Why are the Elves treated so bad?

[Jivebot]

I never read the books and have only a passing familiarity with the movies. So i legit do not understand the Elf situation.

I'm not even talking from a moral standpoint. The sun is hot. Water is wet. Slavery is naughty. Insert more obvious statements here.

Slavery has existed in every culture at every time in human history until relatively recently. I get the concept of slavery. But it always existed in places that served a purpose as practical as it was evil.

There is no practical reason to treat the Elves this way. All they're tasked to do is menial labor that Wizards can casually wave a hand to do. Or imbue inanimate objects with the ability to carry out their assigned purpose. We see it all over hogwarts. Brooms that sweep on their own. Books that shelve and organize themselves.

It's like the only reason the Elves exist is to prove all Wizards suck. lol.

Is this explained in any logical way in the books? Or was it just exaggerated for this game?

[PocketYoda]

Because they like it like that. They go into depression and alcoholism if they are freed..

[Jivebot]

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

Because they like it like that. They go into depression and alcoholism if they are freed..

I... Are you serious or are you trolling? lol

They're basically an entire species of submissive masochists?

[Harris]

Gamp's law says you can't conjure food. So house elves are needed to cook, at the very least.

House elves represent the idea that someone's been enslaved for so long that they can no longer imagine their existence without it.

[TotemMX]

If you ask Goblins they will say they same: some wizards are bad, while Hogwarts have some of the nicest wizards around.

It's not about slavery or race. It's about there is bad people and good people in the world. It sounds familiar to you?

[fearfuless]

Bad people will of course take advantage of house-elves' subservient nature. In the books, elves are even more subservient than here (except for Dobby's arc). But Dobby still liked to help and work even after he got freed.
Ultimately it's just fiction and plays on old fairytales and mythical creatures. Maybe Rowling when creating Goblins had jewish caricatures in mind, but ultimately it's just fiction, and no person's behavior is changed in real world because of that.

When Dumbledore talks about elves' wages, he says that elves haven't asked to get paid (Dobby was the one asking getting paid), implying that if they did he would pay them. But sure, I guess you could say Dumbledore is pretty passive on this issue (but as you will learn more, he's passive on much more serious issues too).

[Darth Zed]

Originally posted by Jivebot:

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

Because they like it like that. They go into depression and alcoholism if they are freed..

I... Are you serious or are you trolling? lol

They're basically an entire species of submissive masochists?

pretty much yeah.

either by some historical conditioning, or some natural drive, or both, the modern house elf as a species needs to be subservient.

as a result, evil people take advantage and abuse them as slaves, and good people befriend them as a willing and well treated servant.

either way, house elves will serve, for free, and they will prefer it by far to freedom. but you can at least be nice and make it a happy servitude.

[Time Traveler]

Originally posted by Jivebot:

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

Because they like it like that. They go into depression and alcoholism if they are freed..

I... Are you serious or are you trolling? lol

They're basically an entire species of submissive masochists?

Pretty much. They're like an entire race of Samwise Gamgees from LOTR--they can be goofy and annoying at times, but few are as loyal as a house elf. Bad people exploit that inner drive to please and support while good people see it as a chance to make a loyal servant and friend.

[Nepnep]

Originally posted by Jivebot:

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

Because they like it like that. They go into depression and alcoholism if they are freed..

I... Are you serious or are you trolling? lol

They're basically an entire species of submissive masochists?

Weird but true. These guys like their slave/maid/butler/servant work. Of course they'd prefer masters that don't whip them for the dumbest reasons ever but thats pretty much it.

[Cyrus]

Lore in book implies selective breeding and magic unbreakable vow that applied to the entire race of elves had made a agreement with witches / wizards but got tricked somewhere in paperwork. The result was a race that is magically enslaved on birth to obey any house that owns them.

Not from harry potter, but from Celtic lore, elves and imps are related. Imps are evil and served demonic casters, magic users in current age are descendants of white witches AKA good ones. Would make sense that elves are good version of imps. However they ar3 still enslaved by magic nature

[annedoe]

They're attached to the house or castle not the people who live in in it. (That miight cause a problem otherwise if group B like the Normans overthrow Group A, like the Anglo-Saxons). Sure the people in it or inheirted it are their Masters so they have to do what the Master says including punishing themselves.

But the house-eleves are based on the British and Scotland faries called Brownies. in some stories suppoedly Brownies aren't allowed to get paid anything (clothing, etc) for doing help around the house. So they might be insulted if one leaves clothes and are never seen again.

[Jynn]

Their culture revolves around serving wizards. They take pride in it, and are horrified if you suggest they be free and take pay

As annedoe said, they're based on mythical creatures who were known to do help around the house and leave if insulted

in the books there was a character who wanted them to be free and work for wages, though she went about it the wrong way entirely

[PocketYoda]

Originally posted by Jivebot:

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

Because they like it like that. They go into depression and alcoholism if they are freed..

I... Are you serious or are you trolling? lol

They're basically an entire species of submissive masochists?

I'm dead serious, did you not read the books.

Dobby was an outlier, he was abused badly. House elves in general are like one of the family, they feel like they are a family member, you free them and they are considered unloved and unwanted, also other house elves shun them because they are then considered an outcast.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2933621788
As you can see they love their work

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2933621811
And this is their community housing in Hogwarts. (They chose to live in those barrels). Bare in mind house elves are magic so who knows how big those barrels are inside. Think the Tardis from Dr Who imo..

[Shahadem]

Originally posted by Harris:

Gamp's law says you can't conjure food. So house elves are needed to cook, at the very least.

House elves represent the idea that someone's been enslaved for so long that they can no longer imagine their existence without it.

Umm how does that follow?

Just because you can't conjure food doesn't mean you need elves to cook. Conjuring food and cooking food are two totally different processes. I think you need to compare conjuring food with GROWING food. Which house elves do not do.

Nah, the house elves are used the same way domestic slaves were used, to do household chores. Even with magic there are still chores that have to be done.

[Jivebot]

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

I'm dead serious, did you not read the books.

That was the very first thing I said in the OP :)

Still, now that I have a bit more context it all makes a bit more sense.

Somebody else in the thread said that Wizards tricked Elves into some sort of magical vow. Is that confirmed or just a rumor? Either way I suppose, it would explain why Goblins are so distrustful of Wizards.

[Knightmage Bael]

I think the idea is social culture that goes unquestioned.

Hermione starts an organization dedicated to equal rights for house elves, and she basically gets bullied for it. Wizard kind is not nice to other magical creatures of "near-human intellect".

Goblins, Centaurs, House Elves, Giants, even Mer People are treated poorly. This is why Voldemort had such an easy time recruiting them. He was able to use their oppressed situation and weaponize it against the Ministry.

The centaurs don't care about wizard matters, however, they don't take sides, they only attack if provoked. Mer people are just left alone (except that nice girl who gives you the quest to help her improve relations with mermaids)

Unfortunately the Wizarding World is plagued by deeply rooted long time traditions of prejudism. People like Harry Potter who grew up outside the Wizarding world can see with an outside perspective and know that it is wrong, and Dumbledore knows this.

I suspect that is one reason why he wanted Harry to grow up outside the "realm", and why people prefer to accept muggle-borns as well. Many people know there are issues, but are unable to change it, and there isn't enough support to change things. The Ministry is very much a "tradition for the sake of tradition" type of culture.

Places like Hogwarts, despite still engaging in Elf slavery, DO treat them a lot better. Families obsessed with "blood purity" (like the Malfoys) are more likely to treat them poorly, like Dobby.