← Critical Magic Theory: An Analytical Harry Potter Podcast
Critical Magic Theory: An Analytical Harry Potter Podcast
Caretaker, Friend, Scapegoat: The Rubeus Hagrid Story
01:21:40
This is not just a story about a lovable half-giant. It is a story about the monsters society teaches us to see—and the people we discard because they fit that image. In this episode of Critical Magic Theory, Professor Julian Wamble unpacks the...
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- [00:00]
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- [00:56]
Professor Julian Womble
Welcome to Critical Magic Theory, where we deconstruct the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Because loving something doesn't mean we can't be critical of it. I'm Professor Julian Womble, and today we are going to be talking about Rubeus Hagrid. Y' all, we need a moment, a break. Oh my gosh, we have really been going through it with the messy of the messy of the messy, and frankly, we just needed a moment to come back to ourselves, to remind ourselves of the joyous times before we got into the pettigrews, the quarrels, the umbrages, the Lockharts of it all. And so here we are with our big teddy bear of a man, Rubeus Hagrid. And I'm so excited because I know that people have very strong feelings about Hagrid, some positive, some, well, not so positive. And I know that I said that, and people are like, how could you say anything negative about Hagrid? Because I know that for some of you he's your bab boy, Even though he's 12ft tall with feet the size of dolphins. But we're going to get into all of it, right? Because there are some things that we have to discuss. And fortunately, I had our virtual meetup with the Chronic Overthinkers, and they assisted in my thinking through and talking about Hagrid. And so you're going to be hearing from some of them from that meeting in today's episode as well, as well as all the things that you all brought to bear in your own response on the survey. Have you ever wondered, is it appropriate for Hagrid, a man in his mid to late 60s, to be friends with preteens and teenagers? That's something we're going to have to talk about a lot. Or can someone be a terrible teacher and still be a meaningful mentor or what does it mean to love someone who constantly puts you in danger? We are talking about all of it. But first, you know what we have to do. We have to pop. And we're doing it in three, two, one. Let's pop. We need to talk about Harry Potter. Sa I hope that you danced. I did it again. I didn't really give you a lot of time, but you knew it was coming because it's always coming at the same exact time. So if at this point you're not getting it, it's time for you to self reflect and think about your own choices in this. Welcome back, y' all. I first of all, as always, want to thank those of you who took the time to participate in the post episode chats for both the Umbridge episode and the Prof. Response episode. You all did not hold back and I am so grateful because it was so much fun and what a great thing for us to be thinking about in terms of Umbridge and just like all the messiness that she brings, but also really deep diving into kind of what makes her tick and giving her the nuance I think she deserved in the books. I also love that some of you were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying, Prof. I don't care. I do not care. I hate her. And yeah, maybe, maybe I will reflect on my hatred of her, but maybe I won't. And even if I do reflect, I'm not changing anything. Ten toes down, hills, dying me. Okay? And I love that because as you know, my goal is never to change your mind. I never need you to think what I think. I just want you to think a little bit harder and deeper about what you think. And some of you said, been there, done that. I'm nine feet under and she's with me because I hate her. And I respect that. Speaking of Patreon, back to serious business. Speaking of Patreon, if you're not on, if you haven't joined us, remember that you can. Okay for free. You can join us and be a part of our post episode chats. You can also join with a paid subscription as a chronic overthinker, a deep diver, an outstanding owl. There are all kinds of perks. Listen, chronic overthinkers, deep divers, I have decided I've come up with a kind of sub theme of bonus episodes that I've been working on and I'm gonna drop one this week and we're gonna talk about Professor Benz and the History of Magic. And I realized like, oh, you know, there are some teachers that we didn't get really get to talk about and we haven't talked about the classes at Hogwarts and what it is that they're kind of teaching the students. And so I want to start with Professor Benz because he irks me the most. And I'm really excited to spend some time diving into that, into History of Magic, what it is actually teaching these students and the dangers they're in. Okay, I'm so excited. After we spend our time with Hagrid, our next episode and our last professor before we go into our discussion of the Houses is going to be Cybil Trelawney, scheme scam woman extraordinaire. Okay, y' all, I love a mess. You know that. And I'm really obsessed with this woman because I have a lot of questions about her and I can't wait to get into it. And I know that you all have strong feelings about her. And what's crazy is just like, as much as I don't think that much about her, she plays a big part in a lot of this, in very kind of meaningful ways. And I don't know what it is. The other thing is she is also a Ravenclaw. And I'm like, what is up with these scheme scam, Ravenclaw people? Ravenclaws sound off because something is amiss. Okay. I don't know what it is. And so the survey for Trelawney will drop on Thursday. As always, there is merch. I'm cooking up some ideas. Some of you have reached out in the past. And I'm going to get back to you because we're ready. We're ready. We are ready. So you will be hearing from me in the coming weeks. I promise you that. Y' all. Before we get into Trelawney, we gotta get into Hagrid. And so the time is here. The time is now. Let's go. When I had to think about my favorite moment with Hagrid, two came up. One came up in the conversation I had with the Chronic Overthinkers on Saturday. And then I realized, okay, and I guess I'll tell you that moment. I'll tell you that moment, which is when Hagrid really gathers Ron and Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban for being bad friends to Hermione because she was simply trying to protect Harry because there was a purported murderous serial killer out for him and somehow he just magically got this broom and she was trying to be their friend and take care of it and they weren't talking to her, and she was distraught. And Hagrid was like, y' all need to be better friends to her. And I love that moment because it's one of the few moments where we actually see an adult holding them accountable for their actions. And also, it's one of the few moments, if not the only moment, where someone is actually highlighting the reality of their friendship with Hermione and the ways that they treat her really negatively. But then I thought about it even more and I realized that my favorite, favorite, favorite moment with Hagrid, one that I always get emotional about because it's just such a beautiful moment and I actually think unintentionally, is very apropos for the moment that some of us are finding ourselves in now in this world with the politics that we're navigating. And it is in Goblet of Fire, it is. Is this the last chapter? It's. I think this is the last chapter. And Haggard says, no good sitting worrying about it now. What's coming will come, and we'll meet it when it does. And I love this moment because it really does something for Harry in a moment where a lot of the adults have basically been trying to extract information out of him about what's happened in that Graveyar. When the one trusted advisor that he thought he had in Mad Eye Moody turned out to be an escaped Azkaban convict person who was actually the one who set him up when Dumbledore is literally just grilling him over and over and over and over again about what happened. What? There are so few adults in this moment that are actively trying to make sure that Harry is okay. There's Molly, of course, and then there's Hagrid. And what I also love about this is that Hagrid doesn't say, it's gonna be okay. He says, we're gonna have to deal with this, and we will as it comes. And I think that in a time like this, there's no need for lying for the sake of protection. But truth doesn't always have to be so brutal. It doesn't have to be something that is just so terse. It can be something that says, the truth is, is that, yeah, this sucks. And we will navigate it together and we will figure it out when we have to. And I don't know, y' all, there's something really beautiful about that. And I just love that it came from Hagrid. And I also love. Because, to me, I think it really encapsulates who Hagrid is. We spent a Lot of time talking about the notion of Hagrid and his kind of imperviousness, right? Like the fact that his skin is built different because he's part giant and so, you know, spells don't necessarily hit him as hard and that there's just this kind of way that he is. He operates. And some of it I don't love, some of it, I think, makes him a little bit callous. Some of it makes him, I think, a little bit naive and a little bit unaware of, you know, the way his actions affect other people. But I think some of it also invites, like, he invites people into that level of not even imperviousness, but just kind of, let's not wallow in places we don't need to wallow. We will keep moving forward. And I also think it encapsulates a lot of who Hagrid is because that's what he's had to do, Right? Like, we're talking about someone who's dealt with a lot of trauma as a child and a lot of secrecy as an adult. And he has had to weather a lot of storms, both external and internal. And I think the way that he manages it, and we'll talk about this a little bit as the episode progresses, the way that he manages it is to just keep moving forward and recognizing that he has support in places and spaces that is meaningful. And I think that there's something so empowering about that. I think there are moments, of course, where it's like, actually, we need to sit in this, but. And I think there's something about, you know, sitting in grief and maybe Harry needed a little bit of time, you know, that he never was able to get. But I also do think that the invitation to recognize that we can't stay in those places and that the only way to move forward is to take it one step at a time. And that if you can do that with people who care and love you, then this makes it better. And that, to me, is what Hagrid represents for Harry, even for Ron and Hermione as well. A constant reminder that, you know, moving forward with people supporting you matters and can get you through really, really hard times.
- [13:29]
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- [14:44]
Professor Julian Womble
When I asked you what word best describes Hagrid, the top three were loyal, kind and caring. Oh, that's why I'm so glad that we have this Hagrid episode right now. We need it. Life is hard, things are happening and I just feel like the invocation of loyalty, kindness and caring is just so needed right now. And I think that they really do encapsulate so much of who Hagrid is and what I love about this. And I don't think that we. And there's a lot of things that we will be talking about in this episode and there's going to be a lot of critical thinking and criticism of Hagrid and I think all of it is warranted. But one thing that I think is true is that Hagrid has no reason to be loyal. I mean he can. He has a reason to be loyal to Dumbledore. He has no reason to be kind and caring in a world that has done him so dirty. The reality is, is that Hagrid was falsely accused of a crime. He had his wand, his totem, his. The one thing that made him more than just a big person, a thing that really allowed him to be a part of a society that would not accept half of him. It was snapped in half, it was destroyed and he was given pieces of it. You know how cruel that is to say, hey, here's your. Here's a thing that we have used as a means by which to determine one's belonging in the space in pieces. And you are a child, a 13 year old child and this is what you get. And yeah, like, you can't leave our world. You can't go live out as a muggle. You're 12ft tall, but you are now a child. We have no other system to support you. Fingers crossed. God bless. And I really do think that there's something about the magic of Hagrid and his ability to still find in himself despite all of that, that loyalty, that kindness, that caringness, caringness, we're going with it. It's happening because I don't think that he needs to be any of those things. I think he could be Jaded, he could be afraid, he could be angry and all of that would be justified, all of that would be reasonable because the wizarding world treated him terribly. And I mean he is constantly called an oaf, he's constantly called stupid. He's all of these things which knowing what we know are absolutely like macro microaggressions, okay? And yet he still cares so deeply. He still is so loyal to Harry, so loyal to Dumbledore. He is so kind to everyone and does whatever he feels he can do for the people that he cares about. And I don't know, there's something about that that I think feels miraculous to me given everything that he went through at such a young age. I think it's also something that reminds me of Harry as well, who's another one who. I'm always so surprised at how well adjusted he is given everything that he had to navigate at the Dursleys, all the abuse that he underwent before he found out he was famous. And so it's a beautiful thing when you can be someone like Hagrid who lives in the body that he lives in and can still find a way to be loyal, to be kind, to be caring for this episode's arithmancy Lesson we had 550 responses for the first question. Is Hagrid a good person? We had 96% of people saying yes, 1% saying no and 3% saying don't know. Someone wrote hagrid is a good person. He reminds me a lot of people I know. Kind, loving, a little reckless, but never malicious. Another person wrote, he's got a heart of gold and a head full of chaos. Good, yes. Responsible no. Another person wrote, being good isn't the same as being safe. Hagrid caused real harm even if he didn't mean to. That has to count for something. And another person wrote, he means well in everything he does and I don't think we give him enough credit or we don't give enough credit to that. In a world full of people who don't. I think we would be remiss to not say that Hagrid is a good person. I feel like it's a fairly self evident thing insofar that his intentions are always right for the most part even if the execution is a little, for lack of a better term, janky. I think that Hagrid works so hard to be the best version of himself. I think that there are some things that don't quite add up sometimes and they are not always like the best. However, I think the intention is always there to do good. And I think the other thing is, you know, there are a lot of people who want to do good but don't have the tools to do good. And I feel like we tend to make an assumption that like, you know, people always say it doesn't cost anything to be kind. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it's expensive as heck to be kind in certain contexts. And sometimes being good is hard and being good and doing good are two different things. And you can want to do both, but sometimes only have the capacity to do one. And I think that sometimes when we look at Hagrid, we see that reality made manifest. And in my conversation with the chronic overthinkers, I'm just taking out a couple of snippets. The first is going to be from Kawan, who talks a little bit about some of the things from Hagrid that make him uncomfortable. And then we get the perspective of Eric, who shares something that I think is a reality that many of us also feel is true for Hagrid, particularly as it pertains to his relationship with Harry. So let's listen in.
- [21:29]
Kawan
All right, so I think in general, like, generally speaking, Hagrid is a good person, right? But even when I first started watching the movies and I read the book canonically, I think it's supposed to be like in this 80s or something like that somewhere around there. So I've always had an issue with an 80 year old man being friends with 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 year old. That's a bit weird to me. And then heck, Rich has a way of coming off as this child. So like there's a bit of infantilization of him. He's a, a huge contradiction of a character and I never really knew what to make of him. Like as a kid I was like, oh, he's defending Harry when he put that pigtail on Dudley. But it's like you're a grown man, that's like punching a kid in the face. Like, what do you. That's weird to.
- [22:39]
Eric
I think Hagrid is probably the only adult Harry interacts with that loves him unconditionally regardless, independent of anything else.
- [22:51]
Professor Julian Womble
Right?
- [22:52]
Eric
Like Sirius and Lupin are really attached to him because he's James's son and Molly because he's Ron's best friend.
- [22:58]
Professor Julian Womble
Right?
- [22:59]
Eric
Like there's, there's like all these other things and like Hagrid just loves Harry. Like he, he will do anything for the kid. He really is like this almost like a guardian angel type of, type of figure for Harry, right? Like, he's very. And that's a very important thing that Harry never had, right? Hagrid is Harry's first friend ever. And I think that's really important to acknowledge. But boy is tms. Like, it's. He's a loyal soldier, which is great, right? Like, every army needs loyal soldiers. He's also wildly brave. Like, I'm just going to go punch Aurors in the face. Like, when Umbridge comes to arrest him, he literally knocks dollar shout and throws him across the grounds. Because Dalish is apparently the most incompetent or. Or least lucky or in existence. Because he always seems to be the one that gets dunked down. And I just. It's hilarious to me. He's definitely a terrible teacher.
- [23:57]
Professor Julian Womble
Now, listen, y' all, I have to say this. I have to say it. I agree with Kawan. It is off putting to me that this big grown man is friends with Harry and Ron and Hermione. And I know that, you know, there are a lot of people who love that relationship. And I think the relationship is beautiful. It's not. Not off putting, though, when you really realize that Hagrid is definitely in his mid to late 60s. When you think about the fact that he is only slightly younger than Voldemort, like, it puts things into perspective. And I think that one of the things that Kawan brought up in the broader conversation was the kind of infantilization of Hagrid and the way that we tend to see him as being much younger because he's so emotionally immature. All of that can be true. He's still an adult, though, y' all. And then he's an adult that becomes a teacher. I mean, and even before he becomes a teacher, he's an employee at Hogwarts. And so, yes, like, there are arguments and discussions to be had surrounding arrested development and the trauma and how he may not have, like, necessarily matured all the way to a place that operates how we understand adults to operate. That does not change his actual age. Like, this isn't one of those, like, age is nothing but a number of moments for me. It also doesn't change the position of power that he is in, even if just as gamekeeper of the castle and an adult person over children who are like 11 when he meets them. I know he meets Harry in a very different capacity. And I love the relationship. I do not know that I would describe the relationship as friendship, though. It just feels not quite right to me. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. When we talk about Hagrid as a teacher. But I do think that one of the big things you learn as an adult is boundaries. And we don't see Haggard have this relationship with any of these other students, which means that he has some conception of it, right? Like he's not piling around, piling around, piling around. Anyways, you know what I meant? Stop it. Geez, you guys are so mean to me. We don't see him treating the other students the same way as he does the Golden Trio, which also gives me pause. And I think we have to contextualize his relationship within the broader context of the way he treats and engages with other students. And there's something to it that I think is not quite all the way right. Bars. And I'm not. I'm not mad at that particular calling out. And I don't think that that negates him being a good person. I do think, though, that it invites us to think a little bit deeper as we think about kind of the messiness of Hagrid. On the flip side, I think Eric's invocation of his true, unadulterated love for Harry, I think that's such an important part of who Hagrid is. And yes, I still will maintain that, like, part of me doesn't love it from an ethical standpoint because I'm like, yeah, but when I was in school, like, if your parent was a teacher at our school, you could not be in that class with your parent. Because, like, it's just not right. It's a conflict of interest on a number of dimensions. And don't get me wrong, I love that Harry has this. I love that Harry has someone in his life who is so. For him, for protecting him, for making sure he has what he needs. He's so devoid of that. And someone who wants Harry to thrive in ways that are not necessarily connected to his destiny. Right. I think that that is so important. I also, though simultaneously, concurrently, and feel that that person. I wish. I wish in an ideal world, I wish that that person was not someone who then had to teach Harry. I wish that that was someone who wasn't connected to Harry in an official capacity. And we can't always get what we want. Okay. And so, yes, I can hold in conversation the reality that I'm so glad that Harry has a Hagrid and that he has Hagrid in his life, and I wish that it didn't look the way that it does, but I'm glad that he is there for him because he needs him. And I can also reconcile the reality that, like, yeah, and also maybe, though it is a little weird and I think, you know, some of us may say, well, you know, Hagrid has much more of an avuncular kind of relationship with Harry. I love that. I really, really do. It is not lost on me, though, that he is someone who works at the school and there are moments where he crosses the boundaries of that relationship and moves in ways that I'm like. But none of that negates the fact that Hagrid is a good person. You guys got me so distracted and wrapped around, I forgot what question this was. Geez Louise.
- [29:34]
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- [30:43]
Professor Julian Womble
The next question is, is Hagrid a good Gryffindor? 82% of us said yes, 8% said no, and about 11% said don't know. Someone wrote. He's brave in the way that matters. He risks everything to protect the people he loves. That's Gryffindor to me. Someone else wrote Honestly, he's more of a Hufflepuff, loyal to a fault, emotionally driven, and not particularly courageous unless someone he loves is in trouble. Someone else wrote, he embodies Gryffindor values just in a messier, less polished way. He's the grit and the heart of the house. I love that. And I want you to know that there are other people here's looking at you, Kawan, who who are also making hard arguments for him being a Hufflepuff. And so all the puffs out there just know that you are not alone in seeing yourselves in Hagrid. And I think that that's one of the beautiful things about some of these characters, particularly those of them who kind of live in the liminal space between some of the houses. And also a beautiful reminder of the reality that, like, you know, some of These traits are not solely defined or confined to the houses that these individuals are in. I think that Haggard is a good Gryffindor, and I want to take us into a couple moments that are not necessarily like him fighting, but going back to see the dragons. The dragons? Good Lord, no. He would love that. Going back and seeing the giants and having to return to a place that I don't really think he has any memories of, you know, learning customs and reminding himself of these things. And that's brave, y' all. Namely because you were undoubtedly, like, removed from that space for one reason or another. We know that the way that they treat Grop, or the way that he believes they would treat Grop because of his size would mean that he would have been treated even worse because he's smaller than groping. And to go there as part giant while also clearly identifying with your wizard heritage is a really brave thing to do. Knowing how they feel about wizards, I think the moment where he kind of is talking to Madame Maxime and saying words to her that I'm sure he's never said to another person out loud about who he is and about his idea, that's brave. For someone who's been passing his whole existence as a magical person who's just large, to be sitting with someone without actually knowing how they identify and sharing this part of yourself with them under the auspices that they will understand because you all are similar in kind is a really, really brave thing to do. It makes me think of, you know, during the early 20th century, during kind of the height of segregation, individuals who could pass for white would have to leave their whole families behind and not come back to them. And they could never let anyone know who they truly were, because if it was found out, they would be in trouble and, like, innumerable horrors would probably occur. And so they'd just have to leave. And so I see Haggard this way, right? As someone who spent the vast majority of his life not acknowledging purposefully because of the stigma against giants, not acknowledging his half giant ness. And so then to sit down and talk to her and share this with her is a very brave, brave, brave act. And so I think that while yes, he's messy, and, yes, he lacks polish and he lacks sheen, Hagrid is someone who. Who engages in really, really brave behavior. And I think, yes, he is loyal. I think that we can find loyalty in all of the houses. But I think that his loyalty hits for me because he's willing to allow it to propel him to do brave things, right? Like his Loyalty to Dumbledore is the reason why he traveled by foot to go and find the giants and try to parlay with them. You know, I think he operates from such a loyal space. I don't know that I could have come back to hogwarts even at 13 years old after being kicked out for killing or being accused of killing a girl. And then also, like, going in and that ghost is still in that castle. She's still there. And even though I know I didn't do it like everyone else thinks that I might have done it like that's so difficult to do. And he's there, he's still taking care of these kids, you know. And I think when we look at someone like Argus Filch, for example who also is kind of made to be somewhat of a pariah in the castle and the way that he treats students after being mistreated or feeling inferior because of his own inability to perform magic we can see how Hagrid could have been resentful, jaded, angry, malicious, vindictive. And he's none of those things. And there is a bravery in recognizing your truth and still operating with integrity and love. And that's on top of all the other things. That's on top of fighting the Death Eaters. That's on top of all the things that he does at we would conceptualize as being brave in a more traditional sense. And so I wanted to bring some other things because I do think that he does truly embody a lot of the beautiful things of what bravery can look like. And I think it reminds me of our conversation about Neville as well. Right. That sometimes when we think about bravery and I think we're conditioned in many ways in these books to think about this. And I'm excited for us to unpack this when we talk about this in our House episodes because I think there's a way that we are conditioned to understand what bravery looks like. And part of that conditioning is because of what's rewarded in these books. And it's all about the self sacrifice. And it's all about engaging in things that could potentially get you killed and the intention behind those things. And I don't want to take anything away from that. But I also do think think that self sacrifice can come in the form of showing up every day in a school that kicked you out with a pink umbrella that holds the pieces of your totem in this particular world and still showing up and being someone who is dependable and loving.
- [37:36]
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- [38:41]
Professor Julian Womble
Is Hagrid a good half blood slash, half giant? 67% of us said yes, about 11% of us said no, and about 22% of us said don't know. Someone wrote, he doesn't hide who he is. That kind of pride and identity, especially when people tell you to be ashamed, is powerful. Someone else wrote, I said no because he doesn't engage with that part of himself. It's there, but not something he ever explores or reflects on. Another person wrote, he's a good representative in the sense that he never gives in to the shame others try to place on him. He just keeps going. And you see, that's what I talked about at the beginning. That's called a callback in the bizarre. You know, this is an interesting question and I really had to think about it a lot because, you know, we have our two paradigms about how we understand what it means to be a good half blood. And I think a lot of people were a little bit not as enthused about thinking through Hagrid through the lens of half bloodedness because he is part giant. But then other people said, you know, when I brought this up, other people said, well, what else would he be, right? Like we don't. I mean, other than what he's called by Umbridge, which is like, you know, part human, his blood is mixed and so and I think that there's something to that as well. But you know, when I think about the two paradigms that we have, you know, the first obviously is does he seek to bridge the gap between giants and and magical people? And I think this is an interesting one because I would say not on purpose. Like I think we ultimately do see him try to do that once he is tasked with that, when Dumbledore tells him he needs to go parlay with the giants. But other than that, this is not something he seeks to do. And I think that there's a very specific reason as to why he doesn't do that. I think he wants to live a life as someone who is a full on wizard without giant heritage. But I also think it's harder for him because he can't hide his size. And so what does that then mean when your identity and the outward manifestation of it makes you clearly not like everyone else? And what do you do about that? And, and then that brings us to the second piece of our kind of thinking through this in the second paradigm that we can operate in which is, you know, is he upholding the system and is he a good half blood because of that? And on that one I say absolutely. I think when we look at Hagrid, we are able to see someone who was socialized as a wizard who holds the same biases and stigmas about other creatures like centaurs, like wizards. He has a sense of entitlement. Like wizards. He operates from a very specific place and it is not the place of someone who is marginalized because part of their identity is attached to a stigmatized group. Like that's not how Hagrid operates. He doesn't operate as if he's trying to hide the fact that he's part giant because I think he's full on accepted that everyone either has like made up a story about it or it's giving don't ask, don't tell. But also in his performance as a magical person, he holds all of the like really terrible. He calls Filch a squib all the time, as if like he's able to perform magic like any of these other people. Like, dude, that's terrible. He literally talks about centaurs, terrible, calling them nags. He spends a considerable amount of time like really adopting a lot of these really negative things. And even when Hermione comes to him kind of as someone who's like, you're a creature enthusiast, you have a lot of compassion for them. And, and she's talking to him about house elves and he's like, girl, let them be what they are. You'd be doing them an unkindness by trying to get them to not work. It's so clear that he has a very particular belief structure that is fully informed by the wizarding hierarchy. And despite his identity as a part giant, he is not impervious, pun intended, from the social conditioning that he's undergone. And in fact, he may be leaning into it more as a way to deflect from questions and inquiries about his identity and so when I think about whether or not Hagrid is a good half blood, I think yes. I think yes, because I think there is something to be said about him upholding the system. And it's not lost on me that he's upholding a system that has treated him unfairly. And yet he's operating as if he still has so much to prove as to his belonging in that particular societal structure. And I think it's intentional. And maybe he doesn't do it on purpose, but I think it's intentional on the part of society to basically make him feel like he has to do that. And yeah, I think he's a great half blood, half giant person because I think so much of his behavior is born out of a desire to make it so that people think he belongs, even though everything about his physical appearance suggests that he doesn't. And so he overcompensates and he goes so hard to make sure that people feel like he's one of them. And that's how systems remain. That's how they stay propped up. And I think the example with Hermione and the House of is a great one about the things that he's bought into and what that means for who he is and how he navigates these identities. And the fact that you could know that you are a half giant and still have negative things to say about other creatures shows us exactly how you come to understand who you are as a person and how you operate. And that is with an understanding of yourself as a wizard man. And, yeah, that, I think, shows how effective wizarding socialization is, even for people who have been made to feel like they don't belong. Is Hagrid a good teacher? About 22% of us said yes, 67% of us said no, and about 11% said don't. No. Someone wrote, he is passionate and knowledgeable, but being a good teacher means knowing how to teach. That's not something he's ever learned. Someone else wrote hagrid would make a great one on one mentor or a magical naturalist, but a classroom teacher? Absolutely not. Another person wrote, he loves creatures, he loves the students. But love alone doesn't keep a hippogriff from slashing a kid's arm. Well, another person wrote he teaches based on what he finds interesting. Did I say another teacher wrote. I meant to say another person wrote. Another person wrote he teaches based on what he finds exciting, not what's developmentally appropriate or safe. Here's the thing, y' all. You know what? Before I even get into what the thing is, I have two comments that I want to share from my conversation with the chronic corporate thinkers. One is from Salma and one is from Rachel. Let's listen in.
- [47:06]
Salma
I think he was an okay student teacher. Absolutely not. And I also bet all the other teachers did not like that hag was upon the teaching staff because you always have that teacher that's a bit too close to students and students are like why don't you like Hagrid, Ms. McGonagall? Why can't you just be chill like Hagrid? I was like well because I'm doing my job and I'm putting boundaries in instead of letting students get injured like Jacob Malfoy. Because that's, I'm sorry. Even though we don't like the Malfoys. That was a reasonable complaint. My child got injured in a lesson. My child got injured in a lesson. Why is this person still teaching? So sorry Hagrid, I love you but no. And also and then when he did get reprimanded he then autocorrect and just made the lesson really boring. So it's kind of like what has happened there. So he's just not a good teacher. He's way too close to the kids. And I think as a kid I love Hagrid because oh I wish I had a teacher like that. But now looking back I was like very, very problematic.
- [48:05]
Rachel
Oh has to do with Hagrid as a teacher like being a good teacher or not. And overall like I do not think he's a good teacher in the academic sense standard but if you think about like who the best teacher was in your life or what really stuck with you from them it probably wasn't something academic and, and maybe it was like I would, I would love if something one of my former students remembered most for me was the Pythagorean theorem. It's probably not but Hagrid really teaches Harry so much about like friendship and loyalty. Like one of the only times that Harry and I think Ron to really feel bad about like how they treat Hermione is when Hagrid says like you need to take like you need to think more about your friends.
- [48:59]
Professor Julian Womble
And.
- [49:01]
Rachel
So I don't know like I think and others have said this too like he loves Harry so much and Harry knows that and feels that and I think that's why some of Hagrid's non academic lessons have stuck more like with Harry and probably some of the other kids as well.
- [49:20]
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- [50:18]
Professor Julian Womble
Okay, so here's the thing, right? Like at the end of the day, Hagrid not being a good teacher is really on Dumbledore. And I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about Dumbledore because he has his own set of episodes that we're going to talk about. But at the end of the day, Hagrid, having a knowledge about creatures does not make you a good teacher. Bars because I know a lot of things, but I am an expert in one thing. And what's more is you have to learn how to teach people. Like, knowing things is not enough to make you someone who can disseminate the things that you know. And I learned that when I was in graduate school and getting my PhD and it was time for us to go and start being teaching assistants, which meant that we had to like go in and teach classes for or sections of classes for the professor of note. And I didn't know what the heck I was doing, right? I had learned things in theory, right? But I had never learned how to tell students how to do it. And one of the things that many of my friends who teach in secondary school are often asking me is like, well, you know, didn't you have to take classes to become like certified in teaching? And I'm like, no, my certification was my degree. And I don't say that to be like, of course I can teach. No, I say that to say, like, we never learned about pedagogy. We never learned about, you know, what it was to have to make this stuff that I spend all this time thinking about accessible to students. How do you go about navigating that? We don't learn any of that. Some people are just really good at it. Naturally, I went to a small liberal arts school where teaching was paramount. And so I had a lot of really, really good teaching professors who I learned from by just emulating them and then modifying that emulation. But at the end of the day, my knowledge that I have from the degree that I earned has nothing to do with my ability to teach people this stuff, right? And so Hagrid knowing about creatures is not the same thing as him being able to teach students about it. And so, yeah, how could he be a good teacher? He doesn't have the skill set. And the other thing is that he has a penchant for danger because he has a level of imperviousness to a lot of the things that creatures bring to bear, namely, like claws and bites. Like, when we think about the fact that Ron got bit by that dragon and obviously it was venomous, and Hagrid had been with that dragon and probably didn't experience any of that, because even though he can get beat up and get bloodied and bruised, it doesn't hit the same. Literally, it doesn't bite the same. And I feel like we are not giving credence to that reality either. And also, like someone wrote in the comments, right, Like, Hagrid is teaching the stuff that he cares about, not necessarily the things that they need to know. So there's no kind of like, goal. It's just like, here's the cool stuff. Here are the things that are going to make you like me, right? So here's Nifflers, or here are. And it's like, there's very little actual instruction. And I don't know, there's something to that. I think, you know, I'm not gonna. I know I went on a whole tirade about how, you know, I never said Umbridge was a good teacher, but I feel like someone's gonna write in the comments, like, how could you say that he's a worse teacher than Umbridge? I didn't say that. I never said that. Check the records. I never said that. I do think, though, that Hagrid does not have the skill set to be able to. Like, when we talk about teachers, particularly at the secondary education level, classes like workshops, you know, like, everything is so monitored, everything is so observed, and they have to figure out ways to appeal to and teach students things that are so far, potentially beyond the scope of what it is that they actually enjoy. Like, you have to find joy in the things that you're teaching when you're teaching at that level, because you don't get to pick and choose. And Hagrid is picking and choosing. And I think Selma brings up a great point about what the other teachers must have been thinking about. When one haggard got the job. But also other students are coming in and potentially being like, oh, that was so much fun. We got to hang out with Nifflers today. And it's like, yeah, for what? And so I don't know. I think Hagrid's not being a good teacher is the byproduct of a systemic failure yet again where it's like, okay, so why was he hired in the first place? Like, what was this meant to do? And then the other problem is, is that Hagrid has no sense of what is appropriate, what is age appropriate. There is no reason at all whatsoever that he should have had a hippogriff be the first thing that he brought to bear in that class for those 13 year olds because it requires a level of discipline to engage with the hippogriff. And they're 13. Like, what happened to Malfoy should not have happened. And we talk a lot about, you know, Malfoy's in Mass and da, da, da, da. And of course, yes, I know he didn't, he didn't follow the rules, but he's 13. It's an excuse you all use for a lot of things for a lot of these characters. He's 13 years old. Of course he didn't follow the rules. Of course he didn't follow the instructions. He's 13 and he's an entitled disaster. Like, yeah, you have to be mindful of your audience. And Hagrid wasn't and paid the price for it. And he's irresponsible because Hagrid likes dangerous things because he gets to not have to worry about them because he's so big and impervious. And I said this in the conversation on Saturday with the Chronic Overthinkers. You know, Hagrid is one of those people who is like, oh, well, you know, Aragog is nice to me. So he's nice. So I'll send you into the forest to go and talk to him, Ron and Harry, to get answers with the belief that if he's nice to me, he'll be nice to you. Who said that? Who said that? Who said that? Aragog said, you are not Hagrid. It's time to eat. And I think that because of Hagrid's relationship with a lot of these creatures being very personal, he forgets that, like, he is him and other people are not. And I think that that's really, really important. And it's a problem when you are teaching students a thing because you have to leave your own perspective in order to recognize what they know and don't know. And it's like when I was telling you all about that vocal teacher who like I asked him to teach me something and because he couldn't do it, he told me I didn't need to learn it. When you use yourself as a pedagogical benchmark for what your students need to know, you are harming your students. And so I think that this is another thing. And so like there are other, you know, other things that we can kind of critique Hagrid about when it comes to teaching. But I think at the end of, at the root of it, right, he is just someone who's ill equipped on a number of dimensions. And some of that is the byproduct of he shouldn't have been hired in the first place. Is Hagrid a hero? 74% of us said yes, about 14% of us said no and about 13% of us said don't know. Someone wrote, he's not a flashy hero. He's not on the battlefield with spells flying, but he shows up again and again and that's what matters. Someone else wrote, I think of Hagrid as a wartime veteran, someone who's seen it all, lost people and still chooses to show up with love. That's heroic. And another person wrote, no, he's loyal and brave, but a hero. I think that word should be reserved for people who don't constantly put others at risk. Oof. Okay, tough crowd. You know, Hagrid is in the thick of it. He plays a really big part in the Battle of Hogwarts, which tends to be the thing that we use as our barometer for whether or not someone is a hero in these books. Right. When we've talked about other characters, we've asked, you know, were they in the Battle of Hogwarts and did they fight? And that tends to be the thing. And we know he was there. We saw him running after Death Eaters, punching Death Eaters, throwing himself out of windows, you know, just being very, very hands on. We know that he was the one who had to carry Harry's body to the site in the Great hall once. Harry died the first time. Yes, the first time he's there. Hagrid is there. And so, you know, I think when we think about whether or not what he did is enough to be called a hero, I think so, you know, I mean he has played such a big part in so many of these things and yeah, he's been a bit messy and he's but at the end of the day, he fought the good fight. And sure, there are moments outside of the Battle of Hogwarts where he did put people in danger. There's no denying that. But frankly, so did Dumbledore. And are we gonna say that he's not a hero?
- [60:16]
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- [61:12]
Professor Julian Womble
You know what? I'm just going to leave it right there. Is Hagrid a good friend? 88% of us said yes, 5% of us said no, and about 7% of us said don't. No. Someone wrote, he's the kind of friend who will always open his door to you, even when it's raining, even when he's in trouble. Someone wrote, hagrid is the friend who loves hard but doesn't always act with foresight. It's heartfelt, but not always healthy. He's the only adult in Harry's life. This is another quote, by the way. He's the only adult in Harry's life who consistently chose him. That has to count for something. And someone else wrote, a good friend, Yes, a safe friend. Not always. But sometimes love is messy. Isn't that the truth? Here's the thing. Hagrid is that friend that you know that you can count on. But every so often you get that call from them and you're like, I just know this is gonna be mess. And you show up for them and you're like, ugh, what? Like this was preventable. But here's the thing, and this is a gripe that I have to put out into the world. I have to. And I know that I've already said that I don't like the fact that, you know, this grown man is friends with preteens. And here's why. Because there's nothing worse than a friend who can't be held accountable. And especially when we're talking about a massive, like, multi generational age gap at work here. If you are going to have friends that are adults. I am currently an adult person, yes. But I have friends that are significantly older than me. And I think that there is a way that, like, it's supposed to work. Number one, I just feel like. And I have to say this, I have to get it off my chest when Hagrid got that dragon and literally was just, like, too overwhelmed with emotion to be able to navigate handling that dragon and getting it someplace where it should actually be. And the task fell to children and those children got caught and Those children lost 150 points from Gryffindor. And instead of being like, hey, you, that's my fault. Like, I did that. You don't deserve that. I should have. I had the dragon. He just sat there, y' all. Here's the thing. If Hagrid was their age, we would be livid about it. We would be so mad because, like, what. What do you mean? You're a grown person. And I think that he just lacks accountability. Like, if we're gonna accept that he's friends with the Golden Trio and we have to. We can talk about whether or not we think it's good that he's friends with them, whether or not his friendship is, like, healthy for them. But the reality is he is friends with them. But is he a good friend to them? He can be. He can be. He can also be a burdensome friend. He's like that friend who you've known for a very long time and you know that they will always be your friend. But at a certain point, you also have to realize, like, the toxicity of it all. And you're just like, ah, I love you so much, babe. Also, though, like, we've got to either talk about some boundaries or we've got to figure some things out. And here's where I think his age matters. Because I don't know that the trio necessarily feel as comfortable as they should if they were friends being like, hey, this isn't. We can't live like this. This is an absolute, complete and utter disaster. And I don't know that they feel that they are empowered to do that because he's older. And I think that that power imbalance, even within the guise of a friendship, outside of his role at Hogwarts, is a really big problem for me. It's a really big problem. I think he loves and supports them and is there for them, you know, sometimes. But also, not only is he constantly putting them in danger, but he's also putting them in situations that are simply bad for them developmentally, interpersonally. Like, why are they the ones having to be the emotional, like, conduits for your inability to navigate things? I know he's got trauma. I don't want to take that away from him. But they are also children. And, like, if. If they were all the same age, we would be like, that's not a good friend. And the fact that he is an adult that is engaging in this kind of behavior. And look, y' all, I know that some of us are, you know, probably gonna make a claim about neurodivergence. There's nothing in these books that gives us a sense that that is true. There are people who make negative comments about him and his mental aptitude. I'm not taking that to mean neurodivergent. Feels to me offensive to people who are neurodivergent that, like, somehow those insults are something that's akin to being neurodivergent. So I'm not taking that as canonical evidence. All I'm saying is that we don't have any evidence in these books that that's a thing. And so I'm not running with that as the through line for why Hagrid behaves. The way that he does that for me is just not it. So he is an adult person who is making decisions about how to engage. And I get. Again, I don't want to minimize the trauma, but I also do want to highlight the fact that there are many moments where it's like, oh, you do have the wherewithal to recognize that Ron and Harry are treating Hermione negatively, but you don't have the wherewithal to realize that you probably shouldn't be blackout drunk in front of them to the point where Hermione is having to go and, like, parent you and get the bottles of whatever liquor you're drinking and, like, collect them and, like, put them someplace else. Like, dude, if he. Like, this is where it gets weird for me. And I don't necessarily understand how or why J.K. rowling, who is all about promoting the protection of women and children and this and that, innocent parties who, you know, have no means by which to be able to protect themselves. As far as she's concerned, how she. Who is also, like, dangerously afraid of all sorts of things befalling individuals, how is she okay with this relationship being what it is? Because if we saw this dynamic out in the street, and I'm not talking about, like, familial Right. Like, Hagrid's not operating like a grandpa. He's not operating like a responsible adult in these children's lives. And so, yes, they are friends and yes, he has the capacity to be a good friend to them on occasion, but on the whole, when he's putting them in these situations, some of it is a little, mm, mm, I don't know. And again, I can reconcile his love for Harry, mostly because I'm like, harry is a child, but I can look at Hagrid and say, if I had you as a friend, as an adult, we're fighting. Probably not fighting because you're, you know, 12ft tall, but we're not going to be that good of friends. And so I think the question that we have to grapple with is, is he a good friend? Because 88% of us said, yes. Is he a good friend because he's older? Because, like, if he was a child behaving this way, we wouldn't accept it. If they were adults and that dynamic was existing, we wouldn't say that. And. Or is it because of the love that he so clearly has for Harry that we're willing to forgive him of his transgressions? And if that's the case, then I have a long list of a bunch of characters that y' all have been dragging through the mud left and right. Right. That probably deserve to be revisited. I say what I said. I know this is going to cause some chaos. Meet me in the post episode chat. We have now reached the point in the episode where I am going to reflect on Hagrid. I beta tested a little bit of this reflection with the Chronic overthinkers and they were just as, like, shook as I was as I was thinking through this whole thing and my brain was moving at a thousand miles a minute and so I can't wait to share this with you. The question that motivated this reflection is, did Cornelius Fudge and the magical powers that be already know that Hagrid was a half giant before Rita Skeeter wrote the article? Now, before those of you scream, no, of course not, just, just go with me. When I think about identity in the wizarding world, how it functions, how it reveals itself, I'm really, really struck by how hidden it is. Right. Blood, status, ancestry, parentage, all of those things are tracked through old family trees, private declarations, but there's nothing legible about it, like, you don't know it when you see it. But being half giant, though, that's a different kind of inheritance. That's not something you can conceal with manners or a clever disguise or a locket with an S on it. And then you tell everyone you're pure blood. Right? Like you being a half giant is something that is announced the moment that you kind of tumble into the room that is made way too small for you. It's a different kind of visibility and it's a different kind of vulnerability and it's something that people are going to notice after the article breaks, we see how quickly people are like, oh, well, I just figured, enter explanation here. Or I thought something must have happened to him. Enter something here. Even Hermione says that she assumed he must have had some kind of unusual ancestry because he was just so big. So the truth is that it really wasn't a secret necessarily. It was an unspoken understanding of sorts. People had already created stories to explain his existence and those stories weren't neutral. They were rooted, I would say, in a deeper magical prejudice, one that we don't talk about enough. It's not blood purity or anti Muggle sentiment, but the line between human and non human, the hierarchy of personhood. And we don't really even see this, really, until Umbridge comes and we see her operate with a specific kind of understanding of what it means to be half giant. We get a little bit of it right once the story breaks. In Goblet of Fire, we see Ron's reaction, we see Draco's reaction. But overall it feels fairly innocuous because the people who are bigoted are the people we would expect to be bigoted. But when your body straddles that line, when your size, your parentage, your presence unsettles people's categories, that uncertainty becomes suspicion and that suspicion becomes justification. And part of what makes Hagrid such an easy target, what makes it so easy to misread him, is not just his body, it's his behavior. From the time that Haggard was a student, he was getting in trouble for his obsession with dangerous magical creatures, for raising beasts that were too big and too dangerous and too unpredictable for his constant desire to care for the very things the rest of the world feared. And if you know him, if you truly, truly understand him, you realize that all of this comes from a place of love, care, loyalty, tenderness. It's a reflection of who he is. Someone who sees value where others see threat. Someone who makes room for beings and creatures in a world that so quickly discards all of them. But if you do not take the time to understand him, if you only see the surface, then it becomes easy to assume the worst. It's easy to say that he's reckless, that he's a danger to others, that he doesn't know his place. And when that assumption meets a body, a physical appearance, an aesthetic like Hagrid's it reinforces every bias the world already carries. That's why it's so easy for Tom Riddle to accuse him of opening the Chamber of Secrets. Because the story was already half written, right? If people already had an understanding or an assumption or a belief that it's possible that he could be part giant. And if giants are violent if half breeds, as they're called, are unstable if Hagrid is one of them, then of course he did it. Of course he did it. Feels true, even if it isn't. Prejudice does all the groundwork. All Tommy Rhydz had to do was name him. And even after exonerated, after Dumbledore vouches for him he never gets his wand back. He never finished school. He's allowed to live and work at Hogwarts but only in a contained role. Always watched, always limited. Because when you live in a body the world has marked as dangerous innocence is never enough. And the proof of that, they come for him again, 50 years later when the Chamber of Secrets is reopened and another student is attacked. Who is it that they send to Azkaban? Hagrid again. Even though he didn't do it. Even though the records are clear. Even though nothing has changed but public fear. Why? Because Cornelius Fudge said we have to do something. Because parents are scared. Because the Ministry wants to look effective. And so, once again, Haggard becomes a sacrifice. Once again, his body is the evidence. Once again, suspicion is enough. Because that's what this is all about. It's not about justice. It's not about fairness. It's about optics. It's about power. And it's about a deep, unspoken prejudice that was only ever held at bay by Dumbledore's protection. Not belief in Hagrid's humanity or a recognition of his worth but a deference to Dumbledore. And let me say this, too, because it matters. When Hagrid was accused of at 13, they snapped his wand. Not suspended it or revoked it temporarily. They snapped it. And we're supposed to believe that that's just what they do. But we don't see that happen to Sirius Black who was in jail for murdering Muggles. And he was there in the ban for 13 years and somehow he walks out with a wand, or gets it once he's, you know, swum back home as a dog Also, Bellatrix Estrange came out after over a decade and had hers. So wands aren't being snapped for everyone, but they snapped Hagrid's. And I literally was shook as my brain continued to unravel the absurdity of this. And we could write this off as a plot hole or a continuity error, but what if it isn't? And I know that some of us will say that JKR is not smart enough in her world building to have given us this, and I'll grant you that. But let's just go with me on this. Like, what if this isn't a plot hole? What if this is an inadvertent revelation of something so much darker? Because when you remember that Hagrid is part giant and you remember that in the eyes of the Ministry, creatures are not supposed to have wands at all, we saw that with Winky. We know that goblins want them. We know that this is a. That wands are a very regulated piece of magical property, then it all makes sense, because they did not want to see him as a wizard. They saw him as a creature who should never have had magic in the first place. When we think about when Hagrid goes and he meets with the giants, they want magic. And if Cornelius Fudge and his cronies and all these people had some level of awareness that Hagrid was not fully human and the size would kind of give away something, why would you want someone who you believe is prone to violence with the skill set to be able to do things that might make people who are connected to him more powerful? And so here's the other thing that we're not talking about. We know that the magical world had a registry for werewolves. We know that giants have been driven nearly extinct. And we know Hagrid is not the only person who is half human, half giant. So what does this tell us? It tells us that there's a great likelihood that people like Hagrid are tracked in some way. That there may be records or registries or internal Ministry documents. And if that's true, then it stands to reason that Hagrid was never anonymous. The public may never have known. Right. But he was never just a boy at school. He was likely listed and flagged and monitored and seen not only just as different, but as dangerous. And I would argue that that's why they snapped his wand. Not because of what he was accused of doing, but because of what he was. And if we want to widen the frame, because obviously this is not just about Hagrid. This is about us. We live in a world we are currently surviving in a space where people's bodies are policed, surveilled and legislated. We talk about a book that was written by an author who is advocating actively for the surveillance of bodies because there is a sense that difference is dangerous, where being visible becomes a kind of threat, where living your truth is something that cost other people. And whether we're talking about race or gender or trans identity or gender expression, what we know is that people make assumptions based on appearances. They make narratives, they assess risks. They determine worth. Because physical appearance becomes a shorthand. It becomes a heuristic for comfort, for certainty. And that's why gender rigidity is so seductive in our society, globally. It requires nothing of us, individuals who are either subscribing in our performance to gender norms, those of us who are CIS right. It makes people feel like they know who someone is just by looking at them. They can make an assessment of who you are to them, the danger you may pose to them. There are lots of ways in which physical appearance manifests and changes many people's perceptions of any number of things. And we know this because we know that there are people who alter their physical appearance in order to blend in, or who keep certain aspects of their physical appearance inside, keep certain pieces of their performance, of their identity, internal for the sake of making people feel more comfortable. But when someone doesn't fit that mold, when they challenge those visual expectations, people don't examine their own assumptions about who that person is. They rewrite the person. And that's what happened to Hagrid, right? He is beloved, he is loyal, he is kind, he's caring. He is by almost every account, family to Harry. And yet the moment he's outed, everything shifts. The warmth disappears, the stories change. People suddenly remember different things. They revise his past. We see this with Ron, who had to be reminded by Harry that Hagrid is their friend and he still struggled with that. We see them explaining away certain aspects of his identity based on this newfound truth, as if everything that they were before no longer existed. Everything that you knew about them is now defunct. And that's what happens to trans people, to black people, to anyone who does not conform to the rigidity of expectations of our society. Because when someone lives in the shadows or in the closet or in a space of tolerated ambiguity, people, we feel comfortable they can maintain their assumptions. But the moment that a person decides to live their truth visibly and vocally, or, as is the case with Hagrid, someone else Tells their truth and outs them the world. Instead of having compassion, instead of thinking about what that must mean for someone who is not able to tell their own story, they are criminalized before they've had any agency at all. Before Hagrid even had a chance to grow or learn or choose, systems were already shifting beneath his feet. Policies were already moving to contain him. Wands were being snapped, rules were being rewritten. Because the system was never designed to include him or people like him, only to tolerate him until it no longer had to. And that's why I think they snapped his wand again. Not because of what he did, but because of who he was. Because even if people don't know for sure, all they have to do is look at him, see the size, see the love of creatures, see the wand he should never have been allowed to have in the first place, and decide that he's a threat. Because at the end of the day, that's all it takes. We talk often about blood hierarchies in the wizarding world. Purebloods, half bloods, Muggle borns. But there's another system that's just as rigid, just as violent, and it's the human creature hierarchy. Where centaurs are dismissed, werewolves are hunted, goblins are mistrusted, giants are feared. And anyone who carries even a trace of that in their lineage becomes the lowest hanging fruit. And that, that is the tragedy. Not that people believe the lie, but that the lie felt true. Because Hagrid fit the shape of a monster, they had already been taught to fear. To fear him. To fear someone who looks like him, someone of his size. We even see this from Madame Maxime, right? We see Cornelius Fudge say at one point, do you see that woman? Do you know what she is? And Madame Maxime was never outed, right? And so this goes to show that obviously the size tells the tale. And when fear calls for a scapegoat, it does not ask for the guilty. It asks for the familiar. For the one who looks the part, not the one who actually played it. And that's how you get Hagrid here taking care of Harry. Because a pretty disastrous, manipulative boy by the name of Tom Riddle leveraged every bit of an already screwed up system to make sure that the true evil that was at work in his pretty little face looked like what people had already believed the evil was. And that's someone who looks like Hagrid. This has been another episode of Critical Magic Theory. I am Professor Julian Womble, and if you liked today's episode, first of all. Thank you. Please feel free to like, rate, subscribe, comment, do all the things that one does where pods are cast y' all. Thank you so so so so much for filling up the survey on Hagrid. I cannot wait to break these things down with you in the post episode chat. Please remember that we have another survey coming up for Civil Trelawney and it is going to be crazy. I already feel that we are not ready for Ms. Scheme Ms. Scam, okay, but I'm ready for your thoughts. For those of you who are chronic overthinkers and deep divers, be on the lookout for for the bonus episode that is coming for you. For those of you who are not but might be interested, check us out. Patreon.com criticalmagictheory I cannot wait until the next time. Until then, be critical and stay magical my friends. Bye.