Harry Potter Idea to improve a bit of fandom.

[Jeopardizer]

While reading another HP fanfic, I came across that widely spread fandom-thing:

Wizards are lazy.

It's generally the explaination given for the fact that Harry manages to know lots of useful spells that nobody knows or something.

Problem: Most of the time, these same wizards can still achieve feats of magic who should be very hard compared to their lazyness.

(I don't know if I'm understandable...)

I'm thinking about Draco and his conjured snake particulary but I'm sure there are other exemples (especially in fanfics).



So I was thinking: How to be more original/believable with the same base.

And there is my idea: Wizards in general are in fact lazy (yes), but it's a cultural thing: Achieving a simple spell is not really cool or even useful, not noteworthy, but managing more complicated charms would be rewarded, recognized.

It would make sense: Wizards in general would focus on more demanding casting, letting small spells fall in disuse, while the world at large continue to improve by creating new spells to show how awesome you are.


So, thoughts?

 

[Happy Person]

...Draco cast that spell on his first try and about 30 seconds after being told of it's existence (at least based on all evidence that we know of).

Harry cast Sectumsempra successfully on his first try with no idea what the spell did and just an incantation.

Magic in the HP series is easy, pretty much no matter how complicated you get.

 

[He-who-voted-for-Kodos]

Except the Patronus Charm and, if I remember GoF right, the Summoning Charm. Though, thinking about it, the Patronus Charm seemed fairly easy for the DA, it's just the trick of finding a happy memory and being able to manage it around a Dementor. And just because Harry had trouble with the Summoning Charm doesn't mean it's hard. So, I suppose all HP magic is easy. Even the stuff that could, you know, kill someone.

Dear god! That's why they're lazy. It's evolution. Early on, they started out not lazy. But because of the ease of the violence, they started killing each other, until they were on the verge of extinction, and so they learned the lesson of laziness. That's why even the supposedly ambitious Slytherins don't really seem to do much, and the ones that we know work hard (Voldemort and Hermione) were raised in the Muggle world.

 

[Random_guy]

Dear god! That's why they're lazy. It's evolution. Early on, they started out not lazy. But because of the ease of the violence, they started killing each other, until they were on the verge of extinction, and so they learned the lesson of laziness. That's why even the supposedly ambitious Slytherins don't really seem to do much, and the ones that we know work hard (Voldemort and Hermione) were raised in the Muggle world.

That sounds very Terry Pratchett ish. The whole point of hogwarts could be to get young wizards and witches acustomed to big dinners, and not actually doing magic.

This could be why purebloods look down on muggleborns: they're trying too hard.

 

[soulful100]

Dear god! That's why they're lazy. It's evolution. Early on, they started out not lazy. But because of the ease of the violence, they started killing each other, until they were on the verge of extinction, and so they learned the lesson of laziness. That's why even the supposedly ambitious Slytherins don't really seem to do much, and the ones that we know work hard (Voldemort and Hermione) were raised in the Muggle world.

That sounds very Terry Pratchett ish. The whole point of hogwarts could be to get young wizards and witches acustomed to big dinners, and not actually doing magic.

This could be why purebloods look down on muggleborns: they're trying too hard.

then if the point was to make them lazy and eat lots of food then why isn't Ron the top student? Not to mention all the pureblooded death eaters

 

[Random_guy]

Dear god! That's why they're lazy. It's evolution. Early on, they started out not lazy. But because of the ease of the violence, they started killing each other, until they were on the verge of extinction, and so they learned the lesson of laziness. That's why even the supposedly ambitious Slytherins don't really seem to do much, and the ones that we know work hard (Voldemort and Hermione) were raised in the Muggle world.

That sounds very Terry Pratchett ish. The whole point of hogwarts could be to get young wizards and witches acustomed to big dinners, and not actually doing magic.

This could be why purebloods look down on muggleborns: they're trying too hard.

then if the point was to make them lazy and eat lots of food then why isn't Ron the top student? Not to mention all the pureblooded death eaters

Oh, that's cause it's meant to be teaching advanced laziness. I.e. using magic to "solve your problems", and not thinking outside the carefully defined box. Ron isn't top student because he doesn't think at all.

The pureblood deatheaters are showing remarkable not-thinking skills.

....

Yeah, it is a bit of a stretch, but it's worth about a short oneshot crack fic.

 

[soulful100]

Dear god! That's why they're lazy. It's evolution. Early on, they started out not lazy. But because of the ease of the violence, they started killing each other, until they were on the verge of extinction, and so they learned the lesson of laziness. That's why even the supposedly ambitious Slytherins don't really seem to do much, and the ones that we know work hard (Voldemort and Hermione) were raised in the Muggle world.

That sounds very Terry Pratchett ish. The whole point of hogwarts could be to get young wizards and witches acustomed to big dinners, and not actually doing magic.

This could be why purebloods look down on muggleborns: they're trying too hard.

then if the point was to make them lazy and eat lots of food then why isn't Ron the top student? Not to mention all the pureblooded death eaters

Oh, that's cause it's meant to be teaching advanced laziness. I.e. using magic to "solve your problems", and not thinking outside the carefully defined box. Ron isn't top student because he doesn't think at all.

The pureblood deatheaters are showing remarkable not-thinking skills.

....

Yeah, it is a bit of a stretch, but it's worth about a short oneshot crack fic.

hmm so true so true... the pureblooded propaganda is pure retardedness

 

[Random_guy]

*snips quote pyramid - Random_Guy*

hmm so true so true... the pureblooded propaganda is pure retardedness

That said... There are loads of fics where the "Pureblood propaganda" is claimed to be crap, and yet somehow Harry gains supermagical powers by being the heir of some-famous-wizard(s). This irks me.

Why can't there be a few where Harry is the heir of some-famous-wizard(s) and it all boils down to being merely of academic interest, as magical talent isn't genetic and any domant inheritance was appropriated by the ministry hundreds of years ago.

Or, one where having gained super-magical-powers from inheritance, the general tone of the fic is accepting that there is something to the whole pureblood thing; and that marrying/breeding with a muggleborn is a risk because for all that hybrid vigour stuff they may well just end up with genes that are that bit closer to muggle and less magical. Perhaps in some of the 'lighter' families this manifests as 'an heir and a spare' where the spare is used to try out new blood, and the heir is used to maintain a 'pure' genetic line.

(Cue threesome/harem fic where as the last Potter, Harry fills both roles)

 

[Jervic]

*snips quote pyramid - Random_Guy*

hmm so true so true... the pureblooded propaganda is pure retardedness

That said... There are loads of fics where the "Pureblood propaganda" is claimed to be crap, and yet somehow Harry gains supermagical powers by being the heir of some-famous-wizard(s). This irks me.

Why can't there be a few where Harry is the heir of some-famous-wizard(s) and it all boils down to being merely of academic interest, as magical talent isn't genetic and any domant inheritance was appropriated by the ministry hundreds of years ago.

Or, one where having gained super-magical-powers from inheritance, the general tone of the fic is accepting that there is something to the whole pureblood thing; and that marrying/breeding with a muggleborn is a risk because for all that hybrid vigour stuff they may well just end up with genes that are that bit closer to muggle and less magical. Perhaps in some of the 'lighter' families this manifests as 'an heir and a spare' where the spare is used to try out new blood, and the heir is used to maintain a 'pure' genetic line.

(Cue threesome/harem fic where as the last Potter, Harry fills both roles)

Tenhawk was doing something like this in his <a href='http://www.tenhawkpresents.com/viewstory.php?sid=35' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Alexander Harris and the Shadow Council</a>. He had Narcissa Malfoy pondering on the value of carefully introducing untested bloodlines to her families own cadet branches to see what could develop. Later parts showed that this was a common way of thinking is the magical world.