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Posted by in What's New
One of the key features of the Lexicon is the Atlas. Back in 2000, I started researching and creating maps of Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and other locations found in the books. I got the idea for this from the various books I’d collected over the years featuring maps for other… Read More
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Posted by in Website news / What's New
The Lexicon has been Transfigured! I am beyond excited to finally open the doors and bring all of you into the new, modern Harry Potter Lexicon. This project has been a four-year process, starting with long planning meetings over coffee back in 2012. About two years ago our team designed and… Read More
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Posted by in Website news / What's New
As the new site comes closer to being live, I spent some time as a guest on Mugglenet Academia podcast. We chatted about the 18-year history of Harry Potter fandom and about the plans and hopes for the new Lexicon in the 21st century. Give it a listen! http://www.mugglenet.com/2015/11/mugglenet-academia-lesson-38-the-harry-potter-lexicon-here-and-back-again-is-now-available-for-download/… Read More
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Posted by in Website news / What's New
It’s almost here. As many of you know, two years ago, Nick Moline and I started working on a complete update and overhaul of the venerable Lexicon website. Our goal was to find a way to bring all the content of the Lexicon into a content management system to allow… Read More
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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 Theories / What's New
For many years, fans spent most of their time online trying to figure out the mysteries in the Harry Potter books. In fact, the Lexicon was born out of those discussions back in 1998, when the group Harry Potter for Grown Ups was a hotbed of theorizing and hypothesizing. Back then, there was no Read More
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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
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Posted by 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
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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
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Posted by 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
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Posted by 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
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Posted by in What's New
Here’s the answer to the most common question I get in email: Yes, the Lexicon is still being updated and edited. The changes are kind of hard to notice, for the most part, since they consist mostly of reformatting pages and making small edits and corrections to the content, but… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
This morning I was working through the emails I’ve received noting various Lexicon errors or edits. One email asked why the Minister for Magic page didn’t list Pius Thicknesse. I knew the answer to that one. The reason Thicknesse isn’t listed it that the Minister for Magic page hadn’t been… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I just received this email from Rose: “Just thought you should know that Jo has updated her site. Where her diary used to be is now a notebook with multiple pages. It’s called “Everything You Might Want to Know”, and it has info on herself, her books, different awards and… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
It’s September the first, and young witches and wizards have converged on King’s Cross Station in London for the journey north to Hogwarts. Me, I’m just working through all the emails I’ve received with suggestions for edits, updates, corrections, and additions to the Lexicon. Unfortunately, there’s no Welcoming Feast awaiting… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
This recommendation is way overdue, and I apologise for taking so long to post it. John Kearns, formerly an editor here at the Lexicon, is putting together a fantastic reader’s guide to the Harry Potter series called The Harry Potter Companion. The Companion offers commentary on each chapter of… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I made it home at 3:30 this morning, my head buzzing. Did I like the “Half-Blood Prince” film? Absolutely! I loved it! I think this film captures more detail of the original book than any other of the films have managed to do. It’s what the film of “Prisoner of… Read More
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Posted by in What's New
I just finished two interesting Harry Potter books (and I’m starting on a third). One is “Harry Potter Should Have Died” from our friends at MuggleNet. I wouldn’t call this a book of “literary analysis” — it’s too lightweight for that. But that’s not a criticism: I very… Read More