Highlights
- Magic in the Harry Potter world has limitations and can only be used for things that already exist.
- Creating powerful items requires sourcing materials, just like muggles, and cannot be conjured from thin air.
- In the magical world, currency and wealth still exist, and wizards and witches have to work to maintain their materialistic objects.
Although the magical world of Harry Potter seems like the perfect world where everything can happen, there are a few things that are impossible to do, even with the help of magic. There are several limitations in the law of magic, mostly following “The 5 Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration”. Most of the time, in the Harry Potter universe, magic can be done only for things that already exist.
Also, if the spell involves a human’s complex emotion such as love and hate, someone can make a potion for it with the help of magic, but the effects are not eternal. There are also physical limitations, noting that wizards and witches in the world of Harry Potter are still human beings who follow the law of nature.
7 Conjuring Objects From Nothing
Not Everything Can Be Accio-d By Wizards And Witches
If a wizard and a witch would like to create a very powerful item like the Elder Wand, it is impossible to just swish and flick their wand and cast a spell. Just like muggles, they have to source the materials, choosing the right ones that will mix well to achieve equally great and powerful results.
Spells and other means of magical help are often used, but just to help, not to entirely create such objects out of thin air. A wizard might cast an “accio” spell, but only if the object is within a certain radius and the said item does exist before the spell.
6 Creating Money Or Material Objects
Just Like Muggles, Hard Work Is Needed
There’s a reason why the Weasleys are looked down upon in the magical community, especially by morally questionable families like the Malfoys. Wizards and witches, no matter how great they are, still have to tend to themselves and work. Even in the magical world, currency still exists, and wealth is measured by materialistic objects such as money, gold, and properties.
Taking examples from the Malfoys, who are considered “old money”, the family has been gathering wealth for years. Working as high-level ministry employees for centuries helps, as well as owning properties, although rumor has it the properties are stolen from muggles.
5 Conjuring Food Out of Thin Air
This Is Why House-Elves Are Sought After
Food is another thing that cannot appear out of nowhere. One has to prepare the ingredients for cooking and cook like any other human being, although in the process they can use household magic. For a household where money is tight like the Weasleys, Molly Weasley chose to cook for the family, creating healthy and hearty meals for the entire family.
As for wealthier families, they chose to own house-elves, such as Kreacher from the Black family and Dobby from the Malfoys. A minor fun fact, there are more than dozens of house-elves working in Hogwarts, making meals for the students.
4 Free Flying
Flying Is Not A Simple Business
Wizards do fly but with the help of a broomstick, magical creatures, or enchanted vehicles. It is almost impossible to fly without any supporting tools, as it is a complex magic in the Harry Potter universe. One might cast “wingardium leviosa”–the levitation charm – but it is just a way to levitate the cast on air, and not fly.
Fret not, flying with broomsticks, vintage cars or motorcycles, Thestrals or Hippogriffs are also preferable as they add more charm to the person. There is one known wizard who possesses the unique skill of flying without support though, and he is Lord Voldemort. Since he is capable of splitting his soul into 7 Horcruxes, that feat should be an easy one for him.
3 Resurrecting Dead People
Let The Passed Ones Rest
Resurrecting dead people with magic does exist in the Harry Potter universe, however, only to some extent. One might resurrect the dead by using necromancy, a deeply dark magic that is not only horrifying but also inhumane. This is because necromancy will only work to create a zombie-like creature with no intelligence and human qualities called Inferi.
Even the Resurrection Stone which is deemed as one of the most powerful objects in the Harry Potter universe, cannot be used to bring the dead into their previous human state. That is why the Harry Potter series that everyone loves and enjoys seems very relatable to its enjoyers, as it deals with loss and grief.
2 Eternal Life
Nothing Lasts Forever
Lord Voldemort tried to be immortal, and even with his power and intelligence, he still failed. Immortality seems like a topic as old as time itself, even in the muggle world. Life is a cycle that repeats itself in an unending loop, at least for now. Wizards and witches were born into this world, spend their lives growing and experiencing life, and then leave this world when their times come.
One might prolong their lives using the philosopher’s stone like Nicholas Flamel, or by using Horcruxes like Voldemort, but it will only work for a certain period. In the Harry Potter world, it goes against nature to live forever, even the vampires are not immortal. Cedric Diggory is one example of how a wizard’s life can disappear in an instant.
1 Love Magic
Love Is One Slippery Slope
Love is one nasty, yet beautiful thing that keeps the wizards and witches on their toes. Many instances in the Harry Potter universe where magic is used to intervene in the business of love and romance, and how easy it is to fall into its dangerous trap. One cannot make others fall in love with them by simply casting a spell, although one might use a love potion.
However, the use of a love potion is highly dangerous and destructive, given its nature that manipulates human emotions. Tom Riddle was born from the result of a love potion, and the result was a disaster. Human emotions, especially love, are very complex, and they should not be mingled with unnatural forces.
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