timeline - When did the Harry Potter books take place?

I always wondered when the setting of the books was supposed to be. Is it set in the past? Present? Future?

I remember seeing somewhere that there was actual years/dates associated with events in the book.

Is there a visual timeline of all the Harry Potter events somewhere with years/months/days mentioned?

Answer

All dates in the HP world trace back to the Death Day party of Nearly Headless Nick in The Chamber of Secrets. It was stated that his it was his 500th Death Day. The cake reads:

Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington
died 31st October, 1492

So, it stands to reason that during the second year, Harry Potter was 12, and that it was the year 1992. All dates can be calculated from that moment in time.

It should also be noted that this isn't strictly adhered to, specifically, Dudley has Playstation before they came out, among other things.

Comments

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.

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...

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

star wars - Why is Luke's cybernetic hand superior to the one Anakin receives?

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke receives a very realistic looking hand that can even feel pain. Compare this to the hand Anakin has at the end of "The Clone Wars" which is obviously robotic, and does not even have a covering that resembles skin. Technology advancing in the 20+ year period between amputations does not make sense. Its doubtful that prosthetic technology not be able to produce a hand of Lukes quality in a time when cloning technology was available. Luke's hand is provided to him by the Rebellion, which had limited financial and medical resources. Compare this to Anakin, who as a Jedi in the time of the Old Republic, had access to limitless medical resources. The Jedi probably could have arranged for a biological hand to be cloned for him, but that might raise ethical concerns. It seems Anakin should have received a hand as advanced as Luke's

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