# Do the house elves in Harry Potter have sexual relations with each other? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855 "2005-12-03T03:05:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/1 "2005-12-03T03:05:23Z")
They are [sexually dimorphic](http://www.hp-lexicon.org/bestiary/house_elves.html) and have affectionate relationships so it stands to reason they do. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/2 "2005-12-03T03:07:27Z")
Sure. Where else would little house elves come from? ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/3 "2005-12-03T03:36:47Z")
Where would they find the time? I suppose the elf’s master could order the elf to have relations with another elf… I think I’m going to hop off this train of thought while I can still look myself in the eye in the mirror. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/4 "2005-12-03T03:51:59Z")
I would really like to say that this is the strangest **Harry Potter** discussion I’ve been a part of. sadly, this would not be anywhere near the truth. I thought it went without saying, given, as you say, they’re sexually dimorphic. They have ancestors, so they don’t simply arise magically in the house they’re attached to, nor are they created by magic. What’s more, Dobby seems in love with Winky. What confuses (and disturbs) me even more are the Dementors. In 2000, Rowling told the Canadian Press: > [@](#): > > One young Canadian boy earlier asked her how Dementers breed. > > “I was just so pleased that he thought about it and pleased that I had the answer,” Rowling told The Canadian Press. > > These evil creatures don’t, by the way, breed but grow like a fungus where there is decay. But in the first chapter of **Half-Blood Prince** , we’re told the Dementors are breeding. Does that just mean they’re arising in places where there’s decay, that they’ve learned to breed, or that Rowling decided to change the rules…? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/5 "2005-12-03T05:37:45Z")
> [@Hamish](#): > > But in the first chapter of **Half-Blood Prince** , we’re told the Dementors are breeding. Does that just mean they’re arising in places where there’s decay, that they’ve learned to breed, or that Rowling decided to change the rules…? The term “breed” is not really too specific. It doesn’t always refer to sexual reproduction. You could describe someone’s kithcen (not mine) as a “breeding ground for germs.” One of the characters saying this doesn’t indicate any change in the Pooterverse, as far as I can see. When I first read the thread title, I thought “Well who else \*would \* they have relations with?” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/6 "2005-12-03T05:41:23Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > When I first read the thread title, I thought “Well who else \*would \* they have relations with?” You DON’T want to see this answered… Or, at least I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/7 "2005-12-03T05:49:06Z")
Our little group of friends discussed this, actually. We reckoned the fog at the beginning of the book was a cloud of Dementor sperm. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/8 "2005-12-03T05:53:42Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > When I first read the thread title, I thought “Well who else would they have relations with?” > [@Tengu](#): > > You DON’T want to see this answered… > > Or, at least I don’t. Someone’s written fanfic about it already, I’m sure. ::shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/9 "2005-12-03T15:00:41Z")
“Sexual relations”? Please, these are children’s books! …the term is, “sexual congress”. And if there already half-giants like Hagrid and part-“Veela” girls like Fleur in the story, who’s to say a half-house-elf (condo-elf?) is impossible? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/10 "2005-12-03T15:40:09Z")
Yeah, but half house elf, half what? Grindylow? Hinkypunk? The weird thing on the trees (bowtruckles?) Veelas are at least humanish, as are giants. I see house elves more like the goblins–they may talk and walk on two legs, but that’s about it as far as human characteristics… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/11 "2005-12-03T15:57:01Z")
Do they have o’possums in England? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/12 "2005-12-03T16:19:31Z")
> [@](#): > > I would really like to say that this is the strangest Harry Potter discussion I’ve been a part of. sadly, this would not be anywhere near the truth. You and me both 🙂 Doesn’t Winky say in GoF that she has been serving the Crouch family for her whole life, like her mother and grandmother before her? (I suppose they _could_ reproduce by parthenogenesis, but since there are male house-elves too, this seems unlikely.) I do wonder where you go to meet other house-elves if you’re a servant to an individual family, rather than an employee of a place like Hogwarts which has lots of house-elves, but maybe the Crouches had neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/13 "2005-12-03T16:28:09Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > Someone’s written fanfic about it already, I’m sure. > > ::shudder:: They have. I’ve found some. _cringe_ I’d say so simply because there hasn’t been any other mention of how else they can be created. Unless they’re asexual like Smurfs and just sort of appear. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/14 "2005-12-03T16:33:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Does that just mean they’re arising in places where there’s decay, that they’ve learned to breed, or that Rowling decided to change the rules…? Remember that the Dementors were going around spreading misery and despair, hence creating better conditions for more Dementors. They mentioned that half of England seemed to be under a malaise. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/15 "2005-12-03T17:11:59Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > “Sexual relations”? Please, these are children’s books! > > …the term is, “sexual congress”. > > And if there already half-giants like Hagrid and part-“Veela” girls like Fleur in the story, who’s to say a half-house-elf (condo-elf?) is impossible? [Jayne] The elves are in Congress? [/Jayne] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/16 "2005-12-03T20:25:53Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > When I first read the thread title, I thought “Well who else \*would \* they have relations with?” A question that never occurred to me until this moment. But, having the kind of imagination I have, I’m now getting an image of a House-Elf House in Knockturn Alley, where the more depraved denizens of the wizarding world lay down a few knuts or sickles for a taste of elf-flesh . . . And some of the clients might be gentlewizards in reduced circumstances, who lost their virginity to one of Pater’s house-elves back in the day. (It’s not much different from the way American slaveowners used their slave women.) ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/17 "2005-12-04T01:19:03Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > Someone’s written fanfic about it already, I’m sure. > > ::shudder:: \*\*First Law of Fanfic: \*\*If you can conceive of a fanfic, it has already been written. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/18 "2005-12-04T01:19:32Z")
> [@dogbutler](#): > > [Jayne] The elves are in Congress? [/Jayne] They call it “Parliament” over there. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/19 "2005-12-04T01:21:04Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Yeah, but half house elf, half what? Grindylow? Hinkypunk? The weird thing on the trees (bowtruckles?) > > Veelas are at least humanish, as are giants. I see house elves more like the goblins–they may talk and walk on two legs, but that’s about it as far as human characteristics… But Rowling has said in interview that Flitwick is part Goblin, so that’s happening, too :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855/20 "2005-12-04T01:22:08Z")
> [@Hamish](#): > > \*\*First Law of Fanfic: \*\*If you can conceive of a fanfic, it has already been written. True, true. And isn’t the Second Law something like:"…and made it much worse that you would have imagined"? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-house-elves-in-harry-potter-have-sexual-relations-with-each-other/333855.md?page=2)