Question from a new member

[Margaret Fenney]

No: HPFGUIDX 190545

>  Pippin:
>  Scrimgeour says that the sword belongs to Hogwarts, and may 
> present itself to any worthy Gryffindor. He does not treat this 
> information as if it were secret, so I think it was known to 
> most experts on ancient magic, goblins included. Those goblins 
> more pragmatic and less fanatical than Griphook probably treated 
> the sword as a lost cause. As long as it was enchanted it would 
> eventually revert to Gryffindor hands regardless of who claimed 
> it.


Bookcrazzzy:

I don't think Scrimgeour saying what he did about the sword to three
Gryffindor students under those conditions is adequate support for 
the idea that it was known to most experts on ancient magic, and 
certainly not where goblins are concerned.  They have their own 
lore, do not have wand lore and wouldn't have any reason to know of 
Hogwarts-specific enchantments.  Given what Bill Weasley had to say 
about goblins in his warnings to Harry, I don't think Griphook was 
"fanatical" at all.  In fact, I think Griphook was less so since he 
helped Harry, albeit with the sword as reward to him, and recognized 
that Harry and his friends "different" than what wizards were 
supposed to be from a goblins point of view even though he didn't go 
so far as to truly trust them.

>  Pippin:
> The sword would be worth more valued as a relic of Godric 
> Gryffindor than as a decorated sword, and its value as a relic 
> would be drastically diminished if enchantments cast by Godric 
> Gryffindor himself were removed from it. So the goblins could 
> have got it back only by destroying the very thing that made it 
> so valuable, unless they wanted to make a political statement 
> and didn't care about its value in gold. I suspect few goblins
> are as fanatical as that, though maybe Griphook was.

Bookcrazzzy:

I don't think Griphook or any of the goblins cared about Godric 
Gryffindor or his enchantments on the sword.  To them, the value 
of the sword was in the fact that it was goblin-made.  Sure, 
goblins love treasure and gold, but the deep desire of Griphook 
for the sword was due to the fact that it was goblin-made and the 
wizard who "rented" it was long gone so it was a goblin artifact 
stolen by wizards.  It's possession by wizards was an affront to
goblins and I would think that any enchantment on it by a wizard 
would be detestable to goblins whether or not such an enchantment 
made it more valuable to wizards.

> Pippin:
> The goblins do not like getting involved in quarrels between 
> wizards, which is doubtless why they allow people declared 
> outlaws by the WW to access their vaults. It's not their job 
> to enforce wizard law.

Bookcrazzzy:

Are you referencing the fact that Sirius was able to buy the 
Firebolt for Harry here?  Certainly the goblins were given 
instructions regarding Bellatrix Lestrange and applied additional 
security in that situation so it would seem to me that they do 
enforce restrictions when it has to do with attempted theft.  
However, their stewardship in banking is a matter of protecting 
assets for the owners and whether outlaw or not, Sirius was the 
rightful owner of his gold and thus given access to it.  Ownership 
of assets and their protection is the issue, not legal status in 
the WW or goblin prejudices.

JMO,

Bookcrazzzy