The Harry Potter universe is not safe from darkness and cruelty, and one of the elements found in the Wizarding World that has raised many questions is elves working as servants for most wizard families. In 1997, readers all over the world were introduced to the story of the boy who lived in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first entry in a series of seven novels chronicling Harry’s journey in the Wizarding World and his battle against the darkest wizard of all, Lord Voldemort.
The Harry Potter novels made the jump to the big screen between 2001 and 2011, with the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being split into two films. The Harry Potter saga expanded the fanbase, but as it happens with all adaptations, many details were left behind, leaving a lot of questions about many topics. Among those is why elves aren’t free creatures and instead serve as servants, which is explained in the books to an extent.
Throughout the Harry Potter series, readers learned that almost every wizard family had a house-elf, and even Hogwarts had many working at the castle. In the movies, the audience’s first approach to an elf from the Wizarding World happened in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with the introduction of Dobby, the Malfoy’s house-elf who was freed at the end of the movie. In the books, however, there were more house-elves mentioned throughout the novels, and the terrible conditions in which elves worked prompted Hermione to found S.P.E.W (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, after witnessing the unjust treatment of elves at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup. During this storyline, it’s mentioned that elves had been serving wizards for a long, long time, to the point where it wasn’t seen as “slavery” nor anything like that, instead being a common practice that most elves enjoyed.
It’s unknown how and why elves started serving wizard families, but J.K. Rowling did give a bit of backstory to the elves’ arrival at Hogwarts. Rowling revealed that elves were brought to Hogwarts by Helga Hufflepuff, in hopes to give them good work conditions – meaning getting paid and not being abused, which is what happened in most families. Sadly, not all elves got accustomed to being free or getting paid due to their kind having served families for centuries. A good example of this can be found in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Hermione knitted clothes to give to Hogwarts’ elves and thus free them, but the elves were so accustomed to their work and actually enjoyed it that they saw Hermione’s actions as insulting, and refused to clean the Gryffindor room.
Although J.K. Rowling has expanded on many elements from the Harry Potter universe for years, to the point where she has sometimes changed canon, she hasn’t spoken much about elves and their history in the Wizarding World, specifically why they have served wizard families for so long. It’s important to note that Hermione’s efforts weren’t in vain, as house-elves participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, which changed some people’s views on them, and she went on to work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic, so it’s possible that elves are no longer bound to serve families – or, at least, are getting paid and aren’t abused anymore.