Quirrel and Scandinavia?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 87843

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...>
wrote:

> bboy mentioned:
> "a very large sparsely inhabited Russian peninsula to the north 
> east of Finland" as a possible location for Durmstrang and
> added, "I guess my point here is that despite being in such close
> proximity to Scandinavia, and generally considered in the
> Scandinavian region, this Russian peninsula that I speculate is the
> location of Durmstrang."
> 
> Berit replied:
> Actually, I didn't know Rowling said in an interview that Durmstrang 
> is located in Scandinavia. Do you have the exact quote? I'm also a 
> bit hesitant of including the Russian peninsula and Murmansk among 
> the Scandinavian countries. According to my knowledge no part of 
> Russia has ever been considered Scandinavian. <snip>
> I still find it very odd that Durmstrang's in Norway or Sweden. Both 
> the name of the school (German-sounding) and the name of its 
> students (Slavic-sounding) are very foreign to the Scandinavian 
> language. 
> 
> bboy_mn again:
> > 
> > ... the point was the Murmansk Peninsula of Russia while not 
> > technically a Scandinavian country; it is without a doubt in
> > the Scandinavian region far more than it is in the European 
> > region. ...that's about as deep in the Scandinavian region as you 
> > can get, and equally far from what is traditionally considered 
> > Europe. <snip>
> 
> Carol:
> I've yet to find the interview in which JKR states that Durmstrang
> is in Scandinavia. 

bboy_mn:

I haven't been able to find the interview again either, but I have
read it. I mean, I have personally read the actual interview; I'm just
not able to find it right now. 

The best I could come across was a reference to a Glasgow book reading
in which she answer the question. JKR in her answer was intentionally
vague, because, afteral, these places are, like Hogwarts, unplottable
and hidden by many spells and charms. So their exact location can't be
known.

So the statement that Durmstrang was in Scandinavia was a hint toward
the general geographic area of the world, and not an exact statement
of location.


> Carol:
> ... To me the relevant points are that it's in an  area farther 
> north than Hogwarts, which means it must be in either Scandinavia or
>  European Russia, and it's in a mountainous region  with lots of 
> lakes. That second point suggests not Sweden, Norway, or the 
> Murmansk Peninsula but the area of Russia just north of St.
> Petersburg, which has both mountains and two very large lakes. 
> ...edited...
> 
> Carol, who wanted Durmstrang to be a little closer to vampire 
> country but will settle for Russia

bboy_mn:

This is a subject I have given a great deal of thought to and done a
lot of research on.

Previous discussions-

Tue Dec 17, 2002  1:50 am
Subject:  Re: Durmstrang
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/48422

Fri Sep 27, 2002  3:47 am
Subject:  Re: Location of Durmstrang
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/44577

These are links to my posts, but they will take you to the middle of
long detailed discussion threads on this subject.

In these discussion, you will see that I have made the same
generalization that I have made in this thread. I refer to the
Murmansk Peninsula as being in Scandinavia. I have ready acknowledged
that this is not correct by techincal definition, but Murmansk is in
the general area of world land mass that is considered Scandinavia,
not to mention the fact that it is physically connected to Scandinavia.

I have a CD-ROM with satellite photo maps of the entire world. These
maps not only show topographic details, but rail lines, major & minor
highways and roads including trails and very secondary unpaved roads,
cities, towns, and small villages.

You can see samples of these maps at these locations-

Hogwarts Location-
http://BlueMoonMarket.homestead.com/Files/Hogwarts/hogwarts1.htm

Romanian Dragon Research Center -
http://BlueMoonMarket.homestead.com/Files/Hogwarts/Romania1.htm

I use these satellite photo maps in conjunction with paper maps,
atlas, and information databases (like CIA World Book of Facts) to
reach my conclusions. 

So I have considered things like population density and roads that
would give Muggles access to the areas.

Using geographic descriptions in the book, the location could easily
be northern Finland, Sweden, or Norway. BUT and that is a BIG BUT,
Durmstrang is not a Nordic or Scandinavian school. Scandinavia appears
to have it's own tradition of Magic, and I would therefore assume, it
has it's own sparate schools. It's clear that Durmstrang is one of the
major European schools, and Russia just happens to be in Europe. That
is, Western Russia is in a region that is typically considered Eastern
Europe. 

The name of the headmaster of Durmstang appears to be a Russian,
Germanic, or Slavic sounding name. The students in the school have
names etc... that strongly imply an Eastern European connection.
Example, Krun from Bulgaria. For the record Bulgaria borders Greece,
and is therefore quite a bit farther south than the Murmansk
Peninsula, but none the less would be considered Eastern Europe.

The Murmansk Peninsula HAS mountians if Britian has mountains, by that
I mean, it has elevations very similar to the highest peaks in
Britain, so if you consider the hills in Britain to be mountains then
so too does Murmansk have mountains.

Murmansk has geography similar to Finland, and Finland has 60,000
lakes. Any look at a map will show that Murmansk also has several very
substantial as well as many many minor lakes. 

Murmansk is peninsula surrounded by two seas, and has many deep inland
harbors, as well as lakes+rivers that provide functional routes to the
sea. It is therefore a seafaring region of the world.

Population is sparse, there are very few towns and villages, the land
is wild, forested, and undeveloped, and there are very few roads.

In conclusion, the only location that I can find that is far enough
north and yet still considered Europe, while at the same time being
free from the prying eyes of muggles is the Murmansk Peninsula.

But then that's just my opinion.

bboy_mn