https://screenrant.com/harry-potter-house-elves-slaves-wizards-reason-why/

 

 

Harry Potter: Why The Elves Were EnslavedBy Wizards

哈利波特：为什么家养小精灵会被巫师奴役？

翻译者：鸭鸭

 

Elves were bound to serve wizard familiesin the Harry Potter universe, but why couldn't they all be free? And how longhad they been servants?

在哈利•波特的世界里，小精灵注定要为巫师家庭服务，但为什么他们全都不能自由呢?并且他们做仆人有多久了?

 

The Harry Potter universe is not safe fromdarkness and cruelty, and one of the elements found in the Wizarding World thathas raised many questions is elves working as servants for most wizardfamilies. In 1997, readers all over the world were introduced to the story ofthe boy who lived in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first entryin a series of seven novels chronicling Harry’s journey in the Wizarding Worldand his battle against the darkest wizard of all, Lord Voldemort.

在哈利波特的世界里，黑暗和残酷并不是安全的。在魔法世界里发现的一个让人产生很多疑问的因素就是小精灵在大多数巫师家庭中当仆人。1997年,世界各地的读者被介绍了故事的男孩住在《哈利波特与魔法石》中,第一项在一系列的七部小说记载哈利在魔法世界的旅程和他对抗黑巫师,伏地魔。

 

The Harry Potter novels made the jump tothe big screen between 2001 and 2011, with the final book, Harry Potter and theDeathly Hallows, being split into two films. The Harry Potter saga expanded thefanbase, but as it happens with all adaptations, many details were left behind,leaving a lot of questions about many topics. Among those is why elves aren’tfree creatures and instead serve as servants, which is explained in the booksto an extent.

《哈利•波特》系列小说于2001年至2011年期间被搬上大银幕，最后一本书《哈利•波特与死亡圣器》被拍成了两部电影。《哈利•波特》系列扩大了粉丝基础，但正如所有改编作品一样，很多细节都被抛下了，许多话题都留下了很多疑问。其中一个原因是为什么精灵不是自由的生物，而是作为仆人，这在书中有一定程度的解释。

 

Throughout the Harry Potter series, readers learned that almostevery wizard family had a house-elf, and even Hogwarts had many working at thecastle. In the movies, the audience’s first approach to an elf from theWizarding World happened in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with theintroduction of Dobby, the Malfoy’s house-elf who was freed at the end of themovie. In the books, however, there were more house-elves mentioned throughoutthe novels, and the terrible conditions in which elves worked prompted Hermioneto found S.P.E.W (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) in Harry Potterand the Goblet of Fire, after witnessing the unjust treatment of elves at the1994 Quidditch World Cup. During this storyline, it’s mentioned that elves hadbeen serving wizards for a long, long time, to the point where it wasn’t seenas “slavery” nor anything like that, instead being a common practice that mostelves enjoyed.

在整个哈利波特系列中，读者们从中读到了基本上每个巫师的家庭都有精灵，甚至在霍格沃茨也有许多精灵在城堡中工作。在电影中，观众们第一次接触到来自魔法世界的小精灵发生在哈利波特与密室中的的多比——最后被释放的马尔福家中的精灵。然而在书中，有更多的小精灵在整个小说中被提及。下精灵工作的恶劣环境促使赫敏在哈利身上创建了小精灵福利会。

 

It’s unknown how and why elves startedserving wizard families, but J.K. Rowling did give a bit of backstory to theelves’ arrival at Hogwarts. Rowling revealed that elves were brought toHogwarts by Helga Hufflepuff, in hopes to give them good work conditions –meaning getting paid and not being abused, which is what happened in mostfamilies. Sadly, not all elves got accustomed to being free or getting paid dueto their kind having served families for centuries. A good example of this canbe found in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Hermione knitted clothesto give to Hogwarts’ elves and thus free them, but the elves were so accustomedto their work and actually enjoyed it that they saw Hermione’s actions asinsulting, and refused to clean the Gryffindor room.

目前还不知道精灵是如何以及为什么开始为巫师家庭服务的，但是J.K.罗琳确实讲述了一些精灵们来到霍格沃茨的背景故事。罗琳透露，小精灵被赫尔加•赫奇帕奇带到了霍格沃茨，希望给他们提供良好的工作条件，也就是得到报酬而不受虐待，而大多数家庭都是这样的。可悲的是，并不是所有的精灵都习惯了自由或得到报酬，因为他们的精灵已经为家庭服务了几个世纪。在《哈利波特与火焰杯》中可以找到一个很好的例子，当时赫敏编织衣服送给霍格沃茨的精灵，但是他们习惯了他们的工作，而且很享受，他们认为赫敏对他们是一种侮辱，并且拒绝了打扫格兰芬多的公共休息室。

 

 

Although J.K. Rowling has expanded on manyelements from the Harry Potter universe for years, to the point where she hassometimes changed canon, she hasn’t spoken much about elves and their historyin the Wizarding World, specifically why they have served wizard families forso long. It’s important to note that Hermione’s efforts weren’t in vain, ashouse-elves participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, which changed some people’sviews on them, and she went on to work for the Department for the Regulationand Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic, so it’s possiblethat elves are no longer bound to serve families – or, at least, are gettingpaid and aren’t abused anymore.

尽管J.K.罗琳多年来一直在扩展《哈利•波特》世界的许多元素，甚至有时会修改经典，但她很少谈及精灵以及它们在魔法世界的历史，特别是为什么它们为巫师家庭服务了这么久。重要的是要注意,赫敏的努力没有白费,家养小精灵参加霍格沃茨之战,这改变了一些人的意见,和她继续工作部门的监管和控制在魔法部神奇的生物,所以有可能精灵不会再被虐待了。

 

翻译者：鸭鸭