• Article
Posted by in What's New
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
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The Wizard of the Month calendar on Jo’s official site has changed to display Happy Birthday wishes for May 15th to Pomona Sprout. Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the new interactive site. Read More
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Two days ago I did something I’ve never done before. I sicced my lawyer on someone. Believe me, this is not the way I like to operate. People steal material from the Lexicon all the time. Contributors for Wikipedia are famous for it. Yeah, it bothers me. Stealing is wrong. Read More
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I can’t believe that I’m finally writing this. About eight months ago, I had a crazy idea. I started sharing it with the staff and tried to explain just how amazing this new “thing” would be. They didn’t get it. I drew sketches of what it would look like. We… Read More
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Did you notice the new look to our What’s New page? Several months ago we told you about the new design we were working on, and that we’d try to have a large section converted in time for Book 7. Unfortunately that was my task and I have had an… Read More
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As Keith Johnson continues work on his project to illustrate Philospher’s Stone, he has recently completed this (ahem) “delightful” image of the troll in the girl’s toilet. 😀 I’ve posted it on the Reader’s Guide for chapter 10. Thank you Keith for sharing your paintings with us!… Read More
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I’ve been working on a few lingering projects lately, and managed to finish the Archive of images from the Wizard of the Month calendar on jkrowling.com. It’s hard to believe we’ve had three full years worth of Wizards of the Month already, since Jo launched her new… Read More
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Posted by in Website news / What's New
I’ve just posted an essay by Quentin Lowagie, webmaster of the Harry Potter Lexicon counterpart in French, L’Encyclopdie Harry Potter. Quentin visited London last year, took some fabulous pictures of London sights related to the world of Harry Potter . . . et voila , je vous prasente Harry… Read More
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When my good friend Heidi Tandy (of FictionAlley) asked me if I’d like to write a magazine article about Order of the Phoenix I paused (only for a moment) and then said, “Sure! What do you need?” (Because I’m crazy that way, I’ll do anything Potterish.) “An… Read More
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We’d like to introduce you to our newest artist- Keith Johnson! Keith is undertaking an ambitious project to create cover art and chapter illustrations for all of the Harry Potter novels. He is currently working on the final chapters of Philosopher’s Stone and has offered to share his work with… Read More
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Thrilling, confounding, gorgeous cover art! Be sure you’re sitting down when you look. High-resolution artwork has been released today by Scholastic and Bloomsbury [Link outside: Leaky Galleries]. :Gulp: Treasure! Patronus! Locket! Silver Hogwarts? Strange triangle/circle emblem! Veils? Hallows? Let the… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Within the Harry Potter stories are many scenes that can be analyzed astronomically. As both an astronomer and a teacher, these interest me, and so I will present such analysis here. My goal is not to criticize Rowling when she is inaccurate in her astronomy (or, for that matter, to praise her when she… Read More
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I know it’s been awhile, but I have finally posted another new essay. This one is from astronomer and past Lexicon contributor Mike Weinstein: Astronomy in the Harry Potter Series. Enjoy!… Read More
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When I was in London in September, I got a first hand look at Electronic Arts’ new game for Order of the Phoenix. I have to admit that I’ve never been much into arcade-style games, preferring to play Excite Truck and Elebits on my Wii, Time Splitters on my GameCube, or Animal Crossing… Read More
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The WotM calendar on Jo’s official site is showing Happy Birthday wishes to Remus Lupin for March 10th, again this year. So far, all birthdays have repeated since appearing for the first time, with no new ones nor any being skipped. Read More
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Posted by in Characters
Quotes by and about Lord Voldemort (Tom Marvolo Riddle) From Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Hagrid to Harry: “Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.” (PS4) Hagrid to Harry: “Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin,” said Hagrid… Read More
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We have some new images from Makani: Slughorn, Prof. Binns, Nick, and Ginny. Enjoy! I also recently added some short quotations by movie cast members about the roles they play: Daniel Radcliffe, Jason Isaacs, and Emma Watson. P.S. Makani just redesigned her personal website. Nice Job! I am… Read More
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We have been hinting on and off of projects we are working on behind the scenes here at the Lexicon, and we’re ready to tell you of the smaller project: the redesign of the look and organization of the Lexicon! It is a difficult task that has fostered a lively… Read More
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One of the Lexicon’s most often-cited Rowling interviews is the 2001 BBC Christmas Special “Harry Potter and Me.” Not only was it beautifully produced, it remains to this day an important source of Potter canon — especially the scene in Jo’s office where she shows her class lists of Harry’s… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Where is the Burrow—Harry’s second home (his first is Hogwarts, of course, not Privet Drive!)? Ottery St. Catchpole The books give the Burrow’s location as just outside the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, but give no direct clues as to where this is. The similarity of the name to Ottery St. Mary, in Devon… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Introduction This interview that took place on March 12, 2001 became the historical point from which all theories and speculations about how much money would one need to go to Gringotts and to buy a Galleon started. Most researchers worked with the first JKR statement of “About five pounds,” while not addressing the… Read More
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Posted by and in Website news / What's New
Greetings on T-167 days and counting until Book 7 publication! I have an essay for any math wonks out there (that’s “maths” to Jo and others in the U.K.): check out our new essay on Wizard Money from a fan in Russia, Anton Generalov aka “XAHrOBEP” (pronounced “”Hangover”). Read More
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One of our Lexicon team is celebrating his birthday. Please join us in wishing John Kearns a magical day! John is responsible for the Gazetteer and Bestiary sections, and many other pages around the Lexicon. He has also dedicated an incredible amount of time and effort to behind the… Read More
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The new Wizard of the Month for February 2007 has shown up on Jo’s official site. Mnemone Radford 1562 – 1649 Developed Memory Modifying Charms. First Ministry of Magic Obliviator. News headline: Publication Date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 21st July, 2007… Read More
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Recently we shared the work of Secca from Potterskeys.com who transcribed the words showing from the reverse side of a Scrapbook page on Jo’s site. (These pages are extra content hidden around the site, and are only available once you’ve worked out the puzzle to find them. See the… Read More
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If you’re a Mozilla Firefox user (like me), you know how convenient it is to be able to search from the toolbar and select the site you’d like to search with a simple drop-down. Now, you can search the Lexicon the same way! Our friend Kai has written a… Read More
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As expected, the WotM calendar on Jo’s site is displaying happy birthday wishes for January 9th to Severus Snape. Since birthdays began showing up on the site, with Neville Longbottom being the first on July 30, 2004, and over the course of the next year, much speculation has… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
The Hut-on-the-Rock holds a key place in the life story of Harry Potter.  It was here, on his eleventh birthday, that he encountered the world of wizardry for the first time since infancy. But where was it? The address on the letter brought by Hagrid in PS4 is not very helpful: Harry Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock,… Read More