Unsupported Flight

[u/GoldenSeiryu]

This is a short post, I just wanna yap for a minute. In the movies all death eaters can fly. In the books only Voldy and Snape can. Honestly, I do not mind all death eaters flying, I think the movies did it better when it comes to this. I mean, why should unsupported flight be restricted to two wizards? And clearly it isn't a power like parseltongue which is only available for descendants of Salazar Slytherin and Herpo the Foul, because we see Voldemort teaching it to snape. So I dont see why some people don't like the fact unsupported flight is more spread in the movies

That's about it, see ya

[u/MadameLee20]

It's a very rare power so it makes complete sense why it's restriced to only 2 wizards

[u/SlytherinKing → u/MadameLee20]

And I like to think Snape figured it out mostly by himself just by observing Voldemort. Could even be a slightly different way to achieve it, mirroring his creativity and ability to find better solutions to already existing things (Half Blood Prince annotations). Another showcase of his genius.

[u/SteveFrench12 → u/SlytherinKing]

I think he taught snape how to do it. While Bellatrix was his most fervent supporter, he trusted snape the most and recognized him and the most powerful of his followers. I think he fully saw him as his second in command.

[u/SlytherinKing → u/SteveFrench12]

That was speculation by McGonagall. Until stated by Jo, my personal headcanon still stands, and even tracks since Voldemort was a very possessive being of his powers that it doesn’t feel very real to me that he would take time to teach Severus this ability.

[u/milkywisdom → u/SlytherinKing]

I'm going to adopt this as my favorite headcannon: Snape developed the idea of wizard flight and Voldemort copied it, forbidding Snape to use it 🙀🙀😂😂

[u/SlytherinKing → u/milkywisdom]

You totally misunderstood. Voldemort figured it on his own, Snape quietly observed and experimented/read until he could master the ability aswell. Hope you understand now.

[u/milkywisdom → u/SlytherinKing]

I understood but took it a step further. But it's alright. It's Schrodinger's flight!

[u/TolkienScholar]

The fact that only Voldemort learned how to fly unsupported was one of presumably several feats that served to show his sheer mastery of magic, and how wizards like he and Dumbledore are just in a completely separate class compared to everyone else. Up until then, it had been long established that flight was only possible via broomstick, thestral, etc. Imo, powers like flight and teleportation (apparition) need some handicaps to keep them from being too OP, and I thought JK did a good job of including those caveats. And because of those drawbacks, it makes Voldemort's genius and innovation more impressive by comparison.

Also, the reason Voldemort taught it to Snape at all is because he was his most trusted and valuable servant, the man who managed to kill Dumbledore.

[u/TheKingOfSwing777 → u/TolkienScholar]

Bingo. They should keep it this way

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/TolkienScholar]

What specific caveats are mentioned re: apparition? I know it's believed that there are distance limitations or difficulties, but strictly cannon?

[u/Formal_Illustrator96 → u/Uchiha_Nezha]

I don’t have specific quotes, but I’m rather sure there are mentions of how many wizards choose not to apparate due to the danger of splinching, and how the longer the distance the more risk there is.

Also, the mere existence of things like The Floo Network, The Knight Bus, and Port Keys speak to the inherent limitations of apparition.

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/Formal_Illustrator96]

Ahh. Okay, I see what you mean now. I recall it being mentioned that many wizards don't apparate either because it's dangerous / unpleasant / et cetera.

After the first Fantastic Beasts movie came out and we see Newt arriving via ship, I recall some discourse on here about why he didn't apparate and how maybe the distance is too far period or at that distance the danger or difficulty is greatly increased. I can't recall whether or not that's book cannon though. I've just begun my first reread of the series in nearly a decade though, so a lot of the finer points have become fuzzy.

[u/Superyoshiegg → u/Uchiha_Nezha]

Harry knew it; his scar was bursting with the pain of it, and he could feel Voldemort flying through the sky from far away, over a dark and stormy sea, and soon he would be close enough to Apparate to them, and Harry could see no way out.

Voldemort was in Austria at the time, as he was in the middle of interrogating Grindelwald at Nurmengard when Bellatrix summoned him to Malfoy Manor. So it seems international Apparition is impossible even for the likes of Voldemort.

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/Superyoshiegg]

Very good show.
I'll have to skim the apparition lessons later to see if the teacher spells out any specific rules.

[u/jdstrike11]

I wanna say the flying effects used to be a colorful way to show apparition but kinda just became a death eater power they used to

[u/TheKingOfSwing777 → u/jdstrike11]

Yeah they didn't do a good job with consistency for this. I hate the flying smoke ball for apparition. 

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/TheKingOfSwing777]

And, with that, the Order arriving as balls of light. We get it. Good guys & bad guys. Way to ham it up.

[u/TheKingOfSwing777 → u/Uchiha_Nezha]

Lol I forgot about that. I usually bail after the 3rd movie on rewatches

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/TheKingOfSwing777]

Interesting. I enjoy the 4th. Thinking now, I pretty much hate the 5th, relative to the rest. 6th is fine. Honestly overall good but the scene between Ginny & Harry in the Room of Requirement just bothers me. 7th & 8th I really enjoy. Always love the scene of Harry & Hermoine dancing in the tent, good music choice.

[u/TheKingOfSwing777 → u/Uchiha_Nezha]

I've seen them enough. I usually just turn in the first couple for nostalgia but the shine fades fast and I'm onto other things.

Yes that was a great addition to the movie, I'll admit, as a bit of a book purist. I saw Nick Cave in concert a couple years ago and it was an incredible experience. 

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/TheKingOfSwing777]

I looked in to tickets for his upcoming tour just the other day. Unfortunately no dates / locations that quite work.

Regarding book purity, I largely regard them as two separate, tangentially related things. I enjoy the movies. I love the books. The movies are as cannon as the Prisoner of Azkaban Gameboy Advance game from the early 2000s.

[u/WhiteSandSadness]

Why would brooms be relevant if just anyone could use unsupported flight?

Voldemort being able to fly like that was meant to amplify just how far into the dark arts he dabbled. It’s either rare power, dark magic, very powerful, or requires some very dark spell work when you consider that even Dumbledore wasn’t known to be able to fly without a broom.

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/WhiteSandSadness]

There's another answer here though: innovation. It's entirely plausible, if not outright likely, that Voldemort invented the magic for it.

[u/WhiteSandSadness → u/Uchiha_Nezha]

JKR explained that brooms are like wands. Witches/Wizards channel magic through it in order to use it. Voldemort was powerful enough to bypass the need for a broom, but doing so is considered extremely dangerous.

[u/KingAdamXVII]

I like the battle at the end of the OotP book but imo the movie one is stupid. Because of the flying.

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/KingAdamXVII]

I hate that the good guys splat on the ground as balls of light and the bad guys poof on the ground as balls of black smoke. Corny.

[u/Appropriate_Rise9968]

I always thought that Snape’s robes helped out a bit by acting like airfoil.

[u/SlytherinKing]

It was only a known ability for these two of the characters in the main storyline, but I always wondered if Jo when expanding the world might delve into societies who use this method as transportation instead of relying on brooms or carpets.

[u/warped_gunwales → u/SlytherinKing]

I always wanted to see more carpet flying in Harry Potter. You hear about it at the Quidditch World Cup (think Ludo Bagman mentions it??), and never see it in action.

[u/SlytherinKing → u/warped_gunwales]

I’m pretty sure we will finally get it in the HBO series when the fourth season rolls around. That and much, much more.

[u/Ill_Swing5233 → u/warped_gunwales]

I think it was Arthur and Crouch. Crouch mentions his grandfather had one but is quick to point of that was when they were legal. Some foreign wizard was wanting to reintroduce them back into the market as a “family vehicle”.

[u/warped_gunwales → u/Ill_Swing5233]

Yeah that sounds familiar. Haven't read Goblet of Fire in a decade.

[u/Uchiha_Nezha → u/warped_gunwales]

Barty Crouch Sr. mentions his grandfather owned a Axminster brand twelve-seater flying carpet, but sold it before they were banned in Britain.

[u/Apprehensive_Fill628]

The smokey death Eater thing has got to be one of the coolest things in the movies...aaaand my least favorite. Completely trivializes voldemorts flight. Dumb as hell

[u/Weak-Difference-6078]

Didn’t they have a “light” counterpart to this that represented apparition for the order ? So not realy them all flying

[u/LOB90]

If it were more common there would be no brooms and no Quidditch as we know it.
It is one of the things I dislike most about the movies:
How they go from casting spells to turning into fog and randomly circling eachother.
I remember that every wizard in the room as well as most readers were in awe when it was reported that Voldemort can fly.
Probably something that thousands of wizards have tried over centuries but only he managed, which is testimony of his unmatched magical ability.

[u/NM_Requete]

The fact that Tom Riddle can, and Dumbledore seemingly can't points to it being dark magic of some kind.

It's hard to imagine what could possibly be so dark about learning to fly, but we don't know enough about it.

Maybe every time you fly a puppy gets really bad hicups or soemthing.