Harry Potter's Biggest Plot Holes

[@VaultLore]

Am I crazy or does the Basilisk just not make any sense..

[@snoopy1alpha]

Maybe the basilisk can contract itself to become slimmer but longer. It only becomes fully blown (and shorter) when in "attack mode" 😀This is imaginable without magic involved. However ... what does it actually eat? It can't be rats. They couldn't reproduce fast enough to feed the snake.

[@bird2034]

@@snoopy1alphalike a slug! Haha.

[@thunderchild1083]

Well wizards didn't use plumbing so maybe they made their pipes big enough to house a giant snake. From what I understand the just pooped on the floor originally and then just vanished it

[@QueenOfHeartsx]

the basilisk annoys you the way the triwizard annoys me. A huge competition that NOBODY can watch 🤣

[@cato3277]

Tbh when I think of the plumbing in Hogwarts, I think more of a massive sewer system like we see in the movie.

[@Walmut]

Havent watched the whole video yet, but "40000 WIZARDS at the World Cup couldnt beat 15 Death Eaters" has always been my biggest gripe

[@AAVVVAAADDAAAKAAADAVRAAA]

I could see them not having their wands since they weren't expecting anything

[@Spartan3D213]

That's what gets to me as well. Every one is practically armed with a "boom stick" get a few death eaters caused a panic that essentially burned the camp grounds down?

[@MDK384]

unrelated but i'll never forgive the 4th movie for not showing us any of the freaking quidditch world cup game

[@tsostillalive]

tbf i can buy it, since the death eaters represent more than just a random threat, they represent voldemort. especially when the dark mark was summoned, people are probably just fucking terrified by death eaters lol. they might be wizards but they’re also just civilians, you know, and these guys are terrorists from essentially the worst facist cult in their history

[@lucasLSD]

This is just realistic, the good guy with a gun is a myth after all.

[@sophiescott143]

Regarding Molly "Forgetting" the platform number: I always interpreted that "now what's the platform number?" line being her leading her young daughter to say the number, not having forgotten it herself.

[@Andreamom001]

In moments of stress or distraction, people can forget basic facts. So, she could have been prompting her kids to say it or she could have had a brain fart amidst the bustle of getting everyone off to school.

[@zenith7718]

My favorite theory is that it was planned by dumbledore so harry would meet the Weasleys

[@SingingSealRiana]

Fwel like thats true

[@toptsun8484]

Honestly the bigger thing for me is, if Platform 9 3/4 is supposed to be a secret, it's really undercut by the fact that Harry gets in by overhearing and watching someone else do it.

[@MrStarman926]

@@Andreamom001 I dont even know if it has to be that so much as 9 & 3/4 might not even register as whimsical to a wizard like Molly. If the track number was just "four" I think it'd be understandable to forget even if it never changed.

[@renediffie]

"there should be snake slime everywhere" There is no such thing as snake slime. Snakes aren't slimey at all.

[@thecolorjune]

The only slime would be from slithering through sewer pipes haha

[@jedh3721]

God, do people still think this?

[@ln5321]

"He's not slimey at all; he's scaley" "Ewwww, he IS slimey!" "That's because I soaked him in slime!"

[@Shyolite]

@@ln5321 simpsons reference

[@deanmottershead9208]

It could be saliva I can imagine that snake drooling a lot it had waited what was it 50 years for a snack?

[@lukestewart5142]

I can’t get enough of these Harry Potter iceberg videos keep up the great work

[@VaultLore]

Appreciate it! Thanks for watching!!

[@catalyst429]

I certainly don't think it was 8ft in diameter and only 20ft long 😅😅😅 the average oak tree isn't half that diameter...

[@fernandocaballero9830]

Harry mentions that Dudley has a PlayStation in book 4. But Book 4 is supposed to take place in 1994. The PlayStation wasn't available in the UK until 1996.

[@Sullytaan]

Probably the biggest plot hole of the series

[@andriodvalorant]

@@Sullytaan i wouldnt be surprised if the dursleys went to the us just to get it

[@teleportingpotatoe]

I thought it followed the same modern times as when the book came out??

[@teleportingpotatoe]

like first book came 1998 i think I thought it was set in that year...

[@skyecob8209]

+teleportingpotatoe No, Harry was born in 1980 and since he’s 14 in book 4 that means Dudley has a PS1 in 1994. JK Rowling is an Incredibly lazy author so my guess is she just googled “PS 1 release date” and 1994 came up.

[@schutzenhaus]

Platform 9 3/4; Molly wasn’t asking for her information; she was asking to make sure her kids (or specifically Ron) had been paying attention.

[@finkiusmaximus]

It's like when you're training kids to be polite. "What do we say?" "THANK YOU." Parents know the answer.

[@Livruss]

Or she was asking out loud knowing who Harry was so that he would hear and know where to go. I believe that’s an SCB theory that they’ve done a video on

[@amandar3467]

Yes! Dumbledore’s Big Plan

[@bradens803]

@@amandar3467that is head canon

[@TheBabylane2]

@@bradens803 you dont say

[@iamlordapollo]

In book 3 the entire impetus for lupin taking Sirius' side in the shack was because he saw peters name. That's what made him go to the shack in the first place. "More rat than man" would be nice, but his name being on the map is crucial for the plot.

[@Bobromil]

Not necessarily. The argument is fairly solid - he grew more and more ratlike, until being jolted awake by seeing Sirius in the newspaper, returning some of the humanity (if we can call it that for this guy). That would give Fred and George a lot narrower of a window of spotting the now more human Peter on the map - from the start of Harry's 3rd year until they gave it away to him, they probably only used it a handful of times then, if at all. At some point Peter fakes his death again (Crookshanks gets blamed for that). I don't remember what the timeframe is between that and Harry getting the map, but regardless Harry spotting him himself isn't all that likely, neither. Point is, in my opinion, this explanation is actually pretty solid as an in-universe answer.

[@drak_darippa]

@@Bobromilbro had to spend 3 paragraphs justifying nonsense lol

[@douglaswolfen7820]

Agreed. I can't resist trying to make it make sense though, so how about we assume that he started becoming more-person-than-rat again, around this time, because he finally started spending time in human form?

[@douglaswolfen7820]

Honestly the easiest answer would just be to say that an animagus doesn't show up on the map when they're in animal form. I assume that probably contradicts the books though, one way or another

[@douglaswolfen7820]

Ooooooh, here's a good one: if I got to rewrite it, I'd make it so that the map always shows people using the name that _you_ know them by. So the twins could have seen him all the time on the map, but they would have seen him as "scabbers", and there'd be nothing to be concerned about. But Lupin would have seen "Peter Pettigrew", and immediately known what was up

[@clarimm6675]

The Basilisk thing also never made sense to me. However, regarding the snake "slime": Snakes aren't slimy at all, they are very smooth but have a dry cold feeling to them

[@dongeonmaster8547]

Maybe the "slime" comes from the pipes the snake slithers through.

[@ngotemna8875]

I never thought about it, but them being cold makes total sense. They are cold-blooded after all

[@ADRI_a_REAL1]

It’s not a snake it’s a basilisk chilling in evil wet tunnels! Would probably be slimy

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

​@@dongeonmaster8547 Most pipes were empty and dry. Ron and Harry slid through one to reach the chamber of secrets.

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

​@@ADRI_a_REAL1 Most pipes are dry and empty. Ron and Harry slides throw one, remember?

[@KalkuehlUncut]

Dude, your theory with pettigrew becoming harry sickens me in some way. The thought that pettigrew acts like harry next to hermione and ron, while harry lies dead underground, makes me dizzy. This has some psychological horror potential.

[@CallMeBeautifulRacoon]

Pettigrew would know how to behave so well because he'd just been hanging out with them as a rat the whole time too.

[@amarabertelson9106]

It’s good fanfic material

[@Tftftftftftftftftf]

But his theory is unnecessary. I do agree that BC Jr couldn’t have taken him in broad daylight, but they could’ve planned to just kill Harry and do nothing else. People would’ve just assumed he died in the maze.

[@Framedrops420]

Isn’t it because Ron has his hamster or rat scabers in his pocket?

[@AzoiatheCobra]

1:00:20 as an adult with kids... I honestly have my handfull of brain farts like. And that is how i explain molly not knowing where the platform is. She had a temporary brain fart

[@The1stInterviewer]

It doesn't matter whether the twins knew Peter or not. It would still be weird that another "kid" was in the same bed as Ron. And they knew that Ron primarily hung out with Harry and Hermione. I would think if they saw Harry, Ron, Hermione and Peter on the map, when they got to them and didn't see Peter they would ask "where's Peter and who is he btw?"

[@tgiacin435]

I’ve been thinking on this, and in the book, only one animal was named on the map. That being Mrs. Norris. I think they didn’t add animals cause it would clutter the map with pet names, and so if anyone happened to look at the map, the marauders wouldn’t show up while as animals

[@The1stInterviewer]

@@tgiacin435 fair enough, good point. But I got to ask: why is Mrs. Norris on the map if animals don't show up on the map? Just out of curiosity.

[@tgiacin435]

@@The1stInterviewer because she’s Filtch’s cat

[@The1stInterviewer]

@@tgiacin435 thank you for the info

[@tgiacin435]

@@The1stInterviewer it’s just my theory because I wondered the same thing until i realized Wormtail didn’t show up on the map in the book

[@KalkuehlUncut]

The concept of wand ownership baffled me too. If losing a duel meant losing ownership, then every kid who lost a duel would be affected. But I found a simple explanation for this: it likely only matters for the most powerful wizards. For most, losing a duel doesn't impact their bond with the wand, because they aren't strong enough for it to make a difference. A wizard would need to be incredibly powerful for their wand to become a true bottleneck in their abilities. This would also explain why even Ollivander wasn’t fully aware of the deeper mechanics behind wand ownership. It's such a rare phenomenon that it hasn’t been extensively studied.

[@thecolorjune]

Yeah. Plus the Elder wand just sounds super power hungry. Perhaps the average wand just isn’t motivated by finding the strongest wizard.

[@GameCat16]

It's actually explained by Ollivander in Deathly Hallows. I can't remember the exact word choice, but when discussing wand ownership, he gave a line about how context changes the rule. So, if it's a practice duel, ownership loss shouldn't apply.

[@53prime]

Nobody's wand working properly after expelliarmus training in DA.

[@yami122]

That would make sense except for Harry was able to become both the elder ones as well as Draco's wand by simply running up and grabbing Draco's wand pulling it out of his hand that's all it took to win the loyalty of two wands

[@douglaswolfen7820]

@@KalkuehlUncut I'm confused. I was pretty sure that rule only ever applied to the Elder wand, not to all wands

[@kutilsima5584]

The puzzles protecting the philosophers stone didn't make sense to me either. Imagine protecting your home with a chess game instead of a lock.

[@Dan-fq8lz]

They were designed to slow down progress, not stop it, presumably an alarm would be set off if someone managed to pass through Fluffy, so the key room and chess specially were there to slow down the intruder until Dumbledore could arrive. The traps couldn't be too lethal just in case a student managed to get past Fluffy. Otherwise, you could just leave a potion puzzle with the wrong solution so that anyone who "solves" it actualky drinks poison and dies.

[@SingingSealRiana]

Especially tasks a 1 grade kid could overcome, esoecially the group around harry... It was sas if it where tailored for them to get through..... Otherwise it makes kinda sensex it was a trap, they wanted to get the person trying to steal the stone and they where supposed to make it through only to get delayed and later ensneared by the mirror. The mirror has a really strong pull and the more you want something the harder it is to get away from it.... The fact it was a cgess game, the only thing ron is exceptionally good at, a plant they where taught about in first grade, catching something on a broom for the youngest seeker of a century, a logic task most wizzards woyls fail, but germione as a mugglw born nerd would excell at and the mirror harry already knew, that is what makes is highly questionable

[@O161n]

That would be the best security out there lol no one would ever be able to break in if it was stockfish playing

[@fucapsych]

If the main trio didnt attempt to go and find the stone, it was safe. Therefore they should be expelled from the school becuase they were warned like thousands time to stop.

[@arcadedomination8006]

To me it always seemed to be set up to goad Voldemort into trying to get in, which does work

[@RNS_Aurelius]

Rowling's absolute insistence she had it all planned out from the start just makes the plot holes seem more stupid

[@Brentonius_III]

she had the overarching plot down from the beginning but not each part

[@aronsmith2688]

@@Brentonius_IIIwhat is the biggest plot hole in the show?

[@jackthehat1093]

@@Brentonius_III I don't think she did. I think she only really developed the world after the success of the first book. That's not a criticism of her but it's very clear that the first book is for children and young teenagers. No way at that point had she planned the whole wizard war stuff. I wish she'd stop pretending she had it all figured out from the start. So many magical items are put into the story without any forethought about the implications. Time turners are a perfect example. Veritaserum, the pensieve, Felix felicis. All of these things could have been used by the ministry to track down death eaters or prove the guilt/innocence of Azkhaban prisoners like Sirius or Hagrid.

[@prodmoira]

Not really. I mean, most of these aren't even plot holes, just things the creator doesn't like. Even the ones that are plot holes aren't even that big of a deal.

[@davismorgan99]

@@prodmoirawhy didn’t they use the time turner to stop Voldemort? Why don’t the ministry use the truth potion during their investigations? If Harry’s mom’s love is so strong that it can protect Harry from being attacked at the Dursleys even years after she is dead, how can the death eaters attack the burrow? Is Molly’s love not strong enough? I think the books are brilliant by the way but there are some pretty obvious holes.

[@SawyBoy]

I think the actual simplest solution to Ron’s mom “not knowing” the platform number is that she was actually just making sure the kids knew 😂

[@mrgreatauk]

In the books the names on the map are really tiny and hard to read, so I like to think that Peter Pettigrew's dot & name is even smaller than everyone else's since he's the size of a rat, and therefore it's illegibly small and really easy to miss

[@tgiacin435]

Personally I think the map is only really meant to detect people. The only animal to show up on the map was Mrs. Norris. I would think the marauders would’ve left out animals because it would cause the map to be overfilled with everyone’s pets.

[@Darrakkii]

@@tgiacin435 Harry was looking at the map and it said Peter Pettigrew should be in front of him and Peter passed Harry, but Peter was in the form of a rat so he didn't recognize anyone. So therefore, it still shows the name, even if you are transformed.

[@tgiacin435]

@@Darrakkii that was the movie, not the book

[@thecolorjune]

@@Darrakkii yes and Lupin sees Peter Petigrew on the map which is why he sides with Sirius.

[@Godwilla39]

I don’t buy you explanation on the Barty Crouch Portkey. BCJ didn’t need to kidnap Harry in broad daylight. He was alone with Harry dozens of times throughout the course of the year, including at least one time late at night in Moody’s office. Make literally anything a portkey, make Harry touch it, and voila. The bigger issue, imo, is that there is literally no reason the portkey has to be the Triwizard cup, and thus no reason that Harry even needs to be in the Tournament. The whole thing is an extremely strained plot contrivance to get Harry to do some tasks

[@grandempressvicky6387]

The worst part is that this can easily be explained by saying Voldemort needed time to cook, which happened to be the length of the entire tournament.

[@Godwilla39]

@@grandempressvicky6387 But still…why jump through all the hoops to have Harry compete? All the plan requires is for BCJ as Moody to be in place at Hogwarts and have a minute alone with Harry, which as a teacher shouldn’t be hard to do. If he was worried about blowing his cover, there were plenty of ways to go about rather than …*deep breath*… trick a magical artifact into thinking a fourth school was competing in the tournament so that Harry would be the only champion thereby alerting Dumbledore that something was afoot and then having to subtlety guide Harry through the tasks so that he would end up with a decent enough chance to be the first one to touch the triwizard cup. Alternatively, you could just find a way to give him detention, tell him to pick up a quill, and then one hour later a polyjuiced Pettigrew leaves detention as Harry

[@yami122]

@@Godwilla39 best I can think of it it's not that good of a explanation as it has its own holes is that maybe they want you to cover up Harry's disappearance by making it seem he died in the final trial of the tournament which would allow the Dark Lord to come back without anyone realizing well just kidnapping him in the middle of nowhere while he's still in school well definitely doable might lead to the Dark Lord's return being suspected or confirmed And even then I can think of ways that my explanation doesn't quite fit as faking heavy death by any Natural way would be relatively easy to stage if you have him alone

[@tothepast]

Give Voldemort some credits guys. He wanted a spectacular comeback. If he really wanted to kill Harry there and then, he wanted to be the biggest anticlimax Harry could imagine. What's the point of building a comeback for over a decade just to have your revenge quick and dirty?

[@GameCat16]

To hide Voldy's return. He needs time to rebuild his army, and if Harry comes back alive, he'll talk. If He disappears, that's shady. If he dies randomly, that's even more suspicious. But if he died while participating in a tournament that's been banned for about a century, then that'll just look like a tragic accident. Voldy gets the blood, and no one squeels as he makes his plans to return.

[@thunderchild1083]

Imagine going to school but then being told you can't practice Spanish because your family doesn't speak Spanish and we have a way of telling if you do. You then practice Spanish outside of school and get threatened with expulsion

[@dego9246]

You can't harm your family if you speak Spanish tho; an untrained wizard can cause severe damage, sometimes irreversible if it's too late. I get that you were joking ofc.

[@tgiacin435]

The trace only lets the ministry knows magic was performed in a certain area. But it’s harder to detect in more magically dense areas

[@jabronisauce6833]

Not the same at all, such a stupid compariso….

[@thorthewolf8801]

​@@tgiacin435which makes it even worse.

[@finkiusmaximus]

The thing is, the Trace was only prosecuted when it was convenient to do so. Harry had no Ministry Repercussions, other than a letter, with the Dobby/pudding incident, and Fudge didn't care in POA because they were trying to keep him safe from Sirius. OOTP, Fudge is afraid of Harry and Dumbledore, and that's why they try to expel him. And then again in DH, now that the Death Eaters have infiltrated and are about to take control of the Ministry, the Trace would be a useful tool.

[@gjbsarmeri3957]

The only thing that ever actually bothered me was that there were so many OP spells that nobody ever used. Like for example Dolores Umbridge used Bombarda Maxima which was basically a grenade and nobody ever used it again. Even the normal Bombarda was almost never used in the movies.

[@i_am_ergo]

Being a children's book that had no business becoming a long-running series for all ages and yet did just that, Harry Potter is like a minefield of plotholes - whenever you think you've found all of them, think again. Fun little intro into the subject though!

[@dedbatt8869]

It had booming business becoming a long-running series for all ages..

[@ricky.t.1658]

Worry to tell you this but majority of plotholes are the haters trying to find a way to attack jk rowling for polítical reasons and though there are plot holes, im sorry to tell you that all art works in history have them, its not something only hp does. Harry Potter was gonna become a long running series since the beggining and ur no one to tell anyone what they should do with their art❤

[@yllejord]

@@ricky.t.1658 people have been pointing out plot holes since the first book came out, long before she lost her marbles.

[@ricky.t.1658]

@@yllejord no, it suddenly happened since she became transphobic on twitter, majority of plot holes are people misunderstanding on purpose

[@yllejord]

@@ricky.t.1658 if you can't remember the times before the pandemic, I can't do anything about it. What changed is how her fans are not as forgiving as they used to be. Plot holes were brought up and discussed since the beginning.

[@Jayschannelnow]

My favorite description of Harry potter is that its like a video game that looks good when you play it normally, but falls apart when you glitch out of bounds, ei it's fine when you just read it as is, but as soon as you think about it, the structure falls apart

[@KyrieFortune]

so harry potter is skyrim

[@bondrewd5935]

Definitely not. HP has some problems but it's a Great story full of beautiful foreshadowing and revelations.

[@yllejord]

@@bondrewd5935 ... that you shouldn't look at too closely, yes.

[@bondrewd5935]

@@yllejord Are you denying the fact that HP Is full of beautiful foreshadowing and revelations?

[@yllejord]

@@bondrewd5935 no, it obviously is. At the same time, if you look at it too closely, it undeniably falls apart. Both can be true at the same time. An author can put a lot of care into weaving foreshadowing into the story while missing glaring inconsistencies. They're only human.

[@ardillachica9037]

Re the Trace: It seems like to me that the Trace, and any associated punishment, only goes into effect AFTER you have been officially accepted or brought into the wizarding world and specifically informed that you are not allowed to practice magic outside of Hogwarts, and not before. Which is why Harry didn't get in trouble when he disappeared the glass from the snake exhibit at the zoo. But it was AFTER this event that Harry got his first Hogwarts letter. Same goes for Hermione. If you remember, she specifically states that she did simple spells at home, probably how she even discovered she was a witch, and only after that saying she got her letter from Hogwarts. As you mentioned, magic in the vicinity of muggles is probably the most frowned upon transgression in the eyes of the ministry, but specifically, in front of muggles *who are unaware* of the wizarding world. So Harry casting Lumos in his bedroom is probably ignored or even if he did it in front of the Dursleys who are aware that magic exists, they wouldn't care, but when the ministry thought he was responsible for the Dobby cake thing in front of the unaware muggles visiting the Dursleys, that wasn't ignored. Imo, anyway.

[@gamefan14]

I think you missed one, but i’m not sure If it’s a plot hole…. What IS the function of Rubber Duck? 🤔

[@du6167]

I know this just a funny little gag in the movie that literally doesn't matter, but it's such an annoying question to ask. Do wizards not have a concept of a toy? I'm sure they do :D I think it would be cool if Mr. Weasley asked Harry about something he takes for granted, but wouldn't be able to explain anyway. Like why does an airplane stay up.

[@Lilly_the_Snek]

​@@du6167 this, this right here. I find the notion that wizards are just completely oblivious to regular culture absurd. Especially Arthur being the head of muggle affairs. On that topic a lot of wizards come from muggle families. Why would you hire the guy who knows least about muggle culture to run the muggle department? It's all nonsense

[@dedbatt8869]

@@Lilly_the_Snekbruh, the same way you’d be oblivious to a foreign culture. Adding the dimension that they use completely different technologies for everything they do in life, of course they’d be oblivious…

[@Lilly_the_Snek]

@@dedbatt8869 they live is the same culture? The Wizarding world is in the smack dab of London. Arthur is the head of muggle affairs and he doesn't know the most basic stuff about muggle. Most Wizarding families have muggles in them. Also I'm not ignorant of other cultures, and I especially wouldn't if I had to live with and interact with another culture daily. This is such a weak argument, my god.

[@dedbatt8869]

@@Lilly_the_Snek i think in the context of a comedic line in a children’s fantasy book it totally holds up. Wizards don’t interact with muggles. Despite the fact that they are right in the heart of London at the ministry of magic, they have a lot of basic misunderstandings about the nature of muggle life. This profound, almost unbelievable ignorance is part of the premise. Arthur is in the admin of muggle affairs partly or wholly because he is a ‘pure-blood’. This is ironic and is meant to mean (in easy to understand terms, meant to stand out as absurd to children) that people in government specifically, are often ignorant or incompetent and have been given the job for political reasons. The British government obviously has a literal House of Lords, wielding immense power for ‘blood’ reasons. That’s the joke. The fact that you are complaining that it doesn’t ‘hold up’ to your cynical hyper-fixated scrutiny portrays to me you have an essential misunderstanding for why decisions are made in the storytelling process and why these stories have been supermassively successful.

[@samuelalvarez_art]

What's crazy is despite the enormous amount of plot holes i still enjoy the books and movies.

[@clamh84]

Snakes aren’t slimy. They are smooth, like cool silk. Except maybe vipers, but I’ve never stroked one of them.

[@ot7biasedmashups]

Yeah snakes have a very fascinating texture actually but it's most definitely not slimy

[@tk42123]

Came here for this

[@WalterFerguson-OBrien]

ya except sewer snakes are very slimy

[@noahkirschtein8169]

as someone who has held a boa they are sooo silky it’s fascinating to touch

[@DB-cx6uc]

How about trouser snakes? Mines pretty damn slimey 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@geekobgaming5647]

I think I have a reasonable explanation for the last one. Voldemort is only wizard in history that created 6 horcruxes. My understanding is that his soul was very damaged and unstable because of it (which is why he didnt look human anymore). So in theory the bar for him creating a horcrux may became so low that even a simple killing would do the job. Noone else would create a horcrux that way because they didnt have 6 prior horcruxes. Its not the most satisfying answer but I think it kinda makes sense. What still bugs me though is why the horcrux attached to only living being in the room. Why not attaching itself to a closest object.

[@Ninaloasana]

About the hocrux thing the explanation is that he accidentally created it by practically killing himself. The avada kedavra curse he used on Harry bounced back to him, killing him, but he couldn't be killed because he has 6 hocruxes. But the avada kedavra is a very strong spell, so when it bounced back to him it ripped his soul into two. But I agree considering Voldemort has a lot of inanimate hocruxes I don't understand why it can only be stuck in living things. Maybe because the hocrux ritual is not complete?

[@joethewolf3750]

I guess we could reason that a soul would rather inhabit something living than an object. The reason horcruxes are usually objects despite this is because in the actual ritual, the soul piece doesn't get the choice. It's just forced into whatever thing the person doing the ritual wants and objects are the logical choice since they're easier to hide, protect and control. But when given the choice, a soul would always take a living being for a container and the only living being in the house was Harry. I think that's a decent explanation for why the piece ended Up in Harry and couldn't have just stuck to the nearest object.

[@Sad-Lesbian]

Voldemort making a bunch of normal horcruxes, and then suddenly he accidentally makes one out of the only living thing in the area, even though all other horcruxes have been normal inanimate objects makes absolutely no sense and I have no idea why more people aren't questioning it.

[@yoshinocherry8937]

This is what i assumed too--also something about killing a baby, the most innocent human life... feels like to commit that act after killing the father and mother with a soul that has literally been ripped 6 times (actually i think 5, does dumbledore say he doesnt do nagini until after he has attacked harry?) seems like it wud be enough to rip his soul. Also... not to be totally facetious... but its just cool and poetic. Harry is allegorically humankind kinda, and part of his sacrifice in book 7 is coming to accept there is evil inside of all of us

[@TheSixthDoctor]

Yes, Voldemort's soul is very "brittle" at that point and part of it just snaps off and attaches itself to baby Harry. That point is actually made in the book. It's also why Voldemort shows up as a kind of flayed foetus on the Platform 9 3/4 in the afterlife. That's all that's left of his soul, very tiny, very helpless, in pain and exposed.

[@DubaiShortsChannel]

I love Basilisk explanation from Pitch Meeting: 'How did it fit in the pipes??' 'Well, these kids poop a lot!' 'Oh yeah, I forgot that the food just appears' 😅😅

[@ShadowDogProduction]

Peter shows up on the map. Its how Lupin finally figured out what was going on. He explains this in the big exposition chapters in the shrieking shack.

[@Keeperifthecheese]

So explain why Fred and George were okay with a random person sleeping with their brother every night for years

[@ShadowDogProduction]

@@Keeperifthecheese I don't think they'd look at their brother sleeping. Why would they? They're scanning the map to make sure they don't get busted sneaking around. Who in the hell would be like "Snape is round that corner, but let's look at Ron sleeping!"

[@figmundsreud9363]

@@Keeperifthecheese I like the idea that the Marauders couldn't be tracked on the map except by other Marauders so no one else could find them but they could find each other. Would explain why Snape saw Sirius on the map because the map was opened by Lupin and I don't think Harry ever saw any of the marauders on the map. Real answer is of course that this was just an oversight by the author

[@francoisrobidoux7003]

​@@Keeperifthecheese i dont think they sleep in individual room with ron the only with two person in his room in the movie they make it look like there 12 student but they are at least few dozen student per year if u would look at any dorm on the map ur very likely not to see well peoples name cuz there would be at least 100 stack in a dorm if the dorm was an hotel the point work but if they all sleep in a fairly small space u probabably wont focus on one name in a crowd

[@emeraldpichu1]

@@francoisrobidoux7003 because somehow they would never notice that there was an extra first year named Peter that they never met. Honestly, the best excuse you could come up with here is that you need an extra password for the marauders to show up on the map so when Lupin activated it to show Sirius he accidentally found Peter too but that still means that the reader has to go on an extra limb when you could’ve just had Lupin say something

[@Blendercage]

I’m guessing with Lupin, he knew what day it was and he had his potion ready, and the events just overwhelmed him, and it slipped his mind. It seems unlikely something that big would slip but big things were happening. After learning about Pettigrew, I guess he was frazzled.

[@eldritchemissary4718]

Doesn't really explain to me why he couldn't just get a room with no windows once a month, both in the current time and the when he was going to school

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

​@@eldritchemissary4718 Till that time very few people knew Lupin was a warewolf. That means he practiced those kind of caution and strain all his life. Also, by the time of 3rd book, Lupin was taking some special potion that suppresses was unavailable during his student life. The night when pettigrew flew is when everything went wrong.

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

​@@eldritchemissary4718 Till that time very few people knew Lupin was a warewolf. That means he practiced those kind of caution and strain all his life. Also, by the time of 3rd book, Lupin was taking some special potion that suppresses the trabsformation. That potion was unavailable during his student life and that was mentioned in the book. The night when pettigrew flew is when everything went wrong.

[@lmaoashley]

SuperCarlinBrothers has a really great series called Dumbledore’s Big Plan that addresses the Molly forgetting where 9 3/4 is as well as why the puzzles hiding the stone were child-friendly. Basically, Dumbledore had been guiding and testing Harry in really detailed ways for the entire series and these two points were deliberate actions taken by Dumbledore. I recommend those videos bc they’re amazing.

[@ryanward5770]

Exactly what I wanted to mention. How much stock you put in thier theories I think dumbledores plan for harry in year 1 is almost completely true.

[@yllejord]

The real, simple answer is because these are children's books. And it is very natural that children's book look and feel like guidance to children and offer child-size age-appropriate challenges.

[@bedelian]

As a filmmaker who thinks a lot about light, the moonlight thing is weird as hell. An umbrella would not stop moonlight because light reflects off everything, you'd still get reflected light from the ground. Then you start thinking that the moon is basically a giant reflector of sunlight, but maybe the moon just alters the sun's light. Then you also have to think that clouds aren't blocking 100% of the moon's light, so is it a certain amount of moonlight that triggers it? Also, even underground, you're still probably getting a tiny amount of reflected moonlight bouncing down halls and creeping in through cracks. It's very hard to make anything light-tight.

[@VaultLore]

Fair point

[@glammingaby]

I always think of it the way Dragon Ball portrays it, where a certain amount of waves is what triggers the transformation, not just any amount of light.

[@Armedus]

Voldemort has killed many, many people across the years yet doesn't make a Horcrux every single time. It is only in seven instances that he manages to make them. I believe the missing conponent to the Horcrux ritual is self-mutilation. Dumbledore tells Harry that Voldemort intended to use his murder as the catalyst for the next Horcrux so we can assume that Voldemort prepared the ritual prior to going to Godricc's Hollow. However, neither James or Lily's murders triggered the ritual but Harry's failed murder attempt did. What was the difference? When Voldemort tried to kill Harry, his spell backfired and obliterated his body. This event is what I believed inadvertently triggered the ritual and created the Horcrux. This explains how Voldemort made a Horcrux by mistake. Even the ritual to recreate Voldemort's body required a pound of flesh, giving willingly by the servent. All these clues point to the Horcrux maker having to pay a heavy, personal toll to achieve immortality.

[@oscar-vg2ns]

Probably not. The reason voldemort created a horcrux when he attempted to kill harry is clearly stated in the books. His soul was so broken before attempting to kill harry, that when the soul rebounded upon himself, instead of his bodily soul being fully destroyed part of it fractured off

[@Armedus]

@@oscar-vg2ns Of course. There are still many mysteries left unanswered in the books. I only offer a potential explanation as to the nature of horcruxes and why they are rare. People fear these objects and many in-universe texts refuse to elaborate any details as they are deemed too evil to mention. I doubt though that any Deatheater would pass up the chance to achieve immortality unless making a horcrux requires more than just magic and murder. Maybe one needs to pay a "pound of flesh" in order to even attempt creating one. I've observed two scenes in the books that may point to my theory being possible. One is the graveyard resurrection scene, where we see Wormtail offer his arm for the ritual, a ritual of Voldemort's design, mind you. We see that Voldemort knows about blood magic and how to use it towards recreating his lost body. This may be knowledge he learned while researching horcruxes. The second scene somewhat connects to the first. When Harry sees Tom Riddle applying for the DADA position at Hogwarts through the Pensieve, he notices that Tom, while still handsome, is very sickly looking with reddening eyes. We learn it's because he already made several horcruxes at this time. I argue his poor health is due to him sacrificing parts of his body to make the horcruxes. Obviously, this begs the question of how he survived if he had lost so much of his physical self. The answer lies again in the grave resurrection. After Voldemort returns, he gives Wormtail a new arm made of silver. I theorize then that young Tom was able to make many horcruxes because he could replace whatever body part he sacrificed with a silver prosthesis. Though they would pale in comparison to his actual body, they would sustain him through his reign of terror. As for Harey and the accidental horcrux, I go off Dumbledore's theory in _The Half Blood Prince_ and assume that Voldemort intended to create his last horcrux with the boy's murder. To this end, he must have cast the necessary spell prior to attacking Godric's Hollow in preparation. When he did, his soul did shatter but it was the spell that allowed that fragment to anchor onto Harry. I only assume that the spells effect triggers once the caster performs the necessary action to complete the ritual, as creating a horcrux is (usually) a voluntary act. Since the only thing he does is die, I assumed that his death was the trigger that accidentall fulfilled the ritual since it was a blood sacrifice. Again. I don't know the truth and could be very wrong about this. I only hope to elaborate how I came to this conclusion, based on what little is known.

[@Armedus]

​​@@oscar-vg2ns Of course. There are still many mysteries yet to be answered in the books. I merely offered a possible explanation about horcruxes and their nature. We know so little about how to make one. The only concrete fact is that a spell must be performed. Since horcux creation is (usually) a voluntarily action, and the only thing Voldemort does when he assaults Harry is die, I assumed the trigger for the spell was a blood sacrifice by the caster. We see he knows a lot about blood magic, based off of the ritual he performed in the graveyard, so I assumed a sizable sacrifice of self was needed to create a horcrux. Otherwise, why hasn't any other dark wizard made one. If it was as easy as casting a spell and murdering someone, every Death Eater would be immortal by now. People fear horcruxes and historians don't date give details because they are considered too evil to describe. Perhaps it is the act of self-mutilation that separates Voldemort from the rest as he would do anything to achieve his goals.

[@yami122]

@@Armedus If self Mutilation is required and then his body should be more mutilated except for it doesn't seem to be Transformed definitely but he doesn't really seem to be missing anything except his nose and even then that's more of it becoming more Snake like rather than outright missing a nose Although what I want to know is what was he planning on turning into the Horcrux With the best thing I can think of being The Sword of Gryffindor

[@Armedus]

@@yami122 I'm glad you asked. Ancient Egyptians would extract organs from bodies and place them in jars to preserve them for the afterlife. In a way, Tom did the same. I believe he offered his organs as trade for each horcrux. This explains both why it is difficult to make more than one and why he looked so ill before his first death. As for how he would survive such a horrific process, i again point to the graveyard resurrection for answers. Wormtail offered his arm as tribute for the ritual to return Voldemort's body. In turn, Voldemort gave him a silver prosthesis, one that's better than the original. I believe that he used the same spell on himself in his youth, replacing his human organs for silver ones. This is the process described by others that made him barely human. He was a hodge podge of magic and skin sewn together that kept a shambling body alive beyond its limit. As for the final horcrux, it's possible that the sword was a canadate though there's still too little to go on to determine its identity.

[@KellsKats]

In the context of the movie, the werewolf issue seems more like an emotional issue. Everything happening with Sirius happens to be happening on that exact day. He may have been so distracted by the drama that he may have totally forgotten to not walk outside that day. I think it's fair for it to have sliped his mind on this one occasion.

[@LiamVidya]

The 100,000 at the Quiddich world cup were from around the world, not just the UK. The point about them fleeing is still very valid though. Also, Molly noticed Harry was listening and did it for his benefit, should could tell he was new and probably muggle born, she's just nice like that.

[@gregorymeyer1798]

Great video, awesome content. I listen to several channels on YT about the HP series, and one i think you and others should give a listen to as well is the Super Carlin Brothers, and specifically their video series about Dumbledore's big plan. It makes a lot of sense and actually solves many of the plot holes discissed here and others ive heard over the years. Keep up all the hard work, looking forward to seeing this channel grow and thrive 👍

[@VaultLore]

Thanks Gregory!

[@lukestewart5142]

Their big plan video is literally on my recommended after this video lmao

[@gregorymeyer1798]

@@lukestewart5142 Hilarious, it does make sense 😜

[@tgiacin435]

A lot of movie plot holes are explained in the book

[@ColKizumi]

Snakes aren't slimy... they are scaly. I say this as someone who has owned snakes. That's my only problem with this video. Lol

[@producedby3am344]

Nope they are slimy

[@aidanmccarthy5441]

No they are not...​@@producedby3am344

[@danielkudo4800]

@@producedby3am344 they are not

[@Aeon_Porygon]

51:15 I think the reason for the low population in Harry's class is easily explained. Historically, in times of war, birth rates decrease. Harry was born in the middle of the first Wizarding war, I assume his class and a few classes above him were less and less. Meaning, 2 years after Harry should be a temporary boom.

[@Grimprospect]

Victor, being the best in the world at 18, makes sense to me. Look at Lamine Yamal playing for FC Barcelona at 17.

[@Bored_Barbarian]

59:39 I think it was more teaching Ginny and/or Ron some independence or trying to make them remember things. Instead of “ok now we go to platform 9 and 3/4” it’s more like “ok (mostly to Ron and Ginny), which platform is it I need to go to?” So that they can feel like they helped etc. or to prepare them in case she can’t be there next year etc.

[@denisucuuu]

Exactly what I thought. My dad does that with my little brother all the time, asking him questions about things I KNOW my dad already knows, to make my little brother remember certain things. That way, Ginny remembers the platform better for her next year.

[@dayvancubensis]

This is exactly what I thought, not a plot hole just a parent trying to get one of her kids to answer the question themselves

[@BryceRosenwald]

Yup, I always interpreted this line as Molly being fussy and making sure her kids remember where to go.

[@staceynainlab888]

my favourite theory is Molly didn't forget the platform number, she noticed Harry looked lost and was trying to get his attention. she couldn't directly ask him if he was a wizard without breaking the statute if secrecy so instead she gets his attention with codewords like "muggle" and "platform 9 3/4" disguised as normal conversation

[@JamSparing]

The riddle thing with the stone is.... I am so so sorry for remembering the details of this book but: Fluffy was there to protect the door, and Dumbledore clearly says to stay out of the corridor. You aren't supposed to be in that corridor to begin with. The only reason they kids had no idea was because they randomly snuck around and then ran into the corridor that was forbidden. The plant would be a good deterrent for anyone who is not Hermoine or great at Herbology. The troll would have been a GREAT deterrent if Quirrel wasn't the guy who was trying to get past it. The key situation - I am willing to assume that magic would not have worked, and a lesser wizard would have likely taken a good while catching the key. Especially with the damn key bird things. The point that Harry is the youngest seeker in whatevertime had passed is brought up so often in the book, it's not exactly subtle. The potion one. Well, Dumbledore specifically says a lot of wizards are really good at magic and really NOT good at the whole 'logical thinking' bit. Not sure about the chess set, I mean. The kids never even TRIED to get past with magic. As for the mirror. THAT was a great way to keep the stone safe! Dumbledore had already assumed Voldemort would want to get to the stone, but since he would want to use the stone (him and anyone he roped in to his schemes would) Quirrel would have ended up going mad looking at the mirror, as Harry almost did. Now... unfortunately, Harry has main character disease and had to get his hands in there, so the stone was moved out of the mirror way before Dumbledore could get there. It is said, I believe, that Dumbledore realised halfway to going to London that he was needed in Hogwarts, and he probably immediately knew the stone was under attack. Had Harry not gotten involved, Quirrel would have sat in front of the mirror, going insane, and Dumbledore could have easily scooped him up and gotten him arrested. Or whatever. Overall, I think the point of the traps was less to trap people and more to give Dumbledore time to react. Not defending the writing, a lot of issues still stand, but unfortunately I remember that whole 'Some wizards are pretty dumb actually' thing from the book.

[@KyrieFortune]

Honestly, I think the puzzles are simple enough a child can solve them because 1. (Watsonian explanation) Harry is a child, and Dumbledore knew that he could have not resisted trying to stop the guy who had already tried to kill him, somehow 2. (Doylist explanation) the READERS are children and the author wanted the readers to understand the puzzles, feel great that someone their age or slightly over could solve them, and even try to solve them themselves, especially the potion puzzle. It boils down to the fact the intended audience for the puzzles a bunch of children can solve both in the story and in real life are, in fact, children. It's not a plot point, it's a feature.

[@JamSparing]

@@KyrieFortune I agree, though it'd have to make sense in-universe as well. Part of it IS explained in the book, at least. Whether or not that explanation holds any water is up to the reader, but I wanted to bring it up anyway (especially since the mirror trap is not really well explained in the book and I literally only learned about it recently. (Or maybe I am just stupid, I make no claims to the opposite.)

[@steamedhamlet]

I wonder if it was all devised as a training exercise for Harry. Dumbledore knows about the prophecy so he's preparing Harry for these kinds of shenanigans

[@jordanshelton8575]

I don't imagine you have any control over the frequency of ads, but all your videos I watch prompt an ad every 3 mins. Other than that love the videos man, keeps me entertained at work

[@VaultLore]

Ads are kind of controlled by what KZbin thinks you’ll specifically will watch. Appreciate you watching!

[@darthbane3937]

One thing that has agrivated me is the lack of wandless magic when it is shown to be possible. Quirrel did it and Tom did it controlled to a point when he was young. Wands just irk me because they can be taken so I wouldn't rely on the thing. Also, wizards are to weak. I can be more forgiving of that in most fantasy series because you can count the number of wizards in the world on your hands, but Harry Potter has millions. I say that because of the one hundred thousand at the cup. The red Sox games attract thousands and that's not a high percentage. You're telling me that most drop everything for those games. No, there have to be millions of wizards and even if someone as powerful as Dumbledore, Harry, and Voldemort represent a rare rare few, they should be able to tear through hundreds or thousands of wizards in a straight fight. For instance Voldemort talks about entering the battle personally if Harry doesn't show. I'd assume that's bad because he's a dark lord who could kill scores on his own. I hate when wizards are relegated to archer status, their magic not a match for large numbers. Rowling gets the concept. Bellatrix was able to easily deal with four snatchers so come on. This is not a problem exclusive to Harry Potter, but I find it most annoying. Magic means power not sculking because a couple of hundred people are after you. Also, can Voldey get his own cooler killing curse since even stupid Crabbe and Goyle can apparently use it. Real special Voldemort.

[@drew1429]

I was just looking at some Harry Potter stuff recently and it also annoyed me when playing Hogwarts Legacy about the wandless magic thing. In that game there is both a foreign student who says they don't use wands where she is from and wandless magic is also not any weaker than magic using a wand, but also the point is raised that Goblins feels the fact they are not allowed to use wands is oppressive because it makes them weaker than wizards. So it is contradicting itself within a singular games storyline. But also yeah when it comes to the series itself having your wand taken or broken is treated as a "You are now basically powerless" consequence, even for very experienced and powerful wizards.. Even though the story will then have other moments where people perform magic perfectly fine without a wand.

[@darthbane3937]

@@drew1429 And that same student in the game said wands were cooler. Maybe for tournaments but not in a fight. The series also says Voldemort traveled the world and that would include countries that don't use wands. Actually if he was worried about Harry's brother wand go wandless and there is no problem. Why are you borrowing one from inferiors? Quirrell didn't use a wand in the first book so what the hell?

[@joethewolf3750]

31:40 the best theory I've heard about the useless traps is that all but the last one weren't actually meant to stop Voldemort. Only the mirror was supposed to be a real obstacle, the rest were red herrings to make Voldemort feel like the stone was protected. Furthermore, involving so many people makes it more likely that someone will tattle or let something slip accidentally to actually tell Voldemort where the stone is. Then, he would've come to Hogwarts, gone through the easy bullshit traps but stayed in front of the mirror indefinitely. At first because he thought he could solve it and then because its power as a magical artifact would've drawn him in and because he needed the stone still. Dumbledore could then go and grab Voldy from in front of the mirror whenever and the stone would've been safe the whole time (Harry showing up and being able to get the stone out of the mirror was not part of the plan)

[@kylecross9827]

Re: The Trace Harry being treated more harshly is a direct response to the fact that Fudge considered Harry and Dumbledore a threat to his rule as the Minister of Magic. When Harry previously broke the rules, Fudge goes as far as to say “we don’t expel people for accidentally blowing up their aunt” (or something along those lines). His attitude changes in response to Harry claiming that Voldemort is back, and this drives the entire plot from the end of the Goblet of Fire through all of the Order of the Phoenix. Why did they try to expel Harry? To portray him as untrustworthy after he claimed Voldemort returned. Why did Fudge insert Umbridge into the school? To gain control of the school and discredit Dumbledore. Regarding Hermione doing magic outside of school, there’s 2 perfectly reasonable explanations: Firstly, we do not know where she practiced. It could have very possibly have been in Diagon Alley, since she must have went there to purchase her school equipment, Wand, etc. in that case the trace would not be able to identify who used the spell out of the hundreds of Wizards that are there at any given time. Alternatively, it could have been on the train. She does not join Harry and Ron in the carriage compartment immediately. Alternatively, given that they had not yet started their academic schooling at Hogwarts, it’s possible the trace had not yet been placed on the incoming first years. We don’t know how the magic of the trace is placed upon magical children, and it’s not only possible but probable that it is placed on the students at the school. This could be by entering the train, travelling across the lake for the first time, placing the sorting hat on, etc. I don’t really think this one is much of a plot hole but I do understand the confusion it creates

[@MulanBelle]

Kid! Snape tells kid! Lily in the first memory that they get a pass on magic done before they start Hogwarts. So Hermione could have easily done some simple spells the summer before starting her first year and not gotten in trouble.

[@lyoshakenyon]

37:55 for the pipe argument, Salazar Slyhterin took part in the construction of Hogwarts Castle and even had the time to build the Chamber of Secrets itself, so it isnt crazy to assume that he made the plumbing magic/ large enough for the basilisk to fit in it

[@Katyamuffin]

Oh my god. I can't believe in 20 years I never realized (or heard anyone else mention) the werewolf thing. Yeah, either he transforms way too late that ONE TIME for absolutely no reason, or he can just stay inside in the dark and never have to transform ever.... Jesus Christ, Joanne.

[@tothepast]

Maybe he secretly likes to go on a rampage. I mean, I also know I shouldn't chuck down a barrel of beer....

[@Katyamuffin]

@@tothepast True. He's a good boy, he can go on a bloodthirsty murder rampage every once in a while. As a treat

[@stankatbarrell9878]

For the puzzle one in sorcerer's stone: I like the theory that dumbledore knew only the mirror would work but he wanted to train/test harry, ron, and hermione.

[@shaaz9993]

Here’s my explanation for the Basilisk: “A dirty great snake, someone would have seen it”… yes, people did see it, but they ended up petrified, so they couldn’t tell anyone about it later. Also, the pipes are 8ft wide… Slytherin specifically built the pipes along with the Chamber so the Basilisk could get around. It also has Ginny / Riddle controlling it and they only release it once in a while, at strategic times. So it doesn’t leave many traces because it’s hardly ever in the main part of the castle.

[@The_Worst_Guy_Ever]

Still doesn't explain where the giant, gaping holes in the wall it must have been popping in and out of were

[@TriforceChad]

More points for dumbledoor creating the eye is that we already know through the deluminator that Dumbledoor is a magical inventor, and Dumbledoor had borrowed the cloak from James for study, which may also be why hes able to see through the cloak himself as well.

[@PalladianPD]

Regarding Harry being a horcrux, I've looked into this quite extensively. Rowling states that Harry is not a true horcrux, his condition is analogous because of the soul fragment, but otherwise he is very different from a horcrux. The biggest clue to horcrux creation that we get is I believe in GoF where Voldemort gets put in the potion to get his body back. I believe to create the container (horcrux object) you brew a potion that you put the object into, and the potion is soaked up. The potion almost certainly contains the blood of the horcrux maker, and snake venom. This might be what we see "leaking out" of the horcruxes when they are destroyed. The presence of the potion is what enables the container to accept a bit of the owner's "life force." Creating a true horcrux requires murder, yes, but although murder damages the soul not every murder creates a horcrux automatically. A charm is required to fully separate a piece of soul and bind it to the container. Due to the emotional nature of magic in the Harry Potter universe the charm probably involves feeling truly happy about having killed someone. I believe this could be why Dumbledore says Voldemort has gone beyond the "usual evil." This is in contrast with the remorse required to "heal" the soul. I don't think we can ignore the fact that Voldemort changed significantly in appearance. After the ring was created he didn't apparently look any different. Later he lost his nose, hair, eyes, colour from his skin (blood?) possibly the flesh from his hands (he's described as having very long fingers - your fingers would look extra long if you lost the flesh on them,) even his voice became high. He did not apparently lose each of these in turn, but gradually transformed. I believe each time a horcrux is created he became more snake-like. It's almost as if he lost human parts of himself to the horcruxes and replaced them with snake parts. We see some of those human parts, such as the eyes in the locket. But his eyes weren't gone after that container was made so it's not an all or nothing transformation. The conclusion here is that the process is so horrible that even an ordinary murderer would rather die than go through it. For Voldemort his body is a tool like any other and can be transformed as required to achieve the end of immortality.

[@selma2601]

I never understood fully how Harry could be the only person to ever survive the killing curse, because of his mother sacrificing herself for him. Isn't it quite unlikely that during the whole wizarding war, Harry and his mother were the only example of someone dying whilst trying to protect a loved one (or even specifically a mother trying to protect a child) and thereby protecting the other one from the killing curse?

[@GameCat16]

It's because most of Voldemort's victims were already going to die, anyway. Lily was special, in that she was given a choice.

[@TheTytoGaurdian]

@@selma2601 You have to be given the choice to die or not. That's why it only happened the one time.

[@selma2601]

Aahh that makes more sense, thanks both of you, @GameCat16 & @TheTytoGuardian!

[@SvobodovaEva]

I always assumed the prophecy also played a part

[@brendan9868]

The Pettigrew one was the first true plot hole I ever noticed with the series as a kid and as I get older the less sense it makes. Like in that very year they give the map to Harry, the entire school and news publications are talking about Sirius Black. At some point they would’ve undoubtedly seen or heard the name Peter Pettigrew from all that discourse. And surely they would’ve been at least keeping tabs on Ron to see who he’s making friends with and stuff. They never thought it was strange that they almost saw someone named Peter with him on the map, yet they’ve never once even seen the dude despite being in the same house and evidently being “close” with Ron. The school isn’t that big and JK’s excuse there is pretty weak, the twins were there during the choosing ceremony, they’d surely at least vaguely remember if there was a Peter or not in their own brothers class who was also placed in Gryffindor.

[@gretsky3463]

Victor being 18 makes sense in terms of European soccer. Messi and Ronaldo were already being regarded as best in the world at 18.

[@SvobodovaEva]

Also being a seeker doesn’t require that much stamina or athleticism. You don’t need to be at the peak of your physical condition to be the best player in the world unlike in football(soccer). I’d say it’s more comparable with shooting sports or equestrian dressage where the best athletes can be 18 or 40.

[@MDK384]

biggest plothole for me is that the killing curse is unblockable and absolutely none of voldemort's completely evil followers kill him with it after he abuses and humiliates them for the 100th time. also, you have a side that refuses to use the unblockable killing curse and one side that has no scruples about it. the second side is going to win and it's not going to be pretty.

[@bondrewd5935]

Both sides use the Avada Kedavra, Molly literally killed bellatrix with It.

[@MDK384]

@@bondrewd5935 that's true. i guess i should say one side has more scruples about using it indiscriminately

[@Darkko88]

I love how they were portraying him as this handsome, cunning, powerful, dark lord wizard with a loyal army of pure blooded wizards at his command but once he's revived all he does is act like a dickhead jock bully towards everyone.

[@MDK384]

@@Darkko88 yea. i think it's worse in the movies than the books. i didn't love ray fiennes' portrayal

[@realmothchu]

i think lycanthropy functions like basic werewolf lore where you transform during the date of the full moon but JKR wanted a nice cinematic visual of lupin being bathed in moonlight before he turned

[@MulanBelle]

People seem to miss Flitwick's description of the Fidelius Charm in the case of the Potters. He described it as Voldemort could be looking in the living room window and not see them. This means that what was being hidden was the Potters themselves and not their house. Pretty hard to be your own Secret-Keeper when you're the secret. Bill could be Secret-Keeper for Shell Cottage, since it's the building that's being hidden.

[@sanora_4971]

Something that's always confused me is that the letter clearly states you can bring a cat, owl, or toad, and then Ron brings a rat, which is on the list.

[@TheSixthDoctor]

"Scabbers" evidently got a special permit due to being the family rat from Percy's early school days.

[@Darkko88]

​@@TheSixthDoctorBut who allowed Percy to bring a rat in the first place?

[@tylerarnett9232]

The ages of the quidditch team doesn’t really bother me. They could have had a team of mostly 7th years the year before and now they have to rebuild. Tons of athletic programs have this problem.

[@mickmack3]

the paintings all talk to you, the stairs all move to the specific hallways you need fireplaces transport you to a differentplace, all this magical stuff and you cant believe a big ass snake can shrink and regrow or even the pipes could do the same thing? haha

[@The_Worst_Guy_Ever]

It's not that it wouldn't be believable in the context of the world. It's that no explanation for it is even attempted. Almost like Rowling didn't even think about how little sense it made at all

[@connerdugan3721]

I think the best explanation for the first one is that only other marauders could see each other’s names on the map. Snape could see remus’s name because remus was the person that opened the map in the first place. Hope this helps

[@xXx_T0M_xXx]

I feel like if Harry could just pull a gun and shoot Voldemort during a beam clash. Bellatrix uses throwing knives. It's not like non-magic weapons are obsolete. Why don't people have emergency liquid luck vials? Why does the float spell take a swish and flick, but the murder anything spell just takes pointing ur wand. Why don't courts of law use truth serum? Couldn't the ministry put "the trace" on prisoners, so escaped criminals can't do magic without being found? Why aren't phoenix tears mass produced? Why aren't more wands curved? Even if you aren't a duelist, a curved wand would make aiming charms and shit easier. If THE ELDER WAND chose to switch from ALBUS DUMBLEDORE to Draco because Draco disarmed him while his back was turned, why don't more wands switch ownership? Like if I beat someone at chess does their wand belong to me now? How can Dumbledore see through an ancient artifact sewn from the cloak of Death itself and not a simple pollyjuice potion. If Hogwarts can keep any wizard from teleporting without the headmaster, why can there be a schoolwide "no unforgivable curses" charm. If the Marauders can just whip up that map, why doesn't the Ministry of Magic have one for their building? "Oh shit Harry Potter just walked in!" "I duel criminals for a living every day, and they can disarm me with just one spell... WELP, GUESS ALL OF US SHOULD ONLY EVER CARRY A SINGLE WAND!" Stuff like charms require no resources besides a wizard and a wand. Why must the wizarding world stay hidden again? How are love potions not illegal? Buckbeak has to be put down for scratching one student. Lupin gets fired just for being a werewolf. If the parents are this worried, why do they keep sending there kids there when there's a murderplot every year?

[@alshamsi_1232]

"Why don't courts of law use truth serum? " Courts of law don't use truth serum because JK Rowling stated that the truth serum only works if you aren't aware of the fact that you drank it, in goblet of fire, Barty Crouch Junior was fed the truth serum while he was unconscious, also the truth serum doesn't give the truth, it gives what that person thinks is the truth, which makes the info less credible, we can see that when Barty Crouch Junior is fed the truth serum, he says that Voldemort is going to reward him, which isn't what happens ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Buckbeak has to be put down for scratching one student. Lupin gets fired just for being a werewolf. If the parents are this worried, why do they keep sending there kids there when there's a murder plot every year?" Buckbeak wasn't put down for scratching a student, it was put down for scratching Draco Malfoy, who's father had bribed everyone related to the incident Lupin doesn't get fired for being a werewolf, all the parents pressure Lupin to quit until he does so on his own accord, and there aren't murder plots every year, it only happens when Harry is at school ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "If the Marauders can just whip up that map, why doesn't the Ministry of Magic have one for their building? "Oh shit Harry Potter just walked in!" Even Dumbledore barely believed a map like that was possible, so it seems like the marauders were so incredibly skilled in this specific way that they would be able to conjure up a map like this ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "How can Dumbledore see through an ancient artifact sewn from the cloak of Death itself and not a simple pollyjuice potion. " Dumbledore doesn't see through the cloak, he only sees Harry after the cloak was taken off ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Why does the float spell take a swish and flick, but the murder anything spell just takes pointing ur wand. Why don't courts of law use truth serum? The swish and flick is most likely a sort of beginner type of magic guidance, when you become more experienced you become, the less you need this sort of guidance ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Why aren't more wands curved? Even if you aren't a duelist, a curved wand would make aiming charms and shit easier. I don't see how curved wands make aiming any easier, in fact they would make aiming a lot harder ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Why aren't phoenix tears mass produced? Pheonix tears only appear in true moments of despair, you can't artificially make them ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If Hogwarts can keep any wizard from teleporting without the headmaster, why can there be a schoolwide "no unforgivable curses" charm. Teleporting isn't a spell, you can't make any spells impossible to use, if that was the case then it would be implemented everywhere, you can make spells weak or useless, but the unforgivable curses are considered unforgivable because they are incredibly cruel and impossible to counter ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I answered 8 of your 14 questions, the last 6 I believe are true plot holes

[@onefinegent]

1. well it takes in Britain in the 90s, and he's a minor so he really wouldn't have access to a gun. the ministry tries to take people in alive, and the death eaters are very "magic is might" so neither of them would see the need for a gun. 2. its a very rare potion that you have little guarantee was made properly other than the word of the potion maker, it can be deadly if made wrong. besides that, luck can only get you so far in a fight if, for example, your opponent has their wand pointed directly at you luck wont stop the curse 3. the killing curse actually does have a motion, and its a zigzag pattern that happens to look like a lightning bolt (yes, thats why the scar is like that). in fact, all spells in the wizarding world require some form of motion, even non-verbals. 4. truth serum can be counteracted with occlumency, and although they properly use it for more petty criminals, it is unlikely to work against more notorious criminals. 5. Azkaban is thought to be in-escapable, so why bother? its wizarding arrogance, which is a common nuisance in the books. 6. phoenixs can teleport and are fairly free spirited, why would they let someone mass produce their tears? 7. i don't understand this one, how is a curved wand going to be better than a wand that you can point directly at what you want? 8. "the wand chooses the wizard", every wand is "alive" in a way, and has a personality. the elder wand was historically a wand with no allegiance to its owner, and therefore will switch to anyone who outperforms its current owner. it's why any wand harry borrowed in the deathly hollows didn't work, cause the death eaters and snatchers wands were aligned against him. other than dracos, but thats supposed to infer that draco was more aligned with harry at that point in the story than voldemort. 9. i'm not sure when you're referring to this, if you mean in book 1, then harry was not being careful and was making too much noise on his way to the mirror the night dumbledore catches him, he didn't need to see under the cloak. 10. wizarding ignorance, again. no one would have assumed that a student would know about unforgivables, let alone try to use them. besides that, you have to be a fairly dark and powerful user to actually perform them, "moody" says that a room full of 14 years olds shouting the death curse at him would be unlikely to even give him a bloody nose. 11. the ministry has several areas that they don't want to be public knowledge to begin with, plus any name that isn't by itself would be obscured by every other name. also also, there was no reason to think that harry for any reason would try to break into the ministry. 12. wizarding arrogance, my old friend. professional aurors can perform protective magic easily and without a second thought, why would they need to worry about a petty criminal getting the best of them? 13. they make it clear at several points that they want to be left alone, that the modern world would rely on magic too much and demand wizards solve the worlds problems. whether or not thats the correct choice is an interesting topic, although not relevant to the overall story. 14. i don't have a defense for this one, it really should be. 15. i mean, in the real world karens will get dogs put down for nipping and a kid. besides that, draco is a nepo baby of lucius, who has influence and is financially supporting many high ranking ministry officials, and was up until a few months prior on the school board of governors. there's no way that he didn't use that influence to make a kangaroo court to find buckbeak guilty and put to death.

[@xXx_T0M_xXx]

@@onefinegent I appreciate the response. I love fantasy worldbuilding and I haven't read the book is a long time, so having someone answer these questions is nice. however I'm still curious about a few. And I didn't say this in the original comment, but I not trying to say Harry Potter is poorly written or anything like that. EVERY fantasy story has worldbreaking loopholes and logic flops. 1. I feel like Harry and the gang could easily steal a few guns undetected. In situations where law enforcement have less than lethal weaponry, they usually still have lethals on standby. I feel like non Death Eater criminals and scatchers would carry them. (I understand why guns weren't written into Harry Potter, I just feel like an explicit answer would have been nice). 2. Felix Felicis was being taught in school. I feel like a career potionmaker could get the hang of it. 3. U right. 4. Although someone saying they're innocent isn't 100%, an admission of guilt would be. However, the court system in Harry Potter seems unreliable, so U right. 5. Idk the process of putting "the trace" on people, but I feel like next to wrangling dementors, it wouldn't be that hard to add on. 6. Humans have domesticated beasts far greater without using magic and Fawkes proves they can be trained. 7. A curved wand HANDLE is more ergonomic and accurate. (Sorry, I didn't specify first time) 8. I didn't know wands could refuse allegiance even after losing in real combat. 9. Is Death in the Harry Potter universe purely based on sight? The third brother never slipped up the entire time since he got the cloak? Never spoke another word? Never coughed? Never snored? The evading death thing just adds so much inconsistency for me. 10. I meant for everyone, not just students. Dumbledore says that he can teleport cuz he's the headmaster, not cuz he's an adult. 11. I feel like they could make a map that highlights "wanted criminals". 12. Even when they know or highly suspect they're gonna be fighting other proven duelist, they still only bring one wand. Death eaters, aurors, violent criminals, everyone. 13. Wizards would solve so many problems, save so many lives and be filthy rich, not bothered. It's like finding the cure for cancer and not sharing it cuz: "I don't wanna be bothered". (I understand this would make the books 10x harder to write and would ruin the "Santa Claus" aspect for children, I just feel like a more thought out answer would have been nice). 14. We right. 15. Only a few students get killed or gravely injured every year, so yeah I guess most parents in Harry Potter wouldn't care.

[@milanka882]

I think that one about 9 3/4 is a bit unfair honestly. Obviously, I don't know if you are aware of what some parents do with their children. I remember seeing my auntie do this with my cousins. The parent knows the answer, but they are trying to get the children involved or teach the children what the answer is or whatever. Not sure if I'm making sense, but it's kind of like in a classroom, the teacher might ask a student a question. The teacher obviously knows the answer to the question, but what's the student to give them that answer. I think that is what is going on here.

[@lou9635]

For Peter, I like to think he was detected as a rat for the previous years until Sirius came back. With Sirius' back, Peter was forced to face the fact he wasn’t a rat and would face consequences if Sirius or anyone catch him. That's when the map starts to show him again, he was more human this year than the others

[@shadow0416]

Regarding why Barty had to wait until the maze for it to happen, I think the entire point was that Harry would be isolated in the maze. Barty continuously pulled strings behind the scenes to continue giving Harry unfair advantages to try and make sure that he was the one to touch the Portkey. And when he does, it's in the dead center of a massive maze where no one else can see what's happening. No Dumbledore or McGonagall or even Snape to protect him - Harry would be all alone and most vulnerable. And this is when Voldy would strike and make his triumphant return, when no one even knows of his return, let alone be there to stop it from happening.

[@dennislp3]

Harry not being able to cast magic seems like a safety thing...He is of course very different and under extra restrictions to avoid notice and danger.

[@Grellmax]

- The trace punishment is explicitly said to generally only apply to students only once they've been made aware of the rules by Dumbledore in Harry's trial. Riddle used magic on other children outside of Hogwarts before being invited/informed. He turned Myrtle's death into a horcrux while the trace was still on him but did so in Hogwarts grounds, where the trace doesn't apply. The rest were after he came of age. - Petigrew betrayed the Potters. I don't think it's a leap of logic to assume this means giving up their secret. - The Dursley's house was known and being watched at all times, as was Sirius's place and OotP related places. You could imagine most chicanery would be noticed. - I think it's actually clear there are specialists in the wizarding world: creating difficult potions successfully, resolving challenges in the Triwizard cup, knowledge of wand lore, voiceless spellcasting, occlumency and legilimency, corporeal patronus spells...There are many examples of more advanced magics not all wizards could accomplish. - The basilisk moves around the sewerage system (old castle remember, not modern, so generally have human access)...and it speaks parseltongue: the same language used to open passages! - While it's obviously written this way for plot convenience, parents ask rhetorical questions to their children all the time. Molly is doing this. Ginny is proudly blurting out the answer to show she's been listening and (in her mind) ready to set off with her brothers to join the magical world. It's silly to just assume Molly is an idiot.

[@chrisbolland5634]

Molly didn't forget, she was doing a teaching moment with her kids, like asking 'Okay which is the dentist's office?' Your kid is gonna get to flex their muscles and show you they are tracking, and it's possible Molly wants to include Ginny, since she can't go.

[@drparadox7833]

17:01 well that can be explained by the DADA teacher curse. No one can stay for more than one year as DADA teacher and this incident is the DIRECT cause for Lupin's resignation. It is possible curse alligned everything and made Lupin forget the dates to make this happen and kick him out of the position.

[@hassledvania]

I dunno, the Peter/map thing seems reasonable enough. The boys werent checking in on Ron, and if they did theyd have just assumed some boy named Peter shared his dorm.

[@TheSixthDoctor]

42:14 Quirrel doesn't dissolve in the book. He just burns his hands horribly from touching Harry and Harry passes out as Quirrel is still writhing in pain.

[@SorenPenrose]

It’s Ron’s first year in book one. Ron’s notoriously oblivious. “Now Ron, which platform is it again?” That one’s easy.

[@JIopemUncym]

About the second point: It's not just a regular young magician who plays with pudding, but Harry Potter, of course the ministry would watch him closely. The world of HP already had one talanted boy, who used magic rather freely, turned monster, control over Harry is only natural.

[@Charles-r9f6o]

31:18 so I actually have a good explanation for this one. The puzzles weren’t meant to stop someone from reaching the stone. They weren’t meant to be hard. They were only made to buy time. Dumbledore is the strongest wizard, why would he need help from other teachers? He could’ve hid it, like the horcruxes, he could’ve left it in gringots to be secure. But he told all the students to NOT go into a special place of the school, he told all the teachers, He let Harry see it, when Hagrid picks it up. He didn’t want the stone to be a secret. He didn’t want the riddles to be hard. The only riddle that mattered, was the mirror of desire (erised). In the end of the last movie/book he tells us, that he had put a spell on the mirror, so that only the person who wants to FIND the stone but not USE it, would get it. Quirrle/voldemort wanted to use the stone. Dumbledore tells us, in the first scene with the mirror, that it can hold the strongest wizard; even himself, trapped while looking at the thing they most desire. Quirrle definitely desires the stone, since its the only thing that can keep him alive, while Voldemort is slowly killing him. He would’ve stand in front of the mirror, not being able to leave, because the mirror entraps people, makes them addicted to looking at their strongest desire. He would’ve been trapped in the room, not being able to leave. That was Dumbledores plan, that way he could’ve simply take the hypnotised quirrel to Askaban, or do whatever else with him and Voldemort. Harry, this good for nothing, nosey child RUINED his whole plan by getting the stone (because he wanted to find, but not use it), therefore making it available and within reach for Quirrle to take. Quirrle would’ve never got the stone on his own. It was a fool proof plan, ruined by a first grader with a hero complex.

[@du6167]

I.. I just assumed that he simply did not come across any thestrals for months after Cedric died :,D

[@Tftftftftftftftftf]

The theory about having someone replace Harry with a polyjuice potion is unnecessary. I do agree that BC Jr couldn’t have taken him in broad daylight, but they could’ve planned to just kill Harry and do nothing else. People would’ve just assumed he died in the maze.

[@Stark-Raving]

It could be argued that when Lupin became a professor, his privilege of not appearing on that map was revoked.

[@eyesaac965]

38:50 In fairness it's a common misconception that snakes are slimy. I've had pet snakes and trust me... no slime, only scales.

[@shaaz9993]

I don’t think Lupin transformed into a werewolf because the moonlight hit him. He transformed because it was a full moon. The fact that the transformation happened at the same time that the moonlight hit him was just a coincidence, written in for dramatic effect.

[@TheSixthDoctor]

But it's already a full moon outside during the time they spend inside the shack.

[@shaaz9993]

@@TheSixthDoctor Yeah but I’m guessing the transformation takes time to kick in. Or maybe it happens at a specific time on the day of the full moon etc.

[@TheSixthDoctor]

@@shaaz9993 Well, you can see when it begins to kick in - when he makes eye contact with the moon.

[@shaaz9993]

@@TheSixthDoctor yeah but I think that’s just done in the movie for dramatic effect. Canon would be that it kicks in regardless of whether he makes eye contact with the moon or not

[@TheSixthDoctor]

@@shaaz9993 Well, if that's the canon then that, again, points to direct exposure to full moonlight being the trigger for the transformation. We're going in circles.

[@TheFatalHalo]

First of all, well done video. Thanks for the time and effort you put into it. I have several thoughts to offer that may fill in some of these plot holes, but the Basilisk seemed to be a sticking point for you, so I wanted to address that first. Maybe I'll add thoughts on some of the other ones later. Though it may be controversial to bring this up, the size issue with the Basilisk may have been explained in the first Fantastic Beasts movie. As it's a Rowling property, I have to assume it's legit across the Wizarding World. When Newt is about to capture the Occamy, he explains it is "Choranaptyxic" - that it can grow or shrink to in order to fit available space. The Basilisk is a magical creature, so it's reasonable to accept that more creatures than just the Occamy possess this ability. Seems reasonable that would HAVE to be the case if the Basilisk was using the pipes to be mobile within Hogwarts. You said, "don't tell me the Basilisk changes sizes because of magic" - but we're talking about a MAGICAL WORLD, so why should that be off the table? When the Basilisk is searching for Harry in the Chamber of Secrets, it's approximately the size of the tunnels its chasing him through. Filling available space. You might also say that the term and definition of "Choranaptyxic" could have been placed in the Fantastic Beasts movie as a means to explain this plot hole - to which I say, "So?" It's actually brilliant and I respect an author who can retroactively explain plot holes by creatively working it in to future projects. Not everything can be explained all at once to satiate questions because the author has a story to tell and some things are far more important to focus on than all the silly little details about how a Basilisk grows and shrinks. I don't think the Occamy situation was created to explain this issue specifically, but it does tie everything together. As for the Basilisk being less deadly in a smaller form - who says size matters? A Box Jellyfish is tiny, but it can kill a full-grown adult. Nature is full of examples like that, so that's a non-issue in my book. It also doesn't mean a Basilisk can't kill or petrify in a smaller form either. The potency of a magical ability doesn't necessarily have anything to do with something's size. Imagine brushing your teeth at a sink in Hogwarts some night, turning around to grab something off a shelf, and then turning back to find a snake-like creature rising from the drain right in front of you. Personally, I think that's far more terrifying than some 90-foot long serpent you could see from a mile away. As for Harry hearing the Basilisk from a floor away - he was hearing lots of things that no one else did, so I'm inclined to believe that the he was hearing the Basilisk because of his connection to Voldemort and snakes in general. I don't think a snake has to actually be hissing or making an audible noise for a Parselmouth to hear them.

[@James-Alai]

Here's one that always bothered me. In book three the Weasley's win a bunch of gold so they spend most of the winnings on a trip to Egypt. Why did they need the money to go to Egypt? Couldn't they have just Apperate there? "Well...they needed the money to pay for a place to stay" Um...couldn't they have just used an enchanted tent?

[@ricky.t.1658]

You can only apperate to places you know, the weasleys probably didnt know Egypt ❤

[@James-Alai]

@@ricky.t.1658 Oooo I like that idea. smart thinking!! =]

[@The_Worst_Guy_Ever]

​@@James-Alai No it's not. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had just visited Bill in Egypt in the previous book

[@MulanBelle]

Apparating long distances (especially between continents) is harder and increases the risk of Splinching, even more so if you're not the best at it. On top of that, the Weasleys have five kids that can't Apparate yet. So they probably had to pay for an international Portkey to take them to Egypt.

[@Enjgine]

Harry’s year and above and below had voldemorts rise to deal with so likely fewer babies for a few classes

[@guernzgames338]

Ok so for the Peter Petigrew on the map one. I like to think that everytime Fred and George looked at Ron, Peter's name was covering his up. And in book 5 when they tell him "if he does good in the match they'll consider telling people they are related to him. And they assured him that this is something theyve been denying for years" or something to that effect. 😂😂😂

[@absolutelyliberated1357]

I feel like any living creature placed to defend the stone would be incredibly stupid since the people they’d expect to be after it could probably just one shot them with Avada kedavra and it’s a done deal in about half a second

[@kyleethekelt]

I'm so glad you mentioned Snape's failure to see Pettigrew's name on the map when delivering lupin's Wolfsbane. However, it's another Snape action which I think is a huge plothole and it has to do with memories, the pensieve and storage. Why on earth did Snape, deliberately and in front of Harry, store his private memories in a pensieve - a vessel for viewing memories only? If he had removed these memories prior to every occlumency lesson and stored them in a flask which he then kept on his person, Harry would never have been the wiser. Putting his private memories in front of Harry and then leaving them there while he leaves his office is stupidity on the level of writing your password on a post-it note and sticking it to your computer monitor - and Snape, although many things, was not stupid. Of course, Harry need not have looked, but that's my point. If JKR hadn't had Snape so blatantly display that he had memories he wished to conceal … On thestrals, Harry didn't actually 'see' Cedric die; his scar was hurting him so much that he was forced to close his eyes against the pain and only heard the thud and guessed what was happening. "A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes." (Goblet of Fire, ch32) Oh, and I have a somewhat controversial question. Why on earth, during a war, don't the kids fight to kill? It's a war; these people are your enemies; if you kill them they can't continue to fight you. This may be a symbolic thing but to me it doesn't make sense. I've never understood why anyone has an issue with Molly asking the name of the platform. Parents teach their children and the older boys would understand that she is teaching Ron and Ginny. I don't see this as unusual at all. In fact, I can well picture the older boys roling their eyes but wisely choosing to say nothing On horcruxes, it may be that Voldemort's soul is now so unstable, having made far too many horcruxes, that I can easily perceive how a fragment ended up inside Harry. I'd known about most of these but not all. Thanks for yet another great video.

[@VaultLore]

Thanks for watching! All interesting questions!

[@milanka882]

Yeah I thought about that question in a war as well. Remus Lupin actually addresses it when he tells Harry to stop using expeliamus as he's go to spell. He basically explained to Harry that it's a war, and he needs to start being prepared to at least use stunning spells. I think this is just another example of how J.K. Rowling really doesn't have a clue about how the real world actually works. When people are actually fighting a war, they fight to kill. They see their enemies as combatants. And they kill combatants, and they expect that combatants are going to kill them. War is horrible, bloody, nasty business that should never be glorified. but if you are going to write about a war and call it a walk, then you need to write about it realistically. The excuse that "it's a kids book"doesn't fly considering ring that J.K. Rowling wanted to the books to "grow with the reader". Unfortunately, she is not talented enough to write a book that does credibly grow with its readers. and I think she has this ideal that Harry can get through the wall without killing. It comes off as idealistic and patronising. Because in reality, even people who are generally nice and kind people have to do things when they are fighting a war that they may not like, or that may go against their normal morals or their normal personality. I think the whole question around the issue of War does need its own video to address. Because at the end of the day, it is a valid point.

[@6sixtysix]

52:48 I think that’s why he does it, because it automatically makes him win, regardless of his magical power.

[@jacobcrist7982]

also it should be noted that Hermione said that before her first year before they're told about the rule

[@QueenOfHeartsx]

commenting as i listen along to the video but the theory of peter pettigrew being so deep into his animagus form that the map didn't register him is incorrect - the very reason Lupin followed the trio to the shack was because he saw both Sirius and Peter's name on the map and realised Peter was still alive. “Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter,” said Lupin, nodding. “I believed it myself - until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder’s map never lies . . . Peter’s alive. Ron’s holding him, Harry.”

[@tyhbvft1218]

3:29 Definitely! I mean, my guess is that the first thing they do would be to prank percy and ron at night, more than once I would imagine.

[@slapjack685]

58:10 More upsetting headcanon explanation: She couldn't stand remembering having to wipe her parents memory, and so made herself forget ever having done it

[@hviebie8518]

On the plot hole about the number of wizards graduating hogwarts and the number attending the quidditch final, I have heard theories that hogwarts used to have many more students but there has been a population decline particularly in the UK resulting from the first wizarding war. In other countries the population may have been much greater leading 100,000 people to attend the final quidditch game.

[@lockpickingparamedic2136]

Molly asked for the platform so Harry could recognise her as a witch and ask her for guidance.

[@jovanym2931]

Bruh not really a plothole but as a kid I thought it was strange that the basilisk always talked about wanting to kill , but never actually killed anyone

[@GameCat16]

Conveniently, not one of them looked directly at the thing. I always found that contrivance funny.

[@ngotemna8875]

​@@GameCat16 Sure, but like, why didn't the basilisk just, you know, eat its victims? Gulping down prey to digest later is like THE thing of snakes lmao

[@SvobodovaEva]

@@ngotemna8875Maybe because they were petrified and he doesn’t eat stone?

[@danielmeagher2735]

The wand allegiance is definitely a little questionable, but I think it's explainable. First, the Elder Wand could be more sensitive to switching alliances than regular wands, and so Harry ripping Malfoy's wand from his hand was enough for the Elder Wand to switch but wouldn't have been enough for other wands that Draco mastered (maybe Draco had a collection of wands in his bedroom, and they all stayed nice and loyal to him idk). This would make sense since the Elder Wand isn't a human-made artifact. Maybe it just has high standards for its master. Two, for normal wands, it's not enough that the owner is disarmed -- the unalleged wand must then be physically captured by the attacking wizard. So you would have to physically take and hold the wand, maybe even use it, to win its allegiance. In other words, expelliarmus isn't enough to make a wand switch allegiance, so Harry is not the master of dozens of wands of people that he disarmed, at least if he didn't physically pick up the wand. Also, it's possible that the Elder Wand didn't switch allegiance to Draco the moment he disarmed Dumbledore, but instead the moment Dumbledore died. It could have been in limbo after falling to the ground from Draco's Expelliarmus spell, and then when its master (dumbledore) died, switched allegiance to the last person to disarm it (Draco).

[@Kippiddy]

I always thought the trace is a bit of Wizarding supremacy. It keeps muggle borns from being able to practice outside of school as opposed to kids born from magical families. Or like all the other issues, she just didn't think about it too deeply.

[@HakDrares]

The ministry probably thought Hermione’s magic pre year one was just her unable to control it like Harry with the glass. They had no idea that she was just a nerd

[@janus2773]

regarding basilisk size, i don't think rowling meant the bigger oak trunks around, she probably didn't mean it literally and just meant to evoke the image of a thick boi. a snake with those proportions is comical. a quick google tells me the biggest snake was 28ft long and 3,5ft wide - though this is a 1960s guiness record, so who knows if its accurate. the biggest scientifically measured snake was 22.8 ft long, no width on record.

[@leviathan_is_me]

About the trace. Hermione (and even Harry in book 1 before he knows what he is doing) uses magic without consequence. I always figured it was because they hadn't been to school yet. Some charm or hex or whatever latches on underage magical folk when they are sorted or even walk into the school.

[@tgiacin435]

I think it’s placed as soon as you’re born, and it doesn’t have consequences since it’s a child learning they can use do magic. Once you complete your first year then you can’t since you now have proper control and a wand. Any magic at that point is intentional except for the Marge incident.

[@AsoaCo]

Your onto something here maybe it has something to do with first years always crossing the lake?

[@leviathan_is_me]

@AsoaCo J.K. might have put something out as she likes to fill in plot holes as people point them out to her. I always thought it odd, Hermione saying she had done "a few simple spells" when meeting the boys on the train for the 1st time. Then, finding out it is highly illegal for underage witches and wizards to do so away from school. You would think one without a single day of training would be worse.

[@tgiacin435]

@@leviathan_is_me they don’t send new student to Azkaban for learning about their powers otherwise Riddle would’ve been discovered a lot sooner. And Hermione didn’t use magic while on the train

[@leviathan_is_me]

@tgiacin435 she said she did and DID. On the train, she fixed Harry's glasses. Before that, she said she tried a few simple spells before. Since she was muggleborn, she would have tried AFTER she got her letter.

[@lothara.schmal5092]

Correction here: Snakes aren’t slimy at all, they’re pretty smooth and dry. They don’t have a distinct smell or leave any trace, besides shitting and pissing I mean.

[@deejkdeejk]

8:20 I just wanted to chime in and let you know (as I'm sure others have) that the phrase is 'catch the brunt' and not 'catch the blunt'. I'm all for Harry catching blunts though