I know we have no data from canon, but long do you think Merlin lived? I'm guessing obviously not as long as Flamel (the whole stone thing), but what number would be reasonable to assume? 100, 150?

 

His death was not caused by a poor health (in most version - he was imprisoned by Nimue). Canon gives us no details so probably everything between 50 and 250 years would work.

Note: all what I know about Merlin is from Wikipedia article that you prompted me to read (thanks!).

 

With the notable exception of Ginny's Megareductor in the DoM, which took a long time to hit it's target. There are other instances of this as well.

If ambushes are incredibly effective, then the Taboo on Voldemort's name is the stupidest idea in history, given how Snatchers operated.

 

Megareductor? What?

Unless you're talking about the movies, in which case it doesn't count.

Ambushes are incredibly effective. It's why they've been a staple of military tactics since before the written word.

Sure, the Order could have counter ambushed any Snatchers responding to a break of the Taboo--but JKR didn't write DH while trying to think of the best way the Order could have conducted their resistance. Arguing the sense of certain ideas in HP is a well worn path that very few are in a hurry to revisit.

 

And the point of an ambush is that one of the parties is not expecting the other to be there. Snatchers know that someone had to say Voldemort and it might be an ambush. And neither side knows how many wizards will be on the other side of the fight and while the order would know the snatchers would appear there, they wouldn't know exactly where, losing the positioning advantage. And even if they somehow outnumber the snatchers (which is not really necessary in an ambush but as I said this wouldn't count as one), they are only one word away from calling reinforcements. So using the Taboo to try to capture death eaters would have actually been a really stupid idea.

 

As someone mentioned, he might never have died at all. He was imprisoned by the lady of the lake sometime after helping with Arthur's ascension to the throne and the acquisition of the holy grail, IIRC.

Merlin himself was only half human, the child of a virgin birth in the aftermath of an incubus's attack on a young maiden. He was also imprisoned by what was likely an immortal entity, whose own origin and ultimate nature remain something of a mystery. Moreover, his incarceration at the hands of the Lady was something of a betrayal, since I think he may have been in love with her. Hence, she may have had the intention to keep him there forever.

Considered in addition to the supernatural quality of his being and conception, he might well have lived 'forever,' a magical, potentially immortal being held within his prison by another magical, potentially immortal being.

 

Eh, I think the Arthurian myth is mostly that in HP: myth. The dude attended Hogwarts, after all.

 

Not supported by canon, but this is my head-canon:

385 – Merlin is born.

393 – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is founded.

396 – Merlin begins his education at Hogwarts and is sorted to Slytherin.

410 – The Romans depart from Britannia.

471 – Arthur I becomes king.

 

Ah, I didn't know we were referring to the Merlin in HP canon, thought we were talking about the original myth.

In that case, we have to adjust his DOB to sometime after the eleventh century, no?

Even in the case of the original myth, Xandrel, I think your timeline might be a bit early. Arthur was said to be a ca. seventh century king IIRC, and Merlin, having advised his father (?) and the king who ruled before him, would have been stationed somewhere maybe in the sixth, or at the most, fifth, centuries.

 

Not exactly. We are told that Hogwarts was founded 'a thousand years ago', but that's a convinently round number to state, isn't it? My guess is that it was simply said to sound like a lot. So it's probably more than 1000. After all, 1600 is also more than a thousand, so I say that Hogwarts was founded before Arthur became King.

Besides, why can't we assume that King Arthur did exist in the Potterverse? It isn't a law that the HP world has to have the same exact history as Our World. Perhaps Arthur did exist and is a known historical figure. even among muggles? Why not?

 

I was talking about the movies, because the post I was responding to was talking about the movies.

 

Think aerial combat: fighting on brooms. Done in the proper way, with the right setup, a lightening spell could be used to simulate the Phoenix missile that climbed to a certain elevation, homed in on the target, then tipped over and drove at their targets from above. To conjure lightning (rather than cast it) could do the same thing, making it much harder to avoid.

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It all depends on who you talk to. Some put Arthur as fighting the original Roman empire, or even a son/grandson of a Roman solder and a native from the British Isles. That'd put it in the 2-300s, 400s possibly if it was a grandson.

I've seen/read/heard other theories that Arthur was even a conscripted soldier sent to Britain to fulfill his duties to the Roman Empire. For instance, Lucius Artorius Castus who was alive in the second and third century CE (Arthur would basically be a nickname for Artorius).

Then, there are others that put him as late as a 1000 CE.

 

Is it possible to apparate to Platform 9&4/3? Is it ever shown in the books?

If not, then this perhaps explains why the Weasleys used the hidden entrance instead of using side-along apparition.

 

Personally, I've always tended to ignore the whole Merlin went to Hogwarts thing. It's truth be told unnecessary and unneeded. In my head, Merlin and Arthur were centuries before the founding of Hogwarts, and their 'Golden Age', is what built the foundations of the magical society that would eventually result in the foundation of Hogwarts and an early version of a Wizarding Magical Government. It's always made much more sense to me to have Merlin and Hogwarts to be two separate things.

 

If I remember correctly, apparition (esp. side-along) is not a terribly comfortable feeling for adults and many vomit from their first experience. One adult moving half a dozen children only one of them just starting their teenage years? That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

 

Point taken, but still, have we ever seen apparition at the Platform?

 

I'm kind of interested in alternatives to Hogwarts.

Is Hogwarts really the finest institution in the magical community (it's a bit disappointing if so) or is that just a little Anglophilic?

Would different countries have different approaches\specialties with magic?

Edit: I meant the best school in the world not just England.

 

Hogwarts is supposed to be he best school, supporting evidence for that is it's position in ministry politics and the Triwizard Tournament. Isn't exclusive kind of a prequisite for the best school? I mean, why would you go to a worse school when you could go to Hogwarts. Yet Hogwarts offers a place to muggleborns, who had no prior magical knowledge and orphans, who can't pay. Hogwarts takes everybody.

Eh, maybe there are ten family "private schools" or something.

 

Hogwarts is the only school in magical Britain, according to JKR. As far as Europe is concerned, we know that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are about equal to Hogwarts, and those three are considered the best in Europe. How that compares to the rest of the world is up in the air.

That's all the canon information we know (and this thread, remember, is primarily to answer questions about canon, not to start random discussions about interpretations of canon).

My personal headcanon is that the magical world has quite different ideas about what consitutes good schooling. "Health and safety" would be completely laughable to a place that considers Quidditch good fun. I can easily imagine a wizard, upon being told about Muggle schooling practices, laughing and asking incredulously "You mean the students are never in mortal danger? But how do they learn anything?"

 

I feel a bit dumb asking this question but here it is: If a wizard casts the shield charm, can he cast other spells while it is still active? Say you have two opponents approaching from different ends of a hallway, could you use protego to block one of them while you are dealing with the other?