• Article
Posted by in Fandom News
The July J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World Loot Crate has arrived!  Join Nick and Barbara once again as we unbox another box of magical goodness for the Lexicon’s Youtube Channel. This month’s theme is “Defense Against the Dark Arts” and contains items to help you fend off the darkest and most… Read More
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Posted by in Website news
As of Saturday evening, 8 July 2017, we’re having some problems with the Lexicon, apparently due to the new version of Word Press to which we just upgraded. This may result in pages not Apparating onto your screen correctly. No need to contact the Department of Magical Transportation — they’re… Read More
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Posted by in Fandom News
It was very early in my life that I became captivated with the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  From Tolkien’s Middle Earth, to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, to Roddenberry’s Federation, the worlds of my favorite pieces of fiction spurred me on in a myriad of ways. I can trace my… Read More
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Posted by in Fandom News
Josie has posted on her site blog some details about what happened to the Companion. She’s working on fixing all the links now and soon the site will be 100% safe again. You can read her post here: https://hp-companion.com/2017/06/02/sigh/#comment-47530 I’ve let her know that we’d be happy to help… Read More
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Posted by and in Characters
The editor for the Characters section of the Lexicon was Lisa Bunker who was also the founder of Accio Quote. So it was a natural fit for her to collect quotes by and about the main characters in the books as she worked to bring each character’s biography up to date. Read More
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Posted by in Fandom News
Back in 2009, I posted about a wonderful Harry Potter website called The Harry Potter Companion. It’s run by an ex-Lexicon editor who did amazing work for our site for many years before leaving to take on other challenges. The Companion goes through the entire Harry Potter series, chapter… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Rants
We all know the quotes. They’re turned into memes, they’re spouted by cosplayers — they seem to define the characters who said them. Except DID they say them? In many cases, the answer is no. Yes, Quirrell did say “Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know” (PS10)… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Here’s the thing when it comes to the Dark Lord’s followers: There aren’t that many of them. When I was watching Deathly Hallows Part Two during its midnight premiere, my groan was probably heard by everyone in the theater when, behind Voldemort, appeared (what seemed to be) a… Read More
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Posted by in Fandom News
LootCrate just announced the next installment of their spectacular “J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World” Crates: THE DARK ARTS Their website states: “There’s a darker side of magic and we’re exploring its depths with exclusively-created collectibles, apparel, replicas, and more showcasing the people, places, creatures, and things associated with the Dark Arts of… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by and in Canon discussion / Lexicon Podcast / Theories
For the majority of Episode 25, Steve and Nick puzzle over the topic of Horcruxes, and more particularly how they are created and when Voldemort created each of his Horcruxes.  Listen in as we end up with more questions at the end then we had at the beginning.  We are back to audio only this week, but stay tuned, more Video podcasts will be coming soon. Read More
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Posted by in Fandom News
For me, it started with a visit to my son’s house. We were hanging around chatting when I noticed a gray box on the bookshelf with a label on it reading “Firefly Cargo Crate.” I remarked about it since, you know, it was Firefly. He took it down and showed… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays / Pottermore
Introduction In the book, these cards are collected and traded by students and referred to as Chocolate Frog Cards. However, “real” versions of these cards exist, created by Rowling herself, providing a fascinating look into the vast scope of Wizarding history. After the release of the fourth book, the… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion
Where did the name Hogwarts come from? Rowling answered that question in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald: A friend from London recently asked me if I remembered when we first saw Hogwarts. I had no idea what she was talking about until she recalled the day we went… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by and in Canon discussion / Lexicon Podcast / Website news
Steve and Nick finally got a chance to sit down and talk about Cursed Child, some good, some not so good, and found it is very hard to steer away from the Time Travel rabbit hole.  So much stuff to talk about and we debate a few big issues on the story. SPOILER WARNING: Don't listen to this episode if you haven't read Cursed Child yet because we are not holding back on this episode. Read More
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Posted by in Website news
If you’ve come to the Lexicon to research the characters, places, and events in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, you may have to wait a bit. We are creating many new entries and adding information to existing entries, but we aren’t filling in the main characters or events just yet. Read More
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Posted by in Website news / What's New
The Lexicon has been Transfigured! I am beyond excited to finally open the doors and bring all of you into the new, modern Harry Potter Lexicon. This project has been a four-year process, starting with long planning meetings over coffee back in 2012. About two years ago our team designed and… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by and in Canon discussion / Lexicon Podcast
Steve introduces a new series with this episode to coincide with the new version of the Harry Potter Lexicon website, and also introduces a new co-host, Nick Moline. They discuss the new website, for which Nick is the programmer, and then delve into the mysterious Marauder's Map, answering the age-old fan question of why <insert name here> didn't see <insert another name here> on the map? Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion
I decided to do a little bit of research and go in-depth into currency in the wizarding world. As we all know, wizard money is made up of gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts. In the first book, when Harry is getting money out of his vault for the… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Essays
It could be argued that Andromeda Tonks is only a tertiary character in the Harry Potter novels; she only appears in one scene in the final book. Still, I have always found Andromeda Tonks to be an amazingly interesting character. Perhaps, it is this lack of information that causes me… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion
I know it’s a few days past April Fool’s Day, but don’t let that stop you from reading this wonderful piece by Bron Suchecki on the Monetary Metals website. Judging by the comments,  a number of readers of that website for serious investors made it quite far into the article before realizing… Read More
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Posted by in Fandom News / Pottermore
It’s weird how excited I am about this. I mean, I don’t get all worked up about Potter polls or simulated Hogwarts classes or any of that. I’m just get excited about canon, okay? And online sorting hats aren’t canon, even if they’re on Pottermore. Except, ever since I was… Read More
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Posted by in Website news / What's New
As the new site comes closer to being live, I spent some time as a guest on Mugglenet Academia podcast. We chatted about the 18-year history of Harry Potter fandom and about the plans and hopes for the new Lexicon in the 21st century. Give it a listen! http://www.mugglenet.com/2015/11/mugglenet-academia-lesson-38-the-harry-potter-lexicon-here-and-back-again-is-now-available-for-download/… Read More
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Posted by in Website news / What's New
It’s almost here. As many of you know, two years ago, Nick Moline and I started working on a complete update and overhaul of the venerable Lexicon website. Our goal was to find a way to bring all the content of the Lexicon into a content management system to allow… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Characters / Website news / What's New
We're in the process of creating a whole new Harry Potter Lexicon, as many of you know. There are currently 27 editors working on the project, all fans who are eager to share their knowledge of canon with the fan community. This truly is a fan project, and an international one. We have editors of all ages and from all over the world: Thailand, France, United States, Spain, Argentina, and more. As part of that process, I've been going through the Harry Potter timeline. I originally created this timeline in 2001 after the two schoolbooks came out and when Electronic Arts added a hundred new characters to the Harry Potter universe with dates of when they lived. Read More
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Posted by in Pottermore
The folks over at Pottermore have waved their wands once more and produced a few more beautiful scenes from J.K. Rowling's version of the Potterverse. While we can hardly say that Pottermore is now complete -- they'll need to add a lot more scenes for that to happen -- at least we can be glad that we now have moments that span the entire series of novels. Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion
Today I received an interesting question in email from Katty Geltmeyer, a great fan friend of the Lexicon: "In PA, Lupin told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that he found out they were in the Shrieking Shack by using the marauders Map. But Harry and Hermione traveled back in time and were lurking around the Willow. How is it possible that Lupin didn't see the extra Harry and Hermione on the map?" Here's my opinion, based on canon. Read More
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Posted by in Pottermore / Rants
I received an email from Pottermore Insider informing me that there are new Bertie Bots Beans scattered through Pottermore. I jumped on that and spent a pleasant three minutes finding them. Three minutes. If that. And it occurred to me at the end of my short search why I find Pottermore delightful and wonderful and, well, a little boring. Read More
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Posted by in Theories / What's New
For many years, fans spent most of their time online trying to figure out the mysteries in the Harry Potter books. In fact, the Lexicon was born out of those discussions back in 1998, when the group Harry Potter for Grown Ups was a hotbed of theorizing and hypothesizing. Back then, there was no Read More
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Posted by in Characters / Pottermore
Pottermore is a gold mine of interesting canon facts. Some of these are brand new but other facts just relate events and characters we've encountered before. Some other facts are clearly included to answer fan questions or explain perceived mistakes in canon. Here are a few particularly fun tidbits of canon information that make connections to elsewhere in canon: Read More