Harry Potter is sick with Heroism

Summary

Critical Magic Theory: An Analytical Harry Potter Podcast

Episode: Harry Potter is Sick with Heroism
Host: Professor Julian Womble
Date: July 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this rich, community-driven episode, Professor Julian Womble takes a critical and appreciative look at the character of Harry Potter. The episode explores whether Harry is truly a "good half-blood," how well he fits into Gryffindor, if he merits the title of "hero," and the thorny question of Harry’s free will in light of prophecy and trauma. Prof. Womble engages with a large collection of listener survey responses, weaving them together with his own analysis, all to answer—critically and compassionately—why we hold Harry to such high standards and what this says about fandom, heroism, trauma, and the allure of the Wizarding World.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Defending (and Critiquing) Harry Potter: Thematic Set Up

[01:03–07:48]

• Professor Womble establishes the tone: loving a text means being able to examine its flaws and our reactions to it. The “post-episode chat” and listener surveys are highlighted as sources for critical, sometimes chaotic, discussion.
• Teases key questions: Should Harry be seen as a bridge between worlds? Was he placed in the "right" house? Do we demand too much of him as fans?

Quote:
“But you also know that I have to thank… those of you who joined in the post episode chat before. There is an amazing conversation going on right now about toxic masculinity and which of the boy man characters that we meet is the least toxic... That conversation is happening on the Patreon and I love it.”
(Prof. Womble, 03:08)

2. Favorite Harry Moments: Sass and Surprising Depth

[15:56–23:44]

• Prof. Womble picks two memorable Harry moments:
  • Sassy Harry: The iconic "there’s no need to call me sir, Professor" to Snape, showing Harry’s defiance and growth after grief and public smear campaigns.
  • Harry Confronts Dumbledore’s Flaws: After reading about Dumbledore's dubious past, Harry resists the “boys will be boys” excuse, holding his idol accountable.
• These moments highlight Harry's movement from silence and caution to assertiveness and critical reflection.

Quote:
“I love a sassy Harry... because there are so many moments where he is so afraid to do and say the things that he wants to do and say for fear of being perceived a certain way… After Fudge is gone, Voldiva’s return has been confirmed... Harry is unleashed.”
(Prof. Womble, 17:09)

Quote:
“When you find out that the person that you look up to is a human, is flawed. And I think for many of us...there’s something so universal and human about that.”
(Prof. Womble, 19:18)

3. Is Harry a "Good Half-Blood"?

[23:44–31:42]

• Survey Results: 60% say yes, 16% no, 24% unsure.
• Listener Opinions:
  • Compared to Dean and Seamus, Harry doesn’t bridge the Muggle-wizard divide; he distances himself from Muggle life.
  • Trauma with the Dursleys makes him idealize the magical world, which offers him money, status, and community he never found with Muggles.
  • He rarely seeks to preserve Muggle connections, or challenge wizard supremacy structures.
• Host Insight:
  • We shouldn’t expect Harry to eagerly bridge these worlds—he has nothing anchoring him in Muggle life, and everything to gain (including tangible privileges) in the wizarding world.
  • The fandom’s wish for Harry to be a “bridge” is unrealistic given his upbringing and incentives.

Quote:
“In an ideal world, he would be the bridge between the two. But why would he be, given everything—not only just the trauma, but all of the perks he gets from being him in the magical world? Money, power, glory—it all seems to make sense to me as to why that would be an ideal space for him to want to remain in.”
(Prof. Womble, 29:01)

4. Is Harry a Good Gryffindor?

[31:42–42:20]

• Survey Results: 86% yes, 7% no, 7% don't know.
• Listener Opinions:
  • Harry's courage is undoubted, but some say he is "mediocre," "reckless," or even "overly tribal."
  • Some praise his willingness to face danger and defy authority; others critique his lack of planning.
• Host’s Perspective:
  • Harry exemplifies Gryffindor's brand of bravery—acting despite danger or fear, often without strategy.
  • His courage sometimes manifests as recklessness, but that is intrinsic to Gryffindor values.
  • Contrasts Gryffindor action with Slytherin self-preservation; Harry is brave “to a fault,” often disregarding his own safety or broader consequences.

Quote:
“There’s a bravery in recklessness. There’s a bravery in a lack of planning. Because there has to be a space in your mind where you think of what could go wrong and you simply don’t care... Harry is a great Gryffindor because...his willingness to walk into that forest and face Voldemort knowing he was going to die without a plan, without fighting back, that’s brave. Undeniably brave.”
(Prof. Womble, 41:10)

5. Is Harry a Hero?

[42:20–46:11]

• Survey Results: 81% yes, 12% no, 7% don't know.
• Listener Opinions:
  • Harry inspires bravery, but some say he rarely initiates action; others see him more as a symbol or pawn.
  • Comparisons to Neville and Hermione surface, with some arguing their sacrifices are more heroic.
• Host’s Take:
  • Harry’s defining heroism comes in self-sacrifice: walking to his death unsure of what awaits, mirroring mythic heroes.
  • “Heroism is contagious” — his actions spark braver acts in others (Neville, Ron, Hermione).
  • His selflessness is both a gift and a trauma response—“he has an entire complex about saving people.”

Quote:
“His heroism is literally projected out into other people. He makes everyone around him feel brave because he is brave. He invites heroism because he is a hero.”
(Prof. Womble, 46:11)

6. Does Harry Potter Have Free Will?

[46:11–63:35]

• Survey Results: 30% yes, 51% no, 19% don't know.
• Listener Responses:
  • Some assert that Harry’s choices are foreclosed by prophecy, grooming, or manipulated context.
  • Others see him as bold, making meaningful choices within his constraints.
• Philosophical Deep Dive:
  • Prof. Womble draws parallels to Greek fate and The Tale of the Three Brothers.
  • Argues for a nuanced, context-bound view: Harry’s choices are constrained but meaningful within the “room” provided by fate/prophecy.
  • The ultimate exercise of free will is in how Harry embraces death—choosing to sacrifice himself on his own terms.

Quote:
“One of the moments I think that we see Harry really exhibit the most free will...is when he chooses to walk into that forest...to not go down in a fight, to not meet Voldemort and try to fight back... How he died was his choice, in the same way that how the third brother died was his choice. And they both died greeting death as an old friend...”
(Prof. Womble, 60:04)

7. Reflection: Why Are We So Hard on Harry? Socialization and Fandom Standards

[63:35–74:32]

• Prof. Womble points out the inconsistency in fandom standards:
  • Ron is condemned for not living up to better socialization; Draco is excused for his upbringing; Harry is rarely given either grace or context regarding his trauma.
  • Harry’s upbringing with the Dursleys is similar in deprivation to Draco’s with the Malfoys, but we demand perfection from Harry and frequently forgive Draco’s flaws.
  • The episode closes with an open question: Why do fandoms extend more empathy to villains than to heroes? What does this say about who we root for and what we expect from people (fictional or not) who “should know better”?

Quote:
“There is this idea that, like, we are so much more willing to allow the likes of a Draco to explain the why of who they are. And yet...when we look at Harry, we’re like…it’s almost as if he was like Athena and sprang out of Zeus’s head fully formed. And thus any critique that we leverage against him is warranted and we don’t have to think about how he arrived there.”
(Prof. Womble, 65:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I love a sassy Harry...After Fudge is gone, Voldiva’s return has been confirmed...Harry is unleashed.” (17:09)
• “When you find out that the person you look up to is a human is flawed...there’s something so universal and human about that.” (19:18)
• “Why would he want to be anywhere else other than [the wizarding world]? What’s the incentive there? Money, power, glory. Like it all seems to make sense to me as to why that would be an ideal space for him...” (29:01)
• “There’s a bravery in recklessness...Harry is a great Gryffindor because...his willingness to walk into that forest and face Voldemort knowing he was going to die without a plan...that’s brave.” (41:10)
• “His heroism is literally projected out into other people. He makes everyone around him feel brave because he is brave. He invites heroism because he is a hero.” (46:11)
• “When we look at Draco and we get breadcrumbs of a belief structure...somehow we have established an entire post-canonical, extra-canonical lore...but Harry’s actually does. And we are not forgiving.” (65:32)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Ep. Theme & Listener Discourse – 01:03–07:48
• Memorable Harry Moments – 15:56–23:44
• The “Good Half-Blood” Debate – 23:44–31:42
• Gryffindor-ness & its Problems – 31:42–42:20
• Is Harry a Hero? – 42:20–46:11
• Free Will and Fate – 46:11–63:35
• Reflection: Grace for Heroes vs Villains – 63:35–74:32

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Final Thoughts

Professor Womble challenges the Critical Magic Theory audience to reflect on their own tendencies in criticism and empathy: Why do we reserve our grace for broken villains while demanding so much maturity from heroes shaped by abuse? Why do complexities and trauma excuse Draco but make us harsh on Harry? The episode calls for a more honest and nuanced approach—one that recognizes both the greatness and the brokenness in Harry, and in ourselves as fans.

“Be critical and stay magical, my friends.”

Transcript

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[Professor Julian Womble]

Welcome to Critical Magic Theory where we deconstruct the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Because loving something doesn't mean we us can't be critical of it. I'm Professor Julian Womble and today,

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today,

[Professor Julian Womble]

today is our second and final I think Harry Potter episode. Now don't get too concerned, we will have our Prof. Response episode. Yes, of course, of course, of course, of course. That is what we do. However, simultaneously, concurrently. And this is our first full episode on Harry. We're going through the rest of the questions on the survey and y' all the gag is I forgot to turn off the survey. And so we have some new friends who joined us who brought their thoughts to bear and I made sure to include them because why not? So we are getting into all of it. But you also know that I have to thank you those of you who joined in the post episode shot before. There is an amazing conversation going on right now about toxic masculinity and which of the boy man characters that we meet is the least toxic. Someone floated Crumb and y' all I read it and I said in this economy you're talking about Vicky, Vic, Victor Crumb. Victor Crumb who was a full grown adult wizard and took a 15 year old to the Yule Ball, then showed up at Bill and Fleur's wedding as a grown or adult person, man of life and was looking at Ginny with wandering eyes. So much so that he asked a disguised Harry, was she dating anyone? Now I don't know about you and there are some defenses to throw in Vicky's way, but I'M not sure that I'm willing to give him the mantle of the least toxic, however, simultaneously, concurrently. And that conversation is happening on the Patreon and I love it. And so thank you to those of you who have been a part of that conversation on Patreon and thank you for those of you who came in after that last episode episode episode and filled out the survey and gave us your thoughts. They have very much enriched what this episode is going to bring, which is madness, chaos, absurdity, fooleration and fallacies, as well as brilliance, intelligence and all that other stuff that you always bring to bear. I'm excited because the questions that this episode is gonna ask us to grapple with are ones that are kind of heavy. I had a conversation with some of the chronic overthinkers this past weekend about the question of whether or not Harry has free will. And it took a turn, but it was so rich that. And then as I prepared for this episode, I said to myself, yeah, okay, this conversation is going to be a good one because you all also were very taken by that question and it prompts us to think about free will in a number of different ways. And so I'm excited that we get to do that. I am always so grateful for those of you who have joined us in that conversation and for those of you who would join us in the post episode chat for this one because, oh yeah, there's gonna be some things to talk about because many of you did not like some of the takes from the last survey episode and then all these Harry Potter detractors showed up. I think many of them were from ig. Some of them probably don't even listen to the podcast. They just came in, dropped their madness and left. As if there's anything more rude. But we persevere. And I'm excited because I hope that some of those people are listening to this and I hope that some of Harry's detractors show up in the post episode chat because they are represented in these surveys. And y', all, I'm going to give them a voice because they deserve it, just like you deserve it. You know what else? You deserve a bop. You deserve a bop. But before you get the bop, there are questions that I have to ask you. Have you ever wondered whether the Sorting Hat put Harry in the right house or just the house he wanted to be in? Or whether the prophecy removed any free will that Harry might have had? Or. Or whether we as a fandom have realistic expectations relative to Harry or other characters and if we don't is that our fault? We're getting into all of it. But before we do, you know what we have to do. And the bop is coming in three and two in one. Let's bop. As always, I hope you danced. Welcome back, y'.

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All.

[Professor Julian Womble]

Welcome back. To those of you who are joining us for the first time. If this is your first time with us, okay, buckle up because it's gonna be a bumpy ride. Okay. For those of you who have been with us from day one, welcome back. For those of you who are catching up and maybe a little bit behind. Hey, welcome. We're grateful to have you, y'. All. What a time it's been. I. I almost wish we were doing three episodes for Harry, but I also know that you would be sick of it. I know you would. And those of you who are like, I wouldn't be. Not me. You're in the minority, friends. Two is our max. We learned that. We learned that. If you could see the stats that I saw. The drop off after the Severus Snape episodes was rough because the girls, the gays and the days were tired. And for our straights, also, we're tired. It's Pride Month still. Okay, you won't be listening to this during Pride, but it is still Pride Month when I'm recording it, and that's what matters. So we're prioritizing queerness because the books certainly don't. That's not the point. That's not this episode. However, I have put on the Patreon questions about what things you all want to talk about over the summer. Because over the summer, I. I'm just going to batch record a bunch of episodes that are gonna drop about various things. It drops today. It's Monday at noon. It's on Patreon. Summer episode ideas. Many of you have come with really cool things, including discussions of queerness in the text. And that's why I built that bridge. But I would love to hear from you about what episodes or what kinds of things you wanna talk about. People have talked about how they wanna hear about the Ministry of Magic. We're going to talk about house elves and we're going to talk about obviously Muggle borns and other people character things in the fall. So this is more like concepts like the Ministry of Magic professions within the magical world. People are coming up with really cool ideas. So I definitely invite you to head over to patreon to patreon.com criticalmagictheory where you can, for free, look at what people are writing. And also Share your own thoughts. I will leave the link to the Patreon in the episode summary. I will also leave the link to my book behind the Cloak. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, a million times, but I told you that you're gonna have to prepare to be sick of me. So I'm sorry if you already are, but I launched a little announcement online last week and it went really, really well. I don't quite know what the pre orders are looking like, but I'm excited and there's some really cool things that I kind of have lining up in my mind, I think as we move closer. The book comes out December 1st for those of you who are in spaces and places where the pre order link is not working. I'm working on it. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I know that there are some people in Australia and New Zealand and the UK I think, still who can't pre order it. I. And I don't know if that's just like an Amazon thing, but there are other spaces where you might be able to pre order it. Um, I don't know. But for those of you who are having trouble, please feel free to reach out to me just so that I can get a sense of where in the world these things are happening. But then other people are finding solutions. So if you found solutions to that, please feel free to share that in the post episode chat as well so that people might be able to figure out the best way for them to pre order the books. For those of you that have pre ordered it, thank you so much. I am admittedly very overwhelmed by the excitement. I was telling my therapist this morning that I really. It's a weird thing when you write a book because all you think about is all the things that you have to do, all of the press, all of the whatever. And I've really been riding on your excitement for this project because all I see is work. Which isn't to say that I'm excited. I love that I wrote it and I love that it's going to exist out in the world. But right now at this current juncture, all I see is all the things that I have to do and the things that I haven't done. And so thank you for your excitement. It really does mean a lot to me. The link will be in the episode summary. It will also be on. It is currently on Patreon. I think there's a way for me to pin it and I might just pin it there so if you go to patreon.com criticalmagictheory you will find it. You can also while you're there and if your fancy is tickled you can join as an outstanding owl, a deep diver, chronic overthinker. You can also find the pre order link on the website criticalmagictheory.com and you will see a behind the cloak button that you can a link that you can hit that will take you to a little page that gives you a synopsis of what the book is about and has the preorder link there as well. Y' all know there's merge and I was at a little kind of music retreat on last week. Not on but last week I was there and I was walking. I wore my Be Critical Stay Magical Cropped hoodie. Twas a hit. Twas a hit and so highly recommend. For those of you who are in your crop top era as I currently am, and for those of you who are not in the position to be able to donate financially, that's totally fine. Please feel free to like and rate, subscribe and share. For those of you who are sharing the links to the pre orders, that's amazing. You can follow me on social media. Those links are there if you want to follow me on social media. Profw. On TikTok Prof. JW on Instagram. I just want us in our community to grow. I want this book to get out there. Now that I'm done with the edits. I'm really really really proud of it. I think it's good. I think it does a really cool and good thing. There are some within our ranks who have had the opportunity to read the first couple of chapters of it and they like it. I don't know if they were just lying to me. I don't think they would do that though. But they like it. So maybe you'll be able to hear from some of them in the post episode chat. For those of you who are on the fence. But yeah, this isn't the last time you hear about this book. You'll be hearing about it for quite some time. And I won't apologize because it's a thing that I have to do. But anyways, what I also have to do is get this episode going. So without further ado, let's have this continued conversation about H. Pity. That's what my friends and I used to call him when we were in college. But anyways, that's neither here nor there. 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[Professor Julian Womble]

One of the hardest things about doing an episode on a character more than once is the reality that I have to figure out more favorite moments for that character. And since we're not doing what word best describes Harry again, because we've already done that, I chose two moments because I get to do what I want. You all are not my boss, okay? I can do what I want. And so I did. So I chose two moments. One that I think is just fun and I think it's a favorite moment for many of us. The other one is a moment that I think probably doesn't register for a lot of people, but is one that I always think about when I think about Harry. So the first one is an iconic moment, one that I think many of us absolutely love and adore. And that is the there's no need to call me sir Professor. Oh, Harry James, please. Sassy Harry, Iconic. He is my favorite Harry. And maybe it's because I'm sassy, but I just love these moments. And I just love. I honestly, I love Half Blood Prince because I do love the way that we get to learn about Voldiva and the story in the background. That's why it's my favorite book. But the other reason why it's my favorite book is because we get to see Harry on the other side of grief. We get to see Harry on the other side of like a propaganda campaign that was trying to bring him down. And on the other side of that campaign is a Harry who has zero Fs to give when he says this to Snape, gagged when he is in Madame Malkin's shop and Narcissista and Draco are in there and, like, they seemingly are ready to fight. And Harry's like, I mean, we got nothing but space and opportunity. Like, if you're froggy, jump. I love that Harry. It's so amazing. And there's a lot to unpack about, you know, why he feels this way. And is this actually being on the other side of grief, or is this just grief manifest itself, manifesting itself in other ways? Different context, different conversation for a different day. But I love a sassy Harry. I will always adore a sassy Harry because I think that there are so many moments where he is so afraid to do and say the things that he wants to do and say for of being perceived a certain way. And so much of his existence is kind of prefaced and premised on the idea of, like, I am a public figure and I have to be very intentional about what I do and say, baby. After Fudge is gone, Voldiva's return has been confirmed, and Lucius is put in jail, locked in the ban. Harry is unleashed. And that is really amazing. And I just love him for that. And I love that for him. The second moment is one again that, I don't know, that registers for a lot of us, but I love it. And it's the moment after Harry and Hermione arrive back from Godric's Hollow in Deathly Hallows. And Harry has gotten his hands on the life and lives of Albus Dumbledore. And he reads the Greater Good chapter, and he reads the letter that Albee D sent to Grindy Dubs. And Grindy Dubs. I don't know why I said that. I guess grindy dubs is two GS. Anyways, don't worry about it. We're going with it. We're gone with it. And I love this moment because it's a moment where Harry has to really grapple with what he's doing. Because Hermione comes with the perennial excuse of boys will be boys. They were so young, they didn't know any better. And Harry immediately snaps back and it's kind of like, I knew you were gonna say that, but we are the same age as them, and we are out here in the forest fighting for our lives, and they were doing the very thing we're fighting against. And it's an interesting question that we're gonna grapple with in this episode about accountability. How is it that we understand when someone needs to be held accountable? At what age is it appropriate? How do we reconcile those things in a world where the age of adulthood is different than the one that we tend to have. And even then, for boys, the age of what it means to be a mature adult is very different. Many of us often invoke the frontal lobe formation and the kind of completion therein as a justification for why we shouldn't judge people or try to hold them accountable. But in this moment, Harry's idol, the person he is dependent on for the majority of these books, is found out to be someone who is engaging in nefarious, problematic behavior with his situationship. And he has to grapple with what that means. And I think that there's something so universal and human about that when you find out that the person that you look up to is a human is flawed. And I think for many of us, I don't know about you, but I'll speak for myself. When I read that moment, I was like, oh, Rita, Skeeter's up to her old tricks again. Like, Harry, don't even. Don't even believe her words. She's a liar. That letter's fabricated. It's fake. But then it turned out not to be. And Harry has to decide in that moment who he's going to be. Because so much of the mission up to this point has been following the lead of Dumbledore under the auspices that he wanted to do this because he was an inherently good person and had been an inherently good person the whole time. To me, this is a moment very akin to those of us who find out that our guardians and those who are our caregivers are human and mess up and a mess and constantly screwing things up. And those people who you want to be like are just like you, actually. And so I love this moment because it is so real. And I love that Harry, in this moment, has to decide who he's going to be. I imagine that he's like, if someone. Not if, but when someone writes a book about me and if someone's in a position that I'm in, I don't want to be the person that offers them this sense of doubt that he's having. And for someone whose morality is so monochromatic, realizing that your hero lived on the edges of goodness and badness. Yikes. I don't know. I just love it so much.

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[Professor Julian Womble]

For this episode's arithmancy Lesson we had 647 responses when asked is Harry Potter a good half blood? About 60% of us said yes, about 16% of us said no and about 24% of us said don't. No. Someone wrote. As to whether he was a good half blood, I'm not so sure. Compared with Dean and Seamus, he appears keen to distance himself from Muggles forever after. Whereas those two embraced both sides, someone wrote. I mean in some ways Harry is the best half blood by pureblood standards. Hear me out. He was raised by Muggle, so he knows the difference between Muggle and wizard life and customs. Ultimately, he knows based on his experiences that life in the wizarding world is superior, and he also knows the cruelty of Muggles and the potential dangers they pose to wizards. Having that type of half blood in the wizarding world could theoretically do wonders for the anti Muggle agenda, someone else wrote Considering a good half blood as someone who bridges the gap between the wizarding and Muggle worlds, Harry doesn't even try. You see it clearest in the quiet aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts. His real first longing. No, his first real longing is for specific comforts of the wizarding world, a Gryffindor bed and a sandwich brought up by a house elf. The epilogue gives it away too, when Ron casually mentions using magic to cheat on a Muggle driving test. Harry finds it funny, not troubling. That's the tell. He isn't a bridge between worlds, he's a wizard who happened to grow up in a cupboard, someone else wrote. I don't think Harry was a good half blood because he projected too much of his trauma from the Dursleys onto the Muggle world in general. To him, the wizarding world was the savior that protected him from the Dursleys and therefore was inherently good and unflawed. Think of how quickly he gave up all Muggle things when he injured Hogwarts. There's no moment of longing for a CD player or potato chips or computers. He fights Voldemort but but doesn't meaningfully fight the wizard supremacy and the power structures that led to his rise. And the last person wrote for me, Harry isn't a good half blood. But honestly, seeing the Dursleys, I understand him. It's no wonder he does everything to forget the Muggle world. But this also means he can't negotiate between the two worlds. It's my turn and I have some things to say about whether Harry Potter is a good half blood. I think Harry is an interesting half blood because so many of the points that were raised are right. He hates the Dursleys. He completely recognizes the magical world as being far superior and yet he also recognizes the effect that the magical world can have on the non magical world. In no uncertain terms, right? He experiences all kinds of things befalling the Dursleys and yes, for the most part he thinks it's funny and that they deserve, you know, getting a pig's tail put on you and having your tongue blow at four feet and having letters bombard your house and you know, having your sister blown up and all these things, right? Like all of it is played for laughs, right? And we laugh with Harry because we're like, they deserve it. But when push comes to shove at the end of the series, Harry also works very hard to convince the Dursleys to leave. He is the one who pushes for them to go. And so I think it's interesting because there is such a truth to the idea that like he has bought into the propaganda and with good reason, right? Like why wouldn't he want to leave the non magical world? It's fraught with trauma for him. So yeah, he wants to go. He's not like Dean who comes from a loving family who he cares about and wants to protect and also still be a part of that family. He's not in that boat. He wants to be out of there. And he also has more in the wizarding world, right? Like it's more than just the Dursleys. He's rich in the wizarding world, like oodles and boodles of money. Boodles. We're going with it. He has a slave, which is a point of contention for many of us and I get it, but he has one. He's got properties, he has status, he has all of these things. And so in many ways, right, like he is more than other people who live in the in between space or who are coming from the non magical world. Harry has actual meaningful incentives to buy into the propaganda. He has independence, he gets deference. He is talking to and like getting benefits from the head of the magical world, both Scrymgeour and from Fudge. There's nothing for him in the non magical world. And I just wonder, like, I think obviously based on our Definitions. In an ideal world, he, you know, would be the bridge between the two. But why would he be given everything, not only just the trauma, but also all of the perks that he gets from being him in the magical world. Why would he want to be anywhere else other than there? What's the incentive there? Money, power, glory, like it all seems to make sense to me as to why that would be an ideal space for him to want to remain in. And in many ways, right, like all of those things that Harry has are tangible manifestations of the way that the magical world incentivizes. Muggle born and Muggle raised people to stay within the bounds and the rules of the magical world. Because while Harry obviously can also do magic in the magical world, he also has all of this other stuff that ties him to it, that tethers him to this space. There's nothing for him in the non magical world. There's no equivalent there for him. And so I think expecting him to be the bridge is in some ways unrealistic given all the things that he has access to and all the things that he's leaving behind. And so yeah, I don't think he's a good half blood and I don't think he like would ever want to be like. I don't think his understanding of the non magical world is includes anyone else. I think when Kingsley tells everyone, remember that Muggles are human, I think that also stands for Harry. Even though he comes from that space because of his own dehumanization in that space. I think he completely forgets that. Like they also deserve protection, but we also see him lend it to the dirty sleaze when push comes to shove. And that has to count for something, I think.

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[Professor Julian Womble]

Is Harry a Good Gryffindor? About 86% of us said yes, about 7% of us said no. And about 7% of us said don't. No. Someone wrote, being willing to stay, fight and die for his friends makes him a true Gryffindor. That being said, his skills are extremely mediocre and he lacks curiosity and will to improve. I always wondered if he. If this was deliberate to make him a real opposite to Voldemort and to also make a point that power does not win. That's why he needed Hermione, otherwise he would be dead. Someone else wrote, I feel as if Gryffindor Tower is essentially an echo chamber for students within it. They have to be brave or they have to be courageous. No, in between. But then again, that might be down to bad writing. Another person wrote, I can't imagine at 15 being told by my government that I'm a liar because being tortured repeatedly and still wanting to save the wizarding world couldn't be me. Me either. But instead, this person goes on to say, harry sticks to his story and defies the naysayers. Then the next year tells the government to shove it when they want to use him as a prop. That's real Gryffindor energy. Another person wrote, a good Gryffindor, using their favorite word, reckless. Harry has that. In spite of not a thought in his tiny little head about planning or strategizing or maybe taking two seconds to wonder if this is a good idea or if he's putting others in danger. Harry just jumps through the trapdoor after or rides off on thestrals to the Ministry, to the lions. That's brave. So sure he's a good Gryffindor. Another person wrote, I would say he's a bad Gryffindor. He is overly tribal, more impulsive than brave and very selfish. It's my turn. Is Harry Potter a good Gryffindor? By my estimation, absolutely he is. I think that when we consider what it means to be a Gryffindor, not only just in the kind of more philosophical, idealized sense of it, but what it actually means. Harry embodies it left and right, right? Like just the sheer fact that this boy at 11 years old was like, I'm not going to the dark side. And then was went down into this trapdoor not knowing what was there, having barely paid attention to a lot of the things that happened in school. The idea that he was like, I'm just gonna figure it out. It's very Gryffindor to me. It's very Gryffindor to me. I think, you know, Phineas Nigellus says, in Order of the Phoenix, we Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks. And that, I think, is the biggest difference here, right? Is I think that there are obviously things that are Slytherin About Harry. I think that Harry is outrageously ambitious and I think that if we were to pretend like he wasn't, we would be doing an injustice to who he is as a person. I think he doesn't always do things for glory but there are moments where he absolutely is thinking about what it means to be him. And I think he is someone who is very much invested in his own. The, the reputational stuff, self preservation, bodily, he couldn't care less. And that's where he and other Slytherins like diverge meaningfully. But I think at the end of the day, Harry's willingness to do whatever it takes to get to the end, that he wants it to be, is what Gryffindor is all about. I think that it doesn't mean that it's always good. I think that that's the other thing about bravery and courage is that we often attach a moral valence to that, but it doesn't have to have that. I think when he casts the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix, but less so on that one, but more so when he does it on. Is it on one of the Caro siblings? I always forget which one it is. But like in that moment it could have gone wrong and he did it anyway. And I think that like that's the difference between houses. It's like, what is it that you do in a moment of panic? Like what is your knee jerk reaction? And he just is like shoots from the hip. And that to me is Gryffindor. And I think there is this sense of, I think part of what really messes him up when he finds out about Dumbledore and Grindelwald and is that, you know, it's the same justification of the greater good, right? Like so much of what Harry is doing is because of his belief in the greater good. His belief that they are doing all of this for the right reasons, that they are actively engaging in behavior that is meaningful. The idea of going to Godric's Hollow with Hermione and being like, we're just gonna figure it out, that's Gryffindor to me. And you all know that I'm a Slytherin and I'm a planner. I do not go into many things. I plan social interactions with random people. I plan when I am calling to order my food at the Chinese restaurant. Like, I am a planner. I like to make sure that everything is curated and there are people in my orbit who don't embody that, who are just kind of like, well, we'll figure it out when we get there.

[Lady Luck]

And.

[Professor Julian Womble]

And that makes me crazy. And that's Harry Potter. And when I think about the things that frustrate me the most about Harry, it's that. It's the fact that he's just like, well, I saw in my mind that Sirius is getting hurt, so we need to leave. Like, how do we get out of here? Oh, let's get on some thestrals. Cool. Let's go. They get to the Ministry and he's basically like, yeah, we're breaking into this joint. Now what? Let us in. Like, you couldn't even pretend, my guy. You couldn't even fake it till you make it. It's giving, Gryffindor. It's giving. Because I think that there is a bravery in recklessness. There's a bravery in a lack of planning. Because there has to be a space in your mind where you think of the things that could go wrong and you simply don't care about that. Because when whatever it is that you are trying to accomplish is so much more important than that, that you will. You have to have enough faith and confidence in yourself to figure it out. Like, you don't have to have. You don't have the time to be insecure and be a Gryffindor because you are too busy trying to make sure that things. That things happen, right? When I think about the twins, right? Like their creation and kind of commodification of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is brave. Because starting a business is brave. Branching out on your own for the first time in your life and starting a business while Voldiva is back, brave. Starting an advertising campaign that constantly mocks Voldiva. Braver, right? Like, there is a way that, like, I think sometimes I see Gryffindor ness and I know that we have some Gryffindors in our midst and I'm trying to be respectful of you, but there are some times where I'm like, what you've done is stupid. But I think, like, there is a way that some things that are perceived as stupid are. Say more about the person who's doing the Perceiving than the person who's doing the thing. When I was at this. This choir retreat thingy in North Carolina, there was a moment where we were at lunch and a woman said, look, I did a really stupid thing. And I was like, well, what did you do? And she said, I asked a question. And she said, I saw two notes that looked different, but we weren't singing them differently. And so I stood up in the rehearsal with like a hundred people. And I asked the conductor what's going on? And she said, and I felt so stupid because everyone was like, they're the same note. The notation is just different because of some musical thing. And I thought, that's really brave. And I don't know that I would have done that because I don't know that I would have wanted to be seen as stupid. And it wasn't a stupid question. It was a reasonable question, but I think I would have been too afraid to ask it. And I think that there are ways that sometimes self preservation undermines progress. And I think that that's why Slytherins are probably some of the more antiquated people in the series. And I think that Gryffindors don't always go about things the way that I would want them to, but they always get results. And sometimes that has to matter for something. And so, yeah, I think Harry's a great Gryffindor because I think when push comes to shove, his willingness to walk into that forest and face Voldemort knowing that he was going to die without a plan, without fighting back, that's brave. Undeniably brave. The question of whether or not he should come back brave, knowing he could die again, crazy foreign.

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[Professor Julian Womble]

Is Harry Potter a hero? About 81% of us said yes, about 12% of us said no. And about 77% of us said don't know. Someone wrote, harry is a hero. His determination is heroic because it inspires others to fight. And Voldemort is defeated because so many people eventually banded together. He inspires Neville to kill Nagini. He inspires Ron to destroy a Horcrux. He inspires Hermione to solve dangerous puzzles instead of fleeing with her family. Without Harry, the bad guys win. But none of Harry's actions are particularly extraordinary to me. Another person wrote, after experiencing so much trauma and being raised in a home where he is consistently bullied and mistreated, he still manages to be exceptionally kind, generous and selfish. Not Selfish, selfless. That's my bad. Selfless. When he chooses to literally walk away from his friends in the battle of Hogwarts towards certain deaths, that is the most extraordinary act of bravery and self sacrifice. Yes, he definitely has moments of recklessness and moments where he is fueled by anger, but to me these behaviors are absolutely warranted after everything he's endured and all the expectations on him, not to mention the fact that he is a child for most of the series. Another person wrote, it's not the most perfect person that's a hero, right? It's not the most talented, it's not the person with the best grades. It's the person whose combination of their values and their courage did something usually dangerous or risky to help others in a way that others would rarely if ever be willing to do. Another person wrote, harry is more of a symbol, a puppet to be blunt, than a person. In his story, every major plot event happens to Harry or because of Harry's mother's sacrifice and his connection to Voldemort, he rarely initiates, he rarely constructs a plan that works. He survives, endures and ultimately walks to his death. Not because of strategy or wisdom or earned capability, but because the story requires it of him. Another person wrote, I hate comparing him to Neville, but Neville does right without question. Defending Sirius at the Ministry, never knowing he was innocent or continuing to check his coin and and showing up when called upon. I also think Hermione is more of a hero. As a first generation wizard, she has so much more to lose and in fact makes her parents forget who she is to protect them. Harry is brave and kind, but hero is a strong way to put it when there are others who risk more without hesitation. It's my turn. Here's the thing. I think that Harry is absolutely a hero. I think if for nothing else, realizing that he had to die so that everyone else could live is heroic. He didn't know what was going to happen to him. He didn't know if it was going to be a quick death, if it was going to be an Avada Kedavra, if it was going to be torture, if it was going to be. He had no idea. He just found out that the man he had put all his faith in had once again set him up. And he took it on the chin and he walked into that forest and he faced Voldemort's wand and he died. And then he decided to come back,

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[Professor Julian Womble]

to potentially do it all again. There is no other character in this book who I personally think would do That I think the fact that. And I think the other thing that I. That really resonates with me is the fact that Harry died. But before he did, he set everything in motion. He told Neville to go after the snake in the same way that when he left to go with Dumbledore to the cave, he gives the rest of the Felix Felicis to Ginny just because he had an inkling that something was going to happen. His heroism is literally projected out into other people. He makes everyone around him feel brave because he is brave. He invites heroism because he is a hero. Everyone is following his example. And yeah, he may be reluctant, but my goodness gracious, that guy is so willing. And of course, like. And we'll talk about this in the next question, like, there are aspects of this where he absolutely has to, or it believes he has to, but he still does it. And I think that that matters a lot. And I think it matters a lot more than many of us are giving him credit for. Like, someone said this before, and I thought it was really funny, but if Harry's not a hero, then who is? Because it is actually his heroism. It is his recklessness, it is his disregard for the rules for the purposes and the sake of the greater good that encourages everyone else to have the same mentality. And, yes, it puts them in danger, but it also gets the job done. And many of us said when we were talking about Dumbledore that all the things that he had to put into place was worth it because Voldiva dropped. It's still pride. So we're going with the death drop. And I think that that cannot be discounted. Harry looked Voldiva in the eyes multiple times, them red eyes, and kept going. I don't know of someone who is more heroic than him in this series. And obviously he's a titular character. He's the main character. He is the chosen one. But I think while I don't believe that there are a lot of arcs in this book of characters, I think Harry's arc goes from reluctant hero to intentional hero. Like, you've watched so many people die because they believed in you. You literally called your dear family members back from the great beyond so that you could speak to them about death, so that you could be in the right frame of mind when you went to make this sacrifice. When we think of the heroes of old, I think there's no reason why we wouldn't see that Harry is very much like them in so many ways. And I think to discount some of the choices that he made because of circumstance or the belief in a lack of choice. We'll talk about it in a few minutes. But I don't think that that changes what he did. I don't think that that alters the choices that he ultimately made. And it certainly doesn't change the outcome. But more than that, the more I think about it, the more I'm like, Harry's heroism is contagious because without it, Neville doesn't necessarily have the desire or the gall to go up against Nagini. Maybe he does, right? He was going up against the Carrows at Hogwarts, but maybe he doesn't. But Harry tells him what to do and Neville does it, because Neville is an amazing lieutenant. Harry stands there and watches Ron look at his greatest fears and he says, kill it. He is outrageously heroic to a fault. I would say. He has an entire complex about saving people. And it's interesting because in that quote that I read from Phineas Nigellus, Harry says something along the line. You know, he says, you know, Phineas. Nigel says, you know, we always try to save our own necks. And Harry says, it's not our necks. It's not. It's not my neck I'm trying to save. Like, Harry is so selfless. It's bad, it's dangerous. It's a problem. Like, his heroism comes, I think, as in many ways a trauma response to try to prove himself worthy. So, yeah, I think Harry's a hero, undeniably. Mediocrity and all the other things, and all the other, like, reasonable critiques aside, the boy is a hero. Does Harry Potter actually have free will? 30% of us said yes, about 51% of us said no, and about 19% of us said, don't know. Someone wrote, I love this question because it's such a big question. I'm a big fan of Greek drama and Shakespeare, both of which are heavily into the concept of inevitability. But I think that trend of inevitability is really a human desire for our actions not to have the agency we do. Harry has a lot of agency and makes decisions. He's bold and makes big moves. See the move from Expelliarmus to Imperio, that, to me, is not a character who is running from their destiny. Another person wrote, your free will question really had me thinking. Ultimately, I think he does have free will, but his personality won't allow him to seriously entertain any option other than to fulfill his purpose. Someone else wrote, I don't really feel like he grows a lot emotionally despite the Myriad of opportunities for growth and Hermione's constant attempts at modeling. I don't think he had free will because. Because his entire story was essentially written for him in the prophecy before his birth. He was just stumbling to an eventual future. Maybe it's the same with Christianity. Do you have free will or just think you do? Another person wrote, harry only has an illusion of free will. After Dumbledore's death, he could very well escape to Nepal or something and detach from the whole situation. But of course he's not going to do that. Not only was he chosen by Voldy to be his mortal enemy, he was also groomed by Voldemort to become a person who will never back down from a fight. He was made like a potion with the exact traits he needed to fulfill the prophecy. That's not real agency. And the last person wrote, he doesn't have free will because he is not informed of the full situation in. In any stage of his life. All throughout the series, things happen because of the scheming of several people. And Harry is collateral damage in the chess game of all the adults in his life. Nobody has his back. It's my turn. I made that one a little fancy for you all. This question is hard. And I mean, I know I wrote it and I put it in because it's difficult. And it's the question that the chronic overthinkers and I spent over an hour discussing on Saturday. And you know, the conclusion that many of us came to. Well, Stacy asked us to come up with a definition of free will. Cause it could mean many different things. And I joked and said, you know, one thing about us as a community is that we'll never find a consensus for anything. Because many of us want our definitions to be the definition. And that there are already so many nuances to the way that we understand things when it comes to free will. Part of the reason why I ask the question is because I'm obsessed with the idea of fate. As a kid who grew up reading Greek mythology a lot, I've always been obsessed with the Fates. And every fantasy novel has a fate, right? A thing. Right? Whether it be the Fates, the wheel of time, whatever. Right. That there is always this thing that seemingly guides the cosmos. And that no one, no matter how powerful, operates outside of this kind of preordained thing that just exists as this ubiquitous force that guides everything around us. And when I think about Harry and what that means for him, you know, I think it's very difficult to think about a world in which, like, the decisions that he makes aren't informed by some level of predetermination. When you have a prophecy that all kind of moves around, right? And it was fascinating because in our conversation, someone was like, well, you know, how far back does this kind of go, right? Does it go back as far as, you know, Snape and Lily living in the same village? Like, was that predetermined? That then informs so much of the way that everything happens, right? Because, of course, it is Snape who tells Voldiva about what the prophecy is, and it is Snape who tells Voldemort to hide the Potters. And, you know, all of these things transpire this way. And, you know, I. When I think about the question of whether or not Harry has free will, and many of you are not gonna find this answer satisfying because I think the answer is yes and no. I think the thing about free will is that it exists within context, right? In the words of Kamala Harris, we all exist within the context of the ones who came before us, right? Like, Harry didn't just fall out of a coconut tree. But I do think that there is a way in which, when we think about free will, it is so context. Like, many of us have the ability to make certain decisions, but we make them within the context of our individual lives. I made the comment about, you know, what are you gonna have for breakfast? And in many ways, that's contingent upon, you know, what's already home, how much money you have to spend on breakfast, are you even hungry, right? And that, sure, you have the choice to eat or not to eat. But then within that choice, it's like, well, what do you eat and what can you eat? And what are the constraints that exist within your particular context that might keep your free will from being able to be asserted fully? And I think that that's where Harry finds himself within the context of the prophecy. Sure, he has agency like, yeah, could he have gone to Nepal? Absolutely. But that doesn't change the fact that neither can live while the other survives. That doesn't change the fact that Vuldati was probably gonna be on the run looking for him, no matter where he was, because he marked him as his equal. And so that there is this inescapable quality and reality that Harry has to deal with. And so, yes, he could have left, he could have run off, he could have done whatever. That doesn't change what might have happened to him as a result. And so that when we think about what Harry's free will looks like, the question we have to grapple with is, you know, can you have full agency in a context where your existence has been spelled out by the hands of fate? Do you have that kind of agency? I think within the context of it, it's like the end game is going to be the end game regardless how you arrive there. That, to me is where your free will is going to come into play. We had a very long, protracted conversation about what death looks like if the, if the prophecy hadn't been fulfilled. And I think the thing that really stuck out with me, and it's the point that I made when I was talking to the chronic overthinkers was, you know, one of the things that we learn in the tale of the three Brothers, right, is that it is not until the third brother decides to greet death as an old friend that he meets death. He spent the vast majority of his time hiding from death. And then once the decision was made, he then goes with death. And so that there is choice even in the inevitability of death. Like he was gonna have to meet death at some point, but he had to make the decision. And I think one of the moments, I think that we see Harry really exhibit the most free will. And some people were a little dubious of this, but that's okay. Meet me in the post episode chat. I think that where we see Harry make the biggest decision is when he chooses to walk into that forest. When he makes a decision to sacrifice himself, to not go down in a fight, to not meet Voldemort there and try to fight back, to not do any of that, but to know, because that wasn't required of the prophecy, that he, all he needed to do was die. How he died was his choice in the same way that how the third brother died was his choice. And they both died. Greeting death as an old friend with a level of intentionality that matches that of Lily and is meaningful in no uncertain terms. And so there is to me, a piece of Harry's life that is not predetermined. And that the prophecy gives us a room in which Harry can exist. But within the confines of that room, Harry still has choices.

[Lady Luck]

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[Professor Julian Womble]

We've now reached the point in the episode where I am going to reflect. And this reflection was one that kind of came to me as I was reading through a lot of your comments and thinking about how hard we are on Harry and. And trying to grapple with our expectations of him as a character and our assessments of his free will and whether he's a good person, whether he's a good friend, and trying to think about how we understand it. And you all remember that in the last full episode where we discussed the survey on Harry, I talked a lot about his socialization. And I've really been grappling with that because I think I found it so interesting that so many of us never even considered how Harry was socialized. And part of the reason why I thought it was so interesting is because when we look at the way that we've assessed other characters, we've always brought up how they were raised when we talked about Ronald Weasley and the way that he behaves. So many of us operate from the space of we don't like Ron because Ron should know better. He shouldn't be so entitled, he shouldn't be so problematic. He comes from a loving family. There's no reason for him to act the way that he does. And so why does he do that? Right? Like, his socialization should not have led to this. And yet somehow it has, and that is unacceptable. And Ron is a problem for that. We've had conversations about Draco Malfoy and many of us have said, well, it's not Draco's fault he was brought up that way. He was socialized to believe these things. He's just a child parroting the ideas of his parents and the society that surrounded him and brought him up. And so can we really blame him for who he is and what he says? He's a kid. And I think that that inconsistency is so fascinating because we don't grant that to Harry. We hold him to a standard that, as discussed in the last episode, is really, really, really, really high without accounting for the fact that his socialization looks very similar to that of a Draco because Lucius Malfoy and Vernon Dursley would probably get along fairly well if not for the whole, like, you know, we each think that the other one is beneath them situation. Right? But there is this idea that, like, we are so much more willing to allow the likes of a Draco to explain the why of who they are. And we see this idea of, like, the navigation of. Or the kind of post socialization existence of these characters or post socialization is not quite right because we're always socializing one another, not just at home, but that there is a way in which Harry becomes who he is in spite of the Dursleys, and Draco becomes who he is because of Narcissus and Lucius. And the arguments are still environmental, but yet the difference is about direction. And yet we treat them so drastically differently, right? Like, one earns Draco grace, the other earns Harry. Lots and lots and lots of skepticism. And I kept grappling with this because we've talked about how Harry and Draco are two sides of the same coin and how, you know, they're the same age, navigating similar situations. Draco, I mean, for many of us, we've come up with a narrative about how he has been, you know, in a relationship with his parents that isn't loving. And if. And I'm not as willing to buy into that, but if we did, it would just hone the similarities between Draco and Harry even more. And yet, somehow, some way, when we look at Harry, we're like. It's almost as if he was like Athena and sprang out of Zeus's head fully formed. And thus any critique that we leverage against him is warranted and we don't have to think about how he arrived there. And so, as I was thinking about this reflection, the thing that really stood out to me is, why do we do that? Why is it that we are so willing and eager to justify the behaviors of Draco, deride the behaviors of Ron, both based on how they were brought up, but completely ignore Harry's? And part of me thinks it's because we're kind of invited to ignore Harry's. Like we're kind of invited to recognize the ills of the Dursleys, but think nothing of what that might have done to Harry. We talked about this in the last episode, right? You know, when we asked the question of whether or not Harry was a victim. And many of us said he doesn't have a victim mentality, right? Like, he learns and understands that he can. He doesn't have to be a victim. He can grow from it. And I think that that's hard for us to truly understand. And I said that in the episode, right, that there is a good chance that Harry is just outrageously repressed and as a result does not give voice to the realities. It's also very. It's very likely that he might just ignore it. He's in a different world, in a different space, a different context. And thus like out of sight, out of mind. I don't have to deal with this. Maybe he distracts himself. But however Harry navigates it is how we ultimately navigate it. It's how the author invites us to view what has transpired. And so that we look at Draco and we get breadcrumbs of a belief structure in terms of like how he's been socialized. And yet somehow we have established an entire post canonical, extra canonical lore that allows for us to see something in him that the text does not give us, but Harry's actually does. And we are not forgiving. And we've had this conversation before because we've talked about how much easier it is for us to give grace to villains than it is to give it to heroes. And we generally, you know, justify so many of these things with, you know, they're just kids. But Harry and Drake are the same age, so is Ron. Like everything is the same. And so I find myself maybe less reflecting this time around and more asking. And we may never know because the Harry Potter detractors have fallen into shadow and they may not pop their heads in to give us an answer to this. But I find myself really interested in how critical we are of him, especially when we juxtapose that criticism to the grace that so many of us extend. Draco, I just, I find it so interesting and I kept thinking, is it the, you know, but Daddy, I can fix him situation? Is it this kind of understanding of, you know, that Draco is broken and so he needs fixing, but doesn't Harry? Isn't Harry. Isn't Harry more than Draco? Like when we think about all of the circumstances that both boys end up in. Like, I'm looking at Harry like, you know, one of the, one of the biggest wonders of Harry's existence is the fact that he's as well adjusted as he is given the abuse that he endured. And I think that the author of this text invites us to consider or to not to consider Harry's circumstance in such a way that we kind of forget until he goes back to the Dursleys. And we're just hoping like he is when he, that he gets out unscathed. But we never ask the question of what did Privet Drive do to you? What did you lose there? What, what are the things that you're holding inside of you that might come out as anger? We spend a lot of time talking about how difficult it is for him to make friends and to trust adults and to not be so hyper dependent. And all of those things from what I understand can be signs of trauma and yet our expectations of him are so high. Higher than they are for someone who hurls, slurs. Why is that? What is that saying about us? How do we reconcile that Foreign

[Lady Luck]

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[Professor Julian Womble]

This has been another episode of Critical Magic Theory. I'm Professor Julian Womble and if you like today's episode, first of all, thank you. Please feel free to like rate, subscribe and do all the things that one does where pods are cast y'.

[Lady Luck]

All.

[Professor Julian Womble]

I told you this episode was going to be a doozy. I know that reflection might not have much made many of our Draco fan girlies feeling good about themselves, but I want you to sound off in the post episode chat because I know you have answers and I want to hear them because it was a genuine question. So pop over to patreon patreon.com Critical Magic Theory where you can join for free and be a part of this conversation y'. All. If you want to follow me on social media please feel free to do so @Prof.JW on Instagram Prof. W on Tik Tok behind the Cloak is available for pre order literally everywhere. However you want to do it, do it. We have our Prof. Response episode so please please please join us in the post episode chat because I want to hear from you and until then be critical and stay magical my friends. Bye.

[Lady Luck]

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