Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re going to be discussing
wizarding economics- specifically, why and how a MAGICAL world would still have impoverished
people. With the advent of magical capabilities, how can there possibly be witches and wizards
living derelict lifestyles? At the very least, shouldn’t every witch / wizard be able to
source clean clothes?
In Harry Potter, there are many passages alluding to the lack of economic stability in certain
wizarding families- with a particular focus on the Weasley’s.
From their house to their to their hand-me-down robes, it’s certainly no secret that the
Weasley’s were financially stretched. Draco Malfoy even makes a comment towards Ron where
he suggests that the Weasley family name is synonymous with this sort of thing.
“Think my name's funny, do you? Well, no need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand-me-down-robe?
You must be a Weasley.”
And when Harry first witnesses the Weasley Family vault, he’s at a loss for words:
“Harry enjoyed the breakneck journey down to the Weasleys’ vault, but felt dreadful,
far worse than he had in Knockturn Alley, when it was opened. There was a very small
pile of silver Sickles inside, and just one gold Galleon. Mrs.Weasley felt right into
the corners before sweeping the whole lot into her bag.”
But the Weasleys weren’t the only characters in the Harry Potter story that were lacking
in funds. In fact, in my opinion one of the most EXTREME examples of poverty in Harry
Potter is Remus Lupin. It’s reinforced over and over and over that his clothes are tatty
and that he looked sickly.
The first time that we’re introduced to Lupin’s character, he’s described as follows:
“The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard’s robes that had been darned
in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was
flecked with gray. [...]
“It’s on his case,” she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man’s head,
where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted
string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.”
Then, again at the sorting ceremony:
“Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best
robes.”
When Harry encounters Lupin for the second time, after their arrival at Hogwarts, the
passage even suggests that Lupin had eaten properly for the first time in a while:
“Lupin smiled vaguely and placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher’s desk. He
was as shabby as ever but looked healthier than he had on the train, as though he had
had a few square meals.”
Was Lupin SO POOR that he couldn’t afford FOOD? How can this be a reality in Wizarding
Society?
First of all I’d like to state that I appreciate that each of these examples can be somewhat
explained via their unique circumstances.
In the Weasley family there were a LOT of mouths to feed and ONE primary stream of income.
As for Lupin, well- he was a werewolf, and that meant that getting work was exceedingly
difficult:
JK Rowling expanded on this in an interview:
“Remus lived a hand-to-mouth existence, taking jobs that were far below his level
of ability, always knowing that he would have to leave them before his pattern of growing
sick once a month at the full moon was noticed by his workmates.”
But bearing all of this in mind I still can’t help but wonder- with the advent of magic,
how is it possible that poverty can exist on this level? As an outsider looking in,
it seems like MAGIC would be more than enough of an advantage to make sure there’s at
least food on the table. At the very least, I’d think that even the LOWEST standards
of living were still significantly elevated than what we might witness in the muggle world.
But here’s the thing- the wizarding world has an economy just like our own with mediums
of exchange and a system of finance. They even have their own wizarding money- coming
in many different forms including galleons, sickles and knuts. Yes that’s right, it’s
pronounced ka-nuts. Galleons are the largest form of currency, equivalent to about 17 sickles
or 493 knuts.
And just because it’s a magical world, it doesn’t suddenly mean that things are going
to be free. Services and goods require payment.
Bearing this in mind- I want to pose the question: Is it an advantage to be magical? Or, is the
wizarding population just as reliant on a functioning economy as the rest of us?
Can’t witches and wizards simply CREATE food, money, clothing or shelter using MAGIC?
What are the limitations here?
What we first need to remember is that magic has laws just like everything else. Magic
can be pretty remarkable, but it still has it’s limits.
One of the main things that comes to mind in this context is Gamp’s Law.
Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration is a fundamental property of magic and magical
‘law’ which identifies what can and cannot be ‘conjured’. Conjuration is a form of
Transfiguration. In effect, the Law articulates that one cannot create ‘something’ out
of ‘nothing’.
While some have mistaken Gamp’s Law for a piece of wizarding legislation, in reality
the ‘Law’ is simply a scientific axiom - a law of ‘magic’ itself.
There are five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law- with only one being focused on in canon
which pertained to food. This is referenced in the books:
"Your mother can’t produce food out of thin air, no one can. Food is the first of the
five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration... It’s impossible
to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can
transform it, you can increase the quantity if you’ve already got some..."
And when food seemingly came out of nowhere in the books, there was always an explanation.
When McGonagall produced a never-ending platter of sandwiches, it was food ‘summoned’
from the Hogwarts kitchens. The same can be said for the vast stretches of food presented
in the Hogwarts banquet hall during student feasts.
But provided that this is the ONLY magical law pertaining to food, and that food CAN
be multiplied, I don’t really know what Remus’s excuse is for being hungry. He wasn’t
completely broke, he still had money here and there- so why didn’t he just buy a SMALL
amount of food and multiply it? If this was an option in the MUGGLE world, I’m sure
that EVERYONE would capitalize on it. In my opinion, this is a bit of a plot hole.
Gamp’s law prohibited him from creating food out of nothing, but it didn’t stop
him from multiplying or ‘enlarging’ food in his possession. I don’t think there’s
really any proper explanation for him being as hungry as he was portrayed to be when Harry
first meets him.
But moving on, I wonder what the other exceptions are to this magical law.
Given that Gamp’s law seems to be centered around conjuration, I think it’s reasonable
to infer that the OTHER four exceptions were simply OTHER categories of substances which
could ALSO not be created from nothing. If you guys want a video on all of them, then
leave a comment down below, but for now I’m going to just focus on ONE more.
Based on what I know about wizarding society, I suspect that one of the other main exceptions
is somehow related to MONEY or GOLD. This would explain WHY some witches and wizards
don’t have a lot of it, and would also explain HOW wizarding poverty could exist at all.
It’s also likely that the exception’s with gold were deeper rooted than food, as
if gold could be ‘multiplied’ as food could be, then it still wouldn’t really
be any kind of an issue.
Being too lazy to multiply your own gold is not exactly an excuse for being poor, so I
imagine it’s just not a possibility.
Furthermore, if it was possible to transfigure things into gold, then the quest for the fabled
Philosopher’s Stone- which does just that- would not have been going on for centuries.
In conclusion, the wizarding economy, which so closely resembles our own, absolutely leaves
the door open for poverty- at least on some level. The only difference between those without
wealth in the MUGGLE world and MAGICAL world is that witches and wizards are able to MULTIPLY
their food sources. This is a massive advantage, but besides that, magic doesn’t necessarily
appear to be of much help.
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Until next time
Remember
It is the quality of one’s convictions that determines success, not the number of followers