Skip to main content

harry potter - Why are some muggles allowed to know of the magical world?


Throughout the series, there are many muggles which we see that know about the wizarding world, and no effort seems to be made to stop them. All of them seem to fit into the mold of family of wizards, but let me just make a list of the ones we know about.



  1. The Dursleys.


  2. Hermione's parents

  3. Lily/Petunia's family seemed to know a bunch as well.

  4. The British Prime Minister.


I'm sure there are others, but this seems to be a fair start. Why are they allowed to know, and what measures prevent such people from telling other people, letting the cat out of the bag?



Answer



This is a slightly different variation on Tango's answer:



Why do some Muggles know?




There are two categories:




  • Relatives of witches/wizards.


    This is for practical reason (easier when they know); as well as ethical (the wizards with muggle families probably don't WANT to hide from the family, and would likely object to magical means of screwing with families' heads).




  • Government liaison (E.g. Prime Minister of the UK)


    This is:





    1. to ensure that there is no major issues in case of some contact




    2. to assist wizarding world when needed (e.g. search for Sirius Black).




    3. Presumably, so that PM can stop any law enforcement/intelligence agencies from looking in the "magic" direction if they start.








Why isn't that a Big Deal considering the efforts to hide wizarding word from Muggles?



Three reasons:




  1. The relatives are unlikely to say anything if they are explained that "outing" wizarding world will have bad consequences for EVERY wizard, their wizarding family members included.





  2. Who's gonna believe those who say anything? Remember Fudge's chat with PM:



    Cornelius Fudge: "The Minister of Magic only reveals him--or herself to the Muggle Prime Minister of the day. We find it the best way to maintain secrecy."


    Prime Minister: ""But then, why hasn't a former Prime Minister warned me?"


    Cornelius Fudge: "My dear Prime Minister, are you ever going to tell anybody?"



    I mean, you start trying to tell the truth like that; at best you would be thought of as a wackjob and some know-it-all from http://skeptics.stackexchange.com gets a bunch of up-votes showing just why you're nuts; at worst you get put into the psychiatric institution.





  3. Plus, there are magical ways of dealing with exceptions to the first two. (memory charms etc...). Could even be some sort of magically binding "don't tell" oath similar to Unbreakable Vow as preventive measure.


    P.S. Dursleys are a bit different - they don't fit into #1; but they don't even need #3 as they actively pretend magical world doesn't exist all on their own.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more