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SilverMoonbeam · 04-23-2011, 01:26 PM

I think that it's house elves' natures to not be paid and to serve a certain family until it dies. But I would have thought that the ministry of magic would have stopped house elf cruelty a long time before hermione invented S.P.E.W. In my opinion, wizards who couldn't treat them respectably should've been banned from owning one. But if house elves expect to be punished for something they did wrong then... So be it? I don't really know how the ministry would deal with it if it was real.

Marycharmaine Duhig · 07-09-2011, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XanaSnape

I've wondered about this quite a bit (especially since the house elf rebellion story arc in the MOM RPG, hee).

I suspect that you can indeed purchase a house elf, but most of them are passed from generation to generation as property is passed on as part of the estate. Being that they are living beings, I would presume that they do in fact breed and raise their young, teaching them servitude. In keeping with the comparison that she was drawing to slavery, I'm sure that there exists an entire sub-culture of house elf society, that wizards just don't pay attention to (much as slaves in the Southern US, being normal people who were just opressed, still had culture and community despite being 'owned' by slaves).

I'd like to imagine that there are 'home' lives, elven homes where young are raised away from the view of wizards (can you imagine an infant house elf? The cute of it all!) and taught how to serve their magical 'masters'.

I wonder if they even have culture- much like slaves had their own culture and community with music and dance and art and religion and all of that, I would like to think that the house elves also have such things... in other words, that they're just like anyone else, except that they're being opressed (by cultural conditioning, ignorance, force, or choice, as the case may be).

What do you all think?

I think you have just read my mind ?? :|

Slytherin's Talon · 07-09-2011, 01:59 PM

That is one of the best question I ever heard about Harry Potter. It is interesting,I would love to know as well.
I wonder if Rowling herself has the answer,if she does,we will know soon.
I think there are three things is could be:
1 The house elves are born that way. This is the strangest answer,because this would signify that they evolved that way or were created that way.
2 The elves were not like that,but they never had encounters with humans before. When they met them,they thought they were gods,and they decided to serve them.
3 They were beaten into service.

RupertsLil'Princess · 07-17-2011, 10:40 PM

Well I don't really think that winky did go looking for work. I think that dobby just dragged her along with him. She was still too upset about crouch so I think she was far from looking for work before dobby found her.

Lilith Night · 09-28-2011, 12:40 AM

I think that at one time there was simply just elves and they slowly evolved into House Elves. I think that the drive to work and serve is in their blood now after having been that way for so long. Maybe in the beginning elves were either taken to work in homes or looked for work and that was all people thought they were good for. Kind of how people stereotype other races now. I think that maybe the thought of being paid is unwelcomed because maybe they were always taught by someone that it was unappropriated or impolite to ask for payment. Or maybe because wizards and witches thought elves were inferior that the thought of paying them seemed ridiculous and made sure their elf knew the consequences of asking.
I think the wall in the Black home is proof that this has gone on for several decades, maybe even hundreds of years depending on how long the life span of an elf is.

AshCat14 · 11-10-2011, 10:34 PM

I do not understand how, if house elves go unpaid, why everyone does not want one. Eg. Mrs Weasley says that she "would love a house elf". So why don't they have one if they cost nothing?

looney · 03-11-2012, 02:46 PM

This is how I see it; generations of house elves serve one family unless they are given or freed. Are they free by default when the last family member dies? Or do they belong to the next owner of the house? Most house elves don't want freedom or to be payed and are offended if someone offers it to them. I can't imagine how the whole buying process would go, if they don't want to be payed. If that's the case, then everybody could get several elves.