What would it be like if house elves and wizards traded places? Do you think that house elves would treat wizards the same way they've been treated? Would all of our doors be much shorter?

Thanks to jadesabre85 for the discussion idea ... now get discussing!

Great discussion question Jadey!!!

Well, I think that the house elves over all would treat wizards better than they are treated. Since they seem to usually have a better type of temperment. And the doors would need to be big enough to fit the wizards. Unless.... Well since House Elves are so powerful magically I suppose they could shrink the wizards to fit their world better. More later....

* at the thought of a mini Lucius Malfoy scrubbing the floor.*

First to post...

i love this question.

I agree with Jasmine.house elves would treat wizards better than they are treated if they switch places. House elves are caring creatures and they would never hold a grudge against anyone. They might even help the wizards with the chores and stuff. You never know.

lol, Jasmine, a mini Lucius. oh no

Nice question...

I only half agree with what was said above; I think that some house elves would treat their wizards better and others worse. It all depends on genetics and if they're likely to get angry easily. Look at Kreacher, for instance, he can't stand blood traitors and non-purebloods because of how he was treated and his eavesdropping on his masters. When you have someone like that who holds grudges and is adamantly against a certain type of wizard (and non-wizard), then the situation changes. Of course he's not going to treat his "servants" with decency.

Or if you have someone like Winky, who is emotionally unstable, then that's going to affect how she treats her wizard servants on a daily basis. It's all based on their mood... and some of it is just innate to be happy, cheerful house elves.

Good question Jade!!

Well I think it would all depend on when the rolls were switched. If it had always been witches and wizards working for the elves, then I think there would be the same problems that exist they way it is now. There will always be those who take advantage of their “power” and treat those who they believe to be below them as lesser beings. Now, it there rolls were reversed knowing what we know now, then I think that the elves who were treated respectfully during their time of servitude would in turn treat their witch or wizard with equal respect. The elves who were treated poorly would probably be more likely to treat their servants the same unkind way.

Man... I love this question!! That's like asking if guys would better understand women if they traded lives with them for a day! Do you think it would happen? Probably not, but you'd like to think it would!

As for the elves! I know I'd have a heck of a lot more respect for them if I had to do everything they did all day long. Don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't respect them, but I'd completely honor them more, maybe even build a shrine to them if I were in there shoes for a day and got a better idea of how difficult it was!

This is such a good question. I think if their roles were switched the wizards would be treated the same way as the house elves were. I know house elves are kinder, but I don't think more leanient (sp) to the help. But that's only if the house elves were never house elves, if you know what I mean. If they switched while the house elf had been a house elf, I could see them giving them more respect and not work them quite as hard because they are their masters right? That's like if my mom became my personal (she already is ), I wouldn't treat her awfully. Most house elves (Dobby excluded) have respect for their masters and they care about them, if they don't love them. So if they switched I can see the house elves being a lot nicer.

Hmm, I looked at switching roles from the eyes of the witch or wizard, but I do wonder what the house elf would think of switching roles. Could a house elf be content to be waited on and have someone else do the cleaning. I think they would go stir crazy wanting to help their masters even if it were for just a day. It seems to be in the house elf nature to want to serve and make witches and wizards happy. Although, I'm sure there is that one house elf that will soak up the idea of freedom from servitude and may want a taste of such freedom again and may desire to be freed. In which case you might lose your house elf because of one simple experiment. But seeing as we all want our house elves to be happy. This might not be a bad thing, as we'll learn what really makes our house elves happy through this experiment.

I think if the roles were reversed that there would be alot of trepidition on the part of wizards and witches. One reason would be simply because it is well known that elf magic is very powerful, however how powerful is still unknown and I think that makes wizards nervous. Maybe thats why they keep the elves in servitude so they will not find out that they are more powerful than the wizards that master them. Something to think about....

*stretches fingers*

I think it would show us what it's like to be a HE, we would know what it felt like being mistreated, banging our heads on the stove door as we cleaned it without magic, and doing evverything we've taken for granted. I think the HE's would show us the true way to be treated, showing us love and respect but also telling us off when we did somehthing wrong.

There would be those HE's who would treat us badly however, all their lives they've been treated horribly (Kreacher) and would reciprocate that towrads us.

We would have a new understanding for what it feels like to be unloved and mistreated and I think if we switched roles we would come to an understanding and all HE's around the world would be treated better, even getting their own office in the MoM.

Do you really think that all the HE's feel unloved and mistreated? Do you think that they maybe look at it differently than we do? If the rolls were switched and the only thing I had ever known was working for a family, then I'm not sure if I would feel bad about what was happening. Like if all my family before me had done the same then it would be normal.

Well, I htink that if the wizard/witch had treated their House-Elf badly, the House-Elf would treat him/her the same way. What goes around comes around!
If the wizard/witch were nice to their House-Elf, the House-Elf would be nice in return.

But what if the house elf is naturally mean, or born and raised that way? What would you do, as the human?

There would probably be some kind of HE police. They could take care of their own punishments and codes of conduct.

Well that would be an interesting cthing. See I hate treating my HE badly, but if it was a bad egg so to speak, not listening or doing anything then I think I'd have no choice but to let it go into a HE community. I love the idea of having HE police, where they tke care of their own, rebilitating those who were mistreated or harrassed.

So do the majority of you view releasing your house elf from your home as a punishment or as a benefit?

I think it would all depend on the situation. I mean I don't want to release my house-elf unless it's sure it wants to go. I don't want to be mean and be like 'okay, thanks for everthing but I no longer need you' that wouldn't be good for it. I'd ask them to make the choice, stay or go.

I want to switch role with my house elf. I think it would be fun. I think all witches and wizards should so they can see what its like. But I would do it to show my house elf how much I appreciate all she does.

Well, what I wonder is ... In Deathly Hallows, Kreacher was really upset and hostile with the trio until they were nice to him ... If we were to switch roles, I wonder if the house elves would treat us as they'd like to be treated, or if those that were treated unfairly would go to seek revenge.

An interesting topic.. I guess it would depend on the house elf.. Dobby
would have compassion, unless it was Draco . Kreacher would be a
different story.. Could you see the House Elves having a quidditch team.

Hmm, I don't know. I think most would treat us as they would like to be treated, I know Dobby would, he's too nice to be mean to us, especially after Harry and Dumbledore treated him so kindly. Though I think he would want us to know what it was like to be treated unfairly, having us do things he had to do etc. I know he'd feel horrible about it later but it would show us how we treated them.

I think Winky would be a bit torn between it though, she's still heart broken over getting fired so I think she wouldn' know what to do.

Kreacher is a diffrent story. He would treat us with kindness I think, now that he knows what it feels like. But he would also show us unfairness, like how he was treated.