Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we're discussing elves and why, despite being so powerful, they choose to serve witches and wizards.

As you may recall, elves – and the concept of house-elves – are introduced in The Chamber of Secrets when Harry meets Dobby, the resident house-elf of Draco Malfoy’s family and the family’s home, Malfoy Manor. Through this introduction, we discover that the upper class of the Wizarding World all seem to “own” house-elves – elves who are magically bound to serve their masters and work in servitude for well-to-do wizarding families without compensation. Their tasks range from cleaning to cooking and running errands – all without question. The only way that they can be freed from their magical ensl*avement is if their master gives them a piece of clothing. Of course, this sounds quite miserable. And, so, it was unsurprising when we learn that Dobby longs to be free from his indentured servitude to the cruel Malfoy family, who mistreat him and underestimate his abilities and intelligence. This of course, inevitably leads to Harry helping Dobby secure his freedom, tricking Lucius Malfoy into tossing an old sock to the elf.

However, despite Dobby being the first house-elf we are introduced to, we come to learn that he is actually quite an anomaly when compared to the majority of the elves that we come across throughout the remainder of the series – from Dobby’s friend, Winky, who Harry meets at the Quidditch World Cup when he mistakes her for Dobby, to Kreacher, the miserable house-elf of the Black family, who is inevitably left to Harry after Sirius Black’s death.

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