Summary
Harry Pottercanon continued to grow even after the book series ended, but the nastiest retroactive addition really makes no sense at all. Author J.K. Rowling developed a magical fictional world for readers to escape to, and it has become one of the most beloved in literary history. This has a lot to do with the amount of detail that went into the construction of the wizarding world, aided, of course, by the establishment ofPottermore, which later becameWizarding World. Through these sites, Rowling has revealed even more about the world ofHarry Potter, but not all of it makes sense.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is an ancient castle built over a thousand years before theevents ofHarry Potter. While much of the magical building is unchanged from the days of Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin, upgrades were occasionally necessary.Harry Potterfans noticed long ago, especially afterChamber of Secrets, thatHogwarts couldn’t have been built with indoor plumbing since it wasn’t invented that long ago. Rowling addressed this observation, but one of her comments alarmed the fandom.
The Potterverse: All The Wizarding World Films In Chronological Order
The Fantastic Beasts franchise came after the Harry Potter movies wrapped, making the chronological order a bit confusing for Wizarding World fans.
Rowling Has Revealed What Wizards Did With Their “Mess” Before Toilets
It’s The Grossest Harry Potter Revelation By Far
In herWizarding Worldarticle about the Chamber of Secrets (originallyPottermore), Rowling explained that a hidden trap door initially concealed Slytherin’s secret chamber since Hogwarts didn’t have indoor plumbing at this time. Bathrooms and toilets were only added after Muggles had invented them (a rare adoption ofMuggle technology inHarry Potter), so Slytherin-descendent Corvinus Gaunt ensured that the entrance to the chamber was still protected when it was converted into a bathroom. While this is interesting, it wasn’t the main takeaway of Rowling’s article:
However, when Hogwarts’ plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century (this was a rare instance of wizards copying Muggles, because hitherto they simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence), the entrance to the Chamber was threatened, being located on the site of a proposed bathroom.
The idea of witches and wizards simply letting loose wherever is obviously not a glamorous or comfortable one. It’s no wonder this was one of the few instances when the wizarding world adopted Muggle technology since the non-magical folk would have proven themselves far more sophisticated than their magical counterparts (which wouldn’t do for blood purists at all). Still,this revelation about wizarding potty habits only gets more disturbingthe longer it’s considered. In fact, it just doesn’t make any sense at all.
There Are So Many Problems With Wizards' Old Bathroom Solution
This Simply Couldn’t Have Been True, Right?
The idea that witches and wizards simply magic away their excretions is all well and good when considering adults. They could likely give a subtle swish of their wands before the mess even set in, thus making it a non-issue. However, what about thefirst-year Hogwarts students who had no experience with magic and, therefore, had no way to clean up after themselves? How must this have felt to Muggle-born students, who had spent their lives using old-fashioned privies only to be thrown in a castle with nowhere to relieve themselves?
Were teenage witches and wizards forced to rely on their parents when they needed to use the bathroom?
This problem also extends to wizarding households, where underage wizards were unable to use magic. It’s also assumed that the rule forbidding students from using magic outside of school was established long ago. Were teenage witches and wizards forced to rely on their parents when they needed to use the bathroom? While theHarry Potterseries is all about magic and, therefore, doesn’t always need to make perfect sense,Rowling might have gone a little too far with this canon addition to her world.
10 Retroactive Additions To Harry Potter’s Canon The Remake Needs To Ignore
The Harry Potter remake could include all of Rowling’s after-the-fact canon additions, but some of these either don’t fit or are better left unsaid.
Many Retroactive Additions To Harry Potter Have Been Divisive
Some Changes To Canon Have Gone Too Far
The big Hogwarts bathroom reveal inWizarding Worldmight be the nastiest retroactive addition tothe Harry Pottercanon, but it’s not the only one that has been divisive.Rowling has expanded her fictional world a great deal since wrapping up her story, and much of this has been welcomed. Further backstories on characters like Professor McGonagall or even Vernon and Petunia Dursley have been valuable, but some revelations have inspired frustration and debate.
This goes beyond Rowling’s online articles.Fantastic BeastsandHarry Potter and the Cursed Child, which are both technically canon, came with several big changes or retroactive additions to the story that were less than popular. Nagini having once been human, Dumbledore being romantic with Grindelwald, Voldemort having a daughter with Bellatrix Lestrange—much of this has felt like fan fiction rather than canon world-building. Of course, the world ofHarry Potteris still beloved, and Rowling can undoubtedly do with it as she pleases. Still, it can be hoped that there are no further stomach-turning revelations to be had.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a multimedia franchise about an orphaned boy who enrolls at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family, and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world. Adapted from the novels, Harry Potter is an eight-episode film saga that follows the journey of Harry Potter and his friends, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley, as they navigate the tricky world of growing up, school life, and magic. Starting from year one and moving to their seventh year, the films chronicle the students' time at Hogwarts while unfurling a sinister plot that centers around the unsuspecting Harry. With the return of the dark wizard, Voldemort, the students and professors at Hogwarts will fight to carry on as the world around them may change forever. Harry Potter has expanded beyond the world of its films and novels with several video games, a spin-off film series titled Fantastic Beasts, and even attractions at Universal Studios.
