No we weren't. We were told that a lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic.

 

What? You've lost me.

 

Hermione. Muggleborn. Logic. Overlod.

 

In the first chapter of Goblet of Fire, Frank Bryce is described as "very deaf". Yet, he can hear almost the entire conversation between Wormtail and Voldemort, the faint noises of the fireplace cracking and Wormtail putting down the bottle he was feeding Voldemort with.

 

Yes we were. Go read the introduction for Fantastic Beasts.

To be fair, it was a combination of Harry dreaming about it through his connection with Voldemort (who had no hearing problems we're aware of) and the scene being described in third person. We didn't really see it entirely from Bryce's perspective.

 

So in this introduction it mentions how we were told in the first book that wizards had no common sense? Seems legit.

 

I hope you're aware that deliberately misconstruing what someone said in a public forum where anybody can scroll up and see it for themselves only makes you look like a massive cunt.

Wikis exist. If you can't even be bothered to read something yourself before commenting, what the hell are you doing on this site?

 

Why was the scene in third person? Shouldn't Harry have seen this from Voldie's first person (or Nagini's), not Frank third person?

 

And here I was hoping that would goad you into providing the relevant quote.

You see, I did read the intro and couldn't find the part you mentioned, nor could a ctrl+f search for 'common' or 'sense'.
Any chance I can still get that quote?

 

That doesn't really fly. The scene is pretty consistently described from Bryce's POV, starting from him waking up, to him picking the wax from his ear when he hears the word "Quidditch". Rowling mentions how his ears are "pricked for any sound of footsteps or voices from overhead" when he entered Riddle House. When she describes the thick layer of dust on the stone stairs, she goes out of her way to note that Frank was grateful for the dust, because it helped muffle the sound of his footsteps and his walking stick; the sound he wouldn't be able to hear because he is deaf!

Even when Wormtail was being too quiet, he could still tell he was talking, he just couldn't make out the words. But that wouldn't have been a problem if this was being relayed to Harry via Voldemort-o-Vision instead of the POV being Bryce's.

 

I'd still be more inclined to write it down to the narrative. It wasn't done in the first person, so we aren't really sure where what Bryce is actually experiencing stops and the descriptions of the environment begins.

It's certainly an insignificant plot hole if it even is one at all. I'm not really convinced that it is.

 

Obviously it's not a plot hole, as it has no relevance to the plot whatsoever. But it's clearly contradictory: we are told that Frank is deaf, and then shown that Frank listens and hears just fine.

I don't see how there is anything to debate about it. It's an honest mistake, and everyone makes those.

 

Yes. Because hearing aids didn't exist in the late nineties.

 

Rowling pretty clearly rules that out. When he hears the word "Quidditch", he could have checked his hearing aid, but what does he do? He picks the wax out of his empty ear, which means there was no earing aid there. Maybe it's in his other ear. Then why would he pick the wax out of the one that doesn't have the hearing aid?

He's deaf. Very deaf. There's no out on this.

 

About the thing with the greatest of wizards not having an ounce of logic - I do agree that it's canon. But it's also a statement by an 11 year old. A very intelligent 11 year old, but an 11 year old nonetheless. So wouldn't it be better to take it with a pinch of salt?

I do agree that the adults don't behave very logically or responsibly throughout the story, because then there wouldn't be much of a story to tell.

 

It was in an empty house, at night, with no other sounds than the ones given off by Wormtail, Voldemort, Nagini and the fire. If there is a better scenario for a mostly deaf person being able to listen in on a conversation, I'd like to see it.

 

That statement was made in the context of a logic puzzle, though.

Wizards might not bother with it because for all they know the bottles are charmed to change sizes every hour.

 

Point. When the very laws of reality are yours to play with, do you really want to trust that a puzzle is not going to change on you? I mean, this entire thing is set in a castle that has staircases that move. If you can't rely on the god damn architecture to be consistent, what can you rely on?

 

Where does this leave us on the logic front, then? Suspend it when you come across magic? That does make sense in a way - I mean, magic itself is something that defies all logic.

Until Rowling went and mentioned Gamp's Laws of Elemental Transfiguration.