The Reputation of Durmstrang

Happy weekend, HPA 🤗

Like I’m sure is the case for many of you,

there are a few topics within the Harry Potter

world that I am especially fond of talking

about. One of them is Durmstrang Institute.

Why? The interest initially came from the

fact that, because I'm not from the UK, I

wouldn’t have been itted to Hogwarts.

I'm from Northern Europe, so of the wizarding

schools we currently know about I would

likely have been sent off to Durmstrang for

my magical education. And upon realising

this, I also realised I didn’t actually know very

much about it.

So about three years ago, I wrote a set of

blogs about Durmstrang where I took a

look at two topics in particular: the school’s

location and its dark reputation.

For this blog, I’d like to bring the topic back

to Durmstrang and its reputation. Let's see

what's going on there.

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  Curriculum

One of the first things we learn about

Durmstrang is that it has a heavy focus

on the study of the Dark Arts. What this

means, though, I’m not sure. We're not

provided with more detail. My guess is

that the philosophy is along the lines of

"know your enemy".

At Hogwarts, the subjects vary from History

to Transfiguration to Potions to Defence and

everything in between. I assume that when it

is said that Durmstrang emphasises the Dark

Arts they also have all these subjects, but the

focus within them will be on the dark magic,

dark tools, and/or dark nature that they hold.

I don't know whether I necessarily consider

it a bad thing, especially when we consider

my next point. It's a bit of a pessimistic

approach maybe, and I don't know whether

it's more useful in a witch or wizard's every

day life once they graduate, but I also don't

see it as awful. However, I do understand

why it can be seen as suspicious, especially

when we don't know more than "the curriculum

has an emphasis on the Dark Arts".

  Students and Staff

One of the only people associated with

Durmstrang that we meet is Victor Krum,

who was a student as well as a world class

Quidditch seeker during the fourth book/

movie. Another is Igor Karkaroff, the Death

Eater who was employed as heaster of

Durmstrang in the same instalment.

The intimidating aura of Durmstrang's

entrance both to Hogwarts and to us, the

fact a Death Eater is head of the school,

the fact that their champion acts under a

dark spell during the third task of the Tri-

wizard Tournament... I think this is where

most of our impressions of the school

originate from. There aren’t all that many

things that speak for the goodness of the

school when we look at it this way.

However, if we look a little further we can

see there’s more to it than just the above.

Victor Krum had a crush on Muggleborn

Hermione Granger, going to show there isn't

necessarily any more inherent prejudice at

Durmstrang than anywhere else. And in the

Tournament he wasn't voluntarily bewitched.

Igor Karkaroff was apparently one of two

heasters that led the school into a

particularly dark time. Karkaroff, quite

unsurprisingly, employed fear as a tool

in his running of Durmstrang, which in

fact led many parents to taking their

children out of the school. He was an

unpopular heaster amongst the

students and their parents, something

that I think is worth noting.

  Gellert Grindelwald

I can't neglect to mention that this is also

the school that was home to Gellert Grindelwald

for a time.

I assume most of you knew that Grindelwald

had attended Durmstrang when he was a

child. It seems to make perfect sense, too;

a school focusing heavily on the Dark Arts

and a wizard who was notorious for his dark

views and actions.

But I want to point out that Gellert Grindelwald

didn’t finish his magical education. He only

attended Durmstrang until he was expelled

for dangerous ‘experiments’ that led to harm

to other students. In other words, the school

with a heavy focus on the Dark Arts found that

Grindelwald was going too far and set down

consequences for his actions.

I also want to mention his obsession with

the Deathly Hallows.

Before Grindelwald left the school he

engraved the Deathly Hallows symbol

into a wall with magic so strong it can't

be removed. Even now, a century after

his departure, it is still there.

Once Grindelwald rose to power, many

people suffered at his and his followers’

hands, perhaps especially in the countries

that typically send their children to Durmstrang.

As a result, the symbol became a horrible

reminder for many students that attended

the school during and after Grindelwald’s

time in power of what they had lost and

suffered because of him.

Do you Victor Krum’s reaction

when he saw Lovegood’s necklace of that

very symbol at Bill and Fleur’s wedding? He

was incredibly angry and upset, because

while the necklace might have meant little

more to Lovegood aside from its connection

to the tale of the three brothers, to Krum the

symbol represented Grindelwald, all the evil

that he had done, and any loss or suffering

Krum's family had gone through during the

time of Grindelwald.

I mention this to illustrate how students of

the school view Grindelwald themselves.

Many have suffered personal loss associated

with him, and consequently have little to no

tolerance of anyone who sympathises with

him.

  My Thoughts

Personally, I think the dark reputation of the

school in unfair.

Although it has an interesting priority in its

educational system, what with the focus on

the Dark Arts, I don’t think that has to mean

that the people in the school itself are pushed

to pursue evil paths. I just think it prepares

students into meeting the world and people

and situations they’ll face in life with a

mindset more prepared for potential danger.

There was Grindelwald, yes, but he was

no worse than Tom Riddle was, and while

Grindelwald was expelled for his dark attitude,

Riddle graduated from Hogwarts. And aside

from Grindelwald, there aren’t any notable evil

alumni from Durmstrang that I can think of.

There were surely some who followed

Grindelwald once he rose to power, and we

know some became Death Eaters, but that

was hardly due to the school itself when we

can say the same thing about Hogwarts

alumni and otherwise ordinary people, both

in relation to Grindelwald and Voldemort.

So while there has been at least one head-

master and one particularly notorious alumni

that have without doubt been evil, that's truly

all I can see that relates actual 'evil' to the

school.

There is surely more that could be said in

this discussion, and I encourage you to look

it up and decide for yourselves whether you

think Durmstrang deserves its dark reputation.

In my opinion though, it is greatly exaggerated.

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Sources

Durmstrang Institute (HP Wiki)

Gellert Grindelwald (HP Wiki)

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