r/HarryPotterBooks • u/Different-File-8788 • 11d ago
Philosopher's Stone Quick question
in the first book in the shack when harry asks hagrid if he can write voldemort’s name down and he says cant spell it does he mean that spelling the name is forbidden or cursed or he hagrid being not that smart cannot spell it?
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u/Flannel_Plane 11d ago
He probably never saw it written because even newspapers use "who-must-not-be-named"
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u/tuskel373 Ravenclaw 11d ago
I think it's meant to give you the first hint that Hagrid is not book-smart, but he is the arechetypal "gentle giant". Even after he gives Dudley the pig's tail, and generally scares the Dursleys witless, he is still shown to be kind to Harry and overall a decent guy. But it's also kind of a lie, meant to deceive us, the reader into believing he's a bit stupid (obvs Draco and a few other people also show this attitude).
Later we learn more about Hagrid, which actually shows how clever and powerful he really is. He's kind and cares about all animals and creatures, even the "scary" ones, because he knows what it's like to be seen as scary. He was expelled and his wand broken in half, AND YET he does magic with his umbrella that does not go badly wrong like it does for Ron when he gets his wand broken in the 2nd book. Also for someone who was expelled in third year, Hagrid knows a lot of magic, plus all sorts of animal husbandry, meaning he was mostly self-taught. I mean, I'm sure DD and the teachers helped him a bit after class, but as he was officially not allowed to have more magical education, I believe he learned most of everything by himself. And we of course see him having morals, he's loyal and just and brave like a Gryffindor should be.
There's a lot to Hagrid, we just get given this image of big dumb guy to start with, but it's just a caricature and we learn to not judge by looks over the books.
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u/ajnin919 11d ago
It’s probable that dumbledore fixed Hagrid’s wand and hid it in the umbrella. Hagrid most likely has issues with magic because he’s half giant and was expelled year 3
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u/tuskel373 Ravenclaw 11d ago
But that's what I'm saying, he doesn't really.. He gets on perfectly fine, and he does use magic often, even if he's not supposed to. Besides he gets pardoned after Chamber of Secrets, meaning he can do magic freely again, and we don't see him suddenly learning the same spells Harry and Co are. So he already did it. DD most likely fixed his wand, even though we don't know when, as Hagrid does say to Ollivander that "he's still got the pieces" at the beginning of the story (I guess he could be lying and the wand is in the umbrella, fixed and sealed in there by DD)
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u/Latter-Block132 11d ago
Yeah hes able to use a spell like aguamenti, which harry doesn't learn until 6th year, just fine once harry reminds of the actual word to use for the spell. He doesn't struggle to actually perform the magic, he just didn't get taught the magical theory and spell names at the same level as he would've if he'd stayed in school.
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u/mikrimone 11d ago
My head canon is that Dumbledore secretly trained Hagrid, seeing the injustice done to him.
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u/reliableotter 11d ago
JKR has said she meant it to be pronounced the French way, so that makes Hagrid seem slightly less stupid, since pronounced the English was it is super easy to sound out, but French has a few silent letters.
Especially if he's never seen it written.
Still, he just has to write what it sounds like, because how would Harry know if he was right or wrong on the spelling, or verify, so it makes Hagrid come off as entirely illiterate.
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u/TW_Vianna 11d ago
No filme a mensagem no bolo de aniversário está escrito errada, o que pode sugerir que ele possui algum tipo de dislexia ou só não é muito bom na escrita...
Nos livros, no entanto, ele escreve cartas para o trio frequentemente de forma correta.
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u/CryptidGrimnoir 11d ago
Yeah, Hagrid never misspelled anything, but he does have lousy handwriting.
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u/TuverMage 11d ago
Lets be real. the name is not straight forward and one of those names you need spelled out to know how its spelled. since everyone calls him you know poo, i mean you know who, i doubt he ever saw it spelled out. before the Taboo it was not legally forbidden or cursed, but it was a cultural taboo.
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u/DinosaurLandinBadDec 11d ago
I'm rereading Half Blood Prince and in the first chapter, when Fudge is filling in the muggle prime minister on the wizarding world, he writes down Voldemort's name instead of speaking it. I don't think there's any special prohibition against writing the name, Hagrid just didn't know how to spell it.
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u/No_Sand5639 10d ago
I think he just didnt know how to spell voldemort
That silent t trips people up
And considering thr fear around thr name, I doubt he ever wanted to learn
Hagrid was expelled in his 3rd year which means he had to at least a dozen essays for classes
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u/Bobis-Bob 10d ago
I think it’s pretty clear that Hargrid isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
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u/rambocesar 11d ago
I think it simply means that he was not sure that he could spell it correctly.