11 replies to this topic

[zsofix]

I've read CoS ages ago, and yet this started to bother me only a few days ago...

So: The door was found in the washroom. The Chamber was built 1000 years ago... 1000 years ago there was no sutch thing as a proper toilet, flushed with water, (not in Britain I guess) so no nead of extended pipe-sistem...

I guess Hogwarts was rebuilt and restored over the years (with the discovery of modern toilets) How did the door survive? How come that nobody became suspicious? (I see, no parseltongue, no entrance)

Any ideas?

Fix

PS: I know, I'm horrible...
If this was discussed before, close my topic. I was nowhere near the Snitch the time CoS came out first. Thanks!

Edit: I edited the title so folks will know what the topic is about. Hope you don't mind.

Edited by marymcbeth, 26 August 2005 - 11:01 AM.

[minisnitch]

er, maybe wizards invented flushing toilets first, its all i can think if to explain. thats a good point though

[willbo]

wasn't the door hidden behind the sink?

[Crystal]

I'm certain there used to be a topic like this, but I guess it's gone now... The Egyptians actually had plumbing dating back to 3000 bc. Look up "egyptian plumbing" in google or something and you'll find some info on that.

It's also possible that, instead of people rebuilding and restoring the castle, as you said, the castle actually rebuilds and restores itself. After all, it has house elves, moving staircases, and rooms that turn into anything you need, I doubt it needs much help from people to keep up to date with it's plumbing.

[marymcbeth]

I love your explanation of the castle restoring itself, Crys. Cool. As the castle is updated, the entrance to the chamber is updated too. *imagines privy with little snake etched in stone on the wall*

Romans had plumbing, too.

[zsofix]

Yeah, my Mom also suggested that Hogwarts was under an 'Up- to-date' curse...

I know that romans had plumbings, but... well, we muggles forgot nearly everything they knew, after the fall of the empire. Maybe wisards kept up their knowledge...

[Pigmypuff]

I like the idea of the castle restoring itself!
Also, it's magic! So the plumbing obviously won't follow our muggle logic-- remember Mr Weasley's comments about the silly muggles calling in those... "pumbles [plumbers], bless them" in OotP, when Willy Widershins (sorry... bad spelling, I think) cursed the Bethnal Green toilet to regurgitate.
So our explanations really won't fit Hogwarts at all-- as wizards are always saying, muggles keep coming up with creative inventions to make up for not having magic. I'd guess plumbing is among these...
~Lucie

[filchescat]

The only problems with the castle restoring itself is that the castle has several secret passags that have caved in (according to Gred and Forge) and they haven't restored themselves. The same with Draco's wardrobe...He had to repair it. It didn't update itself. No, we must logically assume that Salazar invented the chamber and the secret passage to it 1000 years ago.

meow,

Filchescat

[azazeal_666]

If the door was hidden behind a sink, and you need to be able to speak parseltounge to open the door, then whoever happened to rennovate the bathrooms wouldnt have noticed the door would they? All they would notice would be the little snake that Harry sees (I think he saw a little carved snake anyway). And even then the person would probably just think "Oh look at that little carving...it must just be for decoration" or something like that.

[pwca]

updating and restoring are two different things.

Updating is completly changing, while restoring is fixing.

So the castle can update itself, but it can't repair damage. Such as a wardrobe, or a secret passage. Right?

[aliyah]

well, many answers to this question have already been given and i totally agree but it was so clever of you to think that up! i'd never have thought of that!!