mistake in hbp linked wit this book

K

kashlie

afraid of my own shadow
Re: Did rowling make a mistake in hbp

I don't think it was specified how long Hagrid had known Quirrel. He may have started at Hogwarts late in the year, and gone to Romania during the school holidays.


However, this is just me trying to keep JKR faultless in my mind :D
It is quite possibly a fault in the plot, but i don't think it effects the series too much.
 
ok in the hbp dumbldore says to harry that they have not been able to keep the position of defence against the dark arts for more than one year, because dumbldore refused to give the position to voldemort the second time he asked. but by the way hagrid was telling harry about quirel it sounded like quirel had been teaching for more than that first year. now i may be wrong please set me straight. but wasint it when harry came to school that they could only keep the position for one year?:confused:
 
Sorcerors Stone P70 soft cover After Harry asks Hagrid if Professor Querrell is always that nervous:

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first hand experience..."
Click to expand...

To me it sounds like either Quirrell did teach for a year but then took a year off or more likely that he was studying to teach but wanted some experience. Either way it still goes with what JK is saying in HBP. They can't keep a position for more then one year. Even if Quirrell did teach more then once, it was never for two or more years in a row. I tend to go, though, with the second thought. That he was just studying to be a teacher when he went to get his first hand experience, not that he had taught. Maybe this doesn't make much sense. It kind of works in my head but I've had a long day so...:p
 
Re: Did rowling make a mistake in hbp

Actually - I'm not seeing a problem here ...
Hagrid is a bit of a drinker and it seems so was Quirrel - just because Hagrid was able to identify him and also know he was going to be next DADA teacher - dont think that meant he was before ...
JKR has gone to great lengths to show us that over the past 6 years - no DADA teacher has lasted a year - I think it is true and not an oversight ...
 
Re: Did rowling make a mistake in hbp

I noticed that too but I am thinking that it could be possible that Quirrel taught another subject, then went out to get some experience and came back to teach the defense class.

Either that or maybe he taught elsewhere before coming to Hogwarts. Hagrid probably knew him from the local watering holes he frequents.
 
Re: Did rowling make a mistake in hbp

I'm thinking that the "no one has held the DADA position for more than one year" bit was still intact. After all, it wasn't Quirrell we met in the Sorcerer's Stone. That was really Quirrell/Voldemort. Voldemort could not have selected a more appropriate victim, could he? A weasel and a DADA professor. Tom Riddle must have been in his glory to be in that position!
 
Re: Did rowling make a mistake in hbp

LOL - actually that is a good point - but shouldnt that have set the alarm bells ringing with Dumbledore - he knew the position was cursed and that no-one has lasted more than a year - so if Quirrell was the DADA the year before - the fact he came back has to scream 'interesting' - not least when wierd stuff started to happen!
 
Re: Did rowling make a mistake in hbp

Alz said:
LOL - actually that is a good point - but shouldnt that have set the alarm bells ringing with Dumbledore - he knew the position was cursed and that no-one has lasted more than a year - so if Quirrell was the DADA the year before - the fact he came back has to scream 'interesting' - not least when wierd stuff started to happen!
Click to expand...
Aha, but Alz you see, Dumbledore suspected of that position being cursed after seeing Quirrel, Lockhart, Lupin, Moody, and Umbridge depart in various reasons. He didnt suspect that at the time of Quirrel.
And My thinking is, if Voldemort has to do anything with that cursed position, as DD suspects, Voldemort certainly wouldnt mind Quirrel hanging around for a few years, would he? After all, he had the benefit of sticking out of the back of Quirrel's head.
 
Re: Did rowling make a mistake in hbp

Dumbledore did say that he hasn't been able to keep a DADA teacher for longer than a year since he refused the post to Voldemort. That is definitely longer than 6 years.. and longer than Harry's been alive.

I think that when Hagrid said he was fine when he was "studyin' outta books" he meant that he was a good student.. and the experience was meant to get him ready to become a professor.
 
First, I would like to apologize for being away so long-been in the process of moving and finalizing insurance claim (yuck:eek: )-it's good to be back! I have to agree that there is no concrete evidence pointing to Quirrell being the DADA teacher before SS/PS-and since the wizarding community is relatively small, it's highly likely that Hagrid and Quirrell could have been acquainted w/each other before Quirrell got the job. Given Dumbledore's statement on the matter of the curse, then this was a problem even when the marauder's, Lily, and Snape were at school. This certainly makes one wonder about Dumbledore's decision to hire all of the DADA teachers that we do know about-did Dumbledore just not like those that he chose? Was he suspicious of them? OR-Did he just have a way of knowing the future outcome?;) I'm guessing the latter..
 
Nice to see you back SM :D :D
You have to wonder the DiE implications on the DADA thing thou right - I mean being the personification of goodness and knowing that the DADA job seemed cursed, I don't believe he ever made the DADA candidates aware in advance ... so perhaps we was strategically lining up people for failure ... OohHhhh :eek:
 
Thanks Alz:D And I can't fault the reasoning-I know most fans refuse to see alot of clues that point to DiE(and there are alot of them!), because it's really, really difficult to balance the idea against what JKR has said about Dumbledore. Plus there's an emotional connection and much to love-to pull the rug out from everyone could be traumatizing! Unless she was able to pull off another switched or mistaken identity on a truly huge scale....:eek:

Was thinking about this subject in regards to Snape taking the DADA job and it's possible there's more to it than giving him an out. Considering this is Voldemort who cursed the position-do we really think it would be something as simple as whoever takes the job, loses it in a yr.? I should think Voldemort would use a curse to his advantage-he uses everything to his advantage. Just throwing around a couple of ideas-one of which is that the curse could have included whoever takes the job belongs to Voldemort. Quirrell is a no-brainer, he had Vapormort actually in his head:D , if Lockhart would have been able to obliviate Harry and Ron-they never would have disrupted Tom's plans w/Ginny, Mad-Eye (Barty) was certainly doing the bidding of Voldemort, Umbridge tried to get Sybill removed from Hogwarts, and Voldemort would have hit paydirt w/her, Snape ends up killing Dumbledore-the one to throw off the pattern is Lupin which puts my guard up! The other idea involves all of them having a secret revealed-which Lupin would fit(Umbridge too-she was the one who sent the dementors to Privet Drive)-it just seems that finally giving Snape the position at that specific time made it magically impossible for him to do anything but kill Dumbledore. I'm already convinced Snape is on the right side, so this isn't a defense of that position-rather an attempt to decipher details about Dumbledore's plan. What do you guys think...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I suppose this is all down to if you believe in fate - but in a book fate is easily faked and I am sure JKR made sure each DADA left before book 6 information to ensure it looked consistent. What makes me wonder is for the longest time since that meeting between Dumbledore and Voldemort - a lot of DADA teachers would have come and gone ... I mean it couldn't have gone unnoticed considering pretty much all of them would have been at Hogwarts at some point in time ... why did no-one else make the link!
I think you could attribute this to a continuity error on behalf of JKR - would have been a tall order explaining how each DADA was gone after a year and yet no-one seemed to bat an eyelid!
 
It was a common rumour at Hogwarts that the DADA post was cursed, maybe Dumbledore started the rumour, knowing only he himself and Tom riddle knew its real implications. I think Dumbledore wanted the rumour to spread throughout the wizarding community, that way, any wizard who took the post would be, at least a little, fore-warned. It could be that when Dumbledore interviewed potential candidates for the post he half jokingly mentioned the curse, and then more seriously mentioned the track record, and left it up to the applicant to decide whether to contiue or not. I cant see Dumbledore not telling people they were going to be unwitting casualties of the curse, especially when their life could be at risk, yet he could not tell them of the curse.
We know how easily rumours are started, dont we Rita skeeter.
 
Last edited:
isnt the rumor amoung the students that the DADA position is jinxed not cursed? because in my mind jinxed has a different tone than curse. it also implies that while no one can hold the position for more than a year and this has been hapening for many years, that before harry arrived most of the teachers left for non-fatal reasons like they were really bad a teaching and were fired, they lost interest in teaching and resigned (like lupin resigned so he wouldnt be fired cause everyone knew he was a werewolf), or something else? otherwise we would have to think that if every DADA teacher left for reasons that were lethal, the ministry would have stepped in and investigated many times why all the DADA teacher were being maimed near the end of each year, you know?
 
Sorry, should have stated clearer.
Obviously, not all the reasons were lethal or, as you so rightly said, the ministry would have enquired, but I just cant see Dumbledore not telling prospective candidates for the dada post, that its jinxed/cursed.
Not sure of the difference between the two, better at potions;) .....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top