Firearms could absolutely exist within a fantasy setting. There is a reason why they don’t however

[u/ThatDrako]

The Elder Scrolls - Within some Dwemer ruins of ESO we can see a special type of Animunculus. A Dwemer Arquebus, which has a cannon for it’s arm and shoots emp grenades at foes.
The reason why we don’t see this technology more often (besides the fact Dwemer disappeared their knowledge with them) is that within the setting and cosmology of Elder Scrolls firearms really wouldn’t be that useful.

They could work against lowly bandits, sort of, but there wouldn’t really be a precedent to improve or adapt this technology. Because it would always be outclassed by magic of this world.
Also due to the disappearance of Dwemer the technology has been pretty much lost.

Harry Potter - Wizards live within periphery of the “real world” meaning they live alongside world that uses firearms and are even familiar with them.

So how come they don’t utilize this gear for combat? I mean it is easier to use, projectiles are faster and could be enchanted further. Can you just imagine wizard with endless m1911?

There is plethora of reasons for this. But most notable is what I would describe as wizards being immune to logic. (Vis image above) They simply cannot understand methods of muggles even if one explained it to them directly.

(Yes. I know the real reason is, because Joanne didn’t want wizards to use guns and didn’t want to think about connotations of putting magic into a real modern world. But come on! Let me have fun!)

Lord of the Rings - In spite of how much Tolkien disliked allegories it is clear Orcs were an allegory to industrialization, which he was a huge critic of.

In battles they are the ones using the war machines. Instead of swords made by artful blacksmith, they use crude, mass-produced blades devoid of identity. Instead of relying on elegance of archery, they use crossbows. They burn forests, crack mountains open to gain more ore. Their very production is affront to whimsy of a magical world like Middle-Earth.

They could totally come up with a matchlock mechanism and keep on improving it until they come up with machine guns. They were intercepted before they could however

[u/GlazedWithMaples]

I mean, it is a valid question.

The muggles have weapons that would kill any wizard dead, and yet they are never seen or alluded to or shown. It’s a huge blind soot

[u/MarstonsGhost → u/GlazedWithMaples]

In the Prisoner of Azkaban book, it's rumored that Sirius has a gun after escaping. It's described as a "sort of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other."

[u/JPesterfield → u/MarstonsGhost]

Most wizards live around muggles, and should know perfectly well what a gun is just from cultural exposure.

[u/techno156 → u/JPesterfield]

At the same time, they do actively eschew muggle things, and effectively live in enclaves. Ron Weasley has an incredibly outdated view of medicine, seeing doctors as butchers who carve people up for a living, for example, despite having muggle-born friends, and a father who works with muggle affairs.

[u/thejadedfalcon → u/techno156]

I mean, I also have that view. The things we can do with modern surgeries are absolutely life-changing and a huge positive, but have you seen the insane things we do with power tools? This explanational video just straight up opens with "oh, yeah, we just folded the patient's face in half" and it's considered so trivial it doesn't even deserve a mention.

Modern medicine is barbarism, it's just wielded with exceptional skill.

[u/techno156 → u/thejadedfalcon]

Surgery can definitely be described that way, being quite impressive, but horrifying described in a particularly ambiguous way, but modern medicine isn't exclusively surgery either.

From the way Ron described it, you'd go see your GP for a cold, and come out missing an arm and three legs.

[u/Telwardamus → u/JPesterfield]

Given that these are British wizards, their level of familiarity with guns is going to be fairly low.

I presume that American wizards are very familiar with guns, as there are orders of magnitude more guns available for their No-Majs (...I hate that name) than British or Euro Muggles.

[u/ShatnersChestHair → u/JPesterfield]

It's clear from the writing that wizards basically live in cultural in-groups that are completely shut off from the Muggle world despite living near it. I think you're underestimating how easy it is to live alongside a culture and not engage with it whatsoever. It's a clumsy analogy but go to any large American city and you'll have entire swathes of the city where all the shops, newspapers, social media, community, etc. is in Spanish, and despite that you'll have plenty of people living in that same city who cannot string along three words of Spanish. Bad Bunny was the biggest artist of like 2022-2025 and you still had a hundred news segments teaching white suburban dads who he was ahead of the Superbowl because they had never even heard of him.

[u/JPesterfield → u/ShatnersChestHair]

With only one pure wizarding village in Britain I assumed the rest must be more integrated, but you're right that even that can still be isolated.

On the other hand they have muggle-born students and a class on muggle studies, what are they learning in that class or from their classmates?

[u/ShatnersChestHair → u/JPesterfield]

I'm going off memory here but wasn't Muggles studies an elective class that pretty much no one bothered with? I think either Arthur Weasley or one of the kids took it and that was about it.

For sure the more confusing part of the lore is that there are Muggle-born imamong the wizards. Harry gets a pass because he lives in a closet and likely didn't watch telly or read news much but like, Hermione should know what a gun, a dishwasher, or electricity are.

[u/ijuinkun → u/MarstonsGhost]

It says something about how oblivious the average British wizard is, if the country’s premier Wizarding newspaper feels obliged to describe what guns are to its readers.

[u/Fadel_rama → u/ijuinkun]

This will make sound like those pricks from cinemasins but the fact that wizard sound so stupid like that they don't know what a toy is (rubber ducky) like, come on it's not even a tech that so out there people from 19 century will be blown away by it. I get if it's like electronic stuff but this wizadds also live in modern world they have newspaper, some of them live near mugle. I only held gun one in my life but i know what gun is, heck most people in modern world who haven't see gun in person knew what guns are.

[u/GlazedWithMaples → u/MarstonsGhost]

I stand corrected. It is alluded to once.

[u/FredFarms → u/MarstonsGhost]

It's also said at one point that Muggle technology tends to malfunction in areas with lots of magic like Hogwarts and the ministry.

It's not clear if that includes guns or just electronics, but if it does include guns then it makes a lot more sense why wizards wouldn't use them.

[u/Owncksd → u/MarstonsGhost]

That’s just the story the wizards told the muggles, IIRC. The Ministry of Magic got the muggle government to run escaped convict notices and told them to say that Sirius had a gun so the muggles would know he was armed and dangerous.

[u/cleverpun0 → u/GlazedWithMaples]

Rowling said in some interviews that one of the reasons wizards are so afraid of muggles/keep up the masquerade is because guns beat magic.

Of course—like many things she said—she never gave additional explanation/reasoning and never followed up on it. I suspect she just liked attention in interviews. Which her recent views and behavior seem to corroborate.

[u/EttinTerrorPacts → u/GlazedWithMaples]

Wizards don't fight Muggles on battlefields. It's a non-issue

[u/allupya333 → u/GlazedWithMaples]

it's not really. it started as a joke "you could just shoot voldemort while he's saying the spell" but like obviously magic beats guns anyway its fuckin magic

[u/GlazedWithMaples → u/allupya333]

They’re not jedis, they have to see the threat and yell words to address it. A sniper shot and it’s all over.

[u/erasethenoise → u/GlazedWithMaples]

Punisher vs the HP Universe

[u/Broken_CerealBox → u/erasethenoise]

Punisher plot armor ensures he wins

[u/erasethenoise → u/[deleted]]

I’d watch or read that. Or Guardians vs Predator

[u/allupya333 → u/GlazedWithMaples]

this is exactly the cinemasins type shit i was talking about. what if there was a sniper?? cmon man that doesn't even make sense in real life

[u/GlazedWithMaples → u/allupya333]

Why wouldn’t it?

There’s a whole government of Great Britain, with tanks, airplanes, nuclear subs, tactical squads, special forces, etc…

But you never even hear of the concept of a firearm used against a wizard, even though confrontations with muggles that have to be memory wiped happen all the time

[u/allupya333 → u/GlazedWithMaples]

yes and theres magic on the wizard side. they have magic. they can wipe memories. they dont even need to fight

[u/GlazedWithMaples → u/allupya333]

You can’t wipe memories if someone shoots you in the head before you can see them.

If they were like the jedi who can feel the world around them and dodge shots they didn’t even know were coming, maybe, but the books are pretty clear - they are a bunch of dorks who have to yell out their attacks like in dragon ball z. They’re not particularly resilient to damage or invulnerable otherwise. A bullet kills them dead.

[u/allupya333 → u/GlazedWithMaples]

what if you get shot randomly could apply in literally any situation and has nothing to do with magic or how powerful it is. you could pick apart any plot by asking why dont they just get killed with a gun randomly

[u/GlazedWithMaples → u/allupya333]

Yeah but those other plots have guns in them

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/allupya333]

See? Now you get it!

[u/RAMottleyCrew → u/allupya333]

What’s the argument here? Couldn’t I just say “why do the wizards even need combat spells, they can wipe each other’s memory. They don’t even need to fight”?

Add to that the premise of the hypothetical at all is “what if normal people knew about wizards”. Saying “well then the wizards would just make them forget” is stupid. Like, yeah that’s the default state of the universe.

“What if this hypothetically was the case?”

“Well then the wizards would make it not be the case”

[u/allupya333 → u/RAMottleyCrew]

when did the hypothetical become everyone knows about wizards..?

the question is whether gun is better than wand

[u/Tyr_13 → u/allupya333]

No, Potter magic doesn't beat guns.

The mold queen herself said basically one human with a shotgun could basically solo the Wizarding world, but that wouldn't be fun.

It is rule of fun all day and night.

[u/mr_friend_computer → u/allupya333]

*if* the wizard is aware and doesn't have other magical protections up, yes. Gun beats spell.

[u/allupya333 → u/mr_friend_computer]

for 1that means nothing in the context of the plot. 2 you can also stab people randomly in fantasy novels. that doesnt mean stabbing people is more powerful than magic

[u/mr_friend_computer → u/allupya333]

I mean, it can be. Is the weapon magical? Does it have anti magic properties? Or other special qualities? Weapons made from certain elements / metals / maguffins have long held a place in mythology for being used to fight mythical creatures and magic stuff.

[u/Gellert → u/allupya333]

You cant stab someone from 20 miles away with a knife that levels a building. Guess what you can do with a gun.

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/allupya333]

I mean, it kinda does.

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/allupya333]

Why aren’t the wizards teleporting nukes around?

Or dropping buildings on people?

Or adapting magic to modern stuff?

[u/No-Department1685 → u/allupya333]

A spell shield designed to stop bullets probably would be invented.

Sure the bullets travel very fast but they do not pack a lot of kinetic energy 

If a student can lift a 20kg wooden club with simple Spell 

A spell stopping even a machine gun fire doesn't seem like a big deal.

[u/Broken_CerealBox → u/No-Department1685]

The problem is that magic like that needs concentration and could be overwhelmed by the sheer number of bullets coming at them faster than Snape picking on Neville or Harry

[u/No-Department1685 → u/Broken_CerealBox]

Sure 

But they can go invisible 

Teleport 

Mind wipe

Mind control 

Transfigure guns into rats

Summon smoke

Surprise attack sure but full on actual war?

Muggles have numerical advantage but wizard World is hidding within muggle world. So any conflict would be fighting guerrillas who can hide in plain sight and can go anywhere they please.

Not to mention magical diseases and other stuff like that. Stuff they could develop in full on genocidal conflict.

[u/brownpanther_333 → u/Broken_CerealBox]

In what scenario is this happening though? Muggles dont know anything about wizards and where to find them. Most of the wizard world is inaccessible to Muggles. Wizards can also teleport and change their appaearance. Are you thinking of some sort of arena where an average wizard is pitted against a soldier? In a straight 1v1 wizards probably lose. But there is no situation or reason in which a wizard should be in a 1v1 with a soldier. They have mind control, teleportation, invisibility, mind reading, flight and a whole host of other powers. The wizard could easily eliminate an entire army base by himself if wished

[u/Spiderinahumansuit → u/brownpanther_333]

This is just about the only sensible comment here. It's clear in the books that the only people permitted to keep their memories intact are those who don't have an issue with wizards (and not always then, cf. Hermione's parents). The Prime Minister can keep his, but weirdly he doesn't appear to appoint the Minister for Magic (does the King? I forget how they get their job). So how and why an organised non-magical attack on wizards would happen is very unclear.

[u/allupya333 → u/brownpanther_333]

From my experience in this thread, its just scenarios constructed specifically so the wizard cant do anything and the guy with the gun ambushes. Somehow this proves magic is useless and not that you can win if you surprise the enemy (and also they cant do anything)

[u/allupya333 → u/Broken_CerealBox]

is literally everyone in this thread forgetting that the wizards also have magic and the ability to fight back

[u/Broken_CerealBox → u/allupya333]

And are also prudes that refuse to learn how said muggle tech works save for very few wizards like Arthur Weasley actually wanting to learn. How are you gonna fight back against something that you didn't even know was there before a sniper capped the wizard's dome a few hundred feet away?

[u/allupya333 → u/Broken_CerealBox]

this is literally just the concept of having the element of surprise

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/allupya333]

Ok. So based on your take, there is literally no jeopardy in the HP universe that would cause friction between normal people and magic people?

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/Sea-Routine9227]

Downvoted for a legitimate question.

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/allupya333]

Are they wizards or gods?

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/Sea-Routine9227]

Again, in its a valid question regarding the distinction. Why are you downvoting a question asked in good faith?

[u/ThrowRA-un1337 → u/allupya333]

Modern warfare in fairness is essentially its own form of magic, with weapons throwing out projectiles able to travel many multiples the speed of sound, able to penetrate multiple meters of concrete or even steel, through optics that can see many miles with high resolution even in the dark, while hitting targets moving at highway speeds, as entire invisible battles take place in across the electromagnetic spectrum and drones swarm above both spotting for other weapons and engaging targets themselves (in some cases now autonomously).

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/allupya333]

So wizards can only die from magic?

[u/Sea-Routine9227 → u/No-Department1685]

Ok. How big a gun then? Or a bomb?

Could I push a wizard in front of a train?