[HPforGrownups] Warlock or Wizard

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 41816

At 7:28 PM +0000 7/27/02, gte510i wrote:
>
>What is the difference between a warlock and a wizard?  Ernie
>MacMillan said in CoS that Harry could trace is lineage back through
>five generations of witches and warlocks.  But not wizards?

Warlocks seem to be a subgroup of wizards in Rowling's world.  In 
CoS, the letter from the Ministry cites "section 13 of the 
International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy" as 
applying to Harry.  Arthur's only employee is "an old warlock named 
Perkins."  Warlocks show up both at the Leaky Cauldron, where they 
are described as "wild-looking," and the Three Broomsticks, where 
they are "rowdy," in PoA.  In all of these cases, they are clearly 
normal members of the wizarding world.

My guess would be that "wizard" and "warlock" are interchangeable in 
JKR's world, with "warlock" commonly used to describe those wizards 
who are burly, tough, overly physical, or otherwise not in the 
scholarly mode that seems to characterize the Hogwarts crowd we 
usually see.  In both of the bar cases,my mental image was of 
biker-types, perhaps riding huge brooms without mufflers.  (Perhaps 
the "social class in HP" discussion can get some mileage out of that.)


At 7:43 PM +0000 7/27/02, gte510i wrote:
>In the non-potterverse.  I had always thougth that a witch and a
>wizard were two different tings entirely.  A witch was into potions
>and herbology divination (to use the familiar terms).  They did not
>use wands.  Whereas a wizard was a sorcerer.  He was able to use a
>wand (or a staff) and could conjur things, do tranfigurations and
>charm work.  A warlock was a male witch.

In myth or in the Real World?  Mythically, you're more or less right, 
although technically "sorcery" slops over into both categories - a 
sorceress can conjure lightning and brew potions both.  In many myths 
and folktales, witches and warlocks are not quite human, often having 
qualities of vampires or other "undead" monsters, such as 
regeneration or not bleeding when cut.  Wizards, sorcerers, and 
sorceresses are generally depicted as human, or at least they started 
out that way.

In the Real World, the term "warlock" literally means "oathbreaker," 
and is offensive.  Male practitioners of the various Neo-Pagan 
religions that refer to themselves as Witchcraft generally call 
themselves witches if they choose to use the "old" terms.  Almost no 
one calls him or herself a wizard except in the hacker sense.  :)


In the first post, Catherine continued:

>Also, what exactly is a hag?

Hags are monstrous women in the folktales of England and parts of 
Europe.  Sometimes they are the wives of trolls or giants; other 
times they live on their own, often in bogs or swampy wooded areas, 
but sometimes by the sea.  They usually look ugly, old, and hunched, 
but are much stronger than they look.  Their stories usually involve 
them threatening to eat children, although in the cases where they 
are trollwives, they sometimes let the children escape their husbands 
instead.  They are usually, but not always, green, and they have 
gotten mixed up in the post-industrial mind with witches; the typical 
depiction of a Halloween "witch", with green skin and warts, is taken 
from the greenhag.

They are sometimes rumored to climb onto the shoulders of sleeping 
men and ride them, making them gallop across fields and over hills in 
their sleep.  The tired victim is described as "hag-rid".  Hmmm . . . 
;)  (See http://califia.hispeed.com/Folklore/lecture10c.htm for a 
brief description of hag-riding.)

Hags are associated with winter in Celtic folklore, although I'm not 
entirely sure why.  This may be one reason why the hag in the Leaky 
Cauldron in PoA is wearing "a thick woolen balaclava," in addition to 
hiding her face.

-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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