TheHarry Potterfranchise is full of magical objects that don’t exist in the real world and one of those magical objects is a time-turner. While some of the magical lore in J. K. Rowling’sHarry Potternovels and the media that has spun out of them are rooted in existing magical stories, like magic wands, time-turners are unique to Rowling’s stories. They have only appeared in a handful of chapters of theHarry Pottermedia, but when they do, the audience knows that the story is about to change in a big way.
Time-turners place a unique spin on the idea of time travel. In fact, even within theHarry Potterfranchise, there are multiple types of time-turners and numerous rules that accompany their use. The time-turner first appeared inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanand became a significant piece of the plot inHarry Potter and the Cursed Childas well.
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What Is A Time-Turner?
A time-turner is a device used to take a witch or wizard back in time. It resembles an hourglass attached to a chain. The chain allows for the magic user to know the specific field the time-turner’s power is applied to, which is why it’s worn like a necklace.
Time-turners utilize an hour reversal charm. In order to use the time-turner, the witch or wizard wearing the necklace turns the hourglass over the number of hours they wish to go back in time. Each turn is the equivalent of one hour. It’s not advisable for people to spend more than five hours in the past because they could change the events of the future, create a paradox, or even create an alternate timeline altogether. Time magic is very risky in the world ofHarry Potter.
How Is The Time-Turner Used In The Story?
Time-turners are rarely used in theHarry Potterfranchise. When they’re introduced inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it’s a surprise to both Harry Potterand Ron Weasley. Their friend Hermione Granger uses a time-turner in order to take extra courses during their third year of school. Because it’s a magical item heavily regulated by the Ministry of Magic, Hermione has to get special permission to use it. Professors Minerva McGonagalland Albus Dumbledorerequire her to keep her use of the time-turner secret from everyone and to only use it for class.
Hermione breaks that rule with Dumbledore’s permission to save the life of Sirius Black. She and Harry use the time-turner to go back a few hours so that they can rescue Sirius from being apprehended by authorities, and so that they can stop Buckbeak the hippogriff from being executed for snapping at a student. They only use the time-turner for those events, catching up to the very moment they activated the time-turner, and effectively closing what could have been a time loop.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a stage play set after the events of theHarry Potternovels, also features the use of a time-turner, but not the same ones that are regulated by the Ministry of Magic. Instead, it’s revealed that at some point after Voldemort’s defeat,one of his Death Eatersexperimented to create a “true time-turner” that didn’t have the same hourly restrictions. With a true time-turner, the witch or wizard using it could go as far back in time as they wanted to and didn’t have to return to their present in just five hours. Supposedly, it wouldn’t cause adverse consequences, but the children of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy take the true time-turner, try to change the past and end up creating an alternate timeline that their parents then have to fix.
Why Are Time-Turners Not Used Anywhere Else?
Because of the complications that can arise from time travel, time-turners are heavily restricted in use. Only thoseapproved by the Ministry of Magiccan use them. Precautions are taken to ensure that no one can create a time paradox, erase their existence, or even go mad from seeing their future selves. That is a very real possibility that Hermione points out to Harry when he questions her keeping the use of the time-turner secret.
Excessive use of a time-turner can even age the person using it. For example,Hermione uses the time-turner to attend all of her lessonsin her third year. Even if she only has her two extra classes three days a week, that’s at least another six extra hours in her week. After a full school year, that would be another 9 days added to Hermione’s age. While that doesn’t seem like much, if a witch or wizard is using a time-turner every day for multiple hours, they could eventually add years to their life.
Of course, one of the reasons that time-turners are not seen throughout theHarry Potterfranchise very often is because Harry and his friends inadvertently destroy the Ministry of Magic’s supply of them. InHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and a group of his friends sneak into the Ministry of Magic,believing that Sirius Blackhas been kidnapped by Voldemort. What they don’t know is that it’s a trap. While they battle Death Eaters, a stray spell hits the Ministry’s storage area for time-turners. Because of the way a single time-turner falls, the entire supply of time-turners are caught in a perpetual loop, falling, crashing, and ending up back on the shelf before doing it all over again.
Fans have speculated thatHogwarts teacher Minerva McGonagallwas actually wearing a time-turner in a deleted scene fromFantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindewald, but that is set long before the events of theHarry Potterbooks and movies. The chain of her necklace resembles the time-turner design used in the movieHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. If McGonagall had her own experience with them, it would help to explain why she is so willing to help Hermione Granger use a time-turner to further her studies. That, however, has never been proven.
Of course, it’s also never stated in theHarry Potterfranchise whether other wizarding communities around the world have their own time-turners or their own version of a similar magical object. The Ministry of Magic as the audience sees it is in charge of governing the magical community of Great Britain. It’s entirely possible that outside of the Ministry’s jurisdiction, time-turners are in use in other areas of theHarry Potteruniverse.
