Studying Medieval Sciences

So, the Pony pointed something out to us the other night at dinner.

"Did you notice," she asks, "in the fourth Harry Potter movie, when he is rescuing all those people in the lake, when he cuts Ron free, Ron just kind of stays right there. But when he cuts the girls free, they start floating."

No, we say, how interesting. We wonder why that is?

"Because they are witches."

Ba dum-dum.

AND they weigh less than a duck.


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I am going to explain this one now, not because you all need it, but because I'll come back and read this in about two weeks and not remember why it was worth recording or what the hell the title of this post means.

In the HPverse, males are all wizards, and the females are called witches. Unlike in some fantasy series, this does not indicated different categories of magic. It is just a gender differentiation.

In pre-Enlightenment science, it was believed that witches could float because the water would reject the Devil. Non-witches would just drown. Not a helpful test for the person accused, but reassuring to the neighbors. Thus, witches float. No one has ever thrown wizards into water. I don't know why.

In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, some villagers have come to Sir Bedevere with a woman they claim is a witch. Through some comically convoluted logic, they come to the conclusion that a witch will float because she weighs less than a duck (which also floats).

Okay. Now that it's all been explained, interestingly enough, IT'S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE!