Flying broomsticks appear in Hogwarts Legacy, and they appear to be closely following established canon from Harry Potter reference texts. Footage from Hogwarts Legacy gameplay previews has shown the player flying on a broomstick over the Scottish countryside. Flying brooms have long been a preferred method of travel for wizarding folk, and Hogwarts Legacy appears to be pulling directly from information provided by Quidditch Through the Ages.
Hogwarts Legacy will let players explore the eponymous school, its grounds, and the surrounding region in between classes as a fifth-year student. Since Hogwarts Legacy looks absolutely massive, and because flying brooms in Harry Potter are frequently used for transport outside of Quidditch, this magical means of locomotion is the most obvious way to give players more speed.
Unfortunately, because Hogwarts Legacy is set during the late 1800s, historically broomsticks weren't all that fast. In fact, it's possible they were even slower than in the video from Hogwarts Legacy above.
How Flying Brooms Work In Harry Potter Canon
Brooms in the Harry Potter franchise are most closely associated with Quidditch, the dominant team sport in the global wizarding community. Harry's various brooms throughout the Harry Potter books, such as the Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt, are frequently important elements of the mainline series' plot, but the history of brooms was expanded in Quidditch Through the Ages, a real-life version of the fictional textbook mentioned in the Harry Potter books.
According to Quidditch Through the Ages, flying broomsticks were in use since at least the Middle Ages in Europe. The main caveat is that brooms were mostly handmade, rudimentary, uncomfortable, and relatively slow until the 20th century. Cushioning Charms were invented in 1820, which improved comfort, but the first racing brooms weren't produced until the foundation of the Cleansweep Broom Company in 1926. The books never mention specific speeds for modern racing brooms, but the term itself implies a large leap in velocity.
How Flying Brooms Work In Hogwarts Legacy
While players might enjoy flying on broomsticks in Hogwarts Legacy a little bit more if they went as fast as their later counterparts, following established Harry Potter lore seems like the best route to take. According to Game Director Alan Tew, "This isn't the present day where all the broom technology is well known and advanced and everything we know and love. This is an earlier time when they are still trying to figure it out. We're not at the 3000 yet, we're at the 11."
Thankfully, players won't be too restricted when it comes to flying brooms in Hogwarts Legacy. In the gameplay preview above, Systems Designer Mekenzy Toner describes a broom shop in Hogsmeade which sells a variety of different brooms. The differences are only cosmetic, but by talking to the shopkeeper - who seems to be extremely focused on making flying brooms more and more powerful - players will be able to complete quests and unlock upgrades for their broomstick, such as the ability to fly higher and at greater speeds.
It's not unreasonable to assume wizarding folk were tinkering with speedy brooms before the advent of mass-produced racing models, and it's a smart choice to make the character interested in doing so NOT the playable character. It would be a bit strange if a fifth-year Hogwarts student was crafting their own broom upgrades and flying around faster than anyone else in the world.
Wizarding World canon has always been pretty fluid, with the universe containing its fair share of inconsistencies. Even the game's main conflict of a goblin rebellion brings up Gringotts Bank plot hole questions. Old brooms being tinkered on by avid enthusiasts is the best way to integrate the history of the Wizarding World with the 1800s setting of Hogwarts Legacy, and could even help deepen the game's exploration mechanics, even if reliable and fast brooms are a slight contradiction to their history delineated in Quidditch Through the Ages.
Editor’s Note: Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has been accused of transphobia by those in the LGBTQ+ community. Although not directly involved in the development of Hogwarts Legacy, Rowling does stand to earn royalties from the game. We would like to reiterate our support for trans rights and that trans identities are valid. Support services are listed below for trans people impacted by discussions of transphobia.
In the USA:
Trans Lifeline: (877) 565-8860
The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
In Canada:
Trans Lifeline: (877) 330-6366
Youth Line: 1-800-268-9688
In the UK:
Switchboard: 01273 204050
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Hogwarts Legacy
- Released:
- 2022-02-10
- Developer:
- Avalanche Software
- Genre:
- Adventure, Action RPG, Open-World
- Platform:
- Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Steam
- Publisher:
- Warner Bros. Games
- ESRB:
- T
- Franchise:
- Harry Potter
- Mode:
- Single-Player
- Platforms:
- Xbox One
- Release Date :
- February 2023
- Rating:
- T
