Skip to main content

How does a wizard become powerful in the Harry Potter universe?


I am watching some of the Harry Potter movies right now and was just wondering what makes one wizard more powerful than another, and what does powerful mean exactly?


In life, we usually attribute two concepts to becoming exceptional or powerful at something, namely; raw talent, and dedication to learning the craft.


For example, if we see somebody who is really great at basketball like Michael Jordan we know two things about him. One, he had exceptionally great raw ability. Two, he worked very hard and was very dedicated in perfecting his craft. However, there are also others who worked just as hard as Michael Jordan but just didn't make it and couldn't do the things he did. We usually attribute this to lack of raw talent, ie; just couldn't run as fast, couldn't jump as high, etc. This might be described as a physical/physiological limitation based on DNA, etc.



Studies kind of work the same way. One person could work very hard and get average grades, another person could barely put effort into something, but get exceptional grades.


Voldemort was an exceptionally great student. He worked very hard to learn everything he could at Hogwarts and took his studies very seriously. He was in the library constantly trying to learn more then just what was taught in his studies at Hogwarts. He was considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest wizard of all time.


Hermione was also very dedicated to her studies and Sirius Black even stated that she truly was the most "brilliant witch of her generation." I realize that brilliance doesn't necessarily translate into hard work and could simply be viewed as raw talent. Hermione was a very dedicated student, and even used a time traveling device so she could go back in time to take more classes and get more study time in. Hermione was considered a very good witch, but I'm not sure if she was considered great. For example she couldn't produce a patronus spell like Harry.


Ron was a below average student and not considered to be that smart.. Ron was considered a very good wizard as well, at least by the end of the series.


Harry wasn't considered an exceptional student, he was average at best. I don't believe he was considered to be exceptionally bright. Harry was considered a great wizard as Snape stated it would take "a very powerful wizard" to cast the patronus spell Harry cast to chase away multiple dementors at once.


What goes into making a great wizard? Is it simply raw talent? Is it how hard one studies and the amount of knowledge one attains? Is there a 'physical' limitation in terms of how much power one attains no matter how one studies? (Maybe a gauge something like midichlorians in Star Wars?)


Normally I like to ask a question with quotes from relevant source material to backup statements. I tried to find transcripts in which to copy the exact quotes to put in this question, but could not find a good source. If somebody could point me in the right direction I'll be happy to edit the question and put quotes in the appropriate spots.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...