• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Love is obviously a powerful theme of the Harry Potter novels, but today I’d just like to talk about the powerful love potion amortentia, and how it induces the smell of what most attracts us. We first encounter amortentia in Slughorn’s classroom during his first potions lesson,… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Since the original essay ‘Harry’s Dreams’ was written by Steve VanderArk in 2006, there have been quite a few new pieces of canon writing from J K Rowling. Two of these in particular contain further dreams of Harry Potter’s to examine.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Hermione says something very important in chapter 32 of Order of the Phoenix, something which helps define the overarching plot of the entire seven-book series. When Harry is frantically describing the vision he had of Sirius captured and tortured by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries, Hermione tries to… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore shows Harry the memory in which he interviews Tom Riddle for a job at Hogwarts. I have a lot of questions about Dumbledore’s motives for allowing even this level of consideration. He does have a little bit of a thing about manners,… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Think about when you first saw that dedication to you, the reader, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You probably read that before you read a word of the novel itself. Think for a moment about whether reading that dedication impacted the attitude you had as you started in… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
When I first read this chapter, it felt like coming home for Harry to me. After the grisly murders at Little Hangleton and the hostility of the Dursleys, I loved reading about the Burrow, encountering all the familiar faces and seeing a happy Harry. Upon re-reading this chapter,… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
The inspiration for this podcast comes from several places. A recent Alohomora episode was all about Percy Weasley. In the comment section for that podcast I read a comment made by username BloodCharm. BloodCharm was talking about Percy’s falling out with his family, stating that… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
This Lexicon Minute is about time. No, not time travel – I only have a minute and I’d be crazy to try and tackle time travel in that short time, although technically if I could manipulate time I could make that one minute last as long as I… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In this Harry Potter Lexicon Minute, I will discuss the fourth chapter of Goblet of Fire: Back to the Burrow. In this chapter, the Weasley family picks up Harry at Privet Drive. The text paints a very clear and fast-paced picture of what is happening. I relish… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
It is pretty well-established at this point that love is a central theme in the Harry Potter saga, but the more sinister side of obsessive love doesn’t get quite the same attention. We see it most clearly when love potions are involved, most notably in the case with Voldemort’s… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
When J.K. Rowling started writing the Harry Potter books in the 1990s, social media had not been invented. No one owned a mobile phone yet, let alone a smart device. And even though most people owned a personal computer or a laptop, receiving a letter written by hand was not… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
One of the things I’ve always loved about Harry Potter is the little not-quite-clues, the throw away comments linking everything together that you only notice and realise the significance of after several rereads of the books. There are too many examples to list them all here, like Aunt Petunia… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Hey, everyone, Steve VanderArk here. This is a special announcement for listeners of our Harry Potter Lexicon Minute podcast. As you may have noticed, we’ve been taking a short break for the past week or two. The podcast isn’t ending — we’ll be back with more episodes here… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Characters / Essays / Theories
There is very little background information about the Scamander brothers or the war service of any other wizards in canon (WFT). Therefore, we must depend on the books written about the making of the films and trust that the information in them was, at least, approved by JKR. We don’t… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In a previous episode we talked about the fun that fans have had searching for anagrams in the Harry Potter books, and how they fueled fan theories back when the series was still in progress. One popular pastime was hunting for anagrams in character names and wondering whether they… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
This chapter portrays Harry as a normal teenage boy. Although strange things have happened to him, he likes sports and worries about homework. And above all, he wants to look cool. When his scar hurts, he does not want to bother his friends, the Weasley family, or even the man… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
It’s clear to everyone who reads the Harry Potter books that J.K. Rowling is an accomplished wordsmith and a big fan of wordplay. She clearly delights in choosing just the right names for characters and other things in the wizarding world. With that in mind, I’d like to… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Recently, I’ve had some conflicting feelings about everyone’s favorite Potions Master, Severus Snape. When asked if I’m a Snape fan or not, I immediately answer: no. He is definitely one of my least favorite characters, I do not think he was a hero, and I would say that what he… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Chapter one of the Goblet of Fire was a big surprise for the Harry Potter fans who read it for the first time. Unlike the previous books, this book did not start with the Dursleys. It opened at Little Hangleton, with a murder mystery that reminded me… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Over the almost twenty years of the website’s existence, we have been challenged for our use of Rowling’s interviews as canon. That’s perfectly understandable, especially since we make a point of NOT including the Potter films. Why one and not the other? There is an obvious response, that those films… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
I have this weird thing about fate in the Harry Potter books. There’s just so many close shaves where Harry barely makes it out alive. I always come back to believing that fate has a hand in all of it. The funny thing about that is one of the main… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
“Fifty years ago, at daybreak, on a fine summer’s morning … “ That’s from chapter one of Goblet of Fire, as you probably already knew. That’s when Tom Riddle Senior and his parents were mysteriously killed in their mansion near Little Hangleton. Frank Bryce, the caretaker,… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In this minute about Chapter 18 of Chamber of Secrets, entitled Dobby’s Reward, I’d like to discuss Lucius Malfoy. In a previous minute, about Chamber of Secrets chapter 2, which was entitled “Dobby’s Warning,” I talked about why Lucius Malfoy may have chosen Harry’s second year at Hogwarts to… Read More