What Is Floo Powder, Really? Harry Potter Theory That Gets Real Dark Real Fast
In the Harry Potter universe, there's a means of transportation to suit any taste — from brooms and flying beasts to apparition and portkeys.
But Floo Powder stands out among the rest for two reasons: first of all, it has a beautiful visual effect of swirling green flames, and second of all — the stone lady from Hogwarts Legacy that just wouldn't shut up about inventing it every time you use fast travel.
But have you ever considered how it works? How is it possible to transport an entire living person from one place to another in mere seconds?
The obvious answer is always the simplest one: magic. But, as with many other things in fantasy, some people try to explain magical processes through logic, and sometimes it gets grim faster than you realize. The Floo Powder theory we're going to tell you about is one of those.
A Reddit user u/Pepearenas suggested their own version of the mechanic behind Floo Powder, and after learning it, the annoying stone lady won't be your biggest concern the next time you fast-travel in the game.
Pepearenas references a well-known semi-scientific theory that teleportation could be possible in real life, but it would be completely different from how you imagine it. Instead of traveling thousands of miles in an instant, the object in a teleporter would have to be destroyed to then be recreated in another location. The same goes for people, of course.
What does this mean?
The very first time you teleport, you die, and your body is basically vaporated. You are no more. But on the other end, a new version of your body is assembled, completely identical to yours… And it has your memories. Hence, it acts like you and believes that it's you, replacing you forever — or until the next teleportation, which does the same.
Floo Powder is teleportation, and if we believe this theory, then we have to admit it kills its users. This would also explain the vibrant green color of the Floo Powder flames: do you remember any other kind of magic in Harry Potter that has that shade to it?
Yes, you got it right. The Killing Curse.
Floo Powder is pretty much a crystallized version of Avada Kedavra, according to this fan theory.
You can't imagine how inconvenient travel was before that stone lady invented Floo Powder, now, can you?