• Essay
Posted by in Canon discussion / Characters / Essays
So much has been made of how seven is “the most powerfully magical number” (HBP23) in Harry Potter, with it serving as something of a motif throughout the series… to the point where my podcast, The Three Broomsticks, has a recurring segment about the “seven ingredients of today’s… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Characters / Essays
Jo’s portrayal of mothers in the HP books is fairly straight-forward: mother’s love is the be-all end-all of the series, so we can move right along. But her portrayal of fathers, on the other hand, is incredibly nuanced and intriguing. The turning point appears to be the middle book of… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Characters
Quotes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (UK ed.) Compiled by Lori Damerell ‘My dear Friar, haven’t we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he’s not really even a ghost…’ (PS7) ‘Peeves,’ Percy whispered to… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Characters / Essays / Theories
There is very little background information about the Scamander brothers or the war service of any other wizards in canon (WFT). Therefore, we must depend on the books written about the making of the films and trust that the information in them was, at least, approved by JKR. We don’t… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Characters / Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
When classes start in Harry’s fifth year, O.W.L.s are all anyone wants to talk about. At lunch on the first day, the Weasley twins offer some sage advice about how “it’s a nightmare of a year, the fifth, if you care about exam results, anyway.” Ron then comments, “Yeah…… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Canon discussion / Characters / Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In a recent Harry Potter Minute, we discussed instances in the books where two seemingly unrelated characters have the same last name. We’ve already covered two of the three instances, the Smiths and the Gudgeons. But a third set caused quite the fuss back in the day, and is the… 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
• Essay
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 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
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Posted by in Characters
From Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Vernon: He cleared his throat nervously. ‘Er … Petunia, dear … you haven’t heard from your sister lately, have you?’ As he expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn’t have a sister. ‘No,’ she said… Read More