Why Harry Potter cannot be set in 1991-?

[hp_lexicon]

No: HPFGUIDX 79261


> > it. Harry Potter, as worked out by the fans, is set in 1991, due 
to 
> > the deathday cake. 

The date on Nick's cake is the only specific reference to a year for 
the series, that's true. If it's correct, then in the Harry Potter 
universe, Harry was born in 1980 and starts Hogwarts in 1991.


  
> > "You could let me stay in the house?" said harry hopefully, he 
> could 
> > watch dudleys T.V and maybe have a go on dudleys playstation for 
> > change.

The quote doesn't say Playstation, it says computer. Of course there 
were computers in 1991. I know, I had one.



> > but I am 99% sure that the playstation was not released six 
years 
> > before the N64, on may 1st 1997.

The Playstation reference in the books is from the beginning of book 
four, so Dudley apparently had a Playstation in the fall of 1994. As 
was mentioned, the Playstation 1 wasn't released officially until 
December of 1994, and that was only in Japan. If Uncle Vernon bought 
one for Dudley, it had to be a pre-production model and he would 
have had to buy more than just the game to make it work with British 
televisions and electric outlets. It's not all the hard to imagine 
Vernon doing exactly that.


> > 
> >  If i am correct, then when is Harry Potter set, or has this 
> > argument been cleared up?

The date has been officially set, but not because of anything fans 
have agreed upon. As you may have noticed if you researched this 
question at all, there is quite a bit of friendly disagreement on 
the subject. By far the most scholarly and well-researched essay 
about this whole question is Troel's, and I highly recommend it 
(along with anything else he cares to write...I am in awe of his 
scholarship!). 

It's not the fans who have "proved" anything, however. It's Rowling 
herself who has made the dates official. According to my sources at 
Warner who were involved in the production of the Chamber of Secrets 
DVD, Rowling did officially approve the timeline found on that DVD. 
The timeline she approved gave Harry's birthdate as July 31, 1980. 
It is now considered to be officially correct. 

However, I doubt that this will end any arguments. Rowling makes no 
effort to match her world up with ours when it comes to calendars. 
The Playstation reference is one noticable difference, the fact that 
September 2 is a Monday in almost every book is another. Her world 
is NOT our world, there's no doubt about it, and there is no way we 
will ever be able to make everything fit exactly.


> 
> My impression was that Harry started Hogwarts in 2000 since he got 
a 
> Nimbus 2000.  The next year when Draco got on the Slytherin team 
his 
> father bought them all Nimbus 2001s.  I could be wrong of course 
but 
> I thought the broom #'s corresponded to the year they came out.

This is definitely not the case. According to Quidditch Through the 
Ages, the Nimbus 1000 came out in 1967, so that company was making 
no attempt to match models to years. Interestingly, the Oakshaft 79, 
however, did come out in 1879, and the Twigger 90 in 1990. The 
Nimbus company didn't use that approach for naming their brooms, 
though. 
(more information here: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/brooms.html)

It is important to note that Rowling, in creating her backstory, 
ties things very much to dates. There are dates on everything, from 
Chocolate Frog cards to broomsticks, as mentioned above. We have 
historical references and dates on all sorts of things, and these 
are clearly stated in the books on portraits of famous people and 
other places. However, dates are not given for events and people 
WITHIN the actual timeframe of the books. So there's plenty of 
reason to try to figure out what year these things are happening in, 
since Rowling's world so clearly HAS a timeline to it. She has just 
left the last fifty years more or less undated and dropped hints. 

I for one think it's possible that at some point the fact that 
Riddle's leaving school and the defeat of Gridlewald were in the 
same year will become important. We wouldn't know that it's the same 
year, though, if we hadn't worked out Rowling's clues. 

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon