Thinking about the House of Gaunt
Criticism of eugenics always come down to "inbreeding" (bc it's dysgenic)
The subtext is that dysgenic breeding is indeed a moral catastrophe, but that the eugenics is actually dysgenic (& the *only* way to breed dysgenically)
Criticism of eugenics always come down to "inbreeding" (bc it's dysgenic)
The subtext is that dysgenic breeding is indeed a moral catastrophe, but that the eugenics is actually dysgenic (& the *only* way to breed dysgenically)
My kids are going through all 7 books one chapter per night so there's gonna be some Harry Potter posting
There's also this implication of cosmic justice - the aristocrats believed in their arrogance that their blood held all the desirable qualities, so they kept it all to themselves & it rotted inside of them
But this is really only true if your pool is tiny, a handful of families
But this is really only true if your pool is tiny, a handful of families
OTOH Harry's graduating class only has like 10 kids in it, for all of England, so maybe there are only a handful
In that case, even if marrying a Muggle weakens your magic juice it's prob better than breeding a litter of wall-eyed hemophiliac schizophrenics or w/e
In that case, even if marrying a Muggle weakens your magic juice it's prob better than breeding a litter of wall-eyed hemophiliac schizophrenics or w/e
Yeah the bad guys are also clearly just dumb/wrong about exactly how wizard blood is produced
But like, obviously it matters, you can either do magic or you can't, & it runs in families, & some have more natural wizard juice than others
But like, obviously it matters, you can either do magic or you can't, & it runs in families, & some have more natural wizard juice than others
It's clearly a dominant trait: odds of a wizard producing a non-wizard are obv small (you meet like two in the series, & lots of big families that are 100% wizard)
Which further explains the good guys' laid back attitude toward exogamy, wizard blood is apparently not fragile
Which further explains the good guys' laid back attitude toward exogamy, wizard blood is apparently not fragile
If so, hard to imagine how there's still so few of them, or how they haven't conquered the muggles just by having sex with them
Maybe every couple hundred years they do a little genocidal infighting until they're back down to a couple hundred & start over
Maybe every couple hundred years they do a little genocidal infighting until they're back down to a couple hundred & start over
Anyway you're clearly supposed to view the bad guys as eugenicists but their actions don't make any sense on that basis
Instead they look more like decadent aristocrats horse-trading dysgenically to concentrate wealth & political power
Instead they look more like decadent aristocrats horse-trading dysgenically to concentrate wealth & political power
Meanwhile the good guys are following the more natural eugenics of just finding the sexiest muggle
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