Not My Canon!

WTF: Delphi, The All-Powerful

The key to developing a great antagonist is to stabilize them throughout the story, in all of their actions and interactions, while logically reinforcing any of their established motivations and capabilities throughout scenes in which they are absent. It should go without saying that a good writer wouldn't undermine their antagonist by doing the opposite of those things...

Continuing along the same lines of the Unexplained and Abnormal, we'll look at the way in which the Cursed Trio handled Delphi. This has the potential to induce the gravest of headaches. Get out your chewable Tylenol, WattPotters.

Settings at Maximum Difficulty

Apparently, Delphini Diggory / Lestrange is a powerful witch. Oh, you didn't know that? Well, she *is* a new character, after all. And the writers didn't have much time to develop that impression. Although, they were given four acts instead of two. Forget that. Forget that. Let's focus on the unexplained shortcuts the writers had to use in order to force our impression of her.

The play establishes that Delphi had no formal training:

SCORPIUS: You've never been to Hogwarts?

DELPHI: I was - unwell - as a child - for a few years. Other people got to go - I did not.

And yet she was skilled enough to teach Albus and Scorpius magic they had been incapable of learning while at school. (But don't start thinking that she's a "super witch". Because even though she is... we don't want you suspecting her. Er... what do we do?? Uhm... have her just come right out and tell us she isn't, maybe? Brilliant!) The spell she taught them was Expelliarmus.

ALBUS: I've never been good at spells.

DELPHI: I was rubbish - and then something clicked. And it will for you too. Not that I'm a super witch or anything but - I think you're becoming quite some wizard, Albus Potter.

ALBUS: Then you should stick around, teach me more...

But Mike, didn't Harry have to teach Expelliarmus to members of Dumbledore's Army? Yes, but I would argue that Harry was taking it upon himself to make up for a deficiency in their education. Albus and Scorpius have more than likely had consistent Defense Against the Dark Arts instruction for over three years, now that the jinx on the teaching position has died off with Voldemort. As fourth years, it's hard to imagine that they've never been taught a simple disarming charm.

When we begin to uncover Delphi's true identity, we learn that the reason Amos Diggory claimed her to be his niece was that she had Amos under a powerful spell. Although I think their use of the Confundus Charm was inaccurate (I'll be going over this soon) it goes far to establish that Delphi is proficient with a wand. But in case you had any doubts about her magical skill, they gave her the ability to fly!!!!

DELPHI rises up after them. She's flying, and without a broom.

DELPHI: You poor creatures.

She throws the boys to the ground.

Thinking you can escape me.

ALBUS (astonished): You're not - even on a broom.

DELPHI: Brooms - such unwieldy, unnecessary objects. Three minutes gone. We have two minutes left. And you will do what you're told.

SCORPIUS: No. We won't.

DELPHI: You think you can fight me?

SCORPIUS: No. But we can defy you. If we lay down our lives to do so.

Yes, you read that last line correctly. (*sigh*) In order to reinforce a belief in the reader that Delphi is powerful, the writers had Scorpius blatantly admit that they can't defeat her. And the boys aren't the only ones that JKR and Co. used to push this idea. They had Draco come right out and tell us while they were developing a plan for the final showdown.

DRACO: And then what? When she's with you. May I remind you this is a very powerful witch.

Uhm...how would Draco even know this? At no point was it established in front of him, or explained to him, that she was a powerful witch. Just because she could speak Parseltongue? Or because she could be the subject of a prophecy? I get that she was trying to use a Time-Turner to alter the past, but that doesn't mean Harry couldn't overpower her in a fight. (Oh, no...they're asking too many questions. Hurry, we need to make it clear that she's more powerful than Harry!)

So, what did the writers do? Made her more powerful than Harry. First, they did this by just straight up describing her as stronger in the text, and then by having Harry asking her "what" she is, automatically elevating Delphi to inhuman levels of strength.

HARRY: Fine. I'll deal with you alone.

He moves to attack her again. But she is far stronger. HARRY's wand ascends upwards towards her. He is disarmed. He is helpless.

How did you...? What are you?

And just in case that didn't get the job done, Harry admits that she's stronger.

DELPHI: You think you're stronger than me?

HARRY: No. I'm not.

So, Delphi is insanely powerful. The Cursed Trio doesn't really develop how she could be this powerful or allow us to understand why, but there you have it.

Unexplained.

Abnormal.

...Canon.