What Would Have Shaken Up Harry Potter?

In this episode, we discuss some of the things that could have shaken up Harry Potter. Enjoy!

Summary/Topics:
·     1:43 We need more varieties of magic! Specifically, wandless magic. Now it makes total sense, but there should be more to casting spells. Every spell involves waving the wand and saying something. Perhaps magic that could be done without a wand or being able to influence matter without the use strictly of a wand. Removing the wand from a person pretty much ends the battle.

·     11:06 What if muggles were find out about magic? This topic had been glossed over too much in the story, so what would the story look like if muggles knew about magic? Wizards would probably start by trying to find a way to obliviate every person in the world. When they realized it was impossible, wizards would begin to give muggles magical solutions to their problems. 

·     16:54 What would a wizard/muggle war look like? This would be a very interesting thing to see. Muggles couldn’t use technology as magic destroys it. And could a wizard blow up a tank or block a bullet? It’s hard to think about because we have no information to go on in the story as it is. 

·     22:18 Does the possibility exist for a magical monarchy? Several monarchies exist around the globe today, but could a magical king or queen be any similar? We know there is a magical prime minister, but not a monarch. What would happen in the wizarding world, and would it be helpful or harmful?

Having anything you want to hear or say? Click here for a voice submission or here for text.
ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.com
@thepotterdiscussion on Instagram
Sign up for The Quill and Ink Newsletter
thepotterdiscussion.com

Transcript

VO:
Welcome to the Potter discussion.

Oscar:
Welcome back to the Potter discussion, discussing Harry Potter fantastic beast in the wizarding world fandom. I'm your host, Oscar, and this is an episode 156. Thank you all for joining me today. It is a pleasure to be speaking to you today. Yes, we are talking about Harry Potter. I noticed they changed from the normal, but I was thinking about this episode a while back and I put it in the schedule because of, well, really one specific thing that really was. I don't know, I just had a thought, and I thought that would be a very interesting thing. The overall theme of this episode is pretty much like things that I would have liked to have seen in hairpower, things that would have really shaken up the story, things that we were really expecting and didn't exactly get, but also things that would have been devastating, but also interesting in a rather sick sense, if you can imagine that. So I have a couple of things that I want to talk about today. So sit back, relax, enjoy. I hope you will enjoy listening to the episode. I certainly will. If you have any questions or comments about today's episode, make sure you send me an email. My email is thepotterdiscusion@gmail.com that is thepotterdiscusion@gmail.com you can also send me a DM and Instagram. My Instagram is at the Potter discussion or Twitter, the car crash of Twitter. You can send me on there if you really want to, at Pot underscore discuss. That is at Potter underscore discuss. All right, let's get into today's episode. To kick off today's episode, I want to start with a little bit more of a general point, and I think this comes from my idea of magic versus really what was displayed in the story. So this little section is about spells and the fact that there are fewer than I would have expected. So my request is that we have more spells. So this really came from really my first couple passes through this story. And when magic was first being introduced to the characters, to the plot, it was really dawning on me that what was being shown and described was similar, but not exactly what I was kind of picturing. Of course, now it makes total sense that the magic that's in the story is the magic that has always been there. But I would have liked to see more diversity. And I think that is something that we were kind of cheated out of, because every spell you'll see is cast by a person holding a wand and then either thinking or saying a series of words, moving their wand in some kind of way, and then something happens. That is essentially how basically every spell is done. And what I'm really kind of asking for here is that there's more than just that. And if that means adding another step so we can have more diversity within the actual spells, that we already have or more what I'm thinking on the lines of, and that is more wandless magic because elves, house elves, they don't have wands. They snap and they can do all these sorts of things. We see Dabi cast a bunch of spells without a wand and he operates without a wand too, which is pretty cool, which actually I didn't realize wizards needed a wand to operate. It took me a while to kind of pick up on that. But it is a spell. And that is actually one of the few spells where you're not waving your wand and saying something and something something's happening, but you are making a movement and thinking where you want to go. So it is following the same kind of archetype. So wandless magic is what I think is a really good addition to the magical themes of the story because I think it would have a lot more excitement. But I think also diversity too, just magic in general because, of course, we have one less magic. I mean, we have potions and, I mean, even Divination. And, I mean, you don't need to want to fly a broom. That's all magic. But it's not exactly spells. Of course, spells have been cast and charms and so many things have been done to make those magical things do what they do. But it's not a spell actively being cast to perform those actions. So something like, I don't know, you could cast a spell to influence, like, the air or like a tree or something like in a battle. I'm imagining it would be so much more exciting because what I was thinking about was the Battle of the Order of the Phoenix between Voldemort and Dumbledore. When Harry gets out of the veil and Series dies. He runs out of Baltimore, voldemort appears, Dumbledore appears, and then they have that battle. What I was really imagining was it would be a lot more dire, I think, a lot more nail biting if there was more opportunity for a comeback and then, consequently, more opportunity for a character to be put on the edge of losing and miraculously come out of it. Because a wad is basically what you need to perform magic. I mean, with this idea of magic, we have the story. There's no way you can cast a spell without using your wand. Well, at least a spell that's effective enough to defeat Voldemort or Delamore. What I was thinking of is if your wand is removed, that really defeats the point of the battle. So the author couldn't really write a scenario in which a wand was removed from a person unless they were on the brink of death. It was symbolic somehow, or they were just losing. Like that was the end and they lost. For example, Voldemort, the very final battle between Harry Voldemort in the courtyard, they lost spells. They're pushing it away. Voldemort is losing because he doesn't have any horcruxes. Harry disarms Voldemort, he loses his wand, and immediately he dies. He falls apart in the books. He just collapses. I mean, both are not great ways to go. What does this mean? Well, really, again, going back to my point, here's what I'm envisioning for the battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore. So let's say that I don't know, because it definitely is in Voldemort's favor at the end, but Dumbledore pulls out the old sandifier spell and kind of gets all the glass. Maybe it's just a really hot shield. I don't know. So that's the science of magic. I'm going to make an episode on that later. What I'm thinking here is Voldemort would somehow remove Dumbledore's wand, or Dumbledore would not remove Voldemort's wand, and it would not mean the end of their lives if their wand was removed. I mean, it might if the only magic they could cast was through their wand. But say, for example, there was other magic they could cast without their wand, which is exactly what we're talking about here. So let's use Dumbledore here. So dumbledore. Disarms voldemort. Typically, this would be the end of the battle. We would be like, yes, Voldemort lost. Dumbledore won. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. But alas, no, it is not in our fantasy world here because there's more magic he can cast. And we saw you can kind of use your hand a little bit, unless that was like, I don't know what he's trying to manipulate a spell. If he thinks hard enough, it'll work with his hand. I also see he takes in. So when a lock spells at the very beginning, the first lock, and they're pushing and pushing and pushing, eventually Dumbler kind of takes control. And Voldemort, what he does is he kind of flicks the spells. He kind of gathers all the power and brings it towards him. But he uses his hand, and he takes all the spells with his hand, and he blows it into a huge snake. So we saw that kind of a spell. I mean, he used his wand, but that's kind of a spell. So if you could do that without a wand at all, that is exactly what I imagine happening. So going back to our scenario, double door somehow disarms wildmorge, like, all right, we're going old fashioned, and the battle just continues. That's what I would have wanted to see. And of course, this could also mean that with this, I would be happy with just spells in general, being able to be cast without a want.

Participant #1:
Okay, I'm trying to say 15 things at once. So if you can cast a spell without a wand, just any spell you want that is in existence, it should be very, very difficult, like two or three times more difficult than with a wand, because then that kind of defeats the point of wands in general. And you can cast every spell the same without a wand. What's the point of a wand, right? So you are much more powerful without a wand. That is kind of what I'm getting at here. And that's why I think it makes such a difference for a character to be disarmed rather than just that destroying their chances, or in a case of one of the very end, destroying them, but instead giving them more of a fighting chance. And I think this really spices up the story because we have battles now that don't rely on wands, rather that just rely on 100% on speed and accuracy. You could throw away your wand and still be casting spells. But the disadvantage there and why people, why you don't just chuck your wand away at the beginning of a battle is you're a lot more powerful with it. It's a lot easier to cast spells. You can gather a lot more. You can also cast spells, one hand winner, one wand. You can kind of manipulate magical matter better. So that's kind of my jumbled way of saying more wadless magic, please, would be pretty cool. And just kind of seeing what wizards could do without wands and really understanding the true limits of magic, I think, in my opinion, would be quite amazing. The next thing I want to go over a little bit is a disaster, an absolute disaster. Worst case scenario for wizards, the wizarding world just collapsing, just chaos. That is the element that I want to talk about in the form of Muggles knowing about magic. And this is a topic that is, I think, lost over too thoroughly and there's just too much that we have to assume too much that the story just goes, yeah, you kind of understand. You get it. Yeah. They don't want product, they want solutions. Anyway, let's go. So I really kind of want to talk about just what would the world look like if every single person on Earth and on Mars knew about magic? What even would be the first thing that would happen? Would the world still spin with the sun still shine? That's I mean, those are the big questions. So what would happen here? Well, I think the first thing that would kind of go on is wizards would try and find a way to obliviate everyone. I think they would pull a Fantastic Beasts and try and figure out a way to alleviate every person there is. Although I don't think that would work out very well as there is a number of things that could go wrong if they cast a spell that could possibly rip everyone's memory, that could go very wrong. And it would take a lot of magic, a lot of time, a lot of people, if they do it with a more manual, in a more manual sense, just like, for example, seeding the storm clouds to rain obliviative property or water, that of course could work. But in the one person, or like, say there's like 150 people worldwide who just happened to be I don't know. They don't drink water in like the 3 hours where it has the same obliviated properties and they don't go outside in that time, like, say, though, like that faction of the world and then they suddenly know and then the rest of the world just knows. So that was a long explanation. But basically there are a number of things that could go on with a number of different solutions that could be presented. So when wizards were just like, yup, all right, you know, there's no going back, magic is part of the world, everyone knows what would go on. Well then I think the exactly what they thought would happen would begin to happen. I think Muggle scientists would say like, hey, we're going to cure for this disease, could you help us out? And then all the firefighters and police officers and even like schools I'm sure, would just be like, we have a shortage of this, we need this. Can you help us with that? Can you give us magical DS? And the wizards would have to oblige. I think they couldn't say no to all because I think the worst thing about this is that there are so many requests that it is impossible to kind of gift and grant them all, but it's not that they're not willing to do it. So I think they would oblige to some of them because now that the cat's out of the bag, there's no point in refusing to help Muggles. Because I mean, if they don't, then Muggles would likely go after them, which actually is another point that we'll get into probably next. So I think the world would be a lot, a much better place, I think at least in the beginning. A lot of problems would be fixed, a lot of solutions would have been presented, a lot of magical solutions. I think that's a good thing. For the most part that's a good thing. But after a while I think it would be difficult to keep up with the world and I think it would be difficult for Muggles because they aren't magical and they would probably want to be. So they could just do the things that the wizards can do. They have to call the local wizard to get their toilet cleaned or their pipes fixed. They can just do it themselves. They can go whoop. And I think Muggles are going to start flooding the Hogwarts mailbox saying like, hey, can I go to hogwarts? They'll be like, no. And then they'll be like, oh, it's just such a flat rejection. But I think Dumbledore will think of something nice at least, because there's some element of, you know, gotta do something at least. So maybe he'll send out like a box of chocolate frogs. Actually that's not a bad idea. A magical candy to quell the wants and needs of the magical and nonmagical population, that's not a bad idea. It would be very expensive but it'd be worth it. I think he could probably put on his business card as a business expense a nice tax deductible. So that is really what I am imagining for another thing that could go wrong and another thing that I think would have been interesting to really read about in India harry Potter story. But there is a point next that I think is another absolute disaster, but it is more of an atomic bomb going off than a car crash. So let's move on. This next subject falls under the category of I would hate to see it but it would be very interesting that is a magical and Muggle war. This is a concept that I think has been explored mostly by Grindelwald and is something that I think we can kind of understand and know what would happen but also have no idea what would happen we wouldn't happen but we actually wouldn't. So psych but this is a concept that I have been very curious about and I think it is one of those things that is like a car crash and you see it and you can't look away but it's so much bigger than that it's like just a huge bomb being dropped on the world. That's really what I'm seeing here. You know, what? If the scene in The Crimes of Grindelwald when Grindelwald is giving his evil I'm evil speech now, now join me in the other shez. And then Jacob is Washington, like, going like, no, not like, not another war, not another war. And you see soldiers running and then this and that, and then the tanks and the troops, and then the final, like, the finale is the atomic bomb going off, of course, foreshadowing what would eventually happen. And Jacob's expression is exactly what I think. Would that encapsulate what I'm really thinking would happen here? So I think aside from the bigger effect, what I really want to see here is the battle to battle wizardtomuggle kind of interactions because when a wizard and a Muggle are battling I think it is interesting to see what would happen. I think the scientific aspect of it, too, would be interesting because if they couldn't use any electronic devices because magic just absolutely destroys those and then it would be curious to see if bullets go through the protego or if wizards if like a simple like Bombarda or even Bombarda Maxima is strong enough to blow up like a tank or something like that. But I think, without a doubt, wizards would win. I think the question is not who would win, I think that's fairly obvious but I think the question is like more how long would it take and what would happen afterward? Is it like a couple hours kind of situation? Is it a couple year situation? Maybe just like a couple months, you know, like a regular kind of time for award. So we'll really I mean, there is no way to really think about this that are actually seeing it in action, so there's no way we can really speculate how it could go down. But I think I'm just so curious to see how it would even be approached to be written or how it would even happen just in the first place because that kind of thing. It's so fascinating to wonder about really the interaction between the Mughal and magical world in this scale and on this kind of playing field because of course, I mean, the wizards, like we said before, would win in a heartbeat. One wizard could probably defeat an entire Muggle army, I'd say. Well, of course, it does depend on the army. And actually, what weapons want to say. A mid sized army with an average amount of firepower could be easily defeated by someone like Voldemort or Dumbledore, even someone like Snape or McGonagle. People who are still quite powerful. Of course, not, you know, Dumbler level, but still a lot of magical knowledge, a lot of tools in their toolbox and a lot of different methods for using magic. So I think that is without a doubt what would happen. Wizards would sweep Muggles off the floor if it really did come to a war and from there I think it would be very interesting because I think wizards would not want to go into a Muggle war because the wizard race would die out. Pretty much the only reason they stay alive was from Mary Muggles. And of course they did to stay alive. And it's fine. Of course, the people like Baltimore don't like it very much, even though he is he is not a pure blood, but like most people in the world, are half blood because there is no way that every person can be appeared. But there's just not enough wizards left. And again, that does beg the question of how many wizards are there? But of course that is a question for another day. But that's really why my thoughts on it, it would be fascinating, it would be horrifying, it would be interesting, it would be a wonderful experiment even just to be written out. I would love to read that. So there we go. That is my thoughts on a Muggle Wizard war, but let's move on. This next point was my inspiration for this entire episode. And it occurred to me while I was listening to another podcast it was not a Harry Potter podcast, but I don't know, I was pulling something out of the freezer, and I was just like, Whoa. It just hit me. And I was like, that's such a strange thing. That just might be interesting. And that is a magical monarchy. Of course, there are several civilizations around the world that still have a monarchy as a central part of the government, although few are have most of the power. For example in the UK, the Queen, I guess the king has the power of making suggestions and appointing a government. And the monarch of England is a divine person who is seen as very high up on the social scale. But the Prime Minister does have a lot of the power. That is what I was trying to think of while thinking of this point. We have a Prime Minister, there is a magical Prime Minister, but there is no King or Queen. And I was thinking what would happen if there was if there were magical royalty, that would be really interesting. I mean, palaces and castles that were not made for Hogwarts type places, but if a K nori Queen lived in a Hogwarts like castle or if they had their own magical entourage or something like that, that would be fascinating to examine mostly, but also really wonder how would that be influential on the story? Would the Prime Minister still have most of the power or would it be much more the monarch would be in the most the majority of control. The Prime Minister would be more of like a general in terms of enforcement of law. So this is kind of like the inspiration for this episode, this point, as most of these episodes go, because I think is a piece of the puzzle that's definitely missing. And I really found the idea of a magical monarchy intriguing because there's so much more to be explored. It's a category of magic that we haven't really well, I should say we, we know nothing about. There is nothing there for us to wonder about and think about when it comes to when it comes to a magical monarchy because it doesn't exist and it is still gone in the ether of either ideas or it was just never in fruition. And from what I could think of, the only somewhat equivalent is between the magical Prime Minister and the Muggle Prime Minister as we saw in The Half Blood Prince, the magical Prime Minister in this case it was fudge came through the fireplace of the Muggle Prime Minister who is in on the concept of magic. And they discussed, they have their conversations and just to get the rundown. And it's interesting thing that like this is kind of a web. The things that we didn't get are all kind of connected, for example, with the magical war. And if Prime Ministers are involved, then I would imagine Churchill had some communication with the magical world, which means that a magic, a wizards going into a war isn't as far out of the possibility as you might expect. And Muggles knowing about magic. Well, some muggles do. Muggles who marry wizards, witches, but also people like the Prime Minister, people who have people who need to have contact with people who are magical to stay in the loop. So the magical monarchy just feels like a natural next step and of course it would not be instituted now because monarchies have to go back, really years and years, at least hundreds of years to be instituted and for enough of the problems to be worked out early. So it makes sense today. But, of course, this is all speculation. This is all, what if that happened? What if this happened? There is no way of knowing, really, what would happen if it did. But that is it. There we go. That is the episode. I do hope you enjoyed this episode, this speculation with me. Like, you gain a level of thinking at least, you know, you kind of understand a little bit more about the wizarding world or you have some questions of your own. If you do, I would love to hear them. Make sure you send me an email. My email is thepotterdiscusion@gmail.com that is thepotterscusion@gmail.com, of course, Instagram at the Potter discussion, twitter at potter. Underscore discuss. And if you enjoyed this episode or you enjoyed this podcast in general, consider leaving me a review. You can leave a review on Apple podcast or spotify five stars if you would. But if not, tell me how I can make it. So, again, thank you all for joining me for this episode. And remember that happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. I will see you later.

VO:
This was The Potter Discussion.