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Posted by in Rants / The Films
I love the Harry Potter films. I have dear friends who worked on them. I was on the set during the filming of Order of the Phoenix. David Heyman even told me that they used the Lexicon "every day" while they created the films. So don't mistake what I'm about to say for anything but loving criticism. The films are nothing more than very expensive fan fiction. They're made-up stories closely based on the Harry Potter books, created by people who are massive Harry Potter fans and who care very deeply about "getting it right," but who, for one reason or another, changed a lot of things. Sometimes they changed things for very good reasons. Sometimes, though, they seem to have changed things for no particular reason at all. I can't explain it, but there you go. However, for a lot of people, the films are Harry Potter. They've never read the books, or barely read them anyway. As far as they're concerned, Dementors attacked Harry and Dudley in an underpass below a highway. Snape died in a boathouse. And Harry fought Voldemort in an extended, violent duel at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts, punctuated by clever bon mots and death-defying falls from high places. But oh well. I really don't care. At least they're Potter fans! The more the merrier! Just do me a favor ... don't send me any more emails telling me that I screwed up on the Lexicon when I write that: Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion
Admit it. Even though you've read the Harry Potter books three, four, er--twenty times before, when you get to the end of some chapters, you just HAVE to turn the page and keep reading. You even get a tiny reminder of that thrill you had the first time you read it, that shiver of excitement that made you charge on into the next chapter at 3am, even when you had somewhere to be first thing the next morning. We've all been there. So to celebrate our shared unashamed love affair with the Harry Potter books, here's a list of Rowling's "4 Best Cliffhanger Chapter Endings" from the first three books: Read More
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Posted by in Uncategorized
At the Lexicon, we try very hard to spell everything correctly according to the books. We also try to capitalize words that Rowling capitalizes. We figure that if we carefully follow the books, we should be able to get it right. How very wrong we are. Read More
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Posted by in Uncategorized
On the evening of May 26th, 1992, Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Neville serve detention. The punishment, which they earned by trying to get Hagrid out of his own stupid mess with the baby dragon, is to tramp around the forest in the middle of the night, unarmed, looking for something ruthless enough to attack unicorns. Read More
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Posted by in Rants
I enjoy a good Harry Potter meme as much as the next guy. Okay, maybe more than the next guy, since the next guy probably isn't obsessive Harry Potter fan. True, some are a bit lame and others are clearly aimed at teenage girls, but whatever. We all have our favorite ways to fan-crush on something and I'm great with that. However, there are some memes that are flat-out false. They pop up like Death Eaters and no matter how often fans try to Avada Kedavra them, they keep coming back. Here are three that particularly aggravate the true fan in me: Read More
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Posted by and in The Films
Oh, of course there are a million things that I wish had been included in the films. But there are a few really weird things that I really would have loved to have seen included. Here are my top three Weird Canon Moments: Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Lexicon Podcast
Steve talks about the upcoming Potter play, the latest Pottermore updates, various arcana from the Book of Spells, and sources which may or may not be canon. Then he finally tackles the complexities of the seventh book and explains why, for the entire series to  make sense, the Hallows are essential and Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort absolutely cannot be violent. Read More
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Posted by in Website news
I did an interview today with a Brazilian newspaper and one of the questions was “What was your favorite experience as a Harry Potter fan?” I thought about all the incredible things that I’ve been privileged to do, from visiting the film sets to exploring Britain to write a book about… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I’ve been trying to work out the best way to organize the Spell Encyclopedia. There are basically four types of entries: spell names (Full Body-Bind), incantations (Petrificus Totalus), unnamed magic (“fire whip”), and categories (fire magic). Trouble is, every spell doesn’t have both an incantation and a spell name. Some… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
When I start reading the Lexicon, I find myself following link after link, rediscovering the rich world of Harry Potter. I might end up reading some old essay or finding a page about nicknames or a map of Quidditch teams of the world … and before you know it, an… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here, mostly because I’ve been putting most of my updates and comments on the HP Lexicon’s Facebook page and Google+ page. Here’s what’s been going on with the Lexicon lately: A new series of books is available called The Harry Potter Lexicon… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Canon discussion / Lexicon Podcast
Steve digs into the interview archives, discussing Rowling’s control of her story and her characters, then explores the murky challenge of finding name sources, discovers the not-so-murky Grimmauld Place in London, and discusses the essential elements of book six which allow us to truly understanding book seven. Show links: The Lexicon on… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Today I was asked about my position on the pending legistation in the US congress known as SOPA and PIPA. As the webmaster of a relatively popular website, as a published author, and as a dedicated fan of the Harry Potter series, I firmly oppose this legislation. These bills are… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I’ve been wandering around Pottermore lately. Everywhere I look, I find interesting canon information (along with the odd chocolate frog card or galleon). As I’ve mentioned before in the podcast, I won’t be posting all of that new canon information on the Lexicon. There’s no way I want the Lexicon… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Here’s the answer to the most common question I get in email: Yes, the Lexicon is still being updated and edited. The changes are kind of hard to notice, for the most part, since they consist mostly of reformatting pages and making small edits and corrections to the content, but… Read More
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Posted by in About Sources
Synopses by William Silvester Chapter 1 – The Boy Who Lived In which we meet the Dursleys and learn of the peculiar happenings surrounding the arrival of Harry Potter on their doorstep including a conversation between Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall. Chapter 2 – The Vanishing Glass In which… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
This morning I was working through the emails I’ve received noting various Lexicon errors or edits. One email asked why the Minister for Magic page didn’t list Pius Thicknesse. I knew the answer to that one. The reason Thicknesse isn’t listed it that the Minister for Magic page hadn’t been… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I just received this email from Rose: “Just thought you should know that Jo has updated her site. Where her diary used to be is now a notebook with multiple pages. It’s called “Everything You Might Want to Know”, and it has info on herself, her books, different awards and… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
It’s September the first, and young witches and wizards have converged on King’s Cross Station in London for the journey north to Hogwarts. Me, I’m just working through all the emails I’ve received with suggestions for edits, updates, corrections, and additions to the Lexicon. Unfortunately, there’s no Welcoming Feast awaiting… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
This recommendation is way overdue, and I apologise for taking so long to post it. John Kearns, formerly an editor here at the Lexicon, is putting together a fantastic reader’s guide to the Harry Potter series called The Harry Potter Companion. The Companion offers commentary on each chapter of… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I made it home at 3:30 this morning, my head buzzing. Did I like the “Half-Blood Prince” film? Absolutely! I loved it! I think this film captures more detail of the original book than any other of the films have managed to do. It’s what the film of “Prisoner of… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I just finished two interesting Harry Potter books (and I’m starting on a third). One is “Harry Potter Should Have Died” from our friends at MuggleNet. I wouldn’t call this a book of “literary analysis” — it’s too lightweight for that. But that’s not a criticism: I very… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Eager to hear the entire soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and don’t want to wait until it’s released on 14 July? AOL Radio just sent me this: AOL Radio has an exclusive premiere of the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince soundtrack. The movie hits theaters… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I’ve been using my Twitter account to send out tidbits of Harry Potter trivia once or twice every day. I try to find particularly interesting odds and ends in the Lexicon book to send out. If that sounds like something that would brighten your day, follow Lexicon_Steve. And feel free… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I’ve been puttering around and editing pages over the past few days. Mostly, I’ve been fixing errors here and there, catching up on my rather lengthy to-do list. I’ve added a few of the new details from Tales of Beedle the Bard — Herbert Beery has now joined the character… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion
Stuff we still wonder about, even after book seven … the other secret passage “There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four” — he pointed them out — “but we’re sure we’re the only ones who know about these. Don’t bother with the one behind the… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I just finished reading through my copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard, and I am absolutely delighted with it. It’s so wonderful to read J.K. Rowling’s storytelling and tongue-in-cheek humour again. The stories are great, but I was particularly happy with the commentary. She gives us even more tantalising… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Well, I can finally tell you all what’s been keeping me so busy for the last six months. Today we announced the publication of The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials, which will come out on the 12th of January. This book has been… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I am delighted to let you all know that my book In Search of Harry Potter is on the shelves. The book was published by Methuen Publishing in London and is now available in shops in Britain. From what I’ve been told, it should be in the stores in the… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Thanks to Claire M. Jordan, the author of an excellent essay in our collection, I have been able to update the page listing differences between the UK and US editions of Deathly Hallows. Most of the differences are simply substitutions of US terms for British ones (e.g. ‘crib’ for… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Recently, some of my friends have been receiving unwanted and annoying phone calls from members of the press, trying to get in contact with me. This is definitely not appreciated. One friend has had to change her phone number several times to avoid these kinds of calls, but is still… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
There’s been a decided lack of new posts here, I know. Sorry about that. I spent most of the week in London at the publisher working on the new book, In Search of Harry Potter, which is due out October the 9th, and so I’ve been commuting back and forth,… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I’ve fixed the Google search for the site, so have at it. Unfortunately, the Remembrall isn’t working right now because it’s fixed on the wrong domain. I’m sure we’ll be able to sort it out, but for now just use the Google search. Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Great news! Thanks to Roonwit, we have our timelines back. Well, almost back. The back-up file was dated March 2007, so some material was lost. Also, since the domain names have changed, the links in the timeline entries themselves don’t work at the moment. However, we’re hoping to get things… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
As you might have noticed, the Lexicon has had some technical problems over the past week or so. We’re in the process of updating and upgrading everything. Part of the process involved transferring some domains around, and along the way an error resulted in the www.hp-lexicon.info domain losing its DNS… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
Last night I finished entering Quidditch Through the Ages into the Portkey database. That’s the last of the books to be entered, so now the Portkey covers all seven novels and the two Schoolbooks, as well as all the Famous Wizard cards. Surprisingly, there was actually an earthquake just… Read More