Lexicon Contributor

Paula Hall

Paula Hall
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Posted by in Website news
Two more essays have been posted: Love and Death in Harry Potter, by Paul Spilsbury, and The Importance of Neville Longbottom, by Douglas Moran. We’ve been busy little beavers at the Lexicon this weekend!… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Here in the Lexicon, there are multiple essays on Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Snape, physical locations, creatures, and practically anything else you can name. And yet there is not one essay about one person whose fate is tightly linked to Harry’s, and who has been moving gradually but inexorably towards a more important position in the books: Neville Longbottom. I think Neville becoming… Read More
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Love and death are major themes in J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter books. She herself has said in a recent interview in recent interview in The Tatler magazine that “My books are largely about death.” And in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, one of J.K. Rowling’s chosen spokespersons, Professor Dumbledore, impresses upon Harry that his “ability… Read More
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I’ve neglected to mention the addition to the Lexicon of two essays published in February. The first, The Complications with Memory by Suzanne Foster, is a comprehensive survey of the myriad ways memory is integral to the progression of the Harry Potter series. The second, Where is Spinner’s End? by Claire M. Read More
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Two Modest Predictions Dumbledore vivens . . . And Now Another: Dumbledore the Fraud Snape the Accessory The Unbreakable Vow Unbroken . . . Snapeque bonamicus The “Buddy” Plot Understanding Snape Harry the Adult The Proud and the Prejudiced Modest Conclusions Severe Spoiler Warning: This essay presumes that its readers have… Read More
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After thinking carefully through the various factors involved, I cannot help but conclude that the most logical scenario, based on all the available evidence, is that Harry is a Horcrux. I will structure this essay in four sections. First, I will discuss the background. Second, I will discuss the evidence indicating that Harryis a Horcrux. Read More
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I’ve posted two great new essays. The first, “Is Harry a Horcrux,”by Stephen Haas, makes a well-thought-out argument for the idea that, you know, Harry is a Horcrux! The second, “Dumbledore vivens Snapeque bonamicus“, by Denis Howarth, is a spectacular essay theorizing, as many fans have, that Dumbledore is… Read More
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Although Spinner’s End is probably not a real place in a real town, it’s reasonable to assume that it’s in an imaginary town in an area where towns of that type are found—just as Little Whinging is an imaginary town, but of a recognizably Surrey type. An argument has been made Spinner’s… Read More
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Table of Contents Introduction Pensieves Memory as a Weapon Memory as Aid Modification of Memory Memory in Objects Memory Embodied as a Threat Conclusion   Introduction As Muggles, memory is a fairly straightforward process for us and unless we read a story about someone with amnesia or about a… Read More
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We have two provocative essays by glamourousgeek, Magic, Genes, and Pure Blood, discussing wizarding genetics and the meaning of blood status in the wizarding world, and Merlin, God, and You-Know-Who: Religion in the Wizarding World. There’s a fun piece analyzing Harry Potter’s Astrological Birth Chart by lunalove, speculating that Jo Rowling… Read More
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We are just two years or less from reaching the end of the Harry Potter series and many essential questions have been answered, either by the books themselves, by J.K. Rowling, or by cunning readers who have racked their brains to work out even the finest details of the universe she has created. Read More
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Introduction It only took a second. J. K. Rowling had agreed to talk about her writing for the television documentary, Harry Potter and Me. She took random pages from her endless boxes of notes. She flashed up a page with a brief comment, “This is a list of all the students… Read More
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Number twelve, Grimmauld Place is the location of much of the action in Chapters 4 to 10 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is Sirius Black’s ancestral home, and the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. This essay discusses its possible location, and also that of the Ministry of Magic. Read More
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Although I am aware — reluctantly aware, but still aware — that Harry Potter is a fictional character, the fact remains that he has a birth date. Any person, real or otherwise, with a birth date also has an astrological birth chart, and Harry is no exception! In analyzing Harry Potter’s chart… Read More
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The Harry Potter books have been the subject of much religious debate after fundamentalist Christians warned parents against the books, deeming them pro-witchcraft and consequently anti-Christian. Some Muslims, on the other hand, have banned the books for the entirely opposite reason, claiming they are poorly concealed Christian propaganda. Surprisingly however, the… Read More
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Magic in the Harry Potter universe is as far as we know considered to be supernatural, and has as little to do with science as ghosts and flying broomsticks. However, the fact that magic runs in families means that it is a hereditary trait. Add to that the exceptions of half-bloods, Muggle-borns and Squibs and the temptation to analyze… Read More
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In her essay Ginny Weasley, Why? published on The Harry Potter Lexicon in October 2003, author Water Witch presented a surprisingly astute evaluation of the importance of Ginny Weasley—surprising because, although the article was written after the publication of Order of the Phoenix, it predated Half-Blood Prince. Even though Rowling… Read More
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Snape had no misgivings about working for Voldemort at the time he overheard the prophecy, yet a short time afterwards he changed sides and turned spy for the Order of the Phoenix. Betrayal of Voldemort is not a step that could be taken lightly. What caused this complete change of… Read More
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Snape is not a good guy. His treachery has been written in black and white all through the Harry Potter books and especially in Half-Blood Prince. Even so, some Snape fans are looking for a reprieve. One person I work with actually said, “It’s no excuse, but he did have to kill Dumbledore or die himself.” And then… Read More
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Where is Little Whinging? What sort of place did Harry Potter grow up in? The books in the canon give us several clues, mostly in Books 1 and 5 (Philosopher’s Stone and Order of the Phoenix), but beware . . . there may be a red herring! In Book 1, the first letter from Hogwarts (and presumably the others), is addressed to Harry in “Little Whinging,… Read More
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Editor: Michele L. Worley I have stretched this list to include some instances of numbers containing the word “seven”. There will be seven books in the series. “All right, thirty-seven then,” said Dudley, going red in the face. [counting birthday presents, (PS2)] “Seven years there and he won’t know… Read More
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Editor: Michele L. Worley I have stretched this list to include some instances of numbers containing the word “six”. “Thirty-six,” he said, looking up at his mother and father. “That’s two less than last year.” [counting birthday presents, (PS2)] …while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing… Read More
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Within Harry Potter (HP) fandom, ships—relationship theories—come in all shapes, sizes, and speeds. Some ships are small sailboats with elegant, white sails that can carry only a handful of fans as passengers. These ships, while not popular, are beautiful and fun nevertheless. Other ships are cruise liners: quick, massive, powerful,… Read More
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Often there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence, stubbornness and being willful. Snape, for one, accuses Harry of strutting around Hogwart, arrogant like his father. For the most part, I don’t believe Harry is arrogant at all. Arrogance is defined as follows: giving one’s self an undue degree of importance; having or showing feelings of… Read More
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Okay, so we weren’t there as the Weasley children grew up, all seven of them in that wonderful magical house. But I think we can make some fairly shrewd guesses as to what it was like. After all, one thing is certainly true, and that’s the fact that siblings compete for their… Read More
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I am primarily a trio shipper; by that I mean I enjoy reading and writing fics about various pairings of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. However, as far as reading goes, I will read pretty much any ship, even if I don’t ‘ship’ it—with two exceptions: Harry/Ginny and Draco/Hermione. I tried to sit down and think about… Read More
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Although much has been made of the contrasting upbringings of Tom Riddle and Harry Potter by the Harry Potter community, very little analysis appears to have been put forth towards analyzing the differences between each character’s childhoods, with many fans focusing upon the similarities instead. The fact that they are each half-bloods, or that both… Read More
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When exactly did Professor Quirrell’s year-long trip around the world take place? The popular fan assumption is that it immediately preceded the year of Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone. I do not think this is correct. In PS5, after Harry meets Quirrell while buying his school supplies and asks if he is always that… Read More
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N.B.: Dates for this essay are based on the timeline in the Lexicon. Notes on sources from outside the canon are at the end. Sibyll Trelawney is named after an ancient prophetess from classical mythology—or, more accurately, she is named after a whole group of prophetesses from classical mythology. The name Sibyll was… Read More
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Introduction No, I don’t intend to predict the identities of the next several Ministers for Magic, but rather to present and discuss the various evidence available in Harry Potter canon on the relative ages of the seven Weasley siblings. Since the original version of this discussion, Rowling has, on her website, www.jkrowling.com, presented us… Read More
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The Riddle of the Potions seldom gets the respect it merits. It is the last challenge faced by Harry and Hermione before entering the chamber where the Philosopher’s Stone is kept safely hidden in the Mirror of Erised. Usually when reading the book, we speed past the riddle, admire Hermione for solving… Read More
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There is a popular poster of Albert Einstein that appears on many faculty office walls on college campuses around the country. Underneath the well-known black and white image of the wild and white-haired physicist are printed the words, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” The full quotation from Einstein actually… Read More
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Contents: Introduction The Deathday Party The CS DVD ROM Timeline Lower Bounds Nicolas Flamel Quidditch through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them The PlayStation Pairs of Date and Weekday Full Moons Summary Conclusion Appendix   Introduction The question of mapping the timeline of the Harry Potter… Read More
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The name “Dobby” appears in A Fine Old Conflict, 1 Jessica Mitford’s memoir of her radical youth in 1950s America—and a book J K Rowling has almost certainly read. Rowling, as we know from interviews, admires Jessica Mitford—she even named her daughter after the left-wing political campaigner and journalist. “Dobby” Walker (no other… Read More
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Not the least interesting thing about Harry’s possessions is that it is possible to make a virtually complete list of them. This is because he starts with nothing but the blanket he is wrapped in. His material poverty is contrasted with Dudley Dursley’s conspicuous consumption, both literal and metaphorical. Though… Read More
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I do know that many people have theorized about how Muggle-borns get their Hogwarts letters (and take them seriously), or are taken to Diagon Alley for the first time, or how they are able to adjust. Even with Rowling’s recent comments on this topic, we’re still left with a lot… Read More
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Luna is clearly Hermione’s mirror. I think Hermione’s rationalism, which is such an important part of the trio’s dynamic, has its downside: an unwillingness to leap before looking; a fear of the unknown. We’ve watched Hermione freeze up in just about every book because her studies haven’t provided her with the answer. Usually Ron and Harry have to pull/prod/jolly Hermione past… Read More
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At turns exciting, suspenseful, horrific, unexpectedly funny, and in the end, tragic, OP35 (“Beyond the Veil”) brilliantly captures the chaos and confusion of battle. Harry doesn’t have time to fully comprehend everything going on around him, but we the readers have the luxury of going back and re-reading this chapter for new insights… Read More
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(by Nik the Hermit, our “man in the street”) J. K. Rowling has stated many times that memories and “echoes” from her own childhood became part of the Harry Potter Books. Two well-known examples are: The use of the surname of her two friends from her early childhood, Ian and… Read More
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After the events of book five, one can’t help but wonder whether Harry is really safe now in Privet Drive. Has the protection reached critical mass at this point, and are the risks beginning to outweigh the benefits? Obviously when Voldemort was Vapormort, and the most loyal Death Eaters were incarcerated in Azkaban, the protection held up very… Read More
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Let us take a look at the mysterious, amazing Marauder’s Map. But first, let’s look at the castle. If you research castles on the Internet, you will see that Hogwarts is a castle of unprecedented (mammoth, huge, gigantic) size. You might find some castles that have towers that are 7 commercial stories high,… Read More
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In order to speculate on and understand this character, we must begin, as in all things, at the beginning. The fecund Weasley family have more than enough children to run the whole gamut of human emotions and personalities; why bother even to create this last-born enigma and to make her a girl… Read More
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There has been a lot of talk about who might come back as ghosts in the Harry Potter series. I don’t think Rowling will have anybody return as a ghost, because she is very aware that there are children reading this series who have lost or about to lose a… Read More
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NOTE: All OP page references refer to the UK hardback edition of OP. Page references to GF refer to the UK paperback edition. Introduction I believe that OP sets in motion a trend that had begun developing in PA and GF: the trend of Harry and Hermione becoming partners. They are in effect equals in leadership roles, and though Harry certainly… Read More