Join hosts Ev, Irvin, Sierra, and our guest Grace as they discuss the Weasley twins: Fred and George.
In this episode:
- “Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother?”
- The wizard-muggle romance of our patented daydream charms
- Should the twins feel guilty? Do they?
- Pranks, pranks, and more pranks
- Should you apologize for attempted murder?
- Did Fred have it coming?
- Is there a plaque at the portable swamp?
- What are the posthumous tributes to Fred like?
- A cup of tea with the Fanged Servant
- Adopting people like Molly, Muggle friendly like Arthur
Resources:
- “THEY’RE JUST NOT THE SAME” EXCEPT FOR THEY TOTALLY ARE: DRACO MALFOY AND THE WEASLEY TWINS by Lokifan
- Not just Fredandgeorge – The Twins’ Differences by Josie Kearns
- Twins’ OWLs by Irvin from HP Lexicon
Pub’s Jukebox:
The Weasley Way by The Butterbeer Experience
Alcohol Aftermath by Gred and Forge
Charlie is the “quiet one”?!? He has enough friends to assemble a posse to smuggle an illegal dragon from Scotland to Romania (somewhere in the order of 1400 miles) on less than a week’s notice. If he’s quiet, it’s because he’s up to something.
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I get the impression Molly’s main source of information about the muggle world is through Arthur, so her attitude towards it is no surprise. It’s all frivolous nonsense – fine to putter about with in your shed (though she does roll her eyes), but not something to trust your life/healing to.
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I imagine the twins make use of muggle “magic” to help them trick wizards, and actual magic to help them trick muggles – whatever keeps them one step ahead. The “very pretty girl” in the village is just practice (and maybe a little snogging if they play their cards right).
I have never read Charlie as shy or timid either, but rather as the “strong and silent” type to those who don’t know him well. Being that way doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have friends, but I do think he’s a person that builds a few very strong friendships, rather than a person with a large network of besties, friends, acquaintances, etc. We see he’s pretty jovial with Hagrid showing him the Dragons, and is fairly talkative with Harry in GoF at the burrow and Quidditch World Cup.
Whereas I’ve read him the opposite of that. As AbsentMindedRaven said, he can assemble folks for a cross-continent smuggle at a moment’s notice, he was a Quidditch legend and captain, he has a friendship with Hagrid, he’s leading the charge of “everyone’s relatives and friends” in the Battle of Hogwarts. To me, that reads as someone who was very popular and has a wide network of good friends and acquaintances.
Magpies, huh? Guess the author never met a Kea…
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The host of Potterless famously thought Ludo Bagman was the one who entered Harry into the Triwizard Tournament, owing to some well-plated herring of a rosy hue. Did anyone (the first time they read GoF) think that the twins were behind it?
Obviously not to try and get Harry killed, but maybe as a joke and they were shocked that it worked? Maybe they were the brains behind Ludo Bagman (because, let’s face it, he couldn’t scheme his way out of a paper bag if you held the end open and called “Yoohoo, Ludo! This way!”)?
Admittedly, I was 9, so I don’t remember much… but I think my first suspicion was for Karkaroff. (I clearly had not yet learned the “Snape does seem the type” lesson from SS.)
I think I had the mindset of “someone is manipulating things behind the scenes, probably through Crouch Sr.”, but definitely didn’t suspect Jr. was still alive.
Being… slightly older than 9… I had ruled out Bagman, but didn’t have a clue who Voldemort was talking about when he bragged about his loyal follower at Hogwarts. Neither Karkaroff nor Snape seemed likely, but then who else have you got?
I couldn’t think of any literary comparisons for Fred and George, but they do remind me of Jim Halpert from The Office. If you’re familiar with the show, the similarities are pretty obvious in that they are both pranksters, and very creative with their pranks. Under that persona, they show a caring and emphathetic side that makes them so likable. What do you think?
As much as I like Ev’s squibs/legally-blind analogy, the series does imply it’s an all-or-nothing deal. Which raises a follow-up question: is there any difference between a squib and a muggle (other than who their parents were)?
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Puffskeins as atonement, I love it! But the puffskeins may not not be as harmless as they seem; I wonder if the twins ever watched Star Trek?
I don’t think there is a difference between squibs and muggles, except perhaps the likelihood of having magical offspring. (I think they’re likelier from a squib than muggle, but depends on which theory of wizarding genetics you subscribe to.)
That makes sense, but as it’s likely not as simple as a “be magical” gene, it probably depends on the squib (some may be a carrier, so to speak).
The impression I got from the series was that squibs are slightly magical, but not enough to cast spells. So for example a squib could see thestrals, and wouldn’t be affected by a muggle-repelling charm (although that could explain why Filch stays at Hogwarts).
You may joke about cauldron-bottom regulations, but there’s a saying: “Regulations are written in blood.” Oft-times someone had to get hurt before the powers that be bothered to make rules about it.
Percy’s skill is in attention to detail. It’s not flashy, but it is very valuable.
Reminds me of a bit I like from Michael McIntyre, about how we was at a pool that had a sign, “Please don’t swim if you have active diarrhea.” And he’s like, “… there’s a reason for that sign.”
Well… yeah.
It does amaze me how many explicit rules there are for things that should be common-sense.
(And I’m sure the only reason that … option … wasn’t in the skiving snackboxes was because the twins couldn’t think of a sweet starting with “D”.)
Nah, give them more credit! “Diarrheic Delights” is there for the taking.