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As we all know that wizarding world and muggle world in Harry Potter is separated. If we go by this logic, is the world in moving portraits in wizarding world different?

I mean the portraits have knowledge. People in portraits, though dead have capacity to make decisions. So if compared with real life situation, these photographs are not videos or GIFs programmed to move in a specific loop. The people in portraits can move from one frame to another. Also, the background seems alive in many portraits.

From this I assume, there must be another world separated, where the people in portraits live. Something like we see in Wreck-It Ralph. Outside the frame where people can't see, they must have bedroom, living room or maybe a whole garden.

(P.S.: I'm not speaking about photographs in wizarding world's newspaper or wanted posters. They look like looping GIFs.)

GuruGulabKhatri
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  • I believe you're overthinking things. When you take a photograph of someone, you not only capture their likeness, but also part of their being. That's all there is to it. There is no other world in which the photographed people live. – Mr Lister Feb 02 '15 at 09:21
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    @MrLister - In our world yes, but I think what he is asking is a good question, it would make sense if they have their own "world" and have to sit/stand in front of their designated "window" which we perceive as the frame on the wall – LepelLeLama Feb 02 '15 at 10:40
  • Are you sure you mean photographs, and not the paintings? The latter seem to be the ones who have autonomy. – FuzzyBoots Feb 02 '15 at 11:46
  • Neither Photograph, nor Painting... Its a Portrait. – GuruGulabKhatri Feb 02 '15 at 11:51
  • Portrait people can only freely travel between portraits of themselves, not other ones. That suggests that there isn't one world common to all, though there is something to travel through and it is tiring to do so. – Deltharis Feb 02 '15 at 15:17
  • "My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions." - that's what I always thought the portraits were similar to. Remember what Snape said about ghosts: "A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth." It wouldn't make sense for there to be another world where the dead can go on living just because they had a portrait painted of themselves. – awalmartbag Feb 02 '15 at 19:06
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    Then how does the Fat Lady hides in another portrait other than her own (HP:PoA)? Also, if I remember clearly, I think ones Dumbledore requests certain portrait to ask other portraits to spread some word around in Hogwarts. – GuruGulabKhatri Feb 03 '15 at 04:56
  • Also, Sir Cadogan can pass trough other portraits. – Stephane Mathis Feb 04 '15 at 09:53
  • @StephaneMathis Portraits like Sir Cadogan and the Fat Lady (and her best friend Violet) can move around while in the same building - basically frame jumping - and very special portraits - the only ones we know of are the headmasters and -mistresses and the guy from the muggle prime minister's office - can move between portraits of themselves in other locations (as Dilys, Everard and Professor Black are seen doing (IIR the names C)). – BMWurm Feb 05 '15 at 13:55
  • @MrLister it is said in part 1 by Ron that > what do you expect him to stay forever < when talking about the dumbledore in card –  Feb 26 '21 at 16:33

2 Answers2

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I've read the whole Harry Potter series at least six times and of course there's another world for portraits. Granted a very loose depiction of the word "world", but how is it that the portraits in Hogwarts are able to move into each others frames? In Prisoner of Azkaban the fat lady has a friend from another painting in Hogwarts and I think her name was Violet. If these portraits are able to develop friendships and have pastimes, I think that it's only logical that the place where they exist is a world. A place where beings of any sort are able to exist in any way shape or form is by very definition a world.

Null
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elijah haven
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Yes, it is not explicitly said but we can gather from several sources that pictures do indeed have separate worlds. From the wikia:

A portrait knows little if anything of its subject's life, and therefore could not hold a very interesting conversation about its subject.The exception to this is of the portraits of Hogwarts headmasters, which are kept in a cupboard from the time of their painting, which is usually very old, until the subject dies. The headmaster can therefore teach their portrait to act and speak like them so that they can teach their successors.

So you can see that they know little because they are only images. They do not live in the same world, otherwise they would know the same stuff and be affected by this worlds effects. They from the books are depicted to live in many outlandish places, but the mere fact that they can travel through each others pictures means that they don't live in the same place.

And from Wikipedia:

Authorial statements regarding portraits have been vague. Rowling made a comment in an interview that a portrait is something like a faint imprint of the person in question, imitating the basic attitude and thought patterns of the person.

Also, if the pictures are in the same world as the Wizards that they depict that would mean that there are several copies of that wizard and that goes past the Scope of even a ghost.

Pobrecita
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