Who are the Professors' spouses...

[Jotomicron]

good point.

Anyway, Filch and Umbridge would have been a well-suited marriage.

LOL
Imagine what would Umbridge say when she realises that Filch was a squib!!!

[Athena Appleton]

Imagine what would Umbridge say when she realises that Filch was a squib!!!

You know, I know you meant that as just a funny statement, but think about it. Filch was the ONLY staff member who was 100% for Umbridge, yet he was a squib, and she wouldn't have respected him as much because of it...

[Nobby]

yeah Jk loves to throw in a little bit of irony every now and then

[Athena Appleton]

no, i think it goes deeper than just irony... that's what prejudice is. It's a double standard. Many times, people hate what they are themselves (Tom Riddle was not a pureblood wizard) and they punish others with those same qualities (Tom Riddle hates non-pureblood wizards.) That, or you're willing to accept someone if you can "use" them (this is, in essence, what slavery is. In America, white people treated black people horribly, but we didn't hate them to the point of not wanting them around us... No, they were used as slaves to cook, clean, work in fields, watch children...) Umbridge did that with Filch. She wouldn't have respected him as a person, but she was more than willing to use his willingness to punish students and uphold rules... maybe i'm just talkin crazy, but i think society is one big double-standard, and I think you see that a LOT in the Harry Potter books...

[Amon Rê]

Maybe that means that JK Rowling is writing the Political Metaphor of our time...relating Riddle to Hitler and the Order of the Phoenix to the Allies....just a thought

[Athena Appleton]

First off, welcome Amon! Where'd you get the name?

If you look around the boards a bit, you'll see that I'm firmly convinced that the Harry Potter books, while maybe not a political satire or metaphor in the way, say, Animal Farm was, I do think there are some definate ties to Voldemort-Hitler, Order-Allies, Inquisitorial Squad-Aryan Youth Leagues, etc... then again, it might just be me mixing my two favorite subjects (I'm fascinated with WWII history). But I do think I read somewhere that J.K. Rowling has actually said that there are some loose ties to Hitler and the Nazis and stuff...

[Cruzio]

If you look around the boards a bit, you'll see that I'm firmly convinced that the Harry Potter books, while maybe not a political satire or metaphor in the way, say, Animal Farm was, I do think there are some definate ties to Voldemort-Hitler, Order-Allies, Inquisitorial Squad-Aryan Youth Leagues, etc... then again, it might just be me mixing my two favorite subjects (I'm fascinated with WWII history). But I do think I read somewhere that J.K. Rowling has actually said that there are some loose ties to Hitler and the Nazis and stuff...

I think people said the same thing about the LotR series, even though Tolkien denied any connection to the WW's (if I remember correctly, not a resolute tolkien fan).

All we have is speculations, so all I'm doing now is just that, speculating.
What I think is that possible connections between HP and WW2 may I have been unintentional. But as J.K has said herself, "Lord Voldemort is a Cruel Dictator", and possibly some of the inspiration came from the oh so well known Cruel Dictator Hitler.
And I have to agree, there are quite a few liknesses. Not sure what to believe now that I think of it lol.

These are some interesting theories


Dammit just realised this is way off topic

[paintballdecoy]

Yeah I remember reading that the LOTR are loosly based on the 2 WW, along with the subconsious mind of man, which is both corrupting and "tricksy, gollum, gollum

I think some might be married, but what about if they had kids, would everyone know about it or would they just fly under the radar?

[Aberforth]

If you look around the boards a bit, you'll see that I'm firmly convinced that the Harry Potter books, while maybe not a political satire or metaphor in the way, say, Animal Farm was, I do think there are some definate ties to Voldemort-Hitler, Order-Allies, Inquisitorial Squad-Aryan Youth Leagues, etc... then again, it might just be me mixing my two favorite subjects (I'm fascinated with WWII history). But I do think I read somewhere that J.K. Rowling has actually said that there are some loose ties to Hitler and the Nazis and stuff...

I'm not convinced by this. People said the same thing about Star Wars being about the cold war. Any battle of good verses evil can be related to a major conflict because there are so many to chose from and there are certain elements required for such a story:

1) an evil person with followers - LVand DEs/Darth Vader and the empire
2) the good guys fighting evil - order of the pheonix/the Rebellion
3) spies - snape/Princess Leia passed on information in episode 4
4) a hero - harry/Luke Skywalker

The first 3 are required for any conflict, the fourth for fictional conflict of this type. (Any story that focusses on a good character against an evil character has to end in them fighting to satisfy the reader)

[Violet]

I think that if you've studied WWII at all you tend to notice more similarities, such V and the DE, with Hitler and the Gestapo. but well if you're writing any book you do take influences from things that have happened in real life anyway, thats what makes it something u can understand and relate to

[Athena Appleton]

haha... okay, I do see what you're saying, Aberforth... but it's not like I am saying everything is exact (there's a particular person representing each Nazi, or Voldemort will send 6 million Muggles to gas chambers in concentration camps), there is some evidence (especially that J.K. Rowling herself said it) that there are some loose ties to WWII and the Nazi regime.

[Ginny Malfoy]

It seems to me that maybe we've gotten off the topic of the thread which is about professors' spouses. I think the discussion that is going on now is a fascinating one, but I feel it belongs in its own thread. That's just my own observation.

I think a thread dealing with real world tie-ins with the Harry Potter series would be a great one...perhaps, Athena, you'd like to create it? On topic, I feel maybe somne of the characters who have been mentioned casually but not seen (like Aberforth) *might* be the some of the spouses JKR refers to. Though, who on earth would Aberforth be married to?

[paintballdecoy]

It seems to me that maybe we've gotten off the topic of the thread which is about professors' spouses. I think the discussion that is going on now is a fascinating one, but I feel it belongs in its own thread. That's just my own observation.

I think a thread dealing with real world tie-ins with the Harry Potter series would be a great one...perhaps, Athena, you'd like to create it? On topic, I feel maybe somne of the characters who have been mentioned casually but not seen (like Aberforth) *might* be the some of the spouses JKR refers to. Though, who on earth would Aberforth be married to?

Aberforth doesn't need a wife, he has his goats They are probably intermarries or they are all married to others and they just deal with not seeing them too much. Plus we really don't know what the teachers do after classes.

[pandora315]

For my own personnal knowledge can someone fill me in on where we got all these ages of the characters. THe only date I can remember of the top of my head is 1945 which is when Dumbledor defeated Grindlewald or whatever. How is he 150? The next is McGonnagol- I know she's been at hogwarts 39 years (Ootp) but how is she 70? Snape says he's been teaching 14 years, that also means he was teaching at Hogwarts when he was a death eater. I'd just like to know where else in the books it gives ages

[Athena Appleton]

Okay, Ginny, I'll start a thread on the Nazi theory.

Pandora, first off, welcome!

We get the dates and ages from all kinds of places, and have come up with the conclusion that J.K. Rowling doesn't want us to figure that out exactly, since all the clues give us different years of Harry's birth.

However, we do know that when Harry was 12 years old, Hagrid was around 65 (add up the 11 years before Hagrid went to Hogwarts, two more years and he was expelled, fifty years since the Chamber was opened.)

J.K. Rowling tells us that Dumbledore is 150 years old in several interviews. She also tells us that Snape (therefore James, Lupin, Sirius, Peter and Lily) are the same age and Snape is 35 or 36 as of the first book.

The problems come up when you try to figure out when Harry was born. If you go by what Hagrid says in book one, Harry was born July 31, 1982 (Halloween fell on a Monday, the only Halloween on a Monday in the approximate years we're talking about was in 1983). If you go by the date of the deathday cake, I think it makes Harry born in 1980.

In other interviews, she tells us what Hermione and Ron's birthdays are.