The fun thing about the traps is that none of them actually mattered lol. The only one that mattered was the mirror, which was 100% secure. Harry actually put the stone in more danger by going after the culprit! Dumbledore seems to just have wanted the golden trio to start getting the hang of working as a team to solve problems
I also suspect he wanted to inconvenience anyone else who was going after the Stone so they wouldn’t figure out what the final trap was and couldn’t communicate it
Europe has a school for each country. Africa (a continent) has one school. India has 1, Asia has 1, America has 2 or 3, South America has 1. Oh and the economic of the wizarding world is no joke based on slavery.
i think the first silencing of the leaky cauldron is people noticing hagrid and recognizing him (smiling and waving, probably some "hey"s as well). then chatter starts up again until attention is drawn to harry and everyone notices him since he is super famous.
33:43 Yeah this section is a bit childish. The first two books are very much aimed towards children. But I do think a line from later explains this pretty well: "He’s a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don’t think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It’s almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could….” All the traps were pretty much useless, because only a person who wanted to get the stone but not use it, could get it.
It's not childish, the thing is that Dumbledore put those extra tests for the golden trio to check if they were really talented and brave. Dumbledore knew they were gonna try and steal the Stone.
The series of tests to get to the philosophers stone were (unofficially) never meant to keep Voldemort out, but rather to help Harry develop his strengths. The mirror alone was already a hard counter to Voldemort. He could NEVER get it from the mirror. Everything else was redundant.
And yes, Harry going down there almost let Voldemort get the stone because Quirrel could have taken it from Harry, but Quirrel could never have gotten the stone from the mirror.
You're not very good at catching inconsistencies, are you? If someone tells you that they're afraid of saying a name, that no one says it, and instead they call him "You-know-who", it doesn't take a genius to realize that you're supposed to do the same. And that's what Harry does. You literally proved it with your captions. 🤣
Omg I love how u noted ALLL your thoughts PLEEAAASSEEE DONT CHAAANGEEE for the rest of the series!! I wanna hear allll your thoughts for the rest of the books
19:23 Dang you dug up really hard for that "inconsistency". It got me thinking but I'm still not certain it even is one. I think the line "I just never knew you shouldn't" can be interpreted as Harry saying he didn't know you shouldn't say the name *before* Hagrid told him, which shows how much he has to learn about the wizarding world. It can also be interpreted as Harry not really undersanding the significance of using the word. Harry's been close to saying the word ever since Hagrid told him, often saying "Vol-, I mean you-know-who"
The Ministry of Magic is only in Great Britain. Other places have their own magical governments/law enforcements. Voldemort was based in England, and that is where he was the biggest threat. However, it's probably safe to assume that if his power had continued to grow he would have tried to expand his reach. Hogwarts is the magic school for all of the British Isles, so any witches and wizards born in that part of the world would go there. The ministry isn't really connected with Hogwarts, but because it is the only British school that means that everyone at the ministry are probably alumni. There are other magic schools around the world, although there's not much information on them. One thing that's very clever about the books is that the writing matures with the characters. In the first couple books where Harry is a child the writing is more childish. As Harry grows and becomes a young adult the writing becomes more adult. Speaking as someone who was a child myself when the first book came out the series really does read like it's growing up with its characters and readers. So don't mind too much that the first book is kind of childish. It will improve with each book. IIRC there's a magic quill that identifies children born with magic and writes them down in a magic book so Hogwarts knows who to send the letters to and when and where. It's not in the books, but it is in background information, so that should explain how Harry's letters were addressed to wherever he happened to be. I'm not certain, but I think the bit about The Leaky Cauldron going quiet twice was sort of two different things. I think the first time it was just a momentary break in the chatter as people stopped talking, looked up to see Hagrid come in, and then went back to their conversations. The second time was when people reacted in shock. The trio were definitely a lot better balanced in the books than in the movies. Ron was done so dirty in the adaptations. They took most of his good moments and either cut them out or gave them to Hermione. And it was a disservice to Hermione's character too! In the books she had flaws and got flustered and had trouble sometimes reading the room. The movies tried to make her too perfect, and it deprived her of a lot of personality. I always figured that Ron's sacrifice was deemed too scary for the movie, so they changed it to just have the horse statue get stabbed. It's a lot less impactful. Dumbledore basically tampered with the mirror in order to make it a safe place to store the stone. It's not how the mirror would normally work, but he used its ability to read desire as a safeguard. The mirror's magic would be able to tell if someone desired to use the stone for selfish purposes or if someone desired to protect the stone and keep it safe. So he hacked it so that the stone would materialize based on what the mirror sensed in a person. [Possible spoiler] The reason Quirrel couldn't touch Harry was because of Lily's protection. When she died she laid a charm on Harry to keep him safe, and it activated when Voldemort or anyone possessed by him tried to touch Harry.
This is awesome! 🥰 I actually read that exact same edition because I lived in Canada when I first started reading HP. A lot of your questions are answered in later books, but the scene with Dumbledore in the hospital wing explains quite a bit about the ending. Harry really did want the stone, to keep it away from Voldemort. Quirrell and Voldemort wanted it to use it for its power, so Dumbledore enchanted the mirror to give the stone to one who wanted it badly, but not to use it, so it gave it to Harry. (There is a leftover question since that implies the mirror can be enchanted to grant what it shows, so like why not use it to get whatever you want?) Also, the reason Harry burned Quirrell was because of his mother's sacrifice. It's explained more later in the series, but her sacrificial love is seen as a type of deep magic that thwarted Voldemort's killing curse, and settled deeply onto Harry (literally into his skin) protecting him. That's how I understood it anyway. I am so glad you are growing your channel and doing this series. Can't wait to see more! (P.S. I love that your channel is no TERF turf! 😅)
40:47 this is explained in this book... “But why couldn’t Quirrell touch me?” “Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.”
It's not a spoiler since it's not really in the books and you've seen the movies. Voldemort was mostly just a threat to the U.K. at the time. Well there's also the fact that some of the wizarding community are old enough to remember how anti-magic the world was. Dumbledore himself was born in 1881 and he's not even the oldest of witches and wizards. Dumbledore put a spell on the mirror to enable only someone who *didn't* want to use it to get the stone. Dumbledore explained everything in the hospital wing. Harry's touch burned Quirrell who was possessed by Voldemort because his mother sacrificing her life for his (that's explained more in a later book) gave him protection against Voldemort that lives in Harry's blood and skin. It specifically only works against Voldemort.
Yeah, Dumbledore is not old compared to Armando Dippet, who was headmaster before Dumbledore. He lived from 1637 and died in 1992, making him 354 or 355 when he died.
There are other wizarding schools around the world and also other Ministries of Magic. Although they're not called that in other countries. It's really cool. They go into those a bit in the Fantastic Beasts movies.
I don't think the tasks to get to the stone were meant to stop Quirrel/voldemort, but to test Harry. Eventually he will have to face a fully powerful dark wizard and it's no use sheltering him from this fate. Harry is protected from voldemort using ancient magic. Firstly at the Dursley's, there is a blood magic spell that not only protects Harry but the Dursley's as well. Petunia knows this, so doesn't want Harry to find other accommodation even though she is jealous of magical powers. Also Lilly put a powerful protection spell on Harry by sacrificing herself. The 3 schools in the triwizard tournement are the 3 largest in Europe. There are others such as Illvermorney in the US. Dumbledore cast a spell on the mirror so it would reveal the stone. Lastly Snape is based on a real former chemistry teacher at JKR's secondary school (Wyedean). I know former pupils who can confirm this!
I've read Jane Eyre and David Copperfield, and in this two book they suffer a lot of abuse when they were kids, and it's a way to make you feel instant connection with your main character, there are a lot of author that use this as a tool.
The Dumbledore on the back cover is the image of him that stuck with me since I first laid eyes on it. Harris did a great job, but I could never get used to Gambon.
fun fact, by reading a British printing you're actually getting the book as intended. There are quite a few changes to the words as written for the American copy (things like pavement -> sidewalk) beyond the obvious change in the title and references to the titular object
Love the video but you're killing me here girl lol... like a lot of the unanswered questions had answers right in that book or did you forget??? Anyways can't wait for chamber of secrets review!
The first thing Snape asks Harry is “Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” According to Victorian Flower Language, asphodel is a type of lily meaning ‘My regrets follow you to the grave’ and wormwood means ‘absence’ and also typically symbolised bitter sorrow. If you combined that, it meant ‘I bitterly regret Lily’s death’.
29:21 by the way, I’m pretty sure this is the only time in the entire series that the perspective shifts away from Harry during events that Harry is present for Also, you watched the movies, so: yes, lol, Voldemort can read minds. That’s how he knew Harry was lying
Really loved the reaction and hearing your thoughts on the book. Also really hope you keep going with the series because it is so very good! Ignore the haters. People feeling inadequate about themselves like to put down other people to feel better about themselves
I know there are quite a few magic schools and magical communities in other places, like beauxbatons academy in France, durmstrang institute further north and ilvermorny in the states, and they mention Charlie working in Egypt. But there really isn't enough about the international wizaring communities in the books. There's a war going on, and there's no way only those few places in Europe are affected or know about the situation. When people go into hiding, would they really all stay within the country? What are the rest of the witches and wizards doing around the world? I feel like that is one thing I would have really liked to see in the series.
I mean turning invisible isn't that crazy of a feat, anyone who learns it can do that, what's makes it op would be how long a wizard can make it last and how effective it is. It's the absolute hidden-ness (?idk words rn) that the cloak gives, it's durability, and how much it doesn't cost the wearer that makes it legendary.
The mirror of erised giving him the stone was theorized to be dumbledore's doing, that he tampered with it and tweaked the function of the mirror. But really you could also run it down to just *_magic_*
I don’t find the English owls thing to be a plot hole, bc Voldemort wasn’t a Europe-wide issue. Like, the rest of the continent knew about him, but he wasn’t terrorising them like he was the UK. I also take the author at her word that she planned much for the main plot arcs from book 1/2.
I like all the points you made in your video. I suppose a lot of children's authors get away with plot holes and some mistakes go undetectable because children are more likely to read for fun rather than critically. That usually makes reading children's books as an adult a little more challenging, especially if it's hard to move past these small details. Having said that, I read Harry Potter for the first time as an adult and really enjoyed it (well, as far as I was able to get before going into labour 🤭🤭). Very entertaining vide. Makes me want to read the books again now.
When you edited the comment about not looking into the lens, i thought "ehh, it'll be fine...". but then it actually feels so weird i cant really look at the video. This is not meant as a complaint, I would definitely forget to look at the lens too if it was me. I'll just listen instead, lol. Yeah, Voldy was UK based, I think the rest of the world looked more at it as a war in another country ending. and the ministry of magic is more accurately the *british* ministry of magic.
As a trans person I appreciate your words. Thank you. I gave Jim Dale a chance this summer. It’s just hard to hear Stephen Fry and not think about the interview that he did with she who must not be named. I appreciate all his struggles with mental health and that he brought a light to it, but also I felt hurt by his position. So it’s hard when you listen to somebody for 10s if not a hundred hours. I wanted to approach the Harry Potter novels with the critical eye. A lot of my own imagination can be brought to the stories during the process and of course there’s a lot of pollution from the movies, so I wanted to pay attention to what’s actually on the page.
My girlfriend’s aunt recommended the series when book 3 was already out and I was in my 20s, so I was never raised on Harry Potter. As an aut15tic person, though I don’t have a huge number of friends, and you know you are with these kids as they grow up and have friendships that I never really had, so it’s comforting to come back to them, and it hurts to let somebody steal that away
I actually think that Voldemort was only a threat to English wizards, it seems like Grindelwald was more willing to go outside the borders of his lil fiefdom
I feel that most people look at the British wizard is kind of backwater hillbillies, but that’s just me. Like eventually see who must not be named has world built enough to have the Quidditch World Cup, and people from outside of Britain are totally just having a blague at the British minister expense
I think that, as far as is the ministry of magic, a global thing, and the Harry Potter series it really feels local, and that’s why he’s talking to the Prime Minister of England, and not the insert all the other places, head guys and girls. Later and the fantastic beasts and where to find them I feel like the try to make it more international thing with the little deer that basically picks the pure hearted person. Cornelius fudge never had a Qilin/Qirin say you’re awesome.
vernon and petunia lying to harry really never would have worked and this is not even because they're stupid, because at least vernon is smart enough to bullshit his way into becoming a moderately successful businessman, the issue is just that harry had been silently observing them for over a decade, so he can 100% tell when they're lying. another thing is that wizards can, to varying degrees, tell when they're being lied to, which is an ability that can be trained to a level where one can almost read minds, dumbledore and snape are experts at this (which is why dumbledore often appears to blindly accept outrageous statements as fact), yet a wizard can also shield themselves from this ability, but muggles can not.
Rowling is incapable of worldbuilding to a serious extent because she's a fundamentally unserious author. The worst plot holes and shittiest writing comes about when she tries to be a serious writer.
First off - Rude! Second - Don't you have anything better to do than be judgmental on someone's page? She has every right to like or not like someone, how is her opinion of JK have any effect on you? Thirdly - What are you - eight? Grow up
You lost me at being able to separate work and author... In stating this you have made something fun into a flex of your political view. It's not small, it's not insignificant, it's injection of cancel culture.
Zon, it’s really toxic of you to be trying to cancel Emily just because she said something you didn’t like. You’re injecting cancel culture into this discussion.