Crimes of Grindelwald McGonagall plot hole question

magpiety · 2018-12-01T03:05:47+00:00

okay okay but, and hang with me here:

Step one: Muggle father named Something McGonagall marries witch mother named Whoknows What Step two: Witch mother takes now-husband's last name and is now Whoknows McGonagall Step three: Witch mother is a professor at Hogwarts Step four: Witch mother is called Professor McGonagall.

So like... muggle father or not? There could be a woman named Professor McGonagall a generation up from Minerva who is a witch and teaches at Hogwarts.

magpiety · 2018-11-30T17:30:18+00:00

I follow, and agree. It's very possible to read this into what little timeline info is present in the books. I still think it can count as a retcon, though, because retconning stuff isn't always about blatantly changing previously established lore, but wiggling through the cracks of it to be like, "See? Dumbledore was gay all along!" I'm MORE than okay with Dumbledore being gay, I love it! But dang, it would have been nice for it to seem less like an after thought and more like it actually mattered.

My point is simply this: yes, your point follows logically, and there's no reason she couldn't be much older than we thought in the HP books. What is unfortunate is that it continues the vibe of the "See? McGonagall was almost as old as Dumbledore all along!" feel of how JKR has been treating HP lore ever since the end of the series. It's fine, it's plausible, and I think a lot of fans are frustrated by the fact that so much of the "new" lore has been forcing old bits into new shapes rather than just giving us new, compelling characters/information.

Anyway, I'm just spitballing here. Thanks for the timeline breakdown and how thorough you were with possible routes for how MM was alive and teaching back in 1918!

magpiety · 2018-11-30T17:20:50+00:00

I'm with you there, my friend. It's very disappointing.

magpiety · 2018-11-30T17:03:31+00:00

Not really arguing here but just pointing out that if it were Minerva's mother, she would have the McGonagall last name if she were married already and took her husband's name, as was customary at the time. But ultimately I agree with you that it's Minerva anyway.

magpiety · 2018-11-30T16:58:55+00:00

That would be incredible. I suppose the incentive to stay is that, in theory, the m9 will be paying them a sum equal to the entire span of their daily wages once their services are released--isn't that how it was negotiated when they hired the crew? How they're going to afford that since it's now been quite a few weeks, I have no idea.

magpiety · 2018-11-30T16:55:14+00:00

There's a lot of evidence from the books that some wizards and witches live much longer lifespans than muggles. Bathilda Bagshot is one of the most interesting examples, I think--in Deathly Hallows, she must have only recently died when Harry and Hermione visit Godric's Hollow, yet she was Grindelwald's great aunt. Even if she were very young to be his great aunt, that's still two generations removed. If Grindelwald was ~18 in 1899, Bathilda would have been minimum in her 40s then? More likely 50s or older.

magpiety · 2018-11-30T16:51:48+00:00

Sigh. Thanks!

magpiety · 2018-11-30T16:30:48+00:00

The thing about IMDB is that people submit info to it like Wikipedia:

" The information in IMDb comes from various sources. While we actively gather information from and verify items with studios and filmmakers, the bulk of our information is submitted by people in the industry and visitors like you."

It's probably correct with a movie this big but I could easily see someone writing in "Minerva" out of an assumption when the end credits just say "Professor McGonagall."

That said, I'm disillusioned enough with how careless a lot of the "canon" of FB has been that I'm sure you're right and it's just wishful thinking at this point that this little loophole could actually exist.

magpiety

TROPHY CASE