Most Ridiculed Harry Potter Line Was Never Said, So Jokes on You, Not Hagrid

Summary:

• Rubeus Hagrid is often called out by fans for calling Hogwarts “the safest place in the world.”
• Hogwarts is far from a safe place, but the groundskeeper never actually claimed it was.
• Hagrid specifically talked about keeping things safe which can be easily proven by his quote.

The Harry Potter fan community has hundreds of running gags, but a frustratingly large portion of them is rooted in misconceptions. Take Hagrid’s most notorious line he gets ridiculed for on a daily basis: even decades later, we keep seeing posts about that, and no one ever bothers to check if he actually said such a thing or not!

Because the truth is, he didn’t.

Hagrid’s Notorious Line Ruined His Reputation

After picking Harry Potter up from the Dursleys at the beginning of the first book and movie, Hagrid tells the boy quite a lot about the Wizarding World. After their visit to Gringotts, the kind half-giant has to explain to Harry why something stored in such a secure bank would be safer at Hogwarts, a literal school, as that’s counterintuitive.

Then, Rubeus Hagrid famously claims that Hogwarts is the safest place in the world.

Harry Potter fans love poking fun at that phrase, because every year, something ridiculously dangerous happens at Hogwarts: either Lord Voldemort or his Death Eaters break into the school all the time like they own the place; terrifying monsters like Basilisks, Dementors, or Umbridge go rogue and terrorize the students; etc.

While we admit that Hogwarts is not, indeed, the safest place in the world, we feel the need to clear something up once and for all: Hagrid never claimed that it was.

Hagrid Never Called Hogwarts “the Safest Place in the World”

While Rubeus Hagrid is consistent with his idolizing Professor Dumbledore and his questionable management of Hogwarts, the groundskeeper never actually called the school “the safest place in the world” — or just an overall safe place, for that matter.

Here are his exact words.

“Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe – ’cept maybe Hogwarts,” the kind half-giant tells The Boy Who Lived.

Hagrid specifically points out that Hogwarts is the safest place for anything you want to keep safe. And he turns out to be right: the Sorcerer’s Stone, the entire reason for this exchange, gets hidden in a manner that makes it inaccessible to even Lord Voldemort, and some other things (Horcruxes, hem hem) stay safe there, too.

So the next time you or someone you know tries to poke fun at Hagrid for calling perhaps the most murderous building in Magical Britain “safe,” feel free to re-read the book. It’ll only bring you pleasure, anyway — and refresh your memory.