I was just wondering: does anyone else hope Eliezer fleshes out Magical History? I find it a pity that we don’t get to see how Magical Britain became what it is now. I mean, so far he’s reflected (very broadly) on the current political situation through Draco, but he’s continued to keep us in the dark about Voldemort’s rise to power, the situation that led to that, the circumstances surrounding the beginning of magic (as a technology, since Harry has confirmed that the rules for spells aren’t natural laws), the founding of Hogwarts …
So, which do you all think are most important for Eliezer to touch upon? Can you think of any others you want to see?
Also: I know that wizards generally ignore muggles, but they are another entire civilization, with documentation of their history, living in secret right next to the Muggle society. Wizarding history could provide a lot of insight into Muggle history because of how the two are so closely related.
It would be interesting, but it would also be taking on a bigger burden.
Changing the events of Harry Potter starting with the first book, is less drastic than changing the history of the Harry Potter world, which is less drastic than changing the history of the real world.
Saying anything that canon didn’t say about wizarding history would be changing wizarding history. Doing that in a way that didn’t imply changes in muggle history would be very difficult.
Eliezer has already mentioned things like Atlantis. History would probably play a role in finding out how magic works in general. Harry, from a political perspective, would do well to learn how the situation arose, and it may be an opportunity for Eliezer to set up an Aesop.
And it wouldn’t necessarily change history. The muggle world as it is in canon is very similar to how it is in the real world, down to things like Playstations, yet Rowling invents a wizarding history that manages to not change much. All of the science Eliezer has mentioned is historically accurate to the year. It’s not a stretch to say that the only part about HPMOR that is an alternate universe from canon is wizarding history, because even the existence of a wizarding world in canon didn’t manage to change much.
Of course, this would be impossible to discuss in-universe without many-worlds magic. Harry can’t find out why the existence of a wizarding world has not changed history if, from his perspective, there was no other “reality” for him to compare it to that he can actually draw evidence from.
However, wizards having their own history means they have their own documentation of that history. This means there are far more primary sources that may have been magically preserved, and muggles could, in the future, use these to learn more about their own history. They might even be able to settle historical debates that have gone on for decades, like what the actual pathogen that devastated Europe during the Black Plague was (since there is significant controversy over whether it was in fact the bubonic plague). Not to mention the existence of things like Pensieves. Magical historians are comparatively spoiled rotten when it comes to primary sources of historical events.
So the implications would be that, instead of changing muggle history, muggles would be more knowledgeable about what actually happened.
His testimony and memories would still be considered primary sources by historians. I don’t think there is such a thing as a zeroth source. And every source has its limitations—frankly, a shelf full of memories all relating to a specific event (which, canon, is possible) would be better than the memories of only one person, depending upon the subject in question.
For things that canon changed about Muggle history, try Wikia:Mistakes in the Harry Potter books. (Most of that is irrelevant continuity errors, but some of that is contradictions with the real world.) Also see remarks about calendars in the HP Lexicon timeline.
I was just wondering: does anyone else hope Eliezer fleshes out Magical History? I find it a pity that we don’t get to see how Magical Britain became what it is now. I mean, so far he’s reflected (very broadly) on the current political situation through Draco, but he’s continued to keep us in the dark about Voldemort’s rise to power, the situation that led to that, the circumstances surrounding the beginning of magic (as a technology, since Harry has confirmed that the rules for spells aren’t natural laws), the founding of Hogwarts …
So, which do you all think are most important for Eliezer to touch upon? Can you think of any others you want to see?
Also: I know that wizards generally ignore muggles, but they are another entire civilization, with documentation of their history, living in secret right next to the Muggle society. Wizarding history could provide a lot of insight into Muggle history because of how the two are so closely related.
It would be interesting, but it would also be taking on a bigger burden.
Changing the events of Harry Potter starting with the first book, is less drastic than changing the history of the Harry Potter world, which is less drastic than changing the history of the real world.
Saying anything that canon didn’t say about wizarding history would be changing wizarding history. Doing that in a way that didn’t imply changes in muggle history would be very difficult.
Eliezer has already mentioned things like Atlantis. History would probably play a role in finding out how magic works in general. Harry, from a political perspective, would do well to learn how the situation arose, and it may be an opportunity for Eliezer to set up an Aesop.
And it wouldn’t necessarily change history. The muggle world as it is in canon is very similar to how it is in the real world, down to things like Playstations, yet Rowling invents a wizarding history that manages to not change much. All of the science Eliezer has mentioned is historically accurate to the year. It’s not a stretch to say that the only part about HPMOR that is an alternate universe from canon is wizarding history, because even the existence of a wizarding world in canon didn’t manage to change much.
Of course, this would be impossible to discuss in-universe without many-worlds magic. Harry can’t find out why the existence of a wizarding world has not changed history if, from his perspective, there was no other “reality” for him to compare it to that he can actually draw evidence from.
However, wizards having their own history means they have their own documentation of that history. This means there are far more primary sources that may have been magically preserved, and muggles could, in the future, use these to learn more about their own history. They might even be able to settle historical debates that have gone on for decades, like what the actual pathogen that devastated Europe during the Black Plague was (since there is significant controversy over whether it was in fact the bubonic plague). Not to mention the existence of things like Pensieves. Magical historians are comparatively spoiled rotten when it comes to primary sources of historical events.
So the implications would be that, instead of changing muggle history, muggles would be more knowledgeable about what actually happened.
Nicolas Flamel was born c. 1330. Why use a primary source when you can have a zeroth source?
His testimony and memories would still be considered primary sources by historians. I don’t think there is such a thing as a zeroth source. And every source has its limitations—frankly, a shelf full of memories all relating to a specific event (which, canon, is possible) would be better than the memories of only one person, depending upon the subject in question.
But still. The things that man must have seen …
It would seem to only apply to Flamel and then only when considering his past self in the first person rather than the abstract Me_1500 sense.
For things that canon changed about Muggle history, try Wikia:Mistakes in the Harry Potter books. (Most of that is irrelevant continuity errors, but some of that is contradictions with the real world.) Also see remarks about calendars in the HP Lexicon timeline.