To me that seems like wanting something because Rule of Cool rather than for any actually thought-out reason.

You haven't been around for long, so I guess you're excused. I suggest looking at some of golan's and Starfox's posts.

 

Point taken.

Well it may seem that way to you, but I thought-out the reasoning before the details were worked out. The premise being that American wizards can't use wants because they don't focus their magic well enough. To me this is a viable reasoning for why squibs can't do magic. I didn't envision some cool squib dude standing on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm striking down balrogs if that's what you mean. Quite the opposite actually.

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More like some poor chap that has to wield a staff like Gandalf just to clean some mud off his shoes.

 

So, they can't use wands because they can't focus their magic...

I think I understand what you're going for, but your explanation is wonky.

Wands are exactly for that: focusing magic. That's why you don't see even Dumbledore/Voldemort snapping their fingers to cast complex magic. That's why Harry doesn't know what's going to happen when he gets angry, like that one time when he turned Marge into a balloon. That's why overuse of wandless magic is cringeworthy.

A wand is a tool to focus and direct your magic so that it does precisely what you want it to do instead of having no control over what happens.

You could say that the weak wizards discovered a staff design that works better than a common European wand, trading easy handling for greater magic focusing properties.

 

The main problem I have with varied magical pwer based on genetics is that is is so incredibly anti-thematic with the Harry Potter book series. The problem being if some groups are simply inherently more magically powerful then others...
But if someone wrote a good story with it I'd be fine with it. However, no Harry Potter story has ever been made better by including this, probably because its a really bad idea.

 

That's along the lines of what I want to say. I'm not sure if "better" is the right word. Maybe better for different things. Ollivander seems to think each wand is different from each other and better at different things. To me it would make sense that there could and probably would be a multitude of different magic foci from wands, staves or giant dildos that are each good at different things.

The Europeans seem pretty locked into wands, but perhaps that's not the only way. Americans use staves or giant dildos because they are good at focusing a meager amount of magic into something useful, but maybe they'd be less ineffective for Europeans who wield much more magic.

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Not sure if that was directed towards me, but my idea is that ones ability to use magic is based on the region that he or she is raised during the time their magical core matures. So American wizards are weak magically because the region is largely devoid of magic, not because there parents aren't magical.

At the some time one's ability to use magic is constant no matter where you are. So Dumbledore is still really powerful in America, and an American wizard is still weak in England.

 

This phrase causes in me twitching, and an odd urge to instantly close the tab.

 

That introduces discrimination based on where you were born, which makes me wonder why (some) weak wizards wouldn't just migrate to Europe to ensure their children at least would grow up in an environment where their magic would be significantly boosted, instead of remaining in a magical wasteland.

And that was a long-ass sentence.

 

Is there really much basis to say that Voldemort would be too proud to adopt aspects of other cultures? Obviously he heavily looks down on anything non-magical, but we know that he spent a great deal of time travelling the world - or at least the rest of Europe - and I always imagined he must have spent at least some of that time immersing himself in the various different magical cultures, learning whatever he could. I never really saw him as being in anyway patriotic (not the right word, but you get what I mean?) or particularly connected to Britain, aside from his attachment to Hogwarts.

 

You could explain it by wands requiring selected materials. Growing up in highly magical areas attunes you to those materials. Growing up outside means you have to use staves since the materials they are crafted from are what you are attuned to.

 

Yes a common piece of fanon that I couldn't be arsed to rewrite yet (and probably will not)

Definitely an issue I'll have to address, and something I've already thought about a bit. I imagine it's something similar to the reason people from third world countries move to first world countries. There would be some rules or regulations for immigration in European countries.

For some reason I don't think he'd go looking for answers in a "magical wasteland," but once he learns of some interesting piece of magic he'd use it to his advantage.

I guess that's not too much of a stretch from Ollivander's selection process, but I'm not sure I'd want to go that way. I'd sort of made the assumption that there weren't an abundance of magical creatures living in the magical wasteland. A lot of the magical materials might have to be imported. Not something I've thought through entirely.

 

Seems to me your thought process is sound, Blandge, but your main idea is bad. Kill your darlings, mate. Start up a new idea and see if you do better.

 

Perhaps sound advice. I like the idea, but I can't think of a compelling plot for this at all

 

One rather original idea was already mentioned:

Immigration. People want to live in Britain so their children grow up as wand users. Lots of them want to immigrate, which could result in a backlash among the established wizards. Voldemort could use fear of immigrants instead of muggleborns to fuel his campaign. Britain could be the promised land for mages, where Magic is falling from the sky, so to speak. The social and cultural challenges resulting from that are vast. There could even be some enclaves being set up in Britain, where immigrants try to form their own magical schools and traditions, hampered by the lack of wand users among their adult numbers.
Culture clashes. Staff versus wand. People digging out "proof" that Merlin used a wand resp. a staff. Custom develops around the use and carrying of either.

 

That is also horrible. Why on earth would British wizards be better at magic than the rest of the world?
Seems like the existance of shit like Nundu's in Africa would make sure the wizards there were fucking bad-ass.

All in all, exploration is all fine. Hell, expanding on the HP universe without shattering it entirely is a good thing.

Magic seems like an universal thing. All countries have wizards. It's fair to assume people will have focused on different magic in different areas of the world. At least to some extent. But to assume one nation is vastly superior to the others... I don't know about that.

If you want exploration, I'd suggest you either have Harry and the gang travel the world in search of Voldemort's horcruxes or some other motivation to win the war.

Or you take Harry in a post-war story. You could either have him exploring the world on some dark, dangerous quest, or have him do it in a more hedonistic fashion.

It all depends on what kind of story you want to write. My advice is for you to read the Potter Laws and to stay away from anything and everything that brings you even close to bad Indy!Harry territory.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to write more on my bad Indy!Harry fic. xD

 

Either that or they're all dead.

Anyway, everyone's so focused on the America wank that they're ignoring the really obvious plot hole, which is the same in every fic where Harry "discovers" some really obvious advantage: if it were possible, other wizards would already have done it long ago. If American wizards did indeed discover some new way of using magic that produced much better spells "per unit of magic", then the rest of the world would already have adopted it. Much like the entire world uses wands in canon.

 

Why did the UK ditch flying carpets?!

 

Yea, we don't need more stories where Harry defeats Voldemort by finding a super-speshaul magic book that everyone thought was long lost that contains a spell that not only kills Voldemort but destroys all of his horcruxes at the same time.

 

On that note, what would happen, if someone would shove the main body of Voldemort through the Veil of Death?

 

From past experience, I suspect he'd die, turn into a shade, and somehow wind up in albania.

 

I suspect the heavy lobbying from the likes of Nimbus company.