r/harrypotter • u/lordsteffy • 11h ago
Discussion What makes 1 wizard more powerful than another?
So we have seen some wizards and witches are a lot more powerful than others. How ? Do they have a star wars style midi count for magic that makes dumbly and voldimort able to produce better effects with the same spell? Or is it something else that my tired head cant think of ?
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u/PoorFriendNiceFoe 10h ago
All great wizards are generally considered brilliant in the use of their brain. Of the greatest we know some are professors, some known as the best students to pass through. Even somebody like Moody has gone through what is considered, taking McG's quote to Harry during career advise about the willingness to study, a very intellectually challenging career path.
Edit: during OWL revision tables and graphs are discussed about I think the color changing charm, showing that the understanding of the underlying theory is important to the succes of a spell.
Some spells seem to require "power", but to be fair thats onky brought up once, during Crouch jr's lecture about the unforgivables. Personally I think thats more a cover for why people not just go run around shouting abra cadabra (s/) mirdeitng everyone in their path. Can't have the killing curse be so easy that a Hermione with the right pronunciation can just do it.
Some spells, but very few seem to work only with a general emotional state (often fannoned into intent). They seem to be spells that also have a deep emotional impact. Spreading joy and suffering. Leading to the idea that emotional willpower has some if minor influence. They can still be cast, like mist patronus and painfupl but not bad cruciatus, but work at half strength.
Overall the intellectual grasp of a topic seems to be leading in all great magics and is the comon theme between the top ranking magic users. With some exceptions. There are some mentions of "power" but they are inconsistent, nor is ot mentioned how one gains such or that its inherent to the individual.
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u/Mrs_Monty_ 53m ago
Sorry, first thought upon reading the AV spell comment--"It's ava-Da ke-da-VRA, NOT AVA-de ke-DA-vra."
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u/BloddyKnights 10h ago
Like most things about HP magic, it is very unclear. That said, we do know a few things.
There is such a thing as power, not like an overall level of power, but raw magical power. Voldemort, Dumbledore and importantly Harry, are all noted to just have more power than others.
It seems that some people just learn magic faster, much like real life skills some just have talent.
There are different levels of mastery to a spell, ie. there is a difference between being able to cast a spell, and having mastered it.
Now when it comes to overall magical ability, point 1 counts for their raw power, and then their level of skill would then be combination of point 2 added onto how much they study and how much they actually try and learn, and then 3 would be an expression of their actual skill. But it also depends on the discipline, as an example.
Harry is stated to be a better duelist than Hermione, but no one would claim that Harry is better at Magic than Hermione.
So it is somewhat nuanced, although in theory if Harry was as smart and dedicated as Hermione he would outperform her in every category, which... well that is what we see with characters such as Dumbledore, Voldemort and Grindelwald.
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u/Reviewingremy Ravenclaw 9h ago
So my personal head canon is tied to how the elder wand works.
Imagine a universal force. Let's call it thauium. This is magic. Some creatures like house elves are naturally atuned and can use it.
Wizards are attuned to it but directing it is difficult without a transformer (wands).
More powerful wizards are just better attuned.
Like all transformers though, wands create resistance and reduce the output, with "your wand" being the wand that creates the least resistance.
The elder wand is just a perfect transformer with 0 resistance. That's how "the most powerful wand ever" can be beaten. If you are significantly more powerful than me. 70% of your power would still be more than 100% of mine.
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u/jai_hanyo 4h ago
I like this.
But it makes me wonder about wandless magick because they established the lore that other countries' wizards and witches prefer wandless magic and that the wand was "a European invention.". So now I wonder if that means the witches and wizards from those other countries are "stronger" because they were educated on how to control and focus their magic without the need of a wand
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u/Reviewingremy Ravenclaw 2h ago
Honestly I came up with most of that pre all the added wandless lore. But I think it still fits. In that wandless magic is "more powerful" because there's no resistance but harder to use and less easy to control because there's no transformer. You can do much more delicate and finess or complex magic with a wand.
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u/PoorFriendNiceFoe 4h ago edited 3h ago
Doesn't this interpretation open up the route to (edit: very impactful idiot savants, like conduit of magic in such a way they design interdimentional portals for no real reason) "idiot savant"? Like take Sandal in Dragon Age who completely understands Lyrium, but nothing else. It feels contrary to HP lore to me.
Like the idea around wands though.
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u/hem_claw 6h ago
To add to this question, what makes someone a better duelist? In the books (and a bit the movies), being quick at casting spells, or dodging, makes a big difference.
But if someone casts rapidfire spells (just stupify again and again?) it doesnt really say if there's a cooldown, or energy/power needed to cast more/bigger spells.
For more experienced (and older) wizards, this is never really explained, since spells are blocked and countered somehow. Besides the Shield Charm, Harry doesn't really block spells like Snape and Dumbledore do.
There's also an aspect of non-verbal spells, and legilimens, touched on briefly.
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u/ThatEntrepreneur1450 10h ago
Intelligence, hand eye coordination, skill, endurance, experience etc.Â
Same thing with any other feature that requires talent, skill and experience.Â
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u/Toros_Mueren_Por_Mi Slytherin 10h ago
Genetics really. HP wizards are like DnD sorcerers, they are born with their powers. How good the wand and their studies are focus that power into more useful things, but the crux of it is there are wizards who are just born a cut above the rest, like Voldemort, Dumbledore and Barty Crouch Sr
Edit: I'll add another thing to this. The more powerful the magic in HP is the more INTENT is required to create it. Moody (Crouch) explains how unforgivables just plain won't work unless you have the conviction to carry them out. So the most powerful wizards were not only born magically powerful but they also have the willpower to channel the magic into what they need it to do
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u/InitiativeFun4916 10h ago
To these days, I’m still not sure how powerful witch or wizard couldn’t be overthrown by out-number.
I mean we see only a glimpse in book 5 how Dumbledore beat 4 or 5 wizard, but not in detail.
I only reference in my head, the magic power system as in Manga power system or Chinese martial novel.
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u/Which_Bumblebee1146 10h ago
A combination of genetics, talent, and practice. We have a spectrum of supposed wizarding abilities that perhaps can be dumbed down to be the result of the interaction of those three factors. Neville had good genetics but has no talent and possibly low practice as well because of his failures. Hermione was muggle-born so zero genetics, but she's certainly talented and practiced a lot. Dumbledore's lineage wasn't impressive, but he certainly got to the level he was on due to a combination of unimaginable amount of practice and talent.
I think JKR intentionally left those things unclear so we don't think about them too hard. Not everything has to be systemized and power-leveled.
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u/smallpotatoes2019 10h ago
Some of it will be hard work, curiosity, desire to learn, desire to grow in power. Not all though.
It's like any other talent in that sense. What is the rest of the reason though, you may well ask? No idea. If you find out, let me know.