What are your favorite fan theories (possible spoilers)?

[Batman]

They have a lot more in the way of cures that muggles at the time did though

[Elheru Aran]

They have a lot more in the way of cures that muggles at the time did though

The question then becomes, I suppose, had they actually encountered smallpox and such? Because if the Native American magical population actually hadn't had a whole lot of contact with the European and Asian populations, it would make sense that they might not have treatments already for Muggle diseases they had never been exposed to. And by the time they're exposed to it, it rips through their population far too fast for any shamans and such to cook up an useful cure, while avoiding dying themselves.

[The Romulan Republic]

Possibly, but we do see some evidence that wizards are less susceptible to certain things than Muggles such as greater durability to physical injuries, and Dumbledore and Harry discuss how Tom Riddle's mother Merope should have been able to save herself with magic.

This one really could go either way, barring a canon statement being made on the subject.

I think that even without disease, the Native wizards would probably still have ended up outnumbered and dominated by the Europeans, though, at least if we assume that a roughly equal percentage of the population is magical world wide, and that Muggleborns are integrated into the population of Wizarding America. Because Europe had higher population density than the Americans at the time, and Native Americans are a relatively tiny percentage of the Muggle population now. So they'd still have ended up the minority without the plagues, even if it might have taken longer than in the Muggle world.

[Elheru Aran]

One way to look at that, then, I suppose, is to play up the cheesy old trope about how Native Americans are more 'spiritual' or connected to the natural world or whatever bollocks, and say that the majority of surviving Native Americans -were- the magical population... who were then largely eradicated by the Muggles in the course of American expansion. Intermarriage between Wizards and Muggle Natives in the reservations then diluted the wizarding population further, but there could potentially still be a higher percentage of Native wizards vs. muggles in the Native population.

[The Romulan Republic]

Falls into racial clichés quite easily, as you noted, and I don't think it fits. If most Natives were wizards, I don't think they'd have been conquered.

[Elheru Aran]

*scratches head* I'm not quite sure I'm expressing myself well. I was thinking more along the lines of the plagues eradicate a large proportion of the Native muggles, and the surviving Natives are less well equipped to deal with the westward expansion because... I dunno, maybe they're fundamentally lacking an understanding of the emerging industrial world (which could reflect how the Natives never really developed any industry of their own, only trading for factory-made items like cloth, guns and metal), and are vulnerable to the classic 'cold iron'? Religious movements like the Ghost Dance, duly suppressed by the US military, might have been attempts to retaliate magically.

*shrugs* I'm sure that in due course there'll be a relevant Pottermore article for us to pick apart.

One thing that does come to mind is that given how little we know about non-English/European wizarding tradition... it's quite possible that Native magic was focused in a different direction. They might not have had combat magic in the same way they do in the HP books-- not having shield charms would explain being easily massacred by Muggles with guns, for example.

[The Romulan Republic]

Eh, Potter-verse magic in general is far more geared towards infiltration/insurgency/subversion than direct combat, anyway. I think people focus way too much on "guns vs. wands" and less on the effects of properly applied concealment spells, invisibility cloaks, apparition, portkeys, mind-wipes, and mind-control. One competent Potterverse wizard with limited morals and enough imagination could put every major government on the planet under his personal control in a week, while remaining virtually untraceable even to other wizards. That is some terrifying shit.

If you are fighting as armies in the open field, as a Potterverse wizard, you've screwed up.

[Zaune]

The Hiigarans did not completely obliterate the entire Khadeshi people and culture. (Come on, it's a massive sensor-blinding nebula, and why wouldn't they have built a few space habitats or colonised a planet or two in the last four thousand years?)

[The Romulan Republic]

Not sure where this idea came from, but...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Amy murdered Tara.

In season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tara was fatally shot by a stray bullet when Warren shot Buffy. It was a very random death, and I even read an argument (I think on TV Tropes) that the bullet could not have hit Tara given the angle Warren fired at. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it does lead to an interesting possibility:

-We know Amy has a fixation on Willow, and (from season seven) on the events surrounding the death of Tara and subsequently Warren- or at least she uses that trauma as part of a spell to get revenge on Willow.

-Its likely that Amy is jealous of Tara's relationship with Willow, and resents Willow's walking away from magic (and her) in part because of Tara.

-We know Amy was watching those events, IIRC (in the Buffy comics, she resurrected/saved Warren at the moment of his death).

So... who's to say that Amy didn't... give the bullet a little nudge?

The only thing that would potentially contradict that would be the fact that Willow could not resurrect Tara because she died a natural rather than a magical death. But I honestly don't know if a bullet aimed by magic would count as a magical or a natural death.

[Batman]

There's nothing natural about being hit by a bullet but I guess it qualifies as 'not caused by magic'

[Solauren]

There's nothing natural about being hit by a bullet but I guess it qualifies as 'not caused by magic'

To magical beings, anything done by the hands of a human, and not using magic, is probably 'natural'.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yup. The general rule in the Buffy-verse (though it isn't very consistent) is that you can't bring someone back from the dead with magic (really bring them back, soul and all, as opposed to just raising a zombie or something) unless its a magical death.

[Batman]

Pretty sure they DID bring back Buffy after she was shot and she had a lot less issues than she did after her s5 finale death which WAS magical and of her own volition to boot

[The Romulan Republic]

Pretty sure they DID bring back Buffy after she was shot and she had a lot less issues than she did after her s5 finale death which WAS magical and of her own volition to boot

I haven't read all the comics, but I don't recall anything about Buffy being fatally shot. She had two canonical "deaths" in the show- once briefly by drowning in season one, where she was revived by CPR, and once by magic in season five, where she was brought back through necromancy by Willow.

She was shot by Warren in season six, but did not die IIRC, though Willow did pull some dark magic to heal her in the hospital. Is that what you were referring to?

[Batman]

Pretty sure, yes. She might not have 'nominally' died but Willow had to pull a LOT of strings, and was what one might call seriously not happy when the same didn't work for Tara

[Elheru Aran]

One can probably safely assume though that the normal rules probably don't entirely apply to Buffy...

[The Romulan Republic]

Star Wars: Mara Jade was one of the students at Luke's Jedi Temple, and was killed by Ben/Solo Kylo Ren when he fell. Because Mara should be canon, there's no way she would have joined that dip shit, Kylo is basically the new canon's version of Jacen Solo, and it gives a stronger reason for Luke's being tempted to lash out at Ben, and for how utterly Ben's subsequent fall broke him, if one of his Jedi apprentices was also his lover, and if she was one of the ones who died as a result of his mistake.

[Elheru Aran]

Star Wars: Mara Jade was one of the students at Luke's Jedi Temple, and was killed by Ben/Solo Kylo Ren when he fell. Because Mara should be canon, there's no way she would have joined that dip shit, Kylo is basically the new canon's version of Jacen Solo, and it gives a stronger reason for Luke's being tempted to lash out at Ben, and for how utterly Ben's subsequent fall broke him, if one of his Jedi apprentices was also his lover, and if she was one of the ones who died as a result of his mistake.

That is actually pretty okay. But it's kinda pointless, I think. Because while it would explain a lot about Luke's reaction which led up to the situation he was in by TLJ... it would mean there was a massive missing chunk plot-wise from TLJ, and as such, it's kind of just an attempt to fill in a hole that maybe didn't really need filling. Nobody at LFL other than the guys who did Solo seems to care enough about the old canon to incorporate it to any major degree outside of a few nods.

[The Romulan Republic]

Star Wars: Mara Jade was one of the students at Luke's Jedi Temple, and was killed by Ben/Solo Kylo Ren when he fell. Because Mara should be canon, there's no way she would have joined that dip shit, Kylo is basically the new canon's version of Jacen Solo, and it gives a stronger reason for Luke's being tempted to lash out at Ben, and for how utterly Ben's subsequent fall broke him, if one of his Jedi apprentices was also his lover, and if she was one of the ones who died as a result of his mistake.

That is actually pretty okay. But it's kinda pointless, I think. Because while it would explain a lot about Luke's reaction which led up to the situation he was in by TLJ... it would mean there was a massive missing chunk plot-wise from TLJ, and as such, it's kind of just an attempt to fill in a hole that maybe didn't really need filling. Nobody at LFL other than the guys who did Solo seems to care enough about the old canon to incorporate it to any major degree outside of a few nods.

Well, actually, Rebels brought Thrawn back, and made at least a passing nod to Pellaeon. Pretty sure Revan has been referenced in the animated shows as well.

But yeah, while it fits, it's the sort of thing that should have been shown on-screen. But then, probably my biggest gripe with how Luke was portrayed is that we didn't get another couple of flashbacks. Both to a) provide more context for how he went from idealistic hero in RotJ to a bitter, frightened old man who contemplated murdering his nephew in his sleep, and b) because then we could finally have got a Han/Luke/Leia reunion on-screen, repairing one of the major failures of TFA.

[Elheru Aran]

I suppose I should have been more clear, by 'nobody at LFL' I was mostly referring to those running (almost typed 'ruining', how's that for a Freudian slip) the show on the sequel trilogy. That's been pretty light on call-backs to the old expanded universe. Solo, it feels like, was something of a reaction to that.

To a large degree though I feel like TLJ was mostly about clearing the slate, cutting ties pretty sharply with what went before and sending the new characters upon their way. As such, ignoring Mara makes perfect sense-- if she was one of those that died at Luke's academy, it's all part of leaving the past (old canon) behind, and she's basically irrelevant either way. Even if she had been mentioned, it wouldn't make any difference to the present situation that Rey, Luke and company find themselves in.

[The Romulan Republic]

I suppose I should have been more clear, by 'nobody at LFL' I was mostly referring to those running (almost typed 'ruining', how's that for a Freudian slip) the show on the sequel trilogy. That's been pretty light on call-backs to the old expanded universe. Solo, it feels like, was something of a reaction to that.

A surprising amount has been reinstated (including some shit, like Mon Cal cruisers being converted passenger liners, that shouldn't have been). But mostly not in the films, no.

To a large degree though I feel like TLJ was mostly about clearing the slate, cutting ties pretty sharply with what went before and sending the new characters upon their way. As such, ignoring Mara makes perfect sense-- if she was one of those that died at Luke's academy, it's all part of leaving the past (old canon) behind, and she's basically irrelevant either way. Even if she had been mentioned, it wouldn't make any difference to the present situation that Rey, Luke and company find themselves in.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize it probably wouldn't have worked to include such a plot in the film. It would have had to be covered very quickly, likely just hitting the main points via flashbacks. Which means that Mara would basically just exist to provide an incentive for Luke and Kylo's fall, which pushes it into classic fridge-stuffing territory.

If you were going to include Mara in the current canon, it should be done in a situation that would allow Mara's character to be developed in a way that would do justice to her. So a book or a TV series.

[The Romulan Republic]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One I read elsewhere, can't remember where (might have been TV Tropes)- The reason why Warren can build all those gadgets and robots is that he went as a mad scientist in that Halloween episode where everyone got turned into their costume, and like Xander, he retained the knowledge.

I always liked that one. It explains so much.

[FaxModem1]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One I read elsewhere, can't remember where (might have been TV Tropes)- The reason why Warren can build all those gadgets and robots is that he went as a mad scientist in that Halloween episode where everyone got turned into their costume, and like Xander, he retained the knowledge.

I always liked that one. It explains so much.

You know, that would explain how he was able to make the girlfriend robot. But at the same time, there was a robot demon made in season 1 by a minor company in under a week.

[The Romulan Republic]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One I read elsewhere, can't remember where (might have been TV Tropes)- The reason why Warren can build all those gadgets and robots is that he went as a mad scientist in that Halloween episode where everyone got turned into their costume, and like Xander, he retained the knowledge.

I always liked that one. It explains so much.

You know, that would explain how he was able to make the girlfriend robot. But at the same time, there was a robot demon made in season 1 by a minor company in under a week.

Hard to say how much of that robot was operated by magic, as it was a body for a demon.

[Solauren]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One I read elsewhere, can't remember where (might have been TV Tropes)- The reason why Warren can build all those gadgets and robots is that he went as a mad scientist in that Halloween episode where everyone got turned into their costume, and like Xander, he retained the knowledge.

I always liked that one. It explains so much.

You know, that would explain how he was able to make the girlfriend robot. But at the same time, there was a robot demon made in season 1 by a minor company in under a week.

Hard to say how much of that robot was operated by magic, as it was a body for a demon.

There is also the question of how much knowledge the Demon gave the builders of said body while he was still just on the internet, and how much the demon in question, designed himself. IIRC, he was a knowledge demon as much as a corruptor.