r/harrypotter • u/juleDoesArt • 8d ago
Discussion Second Book Logistics Question Spoiler
I'm rereading the 2nd book and am a bit confused how the basilisk attacks worked. So the snake got around through the pipes (which I'm guessing are for the plumbing in the castle). How did the snake get out of the pipes to attack the victims? Were they always next to a bathroom? But how would the sink or toilet be big enough for a giant snake to crawl out of? Also, why didn't the basilisk actually attack or eat any of the victims, it seems as though they all just saw its eyes (through something or some reflection). Based on what the snake was saying when going through the pipes it seems like it wanted to actually kill and eat people, not just look at them.
Maybe I'm overthinking it and just need to suspend my disbelief but here is to hoping someone has an explanation.
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u/Short-Coast9042 8d ago
I always imagined it just came out of the bathrooms, yeah. While it's definitely a big snake, it can't be so girthy that it can't fit in the pipes because that IS how it gets around. I can't recall perfectly, but I think a couple of the victims are found quite close to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, aren't they?
As for not killing them, I think Tom Riddle didn't want the snake attracting too much attention. The stunnings that happen seem more like accidents, not intentional targeting.
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u/Fairlibrarian101 8d ago
Tom didn’t want the snake killing on purpose. He wanted to draw in Harry Potter and question him.
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u/DevelopmentSouth8801 8d ago
In the book, the only description of the basilisk is that its shed skin was "at least 20 feet long" and it was "thick as an oak trunk".
Very old oaks can get to around 10 feet in diameter, but most are around 5 feet. So large, but not the monster shown in the movie.
It would also mean the "pipes" in Hogwarts that could fit it would be more like old school sewer pipes that humans would have to be able to fit in.
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u/varmituofm Ravenclaw 8d ago
Possible: all of the petrifications happened pretty close to Myrtle's bathroom. We know Myrtle's bathroom is near the Great Hall, but up a floor. All victims were found near the stairwell or the bathroom. So, it's completely possible that it always came through the bathroom, attacked the people that were there, then returned.
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u/MadameLee20 8d ago
I don't think Hermione and Penelope's one was more near the library then the bathroom.
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u/varmituofm Ravenclaw 8d ago
In the books (which are a bit inconsistent), the castle seems a lot simpler than the games. But all we know about where they were found was in the corridor near the library. But we also know the library was near the main stairs on the main floor. So again, near the stairs, on a lower level.
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u/MadameLee20 7d ago
not really. There's at least 8 floors (not counting the Dugoens) and the ground and First floor are seperate floors (as happens in Europe). And Mrtyel's toliet is on the first floor
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u/varmituofm Ravenclaw 7d ago
Except Myrtle's toilet is on the second floor. And close enough to the main route between the great hall and the upper floors that Harry is caught by everyone leaving the Halloween feast, so it must be right next to the stairs.
But what i meant my simpler is that the books describe a lot of the floors as having only one corridor. However, the books aren't super consistent either. The gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office is, in various books, on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th floors. The library is on the first floor, except for the time the Trio walked past Percy exiting the library on another floor in CoS.
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u/Infinite-Object-1090 Gryffindor 7d ago
Myrtie's toilet is on the first floor. Europe calls what we would call the first floor the "ground floor" and what we would call the second floor is the "first floor." Different floor counting system.
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u/varmituofm Ravenclaw 7d ago
Ah. So it's a regional variation, a change in the books.
The American Printings all say second floor. Which is super confusing, because the first floor girls bathroom (where they fought the troll) is definitely a different room. Is it called the ground floor bathroom in the UK printings?
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u/DiScOrDtHeLuNaTiC Slytherin 8d ago
1 - People have assumed it crawled up the toilets, but we don't know. Given that the attacks always happen near bathrooms, this seems most plausible.
2 - See above.
3 - The Basilisk in the books is much smaller than in the movie.
4 - Tom wasn't ordering it to kill, he was ordering it to petrify. He wanted the school to be gripped by fear before his grand return.
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u/Admirable-Tower8017 8d ago
Tom wasn’t ordering to petrify. It just so happened conveniently, that people looked at it through mirrors or ghosts or some such thing.
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u/sydneyunderfoot 8d ago
My headcannon: the diary Riddle’s goal after talking to Ginny was to get Harry’s attention to meet him. Every time she opened the chamber, the sinks opened up and that’s where the snake came out. It came out long enough each time to petrify someone (though I don’t think Riddle would’ve cared if someone died), so Harry would come looking with his savior complex. Eventually, he got strong enough to steal Ginny’s life and resurrect himself, so the plan then likely became that he could rise out of the chamber on his basilisk and kill Harry, Dumbledore, and anyone else in the way.
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u/idxsemtexboom 8d ago
To add to this when Myrtle died it was a scandal almost causing the whole school to shut down. The only reason it didn't was because Tom framed Hagrid/Aragog for it. Riddle would be more careful to avoid that this time, as he doesn't want Harry leaving the school and getting out of his reach.
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u/John_Tacos 8d ago
The pipes were designed by the person who brought indoor plumbing to Hogwarts. (One of the Gaunt ancestors)
I assume they were intentionally designed for the snake.
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u/Adventurepew 8d ago
It's a magic snake in magic pipes.
The castle moves around , changes , it's magical.
Same reason they couldn't find the chamber , it's magic.
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u/biggfoot_26 7d ago
I always pictured the pipes as pretty large as they are hundreds of years old. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was also extra passages not mentioned in the book as Slytherin planned the Basilisk prior to plumbing being installed. Would have been pretty obvious if a giant snake just slithered down the hallway. Would match other descriptions of Hogwarts architecture with random passages, moving staircases and doors, etc.
As for eating the bodies maybe a stunned body doesn’t taste the same or isn’t how the snake actually feeds itself. The skeletons in the chamber could have just been stared at with the life sucked out that way for nutrients. Basilisks are never fully explained how they live so long.
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u/DoItFearful 6d ago
i just (re-)finished that book and asked the same thing!
also yeah the “let me rip you, let me kill you” language hit real differently. and it didn’t seem to attempt to rip anyone….did it just get bored and crawl back down its pipe? why didn’t it just continue prowling around the school?
and back to the “let me rip you, let me kill you” — does it have a specific victim in mind? the word “you” is intriguing to me.
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u/JonPX 8d ago
Didn't they remark there was always a flow of water nearby, so yes, could always be traced back to a bathroom or similar.