I was rereading POA and, due to my training as an artist, I realized something:

The Fat Lady, as a portrait, can't be very old. You see, the first acrylic gesso wasn't released until 1955. What you might not know is that the acrylic version of this ancient primer is pretty much what makes it possible to paint on canvas. The natural version prior to this was used to prepare surfaces like wood or masonite for painting. Acrylic gesso still isn't recommended for oil paints, as the paint often becomes cloudy after a few decades.

Now, POA specifically states that The Fat Lady is painted on canvas, because Sirius slashed her canvas. Which means that she wasn't painted prior to 1955 because the materials wouldn't have been available. So while she can remember Snape's mother, she wouldn't have ever met his grandmother.

The majority of the portraits in Hogwarts would be heavy, cumbersome things simply because they can't be painted on canvas, being far too old.

We fans come from all different walks of life and experiences. What interesting plotholeish things have y'all noticed that you might not have otherwise seen?

 

You forget that in HP there is this thing called magic. Allows wizards to do and make things we can't.

 

I'm so confused.

So all of the oil on canvas works that date back centuries aren't really canvas?

What about the Impressionists? What did they do their work on, if not canvas?

 

That's a rather pathetic little answer, which can be used in any situation (including Mpreg, so stop giving idiots excuses to act that way).

Another thing is the Great Hall being so, well, great. Say, 250 students, max. At our school, we have 2000 fit in a room about the size JK claims the students walked from the doors to the hat (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/atlas/hogwarts/atlas-h-ground.html See this map for sizing estimates).

Admittedly, ours has additional balconies, seating 750 or so, which leaves 1250. Even having the roomy eating arrangements, the Great Hall should be a lot smaller than was estimated.

 

Masonite, most likely. It's much thinner and lighter than wood, and has been the standard for oils for a very, very long time. I'd have to look the Impressionists up specifically, because my art history classes were a long time ago, but they would have had to use some form of gesso to keep the paint from sopping into whatever they used for a canvas.

Edit: It should also be noted that 'canvas' has become a standard word for anything that's painted on, regardless of material. The only way to avoid gesso when using oils, tempera, or acrylic paint is to paint on plaster. Archaeological evidence proves that gesso has been in use since at least Ancient Rome, if not before.

 

Urgh. Another plothole in Harry Potter? I wonder how long it'll take for universities to start giving classes on it.

I wonder in 50 years if someone will rewrite Harry Potter with a modicum of common sense.

Hopefully it'll be me.

 

To be fair, it's not something that a layman would know. If I hadn't had art as one of my majors, or had stuck to only three-dimensional art, I wouldn't know this. It's something she should have researched, yeah, but it doesn't actually affect the overall story.

Snape's birthdate is supposedly in 1960. That means that Eileen would've been pregnant with him in 1959, so she would've had to have graduated in '59 or earlier. That leaves a four year window for the Fat Lady to have known her.

 

Could it not be that, since it was being told from Harry's perspective, it was called a canvas, simply because thats what he thought it was. He wasn't going to know if it was something else. To most people a painting is painted on a canvas, full stop, the end.

 

I suppose it's vaguely possible, except masonite doesn't rip. It's made from wood chips and really high pressure...

 

It's hardly a plot hole, if the original post is correct, it is just an irrelevant error on Rowling's part, or it could simply be that the Fat Lady was transferred onto canvas in 1955. More importantly, as a children's book, who cares what type of medium the fat lady is painted on.

 

It's not a huge thing by any standards but it's still sloppy authoring.

 

For me, the two major plot holes are Snape's death and Sirius not being able to get a trial after his escape. Major, in this case, means that it isn't a small matter of ignorance on the part of the author, but Really Big Screwups that were there for angst. What happened to Sirius was only useful because it indicated that the Ministry was completely untrustworthy and that those people who had value were marginalized. Good writing would have made the entire subplot unnecessary. The murder of Snape didn't even advance the plot.

Snape's death by snakebite doesn't make sense on any level. He's smart and he plans ahead. A Potions Master who had any savvy at all would keep a bezoar and some common potions in his pocket, and Snape should have carried Nagini-specific antivenin whenever he was near her. It's an obvious precaution, not something esoteric or paranoia. Nagini bit him in the neck, and it still took several minutes for Snape to die. Plenty of time to swallow a stone or breathe some vapor. For that matter, Snape should have carried a portkey At All Times; one that would take him to some sort of safe place. He would have had a bolt-hole arranged and stocked for years.

Instead, the snake bites him, he falls down, Voldemort apologizes and walks off, a bunch of kids find him and he's still clear-minded enough to do a major memory transfer. I can't see this taking less than several minutes - maybe as much as ten.

As for Sirius - why couldn't he get a trial after his escape? He could send letters to every newspaper in Europe. He was headline news: they would have paid attention, and when he stated that he had never received a trial, they would have researched. He bought a Firebolt, so he wasn't completely out of touch. If he had left the country, he could have demanded a trial as a condition of extradition. Sirius had been an Auror, and he was wealthy enough to buy a top-notch racing broom (a brand-new line, as I remember, so he could do research, as well) even while on the run. He knew how to make the system work, and he was educated enough to know that the Right move was to get an attorney. If the dementors had made him too crazy to think of this, the Order certainly should have realized it. Daedalus Diggle was an barrister and member of the Order, right? Even if they didn't have a criminal attorney on hand, Dumbledore At The Very Least would have known where to find one. Attorney-Client Privilege would have made the contact safe for Sirius.

 

Sirius was probably wealthy enough that he didn't have to live as a dog on the streets. He could have bought a tent much like what the Weasley used during the Quidditch Cup, and not live in some cave like a caveman.

But no, JKR wanted to emphasize on the fact that he was on the run... and people on the run are not supposed to live in luxury while they are being looked for all around the world.

If she hadn't thought of that, what chances are that she would have thought of some little details like a painting's canvas?

 

Wait, so the Fallen Madonna With Big Boobies couldn't have been painted on canvas either? But that totally ruins 'Allo 'Allo.

 

I don't see how this is a plothole. I mean, the books never claim that the Fat Lady is old, so there's no problem with her being painted after 1955.

And that's assuming there's even any painting involved. It could be that portraits are made via magic rather than painting. Like, you get a piece of canvas, you cast a spell to embed the canvas with the imprint of someones soul, and the portrait appears.

 

I don't think he intended this thread to be about the plot hole he found. I think it was more to do with the plot holes we have found due to the different ways we have been brought up or educated.

 

Snape had to die because he was a greasy prick and because JKR wanted to redeem him as some tragic romantic hero. Boo fucking hoo. Doesn't change the fact that he is a bastard with poor hygiene who lost any slim chance he might have had with the girl he was obsessed with because he was a violent racist and she was part of the 'minority' he was racist against. Anyway...

It would seem to me that a bezoar would be for ingested poisons and wouldn't be effective against something injected into the bloodstream. It may very well be that, as a magically enhanced serpent, there is no antivenin that would be effective against Nagini's venom. Basically, if Voldemort wants you dead and has access to you like he did with Severus, then 'you gonna get Snaped'.

The wizarding world is full of mindless sheep that eat up whatever the paper and their government feeds them. Also, Sirius got no trial because JKR needed him to not get one. Sirius not getting a trial (even the second time around), Dumbledore's apparent complete impotence in the face of Umbridge and Fudge and the way people eat up every rumor and newspaper article about Harry are the prime building blocks of every fic where Harry gets sent to Azkaban for ignorant reasons and no one suggests veritaserum, or any other completely implausible government fuck up/attack against its own people. JKR opened the door for every single person in that society to act like a retard and get away with it, so HP fanfic writers play it to the hilt constantly.

Lulz.

 

Manipulative!Dumbledore is more fun.

 

You're right. It was to share something interesting and ask about interesting things y'all have found. And I'm a girl, BTW.

 

If that were true, though, Arthur Weasley would've kicked the bucket after Nagini bit him in OotP. I think Severus bit it because JKR didn't know what to do with him afterwards.