[HPforGrownups] Muggle World, Wizard World

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 82469

Kneasy wrote:
>We all use the phrase 'Wizarding World' freely, but I'm beginning to
>wonder if we  all have the same concept of what it is and what it
>is composed of.

>But after reading Kirstini's post I'm interested in hearing what other
>posters think the WW is and what it's limits are.

I think the answer to this lies way back in the mists of time...

Here are some thoughts that have been rattling around in my head for a
little while, looking for an excuse to pour forth onto the list. I sent a
first draft to the late Professor Ignotus Binns of Hogwarts Academy for
comments, but haven't had any back :-)

1. When human beings evolved in the Potterverse, there was no conception of
"wizard", "squib", or "muggle". Everyone lived side by side in small
communities and the various subspecies of human occurred entirely randomly
as a result. From time to time, therefore, a child would be born in a clan
or village who had a "talent" for magic, and in a society in which everyone
knew everyone else's business, there could be no secrecy about that. Those
children would be considered to have a "gift from the gods" and would take
on the role of the tribe's shaman/ka or priest/ess, responsible for the
various magics and rites for the tribe's needs, fertility, healing, weather,
hunting, and the like.

2. In such a world, there would be no guarantee that there would be more
than one person in the clan with the "talent", and thus no likelihood that
the shaman would have either a mentor in youth to pass on knowledge or a
successor in old age to teach. The numbers in the tribe would just be too
small. They would be on their own, jealously guarded by the tribe, and
having to "invent the magical wheel" every time. Appurtenances like wands
would only be discovered by chance and the technique would not be passed on.
So wandless magic would be the norm. Indeed, the type of magic that was the
norm was most certainly the "ancient magic".

3. This remained the pattern for millenia. Normally, a wizard would have two
muggle parents and a muggle spouse (unless the particular clan required
ritual celibacy, promiscuity, or homosexuality for its priest!) which would
mean that their offspring would also be muggles.

4. However, the development of settled agriculture meant that humans began
to live together in larger settlements. For the first time, settlements came
into existence in which there was more than one wizard. Indeed, there were a
lot more than one in the first cities! Because the wizards continued to
carry out their religious role, it meant that the wizards in those towns and
cities came into contact with each other as a matter of course - settled
religion came into existence at the same time. Cities had their temple
precinct in which the wizards lived, to which new acolytes and novices with
the "talent" were taken for training, even from the villages in the cultural
orbit of the new cities.

5. Because there were many wizards living together, there would never again
be any difficulties about passing on knowledge between generations. Firstly
orally, and later with the development of writing, wizardry began to develop
exponentially, and spells, charms, potions, and cantrips, not to mention
hexes, jinxes, and curses were written down and built upon for the future.
Communication became possible over long distances, and magical appurtenances
such as wands and flying devices were invented.

6. But the new wizardly community also discovered something so spectacular
that it was to change the world forever. That discovery was that if two
wizards had children, there was an extremely high probability that that
child would also have the "talent", and the probability rose dramatically
the more wizards there were in the bloodline.

7. This discovery, which was made simultaneously in temple communities all
over the world, shook religion to its roots. It could not be denied that the
"talent" was not so much a gift from the gods as a matter of birth and
blood. When the temples began to communicate with their rivals in other
cities, they discovered that the same was true for them: what they had in
common far outweighed any religious doctrine that divided them.

8. As wizard blood became more concentrated, another discovery was made.
Occasionally a child would be born who had no innate magical ability, but
was not a muggle either. These children could use certain magical
appurtenances though they could not do magic themselves. They had a far
greater psychic ability than muggles did, including an ability to
communicate with animals, particularly cats. They also had a far greater
perception, and were able to see the world as it really is, undeterred by
spells and other glamours.

9. Specialists in Muggle Studies have speculated that these people have
always been born, but in very small numbers, even outside wizarding
communities, and some theorists have wondered at a connection between those
individuals who have been great spiritual leaders in the muggle world and
the presence of the squib gene.

10. Having discovered their special nature, the wizards' position as temple
priests became untenable, and it was universally agreed to withdraw from
that role. Magic became divorced from ritual, with a new cadre of priests
being trained up from the muggle population to act as spiritual leaders and
guides to the population. Wizards removed themselves into a more secluded
position in the cities. Children born outside the wizard families with the
"talent" were taken in as apprentices to ensure that they had a grasp of
what was becoming an increasingly complex and separate world.

11. The increased complexity of magic and the size of the corpus of
knowledge made it less and less easy for wizards to participate in the
muggle world, and more and more likely that they would associate only with
their fellows. This was true, of course, only for the small numbers who
lived in the cities and the cultural shadows of those cities: for the vast
majority of humans who continued to live in a state of nature, wizard and
muggle continued to live cheek by jowl with the muggles using the services
of the village wizard as they always had.

12. Although wizards agreed that they should divorce themselves from the
important role in the muggle world that they had originally played, they did
not all agree about how they should act towards muggles. A minority
considered that the muggle world was there to be manipulated and used for
their convenience. They developed dark magics to control the minds of
others, on occasion provoking violent reaction against wizards from their
muggle neighbours.

13. Eventually a climate of more general persecution developed. It is
tempting to identify this with the development of the "world religions" of
Christianity and Islam, with their ambivalent shading to hostile attitudes
to wizardry and witchcraft, but it would be equally tenable to see it as
bound up with the development of feudalism and the refusal of monarchs to
contemplate a group within their country who did not owe them allegiance and
obedience. The result of these long years of persecutions was that not
merely the urban families (who for the most part already lived entirely
separate lives) but also the village wizards were compelled to conceal
themselves from their muggle neighbours. By the late 17th century and the
passing of the Statute of Secrecy, there were in fact very few wizards
living openly in the more developed parts of the world.

Cheers

Ffred

O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri