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I think this is probably just a traditiion, and it may not have any extra significance--b/c our characters won't do it again. (at least, i don't think they will.) But then again, i thought the carriages up to the castle weren't particularly noteworthy but because of them we were introduced to thestrals--and thestrals were pretty important to the plot of OOTP.

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I think the boat ride is just a tradition. I think it's meant to awe the new students, to give them a beautiful view of their new home. I think i remember reading in the first book that it was a magical ride and you could see the castle reflecting off of the lake. So i don't think it has any significance to the plot of the story.

It has to be tradition hasnt it. If the first years got on the carts which the others take they would get there at the same time as the rest of the school. By getting on the boats which takes longer, (we know this as in the first book it says that the first year could hear the rumble of other people from the great hall) then they would be able to enter via a different enterance and enter once everyone else was seated and get sorted.

Well, I agree that it's probably just a tradition but then, nothing in the Harry Potter series is coincidence. So I'm wondering if there is a certain amount of significance in the trip. Or maybe, something with a meaning of significance will happen. Sorry if that made no sense, if you want a better explanation as to where I'm going with this, PM me!

I think that the boat ride is a tradition mainly to give the first years a good look at the castle. Remember many of these kids are muggleborn and have no idea what to expect. I think the ride is like an advertisement almost like "Yeah we have a pretty nice place here. You won't get this fro Durmstrang."

It was interesting, I thought, how you find out there's a cove or something under the castle. Do you think that could be significant in anything?

well if it's not just a tradition it could be something to do with the merpeople or the creature of the lake maybe they can since things and if anyone tries to sneak in with the first years not sure exactly what it could be

Madmoiselle Lilly I dont think there is any significance to the boat trip. As I have said before i think it is just a tradition. I dont agree with you Luv_n_Hermione its not for safety and porotection. Its just a tradition.

i do think the ride across the lake is for aesthetic purposes and so that they can do the sorting. The ickle firsties need to get there once the hall is full, and this is the best way.

I think JKR did so much description on it because it was Harry's first view of the place that essentially became his home. Just shows the first time he saw the greatest building in England. Simple enough.

yeah i agree with weasley king..its just there as a tradition..it takes longer if u go by the boat so it lets the rest of the school get into the great hall and gives teacher time for what ever last minute preperations they need to make...

it also is magical and would give u a better veiw of the castle just like weasley king said jkr probley jsut put it there to give it a better description

I think that it is a tradition, also. So far there has been nothing to exiting on the trips on the boat, unless you count the Giant squid attacking people inportant. I think that it is meant to awe the younger students at the grandeur of the castle.

Although I noticed a similarity between the boats and the carrages, they seem to move by themselves, exept the carrages don't. So could something invisible be pulling the boats, or do they just use magic. I know it would be easy to make the boats move by magic, but also it would be easy to make the carrages fly by using magic. I think that something might be moving the boats besides magic, like merpeople, which would explain how DD knew mermish. Even if something does move the boat I don't think that it is that important.

time turner - you bring up a good idea that the boats may be pulled by something, not magic. I think it might be true, but hard to discover seeing as every student who goes to Hogwarts only travels on the boats once. I don't think it is something invisible for two reasons.

1. There would be a visible wake that appeared where the creature displaced water.
2. Neville would have seen the creature seeing as he could already see thestrals when he came to hogwarts (because the person he saw die, had already died, i think it was his grandfather or something)

I don't think merpeople would pull the boats because in the lake, they seemed like a very proud race and Dumbledore treats them as equals (seeing as he asks their opinion following the second task in book four)

A new thought I had was that I don't remember any of the books every saying how the students got back to the train after each year is over. Do they all go in the carriages (even the firsties)? Or do the first years go back in the boats again as well? I'm i just forgetting these parts? Anybody?

Weasley King you bring up a good point that Neville would already be seeing whatever it was pulling the boats, but the boat pullers might not be using the same kind of magic as the thestrals. Besides that, the boat itself would make a wake making it impossible to distinguish the creature wake from the boat wake. I totally agree with you on the merpeople part though. However i think that if we don't find out about the boat ride in book 7, we'll know it was just Hogwart's way of saying "look at how much better we are than those sucky schools Durmstrang and Beaxbatons."

I think it's only a good tradition,not invented by Dumbledore,to let the new students have good view of the Hogwarts castle because they haven't seen it beforewards.I hope that this tradition is not going to dissapear because it's a good experience for the first year students though it hasn't got too much explanation.

Hmmmm. Your say in this topic has got me thinking. What if the tradition of riding the boats ends? Not as a sign that Hogwarts is losing power but because the world isn't safe anymore. I mean if you really think about it. The only adult present while the young first years are riding in boats is Hagrid...I suppose it just goes down with Albus' trust in him to hold all those lives in his hands...

i think its to give everyone else time to get into the hall and to get ready for the sorting but i think its also sort of a tradition so the first years can see their first glimpse of hogwarts from a much better view than they would have if they were in the carriges

Personally i think that the trip in the boats at the start of year one is just a tradition. it gives the students a chance to see Hogwarts from the lake and makes it a more awesome experience than just seeing the front gates. i think that it is also so there because they have to get up to the school in a different manor to the rest of the school, one which takes longer so the rest of the schoool can sit down in the great hall.

I think the best part of the boat journey is that the students are separated from the regular students. They are free to taken in their wonderment (at least the muggle-borns). There is no one there to tell them that is isn't that special, because it is. If some of the first years were in the carriages with the likes of Draco, their trip may be ruined because they would be teased.

Since the 1st years are new comers, I think that they are separated from the school and are seen differently from the rest of the school. It's just nice, also, to not be thrust in with all of the older kids the first time you come, you get to hang out with all of the other kids your age instead of being intimidated as soon as you get to Hogwarts. It's also a nice tradition that has probably existed for hundreds of years. That's my ideas.

i think it is a school tradition. it probably would be more intimidating to ride in with the older students, and the trip provides time for the rest of the school to settle down before the sorting begins.

I also think it is tradition but i think it is to build suspence because the first years dont know what to expect and then they come around this turn and they see it..

I think that its tradition, but the boat journey also has a purpose.

The time it takes to get all the first years grouped into four per boat, sail slowly across the lake, get out, walk the rest of the way to Hogwarts, gives the second years and above the time to get to the feast before the first years. That way everyone is there ready for when the first years file into the Great Hall and are about to get sorted.

So basically, it's tradition that is used to buy time for the rest of the school to get ready for the sorting ceromony. It also gets them to make friend with those that are in the same boat as them, and gives them a view of Hogwarts that they will never forget.

~ Potters Phoenix ~

It can't be to buy the rest of the school more time because in the philosophers stone the first years have to wait behind in a separate room before they're told that they are ready. To me it seems like a slightly cruel tradition: the first years are separated and made to cross this imposing lake with hogwarts looming in front of them. surely thats worse than carriages because what if they're is a storm or its cold and raining? Then they have to be sorted in front of the whole school. It seems like some kind of ritual and at the end of it they're part of the school.l

I THINK THIS IS BRILLIANT! LIKE A ONE TIME DEAL.

I think the boat ride is definetly tradition. it serves many purposes, 1) show firsties the castle,
2) get them to the hall a little later,
3) scare them a little bit, sort of like an initiation, they have no clue what is going to happen to them, and having to go across a lake in a little boat would build way more suspense and fear then say, walking, or talking a seperate carrige.

This may have just been looked into wrong! It could just be a ride they only take on their first year, so they can see the castle from a different perspective. Instead of taken a carriage where they probly wont get a decent view of there future school.

Of course if there is a protective enchantment set upon these boats then how does it last for the seven years the students are at hogwarts for? Wouldnt you not expect for a need of casting it again? Even decent enchantments and spells cant last forever can they? No matter how good the witch or wizard was that cast it!

Then again Harrys protective charm around the duirsleys did last 17 years. And the Tag the ministry puts on all underage wizards.

But still the boats probly have no significance to a protective charm!

xx