Where?

[beMMADfabulous]

Where and in what book does it actually say the difference between Dumbledore and McGonagall's ages? I can't remember ever reading it in the books. Maybe it just mentions that she was a student while he was still a teacher at Hogwarts? Thanks for the help, because I'm pretty confused. ;D

[EloquentPhoenix]

Well it doesn't actually say. It's just that in interviews JKR has said that Dumbledore is about 150 and Minerva about 70 and therefore the difference is 80 years. Well, that's what I've gathered and I'm sure I read them in an interview once. We don't actually know if she was his student or not.

[beMMADfabulous]

Another thing I meant to ask: do you think age is really as significant in the wizarding world as it is in the muggle world?

[littlemorgsi]

Age probably isn't as significant. Let's face it, how many of us would have the energy to teach at 70 or 150. Also, Madame Marchbanks remembers testing Albus for his NEWT's. For that reason, I would say that wizards and witches live a whole lot longer than muggles. I remember my Mum once said to me that age is more significant to couples at the beginning and ends of their lives. In the middle it doesn't matter that much. So no, age probably wouldn't matter as much.

[mcgonagallrocks]

I found it on the web somewhere I don't remember where though Dumbledore is 166 and Min is like 75.

[EloquentPhoenix]

No, I don't think it matters at all really since they live fo such a long time. And they have more important things to worry about.

Because really it's a whole different world with different values so I don't imagine it to, no.

[beMMADfabulous]

Quite a bit OT, but anyone remember the show "Bewitched" with Elizabeth Montgomery? She was a witch, and age didn't matter much on that show either. People (well... of the magic sorts) lived a LONG time on that show.

[nemi]

Where and in what book does it actually say the difference between Dumbledore and McGonagall's ages? I can't remember ever reading it in the books. Maybe it just mentions that she was a student while he was still a teacher at Hogwarts? Thanks for the help, because I'm pretty confused. ;D

JKR said their ages in an interview with Scholastic on 16 October 2000, just after GOF came out:

Question: How old is old in the wizarding world, and how old are Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall?
J.K. Rowling responds: Dumbledore is a hundred and fifty, and Professor McGonagall is a sprightly seventy. Wizards have a much longer life expectancy than Muggles. (Harry hasn't found out about that yet.)

So there are 80 years between them *officially*.

Another thing I meant to ask: do you think age is really as significant in the wizarding world as it is in the muggle world?

Age probably isn't as important, no. Wizards and witches live for much longer and have different standards and find different things important. Besides, if you're happy, it shouldn't matter anyway. Just look at all the couples in the news today that have defied all "the ages difference is too large" claims.

We don't actually know if she was his student or not.

Minerva *was* Albus' student but we don't know for how many years. Dumbledore taught at Hogwarts when Tom Riddle was in his 5th year, which was 1942. According to the HP Lexicon, which uses the ages given in the interview, Minerva left Hogwarts in 1943. We aren't told when Dumbledore started teaching.

Officially Minerva would have been 19 in 1945 and Dumbledore would have been nearly 100 (roughly), but I often make Minerva two years younger so that she was in her seventh year when Albus defeated Grindelwald. There are lots of age ranges, going as low as 40 years difference or even a matter of school years, but usually the difference is between 70 and 85 years.

I also heard a rumour, I don't know if it's true, that in the original character designs JKR planned for Professor McGonagall to be around 45. I discussed this a number of people, who said that when they read the first book they thought McGonagall was between 40 and 50. Apparently JKR had to adapt when the films were made, and Minerva became 70 years old.

[Sensiblyquirky]

Ok I am seriously going to go write my term paper, but...the part where you said Minerva was orginally 45 makes me go hmmmm. I think that would explain the inconsistencies with the rest of the book and chapter one where minerva knows so little, b/c I don't think JKR would have intended Albus to love Minerva, even if she loved him, because that really is quite a bit younger than him.

However if she changed it to 70 for whatever reasons, maybe she re-thought their relationship as well.

[QuillofMinerva]

I wonder what JK thinks of the AD/MM ship? No doubt she has come across it at some point.

[beMMADfabulous]

sensiblyquirky said:

However if she changed it to 70 for whatever reasons, maybe she re-thought their relationship as well.

I'm definatly hoping for that possibility.

quillofminerva said:

I wonder what JK thinks of the AD/MM ship? No doubt she has come across it at some point.

I dunno, but Maggie seems to like it, doesn't she? Maybe J.K. does too. Maybe we'll find out in the 7th book. *crosses fingers*

[Alesia]

Interesting factlet: It is rumored that Maggie Smith was JKR's choice to play Minerva. The rumor says she was one of the only actors JKR requested by name, (Robbie Coltrain being the other). This means, to me at least, JKR had the idea of Minerva's age in the 70s age range in her head while writing the books.

[beMMADfabulous]

alesia said:

Interesting factlet: It is rumored that Maggie Smith was JKR's choice to play Minerva. The rumor says she was one of the only actors JKR requested by name, (Robbie Coltrain being the other). This means, to me at least, JKR had the idea of Minerva's age in the 70s age range in her head while writing the books.

That's good to hear. After all, she wouldn't have let Maggie play the part if she was really that much older than the character she was to portray.

[ismaco]

quillofminerva said:

I wonder what JK thinks of the AD/MM ship? No doubt she has come across it at some point.

That's an interesting question... hmm. Unfortunately, the only thing that comes to my mind is what JKR said about Minerva not being Albus' equal (thing we already discussed in another thread)
Mmm... dunno.
Isabel

[beMMADfabulous]

ismaco said:

quillofminerva said:

I wonder what JK thinks of the AD/MM ship? No doubt she has come across it at some point.

That's an interesting question... hmm. Unfortunately, the only thing that comes to my mind is what JKR said about Minerva not being Albus' equal (thing we already discussed in another thread)
Mmm... dunno.
Isabel

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Maybe her opinion of them together was not exactly what she was refering to in that quote.

[nemi]

Interesting factlet: It is rumored that Maggie Smith was JKR's choice to play Minerva. The rumor says she was one of the only actors JKR requested by name, (Robbie Coltrain being the other). This means, to me at least, JKR had the idea of Minerva's age in the 70s age range in her head while writing the books.

My mother, who doesn't particularly like HP, thinks JK has taken elements from other books and embedded them in Harry Potter, and says that a lot of characters bear resemblance to characters from famous works of fiction, eg Dumbledore & Gandalf (looks and role) and Harry & Frodo (role, and the actors look like each other). When I mentioned the fact that Maggie Smith described Minerva as being "Jean Brodie in a witch's hat," she said that JK used the character of Jean Brodie as well, and probably had the full intention of having Maggie Smith play her, despite my saying that JK didn't pick the cast - now that I've heard that rumour, perhaps she has a point?

[TartanLioness]

Personally, I don't see all that much of a similarity between Jean Brodie and Minerva. (True, I have only watched the Prime once because you can't get it here in DK grr!)

Jean Brodie strikes me as the type of teacher who would do anything to make her students perfect and teaching is her life. "I am a teacher first, last, always". With Jean Brodie, I don't see the compassion we have seen in Minerva a few times and to me Minerva seems more human, if that's the right word to describe her.

If Minerva *is* based on Jean Brodie though... didn't Jean have an affair with a fellow teacher?

Just my two cents.

Cammie

[beMMADfabulous]

tartanlioness said:

If Minerva *is* based on Jean Brodie though... didn't Jean have an affair with a fellow teacher?

Ooh, coolies! lol I have never seen that movie. *hangs head* I don't know where to find it!