No Sex, Please, We're British

[grannybat84112]

No: HPFGUIDX 83727

Caipora is feeling playful:
> 
> In [Larry Niven's] _What Good is a Glass Dagger?_ ... 
> The bad guy, it seems, carries a sword. The Warlock bursts out 
> laughing. His explanation is that since a wizard has so many more 
> powerful protections, he only carries a sword if he's using it as a 
> cure for impotence. 
> 
> Thus Niven sheds new light on the personality of Godric Gryffindor. 

You know, when I first read this I laughed–and then swore I wouldn't 
touch this post with a ten-foot wand. But the implications of the 
issue just kept nagging at me....

What function DOES the Sword of Gryffindor serve in the series? 
Besides a direct reference to the Arthurian legend in Harry's fight 
against the basilisk, I mean. The pure symbolism that confers Harry's 
status as the spiritual heir of his House Founder's heart and courage 
can't be missed, of course, but this line of thought doesn't supply a 
rationale internal to the Magical world. As Caipora points out, it's 
an odd item for a wizard to possess, much less put to practical use; 
wouldn't it make more sense for Hogwarts to preserve and pass on 
Gryffindor's wand? None of the other Founders (or any other 
wizard/witch, for that matter) is said to wield a sword. Sir Cadogan 
does, but nothing he does or says as a portrait signals to me that he 
was a wizard during his lifetime.

Perhaps Godric created the sword specifically to dispatch monsters 
that could be killed only by cold steel or silver. Did he suspect 
sulky Salazar had left that kind of a pet in his wake? If that's the 
case, then maybe the sword will be effective against the Dementors in 
the coming carnage. (The Patronus spell only drives off Dementors, it 
doesn't destroy them.) I'll be very surprised if JKR leaves the sword 
to tarnish in its display case now that open war has been declared. 
Its potential as symbol and pragmatic weapon is just too strong.

No, I don't think the ruby-hilted blade will be revealed as the 
medieval form of Viagra. That's not Rowling's style.

Grannybat