Goblet of Fire, Chapter 5: Fred and George – Creative Geniuses?
Harry Potter is a lot of things: brave, determined, loyal, whiney (Order of the Phoenix only), but I would never call him creative. He’s talented at evaluating a situation and figuring out the fastest way possible to break all the rules and put himself in worlds of danger. However, he never goes much beyond that. He doesn’t imagine what is possible outside Voldemort possibly killing him or possibly not.
Fred and George Weasley, on the other hand, are teeming with creativity. They don’t just use magic – they manipulate it. They assess what is currently at their disposal, figure out what is lacking, and pool their skills to invent something new to fill that void. In the case of Chapter 5, what is lacking is quality prankster gear: trick wands and candy to fool your friends and foes.
Fred and George aren’t the only wizards who display their creative skills throughout the series. Hermione enchants coins to alert members of Dumbledore’s Army of meeting times. Dumbledore himself creates a deluminator to envelop himself in darkness at the touch of a button (and transport a lost soul back to his friends).
Harry doesn’t invent a thing.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there isn’t a single point in the series when Harry seems creative. He’s willing to stick out his neck, but someone else always has to explain the steps and get him to that point.
So I have to ask: does that mean Fred and George are better at magic than Harry? They aren’t particularly book smart. They aren’t unusually strong. But they are able to create, and isn’t that the true sign of genius?
Harry is good at a handful of spells and a few key tricks. He can fly. He can expell a wand from his adversary’s hand right quick. He can “stupify” with the best of them. But that’s about it.
Fred and George can give you a toffee that will get you out of class for a week.
That is a valuable skill!
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In Harry’s defense, he may not have invented anything or used wand based magic in a creative way, but that doesn’t quite mean he isn’t creative. After all, in HBP Harry came up with a creative way of giving Ron the confidence he needed without using magic or words. Harry’s creativity seems to depend more on actions than anything else. No, Harry cannot be called a “genious” (though he did figure out he was the true master of the Elder Wand), but, then again, the fact Harry is so ordinary is why he is so relatable.
Hear, hear!
Harry’s creative in reading people. That’s a skill all on its own. And it’s a very muggle skill.
I don’t think that they are any better at magic in general: after all, Harry was teaching THEM defensive skills as well as students his own age in Order of the Phoenix. I think magic is just like intelligence; I pick up languages quickly for example, but fall apart when I have to use mental arithmetic (ie, any time I go to the shops. Very embarrassing). In the same way, Neville might be the worst potions-brewer Hogwarts has ever seen, but he is damn good with magical plants.
There’s definitely truth to that. Without going into my EDU class work (cause none of you are here for that), there is a theory of varying intelligences. People can be smart in different ways. And honestly, it’s the only theory of intelligence that truly makes sense.
You said just enough to make me terribly curious for more… Maybe I just have to look it up online…
I think it is nice that there is a diffent to what people are good at.
If Harry is creative like Fred and George, or as smart as Hermione, or as loyal as Ron the books would fall flat.
It is like in the real world^^
I don’t know that I’d call it “creative” (more like “inspired”) but Harry *did* spot a way to free Dobby in CoS.
That’s about what I got.
That was actually the one moment that jumped out at me, too.
Yes. Harry’s “creative” genius seems to lie more in “How can I help someone?” than in “How can I bend the rules, or make someone laugh?”
Ooh, excellent point! Harry does have a way of thinking with his heart. Whenever I read that passage, it always strikes me as how lucky Harry was that his plan to free Dobby worked, because it seems so unlikely…
Even Hermione was impressed by Fred’s and George’s magic. JK Rowling has said that Molly was an exceptional witch, and with all the prefects and head boys in the family, it stands to reason that F&G would have more than their fair share of talent.
Still makes me wonder about Ron,though. What’s his talent? Loyalty? Wizard chess? (but when else does off a grasp of strategy?) Being adorably inept enough to catch Hermione?
What the hey??? I meant: (but when else does he show a strong grasp of strategy?)
Sheesh.
I think that’s why Ron has such an inferiority complex. He’s not nearly as cool as Bill or successful as Charlie. Even Percy, while a jerk throughout most of the series, rises through the ranks of the Ministry. Fred and George are wildly talented and popular. Ginny’s the daughter his mother always wanted. And his best friend is the only hope for all of wizardome.
What makes Ron stand out is that he’s not the smartest, the most successful, the coolest, the strongest, the best at sports, or the most beloved. And yet, he gets the girl in the end. He comes out a hero. He stays loyal to his friends and lives happily ever after.
Ron is also excellent at imitation and memory. There was no other way he would have been able to speak parseltongue well enough to open the chamber of secrets to get the fang to destroy the Horcrux. In the books, at least, there was no mention of Harry’s having spoken parseltongue in his sleep… In fact, I have often wondered if Harry could continue to speak it once he no longer carried a piece of Voldemort’s soul in his head.
I think Ron’s talents always lay hidden. He is always outshined just by being the youngest boy and friend of Harry it would be scary to put yourself out there because there was a good chance he would only be equal not better than any of his siblings. Since other family members had done it first it wouldn’t be impressive. I think he under achieves by choice so he can justify to himself that he didn’t try, rather than give it his all and fail. We can see though that he is very talented though because Chess is a difficult game. The moves are easy to learn but it takes a different kind of intelligence to excell the way Ron does. Hermione doesn’t excell at it because it isn’t memorization but strategy and reading you opponent. Just because his strengths don’t shine in Harry’s story doesn’t mean that they are not there. I think the fact that he is good at wizards chess also shows he is a good match for Hermione balancing out her intellegence.
I think Chess is also a game of cunning and Ron has more cunning than it seems at times. Can you imagine if Ron were sorted into Slytherin? Of course it wouldn’t have worked in the story unless Draco had been sorted into Ravenclaw; Goyle, at least, had been put into Hufflepuff; Fred and George into Ravenclaw; and if a dozen other changes, effectively changing the stereotypes we have of the different houses…
Harry is rather intuitive when it comes to thinking on his feet as chaos swirls around him. There are tons of examples, several of them noted above. Others from HP6 include the Draco-is-a-Death-Eater theory, the way he figured out that Draco was using Crabbe and Goyle as disguised lookouts for the Room of Requirement, and the way he played Slughorn like a violin to get that Horcrux memory. Even with Felix Felicis to pave the way, Harry still had to be very clever to take advantage of his luck. Just goes to show it is best to be lucky AND good. (Can you tell I’m in the midst of an HP6 reread?)
I think all the Weasleys are pretty exceptional wizards/witches.
I think the whole point is Harry is average. That even the average can do things great can’t. I’d disagree that the twins weren’t smart, Ron says they get good grades. I think they were genius, maybe smarter than Hermione, they just didn’t care about grades and graduating, they knew what they wanted, went for it and got it. They didn’t need owls, newts, and the rest. I think Ron wasn’t amazing at anything specific for the same reason Harry’s not, you don’t need to be amazing to do amazing things.
Well, he said they got good grades back during Philosopher’s Stone, but they only got about six OWLs between them. But I think you’re right that in certain very specialised areas they may well be smarter than Hermione!
I think the only reason they only got 6 owls is they didn’t care. Plus Hermione demonstarates what she learn from others. There is no evidence she learns new things about magic. Fred and George take magic new places that is harder than memorization. There explorations of magic are only towards fun but that doesn’t mean more important things will come from it. Hermione memorizes and applies, she just repeats.
On Hermione: in the film DH1 she describes her strength as “highly logical.. able to see that which others overlook”. And in book SS she solves the potion puzzle with logic alone. I agree that she is great at regurgitation and application but not so hot on innovation.
I think the curse she put on Marietta was a Hermione Original. (Or someone could have figured out how to cure it…)
Hmmmm. Perhaps. More likely she tweaked something she read somewhere. The good thing about being an information sponge is that useful tidbits get squeezed out just when you need them and it looks like divine inspiration. However, all that extra info swirling in your head can also get in the way – remember Hermione’s incredibly complex poison antidote in Advanced Potions?
Sometimes that is what defines creativity: to “tweak” something you already have into something somehow different and useful. I am thinking of the creative uses of a paperclip…
If you think about it the paper clip itself is a creative “tweak”.
I agree that Harry doesn’t seem gifted with too much creativity, however his lot on life is this huge epic struggle ,creating good out of evil and he simply endures. His gift is to simply let himself be changed . He instinctively makes decisions, that further his final achievements…
AS an aside, I was always wondering where really advanced wizards did their learning, the Dumbledores and the Ollivanders , let alone the Flamels of the world
I think also of Snape — how his old potionsbook contained a myriad of creative changes to the potions and, of course, the Sectumsempera spell that was his signature spell, probably of his own making.
For that matter, who invented “Levicorpus”? Was it not probably James Potter?
Levicorpus and its counter, Liberacorpus, were in the margins of the HBP book (along with various other little useful spells and hexes like Muffliato, a hex to stop someone’s tongue, etc.). Harry was sure Snape had invented them because of all the crossing out and rework that was also in the book next to them. So no, James did not invent them, he just learned them and used Snape’s spell against him (as Snape in fact states in HBP…)
Oh! Ok. I forgot that part! It’s good to be reminded, though.
Also, who knows how many other things Dumbledore’s “deluminator” could do? It almost seems like it could do a “trace” or an audible “bug” to tune into what anyone may be talking about when some particular name is mentioned. How else could Dumbledore know so much about what was going on? I can see it all now: DD points his wand at the deluminator and sets it to pick up on everytime someone says “Harry Potter”….
A bit late maybe, and absolutely nothing to do with the text you wrote, but I JUST GOT MY WELCOME EMAIL! I’m just so happy I had to write it on my favourite HP-blog!
i am soooooooooo jealous right now. ugh i am so mad at pottermore.
i feel for you.. That was me earlier this day!
What day did you register?
If it makes you feel better I almost havn’t been avled to exoplore the site at all, it’s soo slow…
able*
Stupid iphone
I got mine the night I wrote my other post saying I was jealous at 11:24pm. I am a very proud Ravenclaw as I new I was. Even if I had gotten another house I could never let go of Ravenclaw even If JKR said it herself… well she obviously wouldn’t say anthing else but you never know. I was also wondering… how do you make a blog like this. Is there a good website that gets you started? I just wanted to try it.
o and I signed up the 7th day. But it didn’t matter the emails were sent out at random.
Congrats! These E-Mails are coming out so late. I know they said October, but it still seems so delayed.
Thank you! Yeah, they are.. But for some reason when you get your mail it feels so unexpected!
It was worth waiting for.
I finally got mine too on 9/26/2011. Registered Day 6 for what it’s worth. And have barely been able to get into the site because it is so…. darned…. unresponsive.
Looks like I may finally get sorted by Hallwoeen at this rate.
I know, it sucks. I was sick so I didn’t had anything else to do, it took me about one hour to get trough one chapter because the “Due overwhelming demand…” page kept popping up.
Althought I got sorted yesterday finally (Gryffindor!)
The more people who are welcomed onto the site, the more it seems to crash. How will they be able to handle the onslaught of a public opening?
Did you see they’re pushing the full opening back to the end of next month? They’re also going to stagger entry…I’m sure it’ll still crash, but by then most of the Beta users will have gone through and be a bit bored with it, so their usage will be lower.
The next big test will be when all sixty billion users try to access it at the release of CoS!
I have funny story to tell now. While I was navigating my way through pottermore, a “due to overwhelming demand…” page coming up every five minutes, I was worring, What if when I answer the last sorting question, I get kicked off. Well what do you know, when I click to start my sorting ceremony, my handmade sorting hat poised to announce my house, I get kicked off. I got sorted on the next try with no interruptions and am sorted into, as I knew I would, Ravenclaw!!!!
I was wondering the same thing. What if the page crashes? Glad to hear you weren’t automatically declared a Squib or something.
FINALLY got my wand and sorted:
Englisk oak, 13.75 inches, unicorn hair core, supple.
Gryffindor!
Hi, Susan, and welcome to Gryffindor! My first task was to learn to spell it right.
The sorting hat froze on me too–so did my wand!–but I just hit the back arrow and it popped back up.
My…that’s quite a long wand you’ve got there…
The Insider’s saying they’re going to put off the “grand opening” until the end of Oct. so hopefully things will ease up and you can enjoy clicking through.
My wand is 14.5 inches..!
Like Flartus said, welcome to Gryffindor! I’m so glad I got sorted there, feels like home
lol, Anna, I’m late too in my reply, but I KNOW JUST HOW YOU FEEL!
Congrats! Hope the site’s gotten a little smoother for you.
Thank you! And CONGRATS to you too then!
Yes, it’s okay know! I’m just a bit sad that I’ve finished the first book and I really suck at potions so there’s not so much to do..!
I would really love to try out dueling soon…
Well, so much for my comments that Harry ‘reads’ situations and works from there which has been completely covered. I am not so sure if this is a particular ‘muggle’ skill or human as Dumbledore knew how to read people in order to get them to do what he wanted (HBP, Slughorn).
George and Fred are not geniuses…they just have a passion for what they do. The fact that it doesn’t involve academics doesn’t really make a difference in the grand scheme of things….for them anyway.
Harry never really has a chance to find his passion, as he’s preoccupied, appropriately, with the situation with Voldemort. He has his flaws, sure, but that’s only brought further into focus because of what he has to deal with. Whether any of his other peers would have been able to step up and handle everything that came his way is debatable.
I know some of you might be against this but while I was on youtube a few nights ago I came across a comment that said ” the slythrin welcome letter starts bashing all the other houses” I could not resist and soon found myself pouring over a letter I found in google. To those of you who find this as cheating in pottermore I have taken it upon myself to not post what it says about the other houses. The things they say don’t make me feel insecure, they make me want to beat them with bats on potermore dueling. I will not do this but I just wanted to get that off my chest. I also feel very guilty because I then looked at all the other letters except for Ravenclaw because I knew that was my house even though I had no welcome letter at the time.
I’ve read all the welcome letters and viewed all the house common rooms. Saves me time making and deleting accounts for my three year old when it opens to everyone. I personally like to know about all of Hogwarts not just one house. As for the Slytherin letter. I don’t think it bashes anymore than the other letters do. Personally I think Gryffindors got robbed when it came to the letters.
The Gryffindor letter is surprisingly scant. I know we learn the most about this house in the series, and most readers understand the Gryffindor point of view, but there could have been a few new facts…something!
As a new Gryffindor – I agree that some more back story and tidbits would have been much appreciated.
Yeah, as I was reading this I was thinking “I don’t think I got the Gryffindor letter; the site must have frozen up when I was supposed to.” But there was something really bland and uninformative when I first came in…had no idea the others had some interesting bits to read!
I think the Hufflepuffs actually did the mean stuff. The letter targeted one house! I know they are supposed to be loyal but I think they had a change of heart over the years. I have Hufflepuff friends that I have nothing against but the prefect who wrote the letter did not need to say what they said. I know it is only fiction but HP is a big part of my life and honestly, the Gryffindors got robbed, Hufflepuff is definitively not what I thought, and Slythrin at least did not target any certain house. My own house, naturally, has been my favorite welcome letter. The fact that the Hufflepuff treated the argument as if it was all the Ravenclaw’s fault really got me fired up. It doesn’t matter who was right, both should be punished. They could have simply asked a teacher then left. I am not saying the Ravenclaw was not at fault either. Both needed punishment not ice cream and a warning. I know it is fiction but once again I am always up for a debate!
So, I’ve made up my mind at last – Slytherin is the one for me!