous
for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the
discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood, ...
49
If you take this statement from Rowling at face value then anyone at any age would be able to use instinctive magic:
You can do unfocused and uncontrolled magic without a wand (for instance when Harry blows up Aunt Marge) but to do really good spells, yes, you need a wand.
from 2001 interview
Additionally:
I'd speculate that Lily's sacrifice for Harry ...
49
It sounds like Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Published in 2003 but it looks like the German translation wasn't published until 2009. The film was 2006.
Eragon finds a dragon egg and it hatches. He bonds with it and becomes a dragon rider.
Big Bad Galbatorix has his own dragon and had all the other riders killed.
There are elves.
There was a film that a ...
49
Barty Crouch Jr, who has a lot of experience in both ends of the Imperius curse, tells us that its victims can be aware of their situation, although normally they are not:
‘But your father escaped,’ said Dumbledore.
‘Yes. After a while he began to fight the Imperius curse just as I had done. There were periods where he knew what was happening. My master ...
48
It's a snake oil subject from practical Hogwarts teaching standpoint.
He likely knew that for students like Harry and Ron, the best and only way to pass it is to make *&t up. The darker the better.
He also knows very well that the professor makes predictions up (e.g. Trelawny predicting someone will die every year, as Professor McGonagall indicated).
...
48
Given the context of the line (Voldemort complaining that the Elder Wand isn't making him any stronger than before), I don't believe Voldemort was referring to a specific spell or set of spells, but rather the power of his magic in general. He expected the Elder Wand to increase that power, but because he wasn't its true owner, his magic was instead being ...
48
She had no reason to use Legilimency.
It's true that the Veritaserum she uses on Harry is fake.
"It was [Snape], too, who gave Professor Umbridge fake Veritaserum when she was attempting to force you to tell her Sirius's whereabouts."
(Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 37, The Lost Prophecy).
However, at the time Umbridge (obviously) didn't know that the ...
48
Pratchett himself always claimed that all consistencies in his work were accidental so there almost certainly is an inconsistency. That's the first point.
Secondly Rincewind is a special case, he has a very nasty spell in his head that chases other spells away so what he says is probably his exact experience of trying to learn other magicks.
Thirdly Esk is ...
45
Sounds like Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife. It's part of the His Dark Materials series. In it, a character called Will uses a knife to make portals between parallel worlds.
45
There are several things to keep in mind.
According to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the cry of a mandrake is only fatal if the mandrake is fully grown. A juvenile mandrake would knock anyone who heard it unconscious for several hours, but its cry would not kill them. Given that the purpose of the battle was to delay (not defeat) Voldemort and ...
43
The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison
The Tomato-part checks out on this, as well as the titles.
Relevant part from the above wiki:
The alternate history is built upon two premises: the recent open existence of magical and supernatural species, primarily witches, vampires, and werewolves, with the human population; and the historical investment of Cold War ...
40
Good question - ultimately one for the movie though, since, in the book, Ron wasn't trying to transfigure Scabbers, but rather, beetles into buttons.
Here is what we do know about Transfiguration and Ron and good vs broken wands:
Even in their first year Transfiguration class, Ron (and the rest of the class) are unable to successfully perform ...
39
It's very possible that a lot of "muggles" just didn't know they were wizards.
The book that admits students to Hogwarts needs concrete evidence of a child using magic before it will write them down as being accepted to Hogwarts. That book was put there (and likely created by) the founders of Hogwarts.
Since Hogwarts was founded just over 1000 years ago, ...
39
According to Wikipedia:
"The Fisherman and the Jinni" is the second top-level story told by Sheherazade in the One Thousand and One Nights.
According to the synopsis, in the third century that the Jinn (genie) was imprisoned he swore to give whoever freed him three wishes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fisherman_and_the_Jinni
Therefore, the ...
38
I'd like to challenge one of the assumptions in the question:
... we can see many wizards in many really important situations/fights using very ineffective spells ...
emphasis mine
Are they actually very ineffective? Not necessarily.
Most of the spells we see used in combat are actually effective at lowering or eliminating the combat ...
38
I believe this is the "Old Kingdom" series by Garth Nix. I haven't read it myself, but my sister loved them growing up. Always told me about it, and how the bells can also be used for opening gates into some kind of afterlife/other world.
First book is Sabriel (1995). From Wikipedia:
When the current Abhorsen is overcome by one such evil and ...
37
The reason why there seems to be a bias is simple: Harry didn't grow up with wizards, and Harry's experiences are the ones we know. Given that the Dursleys gave him an inordinate amount of stress, it's understandable that he would have a few outbreaks like this while in their care.
Accidental magic certainly doesn't require muggles - Neville mentions his ...
37
It's perfectly possible to duplicate gold currency but it
breaks the law
has a tendency to evaporate
can be detected with trivial ease
JKR spoke (tangentially) to the first two issues in an interview in 2000
Q: It seems that the wizards and witches at Hogwarts are able to
conjure up many things, such as food for the feasts, chairs and
sleeping bags. ...
37
The Saint's Magic Ability is Omnipotent (聖女の魔力は万能です, Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu) by TACHIBANA Yuka. Originally a web novel, it also got comicalized.
Cover page of the 1st volume of the manga
From Manga Updates,
Sei, a 20 year old office worker was summoned to a different world after finishing some overtime work. But the person who had summoned her ...
36
Yes, almost certainly.
In the "Call the Producers" segment at the end of Episode 3, the Producer explicitly notes that Ms. Frizzle can't get sick because...
...she's magic
at which point we see an inexplicable sparkle coming off of her image on the screen.
Since magic (real magic) is evidently a part of the Magic Schoolbus 'verse, I think it's more ...
36
No, you've misunderstood the quote.
JKR isn't saying that the result would be violent because violence is what lies inside a Muggle (though it does sound like something the Malfoys might come up with) but that the result of a Muggle using a wand would be uncontrolled because the Muggle lacks the ability to control magic - that's the power that lies inside a ...
34
I get the idea that spells can be created by wizards from Order of the Phoenix, when Luna tells Harry about her mother's death. When Harry asks her if she's known anyone who's died, she responds
"Yes, my mother. She was quite an extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine."...
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