I've been reading Wheel of Time lately and it just came to me this morning. Would a Harry Potter/Wheel of Time crossover work?

Before anyone tries to shoot me down or ridicule the idea, let's get a few things straight. The magic system in HP and WoT are completely different but somehow I think a compromise can be made wherein the source for the magic used in HP is still the same source of magic used in WoT. The only difference would be that HP uses wands to harness magic without touching the source themselves whereas WoT has the magic users themselves touch the source of magic.

As for the setting, WoT easily takes care of it by taking the HP era as just another Age in the Wheel probably a later Age than the Third Age. The good vs. dark struggle in WoT played by the Dragon and whoever the Dark Sides Champion is can be easily played by Harry Potter and Voldemort.

I still have a lot of thinking before I could solidly defend my idea for a possibility on a crossover but just tell me if this could work.

 

Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

 

Hmm.

While I personally must admit I don't have a great sense of familiarity with the Wheel of Time universe, if what you say about the magical systems is true, then you do have somewhat of a premise to build on.

Now, coming up with the proper plot, characterizations, and justifications for bridging the two universes and making a proper story is going to take a lot more than just sitting down for a day and thinking about it - but then again, if you're even close to a halfway decent writer, you'll have known that already.

I wish you the best of luck, provided you haven't been discouraged by people already.

 

At first I was pretty annoyed with your fusing of the magic systems in a crossover. I believe HP characters should use HP magic and WoT characters WoT magic, without awkwardly forcing the two together.

If you don't want to cross characters over, just the themes and plot elements, then I don't have a problem with it. I'm assuming that saidin and saidar don't exist in the same manner as they do in the WoT books. They're one and the same, they're just magic.

Someone who has read WoT shouldn't be able to easily guess the plot. You need to write your own story withour following Jordan's too closely. I'm looking forward to reading the first few chapters if you write them.

 

I read a HP/WoT crossover and it basically had Harry become uber at the WoT magic and then come back leading armies and then killing Voldemort. Quite failworthy to be honest.

 

I've never read a WoT crossover that was very good. There have been a few non-HP xovers that were flawed but readable, but no HP-WoT ones that I can recall.

Shezza wrote two pure WoT fics that were both quite good, but that's all I've found.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1380632/1/First_Spoke

This is an attempt at trying to bridge the two universes together, basically by having Harry Potter's time to be the First Age and, from what I remember, the original 'dragon'.

I'd say it could be done, but it'd depend on the plot. I think I'd be interested in reading it if Harry went to the WoT universe, but not the vice versa. Also, I'd suggest that you have HP characters sticking with HP magic and WoT Characters sticking with the One Power. Forcing the two together means that one will become pwnsome over the other, unless you're very good.

 

I've read a few crossovers, nothing epic though...

Shit I can't read that. looks like shit.

 

The problem with this is how the two magic systems reconcile. This isn't like Harry Potter and Dresden, where the universes seem set up to facilitate an easy - or at least not impossible - crossover. WoT, however, has a pretty powerful magic system. Powerful, at least, in blowing things up, which is something we haven't seen much of in HP. Speaking from my sci-fi roots, it'd be like Star Wars crossed with Star Trek - one side so outclassed it wouldn't be fun unless you nerf one side completely.

ADDITION: While seeing balefire smashing through HP wizards, or balefire being blocked harmlessly by Protego, could be fun the first time, I would lose interest after the first reading.

 

The magic system of WoT seems more suited for killing&destroying than the HP one. The fact that no wands or spoken words are needed already gives WoT-magic a great advantage. As does the fact that Wot-channelers can easily attack multiple opponents at the same time. In a fight that properly used both styles, HP-magic user would find it hard to win. However in contrast, HP magic can do things with charms and transfigurations and such that WoT magic cannot do. Apparition for instance is something WoT cannot do.

It is a shame that there is such a lack of good WoT stories. I would love to read one, crossover or not. Still, I think HP should remain HP and WoT should remain WoT. A weird hybrid-thing where two inherently different systems are forcibly merged together does not sound good. Would take very skillfull writing to make it work (for me atleast).

 

Hmm. It has been a while since I read the books so I sometimes confuse fanon with canon. However it is my impression that even if its not needed, most average people still use them. Also the wand is also needed and often needs to be pointed in the direction of the target.

I suppose you are right in that WoT can be used to do other things too. Though destructive weaves are perhaps simpler than ones of creation. You can kill people with one simple weave but to create wards and such requires more delicate and complex channeling. So a channeler could kill and destroy pretty quickly after he started channeling, whereas HP magic users need years of practise to learn to use offensive magic effectively. In that sense channeling might be said to be better at destroying.

I would say that my view of WoT being better in combat also comes from this kind of idea:

Lets say we have 1 channeler facing 1 HP magic user with a wand and both are aware of each other so no surprise is possible. What would the HP user have to do to attack? I believe (for most spells anyway) he would have to point his wand at the channeler (possibly retrieving it from a pocket or something), possibly incant a spell and finally (depending on the spell) watch the spell fly to the channeler. I suppose people like Dumbledore might skip most of the steps but the average person would need to do them.

In contrast the average channeler would only need to mentally create a weave of air and slice the wizards head off, literally at the speed of thought. No pointing or waving or words required, and I believe the weave is invisible and almost instantaneous so no dodging is possible for the wizard. And more, the channeler could actually create multiple weaves of air, so he could actually slice the heads of multiple opponents simultaneously. And thats just the most basic kind of thing (using just 1 simple weave).

 

Well, let's say that somebody writes a story where Harry visits Randland for some afternoon tea- because Rand visiting Hogwarts would blow, end of story. It doesn't matter what the average wizard does, because it's up to the writer to make Harry as average or exceptional as they want.

Personally, I'd love to read a story where Harry does hop over to Randland in some good ol' dimensional travelling or whatever, limited only to his wand and own magic. That'd be interesting to read, especially when he faces up with a male chaneller, maybe Ishmael or Aginor or that other guy in the first book. Of course, the author would have to be good. None of this weak-arse 'Expelliarmus!' shit.

Plus, he could bone some of the hot women that really need a cock to get over their man-hating ways.

 

Just to be clear, we're sure as in absolutely positive that Shezza's a chick?

 

You serious? The average wizard would just apparate a long way away, possibly behind the channeler, and when the channeler is still looking around trying to find him out, apparate back and let a lot of charms fly. Hell, the channeler won't be able to guess which ones could actually be harmful. He'd be too busy dodging every one of them, and meanwhile the wizard would fucking own him.

That's a scenerio with a wizard experienced in fighting, of course; and an unexperienced one would probably be owned by a channeler. But again, an unexperienced channeler would probably blow himself up anyway.

HP magic has several advantages over channeling, and vice cersa.

1. Apparating. Srsly. Moving around instantaneously is a huge advantage, compared to those time-consuming portals.

2. Channeling is inherently dangerous, especially for the males. They have to struggle every single moment against their power, trying not to be consumed. So basically the channeler is fighting on two fronts at one - his opponent and his power itself. A sure-fire way to losing if the fight drags on, seeing that the wizard won't have any such handicap.

3. While channeling can be faster and needs only the mind, and wand magic requires accessories and more time, I've always felt that as the complexity of the weave increases, channeling becomes very hard, very fast.

I remember when in... FiH?... Elaine or Egwene was completely amazed to see rand using a lot of weaves parallelly. Using two weaves simaltaneously is twice as hard as a single one, and so on. So your multiple-weave theory won't apply, really. The channeler, even if he's capable, would tire far faster.

I could go on, really.

In fact, I think WoT and HP magics both have their plus points and one can't be called superior to the other. It'll depend on the skills of the fighters, just like every other fight.

I have some ideas for duels like that, actually... though it's doubtful I'll ever write any of them.

 

I did say earlier that apparating is a thing that WoT channeler cannot do. However apparating is tiring and dangerous too, unless you are incredibly skilled constant apparition could eventually result in splinching. Also apparition causes a small popping sound, the channeler can use that to detect the new location of the wizard and instantly shift his attack there. Remember that holding the power enhances the senses so unless the wizard apparated miles away and out of the fight entirely, the channeler would hear his new location and not need to look around.

As for dodging, I suppose an inexperienced channeler might have trouble with that. But since channeling mostly has only a mental component, a skilled channeler could be dodging and attacking at the same time easily. I am pretty sure we have actually seen Rand do it.

In a fight apparition is an advantage to be sure, but not as huge as you believe. It allows wizard to evade some attacks, but if all you are doing is constantly apparating then you are already in the defensive and losing.

Also remember that not all channeling attacks can be detected. The slicing weave of air used by Lanfear/Cyndane in book9 for instance would not be detectable to a wizard.

The channelers gateways can be created almost instantly btw. The only trouble with them is that the channeler would actually physically move through the doorway where the wizard could just be moving purely mentally.

We havent really seen any evidence that the struggle for control causes any real trouble for male channelers. I think the only time it has even been suggested was in book5 when Rand was having trouble. But that was after many hours of nearly constant channeling at full power at extreme range. It would not come into play in a duel.

A channeler would not necessarily need to use complex weaves. The basic ones would do since a wizard would not be able to cut them. And while the more complex weaves would be harder yes, we have seen channelers use them quickly despite that.

I think most average to above average channelers can use something like 5-6 weaves at the least, so they could attack multiple opponents. Elaine and Egwene were unskilled at that point which is why what Rand did seemed so incredible at that point. Infact in the latest book the more skilled Egwene herself uses as many weaves. Ofcourse in the latest book Rand who is also more skilled has already reached 38 simultaneous weaves (I counted).

True to an extent. I think Dumbledore would own most average channelers. But I think channeling does have such inherent advantages that in a contest between people of equal skill/training, the channeler would win.

So for instance, I think the top WoT guys (like Rand/Forsaken) would own Dumbledore. And the average Aes Sedai/Asha'man would own the average wizard.

The reason for this has actually been given. The way a channeler does the weave the first time, is the way he or she must do it from then on. So if an Aes Sedai learns to create a fireball using a hand gesture, then that is how she must do it from then on. This is purely a psychological block however, not a limit on the power. The wise ones know this and that is why they dont need gestures. They are smart enough to make sure that when their students learn weaves, they dont use gestures. The Aes Sedai are simply idiots, something I will not contest.

Rand did have to point his fingers to create the arrows, but thats probably because LTT learned the weave that way for some reason. Perhaps he invented it in the middle of a fight while he was pointing his fingers or something. Regardless, while LTT could not create the arrows without moving his hands, he did create 6 blossoms of fire and 6 deathgates at the same time and completely mentally. And the way its written suggests that he creates all those complex weaves almost instantly.

Now granted LTT is the most skilled there is, so the average channeler would probably take more time with complex weaves, though not hugely so. Also complex weaves like that are not required in a duel. An asha'man for instance could use the weave they used in Dumai's wells. which can be created in a split second and which causes the target to violently explode the instant it touches. And again there is no visual sign of it so the wizard could not tell it was coming.

The female channelers must have some way of detecting an incoming weave or any male would instantly destroy them. I think there is some sort of "sense" to incoming attacks when holding the power, even if you cannot see or sense the power used. There are lots of these kinds of scenes in WoT where channelers (Rand and others) knows where and when to slice weaves of others. For instance in the same scene with Lanfear, she attacks Egwene and Aviendha, and Rand somehow mysteriously knows where to direct his own slicing weaves to protect them, even though males cannot see female channeling (they just get goosebumbs).

So I still maintain that a channeler could use a weave of air to slice a wizards head off. The weave may not move at the speed of light but its fast enough that unless you are already moving or creating a defense when the channeler creates the weave, its already too late. In any event, the wizard would not see it coming since such a weave is invisible to the eyes and we can assume that a wizard would lack the mysterious "sense" that channelers have, so he could not dodge it. I suppose he could constantly surround himself with a shield, but that would limit the ability to attack and allow the channeler to strike with more potent attacks.