World Wizardry before the Great Schism (Was: Wizard Supremacy)

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 125970


I just thought I sum up some of my objection about the idea of "dark 
and bloody times" as a confrontation between wizards and Muggles 
(one that ultimately drove wizards into seclusion). 

1. The underling assumption as far is I understand is that there has 
been a ongoing conflict between Muggles and wizards, and wizards 
were so hopelessly outnumbered that they were beaten time after 
time, until they had one witch trial too many and went into hiding. 
But. We know that until after some three centuries ago wizards lived 
among Muggles. And by "live" I mean that they not just settled down 
in Muggle neighbourhoods as a kind of foreign and potentially 
dangerous weirdo, but actually participated in their lives. 
Socialising. Pursuing Muggle careers. And not just any careers. 
Somehow I cannot imagine wizards employed in some menial capacity, 
unless they were Crabbe and Goyle or Hagrid. Just take a look at 
Hogwarts House Ghosts: a lady, a nobleman, a knight, and a priest. 
These are three groups that constituted Muggle elite by the time of 
the universal split-up in 1692. (And now we are about to learn about 
wizarding royalty perhaps!). I also don't think that these were 
special cases. There were quite a few knights at Sir Nicolas' 
Deathday party. Sir Cadogan is also a knight. And come to think of 
it, Godric Gryffindor valued bravery and chivalry above anything 
else and sported a sword. That ought to give us some clues about his 
possible "Muggle profession". 

Now, knights didn't just strut about in shining armour. They 
actually fought wars. Muggle wars to be precise. In other words they 
fought EACH OTHER. English wizards were probably responsible for 
dispersing Spanish Armada. Spanish wizards might help Cortes to 
conquer ancient Aztec sorcerers (and Goblins probably gave them a 
hand since lots of gold were involved), etc.  Which means that 
wizards were DIVIDED just as surely as Muggles were (and still are).

Moreover some of wizards were probably placed highly enough to be 
instigators of Muggle conflicts. And even if they weren't always 
responsible they were involved in them all right. One couldn't be 
placed among the ruling elite and stay neutral. These past few days 
we've been busy discussing what is more devastating magic or 
technology. Imagine how devastating is magic AND technology 
combined. By the end of 17th century different groups of humans 
might have come close to extermination each other. Upon which point 
wizards must have come to their senses and to an agreement. There 
probably have been a wizarding version of the "Cuban missile crisis" 
after which they agreed to unite their forces and created better and 
safer universe for themselves leaving Muggles to sort out the mess 
they created together. That is what I believe the real meaning of 
the "dark and bloody times" is. Not the threat from Muggles, but a 
dangerous discord among wizards themselves. 

And concerning witch trials. Lots of fans seem to agree that these 
were the result of Muggles prejudices against wizardry. We know 
however that the History of Magic handbook labeled witch burnings 
as "pointless". This is certainly one way of putting it, considering 
that probably not all the "witches" condemned to purging fire were 
actually witches. We know also that there were wizards among 
clerics. Now why couldn't there have been wizards among the ranks of 
the Holy Inquisition? It makes a perfect sense if some of the 
wizards were indeed concerned about the advancement of the Muggle 
technology. Who was in a better position to stay in the way of 
progress than clerics? Personally, I have no trouble picturing 
Torquemada as a Sitherin alumnus.

2. The Schism itself. It is widely assumed that since the Stature of 
Secrecy coincided with the Salem Witch trails there must be some 
connection. I think so too. However we don't know what kind of 
connection is that. I am not buying the theory that it was another 
case of evil and prejudiced Muggles persecuting poor helpless 
wizards (or witches as the case may be). The "witches" of Salem 
trials could have been Muggles accused in witchcraft. On the other 
hand IF they were witches they could have survived their execution 
just as Wendolene the Weird survived her forty-something autos-da-
fé. Besides if they were indeed witches they could have been guilty 
as charged. Magical ability can co-exist with extremely low morals 
as we know from the books only too well. Moreover IF they were 
witches and IF they were guilty it is possible that their judges 
were wizards, not muggles. As I mentioned above wizards used to 
occupy just about any position in Muggle hierarchy.  And finally 
what if the victims of Salem witches weren't Muggles? JKR never 
mentioned Salem trials, but she did mention Salem witches. From GoF 
we learned about the renown "Salem Witch Academy". And the victims 
in Salem were young girls! What if they were not just any girls? 
What if they were witches from the academy? In fact, though I don't 
have a compelling proof I am willing to bet that they were indeed 
witches. This still leaves the question of who did them in, of 
course. It could have been evil and prejudiced Muggles. On the other 
hand it could have been evil and prejudiced wizards. Happens all the 
time as we learned from "Chamber of Secrets". Or it could have been 
even more complicated than that: evil prejudiced wizards could use 
ignorant prejudiced Muggles to do their dirty work. Who knows? Well, 
You-Know-Who. 

a_svirn