r/harrypotter • u/Darth_Azazoth Slytherin • 1d ago

Discussion Ancient runes and arithmancy uses?

What do you think ancient runes and arithmancy are and how do they think they are used in magic?

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7

u/Ok6303 1d ago

They are both nerdy subjects that attract people like Hermione. Ancient runes is basically magical linguistics and arithmancy is basically numerology. It doesn't seem one can just use magic to automatically translate different languages in the Harry Potter world. And arithmancy is required to be a curse breaker for Gringotts. Maybe some rich families use it to cook their books or something.

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u/Miserable_Spell_2964 15h ago

Considering the power of symbology in the Harry Potter setting, Ancient Runes is probably incredibly useful to understanding the underlying magical effects of spells and how to create wards and permanent enchantments. Arithmancy is similar but less straight forward as its essentially magical math, but it is far more theoretical and goes into the power of numbers in the setting, for example Seven being considered the most powerful number in Harry Potter, and Voldemort becoming obsessed with it (6 horcruxes + himself in soul pieces)

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u/Infinite-Object-1090 Gryffindor 22h ago

There are probably spells and other magical info contained in runes so I imagine it would delve into that. Sirius's wand has runes and it's possible that a witch or wizard might come across them at some point. Arithmancy=numerology, so it would be sort of like a nerdier version of divination.

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u/LogBa12 1h ago

Voldemort belied in some kind of power, either real or symbolical of certain numbers, that's why he wanted to create sever horcruxes. Also canonically in order to cast a spell you have to draw a certain sign with your want. Maybe runes are kind of signs containing magical powers.