Both the Sorting Hat and Professor Binns say that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago. Given our assumed timeline that places the books in the early to mid-1990s, that means that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came into existence sometime in the 900s. The four founders, Rowena… Read MoreWhy Did Harry Do That?• Article
Why didn’t Harry talk Parseltongue to the basilisk? Good question. There are a couple of times in the books where Harry seems to ignore the obvious solution. Another great example is when he was stuck in the trick stair, under his invisibility cloak, when the egg was screeching and he dropped the Marauder’s Map. There it lies almost within his grasp, and he… Read MoreWhen Magic Meets Muggle Technology• Article
From the start of the Harry Potter series, our hero finds himself a stranger in a very strange land. He discovers that the world he grew up in hides a secret wizarding world. This is no Oz or Wonderland that exists separate from the normal world and can only be entered through extraordinary means. Read MoreThat Had To Hurt...Or Did It?• Article
How can a one-year-old baby survive the destruction of his parents’ home? Hey, a Killing Curse is one thing, but how could Harry block tons of bricks and wood crashing down on top of him? As if that weren’t enough, the kid was on the second floor of the house! It would seem that Harry’s… Read MoreAncient Magic: Magic from Before the Dawn of Time?• Article
A comparison is inevitable between the Old Magic of the Harry Potter universe and the Magic From Before the Dawn of Time from C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books. Clearly there are similarities between the two, although they are not identical. Both the Harry Potter and the Narnia versions serve as a stronger, more intrinsic form… Read MoreWizard Banking• Article
Banking in the middle ages (which is the basic world in which wizards live) was in its infancy. Its primary reason for existence was to provide safe-keeping, for a price (they took some of your money in exchange for keeping it safe). This could still be the basic mode of… Read MoreUnifying Theory• Article
I have, for some time, been speculating on just why Voldemort would single out a child for destruction. There is, of course, the much talked about “Heir of Gryffindor” theory, but for me, this doesn’t hold with JKR’s theme of our choices making us who we are, and not innate qualities. So,… Read MoreDivination: The Theory and Practice of Prediction• Article
A theory as to the nature and functioning of Divination as a magical art… Divination is almost always misunderstood as “predicting the future”. Yes, it certainly is meant to do that, but successful Divination does not predict the raw future. Divination really predicts a future based on events that are currently happening outside of the wizard’s or witch’s… Read MoreTime Line: The End of PA• Article
Time Line: The End of PA Chronology of the evening of June 6, 1994 compiled and annotated by Hollydaze Here is a time line of when things could have happened, underneath is an explanation of why I think things happened in this order: I know people will argue… Read MoreGinny Weasley: Baby Sister, Best Friend• Article
What about Ginny? Although she figured prominently in the plot of CS, everything she did happened “off camera” and she didn’t really show up until her One Big Scene at the end. Who is she really? Is she just an “extra” or simply a stereotype, thrown in for decoration or for… Read MoreFamiliarity: The Key to Understanding Spellwork• Article
Why didn’t Quirrell just Accio the Philosopher’s Stone to him (PS17)? He probably couldn’t. Here’s why: Magic requires many elements, but a prime one is familiarity. That is why most spells are line-of-sight. The wizard must see what it is in order to charm/curse it. This has been said many… Read MoreThe Put-Outer and Magic on Privet Drive• Article
Dumbledore’s Put-Outer is a magical device introduced in PS1, and it is unique as the only tool used to perform magic aside from wands. The Put-Outer also has the distinction of being the first magical tool introduced in the series: [Dumbledore] found what he was looking for in his… Read MoreMagical Ability and Magic Wands• Article
On this page: Related information: What Magical Ability Is Canon Examples The Philosopher’s Labyrinth What Wands Are Stuff From Canon: Wand Idiosyncrasy and Power Harry as Focal Point There’s Something About Harry blood status wands What Magical Ability Is Canon Examples What is magical ability? The wizards… Read MoreTroubles with Time• Article
We know that book 2 takes place in 1992 because Nearly Headless Nick holds his 500th Deathday Party in CS8. There’s a cake on the table of “food” that bears this inscription: SIR NICHOLAS DE MIMSY-PORPINGTON DIED 31ST OCTOBER, 1492 Obviously, if you add five hundred years to… Read MoreHogwarts Ghosts• Article
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT In Muggle vernacular, we’re talking about ghosts; more specifically, the ghosts living at Hogwarts. But enlightened Muggles like ourselves know better, since there are some “ghosts” who aren’t ghosts after all. Peeves the Poltergeist is one: to quote Nearly-Headless Nick: “he’s not really even a ghost” (PS7). There… Read MoreThe Changing Image of Grown-Ups in the Harry Potter Books• Article
The Harry Potter books are shifting from kid’s books to more adult books as Harry ages, and I’ve noticed an interesting transition over the course of the four books so far, that pretty much tracks how a kid of Harry’s age views grownups in our world: PS: Grownups are a pain. They are stupid, nasty,… Read MoreFood and Drink in the Potter Universe• Article
In one of her many interviews, JKR said that wizards generally live longer than Muggles. After a thorough research about food in the Harry Potter universe and, above all, its magical part, the only possible conclusion is that wizards don’t have problems with cholesterol, otherwise their life span would be… Read MoreWhat really happened on the night James and Lily were killed? A Timeline and Commentary• Article
This analysis was originally written in 2001, after the publication of Goblet of Fire. It’s still around in its original form (and in the original format of Lexicon pages!). What you will read here has been revised and updated over the years to incorporate much of what we now know… Read MoreHarry Potter: Pureblood, Half-Blood, or "Mudblood"?• Article
Yes, Harry is half-blood. We learned in PS4 that Lily’s parents were Muggles. At least, that’s the implication of Aunt Petunia’s remarks that they were proud having a witch in the family. Voldemort, too, is half-blood: we learned in CS13 that his father was a Muggle (his mother was a witch). The intense focus on whether or not a certain character does or… Read MoreTeachers and Curriculum: Would You Want This For Your Child?• Article
Academics at Hogwarts are a curious mix of practical experience and rote learning. While the curriculum is dictated to some extent by the Ministry of Magic (GF14), each instructor is given considerable leeway in exactly what they teach and how they go about it. To be perfectly frank, some of the instructors at Hogwarts are very… Read More
Over a Thousand Years Ago: Britain at the Founding of Hogwarts
• Article
That Had To Hurt...Or Did It?
• Article
How can a one-year-old baby survive the destruction of his parents’ home? Hey, a Killing Curse is one thing, but how could Harry block tons of bricks and wood crashing down on top of him? As if that weren’t enough, the kid was on the second floor of the house! It would seem that Harry’s… Read More
Time Line: The End of PA
• Article
Hogwarts Ghosts
• Article
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT In Muggle vernacular, we’re talking about ghosts; more specifically, the ghosts living at Hogwarts. But enlightened Muggles like ourselves know better, since there are some “ghosts” who aren’t ghosts after all. Peeves the Poltergeist is one: to quote Nearly-Headless Nick: “he’s not really even a ghost” (PS7). There… Read More
Food and Drink in the Potter Universe
• Article
In one of her many interviews, JKR said that wizards generally live longer than Muggles. After a thorough research about food in the Harry Potter universe and, above all, its magical part, the only possible conclusion is that wizards don’t have problems with cholesterol, otherwise their life span would be… Read More
What really happened on the night James and Lily were killed? A Timeline and Commentary
• Article
This analysis was originally written in 2001, after the publication of Goblet of Fire. It’s still around in its original form (and in the original format of Lexicon pages!). What you will read here has been revised and updated over the years to incorporate much of what we now know… Read More
Teachers and Curriculum: Would You Want This For Your Child?
• Article
Academics at Hogwarts are a curious mix of practical experience and rote learning. While the curriculum is dictated to some extent by the Ministry of Magic (GF14), each instructor is given considerable leeway in exactly what they teach and how they go about it. To be perfectly frank, some of the instructors at Hogwarts are very… Read More