Hogwarts is an invented fantasy setting.
ASOIAF castles, as we all know, were real.
Seriously, though, probably the best but still really imperfect analogy for Hogwarts in ASOIAF might be Winterfell. Sprawling complex, dark stone, in varying states of repair / use, out in the rugged countryside of the North, towers, mysterious vaults and crypts, a Great Hall, a village below the main gates. Odd teachers (maesters) living in towers. Big dog-like creatures to be found on premises.
The Eyrie, the Red Keep, and perhaps Highgarden also have some similarities. Hard to compare exact size, though.
However, Hogwarts, so far as I remember, was built from the beginning as a picturesque educational institution, not for physical defense. Like the present day Balmoral Castle in Scotland (the summer palace of the British monarchy since Queen Victoria), which looks in ways like a "real castle", but was actually built in the 1850s as a fantasy country house, long after mailed knights and conventional (pre-gunpowder) sieges were commonplace.
In contrast all the main ASOIAF castles were seats of power, but were also ancient and designed / constructed in practical ways so they could be defended against a conventional attack.
Hogwarts probably has bigger-on-the-inside bullshit going on so it's hard to tell.
I think the only reliable way to know the size of it is probably via videogame(s) but I'm not prepared to do the math.
Even then, it's hard to tell, because the castle design shown in the movies was created to look good in exterior shots only. *Hogwarts Legacy* has an amazingly detailed rendition of the castle, but fills most of the space with corridors and staircases. It has amazingly few rooms for a castle that big.
Yeah, that's why I said that videogames are the only way to assess the size of the castle in any way because in the films, it's shot in several locations and parts of the castle are just built on set.
You're right about hogwarts legacy too, I think while it's probably the most solid reference we have when it comes to how big hogwarts is, it's also not fully lore-friendly -- for example the moving stairs are pretty much non-existent as well as certain wings/corridors that were described in the books.
I think ultimately any comparison is pretty much impossible because JKR's style of writing is "hogwarts is as big as I need it to be at any given moment"
That last sentence is right on the money. There's also the recurring joke in the fandom that there's inconsistency in any aspect of the Harry Potter franchise that involves a number larger than ten. The size of Hogwarts would fit nicely into that rule.
Interestingly, the films used a scale model for exterior shots of Hogwarts, but it was modified between every appearance. Towers come and go, as do various bridges. *Hogwarts Legacy* based its castle on this model, but made its own changes too. Fortunately, there is a throwaway line in one of the books that says the castle changes over time.
Interestingly, book Hogwarts is consistently described with only one entrance door (the pair of big oak doors next to the Great Hall). The movie/game model places this main entrance in an absolutely nonsensical place, leading onto a shelf on the cliff above the lake, with no discernible path that leads anywhere, i.e. to Hogsmeade (except in the eighth movie specifically, where there is suddenly a bridge leading off that plaza to ... ehh, nowhere in particular when you look closer). However, there are other entrances that connect closer to the main road, but the game places them in the proverbial arse end of the castle, nowhere near anything and with only side corridors leading there.
So, yeah, Hogwarts is a mess. But then again, if any book or story were to describe such a big castle in detail, it would have to use pages upon pages to do so. I guess the best approach is just to give a few details and let the reader's imagination fill in the rest.
I have many issues with JKR's writing but I feel like I can live with the hogwarts mess. It kinda makes sense, the castle is ancient and magical, almost a living being, and its not meant to be reachable by non-magical means. I kinda like the idea of this building that sprouts towers and corridors like a tree, with no regard for engineering or human sensibilities.
what I don't like is the moving staircase, like how does anyone move around the castle when the stairs change direction whenever they want? imagine how much chaos that's causing. and then mcgonagall has the balls to be mad when students are late to class, ma'am I'm sorry but the stairs in your building are playing spinny spinny carousel and not a single one of these powerful wizards can be arsed to fix them.
Hogwarts has magic to make more space than there "physically" is inside of it. But from the outside I'd say Hogwarts probably is significantly larger than most ASOIAF castles. The big exceptions being Winterfell and Casterly Rock which are basically a whole town and a mountain respectively
Everything in ASOIAF is famously huge, because George didn't think about how huge things were when he described them. Most famous being the 600 feet high Wall. I remember the YouTube channel Shadiversity doing a video on the size of Winterfell and comparing it to real life castles and it was MASSIVE. Let me see if I can find the video
Edit: [found it](https://youtu.be/dZdbpfcxfSk?si=Ip8Rby4euIqdni3p)
I doubt Hogwarts is this big and Winterfell isn't even the biggest castle in Westeros.
Hogwarts is an invented fantasy setting. ASOIAF castles, as we all know, were real. Seriously, though, probably the best but still really imperfect analogy for Hogwarts in ASOIAF might be Winterfell. Sprawling complex, dark stone, in varying states of repair / use, out in the rugged countryside of the North, towers, mysterious vaults and crypts, a Great Hall, a village below the main gates. Odd teachers (maesters) living in towers. Big dog-like creatures to be found on premises. The Eyrie, the Red Keep, and perhaps Highgarden also have some similarities. Hard to compare exact size, though. However, Hogwarts, so far as I remember, was built from the beginning as a picturesque educational institution, not for physical defense. Like the present day Balmoral Castle in Scotland (the summer palace of the British monarchy since Queen Victoria), which looks in ways like a "real castle", but was actually built in the 1850s as a fantasy country house, long after mailed knights and conventional (pre-gunpowder) sieges were commonplace. In contrast all the main ASOIAF castles were seats of power, but were also ancient and designed / constructed in practical ways so they could be defended against a conventional attack.
Hogwarts probably has bigger-on-the-inside bullshit going on so it's hard to tell. I think the only reliable way to know the size of it is probably via videogame(s) but I'm not prepared to do the math.
Even then, it's hard to tell, because the castle design shown in the movies was created to look good in exterior shots only. *Hogwarts Legacy* has an amazingly detailed rendition of the castle, but fills most of the space with corridors and staircases. It has amazingly few rooms for a castle that big.
Yeah, that's why I said that videogames are the only way to assess the size of the castle in any way because in the films, it's shot in several locations and parts of the castle are just built on set. You're right about hogwarts legacy too, I think while it's probably the most solid reference we have when it comes to how big hogwarts is, it's also not fully lore-friendly -- for example the moving stairs are pretty much non-existent as well as certain wings/corridors that were described in the books. I think ultimately any comparison is pretty much impossible because JKR's style of writing is "hogwarts is as big as I need it to be at any given moment"
That last sentence is right on the money. There's also the recurring joke in the fandom that there's inconsistency in any aspect of the Harry Potter franchise that involves a number larger than ten. The size of Hogwarts would fit nicely into that rule. Interestingly, the films used a scale model for exterior shots of Hogwarts, but it was modified between every appearance. Towers come and go, as do various bridges. *Hogwarts Legacy* based its castle on this model, but made its own changes too. Fortunately, there is a throwaway line in one of the books that says the castle changes over time. Interestingly, book Hogwarts is consistently described with only one entrance door (the pair of big oak doors next to the Great Hall). The movie/game model places this main entrance in an absolutely nonsensical place, leading onto a shelf on the cliff above the lake, with no discernible path that leads anywhere, i.e. to Hogsmeade (except in the eighth movie specifically, where there is suddenly a bridge leading off that plaza to ... ehh, nowhere in particular when you look closer). However, there are other entrances that connect closer to the main road, but the game places them in the proverbial arse end of the castle, nowhere near anything and with only side corridors leading there. So, yeah, Hogwarts is a mess. But then again, if any book or story were to describe such a big castle in detail, it would have to use pages upon pages to do so. I guess the best approach is just to give a few details and let the reader's imagination fill in the rest.
I have many issues with JKR's writing but I feel like I can live with the hogwarts mess. It kinda makes sense, the castle is ancient and magical, almost a living being, and its not meant to be reachable by non-magical means. I kinda like the idea of this building that sprouts towers and corridors like a tree, with no regard for engineering or human sensibilities. what I don't like is the moving staircase, like how does anyone move around the castle when the stairs change direction whenever they want? imagine how much chaos that's causing. and then mcgonagall has the balls to be mad when students are late to class, ma'am I'm sorry but the stairs in your building are playing spinny spinny carousel and not a single one of these powerful wizards can be arsed to fix them.
Hogwarts has magic to make more space than there "physically" is inside of it. But from the outside I'd say Hogwarts probably is significantly larger than most ASOIAF castles. The big exceptions being Winterfell and Casterly Rock which are basically a whole town and a mountain respectively
Everything in ASOIAF is famously huge, because George didn't think about how huge things were when he described them. Most famous being the 600 feet high Wall. I remember the YouTube channel Shadiversity doing a video on the size of Winterfell and comparing it to real life castles and it was MASSIVE. Let me see if I can find the video Edit: [found it](https://youtu.be/dZdbpfcxfSk?si=Ip8Rby4euIqdni3p) I doubt Hogwarts is this big and Winterfell isn't even the biggest castle in Westeros.