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The Battle of Hogwarts
December 31, 2007
Posted by Steve at 4:54 pm

I have updated the timeline and the day-by-day calendar to indicate that the Battle of Hogwarts was on 2 May. Unfortunately, Jo wasn’t clear about which day of the Battle was 2 May, since the start of hostilities was the evening of one day and the final confrontation was sunrise on the next. For now, I’ve decided to place the final climactic battle in the Great Hall on the second of May. Hopefully we’ll get some clarification on that soon from Jo and be able to be more precise.

New abbreviations being used in the Lexicon are PC1 and PC2 for the two parts of the Pottercast interview, TBB for the Tales of Beedle the Bard, with individual stories indicated with a forward slash and the abbreviation for the story (e.g. TBB/FFF is the Fountain of Fair Fortune), and YL for “J.K. Rowling: A Year in a Life”. For a complete list of abbreviations and sources, see the Site Sources page.

UPDATE: Roonwit pointed out that the actual battle didn’t start until midnight, when Voldemort’s first ultimatum expired. That means we can firmly place the Battle of Hogwarts on May 2, from midnight until sunrise. Thanks! I’ll edit the timeline to make that clear.

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“J.K. Rowling, A Year in the Life” airs in the UK, available online
December 30, 2007
Posted by Lisa at 9:06 pm

On the whole, the show was lovely, although unlike the famous BBC “Harry Potter and Me” show (Part1 | Part2 | Part3 | Part4 | Part5), there is little new canon.

I think the title is a misnomer. Rather than being entirely about “a year,” we get a nice look at Jo’s roots with highlights of events from 2007. Among these are the moment she finishes Deathly Hallows (January 11), the hand off of the manuscript to her agent, a meeting of the worldwide publishers, footage of the book being printed, the OotP film premiere, the book launch at the Natural History Museum (and bits from world launches), at home baking in her kitchen for her son David’s birthday, and at a planning session for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park.

Other highlights:

• it is lovely to see Jo with her sister Di joking about old photographs,
• a stronger sense of place for towns where Jo spent her childhood,
• she is franker than I can remember about her relationship with her father,
• watching Jo draw the family trees of Harry and his friends,
• the wrenching scene in her old flat in Leith.

What were your favorite bits, or observations?

Update: There is an official video online now for everyone to view! Thanks Bander!

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Weasley third gen names and more!
December 29, 2007
Posted by Lisa at 2:58 pm

The third trailer for tomorrow’s ITV1 documentary [TLC YouTube Channel] shows Jo diagramming the family trees for the marriages and children of Harry and his friends. The tree is now on the Lexicon (thanks Mugglenet!) Here is a list of the new canon from the trailer:

• The Battle of Hogwarts took place May 2nd.
• Bill and Fleur’s children were named Victoire, Dominique and Louis.
• Charlie Weasley had no children and never married.
• Percy and Audrey’s children were named Molly and Lucy.
• George married Angelina Johnson and their children were named Fred and Roxanne.
• Luna and Rolf’s children (twins!) were named Lorcan and Lysander.
• Harry and Ginny’s children’s full names are James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna Potter.

The documentary will be broadcast in the UK on ITV1 tomorrow (December 30th) at 7pm.

Update! The door on Jo’s Website is open with the tree with additional information on Draco’s family.

• Draco and Asteria child’s full name is Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

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List of new canon from PotterCast interviews
December 29, 2007
Posted by Lisa at 2:40 pm

I posted this last night to Accio Quote, and figured it would be of interest here too…

PotterCast 130 (December 17, 2007)
text | audio

• Helga Hufflepuff gave the House-elves at Hogwarts “good conditions of work.” Her intent wasn’t to be activist, merely to be humane.
• The Beedle the Bard story “Wizard and the Hopping Pot” was used “to teach young wizards and witches that they should be using their magic altruistically.”
• The Beedle the Bard story “Fountain of Fair Fortune” taught wizarding children that “magic ultimately is not the best weapon” to achieve your heart’s desire.
• Originally Beedle the Bard was to be around 30 tales, but then Jo got the idea to hand write them and she did just the five.
• Jo chose “horcruxes” as a plural for Horcrux because Jo didn’t want too many words ending in r-i.
• Herpo the Foul created the first Horcrux, but Jo won’t say how, other than that it is a series of actions.
• Jo’s encyclopedia may not be published for ten years.
• Jo named John Dawlish for John Noe. Dawlish had been a powerful Auror, but was weakened by the time Augusta Longbottom laid into him.
• Augusta Longbottom was a “powerful witch.”
• Attitudes toward homosexuality in the Wizarding world are pretty similar to ours. People like Malfoy were more interested in someone’s blood status than their love life.
• JKR: “Dumbledore, who was the great defender of Love, and who sincerely believed that Love was the greatest, most powerful, force in the universe, was himself made a fool of by Love.”
• Grindelwald was Dumbledore’s “dark twin.”
• There is no romantic backstory for Madam Hooch.
• Harry was technically NOT a Horcrux because there was no intent to create one. The piece of Voldemort’s soul did not make Harry “evil” or “contaminated.”
• JKR: “The only time he ever felt it [Harry’s Horcrux] stirring and moving was in Order of the Phoenix, when he himself goes through a very dark time” and the piece of soul enjoyed it and fed off of it.
• The Sorting Hat detected the piece of Voldemort’s soul within Harry.
• Official definition of a Horcrux: “the receptacle is prepared by dark magic to become the receptacle of a fragmented piece of soul and that that piece of soul deliberately detached from the Master Soul to act as a future safeguard or anchor to life and to safeguard against death.”
• “In essence divided,” the scene in Dumbledore’s office where he watches a snake divide, was when the Headmaster was figuring out about the Horcruxes.
• Dumbledore suspected multiple Horcruxes because Voldemort treated the diary Horcrux so “casually.”
• Neville was born “hours” before Harry.
• Neville could have done what Harry did too.
• Neville’s family “just wanted him to match up” but it was “an impossible standard.”
• Alice and Frank Longbottom earned Voldemort’s ire because they were such “efficient” Aurors, and “were responsible for a lot of captures and arrests and imprisonments.”
• Voldemort asked Lily and James if they would join the Death Eaters, but they turned him down.
• Dumbledore knew about the attack on Godric’s Hollow because he had put a charm on the house.
• Jo isn’t sure how to explain Hagrid and Harry’s missing 24 hours after James and Lily were killed.
• Jo always thought of Hannah Abbott as being pureblood, but this contradicts her “cornerstone” notebook (visible to fans in “Harry Potter and Me” video). So to compromise, Jo says Hannah is Half-blood.
• Jo created her website because people wanted a fan club, but Jo wanted to do something that was free.
• There will be no more WOMBATs; they were created when Jo was advised not to publish bits of Book 7 on her website.
• Hermione went back to Hogwarts to take her seventh year and her NEWTs.
• Kinglsey recruited Ron, Neville, Harry to be Aurors; Ron and Harry never went back to Hogwarts to graduate.
• Hermione “had a bigger heart than she had a brain.”

PotterCast 131 (December 24, 2007)
text | audio

• Pansy Parkinson is the “anti-Hermione,” the personification of all the girls who teased Jo in school.
• Draco married Astoria Greengrass, the younger sister of Daphne. Astoria was two years behind Draco at Hogwarts.
• The Love Room in the Department of Mysteries contains a fountain in the center of the room full of a powerful love potion. Wizards and witches take the potion to study its effects.
• One “thread” in the books is what love does to people. It can make people heroic (Lily, Harry, Neville), it can also lead them into foolishness and evil (Dumbledore and Bellatrix).
• Bellatrix was obsessively in love with Voldemort.
• Not all Slytherins are bad.
• Jo is very involved in the planning of the theme park. It will have the “Jo touch.”
• Florean Fortescue was killed; there was more to him than was revealed in the books.
• Hagrid did not create Thestrals, he only bred the ones living at Hogwarts. He did breed the Skrewts.
• Wands are “quasi-sentient” because they carry so much magic.
• Wands they develop an affinity (”loyalty”) for the wizards who bear them. Disarming someone may not affect this, but if won in a duel the wand will switch allegiance. The exception is the Elder Wand which “knows no loyalty except to strength.”
• Voldemort confused “being prepared to murder with strength.”

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Happy Holidays
December 24, 2007
Posted by Steve at 7:39 am

We here at the Lexicon wish you all happy holidays and safe travel! I want to wish a very happy (belated) birthday to Lisa, whose big day snuck by us on December 8. Sorry, Lisa…

We also wish a happy birthday (a little early) to Melissa over at Leaky, who turns…er, some youngish age on the 27th.

For all of you in the US midwest, buried under that massive snowstorm: settle in, drink mulled wine, and snuggle up with a good book.

Merry Christmas!

Steve

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catching up
December 20, 2007
Posted by Steve at 7:46 am

Over the past few months, we here at the Lexicon have been traumatized and disheartened. What has been the hardest are the personal attacks, blatant disinformation, and rushing to judgement that have been hurled our way. The staff of the Lexicon consists of some of the most selfless, dedicated, passionate people on the face of the planet and they have quite frankly been on the verge of throwing in the towel. They don’t deserve that kind of abuse.

The Lexicon used to be a one man show. It’s not anymore because first of all, I can’t do it all, and second, the staff people here have so many skills and talents that I don’t have. They are quite an amazing team. The Lexicon staff members are truly wonderful people. I don’t think I’m overstating things when I say that fandom owes them a huge debt of gratitude.

Last summer I spoke at several conventions. I talked about how exciting it was, now that the book series was finished, to be moving into a new world of our own creative work. Jo herself endorsed the creativity of fans and encouraged us all to take up the story, if you will. My overriding hope in those talks was that people would feel empowered to continue being Harry Potter fans and not let the end of the series mean the end of fandom. I never expected that a few months later I would be watching fans turning on each other and breaking down the community we all worked so hard and with such love to build up.

I am as dedicated as I ever was to the fun and excitement of being a Harry Potter fan. I am eager to keep adding to the Lexicon and making it the amazing resource that it’s been for the past seven years. I sincerely hope that all of us can find our way forward to a place where we all find pleasure and pride in being Harry Potter fans.

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Rowling to be on PotterCast!
December 18, 2007
Posted by Lisa at 2:00 am

The Leaky Cauldron has announced that J.K. Rowling will be the featured guest on tomorrow’s PotterCast. Leaky staffers Melissa Anelli, Sue Upton and John Noe were on hand for the first extensive fan interview since 2005. Melissa promises new canon and lots of fun, so stay tuned. Among other things discussed was the missing 24 hours! Accio Quote has been asked to help with the transcript so we hope to have one for you by the end of the week.

Sorry for the tardy post, folks. I posted it to Accio Quote as soon as I got the news and figured Steve would post here. I didn’t count on him being offline all day, probably snowbound. Stay warm, everyone!

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New book pages: Beedle the Bard
December 15, 2007
Posted by Steve at 2:08 am

I have added a new section to the Lexicon: our Reader’s Guide for The Tales of Beedle the Bard. None of us has seen the actual book, of course, and we can’t write a full and detailed Reader’s Guide. However, the new owner of the book, Amazon.com, has been releasing fascinating information about the five stories. I’ll update the pages as we learn more and as I get time. By all means read the reviews and see the pictures on the Amazon.com page about the book, which is linked on our pages. I know I speak for all of us when I say how grateful and excited I am that the book was bought by someone who wants to share as much of the book as they can with fans.

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more from Jo
November 10, 2007
Posted by Steve at 6:00 am

Jo updated the news on her site again yesterday about the situation with the book. Here’s part of what she said:

“I take no pleasure in the fact that publication has been prevented for the present. On the contrary, I feel massively disappointed that this matter had to come to court at all. Despite repeated requests, the publishers have refused to even countenance making any changes to the book to ensure that it does not infringe my rights.”

It’s very hard to know what to write. For one thing, everything I write these days — everything I’ve ever written or said, in fact — is being dissected and analyzed to make me sound like a fool or a liar or an arrogant jerk (as I’m sure this will be as well). People who know me and have talked with me know that this isn’t the case. In fact, I think Jo and I are pretty much in the same place here. We’re both terribly sad and disappointed that we’re in this situation. Who could have imagined that we would ever find ourselves being portrayed as enemies fighting each other in court?

Anyone who knows me knows that I have always been a huge supporter of Jo and her work. I have spent years of my life writing about Harry Potter. The Lexicon is the product of thousands of hours of scholarship and love for the books and for the delightful world Jo has created. I have stood up against groups of people threatening to ban the books. I have discovered background information and connections and written thousands of words of commentary. I have shared my enthusiasm for Harry Potter at conventions.

Through it all, I have worked dilligently with everyone associated with the books to make sure we don’t violate copyright. There have been a number of times when I have talked with Jo’s people and held back information they didn’t want published or modified material on the Lexicon to make sure they approve. I got specific permission from Warner Bros. to use film images and the illustrations from the books. I have been just as dilligent with the rights of fans who have allowed me to use their writing and artwork. In each case I have listed the copyright owner and made sure that they were credited and that they retained their copyright.

Why in the world would I suddenly change my entire personality, my standards? To read some of what I’ve seen online, fans have decided that I am just trying to make huge amounts of money or that I have no respect for Jo. Some fans, along with WB, have speculated that I took the material they graciously allowed the Lexicon to use and slapped it into a book without permission. Some have jumped to the conclusion that I blatantly ignored demands that I not create a book from material on the Lexicon. That just isn’t who I am. I would never, never do something like that.

I’ve also read some very unkind things written about Jo. I’m not even going to repeat those things here. What I will ask is why in the world anyone would think that SHE would suddenly change her entire personality? We have respected her for years and loved her writing and the fact that she will interact with fans on her website and during personal appearances. She has encouraged our creativity and been thrilled to share her world with us.

One question that gets asked of me over and over is if I have ever met Jo or talked to her. The answer is no, I haven’t. I have always wished for that chance, but it’s never happened. There is a crazy part of me that believes that if she and I could just sit down and chat about this, we could get it all sorted out and put this miserable incident behind us.

Maybe then all of us could put it behind us and just get back to enjoying Harry Potter together.

Steve
still Jo’s man, through and through

about the upcoming book
November 4, 2007
Posted by Steve at 7:46 pm

Dear Friends,

I would like to thank each and every one of you for your support in recent days. Everyone here at the Lexicon, all volunteers, regrets the unpleasantness. We have always been interested in working with the publishers of the novels to satisfy their concerns, interests and needs and we certainly do not plan nor have we ever planned to publish anything which competes with Ms. Rowling’s fine literary capabilities. Our work has nothing to do with fiction writing and is only concerned with legitimate critical analysis and academic considerations. It has been widely approved and employed by Ms. Rowling herself.

My book was started in response to many, many people who talked to me and asked if there could be a print version of the Lexicon, not in some sort of attempt to profit off of fans. Because the material for the book was not only accepted but praised and used frequently by every entity concerned with creating the Harry Potter books, games, and films, I would never have thought that a print version could be judged differently.

I sincerely hope that this matter can be resolved amicably and ask for you patience and understanding during that process.

Steve

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon

link to the book page on the RDR Books website

NOTE: I know that many people (waves to the JournalFen crowd) are seeing conspiracy here with the comments gone, but to be frank, it’s nothing sinister. Well, unless you find lawyers sinister.

Another JKR Update
November 1, 2007
Posted by John at 11:11 am

Rowling has updated her site with another new news item today. She has handwritten seven leather-bound editions of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, six of which she plans to give as ‘thank-you’ gifts to those who have helped her most, and the seventh of which she will auction off next month for charity.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on publishing the collection for fans, as she did with Quidditch Through the Ages or Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

It’s also worth noting that it is the first day of a new month, and for the first time since Rowling’s site opened, we don’t have a new Wizard of the Month. It’s possible that since she opened the WotM archives yesterday, she no longer plans to continue adding more. We’ll keep you updated, of course, if anything changes.

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New Hidden Extras on JKR.com and News
October 31, 2007
Posted by Belinda at 11:25 am

Tricks and Treats abound on Jo’s official site today for Halloween!
There also appears to be new hidden extra content for you Scrapbook.

We’ll leave this post spoiler free for those wanting to solve the mysteries for themselves, but see the first comment in this pensieve for clues as we get them.
WooHoo!

Also, the Daily News has been updated with a new article.

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