Why Are Modern Wizards so Much WEAKER? - Harry Potter Theory

Have you ever wondered why the witches and wizards of new are so..WEAK? The Hogwarts founders from the 10th century were supposed to have been 4 of the most skilled witches and wizards that the magical world had ever seen, with proof of this being the impressive magical institution they left behind.

Then of course there’s Merlin - another 10th century wizard that is supposed to have been the most powerful wizard of all time and was aptly named ‘The Prince of Enchanters’.

And a few centuries after that came the Peverell brothers, a trio of brothers who in Dumbledore’s own words were ‘gifted, dangerous wizards who succeeded in creating those powerful objects’ - those ‘objects’ of course being the fabled Deathly Hallows.

And in the 14th century along came Nicolas Flamel who made Wizarding History by creating perhaps the most powerful magical object of all time- the Philosopher’s Stone.

When people talk about witches and wizards of the past, it’s as though they were so powerful that they are entirely ‘uncomparable’ to most modern day witches and wizards.

In the modern era we’ve got powerful wizards like Voldemort and Dumbledore..But they sort of seem like exceptions to the rule. It doesn’t seem like they’re TRUE outliers, but instead that they more or less represent the level of power that wizards SHOULD have..or Perhaps..ONCE had.

So my question is..What happened?

Why are witches and wizards so much weaker than they were in centuries prior? Is it all the butterbeer?

Today we’re going to be exploring all of that (and more) as we peel back the layers of wizarding history and uncover where all of that RAW power went.

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[frankbauerful]

Powerful wizards were always outliers. During Merlin's time there was only ONE Merlin. It''s not like every wizard during Merlin's time was so powerful And Merlin didn't manage to create the Philosopher's Stone. Flamel was the only one to do so. It's not like all of Flamel's compatriots were able to do so. All of these exceptionally powerful wizards are centuries apart. So power level hasn't decreased. It's always been a rare occurence that a wizard managed to rise above all others.

[codyconnor]

Less they got weaker, and more muggles continue to advance and adapt while the magical world didn’t change much.

[OwenLeBlanc-lh]

The weakness of modern witches and wizards is nonsense imo. How many wizards have we mentioned? 4 founders, Merlin, and Flamel. That's what 6 people? How many hundreds or thousands of witches and wizards existed throughout history, but were entirely unremarkable and therefore not recorded. It's a completely normal historical phenomenon. You should only expected a small few exceptional people at any given time.

[joshwhalen]

Wizard: *Makes a feather float*

Me: *Boots up the Game Boy Advance emulator on my phone*

[SubjectDelta]

I think it has to do with blood purity. I don't think it's a coincidence the strongest wizards in history were half-bloods. Tom Riddle, Dumbledore, Merlin, Harry Potter, *(probably Grindelwald too, but his blood status is unconfirmed)* all Half-bloods. It seems wizards breeding exclusively with other magicals is what made them weaker. Apparently the influx of muggle blood always leads to greater expansion of power & ability.

[Orurandokun]

... I mean, no muggle can be as good in fighting as Bruce Lee, as intelligent as Einstein, as tall as Andre the giant, or as fast as Usain Bolt.
What makes them special It's that they are the exception, not the rule.

[josecuestas]

Answer: it could be result of several reasons:

1. Genetic defective. As the wizards, particulary the blood purists, are prone to avoid enter in relationship with muggles, limiting their genetic pool to only other pureblood wizards, to the point that most of the wizards of ancient and noble houses are related each other like cousins or siblings. A kind of practice that can causes serious genetic issues, like the case of the hemophillia in the muggles.

2. Isolation. The wizarding world in general keeps themselves isolated from the rest of the world, to be hidden from the muggles. But bringing as consequences the lack of learning from the new advances, new social aspects and new mindsets, leaving the wizarding world stuck with outdated ideas.

3. Slow innovation. In comparison with the muggles, the wizards are too much reliant from one aspect, the magic, leading them to not updates or get better their society, like the muggles, that we uses the science and technology, that each day advance and get update constantly, allowing us to learn and grow as society, than be outdated like the wizards.

In my opinion, one or this three reasons can explain why the modern wizards are weaker.

[robertmckenna]

There is another possibility for why wizard kind seems to be so much weaker in Harry Potter’s time. Many of the more powerful and notable persons of the age had been either recruited or killed off by Voldemort. Hagrid said in The Philosopher’s Stone, ”No one ever lived after he decided to kill ‘em, no one except you, and he killed some of the best witches and wizards of the age.”
What if this wasn’t mere hyperbole? What if Voldemort’s reign of terror did result in the deaths of the best and brightest of a generation? This would certainly bring down the quality of magic done outside of his own and his servants. With some notable exceptions such as Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Slughorn. And he did try to kill or recruit each of them.

[pcxqdzi]

Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort are 3 of the most powerful wizards ever and they all lived simultaneously in modern times. How does the existence of Merlin and a few other people over the previous millennium indicate that wizards have gotten weaker? This theory was based on a bunk premise.

[BlueSkyCountry]

During the founding of Hogwarts the most advanced Muggle warfare technology was a trebuchet. Now there are drones which could airburst piloted by an operator miles away. Infrared and thermal scopes can still see through invisibility cloaks and spells. If you are following the Ukraine war right now, it is literally a battlefield that the Terminator movies predicted.

[LordePhantom]

I think the Muggles started winning because of Squibs. Think about it, everyone in your family can perform all these amazing things and all you're doing is just watching everything. That would drive many to hate their families and pushed to side with Muggles

[JirouLierge]

BEFORE WATCHING: My theory is that they only seem weaker, mostly do to the ministry bricking them by limiting what they can learn.

[mathieubordeleau]

It's not like you would heard of the average wizard from a 1000 years ago, the Hogwarts where likely the exception to the rule where it came to power level the same way Dumbledore and Voldemort are far more powerful than the average wizard. It's like saying the average person is dumper today than in the past by comparing them to Leonardo and Einsteins.

[mac]

Wasn't there a book report in one of the stories about the ineffectiveness of the witch trials? Something about a witch using a tickling charm on fire and being burned at the stake 30+ times in different disguises.

[gullinvarg]

The statute of secrecy might have caused a decrease in power because of inbreeding. Who are the most powerful witches and wizards in Harry Potter? Voldemort, Severus, Bellatrix, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hermione come to mind. How many of them are half blood or Muggle born as compared to pure blood, from that list only Bellatrix is pure blood and she's mentally unbalanced. While the statute of secrecy does require mating with a witch or wizard, it does make it difficult to do otherwise.

[OverworkedITGuy]

The problem with this theory is that it ignores the natural progress of the human species from rural/feudal governing structures to the modern governing structures the entire world has evolved into.

Also, the wizards named were all extreme outliers of the wizarding community during their own times. They were all exceptions, and not the rule... even in their own times.

And as far as powerful wizards after Dumbledor's generation? What about Voldemort, Snape? Both were exceptional wizards of their generation who innovated magical techniques. They created entirely new spells and magical abilities in just their (relatively) short lives. The Marauders managed to create the map while still students at Hogwart's. Who knows what else they could have created or discovered had their lives not been cut short by their particular involvements in the new Wizarding War. Or the other young wizards of their generation and the generation of Harry and his classmates who died as result of Voldemort's war before they even had a chance to come fully into their magical power and abilities.

Something else to keep in mind, those wizards of old were operating with the peak of human technology available to them for the most part, and they used it. Magical potion makers for example, would have been using the exact same types of equipment non-magical apothecaries used. Basic bottles, flasks, cauldrons, etc were the top of the line back then. But magical potion making equipment never progressed beyond that stage. All the while, muggle equipment for brewing, mixing and chemistry had advanced by leaps and bounds in the subsequent centuries.

At the current times, the wizarding world always seems like it's actively fighting against and intentionally trying to keep their members ignorant of modern human technology and advancement. Technology a large number of the new incoming wizards (the muggleborn) would have grown up with and been exposed to for their entire lives before joining the Wizarding World. It seems like everything in the Wizarding world is intentionally designed to force a stagnant environment that frowns on actual innovation and expanse of knowledge in even the most basic things.

* Why aren't current day magical potion makers using modern beakers, flasks and other types of equipment to ensure precision and consistency in measuring ingredients and reliable temperature control for their elixirs the way muggles do for a wide variety of medicinal and non-medicinal chemical production?
* Why does the wizarding world still use quills and parchment instead of even pen and ink technologies from the 1900's much less basic pencils and modern paper?
* Why do even highly experienced and supposedly educated wizards and other teaching professors seem so baffled by things as simple as a rubber duck?
* Why aren't students of wizarding schools taught things like maths and history that are necessary for proper education of functioning adults regardless of whether they have magical abilities or not?

It all seems contradictory and inconsistent, with the sole purpose of keeping the wizarding world technologically uneducated and behind the curve. Especially when we know for a fact that magic and modern technology can co-exist with no problems. See the Hogwart's Express, the Night Bus, Haggrid's motorcycle and Arthur's car (which can't possibly be the only ensorcelled automobiles out there).

There are a lot of moving parts going on here, but I don't think some grand conspiracy by the muggles is the source of some perceived "loss in power" of the magical world as a whole.

[palantir]

If modern wizards really are weaker in magic I would suggest that inbreeding among the wizard families is the cause.

[felix]

Far more realistic answer: they did it to themselves. It is stated early on that wizards stay secret or else muggles would want magical solutions for all their problems. This lines up with a simple yet cold truth we are shown about wizards: they are selfish with magic. This is evident in their subjugation of other magical races and refusing or limiting their access to magic. It shouldn't be the least bit surprising that they chose to isolate themselves. By doing so they essentially put their own society in a slow chokehold. Their isolation also cut them off from themselves somewhat. How absurd would it be for a teenage muggle to believe that their school is the only one in the world? Yet students at Hogwarts were surprised to find out just that. It shows how little they know about their own world. It is only natural that knowledge would be lost over time and that progress would be slowed. After all, a wizard's "power" is simply how far they have progressed with magic.

[rensocruz]

I don't think wizards are "weaker", there just hasn't been a wizard prodigy in recent history. I'd compare it to muggles, every so often comes a genius that changes the world (examples: Davinci, Newton, Einstein). Maybe the next "Merlin" hasn't been born yet 🤷

[tylerjones]

This isn't just Harry Potter. The whole of how things were better in the GOOD OLD DAYS, and how we were more noble, more powerful, wiser, etc. compared to the degenerate days of today is VERY common in a lot of stories, fantasy and science fiction.