About this episode

The hosts discuss the ethics of commanding House-Elves and various character dynamics in Chapter 19 of Half-Blood Prince.

This week, the hosts discuss the ethics of commanding your House-Elf to tail your enemy. Why isn't Kreacher punishing himself for being so rude to Harry, when Dobby couldn't do the same about his masters? And, have any of us ever worried about being replaced like Ron does after missing out on the Quidditch match due to being poisoned? All these discussion points and more on the latest episode of our Chapter-by-Chapter analysis for Half-Blood Prince. Welcome to the show Slug Club member Stef! Chapter-by-Chapter continues with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 19: Elf Tails How is it that Kreacher can speak ill of his master, Harry? When Dobby struggled hard to do so? Has Kreacher been bending the rules due to technicality? Does Peeves operate an underground House-Elf fight club? How is he so tuned in to Dobby and Kreacher's fight?... And how does he follow them? Ethically, is Harry asking the elves to follow Draco sound? Should there be limits to what you can ask your House-Elf to do? What alternatives might Harry have used to track Draco - how about a magical AirTag? Is Draco's plan too convoluted to work? Where do we stand on the Dumbledore vs Snape argument that…

People in this episode

Guest: Stef

Topics covered

• House-Elf ethics
• Quidditch
• character replacement
• Dumbledore vs Snape
• magical tracking

Keywords

• House-Elf
• Kreacher
• Dobby
• Quidditch
• Harry Potter
• Draco
• ethics
• Peeves
• Dumbledore
• Snape

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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