lindsay. 22. sideblog for when i need to quarantine my harry potter special interest that has recurred every 2-3 years since 2011. pro-trans, anti-jkr. ao3 | main blog
"Once or twice Sirius crept quietly into Remus's bed, casting a silencing spell before forcing his shoulders down and running his hands over Remus body, quaking with desire."
if the marauders were brilliant enough to discuss their fullmoon trips in front of snape, then thereâs no way theyâd be able to conceal themselves from mcgonagall.
unless of course some things would just be too much for her to handle.
Sometimes the need to make a spreadsheet overwhelms me and here we are: a data-informed examination of bowing in the wizarding world :)
Throughout the seven-book series, we see approximately 93* bows performed by about 35 characters. In analyzing which characters bow, to whom**, and the purpose these bows serve, I was able to pull out some interesting observations I wanted to share with you all.
Who bows, and to whom?
Slightly greater than half of the bows in the series (51 of 93, or 55%) are performed by wizards, and most are made to another wizard or group of wizards. The only non-humans on the receiving end of bows from wizards are the leader of the giants (Karkus) and Buckbeak. It's worth noting that both have massive (literally!) physical advantages on wizards, and that bowing seems to be a critical part in how wizards can attempt to interact with them safely.
Of the 93 bows performed in a series that focuses mainly on wizards, it's notable that almost half (45%) of bows described in the series are performed by non-wizards (magical beings/creatures/entities), and all of these bows are directed towards wizards. The relatively high number of bows performed by these magical entities are driven mainly by house-elf bowing. Kreacher is the character who bows the most in the series; he alone bows 18 times and accounts for almost 20% of all bows performed. Kreacher bows mainly to Harry (12), though he also bows to Sirius, Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione. When taken together with Dobbyâs bows (4) and other Hogwarts House Elvesâ bowing (7), the house-elves make up almost a third of all bows performed in the series, and never receive a bow in return. I was also struck by how often Goblins are described as bowing to wizards in the series (5 times, more than Dobby and as often as Buckbeak, who must bow if one wants to interact with him in a safe manner). Given the relatively little page time that goblins are given in the series and their explicit disdain for servility to wizards ("I recognize no Wizarding master," Griphook says), the amount of bowing is a bit of a contradiction and could be interesting to explore in any fan work that centers goblins.
After Kreacher and the Hogwarts house-elves as a collective group, the character who most often bows is Albus Dumbledore:
Dumbledoreâs fondness for the social niceties is even noted by Voldemort:
âWe bow to each other, Harry,â said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry. âCome, the niceties must be observed. ... Dumbledore would like you to show manners. ... Bow to death, Harry. ...â
Voldemort is taunting Harry here, not necessarily characterizing Dumbledore, so we can forgive him for overlooking an underappreciated aspect of Dumbledoreâs adherence to manners: Dumbledore often weaponizes politeness:
Harry looked around; all three of the Dursleys were cowering with their arms over their heads as their glasses bounced up and down on their skulls, their contents flying everywhere.âOh, Iâm so sorry,â said Dumbledore politely, and he raised his wand again. All three glasses vanished. âBut it would have been better manners to drink it, you know.â
And so while Dumbledore's bows are always framed as courteous (the narration does not editorialize as with Snapeâs bow to Umbridge), it more often than not serves as a placating gesture while heâs exerting authority over people that he does not particularly like, such as Rita Skeeter, Cornelius Fudge, and Dolores Umbridge:
âI will be delighted to hear the reasoning behind the rudeness, Rita,â said Dumbledore, with a courteous bow and a smile, âbut Iâm afraid we will have to discuss the matter later. The Weighing of the Wands is about to start, and it cannot take place if one of our champions is hidden in a broom cupboard.â
Dumbledore inclined his head in a little bow. âThen undoubtedly the Ministry will be making a full inquiry into why two dementors were so very far from Azkaban and why they attacked without authorization.â
As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid,â he went on, with a courteous little bow, âthat the power to do that still resides with the headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continue to live at Hogwarts.â
Itâs also notable that Dumbledore does not bow to any Death Eaters; Lucius Malfoy bows to Dumbledore twice in Chamber of Secrets, but the bow is never returned.
We've already mentioned Buckbeak and the unnamed Gringotts goblins, so let's take a second to look at the only other character who bows 5 times in the series: Harry. His bowing is driven by his bows to Buckbeak in Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Half-Blood Prince (sorry, Witherwings):
The only other character to whom Harry ever bows is Voldemort. He is magically forced to do so before Voldemort initiates their duel in Goblet of Fire.
Harry is, unsurprisingly, much more often on the receiving ends of bows.** As our main character, a renowned name in the wizarding world, and generally adored by house-elves (one of whom he⌠owns), Harry is on the receiving end of a bow about 40 times:
Almost three-quarters of the bows Harry receives come from Kreacher, the Hogwarts house elves, Buckbeak, Dobby, or Gringotts goblins. Wizards who bow to him include shop owners in Diagon Alley (Madam Malkin, Ollivander, and Tom the Barman), and Order members such as Dedalus and Kingsley.
Hermione and Ron are often bowed to as well, but many of these instances reflect bows made to them while they are in Harry's company. Independently of Harry, Hermione is bowed to by Slughorn, an unnamed Hogwarts house-elf, and a Gringotts goblin, though the latter thinks she is Bellatrix. Ron is bowed to by Dobby and Kreacher.
Besides Harry and those receiving bows in his company (e.g. Ron, Hermione, & Hagrid), the wizards who receive the most bows tend to have power, status, and/or lineage: Voldemort (6), Umbridge (4), Fudge (3), Sirius (3), Dumbledore (3), and Draco (3):
What purpose do bows serve?
In marking each bow made in the series, I attempted to draw some conclusions about the types of bows typically made in the wizarding world and came up with the following five categories. I've attempted to define and characterize the main features of each grouping below, but as this process of classification was subjective I'd love to hear anyone else's take!
Service bows: service bows are made by shopkeepers to their patrons, deferential employees to their superiors, Death Eaters to Voldemort, and subservient magical creatures/beings/manifestations to wizards. These bows are made by the subordinate (willingly or unwillingly) to demonstrate respect for their superiorâs status and a willingness to serve, due to the power dynamic that exists between them. Service bows make up the majority of bows made in the series (53%), and the high rate of bowing is driven by house-elves.
Courtesy bows: courtesy bows are made by formal, upper-class wizards to one another as a sign of politeness. Most courtesy bows are made between relative equals and thus the receiver of the bow may even bow in return. About a fifth of the bows made in the series fall into this category, and our main man of the courtesy bow is none other than Albus Dumbledore (see above). One thing that stood out to me was that about half of courtesy bows were made to female characters, a notably high ratio. Five of Dumbledoreâs courtesy bows are to female characters, and other wizards who bow at least once to a female character upon addressing them or taking their leave include Slughorn, Ollivander, Fudge, and Karkaroff. This group of wizards, who are most of them from an older generation, status-conscious, and/or highly formal, suggests that making courtesy bows to witches may be a somewhat old-fashioned habit among higher-class circles. However, while it is much more common for female characters to be bowed to than it is for them to bow to other characters, Madame Maxime and Umbridge both make courtesy bows to other professors.
Scripted bows: scripted bows are made as part of formal or otherwise rigidly-adhered-to codes of interaction (i.e. between wizards and hippogriffs or giants, or between wizards in formal dueling scenariosâwilling or unwilling). These bows are highly symbolic, conveying less real information about power hierarchies or politeness. About another fifth of bows made in the series fall into this category, with the greatest number being made by Harry, Ron, or Hermione to Buckbeak in order to approach him, who often bows in response. It's interesting to me how few of these bows are between wizards in dueling scenarios. In fact, I only counted three: Lockhart bowing to Snape in COS (which Snape does not return), Voldemort "bending a little" towards Harry, and Harry bowing (forced) to Voldemort in GOF. In Harry and Draco's formal duel in COS, they "barely inclined their heads," which I did not count as a bow.
Performative bows: performative bows are taken in recognition of a feat respected by an assembled crowd. In the HP series, these celebratory gestures are not made not proactively out of a sense of self-importance, but in response to a crowdâs already expressed approval. Performative bows are relatively rare (we only see 3 in the series). Characters taking a bow in front of a group of people in recognition of a job well done are Ron, Ludo Bagman, and the Sorting Hatârelatively jovial, upbeat, charismatic characters who enjoy being the center of attention.
Mocking bows: Mocking bows are made rarely in the series (again, we only see 3), but I wanted to carve them out because although they do convey information about how bows are used in the wizarding world, it's often in the negative. Mocking bows are made by sarcastic characters to ridicule the pompousness of a courtesy bow (Fred to Harry) or the deference of a service bow, conveying contempt for the idea that the person on the receiving end would be their superior (Fred to Ron, Snape to Umbridge).
Anyway, thank you for indulging me and my spreadsheets and sticking with me through this post that no one asked for. Hope this has been in any way thought-provoking for anyone else re: wizarding world/HP world-building!
*This analysis was conducted by searching for âbow,â âbowed,â and âbowingâ in the text via Pottersearch (my beloved). I excluded âbowed headsâ or instances used to describe a posture as opposed to a gesture (e.g. "heads bowed against the wind" or when Ron pulls at the front of Harryâs robes in OOTP) This is not intended to be the singular, definitive analysis and I welcome anyone else to replicate this analysis and/or provide your own commentary, corrections, or suggestions! :)
**Note: Because more than one person can be the recipient of a single bow, the N total number of bows I've identified = 93, but the N total number of recipients I've identified = 125. I've tried to be clear which set of data I am referring to for each analysis but it is important to keep in mind that these are not 1:1 datasets.
A little comic based on All the Young Dudes, chapter 76 by MsKing Bean89.
I know, I know that canonically werewolves in HP are just similar to regular wolves, but I have always been big fan of PoA movie werewolf design. I feel like it communicate better what they are and why people are so disgusted/fearfull of them.
Also I think it adds impact to the "you were beautiful" line if Remus is not a majestatic wolf but actually body horror nightmare fuel xd
something something monster is not a monster when you love it and Sirius is man of interesting tastes.
I don't think James and Harry were *super tall* but, I definitely think they were taller than average (5'8-5'9 (174.4cm) in the UK in 1998). The explanation from the confession isn't one I think makes sense when combined with everything else we know. Besides, I don't think Voldemort would call James "tall" if it were just a contrast with Harry; I don't think he would've used the word "tall" if he weren't tall.
Also, if we follow the trajectory of Harry's height throughout the books as I did here, he is around 5'2 (~157cm) in PoA:
He [Peter] was a very short man, hardly taller than Harry and Hermione
(PoA, Ch19)
Then he has a big, noticeable growth spurt in OotP:
He was a skinny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who had the pinched, slightly unhealthy look of someone who has grown a lot in a short space of time
(OotP, Ch1)
And another big, noticeable growth spurt in HBP:
âYouâre like Ron,â she sighed, looking him up and down. âBoth of you look as though youâve had Stretching Jinxes put on you. I swear Ronâs grown four inches since I last bought him school robes. Are you hungry, Harry?â
(HBP, Ch5)
âAnd it doesnât hurt that youâve grown about a foot over the summer either,â Hermione finished, ignoring Ron.
(HBP, Ch11)
But still not over 6' (~183cm) in DH:
Once the painful transformation was complete he was more than six feet tall and, from what he could tell from his well-muscled arms, powerfully built
(DH, Ch12)
So I usually place Harry and James as 5'11 (~180-181cm, though I headcanon them as 181cm) and I think the text supports that.
You can note that since GoF, Harry is no longer described as short and scrawny like in the first 3 books (Harry gets a description at the start of most of the books):
"Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes." - PS
"Harry, on the other hand, was small and skinny, with brilliant green eyes and jet-black hair that was always untidy" - CoS
"Harry, though still rather small and skinny for his age, had grown a few inches over the last year" - PoA
"A skinny boy of fourteen looked back at him, his bright green eyes puzzled under his untidy black hair" - GoF, still skinny, but no longer short for his age.
"He was a skinny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who had the pinched, slightly unhealthy look of someone who has grown a lot in a short space of time" - OotP, Skinny, but taller after a growth spurt. Not described as short or small for his age as pre-GoF
"and the artificial light drained his face of all color, so that he looked ghostly beneath his shock of untidy black hair" - HBP, again, not described as short.
Because he isn't.
Additionally, Ginny is around 5'1 (~155 cm) (shorter than Luna, and repeatedly described as "small"), and Harry seems to be considerably taller than her, in HBP:
Harry looked over the top of Ginnyâs head to see Dean Thomas holding a shattered glass in his hand, and Romilda Vane looking as though she might throw something. Hermione was beaming, but Harryâs eyes sought Ron.
[...]
he grinned down at Ginny
(HBP, Ch24)
He looks over her head at the crowd, easily scanning the room. This implies he is, at least, around a head taller than her, allowing him to do so with no effort.
And Draco, is only *slightly* taller than Harry:
Harry did not dare look directly at Draco, but saw him obliquely; a figure slightly taller than he was
(DH, Ch23)
As in, an inch or two at most (I usually lean towards a half-inch to an inch difference).
Harry is the same height as Narcissa early in HBP:
âReally?â said Harry, taking a step forward and gazing into the smoothly arrogant face that, for all its pallor, still resembled her sisterâs. He was as tall as she was now. âGoing to get a few Death Eater pals to do us in, are you?â
(HBP, Ch6)
Who is described as tall:
His mother was blonde too; tall and slim
(GoF, Ch8)
Hermione, at around 5'5 (~165 cm) is considerably shorter than Harry:
Hermione and Mundungus were shooting upward
(DH, Ch)
While Bellatrix is taller than Harry (I assume not by much):
She was taller than he was, her long black hair rippling down her back, her heavily lidded eyes disdainful as they rested upon him
(DH, Ch26)
And she's tall for a woman in general:
a tall dark woman with heavy-lidded eyes
(OotP, Ch6)
And Snape is taller than Narcissa (if not by much, probably):
Snape caught hold of her wrists and removed her clutching hands. Looking down into her tearstained face
(HBP, Ch2)
Both Bellatrix and Narcissa are tall for women. I usually place Narcissa at 5'9 (~175-176 cm), so Bellatrix and Draco are taller than her, and Harry grows 1-2 inches throughout HBP and DH (which is reasonable for a teen boy).
So, I do think Harry and James were tall. Not super tall like Dumbledore (around 6'5 or 195-196 cm) or Ron and Voldemort (around 6'3 or ~190cm), but taller than average in the UK and definitely not short.
(I also want to note that when Harry and James were an "inch apart" in OotP, James was also 15-16. 15-year-old Harry is almost as tall as 16-year-old James, not adult James)
I see Harry's height during the books as something like this:
Book 1 - short and scrawny - ~4'6 (137-138 cm)
Book 2 - still short and scrawny - ~4'8 (142-143 cm)
End of book 3 - the same height as 14-year-old Hermione and adult Peter, grew by "a few inches" since CoS - ~5'2 (157-158 cm)
Book 4 - not much information, so this is a guess - ~5'4 (162-163 cm)
Book 5 - has a considerable growth spurt - ~5'7 (170-171 cm)
Early Book 6 - Another considerable growth spurt that ends him at around Narcissa's height - ~5'9 - 5'10 (176 - 178 cm)
End of book 7 - same height as James at 21 - ~5'11 (he's 181 cm in my headcanon, but he can/would say 6' if asked)
Sorta want to add here my headcanon/speculative approximate heights for other characters (some with more evidence than others):
6'5 (~195-196 cm) -
Dumbledore (towers over everyone in the ministry in OotP + towers over all the inferi in the cave + noticeably taller than Ron)
Aberforth (same height as Dumbledore)
6'3 (~190-191 cm) -
Ron, Arthur, and Bill (the tall and lanky Weasley boys with Arthurâs genes + Ron is repeatedly mentioned to be considerably taller than almost everyone)
Voldemort (repeatedly referred to as tall, even as a child)
6'2 (~187-188 cm) -
Sirius (referred to as tall repeatedly, a head taller than Peter, and considerably taller than Snape)
Percy (tall and lanky, I headcanon him slightly shorter than his dad)
Blaise ("a tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes" + headcanon)
6'1 (~185-186 cm) -
Cedric (said to be "tall")
Theo (headcanon + he's described as "a stringy Slytherin boy", so I assume tall and thin)
Regulus (slightly shorter than Sirius)
6'0 (~182-183 cm) -
Draco (slightly taller than Harry)
Bellatrix (taller than Harry, tall in general)
Fred & George (taller than Harry early in DH, shorter than Ron)
Vernon (headcanon. Taller than Dudley, Petunia, and Harry but noticeably shorter than Arthur)
5'11 (~180-181 cm) -
Harry, James (explained above)
Severus (taller than Narcissa and tall enough that Harry is never noticeably taller than him, while still considerably shorter than Sirius: "Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape". I do headcanon him as slightly shorter than Harry and James, who I place around 181 cm)
5'10 (~177-178 cm) -
Ted (headcanon)
Dudley (headcanon + "Harry pulled one of Dudleyâs massive arms around his own shoulders and dragged him toward the road, sagging slightly under his weight" - he isn't much taller than Harry in OotP + "wider than he is tall" in GoF, so I don't think Dudley is very tall)
5'9 (~175-176 cm) -
Minerva ("A tall, black-haired witch")
Narcissa (around Harry's height in early HBP)
Barty Jr (headcanon)
5'8 (~172-173 cm) -
Remus (shorter than Sirius, taller than Peter, I headcanon him as shorter than James and an average height)
Neville (headcanon)
Moody (headcanon)
Andromeda (headcanon)
5'7 (~170-171 cm) -
Petunia (headcanon)
Tonks (headcanon)
Charlie (shorter and stockier like Molly)
Slughorn (said to be short but tall enough that "Ron stood on tiptoe, attempting to see past Slughorn into his room")
Fluer (headcanon)
5'6 (~167-168 cm) -
Lily (I headcanon as slightly shorter than Petunia)
5'5 (~165-166 cm) -
Hermione (noticably shorter than Harry, taller than Ginny and Luna + "âGood luck, Ron,â said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek")
Pansy (headcanon)
5'3 (~160-161 cm) -
Luna (short but noticeably taller than Ginny)
Mundungus (very short: "Mundungus Fletcher, small, dirty, and hangdog")
5'2 (~157-158 cm) -
Molly (refered to as short and stocky)
Peter ("a very short man")
5'1 (~154-155 cm) -
Ginny (repeatedly called small + shorter than Luna: "âVery well â take the smallest one,â she ordered the Death Eaters [...] Harry felt the others close in around Ginny.")
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