Skip to main content

harry potter - Was the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone really that well protected?


The Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) stone was moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts because Dumbledore wanted the stone to be better protected. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone however, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, three 11 year-olds, manage to get through seven magical obstacles designed to protect the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone.



If it was possible for three first year kids to get through the obstacles, then how was the Stone well protected at at all. Did Dumbledore really expect that the teachers' defenses would work against Voldemort?



Answer



Let's step through all the obstacles.




  1. Idiot Test


    The door was locked and required Alohomora.




  2. Fluffy



    This giant, three-headed dog fiercely guarded the trapdoor leading into the actual chamber. I suppose that it would be possible to fight your way past it, but it was such a confined space and the dog was so big that it would be nearly impossible. Even for someone like Voldemort, I suspect that it would be difficult to kill Fluffy without waking up the whole castle or alerting the staff to his presence. The gang (Harry, Ron, Hermione) was able to get past Fluffy because they knew that music would put Fluffy to sleep.




  3. Devil's Snare


    Designed to kill anyone who landed in it, the Devil's Snare was a very clever means of thwarting thieves. One can't fight their way out of it, they have to use a spell. Knowing that Devil's Snare doesn't like heat probably isn't common knowledge in the wizarding community. But due to the fact the Hermione pays attention in herbology, the group can move on.




  4. Key Room


    Filled with flying keys, this room will stop anyone from advancing that can't find the key to the door. Good thing that the group had a quidditch prodigy with them to help them catch the key.





  5. Giant Chess Set


    The only way to move on here is to checkmate the enemy king. Because Ron managed to win against the chess set, it is safe to assume that the other side was not really playing to win, but rather seeking to divide any groups that had made it this far. Or Ron is really good at chess.




  6. Troll room


    In all honesty this isn't a very good obstacle. If you already got past Fluffy then the troll shouldn't be that big of a problem. This is probably by professor Quirrell's design because he wanted to eventually steal the stone for his master. Although if it wasn't already knocked out then Harry and Hermione would've had quite a problem on their hands.




  7. Potion Room



    Containing seven unlabeled potions, this room represents one of the hardest challenges to thieves:



    "Brilliant. This isn't magic — it's logic — a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here for ever." -Hermione



    So Snape's puzzle tests something that none of the others do: that you can logically work through situations. This obstacle also divides groups up because there is only enough potion to take one person through the fire (It is unknown whether Quirrell drank half the potion or it refilled itself, in either case it was still a small vial). Because Hermione was there Harry was able to go on (not that he wouldn't be able to solve it on his own, but it certainly have taken a while).




  8. The Mirror of Erised


    One of Dumbledoe's more brilliant ideas, as he puts it, is to not allow anyone who wants to use the stone to have it. The only way to get the stone is to see yourself possessing it in the mirror. This is what makes the stone very, very well protected. Anyone that wanted to use the stone for their own purposes simply couldn't have it.





Conclusion


The stone is in fact very well protected. The group had a very specific set of skills that allowed them to advance as far as they did, and because Harry had no selfish intentions, was granted the stone.


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

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there good canon evidence for the "Nightmare Matrix"?

On the Matrix wiki, there's an article about the Nightmare Matrix which says: The Nightmare Matrix was the second prototype Matrix, designed by The Architect after the massive failure of the Paradise Matrix in the hope that human minds would more readily accept an imperfect world with suffering. Unlike the first version, this Matrix instituted a basic cause-and-effect programming and forcibly made those connected to it accept the program. Vamp Prime, a possible remnant of the Nightmare Matrix. It also featured programs that resembled mythical evil creatures in various human mythologies such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, aliens, etc. It also failed, but many of the programs who were designed for it survived deletion in exile. The Merovingian and his wife, Persephone may have had their roots in this version of the Matrix. Upon its failure, the Merovingian started a smuggling ring of programs and information to provide a haven for exiles that would last for 6 cycles in the final ...
Post a Comment
Read more

story identification - Anime with a boy hiring a creature from a stone, meets a man named Dante and starts a journey to collect crystals

I am from India, this anime or animated series (I can't remember this was made by the Japan or other countries) was aired between 2009 and 2012 probably in Jetix/Disney XD (but I'm not sure). This anime starts with a boy (the main character, I forgot his name) who find a stone (or crystal like thing) in his dad's property, his dad was missing that time. Some day he accidentally hire a creature/monster from that stone. Other day some creature attack him and he was saved by his creature and the story begins. In his journey to solve the mystery he meets a middle aged man 'Dante' (probably that was the name; this is the only character name I can remember). He had also some stone. After that they meet with one girl and a women (one of the girls is same age with the main boy character and probably will become his partner as the story goes on). Another women probably Dante's partner. Four of them started their journey to collect all the stone/crystal. They are collecti...
Post a Comment
Read more