Shortly after the Lexicon was created in 2000, the first essay appeared: The Limits of Magic by Caius Marcius. From that point on, the Lexicon’s collection of canon-based essays grew and grew. As the book series progressed, many of those essays became outdated or were proven wrong. However, they are all included in our collection as an archive of fan thinking and speculation during those exciting years. You can find all those essays, plus new ones as they get published, listed here. The following listing of essays is in reverse chronological order — the more recent essays are listed first.

• Essay
Posted by in Essays
© 2000 First Things 99 (January 2000): 35-38. By now most readers in this country are aware of what has come to be called the Harry Potter phenomenon. It’s hard to be unaware. Any bookstore you might care to enter is strewn with giant stacks of the Harry Potter… Read More
• Essay
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
We all know the amazing things that magic is capable of in JKR’s narrative. I’d like to look at some of the things that magic is apparently unable to do in the JKR universe (as opposed to things that wizards don’t do, such as the Unforgivable Curses, for legal reasons or because of… Read More