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J.K Rowling Unveils the magic school names for U.S.A, Brazil, Japan, and Africa

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Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
It goes further than that. Remember the Weasleys were actually an old pureblood family, and it was mentioned that they were never very rich like the other old purebloods families.

Or maybe it's Weasley tradition to have large families, but you have to wonder where all the aunts and uncles are.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
They had a house in like the middle of apparently a large amount of land.

It's trivial to find a nice, secluded spot and set up a bunch of anti-muggle wards. Wealth was in artifacts and currency and connections, not land. Wizards have very little use for land as far as I can tell.
 
I always figured Hogwarts was free.

Money to pay for it comes out of Wizard Taxes.

Also fucking Dumbledore paid those Kitchen Elves $10 a week.

It's a damn shame that the only person who cared that the wizards used slave labor was Hermoine. It adds more weight to the choice of Hermoine being black in the play on top of being an outcast.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
It's trivial to find a nice, secluded spot and set up a bunch of anti-muggle wards. Wealth was in artifacts and currency and connections, not land. Wizards have very little use for land as far as I can tell.

Wizard Privilege. They don't even know what they have.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I think it's pretty clear that Voldemort, like Dumbledore, is a step above normal wizards and witches. Rowling kind of mirrors in small scale the Voldemort vs Dumbledore duel when McGonagall fights Snape in Deathly Hallows and in the same book he's shown fighting McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley with none of them able to get a hit in.

And McGonagall and Kingsley were probably two of the most proficient members of the Order. Those two, plus Moody and Snape probably rounded out the top 4 in the Order as far as skill went.

Not to mention them going to all those professional Quidditch games with their lavish and luxurious tent.

The tent was borrowed, and technically the World Cup Tickets were a bribe.
 
Was Harry really that rich though? I don't think they ever explained what his parents jobs were, but I figured that money lasted so long because it was his parents savings/checkings and since Harry didn't have to worry about paying for mortgage, utilities, food, and clothes, it lasted a lot longer than it should've if it was for an adult with a family.

He mainly used it for school supplies and sweets on the train.

Harry's dad was descended from uh, the person with the cloak and or/possibly Godric Gryffindor, and I believe his parents were Aurors. Since James Potter comes from an old bloodline, his family was probably extravagantly rich kinda like Lucius Malfoy, of course him the parents dying means that it all went to Harry.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Was Harry really that rich though? I don't think they ever explained what his parents jobs were, but I figured that money lasted so long because it was his parents savings/checkings and since Harry didn't have to worry about paying for mortgage, utilities, food, and clothes, it lasted a lot longer than it should've if it was for an adult with a family.

He mainly used it for school supplies and sweets on the train.

I thought he had enough money to buy like everything he ever wanted.
 

B33

Banned
I thought he had enough money to buy like everything he ever wanted.

I don't recall him ever being stymied for financial reasons until the last book, but that was more circumstantial.

His parents made arrangements before their deaths as a contingency.
 

Kinokou

Member
I wish the Japanese school was in some place old and majestic, like Kyoto or somewhere. I looked up that island, there's like no space on it at all. It's mostly mountain. How do people get food there? Walk around? It just seems horribly impractical. Magic can't solve everything. Even Hogwarts needed level ground for a castle and space for a Quidditch field and so on.

Didn't you see that they have the most badass Quidditch team which trains over the open stormy ocean dodging waves and planes?

I'm curious to learn more about them. Wandless magic as the norm is pretty cool, but I doubt it is as powerful. Olivander said that having something to channel the magic through increases the wizards power, and even the other races like Goblins and Centaurs would like wands to increase their magical power..

I like to imagine the wand is used to tame their magic, since children can do a lot of uncontrollable things. It still channels the magic, but as easy mode. So I always imagined that a wizard chilled who learned to use magic without would be more powerful. But that is just headcannon.

And from a magic tinfoil perspective, having your wizards used to wands means it is easier for the government to control them by taking their wands away.

So there's only one magical school in all of North America? I don't think Rowling understands how big our continent is.

I don't think you understood that she so far only has named 8 out of the biggest schools, and that home schooling is absolutely common. With how prevalent it is in America I would not be surprised if that were your norm.

Or maybe every little wizard enclave has a tiny school just for their children.

Doesn't explain Weasleys, or Hermione.

I think you go to school if you just happen to be close enough, or, you know, the chosen one. I bet there's some law like: Once a magical child reaches a certain age, either they attend school or their parents/guardians assume responsibility for their education.

Muggle born should be a priority since unless they risk being ticking magic time bombs waiting to transfigure their teachers into elephants.

Wonder if the magic government in places that don't have schools will put muggleborn children into wizarding families for that home schooling, or set up special classes for them. The other alternatives are kind of dark.
 
I always hated how harry basically got the fortune and a fucking mansion from his parents and Godfather. It's nice to inherit things and then work in a government job.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Wonder if the magic government in places that don't have schools will put muggleborn children into wizarding families for that home schooling, or set up special classes for them. The other alternatives are kind of dark.

Well Tom Riddle actually managed to go to Hogwarts and he was all but neglected otherwise.

It's probably worse elsewhere. I assume there's always boarding houses for the muggle born magical if they somehow can't get to a real school.
 

Kinokou

Member
Rowling wrote about the Potter Family.

https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/the-potter-family

Family made a lot through the centuries and never had a generation become wasteful with it, so it lasted. Harry's Grandfather made a ton of gold, and left it to his only Son, James, and James died very young, so Harry got it. Harry also added a lot to the pile when he inherited Sirius' estate.

I never really considered Sirus estate outside of the context of the books. Do we know if he ended up living there or did they rebuild in Godric's Hollow?
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I never really considered Sirus estate outside of the context of the books. Do we know if he ended up living there or did they rebuild in Godric's Hollow?

I don't think it was ever clarified. I would assume they live in Sirius' house in London given Harry works for the Ministry. The house in Godric's Hollow was basically turned into a memorial, so I doubt Harry would have rebuilt the house.
 
he did get shitted on for most of his young life, so i think it balances out
Kind of a wrong message that if you're living a shitty life then karma flips and you get handed money in a silver platter.

Would have preferred if the message was that yeah living in a poor environment sucks, but if you keep going you can rise above it. For all we know though he barely touches the money and leaves it for his kids though.
 

Yrael

Member
I could have sworn that Rowling once said that there was an Australian magic school...it was in an interview a number of years ago, but I can't seem to find it.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I don't think it was ever clarified. I would assume they live in Sirius' house in London given Harry works for the Ministry. The house in Godric's Hollow was basically turned into a memorial, so I doubt Harry would have rebuilt the house.
I guess they could live at Grimmauld Place, but that portrait in the hallway. Man... One too many guests tripping over the damn umbrella stand and waking her up would pretty much push Ginny over the edge and force Harry to find them a new place.

I was disappointed they left the portrait out of the movies.
 

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
Kind of a wrong message that if you're living a shitty life then karma flips and you get handed money in a silver platter.

Would have preferred if the message was that yeah living in a poor environment sucks, but if you keep going you can rise above it. For all we know though he barely touches the money and leaves it for his kids though.

i dont think that was the message that you, or children were supposed to get from harry potters story
 

Link1110

Member
Theres one in china? Is it called MofaDifang? Or maybe even worse... Mofasuo!

Pronounced Moffa-duh-fang (like the word fang)
And moffa-suu-oh
 

scamander

Banned
Also Rowling needs to come up with a good excuse on why European wizards migrated to the Americas. Given how conservative the wizard society is, it makes very little sense.

Maybe they didn't. Maybe all of them are descendants of muggles that immigrated to the US.
 

sphagnum

Banned
I always thought it would have been cool for North America's wizard school to be of native american origin/influence.

It is, partially.

Scamander, a wizard born in England who is an expert on magical creatures (or "magizoology"), will encounter wizards who've been trained at a school in North America. This institution will be presumably something like an "American Hogwarts," and it won't be located in New York City.

On Twitter, a fan recently asked Rowling whether the wizarding school "will ... have any relevance to the Native American-Indian culture". Rowling replied that "indigenous magic was important in the founding of the school. If I say which tribes, location is revealed." In a follow-up tweet she added that the school will have a name "of immigrant origin," not a Native one.
 

Sesha

Member
Man, Uganda is making its mark in popular culture. They have their own movie industry, and now Uganda is home to one of the 11 greatest wizard academies in Harry Potter. Next up, they should get their own Marvel and DC heroes, unless Wakanda counts.
 

Pluto

Member
He says the castle itself is small, but the grounds are enormous, far bigger than Hogwarts.
The Hogwarts castle isn't that big either. It looks huge from the outside but most of it is empty space, there are gigantic courtyards, big ass halls, hallways and half of the castle seems to be hollowed out to make room for moving staircases, get rid of all of that and the 300 students and what seems to be 10 staff members could probably live, learn and work in a much smaller building.
And Durmstrang being a four storey castle doesn't mean it's small, Buckingham palace has only three storeys and according to wikipedia 775 rooms.

That Japanese name is lazy as heck.
Tôkyô = Eastern Capital
Kyôto = Capital Capital
Osaka = Large Hill
Honshu = Main Island

And it's the same in many languages, names are often not very original. And if there's only one magic school in the country, why would it need a fancy name? Calling it magic school makes sense, giving places individual names is only necessary if you have to differentiate between them.
 

Ithil

Member
The Hogwarts castle isn't that big either. It looks huge from the outside but most of it is empty space, there are gigantic courtyards, big ass halls, hallways and half of the castle seems to be hollowed out to make room for moving staircases, get rid of all of that and the 300 students and what seems to be 10 staff members could probably live, learn and work in a much smaller building.
And Durmstrang being a four storey castle doesn't mean it's small, Buckingham palace has only three storeys and according to wikipedia 775 rooms.

Yes, remove the large parts of the castle and the castle will in fact be smaller.
 

sphagnum

Banned
I think it's just that "tokoro" itself is kind of a boring word since it just means "place". Should've been Mahou Gakkou or Mahoushima/Mahoujima or Mahou Shiro or something.
 

Sesha

Member
Tôkyô = Eastern Capital
Kyôto = Capital Capital
Osaka = Large Hill
Honshu = Main Island

And it's the same in many languages, names are often not very original. And if there's only one magic school in the country, why would it need a fancy name? Calling it magic school makes sense, giving places individual names is only necessary if you have to differentiate between them.

You're completely off base. All of those make sense in Japanese because they follow the rules of Japanese morphology. Mahoutokoro doesn't, because it's literally the words for magic and place slapped together in a way that's complete nonsense.

A proper generic name in Japanese would be something like kokuritsu majutsu gakuen (National Academy of Magic).
 

scamander

Banned
You're completely off base. All of those make sense in Japanese because they follow the rules of Japanese morphology. Mahoutokoro doesn't, because it's literally the words for magic and place slapped together in a way that's complete nonsense.

You mean, like 'Hogwarts'?
 

sphagnum

Banned
You mean, like 'Hogwarts'?

It's been years since I took Japanese but IIRC mahou means "magic" itself whereas majutsu means "magic arts". Like witchcraft/wizardry. Mahoutokoro sounds like it's saying "magic place", as in the place itself is magical, rather than being a place that you learn spells at, but from what I remember you'd need an article in there, so it would have to be something like Mahou no tokoro for it to sound correct. Even then it just sounds more like a description of a place than an actual name of a place.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
It's depends on the history of Mahoutokoro.

It's possible magic studies was a Western import. The International Statute of Secrecy was established in late 17th century. Japan made contact with Portuguese traders in the mid 16th century. Assuming Japanese wizards were in on it (no reason to assume otherwise), something happened in between these 150 years for the wizards of the West to interact with and come to an agreement with the wizards of the East.

It comes down to what role magic placed in Japanese society before it withdrew from the broader world, if Mahoutokoro existed for as long as Uagadou or if it was a place where mages congregated to share and exchange ideas, and after Japan closed its borders to foreign traders, became the first magic school in Japan. Personally, I would like for Japanese magic to have been part of Shinto before it splintered off into its own thing due to the arrival of foreign mages, and the introduction of wand lore.
 
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