Harry Potter II
(Transfer Student II)
When I wrote my essay about the Transfer Student cliché I wrote that some writers for the Harry Potter series "[mistakenly] think that Ireland happens to be a country separate from Great Britain." Someone decided to take offense at this statement. They left an anonymous saying, "Ireland is its own country! Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is not part of Great Britian. If you don't know the facts, don't write about it."
Really? I'm strangely reminded of the anonymous reviewer I got on a crossover I wrote for Harry Potter and Bleach. They tried accusing me of saying that gingers in Great Britian weren't bullied for their hair color when I had Hermione come to the conclusion that gingers in Japan had it far worse. If they had bothered actually doing some research they would understand why I had her come to that conclusion.
Also, for someone who gripes at me for writing about stuff without knowing the facts, the certainly do not have heir facts straight. If they wanted it to be correct, it should have read like this. "The Republic of Ireland is its own country! The United Kingdom is made up of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom." I honestly picked the wording I did for a reason.
That also said, I wrote that it was "best not to ask on that one". The history of the area is complicated and is sensitive for those of Irish blood whether they live in the area of Ireland or in America. I didn't feel that my essay was the time to go into the subject matter, but now that it has been brought up I will explain in more detail the problem with the Irish transfer student that tends to show up in Harry Potter fanfiction.
The first thing I am going to say is that Ireland is not a country anymore. There are some writers who still believe that Ireland is still a country and that the entire island is not under British rule. So I was not incorrect in saying what I did about them mistaking that Ireland is a country separate from Great Britian. Most people also know that the word Ireland by itself refers these days to the island unless other context is added in.
The second thing I'm going to say is that Ireland has at times been a country separate from Great Britian and other times it had been a country that as a part of Great Britain. Note here that I am saying Great Britian and not the United Kingdom here as the United Kingdom is the modern term and Great Britian used to refer to the local territory under British rule. This is just the politics from the Muggle side of things.
We honestly don't know whether or not Ireland has its own Ministry of Magic. The fact they have their own Quiditch team isn't proof that Ireland has its own Ministry of Magic. A quick bit of research shows that those in Northern Ireland can choose between Great Britain and Ireland. Northern Ireland also has its own teems for sports competition around the world. Chances are Ireland falls under the same Ministry as its sister island as there is no Irish Minster mentioned at the world cup.
In the long run it is impossible to have an Irish Transfer Student to Hogwarts. Even if there was an Irish Ministry of magic Rowling has made it clear that all students from both islands go to both schools. So why then would I bring up the sentence I did in the older essay? I brought it up because there are people who write about Irish Transfer Students despite the fact it is impossible. But there is honestly a bit more here.
There is the fact that the person refers to the student as being a Irish Transfer Student and not a Transfer Student from The Republic of Ireland. Many are even from the Northern region of the Island and it can be clearly traced by the city they decided to make their character from. Then again, the people writing the Irish Transfer Students aren't from the two islands.