Number of Hogwarts Students

[De Orakle]

No: HPFGUIDX 25483


Hullo!  I'm Robin, 17 years old, Canadian, huge Harry Potter fan. I've been 
lurking around here for a while, and I'd pop out to add my two cents on this 
topic ::g::

Hyphen wrote:

>PS. In case anyone is interested, here is my take on the
>size-of-Hogwarts question: it's not that JKR can't do math, but that
>there is a genuine inconsistency written into the books to make
>effective storytelling easier. Just imagine how the books would change
>if the author had to deal with 30+ Gryffindors, and mention each one
>as often as common-sense dictates. There's just not enough space in
>the books to develop most of them the way JKR develops even her most
>incidental characters. There would be many inconsequential, repetitive
>characters, and many random names and character traits to remember. In
>all, a big mess.

I definitely agree that from a storytelling standpoint, JKR has just the 
right number of incidental characters. For Harry's year there have to be 
enough that the reader gets a sense of Hogrwarts outside of the Harry trio, 
yet few enough that the characters are recognizable and, well, 
*characterized* for the small "screen-time" that they do get.

However, to advance a theory that might logically raise the Hogwarts 
popluation, if not up to 1000, then at least a little closer...

Given that Harry was born when Voldmort's reign was at its worst, we might 
assume that his year had an abnormally low birth-rate - high mortality among 
young people, general fear about bringing children into thie world, etc.  
There may be higher numbers in the earlier years of Voldemort gaining power, 
and of course after his defeat there might be a baby boom similar to those 
found after RL wars.

Now, Harry doesn't attend the sortings in his second and third year, but in 
book 4, there's mentioned a "long line of first years," and the sorting does 
seem to take some time.

So perhaps JKR isn't mistaken on the math, or creating a deliberate 
inconsistancy, but has found a logical reason enabling her to juggle a few 
less characters (and further develop those she does have) in Harry's 
immediate world.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong ;)

-Robin

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