To all those mentioning that the basilisk was using the "pipes", as Hermione wrote: This addresses the plothole, but doesn't explain it. In order to attack someone, the basilisk has to leave its cosy pipes. So unless there are oak-trunk sized exits in the plumbing system every 10 meters, it will have to expose itself.

Umm..how did none of the *talking sentient paintings* see it??

Fans: It's gotta be hard for that huge snake to go unnoticed around the school JKR: Actually, it's gonna be super easy, barely an inconvenience

Merphy: "Ugh, why didnt the Basilisk eat the children?!" 😂😂😂

Regarding the basilisk’s tooth breaking off in Harry’s arm: This one actually checks out. Snake teeth are pretty delicate and regularly break off and replace themselves. (A bit like sharks) It’s pretty common for a snake’s tooth to get torn out by struggling prey.

I never understood how Hermione is the only one capable of figuring out it's a Basilisk. Like aside from not knowing Harry can hear it whispering, the teachers all have the same clues as Hermione. How many possible things could have equaled Slytherin + roosters being killed + petrification? Not to mention it all happened before so they presumably had plenty of time to have figured out what happened the first time. But no, only this one 12 year old can see the big picture...

Also, Ginny says she couldn't wait to attend Hogwarts ever since Bill started his first year... But she was just born at the time 😂

Riddle: "Ah right Phoenix tears I forgot". wow talk about the smartest wizard ever 😂

Why Harry never helped Ron to buy a wand in the second book? He has lots of golden money. That's a true nonsense.

Arthur has been working in the Office of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts for years and he's fascinated by plugs and doesn't understand how a telephone works or even how to pronounce it properly? How did he not fail his Muggles Studies at Hogwarts?

A snake can’t eat stone. Unlike the movie, when I read the book, I literally pictured the petrified persons turning into stone

My favourite bit is how nobody ever talked to the ghost girl in 50 years when she had the answer to a thousand year old riddle. Even the teachers never thought to ask her how she was killed.

I’ve always wondered why no one-before Harry, I mean- ever questioned moaning myrtle about how she died...

To quote Hermione, “Pipes.” Pipes make noise, even hissing type sounds, all the time. People just thought it was normal plumbing noise. Only Harry could recognize it as speech.

It's not like cell phones were so popular in the early 90s when the book is set. Also I think the Dursley wouldn't have allowed Harry to receive phone calls. Of course Hermione could have at least tried.

Didn’t realize I wanted a horror version of HP where the snake eats the children but now I kind of do 😂

On the owls thing and no convenient means of communication: fireplaces are basically both teleportation booths and video call machines.

Everything wrong with Chamber of secrets in less than 16 minuites (Book Sins)

Merphy: "Why doesn't someone with an evil agenda breed basilisks?" Me: "I agree! Also, why not farm Mandrakes? Walk into a place with a set of good earmuffs and a potted adult Mandrake. Pull the Mandrake... everyone dies!" (I wrote a short story about this a LONG time ago LOL)

‘Chamber of Secrets’ is actually my favourite book. :) I love how every teacher hated Lockhart, especially Snape and McGonagall. :)

Now, some issues with the Wizarding world when compared to the Muggle world is actually wizards having residual superiority complexes. For literal thousands of years, wizards had better EVERYTHING. They could communicate easily, heal wounds and aid the sick with skill, and travel long distances in hardly any time at all. Wizards were just naturally better, with muggles hanging behind, practically living in the dirt by comparison. But since the advent of the industrial revolution, THAT is changing. Muggles have invented machines to do their work, telephones, cars, airplanes and computers. Now, the wizards are being left behind, still literally using quill pens and sending their mail off by owl, but their superiority complex is still intact. The wizards believe themselves better, even kindly ones like Mrs. Weasley thinks that she is just naturally better than muggles. At the rate it is going, you'll see the muggles have a vast dominance, even without the ability to use magic.

The plot conveniences you point out in the fight with Tom Riddle are actually some of what I find most significant in the story. I don't think Fawkes just happened to show up there. I strongly believe that Dumbledore knew there was a basilisk in the chamber and sent Fawkes there to assist Harry deliberately. Now you could still argue that Dumbledore's having a phoenix or that a phoenix being able to assist is the plot convenience. Through the whole series, the one constant regarding Dumbledore is that he's always manipulating events using information that he's gained through his research into Tom Riddle. He also seems to always be intentionally putting Harry into danger in order to help him grow as a hero, so I think Harry was there by the design of Dumbledore with the tools that would allow him to win the day.

Am I the only person who wonders about the pipes in Hogwarts when the Basilisk is so big like a tree?

I'm a diehard Harry Potter fan but I completely agree with you, and have for a long time. It's strange to me how some people can't admit that the thing they love isn't perfect!

The one that gets me the most is the “pipes” how big are the walls at hog warts that they can fit a giant basilisk through them!!!

Harry, maybe: Oh woah what a dangerous situation *YEET THAT WAND*

The bird was specifically there to help Harry, so that's what it did.

“it is not perfect, but you still love it” - sees the ravenclaw t-shirt with a raven on it, ‘yeah that probably goes with the shirt as well’

"Everything lines up perfectly times in the end because plot convenience." Rowling: "....Dumbledore!"

"Clustercuss" omg that's adorable, I'm stealing that for when I'm around children.

Also, the paintings could say something?

As a self published author I am constantly searching my work for plot holes etc. Is it wrong that there’s some relief in knowing that even the series held up as the holy grail has some significant issues? 😬😕

Also Voldemort himself said that Harry have never beaten him using skill he rides the coat tails of better wizards who have all rescued him and made sure he succeeds

Didn't the third (?) book say that when Ron and Hermione tried calling Harry, Uncle Vernon quickly shot that down?

“I love this book, I just wish the ending were, ugh, different.” YES!!!!! Seriously when I read these books for the first time as a college freshmen (I know, I was late to the party), I was more into this book initially than 1 AND 3, but by the end was like... what just happened...

Well, they can talk without using owls and cell phones - just like did Harry and Sirius in the 5th book. Via fireplace.

“Bum-skeey, it never gets to eat anyone” 😂😂😂 this is why I’m always here for a Murphy video ❤️ the plot conveniences at the end line up so well that it feels like Dumbledore planned for this eventuality: “ok, fawkes, you be lookout while I’m gone; and if any students end up in the chamber, you go down there and pull them out.” Personally I can deal with plot convenience a bit better if Fortunate Power X has been established well ahead of the scene where it’s needed. Dumbles mentions fawkes’ healing tears and ability to lift many times his own weight in an early chapter, so at least she didn’t just throw it in right before the chamber scene. Also, I’m not a mythology expert, but I think those two abilities are part of the general Phoenix mythology, which, for me personally, makes it feel a little more organic. She didn’t just make up a whole new creature that had all of the plot convenience powers that she would need for the climax.

When you’re done with this series, you could make one about how the books could have been written in a better way, especially making use of character development, underutilized plots, and various archetypal themes. I think people can become so used to a plot point that they can’t see past it to brainstorm other options. There’s almost an aspect of “but this is how it happened; it’s how it HAS to happen,” to it. A lot of writers I work with will have nourished a set idea of how a plot goes that they can’t see beyond it. If I suggest a stronger option, they panic in proportion to how important the plot point is to them. Seeing how even beloved stories like the Harry Potter books could be improved would be a good lesson in editing. Trusting your work to someone else is always so scary, but seeing how it can work out for a different series could promote more trust in the editing community. It’s not, in fact, about destroying the things a writer has worked years to iron out, but to make them stronger. It enables them to survive the nitpicking of others like me. 😂

The real question is why the Minister of Magic didn't just hire a magic zoologist to hunt the monster? He has a department of disposal of magical creatures.

The biggest convenience of the book is that somehow none of the basilisk's victims looked him directly in the eyes. It's ridiculous that all of them survived through pure coincidence.

Im glad someone else thought it was weird that hermoine never contacted harry in muggle ways

2:10 "How is no one seeing the basilisk?" - Great question. Because it's jusing the plumbing to get around the castle. That was hermiones big epiphany. It doesn't crawl out of the bathroom where the entrance is. It gets around inside the walls through the entire castle. Ignore pottermore stating that wizards didn't have toilets and we're all good. Why didn't it eat anybody? - Because it doesn't have free will. Whoever talks parslemouth controls it. Tom Riddle wants the bodies to be found. So: The snake doesn't get to eat anybody. The hissing in the walls: Harry has his ear right up to it, to hear it correctly. He hears words. They just hear a muffled hissing sounds through the thick school walls. It's an old castle. Stuff there always makes some sort of creaking or hissing noise. You tune it out. Harry doesn't, because it legitimately sounds like words to him. Why don't wizards use Muggle devices, if they're convenient? Because they are stubborn, prejudiced pricks who believe they are better than Muggles. In every way. They're kinda racist that way. So, asking "Why isn't that racist behaving rationally?" - is really a nobrainer. I think the car gaining sentients was foreshadowed earlier... but don't hold me to that. Never thought about the mighty convenience of it. Was just a cool scene for younger kids. The rest? Yeah. Mighty convenient. But it's the second HarryPotter book, when it was wayyy more geared towards children. So I never thought about it. I guess Rowling just put Harry too deep into trouble. So deep there was no conceivable way for him to get out. The same happened in Book 1, but only at the very end. There's always a greater force helping Harry (almost always Dumbledore), because he's not quite there yet. Nice video btw, I enjoyed it, in case this seemed like the opposite :D

On the letters... it is archaic, especially when you realize that the magic system accommodates the immediate transportation or sending of letters... You tell me that they can appear anywhere almost immediately, but they cannot simply appear a letter on the threshold of a house or at a specialized table for the mail.

I just love that you displayed the HP books with the spines and then put the chamber of secrets with the front! It’s a little detail but I just love it 😍 it’s like it’s a game and you have all the options and you select book 2 and it turns to the fronted it with the title and stuff 😅❤️

"Maybe he caught whoever attacked him on camera." A few books later: "You can't use Muggle technology inside of Hogwarts..."

Voldemort is honestly so dumb haha. So that'd be my response to what you mention of him not knowing about how there was another Parseltongue before him and Harry... I mean, that weakness comes into play later on in the books cuz he is so full of himself he never stops to think of the little things, such as him thinking that no one had found the room of requirement before him

What happens if a painting sees the basalisk? And I'm glad you said the snake always went around the castle from the girl's bathroom. I always assumed it exited the pipes at random points in the castle. Like the hallways open up to the pipes or something? Feels worse now that I'm putting it into words.

With Hermione using the phone book to look up the Dursley’s number, I assume based on the type of people they are that their number was private and wasn’t in it.

"Harry Potter and the Plot Conveniences." That's how I feel about GOBLET OF FIRE.

The forest became the cars home so could be it was just in that area right when they needed it but yeah, the whole car saving them was left wide open. Oh boy, the time turners are next.

I think the reason behind why Fawkes came to the chamber bringing the hat was because of what Dumbledore said earlier. He said sth like help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it and then when Harry was helpless he kept saying someone please help me or whatever.

That's so true I realised the plot conveniences at the second reading in the first I just really wanted Harry to survive and didn't care how it happened

When you said you were moving on to the plot conveniences I momentarily heard the Cinemasins guy in my head saying "Plot convenience is convenient"...this sounded so much funnier in my head lol

I always hated the phoenix thing. Never felt earned, I think I'd have forgiven it if they'd done more set up that Fawkes (who's tail feathers are in Harry and Tom's wands, apparently) has a connection to them both and then have the phoenix show up a few more times to show this connection. but nope. fawkes just decides to go fuck with the snakes because judge judy wasn't on in dumbledores office that afternoon. it's so weird. it's also so weird that so many fans just let it go - that a single magical creature can blind a giant snake, carry 4 people, heal mortal wounds and find harry potter when its bored.

Maybe he only likes killing. He's actually a vegetarian.

I’m not disagreeing. But at 5:40 the middle ground between Apparating and sending a letter via Owl would be Floo... right? We see Sirius use it in book 4. .

I find *The Chamber of Secrets* as the most magical book in the series. The one that mostly gave me feelings as I was attending Hogwarts :)

I thought the reason the car became sentient was because something happened during its time in the Forbidden forest since they crashed it

When reading, I wondered how big Ginny's cauldron must have been; she was able put all her books in it at Flourish and Blotts, and Ron threw his books in it too when he confonted Malfoy. Also, I don't think it's explained how the teachers knew that Ginny was taken by the Basilisk.

Loved this! I think there was a sentence in the first book where Harry was wondering why no one called and then he figures that Vernon/other Dursleys would just not let them speak to Harry. But he's like I thought Hermione would have disguised her voice or outsmarted them to get to talk to Harry but then it isnt really brought up again.

Fawkes is the absolute personification (birdification??) Of a deus ex machina in CoS and it's annoying for sure

About the Chamber of Secrets plot conveniences, I believe Dumbeldore always seemed to know what Harry was up against so maybe...I might be wrong...he sensed that Harry needed help down in the Chamber and knew what would kill the basilisk, and accordingly sent Fawkes down.

So I hear this gripe a lot, the 2nd plot convenience you had about people not being able to hear the Basilisk. You have to remember that the Basilisk was roaming around in the piping and Hogwarts is of course a very old school. If you've ever been in an old building for a long period of time you'll notice that the pipes in the building make extremely loud hisses that almost sound like the building's going to like explode, but like most things after a while you get used to it and you don't react to it anymore. So I think the implication is that Ron and Hermione think that the pipes are hissing where Harry recognizes the hissing as language since he's a parsletongue. And in case you were wondering, because I've heard this retort a lot, parsletongue is not characterized as words in the books specifically and it's usually described simply as a hiss.

"Clustercuss?" That's one I've never heard before.

And Arthur is supposed to be an expert on muggle tech, that's literally his job

A lot of these can be summed as follows: "middle grade logic"... just remember that at this stage kids aren't quite as capable of digging through super complex logical thinking. Some, yes, but not a lot, and the fantasy and adventure aspects are emphasized simply due to the type of book that it is.

The only benefit I see to the plot convinces is that it makes sense that of course Harry has to be super lucky to win and not die, the kid is like 12. It actually makes less sense in book 1 that there is this all powerful stone that could be used to make someone immortal (a certain returning dark lord perhaps) and its security is beaten by a bunch of 6th graders.

What bothered me about the chamber of secrets was that Hagrid was expelled for being the heir or Slytherin and setting the Basilisk on people. Why would they keep him on the school, free to go about the castle and continuing?! I was also bothered that the basilisk didn't eat anyone...

Me: *sees title* Also me: Truuue 😂

Also, I love how a chunk of this video consists of you going "And then..." :-P

"They don't really bother me... it's always bothered me..." 😂

What I find frustrating with the ending is that with the world is still so new that Rowling had multiple opportunities to set up the defeat of the Basilisk, in a "monster of the week" format. Have a chapter where Harry learns about Basilisks and there weaknesses in defence against the dark arts, or from Hagrid etc. As much I love the books I notice that Rowling is much more of a world builder than a storyteller, once she backs herself into a corner (which she does v. often) rather than retracing her steps as it were, she barrels forward. Which is a pain because the world, the arcs and the whole whimsy of the world are delightful and if the story contained these little flourishes where the characters outsmart the bad guy it could of been a whole other level of special.

Only a fellow Ravenclaw would talk about the books like this!!! Love your videos! Can't wait for the rest :D

I am loving this videos! Can't wait for the rest of the series. Of course I love Harry Potter and that is not going to change, but like you said I think nothing is perfect and it's okey to see that things and have a little fun. Thak you for this, and need the book 4 review!!! Haha ❤️

That was an intense video. Don't think I've ever been so exhausted listening to a video. That was a great explanation. The amount of energy and thought put into this book, and series, is great even after reading it so many times. This is why I enjoy this channel. Thanks Merphy

I’ve never realised before that Harry the Horcrux should have died / been destroyed with the basilisk fang.

14:47 "Nobody writes a perfect book" those are very accurate words!

The car wasn't sentient. Dobby was controlling it with his elf magic so rescue them

Ok so I have a possible explanation for why no one heard the hissing. So Hermione figures out that the snake is traveling through the pipes, right? So maybe the parseltongue that the snake is speaking- which would sound like hissing to a non-parseltongue-speaker- was being misconstrued as noise from the pipes? So Harry understood what the snake was saying, and that is why it caught his attention. And maybe when Harry asked Ron and Hermione if they heard something when he hears the snake speaking in the hallway, they heard the hissing, but didn’t think it was unusual because they thought it was more of a white noise than something abnormal.

First of all, thank you :) I love Harry Potter and it is so interesting to hear someone else’s ideas on logic mistakes. But I do have a theory on why basilisks are not every evil wizards pet. They wouldn’t be able to communicate with them because they aren’t able to speak parsletongue and they would be in danger as well because of having no control over them :) Really enjoy watching your videos!!

“Clustercuss”... I’m so stealing that! 😂😂

I'm a Ravenclaw, too. Those are very good points you've made, some of which I ashamedly admit I didn't notice. I always assumed that the basilisk can't eat the petrified people for some reason. Perhaps their skin is too hard or something. If they had any imagination, they'd turn lighters into floo-phones. Tom also believed that no one would find his Horcrux in the junk room of Hogwarts. He was stupidly arrogant. I honestly believe that the way he found the CoS was by winning Felix Felicis in 6th year Potions class and drinking it for the purpose of finding the CoS, then suddenly needing the loo so bad that he went into the girls' bathroom and washed his hand at the right sink. Then he claimed his genius found it. (I think the car Herbie was enchanted by one of Arthur's ancestors and he used the same spell on his car - either that or JKR stole that idea from those movies.) I don't know why Tom didn't have Ginny's wand and then disarm Harry with that. That would make sense if JKR wanted him disarmed. That's all I can think of regarding your comments.

One small thing: the sword isn't of the "exact material" needed to kill the basilisk. Any sword could have made it. It's only with the horcruxes that the sword has to be Gryffindor's sword, because it has the properties the basilisk venom gave it that make it able to destroy horcruxes.

Why doesn't everyone have a basilisk? Because when it looks directly at you, you'll die. Kind of a huge deterrent

The biggest plot convenience for me was that ALL of the basilisk's victims managed to avoid looking it directly in the eye. Sure, Hermione and Penelope were on their guard, but the others just HAPPENED to have a camera/ghost/puddle of water on hand. About the whole Chamber ordeal: didn't Fawkes come to Harry's rescue because he showed loyalty to Dumbledore? Fawkes wasn't like "Hmmm, I think I'll just grab my hat and sword and explore the Chamber of Secrets, just for fun!" It's still awfully convenient, I agree, but Harry *sort of* earned it...

First the Snake is traveling through the pipes Miss Granger figures that out when she goes to the library, secondly there are other forms of communication you can use the Patronus charm, floo powder, and the Protean Charm. Most of two of those are very difficult spells. But the rest I fully 1000000% agree with

what usually happens to me with this series is that sometimes I dont know whether I know certain information from the books or from the movies. BUT in this case, I read the book after watching the movie and eVERYTHING I remember is from the movie.

I definitely agree that the end of Chamber is a pretty big long shot. The explanation given is that Dumbledore sent Fawkes, which at least explains why he’s there and why he has the hat, but it’s definitely convenient that all of this comes together to save the day.

None of Harry Potter makes sense. It’s really bizarre when you try to actually follow it.

So basically Harry is ta’veren.

Is it ever explained how the Dursleys managed to send Harry a present by owl? The present was merely a toothpick to symbolize how little they loved him, but as Muggles how did they manage to send it in the first place?

I just came across your channel, but I am loving it already! Great videos!

"Harry Potter and the plots of conveniences" 😂😂😂

I look forward to your talk on Goblet of Fire. I just did my first adult read of all 7 and GoF I think by far made me the most annoyed by its plot holes and just poor structure overall. I agree that they're all still super fun but you just can't look past certain things anymore as an adult.

The first time we see sentience in the Ford Anglia is actually when they crash into the whomping willow. So I guess it could be argued that it decided do do its own thing once it got thoroughly mishandled?

Plus, can we just agree that there's a big problem with the book cover (at least in the original version that was sold in Brazil)?! I mean, there are WINDOWS in the cover but the chamber is supposed to be really in the underground. This has always bugged me even as a 12 year old.

Goblet of Fire is the one that makes my head hurt. The plot is so overly convoluted and it's all predicated on a bunch if convenient events.

You're assuming 'plot convenience' entirely teleologically. You assume the plot had to turn out the way it did, if it could have gone a thousand other ways it's not plot convenience it's just plot. The way you're talking about it literally everything in every story is plot convenience.

I've always assumed that the basilisk moves through the pipes and thought it's stated in the book, but maybe it's just the movie. I totally agree with you on the hearing problem and the last sequence, though.

Do Basilisks even need to eat? Seriously, what has that thing eaten for the past CENTURIES?!