Category: Owl Post

More likely than not, the question of how Dementors may breed has not been as pressing on your mind lately as it has been on mine. You see, on the last episode of Alohomora! during our general discussion of these fascinating creatures, I challenged the fandom to write an editorial speculating the mechanics of how Dementors breed.

In terms of wealth, magical ability, and body type, Draco Malfoy and Dudley Dursley couldn’t be more different. And yet in many ways these two characters are very similar. In fact, a connection is fostered between the two of them in the series when Harry first meets Draco.

Our hero’s gal pal Hermione was like looking in a mirror. Bookish, clever, and bossy, she was everything I saw myself as and everything I hoped to be. And never to be one to forget the other half of my personality, Luna Lovegood represented the eccentric quirky side that I would become much too familiar with in myself over the years.

In his editorial Irvin muses about Luna’s personal strength of character, her unfailingly decent values, and unique ability to be unfazed by ridicule when faced with bullies. Hpboy13 landed on this latter attribute specifically and suggested it was one of the biggest reasons the quirky, obsessive Luna Lovegood is so universally loved and respected by the fandom because we as Harry Potter fans are quirky and obsessive and have even had to occassionaly defend our own obsession with this magical book series.

The focus of the Harry Potter series certainly goes far beyond the realms of romance, but how accurately is the romance that is present portrayed? MuggleNet’s own Stuart Dollin explores the probability of true...

This week’s Quibble is inspired by our Alohomora! podcast, and defends the choices of the Sorting Hat. In this article, the author addresses some of the series’ characters with seemingly contrasting characteristics to the ideals of their House, such as Hermione, Pettigrew, and Zacharias Smith, arguing that the process is not as simple as we think:

We’re oversimplifying complex memories and emotions of characters to try and fit them into molds that each house supposedly has. That’s dangerous and kind of takes away from the person don’t you think? We’re breaking people down to fit into categories that have only a few words to describe it. We’re taking away from their humanity that Rowling worked so hard to build.

Are we oversimplifying? Can the Sorting Hat make mistakes…?

Yes, perhaps not your commonplace kind of question – but I brought it up on a recent episode of the MuggleNet podcast, “Alohomora!” In addition to a great deal of speculation on this question and others in our new forums, one of our most active commenters, Hippogriff, has written a quibble entirely about how Floo Powder might work.

Ever since the additions of the Alohomora! and Academia sections/podcasts to the site, fans have had a great deal to discuss regarding their favorite book series. All the while the MuggleNet Editorials section has been actively following this intelligent discourse, and some of the most thrilling arguments have been featured as the MuggleNet Quibble of the Week.

This week we’d like to do this again, and feature a quibble written in our Alohomora! section by Ali Wood about the ethics of Transfiguration. Read it at this link!