10 Times Harry Potter Magic Made NO Sense 

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JKR mentioned the dementors being a representation of clinical depression. If you know anything about clinical depression and the things people tell the depressed, you will know that doing those things: "snap out of it," "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps," "write affirmations," "call somebody," and others, though easy enough for some people, are almost impossible for the clinically depressed, including bringing up a happy memory. So indeed it is a hard spell to cast a patronus charm.

re: the elixer of life: he needed it to keep quirrell alive, the same reason he made quirrell drink unicorn blood. he could possess people, but possessing them burned through them and made them degrade and die quickly, as he ran through animals in the albanian forests. quirrell was dying. he wanted the elixer to keep him alive until he could regain a body of his own. and canonically the elixer does not permanently give immortality, it simply keeps away death; you have to keep drinking it to be immortal. so he's not worried about quirrell becoming immortal; he would make quirrell drink until he got what he wanted and then he would discard him.

The Time Turner can be explained with a "Linear Time" system. Simply put, anything you went back in time to do already happened the first time without you knowing about it. So if someone died the first time that means even if you went back in time to save them then you failed to do so. Because Linear Time prevents time paradoxes from occuring.

Veritaserum is a potion that forces you to answer with not the truth, but the truth as you know it. That means if your memory had been edited, erased or otherwise tampered with, you would answer truthfully acording to those memories. Also, i believe it is mentioned that Horace Slughorn had carried an antidote to veritaserum with him ever since Dumbledore cornered him the first time. This means, that veritaserum is kind of like our polygraph exams, largely accurate but beatable and sometimes inaccurate.

I’ve seen a lot of fanfic suggest that the trace being useless for wizarding families and specifically to prevent muggleborns from casting is a feature and not a bug - they purposely prevent muggleborns from being able to practice magic over the summer, so they fall behind in class and it furthers wizarding prejudice against them

I have headcanon for a few of these in one. Magic seems to be less structured than you seem to think. I’m pretty sure the incantations are just words to train your mind to imagine the effect you want, and the reason they’re old sounding is tradition. But we know Magic exists in other languages and places. So when you want to invent a new spell, you need a very vivid inner mind, a clear imagination and strong willpower. You envision what you want the spell to do, train your mind see the effect you want, such as bubbles. I’d say “Bubbley Boo!” and in my minds eye I envision bubbles, while using a wand movement that does the same thing and feels unique to that effect. Lastly, I use my mastery of magic to “form” the magic into bubbles the way I might bend my hands in front of a lamp to get the shadow puppet I want. It’s about shaping your magic into the result you want, and having a movement and phrase that helps train mind and body to accomplish it. It’s essentially a Pavlovian response like a cat coming when it hears a can open… when my mind starts flicking my wrist in circles, and I say “Bubbley Boo” my mind, body, and magic all get on the same page and the result is magic bubbles flowing from my wand. Then, I can teach my new spell to others and it’s easier for them because I can show them what the result looks like, I can let them hear my awesome incantation see my epic wand skills. Then, when I become the bubble master and my body is used to the visual and the feel of the flow of magic I no longer need the words… I can just flick my wand and my muscle memory takes over and Bubbles! Eventually if I train enough I can cast it without a wand… I just shape the magic into bubbles on my own. That’s how I believe magic works in the Wizard World. I think anyone with enough dedication, imagination, skill, and most importantly a great understanding of their own body and the flow of magic through it, can create spells. I’m sure it probably could go catastrophically wrong, like people inventing new skateboard tricks or parkour moves.. one wrong move and snap.. This is how some powerful and skilled wizards can use magic without speaking, and some don’t even need wands for certain basic spells. It’s all about how well you can visualize the result, and shape the magic to match… the more stimuli you give your brain to assist, the easier and more reliable it is. So add in a wand, a movement and a verbal component and you have redundancy. You have a rock solid way to cast a spell, even in a stressful situation or when sleepy… because you have several different kinds of “muscle memory” focusing your mind and magic.

Another thing regarding The Trace that didn't make much sense to me: in "The Deathly Hallows" it's briefly theorized that Harry might still have the trace on him, but Hermione quickly dismisses this by saying that Ministry law dictates that the trace would be removed upon Harry's 17th birthday. Yet... the Death Eaters had taken over the ministry by that point. Depending on where or how or what controls The Trace spell... why or how would "Ministry law" stop or prevent Death Eaters who had taken over the Ministry from just extending or renewing it specifically for the one person they'd be looking to hunt down?

Another thing that doesn’t make sense: Why don’t the kids wear helmets while riding on broomsticks? Not even during their first lesson or while playing quidditch. Before their first game in Philosophers Stone, Wood tells Harry that after two minutes in his first game he was hit in the head by a bludger and woke up a week later. A helmet would have helped.

I always assumed the trace worked backwards. It essentially detects magic, and then checks if there is a registered magic user of age in that location and if not, they assume it’s the under age child known to live there. That’s why they can’t tell the difference between Harry and Dobby or why they don’t bother with magical families. I just assumed the “trace” was a way to “scare” kids into behaving and not using magic in dangerous ways or exposing the wizard world.

I like to imagine that, to create a new spell, you'd need the muggle equivalent of a PHD understanding in the subject. And even then, much like in our world, that in itself doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to advance the field.

re: inventing spells: all spells are invented, and the best magicians improvise. the idea that magic is always a scientific process of XYZ words + XYZ wand movements = XYZ results is nonsense. wizards from other schools use other incantations. magicians from ouagadou use wands much less altogether. the incantations are culturally specific, and I'd guess they have something to do with our subconscious. the magic you cast has to do with your mindset, your visualization. it's why dumbledore conjures a squashy armchair while mcgonagall conjures hardbacked wooden chairs - it's not that they're using specific, different incantations to create different chairs 🙄they have different ideas about the chair they want to conjure. it's why dumbledore says he knows tom riddle's style, because magic has a STYLE. it's an art form. the idea that you need specific, ministry approved incantations to perform specific ministry approved spells is a way for the ministry to exert control. why didn't voldemort create a more powerful version of the killing curse? which would be what, exactly? it does exactly what he needs it to do, there's no room for improvement. why didn't harry invent a spell to kill voldemort? because harry is not as good a wizard. it's consistently shown that MOST wizards are unimaginative and stick to what they were taught in school, and probably the fact that you can die if you mess up a spell keeps many of them from experimenting more. magic is elusive, mystical, powerful - magical people can alter reality at a whim. but most of them need the fairly tight focus of a specifically learned spell and a wand to do things. it always bugs me when people think magic in harry potter is this mechanical, brandon sanderson-style "magic system." it is not. it is poetic and wondrous, it is the physical manifestation of your imagination, and most people can't do much because most people have a limited imagination and a limited focus. it is bound only by the deepest mysteries - you cannot conjure love, you cannot evade death, you cannot stop time (and note that all three of these are ~attempted~, i.e. amortentia, horcruxes, time-turners, but all of them have extreme consequences and are not really the thing they are seeking).

And despite all the trouble with the Timeturner, she still approved of the Cursed Child.

The problem with your question of “creating new spells.” Is that ever spell had to be created and was new when it was created. I always thought of spells needing the correct verbiage, and possibly intent. It would be compared to potions. You have to have the ingredients and the method to get the correct outcome.

The super carlin brothers suggested that the trace is given to 1st students when they board the boats from the train the Hogwarts... i like this theory, since the following years the students always go from the train via carriages pulled by Thestrals.

In the case of the vomiting spell or the repair spell I can see it being necessary to identify the subject prior to using the spell's trigger word. Repair... repair what? The glasses. Ergo the subject before the action. In the case of the repair spell it may be possible to say it either way. The slug spell on the other hand needs to set up what's to be vomited first. Use the vomit spell without determining what's to be vomited could result in a fairly mundane vomit. When Harry uses the summoning charm it's entirely possible the spell simply won't activate until he names the object to be summoned. I might even go so far as to suggest that line of sight summoning may not even require naming the item.

The trace could be tied to the wands. Because prior to children getting wands or learning that they are wizards, sometimes inexplicable things happen. For example, Harry making the glass vanish at the zoo. No trace was on him then.

first off, reparo is only "reparo" in the books, the occulus is a movie only thing. And I think the movie implies that it works just like accio, just saying a latin term instead of "reparo glasses". There's instances of a similar spell, like in PoA they use Mobilicorpus (to levitate snape iirc) and Mobiliarbus (Hermione moves a Christmas tree in the three broomsticks when they are listening in The Sirius Black exposition group)

It always bothered me that the Ministry detected the Hover charm at all since it wasn't wizard magic at all. Since they did detect Hover, why did they miss Dobby's Apparating in and out of the house? I contend that a House Elf's magic shouldn't be detected for the same reason that a House Elf or an underage wizard could accompany an adult wizard in the boat to cross the lake in the cave. That boat canonically could not support two adult wizards.

Requiring animagous to register but not talents of magical beings is very governmental. Take weapons: some are banned, some require permits, and some aren't regulated at all

You missed the fact that felix felicis is way too overpowered. It says that if one drinks it, one will succeed in all one's endevours, so why doesn't Harry just drink some then go kill Voldemort?

ok re: the trace. consider that canonically there is a book and quill in Hogwarts that automatically notes the names of any child that performs magic within the british isles. it's how muggleborns are detected. it's why squibs don't get hogwarts letters. also, yes, the trace can only detect the conjunction of an underage person and the performance of magic. it's why the trace couldn't tell that it was dobby and not harry who did the hover charm, and why most wizarding kids are able to get away with doing magic during the holidays, because they're doing it in a magical house where magic is normal.

Quirrel (or any other possessed host) was dying from sharing his body with Voldemort. That's why he was drinking unicorn blood. Elixir of Life would've been much better, giving Quirrel the health and strength required to be a truly good host for Voldemort to possess until he could get a body of his own.

what do i think? i think you've completely misunderstood the nature of magic in the HP world, and think it's much more mechanical than it really is.

Something to say about the patronus being a hard spell to pull off would simply be... if it's any happy memory will do which it won't it needs to be a strong one. It requires both focus and ignorance in a way which when in intense situations can be bloody hard to do. See the Big one Harry does to save Sirius... The memory that powered that patronus was from the beach he was looking at in a way. He say waiting for his Father to turn up n realised the only person standing there was him... He saved himself and Sirius the God Father he always wanted. That's a place where he could reach infinite levels of joy and hope and love n essentially no negative could phase him no doubt in his mind. It may have been partially cause he seen himself do it that he didn't doubt himself but that's how the potronus works unwavering merciful intent.

I think this is very easily explained by the fact that people can create new charms for specific needs they have. Pretty much like phone apps, the first ones are very generic and then people create more niche ones

I’m sure it makes ‘more sense’ than anything in current Disney land…

re the trace: Its stated that magical parents are responsible for enforcing the rule of no under age magic outside of school. I can see the malfoys not caring and just letting their kid do whatever, whereas the Weasleys would likely be stricter about it. I also think the trace can be applied in a similar way to how people are selected to attend hogwarts. There's a book and quill that makes a note of each child born with enough magical ability to attend, the ministry could have a similar method. I think it's likely the trace was implemented to monitor the muggle born children or maybe something a bit more sinister

There are two things which are weird to me. Both start in the "Prisoner of Azkaban". 1. Dementors are only named when Harry saw one. Before that, they were only called "Sentinels of Azkaban" (I only read the book in German, so it could be the wrong wording.) 2. Nobody, not even Dumbledore, was able to create a corporeal Patronus, before Harry did. They only created a silver mist. After that, it seemed rather simple. It even was used to send messages in later books.

The truth serum (and the luck serum) could be cumulative poisons so may have a finite safe use

For Veritaserum, I’ve seen a fanfic use the idea that veritaserum can’t be used as evidence in court, which I really like the idea of.

Inventing new spells is something I've wondered about, too. Like, what do you do: come up with an incantation, wave your wand, and hope it knows what you want it to do? If it's a spell that's never been done before, how does the wand know what to do? Are wands fluent in Latin, and produce an effect based on what the incantation means? I don't know; it's getting weirder the more I think about it!

"Oculus" Reparo is an invention of the movies. It's just "Reparo" in the books. The incantation "Slugulus Eructo" came from one of the Lego HP games, whereas neither the book nor film gave one. If you want an example of an oddly specific incantation that was *actually* in the books, try on "Mobiliarbus", a spell that moves trees.

Time turners are one very easy thing to correct: The timeloop is fixed. When Harry and Hermione go back in time to save Sirius and Buck, they've already been saved by them when they're returning in time. That's how Harry is able to see himself and save himself, for example. So of course you can't save your parents or save members of the Order of the Phenix, they're already dead, if you could have saved them, you would have ^^ That, plus a time limit on the time you can return back to the past and it would do the trick. But alas, Rowling chose to just ignore this in the Cursed Child and so now it's a big problem XD

I always imagined that inventing a spell required a contract with whatever power in the universe allows magic. It's difficult. After the contract is formed then an easy, quick set of words are created to use it. Hence, few are able to do this

6:41 this one actually does make sense if you look at how the legal system works, like in the case of when a murderer won’t reveal the location of a body, people can’t do anything (even though in those instances they should) so it’s more a real world doesn’t make sense

I can't understand why Ministry officials who reach a certain rank (like department head, for example) aren't required to take an unbreakable vow against corruption. That would be treason, anyway (working against the law of the land in exchange for a bribe), so the punishment would be appropriate.

I love all these videos. I feel like there were around 3 or 4 of these mentions that can actually be pretty easily explained as making sense, though. Other than those few I completely agree!

14:20. This just came to mind. When Harry cast full patronus at Draco and Co., the whole school saw it. Then why, at the first DA meeting in the Hog’s Head, were the others so surprised at learning Harry could produce one?

With the truth serum, it probably could be because with death eaters and other criminals, people just say what they think is the truth and could not be true at all. With the Trace, I have a feeling that J.K never really thought of it.

The solution to the problem with the time turner is adequately handled. As in, nothing could be changed that wasn't already changed. I thought it was set up quite cleverly, as everything Harry and Hermione did while time traveling already happened. Therefore, it was not possible to make something happen that didn't happen already.

I agree the *Trace* was always rather iffy for my tastes. The only way I could make sense of it, was that the Trace is a magic that is constantly active and reacts to magic used by or around underage witches/wizards, with the exceptions of adult witches/wizards. In TCoS, Harry was sent a letter from the Ministry that they'd detected a Hover Charm used in his house and so they assumed it was him when in fact it had been Dobby, a House Elf. That leads me to suspect that since the "Hover Charm" was not used by an adult wizard in that area, the Ministry assumed it was done by Harry. the fact the Trace no longer works to sense magic used by a witch/wizard once they turn 17, it leads me to suspect it is constantly active but will no longer sense magic used by witches/wizards who have come of age. Of course there are further details to consider, such as underage magic used before one even knows whether or not they are a wizard/witch at all *Veritaserum* is certainly powerful in its effect of compelling one to tell the truth, but the problem with that is Truth can be skewed between what is true as a matter of fact or otherwise what is _believed_ to be true. Not to mention the usage of Veritaserum can be called into question as to whether it really is Veritaserum at all. Even if it's the real deal, one could argue that the person who was made to speak truthfully is deluded or fooled into thinking they are speaking truthfully. Like how Cornelius Fudge refused to believe Barty Crouch Jr was credible, believing he was a deluded lunatic who only _thought_ he was telling the truth. The *Philosopher's Stone,* in my opinion, is really not all that impressive. Sure, using it to have basically unlimited wealth would be cool, but JK Rowling later established money can't be magically created, whether actual currency or something of value like gems or precious metals, which kinda calls the Stone into question. As for it producing the Elixir of Life to make the drinker immortal, it still duzent make sense for Voldemort to want it becuz I don't see how he could have used it to create a new body for himself. Plus Dumbledore pointed out how Voldemort would become dependent on the elixir, which would have been something he would find intolerable. The fact one must continue to drink the elixir feels like a dbl edged sword: the fact one must continue to drink it to preserve their immortality is kind of a turn-off, but on the other hand it merits the idea of magic having limits so it duzent feel over-powered The introduction of *Time Travel* into any work of fiction is always gonna be a complicated mess to work with, and honestly the rules are always gonna change based on the writer's needs regardless of whether they established them, if at all. JK Rowling getting rid of the Ministry's supply of Time-Turners felt kinda pointless, all things considered. Sure, those particular Time-Turners are no longer usable since they're forever caught in an endlessly resetting time-loop, but that duzent necessarily mean new ones can't be created. The *Patronus Charm* is one of my all-time favorite spells in the Wizarding World, and I feel it works in its detail and its execution, if one duzent nitpick it all too much. In the film adaptation of TPoA, Dumbledore gave a speech on how Happiness can be found in even the darkest places if one only remembers to turn on the Light. I felt it was a beautiful and appropriate metaphor for not only the Patronus, but also for Hope and Joy in general. True, the spell requires a memory of real happiness in order to make it work, and that in and of itself is a positive thing, both literally and figuratively. Not just any happy memory will do; it must be of something profound and truly joyous, especially for the Patronus to reach its full potential. Harry was able to master the Patronus in that pivotal moment by realizing he'd already done it, meaning he could and he did, which honestly counts as joyful by the elation of realizing your potential is there and it can (and was) be achieved. *Spell Creation* is more questionable. How does it work? How is the incantation chosen? How is the effect executed? What requirements, if any, are determined? The fact that inventing spells is so vague yet warned by Luna Lovegood of how dangerous and unpredictable it can be makes me wonder how Severus Snape could have invented even one or two spells, let alone at least seven, when he was still a student! I'm not discounting the fact that even as a student Snape was a talented and capable wizard, but even so, it seems reckless and foolhardy for a student to even attempt inventing a spell when even a fully matured and talented witch such as Pandora Lovegood accidentally killed herself in the creative process *Transfiguration Ethics* should not be overlooked, in all honesty. Magic in general is a great power and demands both respect and responsibility. Transfiguration, or else any magic that would have a transformative effect such as turning a living creature into an inanimate object, could well and truly be dangerous in the wrong hands or if used by those who don't understand or respect its power. Many works of fantasy involve magic where a subject is transformed into something else, such as "The Frog Prince", but we don't really understand the full ramifications of such magicks in how they can be abused/misused and the damage they could do. The *Homonculous Charm* is a useful spell in how it detects human presence whether or not an individual is hiding or in disguise. I admit, I did not understand the spell when the Marauder's Map was introduced in the series, which is rather fair tbh since the greater intricacies of the Map were not explained at the time, only in how to make it work and deactivate it with the right commands. I recall Hermione using the charm when the Trio arrived at the Black Residence in TDHs to confirm they were alone and no one was lying in wait for them. I feel I should point out the charm did not react to Kreacher, who lived in the Black Residence, which implies the charm only worked to detect _human_ presences and therefore would not have detected a house elf. Let us not forget the Map was not foolproof, since it failed to discern people with identical names, showing Bartemius Crouch but not the Junior part, leading Harry to mistakenly think Barty Crouch _Senior_ was sneaking about Hogwarts when it was actually his son disguised as Alastor Moody The *Animagus Registry* always seemed, to me, a tad presumptuous. Sure, it is understandable to want to make sure magical powers are not abused/misused, but I think the Ministry underestimated the willingness some witches/wizards are willing to do in order to gain an edge. The Marauders (James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew) became Animagi to prove their dedication to their friend Remus Lupin and provide him with comfort during his werewolf transformations, but they didn't register, likely so they wouldn't have to explain why they became Animagi to begin with, tho this unfortunately allowed Pettigrew to go into hiding after faking his death and framing Sirius for his crimes while Sirius finally found the strength of will to escape by using his animagus form. Furthermore, Rita Skeeter used her animgus form as a beetle to spy on others and use what she learned to write her articles with facts that were twisted, taken out of context, or even outright lies When Hermione looked up the registry, it said there were an exceedingly few animagi currently around, but the fact that there were four more (unregistered) animagi (six if you count Hogwarts Mystery, like the player character and Talbot Winger) could indicate there are a lot more unregistered animagi out there than one might expect. Plus, Uagadou, the African wizarding school, had many animagi, enough to put together a performance of sorts, so the potential for there being many animagi, registered or not, is rather high. *Incantations* are the words uttered to cast a spell and sometimes they're obvious or otherwise obscure until you look up the words and determine their meaning or else the words they are based off of. Many spells in HP are Latin or at least derived from Latin, so plenty sound obvious or understandable, like _Incendio_ being a fire spell pr _Glacius_ an ice/cold spell. The Unlocking charm _Alohomora_ is more obscure until you learn it is of African origin and means "Friendly to thieves" so some spells are in other languages besides Latin Even the Patronus Charm _Expecto Patronum_ is not immediately understandable despite it being Latin-based and can roughly translate as "I await a protector" Incantations are literally the magic words in spells, and so they must be involved in the Creation of Spells

The inventing of spells actually came up in ootp with the spell that dolahov used on hermione

Children are born with the trace. Possibly all children but it doesn't become active until the child's first magical act.

For the homunculus charm, while the item imbued with it could be protected by a password or whatnot, I think perhaps they didn’t use it for the ministry or Azkaban because it works both ways? Think Lupin telling Harry if someone got ahold of the Maurader’s map it would be a map right to him…which then raises the question…why didn’t the death eaters or Voldemort use it then and make their own version? 🤔 Since the map only shows living people (and I think ghosts?), Voldemort could have just glanced at the map (or a map of his own making) after “killing” Harry in the Forbidden Forest and realized he wasn’t dead.

Yeah when they put a jinx on voldemort's name they could have put a curse on the unforgivable spells and be able to track where they were. I agree with the super Carlin Brothers that it has to do with something like the ritual going across the lake. Once you answer those boats and get across the lake and onto the Hogwarts grounds that's when they receive the trace.

a lot of people forget that Hermonie only went back a few hours at a time. the SuperCalinBrothers calculated that in all she'd have aged 2 weeks by the time she gave it up, ontop of that they also forget she was petrified for quite some time in second year and hadden't aged. so she was actually younger, than she should have been.

Dumbledore explained the Trace in HBP, when Harry asked how underage Tom Riddle was able to murder his family. The Trace is simply this: The Ministry monitors the homes and neighborhoods of underage magicals who do not live with of-age magicals. That's all. (Usually that's muggle-borns.) The Ministry wants all kids to believe that it's more precise than that, to discourage them from using spells, but it's not. I understand why most people believed in the Trace in DH, and I have no idea why Harry forgot that.

One thing that always puzzled me was the "Dark Arts",they seemed to be condensed into the unforgivable curses because if you can cause a)blind obedience,b)pain and c)Instant death what more do you need?

About the transfiguration ethics: In the first movie you can see a blackboard in McGonagalls classroom which shows the process of turning a snail into a teapot. You basically rip the snail apart, transform each part individually and then put them all together again. That sounds rather painful to me

The stone could have been used as a backup plan

The Elixir of Life was more than just a life extender. "The Elixir was also able to restore a disembodied but earthbound soul to full life, creating a body." And it's also stated that Voldemort used unicorn blood to sustain himself. Indicating that had he not done so, he wouldn't be able to have any form in the physical world at all. Getting his hands on the elixir would basically have served the same purpose as the dark ritual did in Goblet of Fire. Except he also wouldn't have had Harry's blood in him, making him even more powerful! The Philosophers Stone was destroyed for that very reason, that it was a way for Voldemort to come back very much alive.

22:21 How about when shamus finigan and hermione used ‘Acio’ to summon fish from a river, acio dosnt work on human only their clothes why should it be any different for fish? (If anyone has a answer please reply it)🐟

I might have an explaination or a Theory: The trace is not a spell or incantation. Its more a bio-magical function of a magical persons body. We know souls exists, these souls indicate that there is a spiritual layer to life. In my opinion any magic user or magical being has a magical core and a magical reservoir, which begins to grow and fill with magic as the child ages, slow at the beginning, at a young age, but the flood gates open shortly before the kid would start puberty. And this growing magical core, radiating out so to speak IS the trace. Changes in that core are detectable at that age cause it isnt fully saturated yet, like it would be on an adult. Any spell cast is a spike in magic or a drain to the magic reservoirs. If a Teenager casts a spell that change is noticeable and detectable. The reservoirs are fully filled at about age 17, which is why they are considered an adult by the magical world. From now on their cores are so saturated with magic that the spikes become unnoticeable, basically fading. The ministry jsut observes these spikes, maybe via a large area enchantment, think of it liek a bubble shield around the whole country. Any spike within this field is detected and reported. These letters are not completely written by people, they are basically intertwined with the field. Thats why it has all the details of where, when and what. The ministry wizards just send it out after iut comes from the magical "printer" I would say it is plausible that the wizards arent fully aware of what teh trave truely is as most are morons. And i think it is plausible as it basically functions like surveillance. So lewts say you are a teenmager performing magic above the fiel, like on an airliner, it wouldnt register at all. (though i would hope that the field goes high enpough up.

It is more dangerous to invent new spells than to brew even the most advanced of potions, and it was mentioned in the fifth book and movie, that Luna Lovegood's mother died trying to experiment with developing new spells(Fulbert the Fearful died the same way; one day his spell went wrong and caused the roof of his house to fall in on top of him {This was explained in the Harry Potter Games}), that is why it has become more of a rarity to invent new spells than to invent new potions over the course of a few decades. Witches and Wizards more often died trying to invent new spells than surviving the success of having created one.

Even if Sirius were to have been questioned under Veritaserum he'd have said "I killed James and Lily, and all those muggles" because Sirius seriously sucks at communication.

11:30 Plus there is the bootstrap paradox, in which anything you would of done travelling into the past would of already happened in the present; so if Harry travelled to the past to save his parents he would of failed somehow because they were already dead in the present. O-O

Bombbardia maxima, the maxima part is added giving greater area of effect, so can avada kadava also have the maxima part added? Can you use akeo wand to disarm someone or kill them if you say heart or a major organ?

Besides the Gaunt girl. What if the sorting hat applies the trace, thats when they develop magic, then when they are fully trained, they graduate school, and lose the trace? Because Harry put Duddly in the snake tank at the zoo, didn't get a howler. Used lumos maximus, and blew up his aunt fudge let him off the hook. Got a howler when he used the patronus charm. So maybe the trace is bullshit, idk, i just confused myself a great deal. Love the videos. Ive watched them all, twice.

In regards to the time turners, it’s made clear that you can’t change how things happen even with a time turner. Harry and Hermione had already done everything they did after using the time turner in POA such as producing the protronus and saving Buckbeak

I don't mind some of these. The criticisms about logic of certain spells and inconsistencies of incantations for example. Magic, by its very nature doesn't have to make sense, that's why its magic, not science!

Never understood why Dobby's magic was detected, in detail, but just couldn't tell it wasn't Harry performing it

On number 2, I could see it being a case of they didn't trust him, he was a potion maker himself, he could probably make an antidote making his confession/innocent suspect.

My only thought about Veritaserum being highly restricted is that it’s in short supply. Maybe the ingredients are hard to find, the ingredient sources are extinct, or the recipe has been lost. Hence, even 3 drops would be too much to spare on usual crimes…like freakin’ murder.

With regards to the trace, it is only cast on under 17 year olds but all magical folk are registered, so in a magical family home, if a spell was cast by an adult it wouldn't register on the trace. When Dobby used the Hover charm in COS there was no other Wizard registered in that area and therefore assumed "must" have been cast by Harry.

The partronus is difficult for kids to conjure and such a big thing for kids to do because it takes a very powerful happy memory which a lot of kids don’t truely understand. Like the example harry tried using the memory of the first time he rode a broom. Which to a kid would be a happy memory. But definitely not that powerful to create a patronus

The real problem with The Trace is that it cannot determine who cast a spell. So when Arthur, Fred, and George try to go to the Dursley house by Floo network (book only), when Arthur blows out the Dursley's bricked up fireplace, that should, by precedent, have been blamed on Harry same as Dobby's Hover charm was. And Harry summoning the Knight Bus by accident probably was also use of magic, though since the Ministrybchose to gloss over what Harry had just done to Large Marge, I guess calling the bus was nothing of consequence.

I always thought it was strange that Dobby cast a spell at the Dursley's and Harry got in trouble for it but later on, Tonks cast a spell at the Dursley's and Harry didn’t get in trouble.

re: the patronus charm: come on. the person writing this has clearly never experienced depression or sadness or any other negative feeling, which are not solely the result of dementors. it requires you to genuinely feel happy. it's hard for anyone to genuinely find a sliver of happiness inside you at a moment's notice in a bad situation. and note that it doesn't have to be a "memory" - harry conjures one during his OWL by imagining umbridge sacked. any truly happy thought will do.

The Trace Is more sinister than that. It is a magical Jinx like the one applied to the name Voldemort that requires the MM to maintain constant awareness of all magic being cast in the proximity of any Child in the UK - thus the location of all UK children is being monitored by the Magical Government. In areas where Wizards have villages or homesteads the magic cannot be traced to the caster and thus if a child is there determining whether they cast a spell is impossible to distinguish from another magical user casting an active spell. The worst thing about this is that the MM doesn't ever use this ability to protect abducted children who they have under the spell even though they could, they only use it to identify casting of magic by/near Muggleborn children.

I think in regards to creating spells, not just anyone can do it. I believe Snape here has been severely underestimated. Remember that he was Voldemort's death eater. This meant he was recognised by one of the world's most powerful wizards of his time as worthy to represent him. Snape was an exceptional wizard. His abilities at magic were astounding. His occlumency was so on point not even Voldemort could see he was being betrayed. His understanding of potions (as well as herbology related to potions, and dark magic on top of that shows he is a well versed wizard. He clearly has an innate, round, understanding of magic. So him creating spells doesn't seem that far fetched. Especially when you realise he can fly as a wizard which is a consider highly advanced magic. Only person I think who'd be a match would be Hermione. Now if Hermione had been bullied, and had no friends, spending time alone all the time not having to save the magical world... I can very much imagine she'd have created some spells too Like the patronus and the cruciatus, there has to be intent too. Maybe "saving the world" was too vague to create a spell to stop voldemort.. and wouldn't be applicable because Voldemort's soul was split. But I'm sure if Hermione put her mind and heart into it, she could create spells. But because she's an exceptional witch

My takes/"solutions" to those "issues": 1) The Trace - We know that the first time a witch or wizard showcases magical abilities, their name is written down by the Quill of Acceptance at Hogwarts. Seeing how this possible, a similar quill likely exists at the Ministry of Magic, which puts the name and age of these new magic users in a registry, marking them until they are 17 years old. Some places (like Quidditch fields and Hogwarts) are probably dead zones but in all other cases, every use of magic around a minor will cause an alarm. A system that off course only works properly on muggleborns and my guess would be that this is actually by design! There are several hints throughout the books that even outside the Death Eater community, a large part of the magical community is in fact still quite supremacist and xenophobic, don't look further than Hagrid for example. The Ministry has put this system into place, knowing they would overpolice muggleborns (magical parents are expected to deal with their offspring themselves) and they are perfectly fine with that. Like certain countries now also have laws in place, knowing it will affect minorities more than the general populance and this too is by design. Voldemorts ability to kill his parents undetected (the Ministry went to investigate because the coronor couldn't find a proper cause of death), indicates that the Trace is a recent law, possibly pushed by groups around the Malfoys for example. Why not use it on prisoners, probably a privacy law. When you are allowed to leave Azkaban, you are no longer considered a criminal, hence don't need follow up. If you were still considered a criminal and therefore dangerous to society, you'd remain in prison. 2) Veritaserum - Interesting thought but what is truth? Is the truth one tells when under the influence of Veritaserum the actual truth or only what they perceive to be the truth. Because if it is latter, Veritaserum would likely be as useless in court as a polygraph test. And we see hints of this in Crouch Jr. telling. He was dazed before giving the potion which made it impossible for him to resist answering but everything he told Dumbledore where the things he believed to be true. Voldemorts actions for him, he portrayed almost altruistically as his master coming to save him, while we know that if Voldemort had a better choice, he would have gone with that and not necessarily bothered with Crouch Jr. 3) Elixer of Life - It is specifically mentioned that the Elixer of Life would have been a viable way to bring back Voldemort in full and with some extra but once he had his body and power back, he would return to his Horcruxes as only security. And it is entirely possible that at some point, Nicolas Flamel, in his 600 years of life, was disembodied before and used the Elixer once to return that way. (He would have survived disembodiment due to lingering influence of said Elixer) and we know for a fact that Voldemort wasn't the first to be disembodied in history as his resurrection potion was specifically called an obscure and ancient form of dark magic. So, the Elixer can in fact do what Voldemort wanted it to do but the immortality buffs it granted, he would no longer need. 4) Time Turners - Everything with paradoxes are a difficult one but still, the reason why you wouldn't use time turners in the way many fans suggest, is the Butterfly Effect. You don't know what you will change if you go back (unless it is closed loop scenario) and alter time. And harsh as this sounds: saving Lily and James Potter would be a terrible idea as you would also bring back Voldemort who was at the height of his power. Their lives were a fine sacrifice in exchange for the lives that were saved with Voldemorts disappearance. 5) Patronus issues - I don't really see this as an issue. It is made clear that it has to be the exactly right happy memory to work and that's not easy under the best of circumstances, let alone when under the pressure. And there is also an interesting parallell with medical issues: a lot of medical issues worsen under stress. Guess what causes a lot of stress: suffering medical issues ... 6) Inventing spells - Well, they have to come from somewhere and it is highly likely that with a lot of things, there has been a lot trial and error to invent effective spells. I would compare it with math. There is a lot of complex mathematical equations invented through history by people with a mathematical inclination and likely something similar is at foot with magic. If you have a predisposition towards understanding the workings of magic and how spells can be created, you can your insight to create your own and build upon others. Spellcraft is probably a whole field of study in the magical community, similar like we have physcis, chemistry and again, math. For someone outside these fields, it will be all gibberish but for those in the field, it will be likely lot clearer. 7) Transfiguration ethics - Well, it is a bit like animal experimentation in our world. The ethics are at best loose and bare-bones, and the question is always what you want to prioritize: furthering knowledge or animal wellfare. Transfiguration on other humans will likely be very much frowned upon outside certain safe and controlled settings. 8) Homonculus Charm - Privacy is the keyword here, I believe that the magical community has a very strict policy on privacy. Especially seeing how magic can be used and abused in regards of privacy violations, it is highly likely that is very frowned upon for institutions to spy on others like that. Even in our world, there are countries with very strict privacy laws, so this is likely while official institutions don't use this charm. With the Marauders, it isn't like they were ever against some rule breaking, now were they? 9) Animagus registration - I would compare it to permits for guns or driver licenses. You have to register to avoid abuse because how easily it can be abused and with legitimancy (which might also have a register for it, we can't be certain), there is the fact that it can be both felt as well as countered. Animagus is a bit different (like, if you are falcon, you could spy on people from vast distances...) 10) Inconsisent spell-naming: I think this is more a case of: hey, this incantation works, why bother changing it with something else, even if it is easier. It is highly likely that reparo glasses works just as good as oculus reparo but the former stuck already, so people don't bother using the other. People are creatures of habit after all. I see it enough in my job, there might be easier ways to do something but often people are so used to doing it one way, they simply won't bother. (The example I think off, there is an applice at my work that has a built-in timer for tests but most colleagues with go and look for seperate timer, because they are more used to it.

The time travelling worked in Harry Potter because it was only a matter of munutes and hours. If you were to travel back to save Harry's parents, thwn would you be able to travel forwards again, or would you have to live out all your years alongside baby Harry while teenage Harry has travelled back to aave his parents, and thus having 2 Harry's?

The spells are likely so specific because they likely those started out with a more general version (such as "reparo") and were refined into a specific utility spell ("Oculus Reparo"). There's probably thousands of specific spells people use everyday that have been refined down. Hence why it takes so many years just to learn enough to get by in society but there are still specialists. You have to keep in mind that these stories are told not only from a child's perspective, but one that's never even had an inkling that magic exists for the first 10 years of life.

It is entirely possible that "the trace" is a spell that has a really long and wide area of effect. If anyone under the age of 17 with any magical abilities comes within its sphere of influence, the trace is installed. It's a powerful bit of magic that needs several casters to perform, the same way the shields around Hogwarts are raised. It takes many witches and wizards to put those shields up and the shields have quite the substantial sphere of influence. The trace is however a low effect spell that only binds itself to young ones with magical abilities. In fact, the reason for 17 years of age might actually be a side effect of the spell being effective only on anyone under the age of 17. It's the spell that sets the age, not the caster. And the spell might not even be a humanly developed spell, but something that just exists in magical nature.

in the series there are multiple ways to become immortal, but what if you achieve all of them?

The inconsistency of the incantations is actually consistent , as they’re mostly rooted in Latin . Word like summon (accio) would come before the noun while the noun usually becomes before the verb or adjective In most other cases (like sluggulus erecto)

So, could you, theoretically, create a spell that would essentially behave the same way as, say, the cruciatus curse, but wouldn't be called "cruciatus curse" and therefore would, technically, not be an unforgivable curse? And even if the status of an unforgivable curse was connected to the overall effect, you could just change the duration or magnitude, and it would objectively be a separate spell... 😅

What bothered me the most with the Trace was something you already mentioned. Some young magical kids were homeschooled. How did the trace work for that? Did the parents of the homeschooled kids have to get a special license from the Ministry of Magic to allow their kids to do magic at home, perhaps only at certain times of the day, that wouldn't trigger the trace? And if that's the case, there would be some magical families that would bribe someone to get them a license even if their kids went to Hogwarts. There are those that say the trace only applies to muggle born to prevent them from doing magic in the non-mag world...perhaps that's the case? And as for Mad Eye Moody saying anyone doing magic to get Harry out of the house...if they planned it so Harry disapparated from inside the house just one second after he turned 17, then the trace wouldn't be on him and he could have gone anywhere...without being found or killing Hedwig. I dunno. But it's always bothered me.

I always figured that the trace tracks wandless/juvenile/unrefined magic.. thats why dobby a magic registered (perhaps the ego of the wizards who created the trace had them think that kind of magic was juvenile

The patronum thing is so loaded. I think it can reflect mental health/ state. Bad memories tend to stick, good memories tend to fade away

Always wondered why Lupin couldn’t magic himself better clothes / magically fix the ones he had, or get a decent job in the muggle world and use his abilities to cover up his monthly absences.

Even as someone who has written three book-long fanfics, I think there's something we occasionally need to remember. Rowling ("they who must not be named") wrote a kids' book in the style of Roald Dahl. Bits of it were put in for laughs, and the magic was just a plot device. It wasn't meant to be taken so seriously. Then it got popular and the rest of the series got out of hand. So not everything adds up. In my own books I've tried to explain some of the apparent paradoxes she left behind. Sometimes you can't explain other than to say, "Magic, dudes". Don't get me started on the stuff she came out with after the series finished...

What makes no sense is, that you can't "make" food out of nothing but you can create objects out of nothing. And where do the disappeared objects go when wizards make things dissappear

re: the inconsistency of incantations: "shouldn't slugulus eructo just be eructo, a general vomiting spell, that you could then tack any number of other modifiers onto?" yes, that's exactly what it is. there is no specific slug vomiting spell. the incantation just helps people concentrate; a more specific incantation can help people concentrate better. it's why hermione says oculus reparo instead of just reparo; she's helping herself concentrate because she's a beginner. do i think all wizards know this? no. do i think this is a generally understood aspect of magical theory that people like dumbledore, mcgonagall, snape, voldemort would understand? yes of course.

19:32 The law requiring Animagi to register with the Ministry or else be sentenced to Azkaban is its own loophole. It implies there was a period in time where at least 1 unregistered Animagus was caught and sentenced to Azkaban. However, we know Sirius Black was only able to escape by slipping into his dog form to break out undetected. Despite Sirius's status as an Animagus being unknown, one would expect the Ministry to have anticipated and prevented this exact situation if they had previously incarcerated other Animagi.

I seem to remember that making new spells is similar to programming and takes a lot of experimentation and many wizards die in the process of creating them, so not many do it.

I do agree the Patronus is confusing but if your happy memory is of someone who has passed away (like parent, sibling, grandparent etc) not only would caster be happy but it would make them sad too, which would make the spell hard to cast if there is more then one emotion in mind

The major thing with the time turner for me that makes no sense is that they say multiple times that you can’t be seen but Hermione used it mainly to do classes. Pretty sure she would have been seen in those lessons by 20- 30 other people

With regards to the Trace, the most likely case is that the Trace isn't a spell that is actively cast on people but rather is a spell that was cast on all of the UK sometime in the past that specifically tracks spellcasters below the age of 17. This explains why the age of majority in the Wizarding world around the UK continues to be 17, an age that would generally be perfectly fine for majority sometime in the 1800s, while the modern world had almost universally moved to age between 18 and 21 for majority. We only have the perspective of the UK here, so it's possible other countries have their own forms of tracking underage magic but a spell cast on the land itself similar in nature (but nowhere near in specificity) to the marauder's map make the most sense.

The way I read the books was that the trace was made to keep wizards secret. therefore they only care about children who live with or around muggles using magic. I always assumed the trace is not placed upon children personally but more likely the trace is a general spell that works in a certain area. I always thought of childrens magic to be different and more raw/ chaotic than a trained adult's so maybe the trace can tell the difference. almost like how we can tell someone's age by their voice, the trace "sees" that a person is underage when using magic.

occulus reparous (i probably wrote that wrong) is only used in the movies reparous is the spell used to fix stuff hermine used reparous once in the hogwarts express when ron broke a the glas part of the door

As far as inventing spells goes, I like to think that they're not "invented" but "discovered." It's not so much inventing a new spell, but finding the correct parameters for casting the particular effect you're trying to bring out.

you heavily underestimate the patronus charm. Harry was only able to cast the patronus charm upon creating his happiest memory, since he didn't HAVE one. And it's just just "thinking of your hapiest memory and shouting expecto patronum". It's focussing everything you have into it, putting all your energy into it. Living it, basically.

No 1. The trace: I think it was Snape who once said most wizards don't have an ounce of logic. That would explain not tracking criminals and a lot else.

Love your videos!!

Why didn't the trace work when Harry freed the snake at the zoo before he started at Hogwarts or when he grew his hair back when Aunt Petunia gave him a haircut?

My Trace theory is that it is cast permanently on whole Brittain, even on muggles, and in this case will be Thrace used to find mugleborn wizards when they use any form of magic first time.

7:20 How does it feel to share an opinion with Umbridge? She is, as far as I know, the only one at the ministry who agrees that Veritaserum should be used a lot more in trials. She even tries to illeagally slip Veritaserum to witnesses' cups of tea (Jacob being an example; she spiked his tea before the trial against Kazuhiro Shiratori)

The spell-inventing phenomenon doesn’t trouble me that much. The way I see it, the Voldemort example with avada kedavra can probably be explained by some kind of spell version of Newtonian laws, whereby magical acts as fundamental as causing death are binary, absolute state changes and therefore cannot be reconfigured more or less powerfully through spellwork. I would think that, since all spells must have been invented somehow, spells can certainly continue to be invented. The invention of spells is probably a very difficult and obsolescent art relative to the average wizard of more modern generations. I would think it’s akin to the status of philosophy amongst muggle disciplines. There might be many different frameworks and principles developed throughout the ages, but the defining quality that allows new spells to emerge is whether or not they can introduce the reality of an act that is already possible within given basic laws but has yet to be executed. And since my favorite character is Snape, I just wanna add that it totally makes sense for him to have picked up spell writing since his relationship to potion making is already so self-directed and discovery-oriented (as seen in his advanced potion making notes from book 6). I think it’s a lovely a totally believable touch to snape’s character that he would be skilled in such an esoteric practice that few wizards are capable of. he clearly sought refuge in studying the depths of magical metaphysics in his younger years. I’m sure Dumbledore and Voldemort have also authored their share of spells.