In canon, the word ‘Squib’ means precisely a Wizard-born Muggle, just as ‘Mudblood’ means a Muggle-born Wizard. (The only thing that’s not analogous is that the latter term is used only as a slur.)
The Harry Potter Wiki describes differences between Squibs and Muggles that are minor and could easily be cultural or due to spells that deliberately distinguish them. (In Book V, Mrs Figg claims that she can see Dementors, and the Ministry’s ignorance of Squibs allows them to believe her, but Harry seems to think that she’s lying.) Squibs and Muggles should be the same phenotype.
So Harry is wrong to conclube that ‘Squib’ means someone heterozygous. The parents of Muggle-borns must also be heterozygous, even if those parents are not themselves Squibs. (I see from the latest chapter, however, that Hermione’s mother is a Squib!)
On reflection, this is the only thing wrong. So we can chalk it up to Harry’s unfamiliarity with the proper terms, or even say that he was oversimplifying for Draco’s benefit.
(Canon does have some Squibs with two Wizarding parents. But we’ve never seen any details of their home lives, so one could easily blame this on adultery. I remember reading some study, based on DNA samples, that concluded that children are surpsingly often not related to their putative biological fathers.)
(Canon does have some Squibs with two Wizarding parents. But we’ve never seen any details of their home lives, so one could easily blame this on adultery. I remember reading some study, based on DNA samples, that concluded that children are surpsingly often not related to their putative biological fathers.)
Actually, the percentage of people who are not raised by their putative biological fathers is pretty small. The percentage seems to be at most around 4%. Even among people who are getting tested specifically because they suspect that the kid is not theirs, the fraction which are cuckolds is less than 30%. See this summary.
Another legend bites the dust! (Although if I cast my mind back to before I heard this rumour, I think that I would have found 3% surprisingly large, all the same.) Thanks for the reference.
I suppose that the numbers could be higher among Wizards. And we only have a small sample size.
Dad had trouble just looking at Harry’s trunk directly. Magic ran in families, and Michael Verres-Evans couldn’t even walk.
Why would Harry’s dad have significantly more trouble than his mum with looking at the trunk? Does Petunia register as a squib to the Muggle-repelling charms? Is it easier to think about magic if you were exposed to it earlier in life? The narration seems to imply that the blood hypothesis is true, but this later turned out to be false.
Does Petunia register as a squib to the Muggle-repelling charms?
Good question. I said above that, by canon standards, Petunia would not be considered a Squib. So any spells that refer to the Wizarding community’s standards of what is a Muggle would treat her as a Muggle.
But she’s probably (2:1 odds) heterozygous, so any spells that look at the genes should treat her as a Squib. The spells may work on the genes without the Wizards who developed that spell actually realising that this is the mechanism; that’s the interesting part.
The narration seems to imply that the blood hypothesis is true, but this later turned out to be false.
Sorry, I forgot that ‘blood hypothesis’ has a specific meaning from Chapter 22.
Yes, the language did seem to imply that some Muggles are less magical than others. However, that’s not quite the same as the hypothesis that some Wizards are more magical than others (edit: which I take to a necessary part of the official Blood Hypothesis). Indeed, if heterozygotic Muggles (as Petunia is likely to be) are more magical than homozygotic Muggles (as Michael is likely to be), then the language of Chapter 7 still works.
The genetic variance in magical ability (at least, independent from general intelligence, studiousness, etc.) is limited to at most three discrete levels. So strictly yes, it’s possible that ‘some Muggles are less magical than others’, but there certainly isn’t a spectrum of magicalness.
Not true. Magic is heritable, but is a single gene thing, so that the pure blood concerns about mixing with muggles/squibs destroying magic are unfounded.
In canon, the word ‘Squib’ means precisely a Wizard-born Muggle, just as ‘Mudblood’ means a Muggle-born Wizard. (The only thing that’s not analogous is that the latter term is used only as a slur.)
The Harry Potter Wiki describes differences between Squibs and Muggles that are minor and could easily be cultural or due to spells that deliberately distinguish them. (In Book V, Mrs Figg claims that she can see Dementors, and the Ministry’s ignorance of Squibs allows them to believe her, but Harry seems to think that she’s lying.) Squibs and Muggles should be the same phenotype.
So Harry is wrong to conclube that ‘Squib’ means someone heterozygous. The parents of Muggle-borns must also be heterozygous, even if those parents are not themselves Squibs. (I see from the latest chapter, however, that Hermione’s mother is a Squib!)
On reflection, this is the only thing wrong. So we can chalk it up to Harry’s unfamiliarity with the proper terms, or even say that he was oversimplifying for Draco’s benefit.
(Canon does have some Squibs with two Wizarding parents. But we’ve never seen any details of their home lives, so one could easily blame this on adultery. I remember reading some study, based on DNA samples, that concluded that children are surpsingly often not related to their putative biological fathers.)
(Canon does have some Squibs with two Wizarding parents. But we’ve never seen any details of their home lives, so one could easily blame this on adultery. I remember reading some study, based on DNA samples, that concluded that children are surpsingly often not related to their putative biological fathers.)
Actually, the percentage of people who are not raised by their putative biological fathers is pretty small. The percentage seems to be at most around 4%. Even among people who are getting tested specifically because they suspect that the kid is not theirs, the fraction which are cuckolds is less than 30%. See this summary.
Another legend bites the dust! (Although if I cast my mind back to before I heard this rumour, I think that I would have found 3% surprisingly large, all the same.) Thanks for the reference.
I suppose that the numbers could be higher among Wizards. And we only have a small sample size.
Why would Harry’s dad have significantly more trouble than his mum with looking at the trunk? Does Petunia register as a squib to the Muggle-repelling charms? Is it easier to think about magic if you were exposed to it earlier in life? The narration seems to imply that the blood hypothesis is true, but this later turned out to be false.
Good question. I said above that, by canon standards, Petunia would not be considered a Squib. So any spells that refer to the Wizarding community’s standards of what is a Muggle would treat her as a Muggle.
But she’s probably (2:1 odds) heterozygous, so any spells that look at the genes should treat her as a Squib. The spells may work on the genes without the Wizards who developed that spell actually realising that this is the mechanism; that’s the interesting part.
I missed something; what turned out to be false?
The blood hypothesis turned out to be false.
Sorry, I forgot that ‘blood hypothesis’ has a specific meaning from Chapter 22.
Yes, the language did seem to imply that some Muggles are less magical than others. However, that’s not quite the same as the hypothesis that some Wizards are more magical than others (edit: which I take to a necessary part of the official Blood Hypothesis). Indeed, if heterozygotic Muggles (as Petunia is likely to be) are more magical than homozygotic Muggles (as Michael is likely to be), then the language of Chapter 7 still works.
The genetic variance in magical ability (at least, independent from general intelligence, studiousness, etc.) is limited to at most three discrete levels. So strictly yes, it’s possible that ‘some Muggles are less magical than others’, but there certainly isn’t a spectrum of magicalness.
Agreed. (I’ve also made a small clarifying edit to my previous comment.)
Everything that you’ve said is correct; I was just confused about what ‘blood hypothesis’ meant until I reread Chapter 22.
Not true. Magic is heritable, but is a single gene thing, so that the pure blood concerns about mixing with muggles/squibs destroying magic are unfounded.