Dating conventions

Fans have createda timeline of theHarry Potter series from a single piece of information inHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

AtNearly Headless Nick'sdeathday party in that book, his death is stated to have been on31 October1492. Since the celebration was commemorating the five-hundredth anniversary of Nick's death, this seems to say the scene takes place on31 October1992.

Thistimeline is reinforced inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when the graves ofJames andLily Potter confirm that they were born in1960 and died on 31 October1981, further reinforced inPottermore when theDeath Eater riot on the Quidditch World Cup is stated to have taken place in1994, and further yet inHarry Potter and the Cursed Child, in which theTriwizard Tournament is mentioned to have taken place in the1994–1995 school year.

On1 September2017,J. K. Rowling confirmed viaher Twitter account that that was the day the Epilogue was set.

For the sake of convenience, this dating system will be used by the Harry Potter Wiki for allHarry Potter articles.

Dates[]

B.C. to 19th century[]

20th century[]

Main article:20th century

21st century[]

Main article:21st century

Contradictions[]

There are numerous contradictions in the timeline, though it should be noted that, inthe FAQ section of her website, Rowling has admitted having difficulty with managing mathematics, so perhaps perfect internal consistency is not to be expected. In addition, considering the Harry Potter universe is a fantasy world, it's possible that certain dates may differ between it and the "real world".

Despite its problems, this timeline is extensively used by fans andWarner Bros.'s timeline of the series (featured on the DVDs forHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets andHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) contains dates that were interpolated from this dating system (such asHarry's birthday being on31 July1980 and his first defeat ofLord Voldemort being on31 October1981). However, several anachronisms have crept through in the movies, such as featuring the destruction of theMillennium Bridge in the film version ofHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, even though the novel (and the film) are supposed to take place two years before the bridge was built. InHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Dursleys are seen to have a flat-screen television, which were not commonly available in the mid-1990s. In addition the Dursleys' car, shown in the same film, bears a 2006 year registration plate.

A short film with the movie series cast,The Queen's Handbag, was produced in 2006 as part of the 80th birthday celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II. The skit violates the dating convention by having the characters reference the event, even though for them it should still be the mid-1990s.

Some of these anachronisms may be resolved if it is assumed that the film timeline takes place roughly contemporaneously with the films' release dates, about 10 years after the books. However, this would introduce problems when dates based on the books' timeline are referenced in the films.

In thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, an article inThe Guardian about the collapse of theMillennium Bridge is dated5 July2007, and the other stories mentioned in the newspaper are real news stories from that year. This is the film version of the book's attack onBrockdale Bridge in 1996. This date could theoretically be used to develop a timeline for the film series asNick'sDeathday Party was used for the book's timeline. However, the dates on Harry's parents' grave are the same as in the book, which would contradict this.

Problems with time[]

Often when dates are given, they are given with a day of the week that does not match with that date as it in actual history. One such example occurs inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban whenSybill Trelawney refers to 16 October as Friday, although 16 October1993 was a Saturday. This is usually explained as artistic licence on the author's part.

There are also contradictions within the books in this area. For example, inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, both 1 September and 2 September are given as Mondays and, inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,Buckbeak's trial is set on 20 April, but careful parsing of the text reveals that it could have happened no later than February.

Also, inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire it is said that the Champions were chosen on Saturday 31 October, but 31 October was a Monday in1994. However, it was later stated that 22 November was a Tuesday, which it was in 1994.

In chapter 7 ofQuidditch Through the Ages, it is said that the firstQuidditch World Cup was held in 1473.^[1] If the championship is held every four years, this conflicts with the statement inGoblet of Fire that the 1994 World Cup was the 422nd. IfQuidditch Through the Ages is right, the 422nd Quidditch World Cup would actually fall in the year 3161, but ifGoblet of Fire is right, the first World Cup was actually held in 306.

Historical problems[]

Although the series, according to the timeline derived from the Chamber of Secrets reference, is set in the1990s, the series often seems as though it is set from around1995 to around2008, roughly concurrent with the publication of the books. InHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,Cornelius Fudge uses a male pronoun to refer to the "predecessor" of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. According to the above timeline, this should occur in the summer of1996, when the Prime Minister wasJohn Major, whose immediate predecessor was a woman (Margaret Thatcher).^[2] Furthermore, when recounting the PM's first meeting with Fudge, the book mentions the election, but Major wasn't initially elected and simply took over after Thatcher resigned.

It is possible, however unlikely, that Fudge could be referring to a more distant predecessor, as Thatcher took office before Fudge supposedly became Minister for Magic. (Although one could imagine a scenario in which Fudge was delegated by the Minister for Magic to meet with the Prime Minister while he, Fudge, was in an inferior office.) Additionally, the personality and history of the Prime Minister portrayed appears to more closely match that ofTony Blair than of John Major. An article in the Daily Mail notes that Rowling is close to the then-Chancellor of the ExchequerGordon Brown (often viewed as a rival to Blair's leadership of the Labour Party, who succeeded him and became Prime Minister), and that she might have been attempting to show Blair's worst side. If the books were set in sync with publication date of Philosopher's Stone, then this event would occur in2002 (after Blair became Prime Minister).

A similar problem involvesNicolas Flamel, who was mentioned as being 665 at the time of the first book, but Nicolas Flamel was a real historical figure and would not have reached that age until 1996, around the time the first book was published. The rebuttal for this is that the date the "real" Nicolas Flamel was born does not correspond with the Nicolas Flamel ofHarry Potter.^[3]

Another problem exists regardingRubeus Hagrid's tenure as Hogwarts's gamekeeper. It is implied throughout the series that Hagrid was given that position within a few years of his expulsion from school in 1942. But in one scene ofHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,Molly Weasley reminisces aboutOgg, Hagrid's predecessor; since Hagrid's years as gamekeeper appear to overlap with Molly's years at school, it seems unlikely that she remembers a previous gamekeeper. However, it is possible that Hagrid did not become a gamekeeper immediately after being expelled, but rather started as Ogg's assistant. This is plausible given that when Harry thinks that he will be expelled for flying on the broomstick without permission in his first year, he wonders if he would be allowed to stay on as Hagrid's assistant.

There is at least one anachronism in the books. In a letterHarry writes toSirius inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he mentions that his cousinDudley owns aPlayStation. According to the timeline, this would be in the summer of 1994, but that sort of gaming console was not launched anywhere until December 1994, and then only in Japan. However, considering his parents gave him whatever he wanted, they could have gone out of Britain to get it, as well as used special connections. Or, Harry might have confused the PlayStation with a similar console. As most wizards are ignorant of how Muggle technology functions, the latter theory seems plausible, although Muggle-raised wizards knew much more about Muggles than the average wizard.^[4]

Another mistake occurs in dealing with the attendance ofBellatrix Lestrange andSeverus Snape at Hogwarts. Sirius Black mentions Snape and Bellatrix's attendance of the school overlapping at a certain point; however, this is impossible, as Bellatrix attended the school from either1962 to1969 or1963 to1970, while Snape started at Hogwarts in1971. Sirius could have meant that Snape and Bellatrix ran with the same crowd, but at different times, or the same manner of people, or maybe Bellatrix had to repeat at least one year.^[5]

Another contradiction is thatMerlin could not have both been in KingArthur's court and have attended Hogwarts, as King Arthur ruled from late 5th century to early 6th century, but Hogwarts was founded c. 993 AD, approximately five centuries after King Arthur's reign. When Hogwarts was founded, the King of England wasÆthelred II (c. 968–1016), and the King of Scotland was most likelyKenneth II (971–995), or, less likely,Constantine III (995–997). Also if one assumes that King Arthur was born after Merlin in theHarry Potter universe, then it leaves no period of time for Arthur to reign as the king of Britain during the 10th–15th centuries (the time periods that Merlin could have been born and lived in if he went to Hogwarts and still be living in the Middle Ages) as the kings of Britain in these time periods are well documented. One explanation for these contradictions is that King Arthur could have been born and reigned in the 5th or 6th century and Merlin could have used a Time-Turner to travel back to that time period and become a member of King Arthur's Court and theMerlin of the Arthurian Legends. This would fit with the legend of Merlin having been born old and grown younger over time.

If the canonical timeline of the books (1991–1998) is correct, there are several anachronisms in the films, which appear to be set entirely in the2000s and the early2010s, between about2000 and2012. Perhaps most glaringly is that at the start ofHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (set in 1995 according to the timeline), when Harry is bringing Dudley home, a February 2006 license plate on a Vauxhall Astra is clearly visible in the background; and then when Harry is flying down theThames toward his trial, he flies past the completeCanary Wharf development, including theCitigroup Building andEight Canada Square (in 1995, onlyOne Canada Square existed) and theLondon Eye (which also appeared inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and would have been non-existent in 1995 and under construction in 1998). Similarly, in thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, an article inThe Guardian about the collapse of theMillennium Bridge (not built until 2002) is dated5 July2007, and the other stories mentioned in the newspaper are real news stories from that year, including a mention ofGeorge W. Bush (president from 2001-2008), andBill Clinton (president from 1993-2001) being mentioned as a "former" president.

If we presume the date on the newspaper article is deliberate and correct, it is the clearest evidence that the film's timeline is intended to take place roughly 10 years after the book timeline. The date could potentially be used as a concrete reference point to establish a timeline for the films, though again this conflicts with the dates on the Potters' grave, which are the same as those in the book,1960 and1981, which would have deliberately been1970 and1991 had they done it knowingly.

Notes and references[]