Harry Potter Lexicon Podcast The Harry Potter Lexicon

This is an encore presentation of an episode from June, 2011

Steve talks about Pottermore misconceptions, how Rowling changed the online world once before, cool and interesting sources of canon information, Galleons changing the world, the late Quidditch match in book one, and other bits of Potter lore.

Links:



* Harry Potter for Writers blog about Pottermore, including screen shots and a link to the video

* HP Lexicon sources: The Daily Prophet Newsletters

* HPL: Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts

* HP Lexicon essay: Wizard Money

* HPL: Reader’s Guide to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

This is an encore broadcast of the first Harry Potter Lexicon Podcast from June of 2011. 

Welcome to the Harry Potter Lexicon Podcast, in this first episode:



* Steve introduces the podcast

* thanks a few people

* reminiscing about visiting the graveyard in Godric’s Hollow

* the missing twenty-four hours

* the mystery of Quirrell

* and a few other oddities.



Links:



* The Harry Potter Lexicon

* Facebook page

This is truly a case of “You had to be there.”

When I read this chapter for the first time, the day after the book was released, I distinctly recall feeling a little bit surprised by Harry’s reaction to Lucius Malfoy. I knew there was no love lost between them, of course. However, the fact that Lucius Malfoy would be skulking around the Ministry and taking meetings with Fudge seemed perfectly normal. Of course a slimy guy like that would be trying to get in tight with the Minister for Magic.

Here’s how Rowling describes it:

They had just reached the ninth-level corridor and Cornelius Fudge was standing a few feet away from them, talking quietly to a tall man with sleek blond hair and a pointed, pale face.

The second man turned at the sound of their footsteps. He, too, broke off in mid-conversation, his cold grey eyes narrowed and fixed upon Harry’s face.

‘Well, well, well… Patronus Potter,’ said Lucius Malfoy coolly.

Harry felt winded, as though he had just walked into something solid. He had last seen those cold grey eyes through slits in a Death Eaters hood, and last heard that man’s voice jeering in a dark graveyard while Lord Voldemort tortured him.

All that is true, of course, but for fans reading this in June of 2003, it had all happened several years ago. A lot of discussion, a lot of re-reading, a ton of fan fiction, and the filmed versions of the first two books had come out since. In other words, for most fans the last they had seen of Lucius Malfoy was in the film of Chamber of Secrets, as Jason Isaacs’ long white wig whisked out of sight after his characters had accidentally freed Dobby.

I supposed it’s impossible to explain for those who weren’t reading the books at the time how the three years between books four and five affected fans — how it affected the whole world. Between July of 2000, when Goblet of Fire was published, and June of 2003, when Order of the Phoenix debuted, Harry Potter became a world-wide phenomenon. The characters of Harry, Ron, and Hermione now looked in everyone’s minds like Dan, Rupert, and Emma. There were trading cards and action figures and jewelry boxes and who knows what else. The first Harry Potter convention, Nimbus 2003, was held in Orlando. The internet became the new way for people to communicate and online fandom was essentially invented by Harry Potter fans.

So much had happened and so much had changed since fans had read those last few chapters of Goblet of Fire that the next paragraph they read in Order of the Phoenix just seemed odd. Rowling described Harry’s reaction to Lucius this way:

Harry could not believe that Lucius Malfoy dared look him in the face; he could not believe that he was here, in the Ministry of Magic, or that Cornelius Fudge was talking to him, when Harry had told Fudge mere weeks ago that Malfoy was a Death Eater.

“Mere weeks ago”? It’s true, the graveyard in Little Hangleton had only been a couple of weeks ago in the story timeline. Fans had to come to a screeching mental halt and try to remember how they had felt three years before, when Cedric Diggory had been murdered, when the Priori Incantatem effect had given Harry just the edge he needed...

The last week or two has just been chock full of new stuff for members of the fandom.  We have a new audiobook version of Quidditch through the Ages which also has a dramatization of the 2014 Quidditch World Cup which is particularly entertaining.  We have a new gameplay trailer for Hogwarts Mystery, a new logo for the Wizarding World as a whole.  Everything came to a head though when the first trailer for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” dropped, giving us plenty of tidbits to pour over, which we did in this episode.

We first talked about all the other new things, one at a time, and then we dug into the trailer and discussed it in length.  If you haven’t watched the trailer yet, we recommend you watch the trailer before you listen to this podcast, as we’d hate to spoil something before you have a chance to see it.



The longest bit of discussion about the trailer has to do with this image from the trailer:



At first glance the image doesn’t make any sense, but as you start reading it carefully you can tell it is what appears to be a Lestrange Family Tree.

Shout outs to both the Super Carlin Brothers and the Harry Potter Wiki who digested this family tree before we had a chance to do it.  The Wiki, in particular, does a great job of picking apart every name and the connections between them, be sure to check it out.

The big connection is that this family tree indicates that Credence is actually Leta Lestrange’s half-brother Corvus Lestrange V.  Naturally this mind-blowing reveal gave us plenty to talk about and our other topic of conversation we had on the docket we’ll have to save for a future episode.

There’s plenty more to talk about and figure out, for example, what the heck is that moose thing?  Also, stop obsessing about apparating onto the non-existent bridge!  The bridge does not exist in the books anyway, so apparating onto it doesn’t mean anything, and even if it did, they apparate to a point on the bridge far away from the castle, that could very well be where the boundary on that side of the grounds is.

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.

For our things that caught our eye lately, Steve was excited about yet another new Lego set (the Thestral Carriage from the new trailer), and Nick talked about a video he had watched this week about the reasons that Warner Brothers won out over Disney for the movie rights, and why Universal Studios ended up with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter instead of Disney World.

Episode 30 of our main Lexicon Podcast is shorter than usual and is all about discussing our new podcast, the Harry Potter Lexicon Minute.

We started the episode by talking about the rich collection of essays on the Lexicon and the recent feedback we’ve received telling us that we have incorrect information in some of these essays that were published before the books were all written.  We talked a bit about an upcoming new feature that will make it easier to understand just where in the history of the Harry Potter Fan community each essay was written.

We talked a bit about the first trailer for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery and how excited we are for the upcoming game.

We then spent a few minutes talking about our new sponsor on our Support the Lexicon page.  Thanks to Magic Alley for supporting the Lexicon, and especially for sponsoring the new Harry Potter Lexicon Minute Podcast, we are very grateful.  To our readers, if you find yourself in need for some Harry Potter Memorabilia, please check out our friends at MagicAlley.co.uk.

The remainder of the episode was spent talking about our new feature, the Harry Potter Lexicon Minute.  Our editors (not just us) have been recording some great tidbits of Harry Potter fandom insights and if you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should check out the new podcast, which releases twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays, you can find it on the home page or here.

If you like the Harry Potter Lexicon Podcast as much as we do, don’t worry, we aren’t stopping this podcast, the Harry Potter Lexicon Minute is just an additional podcast for you to enjoy.

In this episode recorded on December 19th, Steve, Nick, and Barbara all record from the same room, which happens to be a hotel room in Anaheim Hills, CA as we were on a Disney filled vacation involving Disneyland and touring the Walt Disney Studios.

What’s new in the Lexicon

Not much, we talked about mystery pages on the old lexicon that have shown up in analytics.

Harry Potter News

There’s now an official Harry Potter RPG coming.  We talk about how exciting this is and what we are hoping for out of the game.  Steve and Barbara talk about Stardew Valley, a game that it is mentioned this game is based on.  We also talk a little bit about Portkey Games, the new Warner Brothers Interactive and Pottermore for wizarding world games.

We also talk a bit about the latest updates (as of then) from the production of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and how much we are looking forward to it.

Why Voldemort Killed his parents in 1942, not 1943

Our first of two main topics this episode is a discussion about the phrase “In his sixteenth year.”  Every so often we get feedback stating that we are wrong to put the murder of Tom Riddle’s parents in 1942 instead of 1943 as other sites on the internet are known to do.

Steve explains why the murders have to take place in 1942 because “In his sixteenth year” means “his sixteenth year of life” as opposed to “when he was sixteen.”  We also discuss a bit about the different levels of canon and how to make decisions on things such as what position James played on the Quidditch team.

Is Gamp’s Law a Legal or a Scientific Law?

Our next topic of conversation is about Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration.  The three of us had long run under the assumption that Gamp’s Law is the magic equivalent of a Scientific law, such as the laws of thermodynamics, or the law of gravity.  That is to say that it is an explanation of how magic works and why.  A recent essay that Steve had read, however, assumed that Gamp’s Law was actually a written legal law to prevent misuse of magic.

After our discussion, we are still pretty convinced that Gamp’s Law is a scientific law, but we’re eager to know what you think down in the comments.

We also take this opportunity to discuss what Gamp’s Law really is based on what we know of the wizarding world.

Wrap Up

We hope you enjoy this special episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.  It is a rare treat that we can sit down together and record a podcast live.