Durmstrang, Hiding, History, and Triwizard (was Scandinavia)

[Sea Change]

No: HPFGUIDX 88370

Ba said: [snipped by Sea Change] "Krum" is that name of an early
Bulgarian king known for his wisdom and benevolence.  Rarely are names
in the canon random...

Fran said:  Also, didn't Krum play on the Bulgarian National Quidditch
team?



Sea Change replies:

These are interesting posts, because they get to the strategic nub of
the matter.  There's much fine analysis posted here, but not much
broad qualitative logic, to my own way of thinking.  Here are some
ideas that rattled through my mind when reading the most recent posts
on the matter.

a)Wizards go out of their way to hide.

The founders of any particular school don't have to be from anywhere
around where the school actually is.  Wizards know how to apparate and
portkey.  There's no cannon evidence that these spells of mass
transportation are a modern thing like the muggle automobile and
airplane. 

I am happy to suppose Durmstrang is in Scandinavia, even though the
names are wrong. Hogwarts doesn't sound either Scots Lied or Scots
Gaelic to me, but Scotland would be an easier place to hide and make
muggleproof than anywhere further south, so I think of it as founded
by Englishfolk.  


b)Wizarding schools are historically old.

During the 30 Years war, a Swedish king (Christian Gustavus?)
conquered most of the Baltic and Hanseatic regions, Norway wasn't a
separate entity, and the areas of Finland and Murmansk probably
switched back and forth from Russian rule to Swedish rule many times.
 Scandinavia may have a more specific definition now, but the region
was politicallly much larger in the past.  If German wizards wanted to
start a school then, during this age of many armies marching through,
somewhere bucolic north of Tromso: Norway would be a good, safe,
choice.  Also, the Krum name is possibly also good, as royals (who are
most interested in pureblood, because they are royal) tend to be
related to every other one.

c)Hermione makes much of Hogwarts being non-apparatable.

If it were generally true that all schools are this way, then she
wouldn't need to say it in just this way.  This also leads me to
speculate that if Hogwarts were to go to another school for Triwizard
tournament, not only would they appear on threstrals (as mentioned by
a previous poster), they'd Apparate in with a huge bang.  If your
school is apparatable, you'd want a deceptive name.

------


I am a Californian and am used to the high mountains in the Sierras. 
When I learned that the highest mountain in the UK was less than 4000
feet, it really messed with my head because I was raised to think of
those that are that height nearby as merely foothills.  Maybe
Durmstrang is 'mountainous' only from a Unitedkingdomese point of view?


Sea Change