The Lexicon Blog
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
I know it’s a few days past April Fool’s Day, but don’t let that stop you from reading this wonderful piece by Bron Suchecki on the Monetary Metals website. Judging by the comments, a number of readers of that website for serious investors made it quite far into the article before realizing… Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Pottermore
The folks over at Pottermore have waved their wands once more and produced a few more beautiful scenes from J.K. Rowling's version of the Potterverse. While we can hardly say that Pottermore is now complete -- they'll need to add a lot more scenes for that to happen -- at least we can be glad that we now have moments that span the entire series of novels. Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
Today I received an interesting question in email from Katty Geltmeyer, a great fan friend of the Lexicon:
"In PA, Lupin told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that he found out they were in the Shrieking Shack by using the marauders Map. But Harry and Hermione traveled back in time and were lurking around the Willow. How is it possible that Lupin didn't see the extra Harry and Hermione on the map?"
Here's my opinion, based on canon. Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Lexicon Podcast
The Harry Potter Lexicon podcast is back with a new series. In this episode Steve talks about Severus Snape (and calls him "Snake" by accident more than once), Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Pottermore
So who won the 1966 Quidditch World Cup?
According to Rowling's history of the event on Pottermore, it was Australia: Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Characters
Let’s admit it: sometimes it seems that Harry is something of a bumbler in the early books. He fails to ask the most obvious questions of the adults around him. He barely manages his schoolwork and doesn’t seem to be able to write an essay without relying on Hermione. And he comes… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Pottermore
Pottermore has updated their map for summer with things like a few beach chairs by the seaside and some wildflowers. I also noticed, however, that there appears to be a Quintaped on a little island off the coast. Has that always been there? As soon as I noticed it, I automatically clicked on… Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Fandom News
The “new short story” … which really isn’t a short story and really doesn’t tell us much that’s new, but whatever. PEOPLE.com is jumping on the media blitz bandwagon and giving their picks for casting the movie version, which you’ll find here: Fantasy Cast J.K. Rowling’s New Story http://bit.ly/1tkqIEJ This… Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
Everybody knows that your Hogwarts letter should arrive on your eleventh birthday. But careful reading suggests that no, it doesn’t. Harry’s only did by coincidence. The first letter actually arrived on July 24. It was only because of Uncle Vernon’s comical attempts to avoid the letters that Hagrid had to… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
Most of the differences between the US and UK editions are very minor, simply changes to phrasing or terms to make the text easier to understand for American readers. However, a few differences are a little bigger than that. In a couple of cases, one version gives a nugget of canon information that the other misses entirely. Since canon facts are what the Lexicon is all about, we've been tracking these differences over the years. Here are a few interesting ones: Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
Way back in the late 90s, the Harry Potter books came out in Britain first, long before the US editions. In fact, it took a whole year for Philosopher's Stone to be Transfigured into Sorcerer's Stone. During that year, the editors at Scholastic changed a lot more than the title. They replaced a lot of British terms which they assumed would confuse American readers.
In some cases, I guess they were probably right. Many Americans would have no idea what a "bobble hat" or a "packet of crisps" was, and in the U.S. a "jumper" Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Rants
Quidditch is awesome! Quidditch is exciting! Quidditch is the best sport in the world! Those Bludgers flying around, trying to smash into people! The Keepers hanging from their brooms to block a 10-point shot! The Seeker making a spectacular diving catch of the Golden Snitch and scoring 150 points!
Wait, what? The Seeker scores 150 points in one go? Compared to only ten points for a goal? That's crazy. It doesn't make sense.
I've read the argument any number of times: the number of points gained from a Snitch capture is WAY too large for the game to be fair. Your Chasers can play their hearts out for hours, scoring Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
In her writing on Pottermore, Rowling has revealed a lot of new information about the wizarding world and the characters in it. Here are a few interesting tidbits: 1 – Hufflepuff has produced fewer Dark Wizards than any other house. 2 – The name ‘Ollivander’ is believed to mean ‘he… Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Fandom News
Now this is a film I’d like to see. Muggle Quidditch originated at Nimbus, the first ever Harry Potter convention, in Orlando in 2003. I did the announcing for the first ever match, which was played in the ballroom of the hotel! I wonder if they have any photos from that… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Uncategorized
Here are a few very interesting Rowling quotes for your reading pleasure. I've added my own thoughts here and there.
About the first chapter of Philosopher's Stone:
"The very, very earliest drafts of the first chapter of 'Philosopher's Stone' have the Potters living on a remote island, Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
There's not much information in the canon about witches and wizards in the United States. Rowling mentions a couple of American Quidditch teams in Quidditch Through the Ages, including one in my home state of Texas, as well as the American broom game called Quodpot, and we all remember the cryptic mention of the Salem Witches' Institute in Goblet of Fire. However, buried in a news report from the currently-ongoing Quidditch World Cup in Patagonia was a very interesting little nugget Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in The Films
Many of us fans like to complain about the Harry Potter films. Oh, we do so lovingly (for the most part), but we still complain. We wish that this or that scene had been included. We can't understand why they changed that particular thing when they could have just as well followed the book. We point out how they completely MISSED THE POINT OF BOOK THREE!!!
Deep breath. I'm okay.
But there are some moments in the films where they totally nailed it. There are moments where they managed to capture whole swaths of the story in one lovely visual. There are times when the actors just captured the characters so perfectly that we can't imagine the scene any other way, even if we know that it was different in the books.
Here are four of examples of what I'm talking about: Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Uncategorized
Back in the heyday of Harry Potter fandom, when we lived in eager (desperate) anticipation of the next book, Rowling gave quite a few interviews. It was clear from the answers she gave that she had the details of her created world and her plot lines very carefully planned out. However, inevitably some of the answers she gave turned out to be incorrect, either because she dropped a story line or changed her mind.
Just for fun, here are three Rowling interview quotes which gave information she later changed or left hanging: Read More
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Posted
by Nick Moline
in Website news
Hello everyone, you may have noticed some changes around here lately, most of them right here in the What’s New section of the site. The Lexicon Blog First of all, the What’s New section has now become The Lexicon Blog. And it’s more than just a change in title. Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
In the summer of 2004, Bloomsbury released new editions of the Harry Potter books. These new editions featured a slew of changes to the original text. Some of the changes were simple fixes for typos. For example, on the third line of page 15 of Philosopher’s Stone, the word… Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Canon discussion
Admit it. Even though you've read the Harry Potter books three, four, er--twenty times before, when you get to the end of some chapters, you just HAVE to turn the page and keep reading. You even get a tiny reminder of that thrill you had the first time you read it, that shiver of excitement that made you charge on into the next chapter at 3am, even when you had somewhere to be first thing the next morning.
We've all been there. So to celebrate our shared unashamed love affair with the Harry Potter books, here's a list of Rowling's "4 Best Cliffhanger Chapter Endings" from the first three books: Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Uncategorized
At the Lexicon, we try very hard to spell everything correctly according to the books. We also try to capitalize words that Rowling capitalizes. We figure that if we carefully follow the books, we should be able to get it right.
How very wrong we are. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Uncategorized
On the evening of May 26th, 1992, Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Neville serve detention. The punishment, which they earned by trying to get Hagrid out of his own stupid mess with the baby dragon, is to tramp around the forest in the middle of the night, unarmed, looking for something ruthless enough to attack unicorns. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Rants
I enjoy a good Harry Potter meme as much as the next guy. Okay, maybe more than the next guy, since the next guy probably isn't obsessive Harry Potter fan. True, some are a bit lame and others are clearly aimed at teenage girls, but whatever. We all have our favorite ways to fan-crush on something and I'm great with that. However, there are some memes that are flat-out false. They pop up like Death Eaters and no matter how often fans try to Avada Kedavra them, they keep coming back. Here are three that particularly aggravate the true fan in me: Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Lexicon Podcast
Steve talks about the upcoming Potter play, the latest Pottermore updates, various arcana from the Book of Spells, and sources which may or may not be canon. Then he finally tackles the complexities of the seventh book and explains why, for the entire series to make sense, the Hallows are essential and Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort absolutely cannot be violent. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Website news
I did an interview today with a Brazilian newspaper and one of the questions was “What was your favorite experience as a Harry Potter fan?” I thought about all the incredible things that I’ve been privileged to do, from visiting the film sets to exploring Britain to write a book about… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in What's New
I’ve been trying to work out the best way to organize the Spell Encyclopedia. There are basically four types of entries: spell names (Full Body-Bind), incantations (Petrificus Totalus), unnamed magic (“fire whip”), and categories (fire magic). Trouble is, every spell doesn’t have both an incantation and a spell name. Some… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in What's New
When I start reading the Lexicon, I find myself following link after link, rediscovering the rich world of Harry Potter. I might end up reading some old essay or finding a page about nicknames or a map of Quidditch teams of the world … and before you know it, an… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in What's New
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here, mostly because I’ve been putting most of my updates and comments on the HP Lexicon’s Facebook page and Google+ page. Here’s what’s been going on with the Lexicon lately: A new series of books is available called The Harry Potter Lexicon… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Fandom News
In Search of Harry Potter a travel memoir by Steve VanderArk How did this book come about? A few years ago I did a couple of talks at Nimbus 2003 in Orlando, Florida, the first Harry Potter convention. One of them was about the geography of… Read More
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Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Lexicon Podcast
Steve chats about Rowling's take on "official" Harry Potter, then discusses different modes of storytelling in book five, fan recommendations for best re-reads, how Sectumsepra just might be necessary, and how Molly Weasley rocks long before her showdown with Bellatrix. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Lexicon Podcast
Steve marvels at the levels of the soundscapes on Pottermore, then bemoans expensive canon and Rowling's lost website, reads a wonderful insight from a fan about the magic of books, then finds book five to be "really jarring on a number of levels" ... and yet his favorite book of the series. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Lexicon Podcast
Steve starts "season two" of the podcast by reviewing the past nine episodes, then discusses new things on Pottermore, discovering Diagon Alley in London, how the world of Harry Potter changed during the gap between books four and five, and why that gap left many fans unprepared for book five when it came. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in What's New
Today I was asked about my position on the pending legistation in the US congress known as SOPA and PIPA. As the webmaster of a relatively popular website, as a published author, and as a dedicated fan of the Harry Potter series, I firmly oppose this legislation. These bills are… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Lexicon Podcast
Steve wonders about the numbers 1531 and 4157, then talks about December in the Harry Potter universe, what makes the Dark Arts dark (and where Crouch Jr. could have learned them), mixes up the spelling of a spell and forgets the order of Priori Incantatem, then recalls experiences with anti-Potter book-banners. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Lexicon Podcast
Steve raves about Pottermore, then talks about dragon breeds, interviews from the misty past, offensive spells, Rowling's trickery, missing the whole point, and other odds and ends of Harry Potter lore. Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in What's New
I’ve been wandering around Pottermore lately. Everywhere I look, I find interesting canon information (along with the odd chocolate frog card or galleon). As I’ve mentioned before in the podcast, I won’t be posting all of that new canon information on the Lexicon. There’s no way I want the Lexicon… Read More