You've got a point in terms of the recessives, and it's supported/exacerbated by the fact that it's his mother's side which is likely to have a higher rate of genetic defect - she's the one providing the X. The classic example of why this is true would be Hemophilia - a boy can't get it from Dad unless Dad has it, but the same boy *can* get if from mum, b/c it's X-linked.
In short, your chances of combating the effects of inbreeding are higher if it's the mother who's the "new" blood. Although you're right in that problematic traits don't just vanish in a generation, but I think the quick-fix explanation/assumption is more that the statistical chances of manifestation drop dramatically, and will continue to do so with successive generations so long as a healthy breeding program is adopted.
It's really hard to say with the Riddles, b/c while the upper classes of Britain had been inbreeding for generations, there were a whole swath of "new money" families which emerged in the Victorian era. It would actually explain why they were *so* status conscious - because it was new status, and they were looked down on by the "old money" upper classes.
That is a fascinating thought on the Malfoys, and could explain a lot (and frankly, killing off the undesirables? Not that much of a stretch). Draco's the son of his father's older-age just because he had 6 older siblings who died before their 3rd birthdays and thus never made it into the public eye. Talk about family issues, that's something I'd *love* to poke at in a fic...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
Re: *Waves hand like First Year!Hermione*
Date: 2008-12-22 12:33 pm (UTC)In short, your chances of combating the effects of inbreeding are higher if it's the mother who's the "new" blood. Although you're right in that problematic traits don't just vanish in a generation, but I think the quick-fix explanation/assumption is more that the statistical chances of manifestation drop dramatically, and will continue to do so with successive generations so long as a healthy breeding program is adopted.
It's really hard to say with the Riddles, b/c while the upper classes of Britain had been inbreeding for generations, there were a whole swath of "new money" families which emerged in the Victorian era. It would actually explain why they were *so* status conscious - because it was new status, and they were looked down on by the "old money" upper classes.
That is a fascinating thought on the Malfoys, and could explain a lot (and frankly, killing off the undesirables? Not that much of a stretch). Draco's the son of his father's older-age just because he had 6 older siblings who died before their 3rd birthdays and thus never made it into the public eye. Talk about family issues, that's something I'd *love* to poke at in a fic...