Episodes

  • The One Who Got Away: The Search for Nymphadora Tonks

    The One Who Got Away: The Search for Nymphadora Tonks
    Feb 18 2026
    Nymphadora Tonks is one of the most beloved characters in the Harry Potter series — and one of the most underserved. In this episode, we dig into 303 listener responses about the only woman Auror we meaningfully encounter in the wizarding world. The data is striking: 93% of listeners say she's a good person, 80% call her a hero, but when it comes to whether she was a good mother, the majority said they simply don't know.

    We break down every survey question, pull unabridged listener quotes, and sit with the moment that never gets enough attention — Tonks finding Harry on the Hogwarts Express through pure deductive reasoning, in a scene the films handed to someone else.

    So much of what listeners felt about Tonks wasn't about who she is. It was about who she was going to be. We talk about what it means that she enters this series without a gendered anchor — and why the series seems deeply uncomfortable leaving her that way.

    This one is for everyone who saw her. And was paying attention.
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Prof Responds: Fleur Delacour & the Patriarchy’s Sleight of Hand

    Prof Responds: Fleur Delacour & the Patriarchy’s Sleight of Hand
    Feb 11 2026
    In this Prof Responds episode, Professor Julian Wamble revisits Fleur Delacour and the surprising truth many listeners shared: we didn’t like her when we were younger, and we weren’t always sure why.

    Drawing on the post-episode chat, this reflection explores how internalized misogyny, pretty privilege, and patriarchal expectations shape how we judge female characters in Harry Potter. The episode examines the rivalry between women, the real social weight of beauty, and why Fleur’s loyalty and bravery were always there, even when the story and the fandom overlooked them. By the end, the question isn’t whether Fleur is a hero, but why we needed her to prove it in the first place.
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    52 mins
  • Fleur Delacour & The Price of Pretty Privilege

    Fleur Delacour & The Price of Pretty Privilege
    Feb 4 2026
    Fleur Delacour is one of the most misunderstood women in the Harry Potter series. She's often blamed for her beauty, scrutinized for her confidence, and held responsible for the reactions of everyone around her. In this episode, we examine how Fleur becomes a lightning rod for gendered blame, punished not for what she does, but for what others assume about her beauty, her Veela ancestry, and her femininity.

    Drawing on listener survey data, we unpack why Fleur’s competence as a Triwizard Champion is questioned, why her confidence is read as arrogance, and why both men and women are so quick to fault her for male desire. We also return to our earlier conversation about Lavender Brown to explore how readers inherit Hermione Granger’s gendered lens, and how that lens teaches us which women are worthy of empathy and which are not.
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    1 hr and 20 mins
  • Prof Responds: Hogwarts & the Pedagogy of Wartime Education

    Prof Responds: Hogwarts & the Pedagogy of Wartime Education
    Jan 28 2026
    In this Prof Responds episode, Professor Wamble reflects on listener responses to the “Best & Worst Teachers at Hogwarts” discussion and steps back to ask a larger question: What does it mean to teach in the shadow of war?

    Drawing on Hogwarts faculty, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Dumbledore’s leadership, this episode explores how education changes under sustained threat, how silence functions as pedagogy, and why students, especially marginalized ones, so often bear the cost of adult indecision. The conversation connects the magical world to the present political moment, examining the dangers of ignoring reality, the limits of preparing students without transparency, and the ethical responsibility educators carry when the world outside the classroom is already on fire.

    This episode is invites us to reckon with power, authority, and the consequences of what schools choose to teach and what they refuse to name.
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Two Years of Critical Magic: Best & Worst Teachers at Hogwarts

    Two Years of Critical Magic: Best & Worst Teachers at Hogwarts
    Jan 21 2026
    In this two-year anniversary episode of Critical Magic Theory, Prof. takes a step back from individual character deep dives to ask a bigger question about pedagogy, power, and responsibility in the wizarding world—and beyond.

    Drawing on listener survey data, this episode explores why some teachers are remembered as effective despite being deeply troubling, while others are overwhelmingly rejected. The conversation then shifts away from the most dramatic figures to examine the quieter labor that keeps Hogwarts running: teachers like Flitwick, Sprout, Binns, Charity Burbage, Madam Hooch, and especially Madam Pomfrey. Through them, we see what Hogwarts values, what it neglects, and how unresolved trauma and institutional ambiguity shape classrooms in harmful ways.

    As the show enters its third year, this episode invites listeners to reflect not just on Hogwarts, but on their own role in shaping how knowledge, care, and critical thinking are passed on.
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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Prof Responds: Secrecy, Sacrifice, and the Dumbledores We Never Questioned

    Prof Responds: Secrecy, Sacrifice, and the Dumbledores We Never Questioned
    Jan 14 2026
    In this Prof Responds episode of Critical Magic Theory, Professor Julian Wamble revisits the Dumbledore family to examine how secrecy, sacrifice, and institutional failure shape Ariana Dumbledore’s life, and the lives of those around her.Drawing on listener reflections, the episode explores how the Wizarding World’s commitment to secrecy creates harm rather than protection, forcing families to absorb the cost of systemic failure.

    From Kendra Dumbledore’s quiet labor and Percival Dumbledore’s punishment to the rumors surrounding Ariana’s absence from Hogwarts, this reflection asks how trauma is misread, victims are silenced, and care becomes indistinguishable from containment.

    Ultimately, this episode challenges us to rethink what protection actually looks like—both in the Wizarding World and in our own, and why societies so often ask victims to pay the price for keeping systems intact.
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    1 hr
  • Ariana & Aberforth Dumbledore & the Price of Secrecy

    Ariana & Aberforth Dumbledore & the Price of Secrecy
    Jan 7 2026
    In the first episode of Critical Magic Theory in 2026, Professor Julian Wamble steps away from the six-part Albus Dumbledore arc for a rant/rave on Ariana and Aberforth Dumbledore—two characters whose stories expose the wizarding world’s obsession with secrecy. Prof revisits Ariana’s childhood attack by Muggle boys and argues it reveals how ignorance fuels entitlement and violence, while the Ministry of Magic prioritizes concealment over care, pushing families toward isolation instead of healing.

    The episode then turns to Aberforth: the sibling who stayed, the caretaker who absorbed the fallout, and a cautionary tale of what happens when grief and resentment fester in silence—yet who still chooses to protect Harry and resist Voldemort’s world. Finally, the episode complicates what it means to be a “good” half-blood, showing how the Dumbledores don’t fit neat categories of supremacy or bridge-building when their relationship to Muggles is shaped by trauma, passing, and retreat.
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • IT IS CHRISTMAS... AT HOGWARTS

    IT IS CHRISTMAS... AT HOGWARTS
    Dec 25 2025
    MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL (WHO CELEBRATE)!! AND TO ALL.... AN INVISIBILITY CLOAK!!

    USE IT WELL!

    In this episode of Critical Magic Theory, Prof. looks at the various Christmas moments throughout the series and analyzes them.
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    50 mins