Talk:Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Shouldn't "House" be capitalised? I think it is in the books (when referring to Gryffindor, etc.) Hermione1980 23:59, 22 Dec 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, it should. I changed it to lowercase in the 'see also' section, then changed it back... Lachatdelarue 00:34, 23 Dec 2005 (UTC)

Split

So this article is pretty huge, I was wondering if we should split off the physical school from the entity the school. I.e. leave this article with all the information about the shcool and move all the location type articles preferably to their own articles, or if not then to something like "Hogwarts Castle." Also any general info about the location Hogwarts could go under that. -- DarkJedi613 ^(Talk) 17:28, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

I saw your talk entry and looked at the article. I found a bit of repeat info, and condensed certain things. I also took out some of the sectioning so it's much shorter in length but not content. There's still a bit to do along those lines, particularly in the History section but it's 2:30 am ;p Mafalda Hopkirk 06:30, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

I think having the whole 'Hogwarts Castle' thing is a good idea. Snoops619

I split it off to Hogwarts Castle and fixed it up a bit too. -- DarkJedi613 ^(Talk) 19:28, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Add a History of Magic lesson in "teachers" section. Luke

Head of House

When was Rolanda Hooch head of Ravenclaw? Mafalda Hopkirk 16:44, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't believe its ever been said - the only Ravenclaw heads I know of are Rowena Ravenclaw and Filius Flitwick. - Cavalier One^{(Wizarding Wireless Network)} 17:09, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't see how she could have been, if Flitwick was Head during James' time at Hogwarts and Rolanda went to school with him? Mafalda Hopkirk 17:26, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Magic School Article

I just would like to sugest that the creation of a "generic" magic school article to give a quick description that we known about all the magical schools, including mentions of unnamed schools. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 200.241.255.253 (talk • contribs).

Daily routine

the daily routine section needs to be fixed abit. i wrote about bed times for different years but cant remember what the different times are - can anyone help? i know 5th years are 9 o'clock Professor dumbledore 13:29, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Headmasters/Headmistresses

Is there any particular order to the way the headmasters and headmistresses are listed in the info box? ShirleyA^{(The Quibbler)} 08:03, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Looks like it's alphabetical by surname until it gets to Snape and McGonagall. That's presumably because the list predates the release of Deathly Hallows, which revealed Snape to be a headmaster, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which revealed McGonagall to be a headmistress. Whoever added Snape and McGonagall must not have realized that the list was alphabetic and simply put them at the end. I'll fix that. ★ Starstuff ^{(Owl me!)} 08:39, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

I think it should be done chronologically. Jayce ^{•Avada Kedavra•Crucio•Imperio•} 08:56, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Population

As I re-read the series from the beginning, it is becoming apparent that the number of students attending Hogwarts can be approximated. A passage in the second book describes Dean, Seamus, and Neville as the other second-year boys, aside from Harry and Ron. This means there are five boys in Gryffindor. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that there are also five girls in Gryffindor, for a total of ten in the year. If the Sorting Hat's criteria for House selection result in approximate equal division of the continuum of wizard personalities into four parts, then we can also extrapolate that there are about ten students in each house. Further, if we assume negligible attrition and transfer rates, we can also say that there are forty students in each year, for a final figure of 280 in the whole school. I wonder (but do not have the time to investigate) whether this is corroborated in the Great Hall scenes from the films. Ultimately, while I think my conclusions are reasonable as an approximation, I worry that they're founded too much on flimsy assumptions. What does the community think? Would a wording like "approximately 280" or "approximately 250-300" be appropriate for the main article? 173.89.186.50 14:52, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

I agree with you. There are always twenty things when two houses have class together (twenty brooms, twenty earmuffs, etc.) meaning each house has only ten kids per year as there is no reason to split up a house only to intermingle them with other houses. The actual statement of 1000 comes directly from JKR herself as an estimate she once made. However, I do recall that she once saw the movie and said the Great Hall looked perfect despite the Great Hall having closer to the 280 amount than the 1000 amount. Furthermore, JKR admits math is not her strong suit, meaning the 1000 figure could be off. I personally believed it should be changed to either "approximately 300" --SilverDrama 17:44, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Under this site's policy, "Rowling's Word is Law," so the number of students given directly by her is the figure that carries the most weight. This is not a case in which we can easily conclude that Rowling has made a mistake and thus disregard her word in favour of our own deductions. Examples of such cases would be how, on his Wizard of the Month entry, Dumbledore's year of death is given as 1996, or how Fred's is given as 1997 on the Weasley family tree JKR released on her site.

The forty students in Harry's year probably don't represent the average. 1979 to 1981 was the height of the First War, so less children may have been born during that time, and some of those who were born may have been killed by Death Eaters (Susan Bones' cousins being a possible example).

I also don't see how a quota of ten students per House per year could be maintained unless the Ministry of Magic enforced a strict population control policy. Even with such a policy in place, there would be no guarantee that the forty children would be sorted evenly, unless further measures were taken. Would the Ministry selectively issue forty "parenthood permits" each year — ten to Gryffindor families, ten to Ravenclaw families, etc. — in the hope of creating the desired crop of students? This policy couldn't possibly account for Muggle-borns, twins, and children who end up being sorted into a different House than their families. I suppose they could also make the Sorting Hat start sorting children based on secondary personality traits once all ten spots in a House are filled. But I doubt the Ministry/Hogwarts staff have that much control over the Hat, and I've always assumed the founders must have taken into consideration the need to keep the number of students in each House per year roughly even when they made the Hat, otherwise, statistically, you'd eventually have a year with only one, say, Slytherin.

In short, the idea that there's exactly ten students in each House every year is not only unproven, but it's not all that feasible. ★ Starstuff ^{(Owl me!)} 03:02, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

I didn't sat that Hogwarts would have a ten student per house quote, merely JKR does. In JKR's mind, a school would have a rough number of students at en even number, and in her mind, they would get sorted equally.

And actually, the kids in Harry's year would represent the normal year. The killings of families would equally fit with the amount of elopements and pregnancies that would happen in scary times of war. JKR once estimated that Hogwarts had a thousand kids. But JKR knows she has bad math and makes these mistakes a lot. There is no further evidence of any other years having more than about 40 kids. It should be changed to approximately 300 --SilverDrama 02:56, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

"They walked out onto the field to a tidal wave of noise, Three-quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, [...] Behind the Slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; [...]"

— PoA, Scholastic ed., ch.15, p.305

Nick O'Demus 03:26, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

is there any reason we can't just mention a note in the behind the scenes section that says that JKR has stated about 1000 students but that there is evidence that supports both that figure and also the figure of about 300 and JKR has admitted that math is not her strong point? i see no reason not to put that directly into the article and mention that there is no conclusive proof of either figure 76.105.175.52 09:39, September 7, 2009 (UTC)

How could it be that the school in every movie changes?--Station7 17:37, September 25, 2009 (UTC)

History

Just curious ... how do we know that the recent history, such as the major events in the books/movies, takes place in the early and mid 90's? 1994, 1999, etc? Wouldn't it be in the late 90's into the 2000's? 72.39.210.23 10:14, December 20, 2009 (UTC)

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Nearly Headless Nick celebrated his 500th Deathday, where it was established he died on October 31st, 1492. 500 years puts later establishes the events of that book as the 1992–1993 school year. This was further supported by the dates on Harry's parents' grave in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. - Nick O'Demus 10:38, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

Albus Dumbledore

Wasn't he deputy hea i put it on yesterday why has someone taken it off---- Hogwarts09 ^{Contact Me} 19:06, December 31, 2009 (UTC)

Because there is no proof for him being one.--Rodolphus 19:09, December 31, 2009 (UTC)

We used to think he was, but no one's been able to find anything to verify it, so it removed a while ago. If someone can find a source that states he was Deputy-Headmaster, it can be added then. The same goes for Head of Gryffindor House. - Nick O'Demus 19:17, December 31, 2009 (UTC)

For the record I don't think he was. Voldemort's line "I heard you had become headmaster. A worthy choice" seems to imply that he was interviewed for the job, rather than inhereting the mantle from his prececessor as McGonagall did. Dippet's deputy could have died or resigned around the same the as the headmaster. Jayden Matthews 20:17, December 31, 2009 (UTC)

Dumbledore did say that he advised Dippet against hiring Tom Riddle. Butterfly the rabbit 13:40, May 11, 2010 (UTC)

When was Hogwarts founded? Do we have any clue? --64.251.54.30 13:39, February 2, 2010 (UTC)

I always thought that Dumbledore was in Ravenclaw, because isn't that where all of the smart wizards go - and he was the best for his generation.

Hermione mentioned in book 1 that Dumbledore was in Gryffindor, though the Sorting Hat likely at least considered Ravenclaw for him.

Okay, Thanks

Slytherins and Ravenclaws

Wasn't it stated that Slytherins had a nack for breaking the rules and that Ravenclaws embody beauty? 74.233.173.126 20:32, April 11, 2010 (UTC)

Nowhere in the books.

For Slytherin, maybe you're pertaining to the 2nd-to-the-last chapter in Book 2 wherein Dumbledore was talking to Harry about the latter's doubts whether he should've belonged to Slytherin as the Sorting Hat mentioned. If my Scholastica-version memory serves me right, Dumbledore said, "You possess many qualities that Slytherin's hand-picked students possess. [...] and a certain disregard for rules."

For Ravenclaw, maybe you're pertaining to Ravenclaw's busts (Lovegood and Ravenclaw dorm versions alike), wherein Harry's subjective description of the Foundress as "beautiful with a certain haughtiness".

Hope this clears up your doubt. R.rnce.villegas (talk) 11:09, April 8, 2016 (UTC)

Electronic

How do Hogwarts get light in the rooms?? Do they have lamps??? And how do they get a radio and a grammophone?? --Danniesen 9 June 2010 13:50

At Hogwarts, electricity doesn't work because there's too much magic in the air. Illumination is provided by fire (fire torches, candles, fireplaces, etc.). Wizards have their own kinds of radios (presumably powered by magic), as the majority doesn't even know what electricity/plugs/batteries are. --  Seth Cooper  owl post! 20:19, June 11, 2010 (UTC)

I know. But if you see Prisoner of Azkaban and look at Professor Lupin's first Defense Against the Dark Arts class for Third Years you see a grammophone. And in Order of the Phoenix in a clip in Gryffindor Common Room you see a radio where Fudge's voice is talking. --Danniesen 12 June 2010 20:06

• The grammophone probably runs on magic just like the radio. The radio is the Wizard Wireless Network, its not a muggle radio. Gryffindor1991 18:50, October 14, 2010 (UTC)
• Early grammophones were wound with a crank-activated spring like a music box and the audio was amplified naturally with a flared horn. No electricity (or magic) was required. Regardless, this was not in the books anyway, I think. Oftenl8 19:59, July 27, 2011 (UTC)

Heads from an unknown time period

I know when Dexter Fortescue, Everard, Vulpus, Heliotrope Wilkins and Amberose Swott was Heads of Hogwarts. Why can't you accept that?? --Danniesen 11 June 2010 21:31

What's your source for it? 70.244.81.52 19:57, June 11, 2010 (UTC)

It stands everywhere except here. --Danniesen 12 June 2010 19:43

I'm sorry, I did not understand that. You claim to know when they were Heads, so can you tell us HOW do you know that or WHERE did you learn that from? --  Seth Cooper  owl post! 17:47, June 12, 2010 (UTC)

it can happen that the time when they where Heads was wrong but Dexter, Everard, Vulpus, Heliotrope and Amberose was placed in th right order. --Danniesen 12 June 2010 20:12

I have to agree with Seth here. HOW do you know that this is the right order?--Rodolphus 18:13, June 12, 2010 (UTC)

I agree also, we know at least that Fortescue, Everard, and Derwent were Heads, but the dates are not given anywhere. As for Vulpus, Wilkins, and Swott, I am not sure about them. Has JK Rowling confirmed them? Gryffindor1991 18:55, October 14, 2010 (UTC)

Vulpus, Wilkins, and Swott appear in portraits hanging in the headmaster's office in the Chamber of Secrets movie. --BachLynn^(Accio!) 19:19, October 14, 2010 (UTC)

Founded

Was it ever mentioned when the school was founded? --TheBook — (talk | contribs) 13:32, July 14, 2010 (UTC)

The school was founded in circa 993, according to the official timeline included in the DVDs. --  Seth Cooper  owl post! 15:04, July 14, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks :-) Which DVD was it included in? --TheBook — (talk | contribs) 15:13, July 14, 2010 (UTC)

Every one from Chamber of Secrets to Order of the Phoenix. It's only acessible on the PC. I'm not sure about Half-Blood Prince, though. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Seth Cooper (talk • contribs).

Etymology

I think "Hogwarts" came from the word Warthog since we can see the depiction of a pig on nameplates from Hogsmeade. It's also an African wild pig, and J. K. Rowling might possibly have bumped on the name while researching African magic and mythology. I think this should be mentioned, and maybe state that this the most likely reason of them all. --TheBook — (talk | contribs) 21:09, July 14, 2010 (UTC)

Coat of Arms Blazon

I recently saw a very amateurish blazon (the formal description of a coat of arms in the language of heraldry) of the Hogwarts Coat of Arms on another site. Can’t remember which. It was pretty terrible, and it was the only one I could find. So if you guys think it pertinent, I’ve composed a proper (or at least much better) blazon for Hogwarts, using correct phrasing, grammar and conventions from heraldic texts.

The first blazon is for the version of the arms that is currently displayed on the article, ie. it has a helmet and NOT the word “Hogwarts” above the shield:

Quarterly; I Gules a lion rampant to sinister Or, II Vert a serpent erect Argent langued of the First, III Or a badger statant regardant Sable, IV Azure an eagle wings displayed and elevated of the Second beaked of the Fourth; and over all an escutcheon of the Second charged with the letter 'H' of the Fifth. Atop the shield, a knight’s helm mantled Or doubled Sable from a wreath Sanguine. The motto, “draco dormiens nunquam titillandus” to be carried in an escroll beneath the shield.

The second blazon is for the version that DOES have “Hogwarts”, and not the helm and mantling:

Quarterly; I Gules a lion rampant to sinister Or, II Vert a serpent erect Argent langued of the First, III Or a badger statant regardant Sable, IV Azure an eagle wings displayed and elevated of the Second beaked of the Fourth; and over all a billet in fesse of the Second charged with the letter 'H' of the Fifth. The name "Hogwarts" to be carried in an escroll above the shield, and the motto "draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" in an escroll below the shield.

I think a blazon should be included in the article so we have a proper description of the arms.

References:

http://ia341324.us.archive.org/1/items/heraldryancient00boutgoog/heraldryancient00boutgoog.pdf

http://education.heraldry.ca/BLAZONRY_GUIDE_10.pdf

Le0jay 18:10, August 3, 2010 (UTC)

One quibble: A badger statant is on all fours, while the one in the movie-issue coat of arms is a badger sejant erect regardant. (Which is slightly confusing, as a badger, unless otherwise specified, is always statant, and our beloved author made no such specification.) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 137.118.253.101 (talk • contribs) 04:17, June 25, 2011.

I agree that a blazon would be a good addition to the article; but I also agree with the article I read a few months ago (I think it was on the Royal College of Heralds website, and was originally written in the 1930s) that in long or complicated blazons (such as these two) tincture names should be repeated instead of using all this "of the first/second/third etc." nonsense, as it can be too confusing (and disrupt the flow of comprehension) to have to go back and work out which particular tincture was "the fourth".

I nwould also question the phrase "an eagle wings displayed". From the little I know of heraldry, this appears tautologous; surely "an eagle displayed" is sufficient. — RobertATfm (talk) 12:06, November 15, 2012 (UTC)

Headmaster

Who became Headmaster after Snape? 216.195.27.222 02:02, January 18, 2011 (UTC) That's right i'm 216.195.27.222 02:02, January 18, 2011 (UTC)

Minerva McGonagall, but her successor is unknown.
 Harry granger   Talk   contribs 13:39, November 15, 2012 (UTC)

Disciplinary Action

There's nothing about punishment/detentions in Hogwarts.

enchantments cover hogsmead?

does the hogwarts protective spells cover hogsmead? people seem to know where hogsmead is so surely if its right by hogwarts then people would be able to find the school easily? if its the only wizard town in the uk surely it would get alot of visitors? it even mentions people go the hogs head and three broomsticks from all over 92.15.41.13 03:15, February 9, 2011 (UTC)

Hogwarts student population . . .

This article states that at any given time there are about 1000 students at Hogwarts. In Harry's first year, sorted into Gryffindor, there were 5 boys, and five girls--if that held true to balance the school, then Harry's class would have had only 40 students, times 7 years that only makes 280 students, give or take . . . 50.40.196.163 03:37, May 9, 2011 (UTC)Jeffrey Smith

See the "Population" discussion further up. 70.249.151.227 03:44, May 9, 2011 (UTC)

You got that wrong Jeffrey. You see, Harry only had 5 boys in his dormitory and 5 girls in the girls' dormitory. In other words, 5 fifth-year students in the fifth year gyffindor boys dormitory and 5 fifth year students in the fifth year gryffindor girls dormitory (in the fifth book in this case). Each year get their dormitory and when Harry got in, ony 5 boys and 5 girls were sorted into gryffindor but there were still tons of other studens older than him, Ron, and Hermione such as Fred and George who had their own year's dormitory. Hope you understood what I meant. _—  Firefox1095  _— 21:48, May 9, 2011 (UTC)

Scotland?

Im sorry but where did it say that Hogwarts was in Scotland? Could someone tell me? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.67.96.2 (talk • contribs).

"Hogwarts ... Logically it had to be set in a secluded place, and pretty soon I settled on Scotland in my mind." Fraser, L., An interview with J.K.Rowling, Mammoth, London, 2000

Nick O'Demus 03:15, July 7, 2011 (UTC)

Quote

Can´t we use a more neutral top quote? That's Hagrid's opinion. Fleur thinks Beauxbatons is better, and I highly doubt Durmstrangs, the Salem witches and others who didn´t attend it would say Hogwarts is the best school. Rodolphus 13:10, August 1, 2011 (UTC)

I agree. Do people think that the school motto would be a good idea? Tom Marvolo Octopus 12:33, October 30, 2011 (UTC)

Bumping--Rodolphus (talk) 15:53, November 24, 2012 (UTC)

Either that or the first-years' first sight of the school, unless the second one has already been used, in my opinion. --This is an automatically sent message. (You can reply here) 16:31, November 24, 2012 (UTC)

I think that we should use the school motto.--Rodolphus (talk) 11:50, February 22, 2014 (UTC)

Constant vandalism

This article seems to be a target for vandalism and I think it should be protected against anons. -HoboHunter28- (Leave me an owl!) 03:51, August 14, 2011 (UTC)

Repair

After the war, do you think (if every survivor) casts Reparo over the castle that it will return to its normal state? I would like to think so but another part makes me wonder whether it is too severe. --KhanWiz - Guardian ~ (talk) ~ (email) 15:47, September 19, 2011 (UTC)

No. Hogwarts is too complicated a magical structure that a simple Reparo would accomplish, however many the survivors might be. I mean, this is not the Colosseum. R.rnce.villegas (talk) 11:15, April 8, 2016 (UTC)

School Year

RE the paragraph

"Term begins on 1 September. Students usually reach Hogwarts via the Hogwarts Express, which leaves from Platform 9 3/4 of London's King's Cross Station at 11 a.m. sharp. There seemed to be other ways of entering the school, such as via brooms or Floo powder, or simply Apparating to a nearby location such as Hogsmeade. Missing the Hogwarts Express for any reason is a very serious problem but will not cost the student points, because the term has not officially started."

This may be really anal-retentive of me. IF points cannot be lost on 9-1, shouldn't the first lines read

"Term officially begins on 2 September. Students usually reach Hogwarts via the Hogwarts Express, which leaves from Platform 9 3/4 of London's King's Cross Station at 11 a.m. sharp on 1 September."

(I had to go back to book2, I would have swore Snape took points off when they flew the car but he didn't. However, I did spot a passage I hadn't noticed before.....'This wasn't the first time Snape had given Harry the impression of being able to read minds")

- Does the term always start on September 2nd? What if that landed on a Saturday, like it would in 2017 when Albus is leaving to go to Hogwarts? I'm not even sure if Hogwarts classes are only held on weekdays. Has this ever been stated or hinted at in the books? Don't feel like rereading to find out :P - StainlessX 02:05, December 8, 2011 (UTC)

House crests in Section Houses

Shall we use the new Pottermore house crests for the section "Houses" in this article, too? Harry granger 12:51, October 30, 2011 (UTC)

Frog choir

Why is the frog choir refered to just as "a choir"? On it's page it is the frog choir. I tried to change it, but my edit was undone.

Octopus

Tom Marvolo Octopus

16:39, November 6, 2011 (UTC)

The problem has now been resolved :)

Octopus

Tom Marvolo Octopus

22:00, November 18, 2011 (UTC)

Deputy Head / Head of House

I'm fairly sure (I think I got this impression from Book 6) that Albus Dumbledore was Deputy Headmaster during Armando Dippet's tenure, which is why he was entrusted with the task of visiting Tom Riddle at the orphanage to inform him of his magical heritage. I think he was also Head of Gryffindor House at this time (I probably got that idea from an earlier book).

It would be good if sources could be found for this. — RobertATfm (talk) 12:15, November 15, 2012 (UTC)

School Year

I'm not sure about the statement that the second (spring) term begins "shortly after January 1st"; when I went to school (40 years ago), the (UK) custom was that the spring term began as soon as possible after Twelfth Night, January 6th. — RobertATfm (talk) 12:24, November 15, 2012 (UTC)

Hogwart's is Fictional <not real> — —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.203.232.66 (talk • contribs).

And what relevance does that have to my post? Besides, it's Hogwarts not "hogwart's", and we sign our posts here. — RobertATfm (talk) 01:08, December 18, 2012 (UTC)

I think, in view of the semi-literate reply to my post, that I should point out that if a return to school takes place on or before January 6th, it occurs during the festive part of the Christmas season (the "Twelve Days of Christmas" which traditionally start on December 26th), thus is not likely to be popular with children or parents. Hogwarts seems to follow the practices of British Muggle schools as regards terms fairly closely (such as the school year beginning with an autumn/winter term, and further having spring and summer terms), so I think that "after January 6" is a far more likely start to the spring term than "after January 1". — RobertATfm (talk) 01:17, December 18, 2012 (UTC)

Last day of Hogwarts?

Well every year it starts on 1 September, so would that mean it ends on the same last day? If so which day?