Love her or hate her (and my opinions are mixed), I must confess, JK Rowling was a huge influence on why I didn’t become a regular author. No shade on people who get what they paid for, but the young reader crowd is just so gimmicky, and not in a good way, and you see that with a lot of works like Percy Jackson and Twilight (but also predominantly with Rowling’s work). How do you compete in such a no-rules game?

So then let’s talk about one of the cores of the issue. People often have an epiphany when divulging into Harry Potter, and they think “huh, what’s the deal with this if that thing is how it is”. While noting that conflicts in literary analysis don’t always reflect something that doesn’t add up and that it could be a hiccup in details/semantics, the questions themselves don’t go away. And there’s nothing that matches the amount of those having to do with Harry Potter. What example of which strikes you as the most overlooked?

If Rowling herself ever notices that I’m bringing this up, let it be known I do think of her work as a reskinned Brothers Grimm in the universe of The Worst Witch and that I’m collaborating with another author (Samantha Rinne) whose work I would argue deserves Rowling’s prestige if Rowling’s work deserves it. Thanks (and here is where I run for the hills).

  • @OriginalUsername7English
    2•4 hours ago

    To be fair, I think that’s to check if their reflexes include unknowingly using magic to protect themselves. That should only work if they’ve perceived the danger, like putting out your hands to stop a fall.

    Shooting someone would (if they’re being properly ambushed) usually result in them being shot before they realise it, so it wouldn’t matter if they’re magic.

    But if they do realise they’re being shot at, then why defence magic at all? Just use your innate magical reflexes to avoid death!? Why the need to learn how to block spells?

    So either guns would work, or they wouldn’t and it’s not explained at all.

    Also Hermione slaps Malloy at one point. If his innate defensive magic reflexes didn’t kick in then, no reason to think they would if he was hit with both barrels from a shotgun to the chest.