1980 being Harry Potter's Birthyear (short)

[usergoogol]

No: HPFGUIDX 39511

---ORIGINALLY SAID BY SHERLOCK AKA MERLIN---
On the 1980 being Harry's birth year, I was wondering something. It 
would make more sense that JK Rowling is writing the books so that 
they happen in real time, rather than events that have already 
happened - or it would make more sense for the age group HP is aimed 
at (9yr olds), just to make the books and the world of Harry Potter 
seem more 'real' to them. I wonder if it is possible that the 
working out of the date from Nearly Headless Nick's cake in CoS is 
just a blooper? 500 just being a handy number or something (or a 
more significant number to celebrate - after all, I think odd 
numbers have some magical significance...). Plus 1492 is supposed to 
be the year Christopher Columbus discovered America (which is a date 
most people know).
---------------------------------------------

I disagree with some of your reasoning, (Harry Potter is not 
targetted at nine year olds) but I agree with you to an extent.

Besides the fact that 1492 and 500 are both very nice round numbers, 
there is a bit of a factual error which, although can be gotten 
around by saying that Rowling just made a little mistake, does 
impare the thing a bit.

In the begining of GoF, (supposedly in 1994) Dudley's Playstation is 
thrown out the window. However, the Sony Playstation was first 
released in 1995. (And England tends to get video games later than 
the rest of the world, not earlier.) Trust me on this, by the way, I 
know my video games.

I don't, however, think that the 1980 chronology is completely 
wrong. After all, 1994 and 1995 are pretty close. I think that the 
whole matter is very delicate though, and that there is no purely 
failsafe timeline theory. (This one is ideal for the time being 
though.)

~User "Harry Potter and the Ocarina of Time" Googol~