Culture
Fudge's Therapy Session (HBP Chapter 1, The Other Minister)
In this episode of Muggle Cast, the hosts dive into Chapter 1 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, titled 'The Other Minister.' They discuss the significance of Cornelius Fudge's ...
Fudge's Therapy Session (HBP Chapter 1, The Other Minister)
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and the fact that Fudge would be a little bit looser with the Muggle Prime Minister.
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One reason could just be because he knows that this person's not going to share any of this
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information with anybody else. So even if he praises Dumbledore, it's not like the Muggle Prime
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Minister is going to go run and tell him. It's like his therapist. It's almost like a therapy
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session for Fudge. Welcome to Muggle Cast. You're weekly ride into the world of Harry Potter.
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I'm Andrew. I'm Eric. And I'm Micah. And we are your trio this week where your Harry Potter
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friends talking about the books and the movies and the upcoming TV show. So make sure you press that
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follow button in your favorite podcast app. And that way you'll never miss a week with your
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Harry Potter friends. And this week a new chapter if you will of Muggle Cast because we are
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kicking off our chapter by chapter reread of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. But first,
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if you love this show and want to help us keep it running as smoothly as Scrimger's Lioness
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clocks feel, we invite you to become a member of our community at patreon.com slash Muggle Cast.
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And by supporting us there, you can get instant access to two bonus episodes every month,
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plus ad free episodes of Muggle Cast, Access to our live streams, a personal video thank you
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message from one of the four Muggle Casters, a physical gift delivered by Al each year, and a lot
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more. Well, actually, I have a new bonus out this week in which we're analyzing the full cast
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audiobook covers, which were just released by Audible. They are beautiful and very unique. So we'll
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talk about those in bonus Muggle Cast this week. So that's the business out of the way. But some
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congratulations are in order this week too, right? Let's pop it over to Micah Tannenbaum and the
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I feel like the news is always a blah, especially in these last couple of months. Maybe we can extend
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that out even further, but this was something that I really found to be enjoyable and that is
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Gary Oldman is now Sir Gary Oldman. He was knighted by Prince William earlier this week on Tuesday.
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And Eric, you actually had a really nice catch there and I'm not going to steal your thunder. So
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the floor is yours. All right, I think I have to pull up the text, make sure I get it right. He
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put the sir in serious. Oh, meaning Prince Williamson. Now they've got the sir. There's a thing.
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Yes, Gary Oldman, sir Gary. But the photos of him that Micah continues to text me even right now
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he sent five since we started recording of the ceremony. You know, Mr. Oldman is very or
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Sir Oldman. He didn't go all right. Get it right to being called Mr. Oldman. Sir Oldman. He
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just looks chuffed. He just looks happy to be there. He's very, very excited. It's obviously an
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honor. All the articles that have come across to have talked about how Prince William, which I
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can also a huge fan of slow horses as well, which I know in the last episode of Muggle Cass,
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we mentioned season five just dropped. So yeah, that must have been a cool experience. I'm sure
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Prince William has many a cool experience. But tonight Gary Oldman, tonight Sirius Black is
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pretty cool. And especially because we're feeling the loss in Sirius. He gets a name drop in this
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chapter. We're going to be discussing, but it's it's just devastating to be reading in a Potter
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book world without him. Well, for you, I'm not a huge Sirius fan. So I don't mind it so much.
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It's just another chapter, just another chapter. Yeah. Just another character in the book.
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It's a great chapter. So let's jump into chapter by chapter. We'll start with Half Blood Prince,
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chapter one, the other minister. I like to start each chapter by chapter series, if you will,
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with a quick look back at the release of each book that we're discussing. So Half Blood Prince
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was released July 16th, 2005, meaning it just celebrated its 20th birthday a couple of months ago.
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Yeah, I was going to say how did we miss that? But that's because we were also celebrating our 20th
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birthday last month. Yeah. Yeah. And explains it. Eric, do you remember where you were for the
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midnight release of HPP? I do. I was the only person for Muggle that to be in Ohio. Several
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staffers were at Spellbound in a mall outside of Chicago. And one of the suburbs, I think it was
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this big event, big book release and the stores of this mall all converted to Diagonally. But the
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same thing was happening in a town called Hudson in Ohio. And it was this up and coming like new
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little town. They had like a basically the equivalent of a John Buduse. And I was recruited to be the
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master of ceremonies for this little party that they had in the whole marching band, the town
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marching band came out and played headwigs theme. And it was this wonderful little thing for the
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Learned Al bookstore, which I believe is still around. And it was a fun event. Although I had
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major FOMO because I was telling I think Ben or Kevin and one of them said that the other had
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been spoiled on book six, which I think Kevin just got spoiled every single book, which is very
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funny given the experience around the end of the quotation marks. Yeah, yeah, but no, it was
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it was a perfectly delightful party. And I'm curious where you guys were because we didn't have,
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I know I mentioned a moment ago, but the start of Muggle cast, but that was like only a couple weeks
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later. Like a you know, two or three weeks after the book release. So, but if you had found me on
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July 20th and said, you know, it's something about a podcast or something about Andrew and Micah,
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I wouldn't have known you guys really as well. For me, you know, this was my introduction to
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Harry Potter. This was my introduction to an official book release, a midnight release.
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I had a friend who worked at Barnes & Noble. So he was able to help me secure a copy of the book.
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And as I said, at the time I had just gone through the first five books earlier that summer.
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So I was very eager to get my hands on half-blood prints. I really had not yet been introduced to
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the fandom. I probably had been on Muggle net reading the editorials. That's the extended bit,
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but little did I know kind of what you were saying, Eric, that in just about a month after
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things would change our lives would all change forever. And here we are. That led us to
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here to this recording studio. Like we were teasing Micah a few weeks ago. Some of us had to wait
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years between book five and six and we hated it. It was a very painful wait. You had a kind of
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easy in that regard. You only had to wait a few weeks, right? For me, I think I have the most
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boring story in terms of getting half-blood prints. I'm pretty sure I just ordered it from Amazon
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and they had it delivered to me on release day. That in itself was very cool for 20 years ago.
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That was cool. It felt revolution at the time. But yeah, I went to midnight releases for
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Goblet and Order and Deathly Hallows. But for some reason I didn't do half-blood prints and I'm
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not sure why. But I do remember the Amazon shipped the half-blood prints books in special boxes,
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special packaging. So that part was exciting. But yeah, do you still have your box?
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You know what? I ended up getting a box from a bookstore. I think like I went to one of the
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most famous things. Oh, what does this like in Margot? Do not open till July? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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You were in the dumpster. Yeah, I was dumpster diving.
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It's okay. No, but that's exciting. I mean, I've heard from, I think we over the years have
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heard from people too who, you know, did the Amazon thing or were going on a family trip and were
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worried that the Amazon thing would arrive. So then they ended up going to like a local Barnes
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Noble instead. Anyway, and then they got home and they after the trip and they had two copies.
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So I mean, if you, I just think it's a wonderful look back on to how excited we all were for this
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book. And if it's your first book release party, that's great because it wasn't the last.
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Yeah, I wish I went to one, but that's okay. Have what prints did sell 6.9 million copies in the
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US alone in its first 24 hours? Making it at the time, the fastest-selling book in history,
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its record would later be beaten by Deathly Hallows, of course, a couple of years later.
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Not Chris Child, the script book? No, believe it or not. Barnes and Noble reported sales
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averaging 105 copies per second in the first hour of sales. So what?
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I mean, I releases. It is also the first book in the series to be shorter than the book that
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preceded it, which was nice for us kids. Something lighter to hold in our hands.
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Oh man, that's for sure. And then of course, Muggo Cast, like we've been saying, would begin about
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three weeks later. So that's what was going on at the time. Speaking of throwbacks, you may remember
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that on our most recent read through of Order the Phoenix, we had a segment called the Muggo Cast
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Time Turner featuring Michael Gambon. We're changing that segment. We like to change things up in
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between books were chapter by chapter segment and we're still going to be looking back to the most
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recent time that these chapters were discussed in this book. But this time it's going to be through
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the Muggo Cast Pensive, a new segment that we've whipped up. This episode or this chapter was last
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discussed on Muggo Cast Episode 376, nearly 350 episodes ago. And it was recorded and released
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for July 16th, 2018. What you were looking at the memories. This is perhaps the most important
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memory I've collected. For Scrim J.R., people thought that this was a description of the half-blood
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prints, clearly not. Or Gajar, Gryffindor. Or yeah, that was another one. But that would be
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quite a feat for Gajar to pull off. Does anyone else remember being a little disappointed?
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When they found out that this description that we were debating about forever was just the new
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minister for magic. It just seemed a little disappointing to me because there were so many more
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exciting ideas like Gajar Gryffindor or the half-blood prints. At this point I don't think it
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had ruled out that he could be the half-blood prints. That would be good. That's true.
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This memory is everything. Well done.
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Just he's just he's as there selling it for us. Yeah. So thank you, Demolary. Every memory will be
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everything. Every memory will be better than the last. Yeah, that was the Mughal Cast.
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Pensive. Second. One of the things that I really like about this memory, though, is it is a good
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throwback to when things were teased by the author on her website in advance of a book release.
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And Gajar's description led to many theories and very few if any people really got it right.
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Yeah. We weren't expecting the wizarding world to expand like this in that we were going to be
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hearing from the Mughal minister. Yeah. This blows a little off. Really just unexpected. The
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the individual chapters that are away from Harry's perspective are always really interesting.
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And this one just completely again changed the game. It was a deeper level of storytelling that
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was warranted by the world building that had been done up to that point. And I know that we're
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doing a bit of nostalgia here looking back to book releases. But J.K. Rowling revealing things
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on her website really got people excited. And it was everything from book titles to release dates to
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descriptions in this case of characters. So chapter titles, I think even for
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half-blood prints were done. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think this one might have been from
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the publisher because it was at back of the book or insert description of the lion-made
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individual. But I have a confession you guys because I would always cheat about how to open the
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door on J.K. Rowling website. You looked on MughalNet didn't you? I looked on MughalNet. I always had to
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figure out how to open the door, how to do the wombatts, how to do the I was never good at
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figuring it out myself. I do think Mike is right that this quote about the other minister
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about Scrimger was teased on her website. I do vaguely remember that because I'm also looking
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in the book and I don't see a quote on it. Maybe it was on the UK edition. I don't know. Yeah,
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I thought it was galactic maybe did something. But yeah, either way, this era doesn't exist
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anymore. And it was really a moment in time to what you're saying, Micah. Like the locked door on
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the website and everything about that website actually really showcases the very unique relationship
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between the author and us back then. Diving in to chapter one, the other minister. I did
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want to ask is this anybody's favorite chapter in the whole series? Because I kind of think it's
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mine to be honest. Okay. Okay, I guess not yours. Okay. No, I just think what I was saying a
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moment ago about it being the right amount of world building at the right time. If this chapter were
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in any other book, it might have been too soon to explain kind of how the Wizarding World is hiding
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and yet also reporting to the Muggle governments of the world. And this just gives a perfect insight
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right at a time of crisis. So I like it. I even though most of the chapter itself is a flashback to
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a character that we never ever see again, the British Prime Minister, I find it just is delightful
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and funny. And I really like it. Yeah. For me, I wouldn't say it's one of my favorite, but I will say
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it's definitely unique because it's one of only a handful of chapters that isn't from Harry's
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perspective. In fact, Hepplund Prince is the only book where we get back to back chapters.
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Oh, it's the other minister. And then next week when we discuss Spinner's End without Harry,
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the start. And that's certainly different for a series that we always have him right at the
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start for the most part. I really like the chapter because it tells the reader right off the bat
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that the return of Voldemort is a problem that extends beyond Hogwarts, beyond Harry,
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and that Voldemort is one bad dude and bleep is real now. Like this is real. It's a real world
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problem. It sets the stage. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. We spend every book being like, oh, Voldemort's
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probably going to come back at the end and things are going to be terrifying, but it's going to be okay.
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And following the last book, things are very much not going to reset to okay. Yeah. Because
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Harry is not in this opening chapter, I hesitate to call it by favorite opening chapter. I just
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feel like for me, I need Harry in an opening chapter to call it one of the top chapters. But I do
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love like you were saying, Eric, the significant world building that is happening here. We're seeing
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how the Minister of Magic has to work with the Muggle Prime Minister and how these worlds
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have to coexist. And that was very interesting lore to experience. Yeah. The political reality
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and the struggles that the British Prime Minister is facing even outside of the before Fudge shows
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up and gets involved is just really interesting. And it's funny because being a British person too,
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like Jakey Rowling, you always have a unique insight. I think when you're writing about the leader
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of your own country and what that might be like. So yeah, years before the casual vacancy,
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here's a political story being told to us. And I love it. I just think it's deeply funny where
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casual vacancy is not. But I love it. So yeah, here's a question for you guys. Or here's an idea.
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I have our first max that of the book. So we meet the Muggle Prime Minister in this chapter. And
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he's doing his thing when Fudge arrives. And as soon as Fudge begins to speak, we then get
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kind of a recap of the previous times Fudge has been in the office when serious black broke out.
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Obviously, they needed to coordinate. This is something we've seen before in the Harry Potter
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books because we saw black on the Dersley's television. So of course, there must have been a
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conversation there. Very exciting. Also when the Quiddit World Cup Death Eaters rampage and
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all of that, my thing is, rather than waiting until season six of the max TV show, what if we
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started to get these little tidbits with the British Prime Minister and Fudge starting as early
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as they begin. So like season three. And we could build up the relationship between these two men
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in a more dynamic kind of expanded way. Wouldn't that be neat? That would be cool.
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Yeah. And then I guess that adds a lot more weight to this scene in the opening episode of Half
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Blood Prince when Fudge has to share the news with the Prime Minister that he's not the Minister
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of Magic anymore. I can see that. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think it would be cool for pacing if we
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already knew these guys. The big deal for me. I think always think of the pacing and never pocket.
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Never pocket. I'm stalker than ever. I'm here for a cameo. Yeah. But no, I think that that would be
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something that's really neat. And really the only failing is we don't really see the muggle PM
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again. You should have shown up in the 19 years later and his kid should have been a wizard.
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That's what I think. Yeah. Or even to expand on your max that idea, just getting a better look at
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the muggle world and how it plays with how it dances with the wizarding world. I like that.
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That word dance, say characterization. Also, but here's what remind me or how I thought of this
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segment for Max that to begin with is those shots that we got of Deadly's Diggle and Vernon
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Dersley that we talked about. So Dersley's day at work going to grunnings and seeing all these
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people in cloaks because Voldemort's been gone for the first day. That will give us that insight
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as to what these groups of wizards in public look like, feel like, think like, act like.
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And that's a perspective that's in the books, but has never been adapted to film. So I'm a big fan
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of let's try and max this this prime minister chapter as well. Well, I'd better be inspired.
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Sure. Yeah. You're inspired by the Diggle wiggle.
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The Diggle wiggle. Yes. And I'm also inspired when we play the sound of static. Oh,
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I thought you were like moving to an ad break or something.
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Yeah. Not the clip. Yeah. Well, let's go deeper into chapter one of Halfboy Prince,
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but first we're going to hear a word from our sponsors.
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Already we're back and we are treated in this chapter to the recollections and life of the
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British Prime Minister, the proud owner of a new gerbil that he has to figure out what to do with.
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You know, I couldn't help throughout this chapter but feel sorry for the British Prime Minister.
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He has had a week and it's not his fault. It has nothing to do with his government,
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his administration, much as they've come under fire in the news media as he laments in this
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chapter. But he has had a heck of a stressful week due to all these circumstances out of his control
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that are all due to Voldemort coming back. In a particular area where I felt saddest for him was
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when he talked about, he thinks about seeing the face of the opposition party guy who is kind of
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mercifully saying, oh, it's a dark time for this country and blaming all of these things on
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this administration. So I just felt that that was a great characterization. You really feel for
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the situation that he's in. Yeah, because he has no idea why any of these things are happening
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and that would be an incredibly frustrating situation to be in. At least now he is getting some
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answers, but it's like to your point, Eric, there's nothing they can do about what's going on and
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this is going to be really bad for this Prime Minister politically because when things do get bad
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in the country that they are overseeing, people want change and want to vote out the incumbent
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and vote out the leading political party, the dominant political party. So this is one reason why
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this is hitting the Muggle Prime Minister so hard. And he has no good answers as to why these things
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are happening and his political opponent is like we got to get him out, he sucks, he's screwing
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everything up. It's yeah, you really do feel for the guy. Yeah, and I wonder like if things had gotten
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worse because Voldemort is not defeated till the following year, at the end of the following year,
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Harry's May of what are two years from now probably. Yeah, so what exactly, we never see the Prime
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Minister again, I just wonder how things got so much worse for him because the disappearance
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has probably didn't stop. And in fact, when the Ministry is actually fallen, one can only guess
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what the situation for the Muggles would be with Voldemort pretty much in charge completely
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in the following year. So, would assume it would have been a rocky stretch for this Muggle Prime
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Minister, a period of time that unless the Wizarding World intervened on his behalf at some later
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point to erase the memory of what happened, likely is a stain on his term in office. And what's
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terrible is that it's all beyond his control. There's really nothing that he can do. Yeah, and I
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just feel bad because the only person to tell him what's going on is incompetent, is Cornelius Fudge,
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who's not even the other minister at this point. He's the other other minister. We don't know that.
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The other former. Early on. Yeah, no, we don't, we don't, but this is why as a reader, I feel bad,
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is because Scrimger is essentially delegated the task of
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dutifully informing the Muggle Prime Minister to Fudge indefinitely. He says you'll never see
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me again, probably. So Fudge is going to be doing that. I'm glad, though, that you referenced the
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title of this chapter because it has a double meeting. Yeah, and that's why we were all
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fooled as readers, I think, because Micah, I think you're right that this title was teased on
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Caroling's website. I think three chapter titles that we got. Draco's detour comes to mind.
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Felix Felicis was another, there was three of them if I recall. I think Spinner's End was the other.
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Yeah, so I'm just finding an article on Muggle Net right now, actually. October 31st, 2004,
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the mysterious door on the author's site was opened and it did reveal within three chapter titles
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yeah, it's Spinner's End, Draco's detour and Felix Felicis. Pretty interesting. But, you know,
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in classic fashion, I'm sure we were speculating who's Felix. Is Felix the Half-Blood Prince?
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Have we seen that Felicis surname before? Everybody's flipping to the barbs trying to find a clue.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we didn't necessarily a Muggle cast,
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but I think those were, you know, valid questions to be asking. So, yeah, the big thing for me
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and, you know, we can enumerate some of these awful things, but they're really awful. They're
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particularly bad. Like, I mean, the bridge collapse, we're going to get there. That bridge was new.
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It's ridiculous to assume they're not spending enough on bridges. But I want to talk about giants
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escaping the West country. This is a through line to the Death Eaters courting the giants in the
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previous book that Hagrid Subplot that everyone forgets or doesn't care about, including me.
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But the giants are on the loose in the West country and near as they configure it, the Muggles
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think a hurricane went through because everything is crushed. How terrifying would it be for you as
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a Muggle? If your little quaint seaside town or mountainside town was just demolished one day,
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it didn't even rain. I really do like though, Eric, how you lay this all out because this is all
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due to fudges and competency. Every single one of these items that come up that have impacted the
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Muggle world as well as the Wizarding world is all due to Fudge's unwillingness to believe that
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Voldemort was back when Dumbledore told him not that long ago. Or what, beginning of book five,
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maybe we give Fudge a little bit of grace. That's exactly right. The fact that last year,
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somebody from the order Hagrid and Maxime, she's order Jason, had to go and court the giants
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and the Death Eaters were doing it. But nobody from the ministry was there to do it as a third
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third party to keep things under wraps. You can imagine there would be too many cooks. Maybe the
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giants would get confused and stop some of them just to make it easier to understand. But they
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didn't even try. So this is to your point, Mike, it goes straight back to Fudge, where the reason
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that the giants are running rampant is because they've aligned themselves with the Death Eaters just
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like the Dementors and who can blame them because Fudge and other Wizards have been neglectful
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of what each race really wants or needs. Yeah. And now that Voldemort has been exposed,
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was exposed at the end of Order of the Phoenix in the ministry. He has no reason to operate
spk_0
in secrecy. And that's why all these things are happening. Right. Yeah. Before I guess there was
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plausible deniability. But so moving on from that hurricane that wasn't a hurricane, Herbert
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Charlie, one of the junior ministers is now quacking like a duck. We've all been there.
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Yeah, this is delightful. Yeah. Yeah. It looks like a duck and quacks like a duck. It's Herbert
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Charlie. But you know, turns out we find out throughout the course of the dialogue in this chapter,
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it's maybe an imperious curse gone wrong. But if you read between the lines and actually listen
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to what's being said, the imperious curse being gone wrong comes from it probably being placed
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on him by an unskilled wizard, which means that Voldemort has declared open season, not just for
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his most loyal, competent followers, but pretty much anybody that wants to go and attack a muggle
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is welcome to. And it's really unclear what he was supposed to be doing under the imperious
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curse. But his either his resistance or the poorly performed curse means that he's quacking like
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a duck and drawing a lot of uncomfortable attention to himself and to the government. Yeah. The
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prime minister is like, oh, that'll be resolved soon. But it's like you really want him like
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around you right now when he's unexplainably quacking like a duck. Something's got to be really
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wrong with somebody. Something's very wrong. They have no idea. And it's it's really only fudge that
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says we need to take him to our hospital because this is serious. Yeah. Yeah. Like if if the others had
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just kind of still tried to okay, come into work or work remotely two days and then come in,
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there's no telling who he would have injured or harmed because he's attempting to strangle the
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dealers according to what Fudge says. So something went dreadfully wrong and it kind of facilitates
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or necessitates the need for wizards to be protecting the muggles right now. And this was all due
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to attempted infiltration right on the part of Baltimore. Yeah. It seems so. It seems so. Yeah.
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And either infiltration to spy or straight up control of plunged he could have killed the minister
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like somebody in his inner circle, one of the junior ministers like you we don't know what
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Baltimore its whole game plan is. But I found it to be really interesting is we'll get to in a minute.
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I don't know about you guys. It just clacked him to death. It would clack him to death. That should,
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you know, early on in muclecast history we did that 101 ways Voldemort should have died.
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I think or yeah, to be killed. Yeah. I don't think quacking was on there. 101 quacked to death.
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Quacked to death. Yeah. But anyway, I don't know about you guys. I'm pretty seasonally affected.
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You know, you give me a cloudy day and I'll just be kind of in my thoughts and not super happy.
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Well, if you've ever been to London, ever been to England in the summertime.
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It's even in the summertime not often sunny, I guess. It's kind of glued me all year round.
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But it's better. It's better than the rest of the year. Yeah.
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Yeah. But this July it's straight up cold and misting. Just a constant mist in the air. And so
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everything, every problem that's going on in the country with people and danger and safety is
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compounded by the fact that it's just been rotten. People looking forward to like their little
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beach trip to the Isle of White and they can't go or it's just too just dreadful everywhere.
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But what's the truth? What is the truth? The dementors are breeding.
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Oh, you know, this also reminds me in Southern California, they have something called
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June Gloom and you would think, oh, California, June, it must be perfect. Every morning pretty much,
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it's misty slash foggy because of the ocean. And as the sun rises, the sun pushes all that
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mist back out to the ocean. But now I'm wondering if maybe that's actually dementors breeding.
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But this is a gross thought. Well, aside from the questions about how it happens or whatever,
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shouldn't the ministry be able somehow to stop this? Nothing stops love, Eric. Nothing stops love.
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The love of two hooded cloaked dementors with their long bony hands. Yes.
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Yeah, that's a good answer. I just think they can't contain them. There probably aren't enough adult
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wizards that can cast good enough patronuses in order to even keep the dementors at bay if they
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ever decide to attack. So this is a mess because pretty soon there's going to be many more of them.
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And again, it wouldn't have happened if Fudge had just listened to Dumbledore.
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I almost imagined some kind of spontaneous replication due to certain conditions,
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not that there's actually full on dementor love going on.
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Love. Love. He said love. I agree that they're not maybe physical with each other.
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But are they breeding because they're happy? Are they breeding because at Voldemort's direction?
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Why is this happening? I think it's because they're being given hosts
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in the unsuspecting Muggle public. I think that every living organism needs certain life conditions
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met and when it goes into the breeding, it's because it's knocked off the higher needs, right? First.
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So they simply are being I think fed as sad as that is, as horrible as that is to concur or think
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about to ponder. I think that the dementors are finally getting the right diet. And so they're
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breeding because it's the next stage of whatever their crazy wizard made as it turns out life cycle
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is kind of like a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, but on the very far other end of this
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bacterial. No, I think it's just like that. Yeah, I think this again just helps to set the scene
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for what is to come in this book that things are so bad that dementors are breeding and spreading
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even more gloom and unhappiness across the UK. Let's talk about the bridge collapse now. It was a
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new bridge less than 10 years old and it snapped cleanly in two. Now anybody's watch that this
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happens on is going to look bad politically. For such a new bridge, it really calls into question
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who the engineers were, whether inspections are happening enough, nobody likes to see this happen
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especially because I think like it does in cars, we're plunged into the water. It doesn't say what
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the the death count was, but what really happened actually stunned me and I forgot that this was a
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part of this book. It's kind of a throwaway line by Fudge. Fudge says to the Muggle Prime Minister
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that Lord Voldemort threatened Fudge that he was going to collapse a bridge and kill some Muggles.
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If Fudge didn't stand aside for him to rule the Wizarding world. Wow. Now how incompetent do you have
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to be to have Voldemort calling you straight up and being like move aside, like just in general,
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like how did it get to that point where Voldemort's relaying a message to Fudge and then when Fudge
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didn't do it, now there's this crisis. My question is because Voldemort made a play for the minister,
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like the ministry of magic, right at the beginning of book six, which sounds like I totally forgot
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this thing existed. What's his next move? What makes him go underground? Because at this point,
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he could be minister in a day and a half from all this chaos. I want to see that maxed honestly.
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I want to see how Voldemort approaches Fudge. Presumably it's not in person. If it's a message,
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how is that delivered? Is it delivered by anybody in particular? Is it just like a very ominous letter
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that's sitting on his desk at the ministry one night by reading the mentors? Yeah, somebody in a
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cloak shows up to hand him a very, maybe it's a mentor. Yeah. So I don't know. I feel like it wouldn't
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be face to face because I think that would come up in this conversation or come up somewhere else.
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That seems pretty. Yeah, he would still do it by proxy, but it would be. Yeah. Yeah, but sorry,
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what was your question, Eric? I feel like how did what stops Voldemort from trying the same
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thing again? There's more bridges in the world. I think it's more threatening if you don't know what
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Voldemort's going to do next. So maybe it's a little too predictable if he's just knocking down
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bridges left and right. Maybe Fudge said, I call your bluff and... Yeah, maybe he was never going
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to do it, but he did it, but he's not going to do it again. The big thing for me is maybe this is
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where Scream Jowr comes in. Maybe this was the final straw earlier in the week, and that's what
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caused the Wizarding public to scream for Fudge's resignation. He's much more of a formidable
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adversary than Fudge, right? Oh, yeah. Former or... Yeah. Not going to take the same level of
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garbage that Fudge did. Certainly not as weak as far as we know in the same areas that Fudge was
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weakened. So yeah, maybe that, I won't call it a transfer of power, but that change in power
spk_0
caused Voldemort to rethink his tactics a little bit. I can see him recalibrating. I really
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love what you said, Mike, about Scream Jowr being weak or not being weak in the same areas that Fudge
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is. We see Scream Jowr has a deficit here and there, especially about how it relates to using
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Harry, but yeah, not weak in the same areas. So Voldemort recalibrating sounds right to me.
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And let's not forget where this is leading ultimately is Scream Jowr is murdered, and Voldemort
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does put somebody in place in pious thickness to lead the ministry. So he does ultimately achieve
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what he's looking to do. It just takes another book for us to get there. Yeah. Yeah.
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One thing I just did want to mention before we move on because it is important is the two
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bones and Emily in Vance because Emily in Vance was a member of the Order of the Phoenix,
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was a member of the Advanced Guard that escorts Harry from Grimble Place or two Grimble Place from
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Private Drive. And then Amelia Bones was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,
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right? She sat and proceeded over Harry's trial last year. She has a niece that's in Hogwarts,
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and it's said that Voldemort himself likely took her out. That's how bad-ass she was. So
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you know, I think we're in slow drips. We're starting to hear about either these disappearances
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or these murders of characters that for right now, maybe they're not the main characters that
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we've read a lot about, but they've certainly been there in the background. Yeah. I think it says
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something that he's murdering the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He's going for like
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the kind of the top cop. I think that's a very scary threat, and I think that sends a message,
spk_0
like not even your law enforcement is going to be a match for me. I will take down anybody.
spk_0
That's a tremendous point. Yeah. And definitely like, I always want to see
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for Max that again. These moments of adult wizards other than Dumbledore just completely again,
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like James and Lily Potter. They thrice to fight Voldemort. I want to see it. I want to see
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Voldemort get defied by these people that won't take no for an answer. They're like, you know,
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they're about to be... Yeah. Let's see all this action that we've been denied.
spk_0
So, big fan of that. But yeah, Voldemort's back. It ain't great. And we want to talk a bit more
spk_0
also about Muggle and Wizard Relations. But once again, we're going to hear from our sponsors.
spk_0
All right, we're back. Let's talk about the fact that the Muggle Prime Minister
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doesn't really have a choice to see Fudge tonight on a night when he's expecting another call.
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The little man in the portrait. You know why, Mark. Why is that? Because every time Fudge arrives,
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it is preceded by this.
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Micah, what is that? That's a screaming goat that's decorated for Halloween. Wow.
spk_0
Yes. A very nice gift from Eric. Yeah. I'm glad to have arrived.
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Yeah. That's... You know, I actually, from Acts that, hope that that sound effect plays.
spk_0
Because it would be more interesting than a frog-like man coughing. But yeah,
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there's pretty much a minute between the portrait coughing and the Muggle Prime Minister having to
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see Fudge. And he doesn't really have a say in the matter. There's sort of an error of
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visiting superiority going on here. You know what ever reminded me of, honestly, it's like when
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that coworker knocks on your door or the neighbor knocks on your door that you really don't want to see
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and you're just like, oh my god, what do you want now? It's almost like the umbrage situation in
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the previous book. It's probably a gross cough, too. Maybe it's a distant relative. It's a play.
spk_0
You did say frog-like, right? Oh, yeah. Huh. Anyway. No, that's interesting. But you had a point
spk_0
here, Mike, about the other, other, other, other business. Yeah. So the Muggle Prime Minister is
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noted to be wondering when that wretched man would telephone. And this is in reference to the
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president of another foreign country. And I think at least as Americans, it's interesting because
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the natural inclination is for us to assume that it must be the president of the United States. Because
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there's no other foreign leaders out there than America. Yeah. Yeah. We were hoping for at least one
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cameo from an American in the Harry Potter books. Well, presumably the sale of witches, right,
spk_0
at the Quidditch World Cup. Yeah. The academy of something like that. What I found interesting,
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though, about this was that at the time of the writing and publishing of Half-Blood Prince,
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George Bush is president of the United States. And things were not great, let's say,
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around this time. There was obviously a war ongoing in a lot of controversy around that war.
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However, if we're to assume the actual timeline of Half-Blood Prince, this would have been
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what, you know, mid to late 90s, Bill Clinton would have been president of the United States.
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So I'm curious. Yeah. Michael. Yeah. That would be me.
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That's why Bill Clinton. We need, we need Barry. I'm sorry. I'm sure he can do Clinton.
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If you can do Trump. But yeah, you know, maybe in the author's mind, she was thinking more present day
spk_0
when she was writing. But it's hard to say like, maybe it's just Clinton. Because she's writing about
spk_0
a certain period of time. I think it would be very shallow to be thinking, oh, I'm just on,
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this is supposed to be reflection of the current president, even though it's set 10 years earlier
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or whatever. Well, you know what's interesting is all kind of film and mainstream media
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depictions of presidents can't help but reflect on current politics. I'm thinking about love,
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actually, where Hugh Grant is this affable, you know, British PM. And then they get Billy Bob
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Thornton as the US president who's like sexist and misogynist and like uncouth around the
spk_0
edges. And it's just like, huh, that's how those British writers saw bush for some reason at
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the time. It's just like a reflection. I tend to think that it is more bush because why would you
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call Bill Clinton? No place. The saxophone, a wretched man. Oh, I understand. Hillary, I do want to
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circle back to the idea that wizards have a superiority complex when it comes to muggles.
spk_0
I thought it was a really good point. And we do see examples of this throughout this chapter.
spk_0
For example, the prime minister, quote, did not appreciate being made out to be an ignorant
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schoolboy. And quote, when a fudge starts saying, didn't you know these problems were caused by
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wizards? Duh. Like, how would the prime minister know that or have even reason to assume that?
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There's clear separation between these two worlds. And he's the wizarding world is not
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front of mind for him. It might not even be, you know, 50th place in mind for him. And then
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another example of the superiority complex is when the minister of magic is making all these big
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decisions that impact the muggle world. Case in point, bringing dragons and a sphinx into the
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country without consulting the prime minister. So by the way, yeah, we, you know, we did that.
spk_0
What? Yeah. And it's always last minute. It's always a by the way, yeah, which is
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where it's great characterization of fudge. But it's always at the end of the conversation. Oh,
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and I'm obligated to tell you that we're doing this. This is the yeah. And then also the portrait
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hanging in the prime minister's office and you can't remove this portrait. You're forced to
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be dealing with that and having to answer a call every time the minister of magic once.
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And that's of course also a privacy nightmare. If I was the prime minister, I wouldn't stand for this
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like kind of secret telephone this hidden microphone, not so hidden microphone, just sitting in my
spk_0
office. Yeah. It's very much with fudge as he kind of dips in and out. Nothing to see here,
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nothing to see here. You know, that kind of mentality. Yeah. Definitely. And it's disrespectful.
spk_0
You know, ultimately, I mean, it's, you know, it's fudge is this way with with many people
spk_0
because he's not a serious character. But it's insufficient at the very least, especially as
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fellow heads of state. And you know, like I would have a few follow-up questions about dragons.
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If I were just told that more dragons were being imported. Yeah. If I were the muggle prime minister,
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I would say you get that portrait out of my office or else I'm not talking to you anymore.
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I'll move offices. I'll move buildings if I have to. You can keep putting up portraits. I'll
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keep moving. It's just ridiculous that the muggle prime minister has to just roll with this.
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They don't have any right. The wizarding world isn't of any right to place this microphone
spk_0
inside the prime minister's office. Yeah. I mean, it is a microphone. Even before we find out that
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Kingsley, you know, that the wizards are placing people with, you know, the prime minister to spy on him.
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Right. I mean, Kingsley's doing a really good job of everything. But it's an invasion of privacy.
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It's not good to corrum. And they're just going to do it because they're going to do it.
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Yeah. This is a theory complex. And one reason I call it a microphone is because we see
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leading up to this book that portraits will pass information back and forth through the portrait
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nowhere. And they're nozy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to ask,
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how is this any different? So we were talking earlier about how Herbert Chorley is being put
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under the imperious curse by the death theaters. Couldn't you say that it's no different that the
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ministry or the horrors are snooping on the minister or the prime minister of the UK, presumably
spk_0
at all hours of every day. I mean, it's like two sides of the same coin almost.
spk_0
Yeah. This is a little more hands off. But I see your point and I agree with you. And you also
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have to think if the British minister of magic doesn't have a portrait in every president or
spk_0
prime minister's office, other visiting communities have to be have a similar thing. And, you know,
spk_0
the White House, for example, yeah. Yeah. I think it's an essential department is whatever the
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ministry of magic is doing. They have to have one muggle liaison. And it's probably always the head
spk_0
of state for the group. I think, you know, to I think Andrew, you just said like it's not malicious
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or there's a hands off approach because I think the big deal here is that even though they could spy
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on the muggle prime minister, their efforts seem to be entirely about preventing Voldemort from
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getting to more muggles. So they the the motive seem a little altruistic here for them, like putting
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kingsley with them and stuff. But it's, you know, this is all coming out of fudge. It all goes
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back to fudge his inability to really assess and handle the threat that was coming and building
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to the point where it became this disaster. But something that interests me is why the muggle
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prime minister doesn't ask that follow up question, both about dragons and in general. You know,
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he there's some characterization where fudge is like, do you think you'll tell anybody because
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they'll never believe you, which is just like insulting and like, no, the muggle prime minister's
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like, no, I don't think I will. And here's my thing. If I were a head of a country, I would actually
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probably feel like it was in my best interest to do my job as the muggle leader to find out as much
spk_0
as possible about the wizards and the wizarding leaders. And this is a situation where me and the
spk_0
British prime minister differ because the British prime minister's like, I got enough on my plate.
spk_0
And so it's, I don't want to blame him for like not getting all the info from fudge because fudge
spk_0
is not divulging all the info. But this guy seems pretty content to just, you know, worry about his
spk_0
thing like fudge told him he could. And it's just, you know, an interesting policy thing because
spk_0
yeah, you could, you could see a British prime minister that keeps calling up the minister for magic
spk_0
going, do you have a solution for this? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it would be good to have better
spk_0
relations with the minister of magic and also just have a better understanding of the wizarding
spk_0
world. He seems entitled to get that understanding, but he's not asking for it. Yeah, it'd be,
spk_0
that's exactly. Yeah, especially because the wizarding world is so undergrounds. You don't know
spk_0
anything. You can't, I want to check it out too. Yeah, yeah, give him a tour. Give me an invite.
spk_0
Show me Hogwarts. Why can't I come to the footage world cup or the trial was retortament?
spk_0
You're bringing in three dragons and a sphinx at my expense. I at least want to be there. Yeah,
spk_0
give me a ticket. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so make sure everything goes okay. So that's why I must be
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there. Airquence. Yeah, they would put him in the top box. He'd be there right next to a
spk_0
convicted death theater party crash. You knew it would be great. But yeah, I just think,
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going going forward here that maybe the wizards are overcompensating by the fact that there are,
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that they are fewer in number. This oppressive kind of we're putting a portrait here that's
spk_0
always going to be listening to you and we're putting our people and your people and stuff is
spk_0
really, oh, the power move of turning the teacup into the gerbil in the first time I met. Like,
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all of that is kind of to intimidate. The purpose is I think they're attempting to be,
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and even if they're not, you know, attempting to be, they are intimidating a little to the Muggle
spk_0
Prime Minister. And I think that that is exactly how it needs to be because really Muggles out
spk_0
number wizards by a lot. Yeah, it's not close. So they have to show, oh, we've got this crazy power
spk_0
and we're always present and we're involved in your affairs because it's a house of cards.
spk_0
If it all came down and people realized like how scared they are and how much is it stake,
spk_0
they would have run. I would like to think there was a time though when there was regular
spk_0
communication between the Muggle Prime Minister and the Minister for Magic and they used that
spk_0
portrait as a go between and maybe they met more regularly and worked together. Yeah, probably not
spk_0
just based on the statute of secrecy and other things, but yeah, that's my head cannon at least.
spk_0
And things over time just devolved. Yeah, I like that a lot and because it's another
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opportunity to blame Fudge who's been in the job for, you know, two decades maybe. Looking at
spk_0
that portrait again, I was wondering if there's any sort of symbolism in the portrait that's actually
spk_0
in the office. So it's a frog like man in a long silver wig. Is that supposed to be a particularly
spk_0
famous wizard or what? Eric, I think you have a good theory here. Yeah, I did a little bit of
spk_0
Googling and found out, you know, long silver wigs could be anybody. I think of the American
spk_0
revolution. I think of, you know, the founding fathers and everybody were with me. I wear silver
spk_0
silver wigs. I always in that. In fact, where is your silver wigs? Did you lose it? I forgot it.
spk_0
I forgot it this week. Yeah, we're going to add one to the merch store though. I thought you just
spk_0
wear that in your Tinder profile. I gave up with that because they made people wear ghost like me.
spk_0
Man, there's been a lot of mileage on the whole interest and it's interesting lately.
spk_0
But yeah, so I, after some Googling, I actually found out where the trend started of people in
spk_0
Britain and the UK wearing long silver wigs. Turns out it comes from France. And the practice,
spk_0
according to Google, of wearing elaborate often powdered wigs, which were called periwigs,
spk_0
was introduced to England by King Charles II after his exile in France in 1660. AD.
spk_0
French King Louis XIV had popularized the fashion to hide his balding head. And it was quickly adopted
spk_0
by the European upper and middle classes. So King does something. Everybody else wants to do it.
spk_0
They're cool because he's cool. This is like the origin of the Hollywood, of course.
spk_0
But it's a sign of status. Wigs became a symbol of wealth and status in fashionable society.
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The practice also had its practical side. There was a lot of headlice going around in those days.
spk_0
And wearing a wig when your otherwise shaved helped you manage hygiene. What stood out to me here is
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that wigs became a symbol of wealth and status in fashionable society. This you could kind of tie to
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the wizarding community has a superiority complex. Like, oh, look at all the signs. The wizard hanging
spk_0
in your office aren't we superior? Aren't we wealthy and have status and fashionable? I like that a
spk_0
lot. Yeah. I just assumed that I assumed that this portrait guy was like an old barrister or
spk_0
something. He's like a judge or something in Britain. So it's not to draw attention to,
spk_0
right, to have a portrait of that right when you couldn't get a bright pink or bright purple
spk_0
dentalistigo guy in your portrait. Otherwise, the models would suspect something. True.
spk_0
So it's kind of a nice little like straddling the line between the two worlds.
spk_0
To the last point you have here, I know watching a lot of like British crime dramas when you're in
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the courtroom, you do see the attorneys or the judges wearing these wigs. Even in modern days.
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It's common practice. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a neat little tradition. But yeah, between the,
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for our answer, this portrait was probably a guy who lived from 1660 to the 1680s
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when the trend was fully established and it was a shoulder length wig. And yeah, they're
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typically made from horse hair and powdered with white or gray starch. So bit interesting.
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I don't think we ever asked that question. Who is this guy? Yeah. Yeah. Cause you know,
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a portrait tend to carry some significance when we see a portrait. It's, we hear the name of
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the person typically and we can figure out why they would be getting their own portrait.
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So what's the deal with this guy? We need a name for them. Micah, is that what you said? We do.
spk_0
How about we call them Micah? Goat daddy. How about Frogging's worth? Frogging's worth.
spk_0
Micah Frogging's worth. Yeah. Micah. Frogging's worth.
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Sir, Esquire's worth. So does that mean we have to declare Canon? Yeah. And it needs to be
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added to the wiki. Sir, Micah Frogging's worth. I declare Canon. But Andrew, you also had a point
spk_0
here about a Dumbledore name drop that we get. Yeah. I also wanted to bring up that Fudge
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told the Prime Minister a couple of years ago, we learned in this chapter, that Dumbledore says
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Voldemort is back, which seems like a pretty big revelation to me that Fudge was acknowledging the
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fact that Dumbledore was saying this. He wasn't totally sticking his head in the sand and not
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repeating it to anybody else. He had told the Prime Minister a couple of years ago that Dumbledore
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says Voldemort is back. That seems to be pretty big news to me. So and it makes me wonder of
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maybe Fudge respected Dumbledore and his theorizing more than he has led on. Well, Fudge has a
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love hate relationship with Dumbledore. We know this. He relies on Dumbledore for a lot of info. And I
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think if I remember, if I remember correctly, what it is is that Dumbledore says Voldemort's not
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gone. So from the time he first disappears to the time where he eventually comes back,
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because the Muggle Prime Minister asks, is he really gone? And Fudge says that, you know,
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Dumbledore says he's not, but he'll never explain it properly and it's all kind of wonky, right?
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So there you see a failure of communication, not from Fudge to the Muggle PM, but from Fudge to Dumbledore,
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where either Dumbledore has ruled that Fudge is not worth his time, or Dumbledore legitimately
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is keeping the cards too close to really be able to explain or even speculate in front of Fudge as
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to something like Horcrux's existing, or why it is he feels that Voldemort's coming back.
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Because Dumbledore suspected long before Philosopher's Stone, before Harry's Year 1,
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that Voldemort would come back that he was out there somewhere, even if he couldn't prove it.
spk_0
So Fudge acknowledging this, your right Andrew is huge.
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I do think as readers though, it's very important for us to pick up on what you just said, Eric,
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which is that Dumbledore won't explain properly to Fudge, what's up with Voldemort. So clearly,
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he has an idea of Horcrux's or something to that effect. But what I'm wondering though,
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this relationship between these two Prime Ministers and the fact that Fudge would be a little bit
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looser with the Muggle Prime Minister, one reason could just be because he knows that this person's
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not going to share any of this information with anybody else. So even if he praises Dumbledore,
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it's not like the Muggle Prime Minister is going to go run and tell him.
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It's like his therapist.
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That's exactly what I was going to say. It's almost like a therapy session for Fudge.
spk_0
It is. He's really letting it air all out.
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Yeah, because who's the Muggle going to tell?
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Could be a title for Fudge's therapy session.
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Yeah, Fudge's.
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I love that.
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You know what this whole chapter is? He's just dumping off this poor guy.
spk_0
No, he is. He is. You feel bad for Fudge. He's so pathetic. This guy has got enough going on.
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Yeah, I like that. You know what we named the chapter last time we or the episode,
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the last time we discussed this chapter, Half Blood Prince chapter one.
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I'm so embarrassed by how formal and boring that is that I didn't even announce it in the
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Pensive segment.
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Yeah, that was the right call.
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Yeah, thank you.
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Yeah, but this is this much better.
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We have primarily spoken about Fudge today and it is his therapy session after all.
spk_0
So I guess that's why but you know, we do get to meet Scrim Jarr and you can.
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The Lion Man.
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Yeah. And you can quickly see the differences between Fudge and Scrim Jarr.
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Scrim Jarr, this is going to be a whole book of me going to Scrim Jarr.
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Scrim Jarr. Scrim Jarr.
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Luckily, he's not in it that much.
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So it's true.
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The Lion Man is.
spk_0
Deppie Hallows is another story.
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The Lion Man arrives late.
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If you believe Fudge and he's straight to the point with the British Prime Minister,
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he's firm, he knows what he wants to do.
spk_0
He just seems way more competent than Fudge has been.
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What I love is that the Muggle PM picks up on this too.
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You know, having one at least one election campaign before the Muggle PM's take is,
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oh yeah, I can see why the public wanted this guy.
spk_0
You know, at a time of war and that makes Scrim Jarr seem cool just by kind of getting that
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level of acknowledgement. It's almost like a head nod, you know, between the two,
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between Scrim Jarr and the Muggle PM there.
spk_0
Like, oh yeah, I get this guy.
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Right.
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And Scrim Jarr, as we've talked about, was former head of the Order office, right?
spk_0
He's no nonsense.
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He delegates responsibility.
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Fudge is his mouthpiece for right now, his intermediary with the current Prime Minister.
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But Kingsley is his real eyes and ears, I think, more than anybody.
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I would bet that it was Scrim Jarr who put Kingsley in this position, not Fudge.
spk_0
And Kingsley's doing the hard work, not just the day-to-day desk job that he has to pretend to do,
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but he's there to protect arguably the most important person outside the Minister for Magic
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in the UK. Sorry, Harry.
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But I think Harry would give you that too if you're looking at the whole world spectrum thing.
spk_0
spk_0
But just in terms of how he might interact with the Muggle Prime Minister,
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I really wish this guy had a name because I hate that I have to keep saying Muggle Prime Minister.
spk_0
Yeah, but then that would date it.
spk_0
And he'd probably just be named Sir Mike of Wardingsworth Will Finton or something.
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I think we do just need to give Scrim Jarr a little bit of grace because he's just been thrust into
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a crazy situation where he has to manage so many different things.
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And probably this relationship with the Muggle Prime Minister is not high on his list.
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Definitely.
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We'll name this British PM, Shmoni Schmere.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
Well, who was the Prime Minister in...
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Tony Blair.
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Tony Blair.
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Oh, okay.
spk_0
TB.
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TB.
spk_0
Who wanted to have a phone call with George Boyshire Bill Clinton.
spk_0
We can't decide who he thought the author was thinking about.
spk_0
Closing out the chapter here,
spk_0
you know, with his rumination on Scrim Jarr.
spk_0
Again, I do think ultimately it is a big perfect description for a guy that we don't see too much of.
spk_0
You know, to the point of the the Pensive segment.
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But there's something to be said for the Ministry trying.
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I mean, I think what we were talking about Voldemort maybe like having to go back and recalibrate
spk_0
after the Bridge Incident is strictly because the next time Voldemort rises is what
spk_0
after Bill and Flores Wedding in the next book.
spk_0
And he kills Scrim Jarr.
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Like Scrim Jarr shows up to give Harry Dumbledore's things.
spk_0
And it's right before whatever move Voldemort makes it takes him.
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So Voldemort basically spends the next year planning to get rid of Scrim Jarr.
spk_0
And it takes him the whole year to do it.
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So anyway, it's time for the most valuable person in this chapter segment in which we discuss in
spk_0
this case, there's so many men in this chapter.
spk_0
It's all about manly working men all doing good jobs.
spk_0
So who is the best guy doing the best at his job in this chapter?
spk_0
I'm going to give it to the Muggle PM because he's doing the best he can with what he's got.
spk_0
Kingsley for all of the reasons previously stated.
spk_0
And you two picked the best answers.
spk_0
So I'm going to go with Fudge because he didn't have to take on this role.
spk_0
Still working with Tony Blair or Shmoni Schmarr.
spk_0
But he's there.
spk_0
He's hanging on.
spk_0
He wants to be a part of this situation.
spk_0
He feels bad about the messy caused in a way.
spk_0
And he's trying to fix things.
spk_0
Look, it's not the best answer, but it's the third of three options.
spk_0
No, you're right, Andrew.
spk_0
He doesn't have to.
spk_0
You could have Fudge.
spk_0
Good Scrim Jarr.
spk_0
He's just not seeing much of them though.
spk_0
And the portrait guy.
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Yeah.
spk_0
He's doing his job probably for like 400 years.
spk_0
Yeah.
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We, as listeners will know, always ask our patrons
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different questions for the week for the links line segment, which is next.
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And this week's question, we had people tell us what moments in modern world history were actually
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magical, but were covered up to protect the statute of secrecy.
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So this is more interaction between Muggles and Wizards.
spk_0
Covering out the truth from the Muggle public.
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I love this question.
spk_0
When I saw this question, Eric, I gasped.
spk_0
I was like, that's a good idea.
spk_0
Very happy with it.
spk_0
So Kyle said the outcome of the 2024 US election was the result of a widespread
spk_0
Confundus charm carried out by members of the magical community who are actually behind AI
spk_0
technologies.
spk_0
Oh, yeah.
spk_0
Yeah, that makes sense.
spk_0
Carly says the dancing plague of 1518 baffled Muggles in Strasbourg,
spk_0
Holy Roman Empire, as scores of people danced uncontrollably for weeks on end.
spk_0
Many theories exist.
spk_0
Mass hysteria or psychological illness, demonic possession, poisoning, etc.
spk_0
But no theory has been proven.
spk_0
Several people even died from strokes, heart attacks, and exhaustion before the dancing
spk_0
finally ended as mysterious as it had begun.
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That's a great thing that happens.
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It is a real thing.
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I Google that.
spk_0
I couldn't believe it.
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God.
spk_0
The dancing plague of 1518.
spk_0
Go Google it, y'all.
spk_0
That's why it's itself.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
A dancing mania.
spk_0
Dance revolution.
spk_0
The infertional inspiration of 1518 can only be out
spk_0
down by the Great Malacos flood of 1919, which was caused by a catastrophic mistake by
spk_0
Gendry Fluk, who was trying to start a honeydook franchise in Boston.
spk_0
paranoid about theft.
spk_0
He put his day's work in his safe.
spk_0
He bought from an ex-gringot's goblin.
spk_0
When his children tried to sneak some candy from the safe, it set off
spk_0
flagrantay and gemino curses.
spk_0
The candy he did and multiplied until it flooded the streets.
spk_0
That is another real thing that happened.
spk_0
The Great Malacos flood.
spk_0
Oh my god.
spk_0
I'm looking at.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Absolutely.
spk_0
Large storage tank filled with this is amazing.
spk_0
And these obscure moments in history are just delightful.
spk_0
Delightful pickings.
spk_0
Here's one people are probably more familiar with.
spk_0
Michael said area 51.
spk_0
And that's where the wizards keep all the unexplainable things.
spk_0
So as to try to make muggles think it is something to do with aliens.
spk_0
However, the wizards are in fact using this area to come up with new spells.
spk_0
Ever wonder how and where they come up with them?
spk_0
Well, it's an area 51 and the spells are random, magical, sounding words used on
spk_0
test subjects on test subject muggles who dare get too close to this area.
spk_0
So Michael's saying don't get near area 51.
spk_0
Oh man.
spk_0
Andrew, you're not far from there right now.
spk_0
I'm not.
spk_0
You can go investigate.
spk_0
I'll have to go investigate.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Didn't you go out to area 51 once?
spk_0
I did.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Check out the little alien.
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I N N. There's cabins you can rent, but it's a little restaurant kind of cute.
spk_0
Get some burgers.
spk_0
Get some merch.
spk_0
It's fun.
spk_0
It's fun.
spk_0
But yeah, the base itself is terrifying.
spk_0
There's just like a gate that you drive up to in the middle of nowhere.
spk_0
The roads aren't even labeled.
spk_0
But yeah, Catherine adds to this.
spk_0
Every UFO sighting is just another instance of a vehicle or item being bewitched to fly
spk_0
or summoned.
spk_0
It wasn't a flying saucer.
spk_0
It was just one of Arthur Weasley's kids messing around.
spk_0
Love this.
spk_0
And the molasses flood was sent in by Matthew.
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I just wanted to make sure credit him because I didn't say his name earlier.
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Carly says the Bermuda Triangle is actually where Asuka Band is located.
spk_0
Back when Dementors guarded it, if any muggle vessel or aircraft came close to the Dementor,
spk_0
the came close, the Dementors fed on the unlucky souls aboard.
spk_0
But ever since the Battle of Hogwarts and the Ministry cutting ties with Dementors
spk_0
as its guards, there are no longer any unexplainable disappearances.
spk_0
Love that.
spk_0
Cassandra said King Edward the Atheh had to abdicate the throne not because Wallace Simpson was divorced,
spk_0
but because she was an American witch who wanted to end all this secrecy nonsense.
spk_0
I love the idea of somebody famous having to like,
spk_0
you know, again, abdicate somebody in power because they fall in love with the witch.
spk_0
That's great.
spk_0
That's a tale that we hear about happening in the modern day and I love imposing world history on it.
spk_0
So someone named Forty says the, I love this one, the 2008 financial crisis
spk_0
was caused when Ludovagman hid a series of bad gambling debts labeled as subprime mortgages
spk_0
in various mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.
spk_0
I know some of those words.
spk_0
Ludovagman caused the housing crisis.
spk_0
No, no, not not.
spk_0
Not not, but good connection.
spk_0
Not surprisingly believable.
spk_0
spk_0
That guy Rachel says the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared.
spk_0
Someone on the plane touched a port key, vanishing spell, invisibility charm that never wore off.
spk_0
Who knows?
spk_0
And finally James, who was a slut club co-host a few months ago here on the pod, said,
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this one is for Micah.
spk_0
In the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series,
spk_0
the noise and vibration suddenly ruptured a vial of Felix Felicis.
spk_0
It had been left in the Metz dugout years before when the Beatles undercover wizard
spk_0
couriers from England dropped it off before playing a famous concert at Chase Stadium as a cover
spk_0
story. Obviously the Metz have been coming down from the Felix Felicis high ever since.
spk_0
We should explain the last 39 seasons.
spk_0
They're not good.
spk_0
No, they have to tell me that.
spk_0
I'm sorry, my god.
spk_0
Where is that?
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Oh man.
spk_0
Red October is here.
spk_0
Y'all, this again, Eric, great question and listeners, great answers.
spk_0
These make me want an HBO Harry Potter TV series where wizards have to fix the issues they've
spk_0
accidentally caused in the muggle world. That would be awesome.
spk_0
And we obviously learned a lot today too. This was a great lesson in history.
spk_0
You can send us some feedback about today's episode.
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You can email or send a voice memo that you record on your phone to mugglecast.gmail.com.
spk_0
We also have a contact form on mugglecast.com.
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And next week, chapter by chapter, we'll continue with Half-Blood Prince Chapter 2,
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Spinners End, and one of our friends, Irvin, who is actually publishing a new
spk_0
Potter book about the Malfoys, will be joining us.
spk_0
He asked about coming on and we said, well, come on for a Malfoy centric chapter.
spk_0
So we'll have him on next week and Laura should be back to.
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Don't forget to check out patreon.com slash mugglecast to support us. We really appreciate your
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support there. Also visit mugglecast.com for quick access to all the information we have shared
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today. And if you're looking for more podcasting from the muggle casters, listen to our other shows,
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Millennial, and What the Hite for More Pop Culture and Real World Talk.
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Or continue listening to mugglecast right now for Quizzage.
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This week's question regarding the bridges in London, built in 1175, what is the oldest bridge in
spk_0
London? The correct answer is the clattern bridge. And yeah, built in 1195, it's still,
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1175, it's still standing. 93% of people with the correct answer did look this up. So it was kind
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of one of those there's a lot of bridges that everyone kind of gave up on guessing. But correct
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answers were submitted nonetheless by hashtag. Please do more live shows. A healthy breeze, Ashley B,
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Bony Pony Express, Caroline or Caroline cast Shane Gillis as Ludobagman. We'll Google that
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Granger things. And someone, our old friend, Laura's personal umbrella academy heckler submitted
spk_0
twice, then adding on the second time, Laura, please forgive me. I submitted my previous answer
spk_0
before listening to this week's Millennial. And I'm so glad you like the umbrella academy.
spk_0
Yeah. Sorry for trolling. I was going to say she did finally watch it. Oh my god.
spk_0
I got bullied into watching it. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And some few names here. London bridges
spk_0
falling down in my fair little Voldemort. Mary Poppins is a witch. And of course,
spk_0
last but not least, Tofu Tom. So thanks to all for submitting it for Quizzich. Here is next week's
spk_0
question. So looking ahead to spinners and speaking of spinners, the silk that's made by the
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Darwin's bark spider is actually the toughest biological material ever studied by man.
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What country in the world does the Darwin's bark spider call home? That's the question.
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Submit your answer to us on the MuggleCast website with a lovely looking main nav bar. Click on
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Quizzich or go to mugglecast.com slash Quizzich. All right. Thanks everybody for listening to this week's
spk_0
episode. We'll see you next week or we'll see you in a couple days for our latest bonus Muggle cast.
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I'm Andrew. I'm Eric. And I'm Micah. You are not just Micah. You are actually Sir Micah
spk_0
Froggan's worth. Bye everyone. Bye.