Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Knight Bus
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Magic | |
| Knight Bus | |
|---|---|
| Type | Magical vehicle |
| Features | Purple triple-decker bus |
| First Appearance | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
Overview
[edit | edit source]The Knight Bus is a means of transportation for the stranded witch or wizard; once summoned, it will carry you to anywhere (within Britain) for a small fare. It can travel anywhere on land, but cannot cross water.
Extended Description
[edit | edit source]The Knight Bus is summoned by raising your wand arm beside a road.
The first time we see it in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry rides the bus at night. It is fitted inside with four-poster beds, and you can get a toothbrush or a mug of hot chocolate if you choose; though - as Harry finds out - it is probably best to skip the latter, as the ride is rough enough to cause you to spill your mug.
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Knight Bus appears in its daytime configuration. The four-poster beds are replaced by ordinary chairs, which (like the beds) are not anchored, so they slide around the inside of the bus with every swerve.
The Knight Bus' staff we encounter include its driver, Ernie Prang, and conductor, Stan Shunpike. We will also note that the Knight Bus in the Prisoner of Azkaban film adaptation contains, as decoration, a wisecracking talking shrunken head. The author is on record as saying that, while she didn't think that detail up, she rather wishes she had. [1]
Analysis
[edit | edit source]The Knight Bus is an example of the sort of invention that blends Muggle ingenuity - the standard omnibus - and Wizarding magic. In many ways it acts like a normal busː you get on, pay the fare, and ride. It does, however, show many deviations from the Muggle transport, from its varied, unusual interior to the triple-decker, violently purple appearance.
It is notable that the bus, while clearly very useful, is not a very comfortable ride. Ernie's job is to get you where you want to go, and the bus will go there at high speed, jumping from place to place with an audible bang, things in its path scattering magically out of the way. Both times we see Harry riding it, people regularly fall over during the trip.
Questions
[edit | edit source]
- Why can't the bus travel over, under or through water?
- What causes the bus ride to be so rickety and uncomfortable?
- Do you think the Knight Bus has any more staff, or is it just Stan and Ernie?
- Harry is lucky to accidentally summon the Bus at the beginning of Prisoner of Azkaban. What might have happened to him had he not done so?
Greater Picture
[edit | edit source]The Knight Bus quite literally appears out of nowhere in Prisoner of Azkaban. Given its brief appearance in said book, the reader may be forgiven for believing it to be a MacGuffin to facilitate Harry's escape from Little Whinging. Magical solutions to problems, which Harry would not have known about due to his Muggle upbringing, are a recurring theme in the books.
It may therefore surprise the reader to see its reappearance in Order of the Phoenix, and its daytime interiors, but it is a welcome sight, and again proves useful for our characters to make the required journey.
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Interview on the extended DVD set