Search Beyond Hogwarts:

Reference Desk:
•	Beyond Hogwarts FAQ
•	Wizard to Muggle Currency Converter
•	Harry Potter Spelling Reference

Pages:  <<  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12  >  >>

Reader Comments: (Page 7)

*back to original article*
well the same can be said for the book.
also wasn't lupin friends with harry's dad and so would know the sentences to say because it was made by his dad (prongs), peter pettigrew (wormtail), sirius (padfoot) and lupin (moony) so he would know anyway and fred and george must have figured it out.

Posted by Emma from Uk on March 29, 2007 05:58 AM

I think some people in this thread made it clear that Fred and George used their own ss and tried hard to figure out what the spell was. And they were helped by the map.

By the way, has anybody a thought about how the map works? Would it show a Muggle or a squib, or a foreigner who never came to Hogwarts? The only way I can figure out how the map knows about somebody's name is that:
(1) It's someone who went under the Sorting Hat, and the Sorting Hat revealed the name to the map.
(2) It's someone who already was at Hogwarts at the time the map was produced, like Mrs Norris.

In fact, it seemed to me that the Sorting Hat only knew a wizard's name because he said it loud.

Posted by herve from strasbourg on March 29, 2007 09:54 AM

Herve,
Good point about how the map recognizes people. It might be helpful to consider the makers and how they would have "programmed" or enchanted it, to determine who is who. It must have been quite an achievement to make the map which encompasses all of Hogwarts. The Marauders' motivation was probably just to get away with mischief, use the tunnels and evade the teachers and Filch. But I wonder if the map was able to "think for itself" in a way, to extrapolate from its original design so it could identify newcomers. How, though? As they identify themselves, or a more objective ID, such as the Pensieve records objectively?
I think the Map and the tunnels we have not yet seen play a role in book 7. There are some that Filch knows about, maybe because they are sanctioned by Dumbledore to be used by the Order of the Phoenix.
Maybe one (or more) leads to the Forbidden Forest and Filch would keep an eagle eye on that one, of course.

Posted by Patty from Quincy,Massachusetts on March 29, 2007 11:04 AM

You know how each person's wand is different, to fit the magic they have inherited (kind of like the ping numbers of different aircraft)? What if the map, like air traffic controllers, can read each person's "magical ping," and identifies them from that?

Posted by Darcy from Frederick, Maryland on April 4, 2007 4:23 PM

Darcy, you have a very good point there. Everybody must be identified through his magical ss, if he has some. But that doesn't tell his name. Hermione's first name was given by her Muggle family. How can the map know about that, except if the Sorting Hat revealed it? We also see that the map reveals the real first name and not the surname (Bartemious Crouch and not Barty Crouch). And what happens to married women?

Posted by herve from strasbourg on April 5, 2007 12:17 AM

Couldn't Fred and George have been playing around with the map and it started talking to them and TOLD them what to say because the Marauders would have liked Fred and George.

Posted by Sara from Philadelphia, PA on April 9, 2007 08:01 AM

very interesting.....yet, many scenes in the movies are mistaken, and may not mean a thing. they could just be something the producers added to the script to make the movie better. im still not sure what to belive yet. i havent seen auntie rowling in awhile.....

Posted by azaline rowling from dupre, england on April 18, 2007 5:30 PM

A theory i have is that the map has a little bit of intelligence of it's own! So it might have "sensed" Fred and George's passion for the prankster arts and revealed the incantations when it knew no one else besides them were around.

Posted by yesaname from somewhere on May 2, 2007 4:15 PM

The map instructed Fred and George about its use, the same way it insulted Snape when he tried to reveal its secrets. When it came in the hands of Fred and George, the map found out they are worthy of using it.

Posted by Ronald Meijer on May 7, 2007 03:53 AM

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." I think this phrase does say something. Maybe the map can think for itself and knows the "naughty" spirits that is why it didn't reveal its secrets to Snape.

Posted by Prongs from Athens,Greece on May 13, 2007 10:23 AM

I have a concern related to the marauders map. In the chapter cat, rat and dog, lupin says that he had seen on the marauders map that harry, hermione and ron crossed the castle grounds and entered hagrids hut. then why doesn't he see harry and hermione who have arrived from the future and were hiding behind the pumpkin patch? Does this mean that the marauders map doesnt show someone from the future?

Posted by mb from pune,maharashtra,india on May 15, 2007 07:29 AM

mb from pune,

Nice catch! I hadn't noticed that.

Posted by Emilio from Mexico City, Mexico on May 16, 2007 3:31 PM

Pages:  <<  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12  >  >>