House Elves

House Elves are one of the more disturbing elements of the series. As others have noted before me¹, these beings are magically enslaved. To her credit, Mrs. Rowling shows us exactly how evil the institution of slavery can be in the relationship that the Malfoys and Crouches have with their respective elves.

On the other hand, the relationship that Harry eventually forms with Kreacher shows a very different view of the situation. While it is easy to, as Hermione does, dismiss the Hogwarts elves as brainwashed victims who know no better, we come to know Kreacher more deaply. He could still be a victim of his own upbringing, of the many centuries he has lived as a slave, but his love for Regulas, and the concern he comes to feel for Harry is certainly genuine.

We know next to nothing about their magic, the how of their enslavement, or their physical lifecycle. In typical Rowling fashion, what little we do know is somewhat contradictory.²

I personally think that it is necessary to explain why elves so rarely rebel against this enslavement. It seems to me there are three reasonable explanations.

One is that they are decendants of wild Brownies who are routinely tricked into magical contracts because wizarding law sees them as 1) wild manifestations of magic and not beings at all and 2) intruders into a wizard's home, and thus the contract a form of self defense.³

A second is that the elves get something from the magic that enslaves them.⁴ Perhaps it is nurishment, perhaps it is lifespan, perhaps it is a source of power. This does not justify slavery. The relationship need not be one of master slave just because it is one of master servant. One can recognize that the elf's payment is non-monetary but that the elf is still a person.

The third is that the magic is in fact evil but that it is not trivially undone. That we can mitigate the effects by treating the elves well, but that, due to the enchantment they are under, we cannot make the majority of them desire anything other than slavery. They will seek slavery out not because they are brainwashed (that could be cured), but because they are magically compelled to do so. Just as the ability to inately throw off an Imperius curse is rare, so to is the ability for an elf to resist this compulsion. Here the solution to the situation is not societal, but magical, a counter-curse must be researched, developed, tested, and used. This is made harder because the curse in question is lost and unrecorded by history.⁵