What happened fifty years ago? When the tombstone photo from Goblet of Fire appeared a few weeks ago with glaring canon errors, I started to wonder how sure we could be of the dates of events that happened, according to the books, “fifty years ago.” New information was included in Half-Blood… Read MoreThe 2004 Open Letter to Rowling• Article
The Open Letter to J.K. Rowling September 2004 FROM MUGGLENET AND THE HARRY POTTER LEXICON Dear Jo: Not surprisingly, we’re thrilled to know that you visit the Lexicon and MuggleNet on occasion. We are delighted that the work we’ve done is helpful and appreciated, not only to you but also… Read MoreThe Art of Unfinishing: HP Fanfiction and the Power of Storytelling• Essay
Many avid Potter fans readers want to be more than just that—readers. By inventing their own stories about Harry Potter and other characters from Rowling’s books and by adding new elements and structures to the Potter cosmos, they are assuming even the author’s role. They take on both Harry’s and… Read MoreHermione's Love for Ickle Ronniekins• Essay
Within Harry Potter (HP) fandom, ships—relationship theories—come in all shapes, sizes, and speeds. Some ships are small sailboats with elegant, white sails that can carry only a handful of fans as passengers. These ships, while not popular, are beautiful and fun nevertheless. Other ships are cruise liners: quick, massive, powerful,… Read More"My Dad Didn't Strut... and Neither do I!"• Essay
Often there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence, stubbornness and being willful. Snape, for one, accuses Harry of strutting around Hogwart, arrogant like his father. For the most part, I don’t believe Harry is arrogant at all. Arrogance is defined as follows: giving one’s self an undue degree of importance; having or showing feelings of… Read MoreThe "Wand Order Problem"• Essay
Sooner or later every fan stumbles across certain mysteries in the Harry Potter books. Some actually find them in the books, other stumbled across them in discussions online. Once discovered, any good fan will then ponder whether this intriguing new mystery is a clue, foreshadowing, foreboding, a misdirection (red herring),… Read More...and I Grew Up With Percy...• Essay
Okay, so we weren’t there as the Weasley children grew up, all seven of them in that wonderful magical house. But I think we can make some fairly shrewd guesses as to what it was like. After all, one thing is certainly true, and that’s the fact that siblings compete for their… Read MoreD'you Really Think They're Suited? Why Hermione is Not the Right Girl for Harry• Essay
This essay was written in October 2004, between the publications of Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince. At that point in Potter fandom history, speculation was rampant about who would end up with whom. Friendships were actually broken over arguments of whether Harry would end up with Hermione or with… Read MoreParallels, Shipping, and Betrayal• Essay
I am primarily a trio shipper; by that I mean I enjoy reading and writing fics about various pairings of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. However, as far as reading goes, I will read pretty much any ship, even if I don’t ‘ship’ it—with two exceptions: Harry/Ginny and Draco/Hermione. I tried to sit down and think about… Read MoreThe Early Life of Tom Riddle and the Second World War• Essay
Although much has been made of the contrasting upbringings of Tom Riddle and Harry Potter by the Harry Potter community, very little analysis appears to have been put forth towards analyzing the differences between each character’s childhoods, with many fans focusing upon the similarities instead. The fact that they are each half-bloods, or that both… Read MoreVoldemort's Agents, Malfoy's Cronies, and Hagrid's Chums: Friendship in Harry Potter• Essay
From the book Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts. One of the surest signs of friendship is the willingness to help out in bad times. Those who stand by us through hardship, depression, and failure will certainly be there when things are good too. Good… Read More"We haven't won since Charlie left..."• Article
“How old are Bill and Charlie?” someone asked Jo. Very simple question. Her response to that simple question was just as simple. Charlie is two years older than Percy, and Bill is two years older than Charlie. Simple. So what’s the big deal? Unfortunately, this answer just doesn’t work. The… Read MoreQuirrell's Leave of Absence• Essay
When exactly did Professor Quirrell’s year-long trip around the world take place? The popular fan assumption is that it immediately preceded the year of Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone. I do not think this is correct. In PS5, after Harry meets Quirrell while buying his school supplies and asks if he is always that… Read MoreSibylls, Pythia, and Prophecies• Essay
N.B.: Dates for this essay are based on the timeline in the Lexicon. Notes on sources from outside the canon are at the end. Sibyll Trelawney is named after an ancient prophetess from classical mythology—or, more accurately, she is named after a whole group of prophetesses from classical mythology. The name Sibyll was… Read MoreIs Jo's Website Canon?• Article
I’ve received a few emails over the last week asking whether I would be including things like the Dean Thomas backstory on the Lexicon. This is a bit of a problem, one which I’ve been strugging with ever since Rowling’s website went live. Here’s the puzzle for me: Is… Read MoreThe Age of the Weasleys• Essay
Introduction No, I don’t intend to predict the identities of the next several Ministers for Magic, but rather to present and discuss the various evidence available in Harry Potter canon on the relative ages of the seven Weasley siblings. Since the original version of this discussion, Rowling has, on her website, www.jkrowling.com, presented us… Read MoreThe Riddle of the Potions• Essay
The Riddle of the Potions seldom gets the respect it merits. It is the last challenge faced by Harry and Hermione before entering the chamber where the Philosopher’s Stone is kept safely hidden in the Mirror of Erised. Usually when reading the book, we speed past the riddle, admire Hermione for solving… Read MoreImagi(c)nation in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone• Essay
There is a popular poster of Albert Einstein that appears on many faculty office walls on college campuses around the country. Underneath the well-known black and white image of the wild and white-haired physicist are printed the words, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” The full quotation from Einstein actually… Read MoreMapping the Harry Potter Timeline• Essay
Contents: Introduction The Deathday Party The CS DVD ROM Timeline Lower Bounds Nicolas Flamel Quidditch through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them The PlayStation Pairs of Date and Weekday Full Moons Summary Conclusion Appendix Introduction The question of mapping the timeline of the Harry Potter… Read MoreIs Dobby a Communist?• Essay
The name “Dobby” appears in A Fine Old Conflict, 1 Jessica Mitford’s memoir of her radical youth in 1950s America—and a book J K Rowling has almost certainly read. Rowling, as we know from interviews, admires Jessica Mitford—she even named her daughter after the left-wing political campaigner and journalist. “Dobby” Walker (no other… Read More
Fifty Years Ago, Annotated
• Article
What happened fifty years ago? When the tombstone photo from Goblet of Fire appeared a few weeks ago with glaring canon errors, I started to wonder how sure we could be of the dates of events that happened, according to the books, “fifty years ago.” New information was included in Half-Blood… Read More
The "Wand Order Problem"
• Essay
Sooner or later every fan stumbles across certain mysteries in the Harry Potter books. Some actually find them in the books, other stumbled across them in discussions online. Once discovered, any good fan will then ponder whether this intriguing new mystery is a clue, foreshadowing, foreboding, a misdirection (red herring),… Read More
D'you Really Think They're Suited? Why Hermione is Not the Right Girl for Harry
• Essay
This essay was written in October 2004, between the publications of Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince. At that point in Potter fandom history, speculation was rampant about who would end up with whom. Friendships were actually broken over arguments of whether Harry would end up with Hermione or with… Read More
"We haven't won since Charlie left..."
• Article
“How old are Bill and Charlie?” someone asked Jo. Very simple question. Her response to that simple question was just as simple. Charlie is two years older than Percy, and Bill is two years older than Charlie. Simple. So what’s the big deal? Unfortunately, this answer just doesn’t work. The… Read More