Do you remember when the Patronus quiz came out on Pottermore?
Do you remember being shocked by how few questions there were?
Or how random the questions seemed to be?
Were you surprised by your results, or even find yourself disagreeing with them?
Turns out, there may have been a reason for that.
Even Potter fans with the most basic of knowledge will tell you
that the Patronus Charm is used to ward off Dementors
and will take the form of an animal when cast by a highly skilled wizard or witch.
An animal with whom the caster shares “their deepest affinity.”
Yet, most people were still unhappy with their results,
their Patronuses taking the forms of animals they had never heard of, or even liked!
But fear not. I have found the answer to why your Patronus may not have been to your liking.
And it doesn't involve looking up a bunch of facts about that specific animal.
It’s all a load of Thestral dung.
Allow me to explain;
Pairing human personalities with animals is a highly subjective process.
If you hate cats, you might categorize your least favorite teacher from high school as a cat.
But if you have loved cats your whole life,
you may say that your favorite teacher shares a lot of qualities instead.
In all honesty, I think of Patronuses the same way I think of horoscopes and fortune tellers.
Even in the wizarding world, fortune telling is considered a hoax by many characters that we consider rational.
Yet, physics and mediums somehow are thriving, even in this hypercritical age we live in today.
And that is all thanks to P. T. Barnum of all people.
Yeah, THAT Barnum.
*music* So tell me do you wanna go? Where it's covered in all the colored lights?
P. T. Barnum was a master psychological manipulator
who is said to have claimed
He is also famously known for the phrase
Barnum Statements are statements or phrases that appear to refer to very specific people
but are actually just general statements about most people.
The Barnum Effect also lends itself to the Forer effect or the “acceptance phenomenon”
where most people will generally accept any personality feedback, no matter the source.
It’s why your horoscope description can be accurate whether or not you believe.
It’s why Buzzfeed is still cranking out “articles”
that tell you what your Manic Pixie Dream Girl name would be.
It’s why fortune-tellers and mediums are still making money.
It’s why you can now PAY to take the Myers-Briggs test.
And it’s why many people accepted their Patronus test results even if they disagreed.
The facts of all categories can be applied to anyone, and we are willing to accept anything.
Of course, there is a difference between taking an online personality test
and an author pairing her characters with animal representation.
And while I personally think there is still very little linking one specific character to one specific animal,
I am very interested in how Patronuses are used to reflect the relationships between characters.
I doubt it is a coincidence that best friends James and Sirius have Patronuses*
that match up with Harry and Ron’s.
But I still laugh at some of the observations made by some fans.
Well, one in particular;
The notion that Ron and Hermione’s Patronuses reflect their relationship
because jack-russell terriers hunt otters.
I laugh because jack-russell terriers were NOT bred to hunt otters,
they were bred to hunt FOXES.
There is also such a thing as Otterhounds, so if Rowling was going for that relationship
between Ron and Hermione, there was an easier way.
So, is there something to be said for a Patronus’ relationship to other Patronuses?
Or is it all more Thestral dung?
There are only 24 characters with confirmed corporeal Patronus in the Harry Potter world,
and that number gets smaller when you narrow it down to characters Harry personally knows
and has seen cast the spell.
That leaves a grand total of four couples for us to examine.
The relationship between Ron and Hermione’s Patronuses are the most well known;
dogs on the whole hunt otters, Ron hunts Hermione,
at least based on what their Patronuses when they were teens.
Compare that relationship to another future couple around their age;
Harry and Ginny.
The animals are pretty similar looking and are part of the same family of mammals
and while deer are most often hunted by humans, hunting them from horseback is not uncommon.
This is especially interesting to me when you consider who liked who first
and the history and growth of Harry and Ginny's relationship
Two future couples and we already see a pattern emerging of predator/prey Patronus forms.
Keep in mind that all of these Patronuses formed before the relationships ever started.
I believe the Patronuses in these examples are a symbol of compatibility within these couples.
For comparison, consider Harry and Cho.
Both of their Patronuses take the form of prey animals,
and their relationship ended shortly after it started.
Like I said, these are all Patronuses that formed before the relationship started.
What about the Patronuses of a long lasting and loving relationship?
Lily and James are characters who we never meet,
and whose Patronuses are never confirmed in book canon,
but are considered fact by virtually every fan.
Their Patronuses are a break from the predator/prey relationship established thus far.
I would argue, due to the complexity of the Patronus Charm, that neither of them cast successful corporal
Patronuses until they joined the First Order of the Phoenix
and after they had started dating.
Based on the fact that McGonagall has an Animagus form of a cat as well as a Patronus that is a cat,
we can make the logical jump that even if James learned the charm earlier in his life,
his Patronus would have matched his Animagus form of a deer.
I’d even argue that it is unlikely his Patronus could ever change,
but this video is already very off the wall.
This leaves two lines of thought when we consider Lily’s Patronus.
Rowling once described Patronus forms as “generally tak[ing] the shape of the animal
with whom [the caster] share[s] the deepest affinity.”
If the first option is true, we can leave
And if Lily’s deepest affinity is the perfect match for James
then the video would stop here.
But if the second point of view is true- If Lily’s Patronus changed to match James-
there are many more questions that need to be asked and answered.
In a Bloomsbury Q&A live chat back in 2007,
Rowling was asked about Lily and James matching Patronuses.
Rowling said that
This presents an interesting conundrum. Consider this scenario;
These two wizards are friends and their Patronuses are these animals
and their happy thoughts are generic happy thoughts of friends, family, and personal accomplishments.
Now they are a couple and have been for several years.
Consequently, their Patronuses have taken the image of their loved ones
and... swapped.
But we never hear any examples of this happening.
Secondly, if Lily’s happiest thought is of James, wouldn’t her Patronus be a stag, and not a doe?
I’ll come back to that question but, since we’re on the subject,
let’s look at the only couple where at least one of their Patronuses canonically changes
due to the relationship;
Tonks and Remus.
Tonk’s Patronus before the change fits right into the pre-established pattern of predator/prey couples.
Before it changed, her Patronus took the form of a jack-rabbit,
while Remus’ took the form of a wolf.
Wolves are predators to rabbits; thus they are a compatible couple.
But, when they start hanging out more in Harry’s fifth year,
her Patronus starts to take the form of a wolf as well.
Is this because her happiest thought is of Remus? Well, maybe not.
Things other than falling in love can cause one’s Patronus to change forms.
On Pottermore, Rowling lists
The third option is the most interesting to me, and I think the most likely explanation
in this situation, as well as Lily’s. Don’t forget, before marrying James, she
considered him an "arrogant bullying toe-rag"
and I think it would take a great shift in her character as well as his for that opinion to change so drastically.
Allow me to spectate a bit but, Tonks is such a wild, untamable spirit.
She became an Auror immediately after graduating and qualifyed in under three years.
I like to imagine she would find the idea of love and marriage quite out of her wheelhouse.
But she starts hanging out with Remus more and realizes that may not be true
and her character starts to change as she herself changes, resulting in her new Patronus.
That would mean Tonks’ Patronus is not actually the image of Remus’ Patronus.
And back with Lily. Her Patronus is NOT a stag, like James’, but a doe.
Her Patronus is the female equivalent of his, not an exact replication.
This speaks to the “profound shift in character” Rowling mentions,
and to me says that she has changed as a person into someone new.
She is still very much her own person, but her relationship with James changed her quite a bit.
I argue the same is true for Tonks,
that her relationship with Remus has changed her character in profound ways.
The only reason this may not be true is because with deer we can see on their heads what sex they are.
Wolves, it is more difficult to determine sex from a distance.
If I could ask Rowling anything, it would be, is Tonks’ Patronus a male or female wolf?
There has been some talk of a few Patronus reveals in future Fantastic Beast films,
Until then, we are left only to speculate.
Thank you so much for watching this video after such a long break between videos
This is my first time recording my own voiceover so, please be gentle in the comments.
I know it isn't perfect, but it's the best I could do.
I've also added a link to my Instagram which I update a lot more often.
I'm sorry that this video wasn't really strictly an essay, but was kind of half essay, half theory video but I thought I'd give it a try
and I've wanted to talk about this Patronus theory I've had for a while
so I'm glad I got a chance to do it and that so many people stayed this far to see it.
Thank you so much for watching, again, and I'll see you in the next one.