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Now it’s July 17th and Deathly Hallows is just 4 days away! Time to list all the instances of the number 4 we can find. The four houses of Hogwarts, named for the four Founders. The Dursleys live at Number Four Privet Drive. The Triwizard Tournament had four champions. Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
As the last Harry Potter book draws ever nearer, we are all scrambling to organize and finalize theories. So, anyone who’s an HP fan must have heard of several ships[*] from the Marauder’s Era. I’ll refer to them as m-ships in this essay to make life easier. These m-ships basically put together two of the… Read More
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Today is July 16th, bringing us down to 5 days until the release of Deathly Hallows. How many examples of the number 5 can we come up with from the stories? The Five Feathers in Barnsley is home to Bungy the waterskiing budgerigar. Gilderoy Lockhart, five times winner of Witch… Read More
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I have updated the page about the soundtrack for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I love the new themes, particularly the Fireworks track, and not just because that scene is amazing in the film. I added links to the official site as well as to Soundtrack.net’s excellent… Read More
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It’s been awhile, but I have a couple of new essays posted, authored by a regular contributor, Ravenclaw Rambler. He’s got some ideas about the location of Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, as well as some thoughts on “muggle magic.” Keep checking back for new essays all this week, as I have a… Read More
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Posted by in Essays
A number of questions are often asked about the Hogwarts Express—how can it be hidden at King’s Cross so effectively?—why is there always just one compartment left? how can it travel around without being seen? The Hogwarts Express—Muggle features Muggles, it is suggested in OP7, developed technology because they don’t have magic, so… Read More
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The quotation above was coined by Arthur C. Clarke as his Third Law, in Report on Planet Three (1972). This essay compares the different technologies available to the magical and muggle worlds. Magical Artifacts Artifacts with magical properties are quite common in the magical world described in the books of J.K. Rowling. Some of them are similar… Read More
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Now it is July 15th and there are only 6 days until the release of Deathly Hallows. List as many examples of the number 6 as you can come up with for the stories. We’ve had some brilliant examples in the previous days! Be sure to take a look if… Read More
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From the Bloomsbury website: J K ROWLING AND THE MIDNIGHT READING: Bloomsbury Publishing is delighted to announce that now everyone will be able to hear J K Rowling read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in a live webstream from the Natural History Museum in London at the… Read More
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July 14th, the date that marks the release of Deathly Hallows as one week away. ONE WEEK! Just 7 days. Seven, the most powerfully magical number of all. This is sure to be the longest list we’ve created yet, as there are many times the number 7 is mentioned. (For… Read More
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The HP Lexicon is happy to promote the fund raising efforts of fellow Potter fans to help put our beloved books (literally) into the hands of blind readers. The National Braille Press is magically making Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows available in braille the… Read More
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Today being July 13th means there are 8 days to go before the release of Deathly Hallows. How many examples of the number 8 can we find relating to Harry Potter? The Hogwarts library closes at eight o’clock in the evening. Neville Longbottom showed his first sign of magical ability… Read More
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I’ll be participating in a huge Harry Potter event in the town of Monroe, Michigan, this coming Saturday. I’ll be speaking at noon at the library and later in the day participating in a Q&A session. There is a lot more going on with events to interest people of all… Read More
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Yesterday was sure a lot of fun, coming up with all the tens. Here we are on July 12th, which means Deathly Hallows is 9 days away. How many occurances of the number 9 can we find associated with Harry Potter? A few to get us started: The Hogwarts Express… Read More
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A small group of obsessive nitpicking Harry Potter fans (true Lexicon friends!) who call themselves the HPNs have found a fun way to pass the time waiting for the final book. They’ve been scouring the books for occurrences of the number corresponding to the number of days left. Let’s join… Read More
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Here they are, recordings of the entire A&E show have been posted to YouTube. You ask, what am I talking about? The Lexicon’s Supreme Mugwump Steve Vander Ark was interviewed by the Arts and Entertainment Network along with John Granger (Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?, Looking for God… Read More
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In honor of Jo’s latest Wizards of the Month, I thought it was high time I updated my lame-o page on the Hogwarts founders. Isn’t it interesting to compare how they have been depicted? Can anyone think of an information category that I’ve left out? Later edit: they’ve been revised… Read More
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The Wizard of the Month calendar on JKR.com has changed to display the wizard for July 2007 as: Godric Gryffindor Medieval (precise dates unknown) One of the four famous Founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Godric Gryffindor was the most accomplished dueller of his time,… Read More
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Continuing our tradition of joining in the birthday wishes posted on Jo’s site… The Wizard of the Month calendar has changed to Happy Birthday Dobby for June 28th. Read More
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A new book has appeared in the Links section of Jo’s website, entitled Missing Madeleine. Please LOOK, read, and spread the word about this tragic story. We are praying for her safe return. Editorial: For those who would criticize Jo for giving this publicity to the plight… Read More
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We haven’t talked much about the Portkey lately, what with the lead up to the new film and book and game and soundtrack and who knows what all. However, the team has been working dilligently behind the scenes, adding more and more content. Here are a few cool new additions:… Read More
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Lately I’ve receieved a few emails along these lines: hey, the lexicon is a great site and i love reading almost everything on it. however a lot of the stuff is outdated – there are questions and debates on stuff that has been answered in later books, details tht have… Read More
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Owls are arriving with the results of WOMBAT 3 on Jo’s official site. Text from all certificates is now posted on the WOMBAT – results page, images on the way! EDIT:The page is now complete with screenshots of the WOMBAT wall and images of all the certificates. Read More
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The WOMBAT results delivery clock on Jo’s official site shows that the Results are in the post. You can see this by clicking on the WOMBAT card and entering your Student ID code. In the past this has meant we would receive the results within a day! If… Read More
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A few weeks ago, Budget Travel asked me to write an article for their website, sort of a “travel guide” to locales in the Harry Potter world. The guide is now live on their site. I think you’ll enjoy it, so wander over and take a look. Read More
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Well we’ve finally managed to post the text of WOMBAT grade 3 exam with our Lexicon staff commentary (JKR-W3). John Kearns joins us this time with his added insight, and Lisa returns for a second time with her perspective. Steve and I have been overwhelmed in real life the… Read More
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I meant to post this last week, but got distracted by the terrific cover art. Red Scharlach has released new artwork of Madam Rosmerta — in the style of Toulouse Lautrec’s poster art. New Lexicon artist Sloan de Forest (cf: Eileen Prince) has sent us her drawing of Luna… Read More
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Of course GrandPre is not doing to tell us what happens (you wouldn’t want that anyway!), but she does talk about how she creates the covers, and provides clues to those of us (who me?) who are trying to figure out what they might mean. “Potter artist Mary… Read More
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It’s here! It’s here! It’s here! Scholastic has released the cover art for the Deluxe edition. I think it will be a big surprise. I won’t spoil it for you, take a look for yourself: Scholastic Deluxe edition cover art. WARNING, SPOILER BELOW Later edit: From… Read More
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This coming weekend I’ll be in Southern California where there will be a couple of opportunities for me to meet some of the west coast Potter fans. It is always such a thrill and an honor to meet people who enjoy the Lexicon and share my love for Harry Potter. Read More
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Today, June 3rd, is the birthday of our Essays Editor… Paula Hall! Please join us in wishing her a day filled with magic and all her dreams come true. Happy Birthday Paula!… Read More
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The Wizard of the Month calendar on Jo’s official site has gone blank. Apparantly a glitch that I’m sure will be fixed soon. And now it’s fixed 🙂 Salazar Slytherin Medieval (precise dates unknown) One of the four celebrated Founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Salazar… Read More
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I just posted the second report from my set visit last September. This is also just a teaser, since I am still forbidden to do a full and detailed report until the film is released. I hope this gives you a little more idea of the creativity and fun that… Read More
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Jo has updated her site with an announcement of her plans for July 21st! Tickets for a massive booksigning event will be distributed through her English-language publishers: Bloomsbury Scholastic Raincoast Allen & Unwin She has really focused this book launch on the fans. In… Read More
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This past weekend, as I mentioned, I spent some time in a studio in Burbank shooting a television special. This will air on A&E in July as part of the lead-in to the film premier. I was only a small part of the whole production, so I have no way… Read More
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As a former art history student and someone who has labored over the Lexicon’s pages on the Black Family Tree I was ecstatic to see the first images showing Warner Brothers’ interpretation (right; click on image to see larger version). The tapestry appears to be huge, with a dark green… Read More
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Hundreds of you have visited the Portkey now. I’m sure that a good many of you are wondering what the big deal is. So it searches synopses of the books. So what? Why the big kefuflle about such a simple tool? Over the next weeks I’m hoping to help answer… Read More
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I received a message the other day from John Granger, who is a good friend, telling me that someone from A&E television wanted to talk to me. I called the fellow up and as it turns out, he wants me to be part of a television special A&E is putting… Read More