I found this post by Peter Morwood very amusing:
http://www.petermorwood.com/About-Sherlock-the-BBC-Series-and-Gun-Discipline
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 4 (Universes)
Hi all, and welcome to another installment of the Young Wizard/Harry Potter face off! Last post there was a brief overview of common themes within the series. Now we're going to examine the universes within the series.
Young Wizards
The Young Wizards' universe is basically our own. They follow the laws of physics, there are basic limits on what magic can and can't do, and a plausible subculture. Let's look at these separately:
Magic/Wizardry is using the correct language to convince the universe to do something specific. For example, walking through walls requires a spell that convinces the atoms in the wall and the atoms in your body to slide by each other peacefully during the time it takes for you to walk through the wall. Wizardry is a specific science where you describe how things are right now and how you want them to be in order to make things happen. There's even an entire language that describes everything perfectly (called the Speech) that the universe responds to in order to do the spell casting.
The basic limits of the wizard can and can't do are set down in the Wizard's Oath. They're not allowed to hurt, change, or destroy anything without good reason (or the Powers That Be take away their wizardry for abusing it). Wizards are also limited by the amount of power they have, the powers only give them so much extra power from the universe's energy supply to perform wizardry. Because of these limits wizards rarely do something big, like lifting up all of the Mediterranean Sea to defeat the Lone Power (like hydromage Angelina Pellegrino did during her Ordeal as mentioned in A Wizard of Mars). There's also a hierarchy of wizards set up to advise younger wizards and handle certain continents/planets/galaxies. Wizards without proper authority aren't allowed to do certain interventions without permission to ensure that unnecessary change doesn't happen. For example, when Dairine goes with a group of other wizards to fix the Sun they have to get permission from a higher-up (in this case it ended up being the Senior for that arm of the galaxy that gave permission). Also, wizards generally get their information from a sort of manual (a book, computer, ipod, cell phone, etc.), but some must memorize as much information as possible or they have a special connection to wizardry and can access it by listening to the "Silence," "Whispering," or the sea.
The subculture is also fairly plausible. Wizards interact with the rest of the world because they have to stay up to date with what problems they need to fix and pay their bills. Wizards practice in secret on Earth because society hasn't yet accepted things like wizardry and aliens. However, wizards around the universe generally practice in the open because they're regarded as a sort of law enforcement. Wizards can meet up and get feedback on problems or just hang out, too. Pretty much all wizards have to get normal jobs (the head wizard over Earth is a IT specialist and computer programmer) and need to complete some sort of schooling. Learning wizardry something that wizards must do on the side, rather than going to special schools to learn wizardry.
Harry Potter
The Harry Potter universe is set up very differently. First of all is the rejection of technology because magic and electricity interfere with each other. Also, the rules of magic are set up in a kind of "your power is limited by your mental strength" kind of way. Most different is the magical subculture.
I find this first one annoying. Magic and modern technology can't coexist very well, if at all. This is obviously to continue the traditional fantasy/medieval relationship, but the books are set in the 1990's so it get's a little annoying. According to Hermione in the fourth book "All those substitutes for magic Muggles use--electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things--they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air." My thoughts on this are that magic is most likely some sort of power that wizards are able to control that is similar to magnetism or electricity enough that it messes with electronics (kind of like dropping a magnet on a computer's hard drive).
Next, the rules of the magic. Most of these rules and limits appear to be based on wizard law and the mental stamina of the wizard themself. For example, certain curses and hexes are considered illegal and will land any caster of that spell in wizard jail. Top on the list are the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Avada Kedavra Curse. You can see an explanation of those curses that's much better than I could give here. There are also some very basic laws that limit the kind of magic that wizards can produce. For example, Hermione explains in book seven that no one can produce food out of thin air because "Food is the first of five Principle Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Tranfigur[ation]...It's impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, you can increase the quantity if you've already got some". It appears that wizards can produce magic without wands, but the most refined magic is produced through channeling that power through a wand with a specific intent and incantation.
Now onto the wizard subculture. There are very few wizards in the world, and they tend to keep to themselves. Even Muggle-born wizards and witches seem to readily give up the Muggle world in favor of the wizarding world (exceptions include Fred and George doing card tricks for a muggle girl in book six and Hermione making Ron get a driver's license in the epilogue of book seven). Wizards have their own governments, but there's no mention of taxes. The only purpose the wizard government seems to have is to provide jobs, make legislation, and enforce the law. Wizards also have special schools to send children to to learn magic. Wizard families have the option to homeschool as well. The only jobs wizards seem to have are in the government or being shop owners. I can't figure out how exactly they get their money except through the enslavement of elves and goblins, but since Rowling didn't discuss wizard economics we really don't know. Most of the wizard/muggle interactions seems to be based on the common theme of bigotry that JK Rowling presents through out the series.
Overall, the Young Wizard universe is much more plausible and better constructed than the Harry Potter universe. I love how wizards have to actually get jobs instead of being the jobless vigilantes of the universe. The Harry Potter universe is decent in the context of a children's series, but it doesn't really hold up as a plausible universe. Young Wizards wins this round.
Young Wizards
The Young Wizards' universe is basically our own. They follow the laws of physics, there are basic limits on what magic can and can't do, and a plausible subculture. Let's look at these separately:
Magic/Wizardry is using the correct language to convince the universe to do something specific. For example, walking through walls requires a spell that convinces the atoms in the wall and the atoms in your body to slide by each other peacefully during the time it takes for you to walk through the wall. Wizardry is a specific science where you describe how things are right now and how you want them to be in order to make things happen. There's even an entire language that describes everything perfectly (called the Speech) that the universe responds to in order to do the spell casting.
The basic limits of the wizard can and can't do are set down in the Wizard's Oath. They're not allowed to hurt, change, or destroy anything without good reason (or the Powers That Be take away their wizardry for abusing it). Wizards are also limited by the amount of power they have, the powers only give them so much extra power from the universe's energy supply to perform wizardry. Because of these limits wizards rarely do something big, like lifting up all of the Mediterranean Sea to defeat the Lone Power (like hydromage Angelina Pellegrino did during her Ordeal as mentioned in A Wizard of Mars). There's also a hierarchy of wizards set up to advise younger wizards and handle certain continents/planets/galaxies. Wizards without proper authority aren't allowed to do certain interventions without permission to ensure that unnecessary change doesn't happen. For example, when Dairine goes with a group of other wizards to fix the Sun they have to get permission from a higher-up (in this case it ended up being the Senior for that arm of the galaxy that gave permission). Also, wizards generally get their information from a sort of manual (a book, computer, ipod, cell phone, etc.), but some must memorize as much information as possible or they have a special connection to wizardry and can access it by listening to the "Silence," "Whispering," or the sea.
The subculture is also fairly plausible. Wizards interact with the rest of the world because they have to stay up to date with what problems they need to fix and pay their bills. Wizards practice in secret on Earth because society hasn't yet accepted things like wizardry and aliens. However, wizards around the universe generally practice in the open because they're regarded as a sort of law enforcement. Wizards can meet up and get feedback on problems or just hang out, too. Pretty much all wizards have to get normal jobs (the head wizard over Earth is a IT specialist and computer programmer) and need to complete some sort of schooling. Learning wizardry something that wizards must do on the side, rather than going to special schools to learn wizardry.
Harry Potter
The Harry Potter universe is set up very differently. First of all is the rejection of technology because magic and electricity interfere with each other. Also, the rules of magic are set up in a kind of "your power is limited by your mental strength" kind of way. Most different is the magical subculture.
I find this first one annoying. Magic and modern technology can't coexist very well, if at all. This is obviously to continue the traditional fantasy/medieval relationship, but the books are set in the 1990's so it get's a little annoying. According to Hermione in the fourth book "All those substitutes for magic Muggles use--electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things--they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air." My thoughts on this are that magic is most likely some sort of power that wizards are able to control that is similar to magnetism or electricity enough that it messes with electronics (kind of like dropping a magnet on a computer's hard drive).
Next, the rules of the magic. Most of these rules and limits appear to be based on wizard law and the mental stamina of the wizard themself. For example, certain curses and hexes are considered illegal and will land any caster of that spell in wizard jail. Top on the list are the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Avada Kedavra Curse. You can see an explanation of those curses that's much better than I could give here. There are also some very basic laws that limit the kind of magic that wizards can produce. For example, Hermione explains in book seven that no one can produce food out of thin air because "Food is the first of five Principle Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Tranfigur[ation]...It's impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, you can increase the quantity if you've already got some". It appears that wizards can produce magic without wands, but the most refined magic is produced through channeling that power through a wand with a specific intent and incantation.
Now onto the wizard subculture. There are very few wizards in the world, and they tend to keep to themselves. Even Muggle-born wizards and witches seem to readily give up the Muggle world in favor of the wizarding world (exceptions include Fred and George doing card tricks for a muggle girl in book six and Hermione making Ron get a driver's license in the epilogue of book seven). Wizards have their own governments, but there's no mention of taxes. The only purpose the wizard government seems to have is to provide jobs, make legislation, and enforce the law. Wizards also have special schools to send children to to learn magic. Wizard families have the option to homeschool as well. The only jobs wizards seem to have are in the government or being shop owners. I can't figure out how exactly they get their money except through the enslavement of elves and goblins, but since Rowling didn't discuss wizard economics we really don't know. Most of the wizard/muggle interactions seems to be based on the common theme of bigotry that JK Rowling presents through out the series.
Overall, the Young Wizard universe is much more plausible and better constructed than the Harry Potter universe. I love how wizards have to actually get jobs instead of being the jobless vigilantes of the universe. The Harry Potter universe is decent in the context of a children's series, but it doesn't really hold up as a plausible universe. Young Wizards wins this round.
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