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In the Goblet Of Fire film, Cornelius welcomes everyone to the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. According to the Harry Potter Wiki, the first Quidditch World Cup was in 1473 and the tournament itself is held every four years.

So if the first one was in the year 1473 and it is held every 4 years, the 422nd World Cup would be in the year 3157, and not the year 1994 as it claims to be.

Now I am, by my own admission, a Harry Potter amateur. Am I missing something with this? Is there an alternative Wizarding date system that the films completely bypass?

jonnyknowsbest
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    If you're asking for Rowling to have consistent, sensible arithmetic, boy are you in for some disappointment – Jason Baker Apr 03 '15 at 15:25
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    WARNING!! TVTROPES LINK!!! FOLLOW AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!! http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WritersCannotDoMath JK Rowling has admitted (numerous times by now) that math is not her strong point. You're absolutely right in it making no sense at all, yet are hardly the first person to realize this. – BMWurm Apr 03 '15 at 15:25
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    Even so, there is a big difference between maths not being one's "strong point", and this. However, as I mentioned, I have never read the books or seen any interviews with JK Rowling. It was merely something I noticed in the film and wondered whether there was an explanation other than the authors limitations. – jonnyknowsbest Apr 03 '15 at 15:27
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    I would agree ;) – BMWurm Apr 03 '15 at 15:27
  • Thank you for the info. I would like to add that this doesn't alter how much I really enjoy the films. – jonnyknowsbest Apr 03 '15 at 15:29
  • There's a bit of additional info at http://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/55019/23243 – FuzzyBoots Apr 03 '15 at 15:33
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    @jonnyknowsbest this isn't merely a case of math not being her strong point. It's a case of her not even considering the possibility of doing the math, but rather, throwing out two different, random-sounding numbers are two different times. – KutuluMike Apr 03 '15 at 15:33
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    @MichaelEdenfield: Yes, but she calls it "not good with math". – Mooing Duck Apr 03 '15 at 17:46
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    This discrepancy was mentioned in this answer. Also, your math is wrong - the 422nd would be in 3157 not 3161 (since 1473 was the 1st, not the 0th) – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Apr 03 '15 at 17:59
  • Nothing in the magical world makes sense to mere muggles. Hard to see how one can get anything from the books without realising that. – Michael Kay Jul 22 '17 at 16:33

2 Answers2

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It's probably just a discrepancy, but I personally handwave it by pointing out that just because it's currently every four years does not mean that it was in the past. Maybe it was yearly for the first 400 years and then the last 22 have been every four years. (Yes, I know that the math doesn't exactly work out either but it's closer than Rowling's, haha. If it's that important I can go work out the scenario that would accurately put the 422 championship in 1994.)

Yes, it's flimsy and a poor handwave, but I've really got no other excuse for how she could reconcile those two statements.

Robert Wertz
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    +1. There are plenty of scenarios that could explain the discrepancy, especially by the somewhat cartoony logic of Wizards. Maybe there were multiple leagues with multiple World Cups for a while which got combined, inflating the number. Maybe 1473 was just the first Modern World Cup, the way the modern Olympics picked up from an older tradition. Maybe the league just skipped the 200s altogether, because one game was just that good. – Nerrolken Apr 03 '15 at 16:53
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    World Cups have been held on both even and odd years, so the "every four years" thing was probably a somewhat more recent addition. – Cat Apr 03 '15 at 17:41
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    or we can assume they used time turners and have how-much-ever-th Quidditch World Cup at whenever-we-want – user13267 Apr 03 '15 at 20:35
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Similar to how magic can make things bigger on the inside (the Weaseley's car, the tents in Goblet of Fire, Hermione's handbag) there could be magical slowing effects in the wizarding world. This would allow the event to be held every four years while it is still 1994 when the 422nd comes around. This seems like a possible answer because there does seem to be a stark difference between the muggle and wizard worlds. For instance, the Knight Bus in Prisoner of Azkaban was not seen by muggles. Then there is the Black family's house, which grows out of a neighborhood and goes unnoticed. The Ministry of Magic's phone booths, or toilets that also go unnoticed.

To explain the warped timing, there are some references in canon. The Knight Bus slowed down to prevent hitting other buses. Hermione's time turner allowed her to travel backwards in time. It wouldn't be unreasonable for there to be an affect in the wizarding world that would allow the time to be warped like this. However there is no canon evidence of its existence.

Towell
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