Harry Potter musings
Aug. 14th, 2005 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edgHarry Potter was born in 1980; he is a little less than a year younger than I, and will - if he survives Book 7 - have turned 25 last month.
We know this because Harry turned 12 in 1992.
We know this because in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are invited to Sir Nicholas's 500th death-day party. In the place of honor on the death-day party's buffet is a cake shaped like a tombstone, which bears on it the date of Sir Nicholas's death: 31 October 1492. (This is, incidentally, the only time in the entire series at which I can remember a specific date being mentioned.)
If the date on the cake is correct (and given the seriousness with which Sir Nicholas is taking the party, it must be), then Sir Nicholas's 500th death-day must lie on 31 October 1992. Since it takes place during Harry's second year at Hogwarts, and since he turned 11 immediately preceding his first year, we can conclude that he is 12 during the events of Chamber of Secrets; and if he is 12 years old on 31 October 1992, then he was born in July of 1980.
I know that this has almost certainly been established elsewhere, but I thought it was kind of neat to run across the evidence independently.
We know this because Harry turned 12 in 1992.
We know this because in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are invited to Sir Nicholas's 500th death-day party. In the place of honor on the death-day party's buffet is a cake shaped like a tombstone, which bears on it the date of Sir Nicholas's death: 31 October 1492. (This is, incidentally, the only time in the entire series at which I can remember a specific date being mentioned.)
If the date on the cake is correct (and given the seriousness with which Sir Nicholas is taking the party, it must be), then Sir Nicholas's 500th death-day must lie on 31 October 1992. Since it takes place during Harry's second year at Hogwarts, and since he turned 11 immediately preceding his first year, we can conclude that he is 12 during the events of Chamber of Secrets; and if he is 12 years old on 31 October 1992, then he was born in July of 1980.
I know that this has almost certainly been established elsewhere, but I thought it was kind of neat to run across the evidence independently.
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Date: 2005-08-15 05:19 am (UTC)Lady Rowling has fallen into the same trap Tom Clancy did, of having a reasonably internally consistent timeline and then trying to overlay on contemporary life and keep up with the audience, leading to oopses.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 05:29 am (UTC)Or Dudley has some well-connected friends in the /. community...
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Date: 2005-08-15 08:13 am (UTC)Hey, Felix! Nice to see you!