By Steve VanderArk and Nick Moline • January 9, 2018

Episode 28 is finally here! This episode (Recorded on November 25th) is all about a couple of recent fan theories we’ve come across lately. We discuss the recent updates to the Lexicon, dissect the new cast photo, and debate theories we’ve seen online lately.

What’s New in the Lexicon

We began our podcast as always by talking about what’s new with the Lexicon. We started with talking about the new header navigation, landing pages, lists and breadcrumbs. We also talk about how we have a lot more A-Z lists.

When we get to talking about the original jkrowling.com website (and startrek.com) and how we seem to have lost a bit of that charm of immersive websites of the late 90s and early 2000s. We talk about how it was lost in favor of more informational sites, how there was a resurgence with sites like pottermore, but then ultimately killed by mobile.

We then talk about some of the bigger new features including an overhaul of the search system (and hint at some cool new features coming soon) and about timelines.

New Stuff in the Wizarding World

We talk about the title of the new film “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” and talk about how we’ve lost the word “and.”

We talk about the new cast photo and about how it is a shame that Albus doesn’t have Auburn hair (Steve wishes Nick hadn’t mentioned the hair color, because before that he thought Jude Law looked excellent as Dumbledore).

We also mention the Holiday stuff going on at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in both Hollywood and Orlando.

Fan Theory Time

Is The Enchanting Snake Girl Nagini?

We spend a while talking about a theory that comes to us from the Hogwarts Professor site. The theory is based on the information on the aforementioned Cast Photo. All of the characters have names except for the character played by Claudia Kim. All we know about her from the Pottermore article is that she is one of the Circus Arcanus‘s “attractions” and that she is a Maledictus, “a carrier of a blood curse that makes her transform into a beast.”

We don’t know much about what a Maledictus is, other than this is different than an Animagus as an Animagus can transform into an animal at will, a Maledictus is cursed to eventually become a beast and this is outside of the Maledictus’ control.

Concerning the Circus Arcanus, we’ve also seen a bit of artwork (seen above) for a ticket to this circus. Of the various acts advertised on this ticket, the largest advertisement by far is “The Enchanting Snake Girl” (“Alive! Beguiling! Mesmerizing!”)

In the first movie, we actually got to see an advertisement for the Circus Arcanus as well, and it also dedicated the largest bit of advertising space to The Enchanting Snake Girl.

The theory goes that the reason that the article gives names for everyone except Claudia Kim’s character is that giving her character’s name in the cast photo would “give something away.” Because of this, the fan theory is that Claudia Kim is this Enchanting Snake Girl and that her name is (or is similar to) Nagini, and that the beast she is destined to turn into permanently is a snake, and that this snake will eventually become Voldemort’s familiar.

We spend some time discussing this theory in the podcast but we recommend you read the theory in full over on The Hogwarts Professor’s site.

Is the Sorting Hat its own Secret Keeper?

Our second fan theory of the episode comes to us from one of Nick’s favorite YouTube Channels, the Super Carlin Brothers.

In a recent video, Ben Carlin theorizes that the reason that none of the first years in Harry’s year know anything about the sorting (including Hermione who we know has already read Hogwarts: A History at this point, Ron who grew up younger than 5 brothers who have all been through the sorting before, and Draco who prides himself on his knowledge of the way things work at Hogwarts) is that the secret of what the Sorting Hat can do is protected by the Fidelius Charm and that the hat functions as its own Secret Keeper.

This would prevent anyone from telling people who haven’t been to Hogwarts how the sorting works until the person has been let in on the secret. As evidence of this theory, it is pointed out that it isn’t Dumbledore, McGonnagal or anyone else who explains what the sorting entails, it is the hat itself that reveals its role in the sorting (through song).

We discuss the theory and the problems with the theory and how to resolve these particular problems in order to make the theory plausible.

Wrapping Up

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Harry Potter Lexicon Podcast, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to get new episodes as they come out.

We don’t mention a question of the day in the show, but I’ll post one here, for our question of the day, what do you think of these 2 theories? Was Nagini once a witch with a terrible curse that turned her into a snake? Was the secret of the sorting protected by the Fidelius Charm (or something like it) and that’s why Ron, Hermione and Draco don’t know about the sorting in advance? Please leave your answers to these in the comments and we’ll keep up the conversation here.