Goblet of Fire, Chapter 7: How Much Land do Wizards Own?
How much land do wizards own?
If trips to Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and Hogwarts itself haven’t raised the question in your mind, Goblet of Fire, Chapter 7 certainly will.
We know why muggles can’t see Hogwarts (a clever mix of invisibility and mind-altering charms), but what about every other wizarding structure? There’s no mention of alternate wizard universes, so while Diagon Alley is through a magical stone wall, we’re lead to believe it’s physically located somewhere accessible (the Knight Bus can access it, for example). It’s a huge wizard main street, taking up significant room and no doubt requiring the same extensive protective charms as Hogwarts.
What about Platform 9 3/4ths? Again, I’m not convinced it exists on another plane; magic simply prevents us from getting to it. How far does that magic extend? Is the entire track to Hogwarts enchanted? Does the Hogwarts Express use the same rail line as muggle trains? How do they avoid detection? Collision?
All that leads me to the Quidditch pitch and camp grounds for the Quidditch World Cup. The whole operation is set-up on muggle land, in plain sight of the muggles who own it. Only the pitch seems to be invisible.
The sudden influx of campers in questionable attire leaves Mr. Roberts (the resident muggle) highly confused, to the point where they have to keep obliviating him to keep him subdued. I have to harken back to a pinnacle piece of cinema, Men In Black, and ask if there’s not some sort of side effect from erasing someone’s memory over and over and over again. What state will all this obliviating leave poor Mr. Roberts in?
And why go through all that trouble? Why not cast a spell on Mr. Roberts (and all the other muggle site managers) and send them packing temporarily? Didn’t Hermione obliviate her parents’ memory and convince them they are different people with different life goals, just to get them out of the country? Why not do the same to these folks and get them out-of-the-way? You may say that’s muggle cruelty, but isn’t it far more humane than erasing their memories and leaving them befuddled every five minutes?
And to take us back to my original question, how much land do wizards own? Are they so tight on space, they’re forced to “borrow” land from muggles at this point? I know Great Britain’s an island with only so much room, but if they can make tents into single family homes, can’t they expand their acreage a little?
I think I may be smarter than Ludo Bagman.
Is that saying much?
Sing along: "This land is your land, this land is my land, till I obliviate you, then it's just my land..."
Jess, you are not supposed to ask these questions. In the movies, you are supposed to check reality at the box office and then go in and enjoy the movie. I think that it is best to do the same with a novel, especially a science fiction or fantastic novel like Harry Potter.
Sorry to rain on your parade.
Ah, but asking questions like this are part of the fun of a blog like this.
It’s true. If we depend too much on logic when dealing with a fantasy series such as this, we’ll find ourselves burried beneath a mound of “wait a minutes” and “that’s not physically possibles”. But they are so much fun to explore, it’s hard to resist.
They should have used the island of the Quintapeds. It has no Muggle inhabitants.
I loved the caption on the movie still, it made me laugh out loud.
I was going to add my two cents’ worth of knowledge/info on this topic, but the hilarious photo caption made me realize there might be a littttttle bit of tongue-in-check going on. How do all these things happen in what ought to be plain view of Muggles? It’s magic. Another question in a similar vein: how does one properly dispose of a Daily Prophet? You can’t exactly toss them in a rubbish bin, can you?
It is a safe bet that 95% of my entries have a little bit of tongue-in-cheek going on. I speak fluent sarcasm.
I’d like to think the Daily Prophet spontaneously combusts after a week.
As for the suggestion of Quintapeds, Arithmancer, you may have missed your calling as a Ministry of Magic official.
But if Mr. Roberts weren’t there, then the Death Eaters wouldn’t be able to have their bit of sport after the match! (Yeah, yeah, I know, story writing logic vs. internal logic of the world…) I agree, it would make a whole lot more sense just to get him out of the way for a couple weeks.
I agree with you on the platform and Diagon Alley and so on not existing on a separate plane; muggles just can’t get to them or see them (without wizardly assistance).
Maybe expansion magic doesn’t work on such a large scale? Or is horrendously difficult? Also: Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and the various inaccessible to muggles places were created a long time ago, and presumably with much more effort than a wave of a wand. They’re in continuous use (more or less). Probably it’s just not worth the work and magical power it would take to create a similar place for the World Cup when it will be used on such a temporary basis. (Even if it was always used for the World Cup, and the Cup didn’t travel to other countries, it would still only be used once about every four years, or something like that, right?)
One of the big things I had to come to terms with when reading this series the first time around, is that a good chunk of the questionable elements exist to move the plot along. If the story took a more logical route, there wouldn’t be a story at all.
I always imagined Platform 9 3/4 and Diagon Alley did sort of exist on a separate plane–in the same way that two-person tents are turned into 2-story flats, the space between two rows of buildings or train platforms could be magically expanded. Like #13 Grimmauld Place. Alternately, I’m sure the relevant Muggles and their land-plat maps could be befuddled enough to conveniently overlook those areas.
As for the Quidditch pitch, perhaps there’s a limit to the space they can create, or maybe outdoor, undefined space is harder to maintain than buildings. I’d imagine only the richest wizarding families might own enough acreage to host it, but it would probably be full of their own magic and secrets. Honestly, would you sleep well at night while camping out by Malfoy Manor?
It makes sense to me to let Mr. Roberts handle assignment of campground spaces and all that drudgery–I’m sure no wizard would volunteer for that job while there was such a big party going on. Maybe in hindsight, they’ll go with that whole send-em-packing thing next time.
Ummm – #13 Grimmauld Place is inhabited by Muggles, I believe. It’s #12 that inhabits a magical plane – which is how I, too, have interpreted those pesky details of the Wizarding World’s time and space coordination.
As for the “befuddled” land-plats of Muggle properties: that is EXACTLY what has been going on in my neighborhood for nearly a century and explains why nobody’s boundary lines are at all accurate.
Now. If we could just incorporate those magical plane principles into Muggle civil engineering training we’d have an answer to traffic gridlock. Short of universal apparition that is.
Well, Merlin’s Beard…I guess I thought #13 would be more appropriate for a family who supported Lord Whatsit. I hope I don’t lose my Pottermore membership now!
I just assume there are no alternate planes because they are not directly addressed. If there were, why protect Hogwarts from Muggles? Why not simply stick it on another magical plane and call it a day?
No, I agree. You’re smarter than Ludo bagman, lol.
You make a lot of good points, some that I’ve thought about too over the years. The only thing I can think of is that J.K. Rowling didn’t think too much into the details. She concentrated more on the characters and story I guess. Well, even she admitted that she didn’t pay too much attention to numbers and how they add up.
Either way, love the post. Your thoughts are written so well!
I always tuned into the more physics style. This means that the magical beings have a frequency that is emitted, and that frequency allows you to get through the wall.
But thats all I really have.
Love your song caption for the movie pic! Did you catch the house-elf riding on the camel (I think) somewhere near that movie still you loaded? It’s a blink or you miss it image.
I think that’s an area (deeds and land management) in which goblins would excel at. Also, considering that some deeds in Britain may stem back all the way to 1066, I doubt anyone would question who owns what, or why generations of family members live in the same area/home. And wizards tend to cluster around key villages so as not to attract to much attention.
In regards to the memory charm/obliviate part of that little spiel, I can say that what Hermione did was modify her parents’ memories – it wasn’t an obliviate, but some sort of charm.
Also, as later on in Book 4 we realise, an obliviate can be broken, but it usually breaks the mind of the person who has been obliviated (Bertha Jorkins).
I think that because the wizards are only obliviating quite a small part of Muggles’ memories, they therefore aren’t affected as much as if, for example, an entire year of memories had been removed.
It may also depend on the Muggle themself, as to whether their consciousness would automatically accept the gap or not…i think it would be interesting to see if you could break through an obliviate yourself.
Has anyone considered that because we know there are some areas which are “unplottable”, that perhaps we actually have more land than Muggles presume…
Perhaps the UK is slightly more extensive than previously determined.
Could that be a bit of my Ravenclaw seeping out? Can’t wait for my owl!