Harry Potter Lexicon: Recent Episodes

The Harry Potter Lexicon

The most compleat and amazing reference to the world of Harry Potter

View Details

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 fictional worlds, from the investigations of Sherlock Holmes to the voyages of Horatio Hornblower. My first sketch map was a precise interpretation of Hogwarts and the surrounding area based on the text of the first four novels. These maps became the first Atlas of the Wizarding World on the Lexicon. Over the years, the maps I created were were joined by maps from a number of other researchers and artists. The current Atlas includes a lot of amazing maps, some keyed to the world shown in the films and others focusing on the text of the books.

I haven’t added any maps to the Lexicon in years, since Rowling hasn’t really added much to the canon of the Wizarding World. Fans these days are naturally focused mostly on the films and theme parks these days. But I was recently contacted by ŁukeGki, a dedicated fan of the original books, who has created an excellent collection of maps of Hogwarts based on the text of those books. Luke suggested that these maps might make a great addition to the Atlas on the Lexicon and I couldn’t agree more. Rather than copy the pages onto the Lexicon, I figured the best way to include them would be to link directly to the website where they’re published.

So here you go: by all means visit and explore and enjoy!

Hogwarts by LukeGki

Note: ordering by means of any Amazon links in this post will contribute a small amount to the Lexicon, for which I am very grateful!

The post Mapping the Wizarding World appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

I recently received two comments on two different entries in the Lexicon which brought up the same problem: the real world calendar doesn’t always agree with the days and dates in the books.

I’m sure some of you are saying “Of course, we know that, this has been discussed in fandom for years and years.” That’s because you’ve been in fandom long enough to realize that. A lot of people, however, are just coming into fandom or haven’t ever paid close enough attention to the details in the Harry Potter books to realize the discrepancies. Now they see a problem — for example when the newsreader in the first chapter of Philosopher’s Stone says that Bonfire Night is next week, but he says this on Tuesday the 1st of November, which would make November 5th the Saturday of the same week — and wonder if anyone else has ever noticed this.

The answer is yes, we have. And there are a lot of such issues in the books, so many that finding them is kind of like finding “hidden Mickeys” at Disneyland. It’s clear that Rowling has made no effort to correlate real world calendars with her stories, and that’s okay. After all, the Harry Potter universe is not ours, it’s a fantasy reality. There’s no requirement that the calendar of the stories has to match that of our reality. It’s a fantasy. Just run with it.

Except that when I’m working on the timeline, I sometimes have to try to make things fit anyway. If I’m going to place events in a logical sequence, I have to make some assumptions and guesses, and those assumptions and guesses have to come from somewhere. I use the real world calendar for that. I know that things are never going to actually fit, but I have to do the best I can. I sometimes have to assume dates and times just so the timeline will put things in the proper order. The timeline is programmed to look at the structured data to figure out the correct sequence of events.

So I use whatever real world information I can find to make those assumptions and enter my best guesses into the structured data for an event. For example, I find out what time the sun set on a particular day and if the event happened after it was dark, I’ll guess a logical time after it. I’ll guess how long it took for something to happen and then put an approximate time on the next event to keep things in the correct order. Take a look at the events for the Battle of Hogwarts, as a great example. No times were given for any of the events from jumping off the dragon to appearing in Hogsmeade to infiltrating Hogwarts and so on. So I checked what time the sun set in various parts of Britain on that day and then worked my way though the text of the chapters, looking for any reference that might help me guess the times for subsequent events all the way through to sunrise the next day, which is when Voldemort was killed. All of those times were entered into the structured data for the events, which is why you will see them on the timeline in the correct order.

Will users see those times? Probably not. Sometimes I’ll add details into the Timeline Notes, but most of the time this information is hidden. After all, it’s not canon — it’s assumptions. Since we know that Rowling was making no effort to match up to real world dates and times, we can’t figure that she checked things like sunset times. But if I didn’t add those details behind the scenes, the timeline programming would have no way of properly ordering events.

I mentioned that I had two different comments that spurred this blog entry. One of them specifically mentioned the Bonfire Night problem. The other noted that I had listed March as the timeframe for the capture of the Trio by Snatchers and the imprisonment in and subsequent escape from Malfoy Manor, while Narcissa clearly states that Malfoy in home for the Easter holidays. Easter in 1998 was on April 12, so the two-week Easter holidays would have been in April, not March.

The commentor was correct. This was a dilemma. The books states that Ron finally guessed the correct password for Potterwatch in March, but the incident at Malfoy Manor was during the Easter holidays. I checked with my British editors and they told me that in “real world” 1998, the Easter holidays were from April 6 though April 17. So how can we make this all work out?

I decided that, in spite of the real world school schedule, Hogwarts must have had their Easter holidays a week earlier, starting on March 29. That way Ron could figure out the password on March 29, 30, or 31, at which time Malfoy would already be at Malfoy Manor since his holiday break would have already started. So I went through the sequence of events and guessed times for everything. Now that series of events appear in the correct order. I did add some notes to the entries explaining the reasons for the dates chosen.

If you’d like to read more about the problem of days, dates, and times in the Potter books, check out these pages:

Timeline Facts and Questions

What Really Happened on the Night James and Lily were Killed?

When Was Charlie Born? A Canon Conundrum

The post Making the Calendar Fit appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

So where are all the new facts from the new film, you ask? Still secret to me. I haven’t had a chance to see it. For health reasons, I haven’t been to a movie theater in years and am hesitant to go now. On top of that, I was in the process of moving the […]

The post The Secrets of Dumbledore … still a secret? appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

April, like March, tends to be fairly quiet at Hogwarts. The Fifth and Seventh Years are working harder than ever with the OWL and NEWT exams looming in just a few months. Here are the highlights for March: During Harry’s Time at Hogwarts: 1992 On or about the 24th, Hagrid’s dragon egg hatches. He names […]

The post Exploring April in the Harry Potter Universe appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

March is typically an uneventful month for Harry and the others at Hogwarts. Hermione starts studying intensely for the exams: Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Philosopher’s Stone. She had started drawing up revision schedules and color-coding all her notes. Harry and Ron wouldn’t have minded, but she kept nagging them to […]

The post Exploring March in the Harry Potter Universe appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

February is dominated by Valentine’s Day, of course, but a lot of other interesting events happen during this month. Probably the biggest February event during Harry’s time at Hogwarts was the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. I’m particularly intrigued by the antics of Minister for Magic Pricilla Dupont who was forced to resign on the […]

The post Exploring February in the Harry Potter Universe appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

One of the latest books to come out for Dungeons and Dragons is called Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos. The book is designed to provide D&D players with the opportunity to play as students at a magical school. It’s pretty easy to see the connections to the adventures of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts. I […]

The post Playing Strixhaven as Hogwarts appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

The excitement of the impending holidays during December gives way in January to the dull routine of the beginning of the winter term at Hogwarts. The students return, typically aboard the Hogwarts Express, the first weekend of the month. Quidditch practices begin again and the first match of the new term is played mid-month. During […]

The post Exploring January in the Harry Potter Universe appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

In December, the weather turns colder and even snowy. The first school term ends just before the Christmas holidays. Almost all the students go home for the two-week break but a few stay. They are invited to a Christmas feast which involves magical crackers and quite a bit of alcohol (for the adults). December is […]

The post Exploring December in the Harry Potter Universe appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

After the hustle and bustle of September, October sees life settle down quite a bit for students at Hogwarts. The most exciting part of the month is undoubtedly Hallowe’en, the very last day of the month. And in fact, most of the October events in the Harry Potter canon are about Hallowe’en. In 1991, the […]

The post Exploring October in the Harry Potter Universe appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

I’ve updated all the entries and artwork that will appear on the home page scroller. The theme this time around is “September.” A lot happens at Hogwarts in the first month of the school year: Quidditch tryouts, the first classes for each subject for the year, the First Years learning to fly, and a lot […]

The post Exploring September in the Harry Potter Universe appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

In my last podcast, I talked about the first of two magic duels in chapter 36 of Order of the Phoenix, the one between Harry and Bellatrix. Now it’s time to move on to the main event, the massive duel between Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort. There is no other magical battle in the entire series […]

The post OP36: Of Magic and Duels Part Two appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Umbridge is one of those characters the reader is supposed to hate and despise, but she isn’t a Death Eater, she’s just a nasty person. Sirius sums this up well by saying “The world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters”, and Umbridge is the perfect embodiment of this maxim, showing the nuance that […]

The post Of Umbridge and Macnair appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

In this podcast we’re going to take a look at the incredible magical duels in chapter 36 of the Order of the Phoenix. Before we get to the main duel in the chapter, however, that between Voldemort and Dumbledore, we learn a bit about the Unforgivable Curses when Harry and Bellatrix have their own duel […]

The post OP36: Of Magic and Duels Part One appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Season Three is Here! Hello, everyone. Back in January, 2018, I created a new short-form podcast called The Harry Potter Lexicon Minute. I had planned on a shorter title — The Harry Potter Minute — but discovered that there was already a podcast with that name, so I added the Lexicon’s name. The podcast ran […]

The post Season Three is Here! appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Our featured artist this time around is Felicia Cano. Felicia’s lush, caricature-style artwork captures the true heart of each character. He depiction of Umbridge looming over a small, blonde, big-eared Gryffindor is a great example. The detail is delicious: scads of cat pictures, that evil black quill, and even snarling cats carved into the desk. […]

The post Featured Artist: Felicia Cano appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Our featured artist this week is NicoPony. Her exquisite drawings capture not only classic scenes and settings but also some unique moments from the books which are seldom if ever illustrated. Here’s a great example: Guest Artist page https://www.hp-lexicon.org/author/nicopony/ Gallery

The post Featured Artist: NicoPony appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

You might have noticed that the website seems to be crashing a lot lately. Believe me, we’ve noticed it too! We are very, very sorry for the inconvenience. The server on which the Lexicon was running has been slowly deteriorating over the past year or so. We’ve been nursing it along while waiting for the […]

The post What’s Going On with the Lexicon Lately? appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Our featured artist this week is Lisa Magnusson. Lisa’s work, done with strong dark lines, muted colors, and carefully-crafted composition, features expressive faces which bring out the deep emotions and glimpses into the internal struggles of the characters. Here’s a great example: Guest Artist page https://www.hp-lexicon.org/author/lisa-magnusson/ Gallery  

The post Featured Artist: Lisa Magnusson appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

The Lexicon is 20 Years Old! To celebrate in true Lexicon fashion, we spent the second half of 2020 celebrating what many consider go be the truest form of Harry Potter canon: the Harry Potter novels. Every week from July through the end of the year we posted a new collection of resources to allow […]

The post Celebrating the Canon Celebration and Looking Forward appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

And we’ve finally reached the end — the last eleven chapters of the last Harry Potter book, plus the epilogue. For the past six months we’ve been exploring a different part of Harry Potter canon in sequence. Back in the late 1990s and 2000s, fans read each of these books as they were released, waiting […]

The post Deathly Hallows 26-36 and the Epilogue Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Things get darker now all around the wizarding and Muggle worlds. Lord Voldemort’s people have taken over the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione have escaped thanks to Hermione’s skills and planning. But nothing is straightforward – arguments, adventures and angst are on the way…. Take a deep breath – here we go! Podcasts: […]

The post Deathly Hallows 9-25 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Finally, we arrive at the last book of the series. While we know that Harry has decided (along with Ron and Hermione) not to return to Hogwarts this school year, we have still to find out exactly what he has in mind to be able to complete the task set by Albus Dumbledore before his […]

The post Deathly Hallows 1-8 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

A few weeks ago we talked about some excellent sources of information about the Wizarding World which weren’t novels: the “replica” schoolbooks of Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as well as Daily Prophet Newsletters and the Famous Wizards cards. We at the Lexicon consider a number of other sources […]

The post Canon Celebration: Rowling’s Websites, Interviews, and Tales of Beedle the Bard appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

In the final six exciting chapters that end this book, revelations, betrayals and death were promised – and so there shall be – but what they also contain is love. Handkerchiefs at the ready? Onwards we go! Podcasts: Episode 25: The Horcrux Conundrum by Nick Moline and Steve VanderArk Horcrux Deaths by Steve VanderArk Reader’s […]

The post Half-Blood Prince 25-30 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Summer is over and it is time to return to Hogwarts. Harry has lessons with Professor Dumbledore to look forward to. He becomes surprisingly talented in Potions class and works hard as the new Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. But what is his classmate Draco Malfoy actually up to? Ready or not, here we […]

The post Half-Blood Prince 7-24 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

What in the Wizarding World will happen during Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts? Lord Voldemort has returned and the safety of families and students is at risk. And, there will be yet another appointment to the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching post. Ready for revelations? Here we go! Podcasts: Who Enforces the Statute of […]

The post Half-Blood Prince 1-6 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

What keeps the Wizarding World going? How does it work? The main organisation in the UK is the Ministry of Magic, but there are many more entities that keep things together and Muggle-free. Ready to discover more about these? Onwards we go! Podcasts: OP 7 The Ministry of Magic by Steve VanderArk Who Enforces the […]

The post Canon Celebration: Wizarding Life and Organizations appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

A lot has happened so far this year. Fred and George have butted heads with Hermione over their product testing, and Ron has butted heads with her over the Hogwarts house-elves. Harry has struggled with both his relationship with Cho and, thanks to Umbridge, (not) getting to play Quidditch. Hagrid and Madame Maxime, after a […]

The post Order of the Phoenix 28-38 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Between having to appear before the Ministry to explain his Patronus charm, many of his fellow students doubting Voldemort’s return, and butting heads with the new Ministry-sent DADA professor, Harry’s been on the defensive….and it’s taking a toll on him. Will Harry be believed at last? And the strange dreams he’s been having–will anyone help him […]

The post Order of the Phoenix 10-27 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Everything turns a bit darker in Book Five. Lord Voldemort has returned. Dementors show up in unexpected places. And Harry is unhappy, even when he has re-joined his friends before the end of the summer. Ready to find out why? Let’s go! Podcasts: Encore Presentation: OP 1: Drought by Steve VanderArk OP 2: Kneazles by […]

The post Order of the Phoenix 1-9 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Where canon information comes from besides the seven Harry Potter books is a long-running question. What we at the Lexicon count as canon is set out on our Sources page. This week we are looking at a few of the other rich sources of canon, including the “replica” schoolbooks of Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic […]

The post Canon Celebration: The Schoolbooks and Famous Wizard Cards appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

The preliminaries events are over and it is time for the tasks. What will the Triwizard Tournament bring? Could things get any worse? Ready to find out? Here we go! Podcasts: Canon Thoughts: Goblet of Fire by Steve VanderArk Summoning Charms by Abby Koop Unicorns by Susan Episode 9: “The Dark Arts…are you TRYING to be […]

The post Goblet of Fire 19-37 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

And after the excitement of the summer’s Quidditch World Cup and reappearance of the Dark Mark, it is time to go back to Hogwarts, and finally learn what this mysterious special event is that no one will tell them about. Ready to find out? Here we go! Podcasts: Episode 9: “The Dark Arts … are […]

The post Goblet of Fire 11-18 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

We now start Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a book with several exciting events for Harry and his friends to experience. We go back to the Weasleys and attend an international event where a disaster takes place. What more can happen? If you’re ready to find out – on we go! Podcasts: Canon […]

The post Goblet of Fire 1-10 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

One of the things that readers fall in love with about the books is the depth of information we are given – information that is often only peripheral to the plot, but nevertheless enriches our understanding of the magical world. Some of the more interesting tidbits pertain to the history of this world, the nooks […]

The post Canon Celebration: History of the Wizarding World appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

In the early 2000s, Harry Potter fans debated the possible range of dates for the saga. Small clues like the reference to a PlayStation in book four were discussed in detail. — Since the PlayStation wasn’t available until December 1994 in Japan and September 1995 in Europe, some argued that the events of Goblet of […]

The post The History of the History of the Wizarding World appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

And we are back at Hogwarts! Harry, Ron and Hermione have some new teachers and new classes. Arrogance leads to an injury and a disastrous Quidditch pitch invasion ruins the start of the season. And, a pet and a new broom has caused a rift between friends. Ready to have some fun patching up conflicts and […]

The post Prisoner of Azkaban 12-22 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

An unwelcome house guest drives Harry to run away from the Dursleys. Any trouble he might have gotten himself into is waved away in light of a new unsettling threat after Harry’s life. A second threat — a mysterious and terrifying creature — tries to attack on the train to Hogwarts. Will either of these […]

The post Prisoner of Azkaban 6-11 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Harry Potter is, undoubtedly, one of the most well-known series across the world. Even if you’ve never seen a film or read a book, it’s highly likely that you’ve come across something related to it at some point, be it from groups of fans talking about the different Houses and which ones they fit in […]

The post Debunking Common False Myths You’ve Assumed About Hogwarts appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Google the phrase “favourite harry potter book poll” and many of the listed results have the third book as the winner. This has set me thinking about why Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has always been my favourite of the seven books. I have come to the conclusion that it is mainly for […]

The post Why is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban so popular? appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Welcome to the third book in the series, The Prisoner of Azkaban! Many fans consider this to be their favorite Harry Potter novel. Harry is another year older, another face-off with Voldemort under his belt. What could be in store for him and his friends this year? Let’s crack the new adventure open and find […]

The post Prisoner of Azkaban 1-5 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Before we head back into the next Harry Potter novel, The Prisoner of Azkaban, we’re going to take a little detour and talk about education. Seems fitting, since school is starting up again in the US right about now. What sort of education does Harry and his friends receive at Hogwarts? What are the classes […]

The post Canon Celebration: Classes and Teachers! appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Several students (and a few other residents) have been mysteriously attacked around the castle. The Trio is working hard to investigate who or what is the mastermind. Ready to have some fun solving the mystery? Here we go! Podcasts: CS 13: Looks Can Be Deceiving by Eileen Jones CS 14: A Chapter Full of Doubts […]

The post Chamber of Secrets 13-18 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Welcome to the fifth installment of our celebration series! We’ve been warned not to return to Hogwarts, met some new allies and foes, and accidentally broken one of the most fundamental rules of wizarding society. What a way to start the school year! Ready to have some fun exploring what’s next? Here we go! Podcasts: […]

The post Chamber of Secrets 6-12 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Now we’re into the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Plenty of connections can be made between this book and book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In fact, book two was originally going to be called Half-Blood Prince! Here’s what Rowling had to say about that: I have been engulfed […]

The post Chamber of Secrets 1-5 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

In the beginning, everything in the Wizarding World is new. We the readers are finding out things at the same time Harry Potter does. He first hears the word Quidditch from Draco Malfoy when they are getting fitted for robes in Diagon Alley and has to ask Hagrid what it is. And Hagrid’s answer raises […]

The post Canon Celebration: Quidditch! appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Quidditch is the wizard sport that everyone – well, almost everyone – in the Wizarding World is mad about. It features high levels of danger and unpredictability. The strange rules and seemingly unfair scoring system of Quidditch are more than a bit illogical. But what outweighs these objections are the thrills – thrills for the […]

The post Why Harry Potter Needs Quidditch appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Ready to have some fun exploring? Here we go! Podcasts: Trunks by Selena Gallagher Platform Nine and 3/4 by Steve VanderArk How Many Students Are There at Hogwarts? by Steve VanderArk Whatever Happened to Sally-Ann? by Steve VanderArk The Significance of Hallowe’en by Rosie Payne Free Will, Divination and Time Travel Part 1 by Abby […]

The post Philosopher’s Stone 6-17 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

When Harry finally gets his Hogwarts letter from Hagrid, it contains a list of required school supplies, but makes no mention of how he’s expected to pack it all. Nevertheless, on the 1st September, it’s all safely packed in a ‘huge, heavy trunk.’ This is fortuitous as it appears that the trunk is indeed the […]

The post Thoughts about Trunks appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Welcome to the first of twenty-six blog posts in our Canon Celebration! This time around we’re exploring the first five chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Why am I not saying “Sorcerer’s Stone”? Because that’s not the original name of the book, as you probably know. That’s the title that the editors at […]

The post Philosopher’s Stone 1-5 Canon Celebration appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

We at the Lexicon are proud to share this statement alongside other leaders in the Harry Potter fan community: The Harry Potter fandom has been going strong for more than 20 years, and we are so proud to have been there alongside so many, celebrating, learning, and growing together. As this fandom enters its third […]

The post Statement from the Leaders of the Harry Potter Fan Community appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

Twenty-one years ago, I created a small website to collect and organize information about the Harry Potter novels. I was part of an online discussion group called Harry Potter for Grown Ups, which is just what it sounds like, and we all needed a quick way to find details from the books as we discussed the clues and hints that we found as we read the novels. I wanted to call this website The Harry Potter Encyclopedia, but at the time there was already a website called The Encyclopedia Potterica, so I had to come up with something else. Since at that time the site was essentially just a list of the cool names of things in the books, I decided to call it The Harry Potter Lexicon. The first version went online in 1999, but I didn’t really share it with anyone outside of some folks in the Harry Potter for Grownups group. When I was ready for other fans to see it, I made it public in July of 2000.

Over the next two decades, the Lexicon changed and grew a lot. There have been four versions of the site over the years. The original version was completely created with text. Any design elements came from using different text colors and sizes. Since everyone was on slow dial-up at the time, it was important that the site would load fast. I wanted users to be able to follow links and smoothly move from one page to another. There was no artwork at all.

That “text only” idea didn’t last long. Within a few months of starting the site, I contacted Warner Bros and got permission to use the chapter artwork from the books on the Lexicon — yes, at that point Warner Bros was the gatekeeper on all visualizations of the Potter novels. That was a bit of a turning point because it marked the first appearance of artwork on the site. At that point I redesigned the Lexicon to include that artwork as well as created headers and things to dress up the pages. The overall look of the home page was that of a bunch of Diagon Alley signboards. I also created the Bestiary and the Atlas and started creating maps and charts.

As internet speeds increased, the site began to include more artwork. We started to feature the work of some prolific Potter artists of that time. And the site became very popular. It was, and still is, considered to be the best reference to the world Rowling was creating in the books. Scholastic and Warner Bros used it as their reference while editing the books and creating the films. Rowling herself said she occasionally looked up facts on the Lexicon while in the process of writing.

The Lexicon underwent another revision in 2007, with all the content being completely reorganized and new navigation being put in place. The redesign was the work of Lisa Bunker, who created the amazing Accio Quote website and also wrote most of our original character descriptions.

Just a few years ago, the entire site was once again redesigned, this time to take advantage of technology which hadn’t been available back in 1999 when the site started. All the content was painstakingly copied over from a lot of static HTML pages into a modern content management system, created and programmed by Nick Moline, and displayed with a new, exciting page design created by Patrico Tarantino. That’s the Lexicon site you see today.

The Lexicon has been the gold standard reference for Wizarding World canon facts for twenty years now. And to celebrate our 20th anniversary in a very “Lexicony” way, starting in July we’re going to hold a Celebration of Canon. Every week we’ll focus on part of one of the novels highlighting artwork, essays, podcasts, and more from our collection. Fans can explore that part of the Harry Potter canon with us. We hope you’ll learn details you never knew, discover artwork by some amazingly talented fan artists, and enjoy reading essays written by fans back when the books were still coming out, when we didn’t know what was going to come next. And we really hope you use the comments to give your own thoughts and insights.

The Lexicon is twenty years old. The staff, as always, consists of a band of passionate fans who still get a thrill out of writing and researching about the Wizarding World created by Rowling. No one gets paid for this — in fact, all the costs of running the site are paid for out of our own pockets. If you want to support the Lexicon, there are very painless ways to do this. Click on the Lexicon logo in the upper left of every page and go to “support.”

And watch this blog. The collection for the first five chapters of Philosopher’s Stone will go live on Sunday, July 5. From then on through the end of the year, a different section of the canon will be featured every Sunday.

We love hearing from fans about how they’ve enjoyed the site and how they get lost exploring canon for hours. We’re proud of what we’ve done over the past two decades and promise to keep writing, researching, and curating the best Wizarding World canon resource ever.

The post Announcing the Twentieth Anniversary Canon Celebration! appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

A few hours ago, after discussion, we went ahead and retweeted the link to JK Rowling’s essay giving her opinions about the controversy she kicked up with her tweets about trans people, specifically trans women. Over the past few days we also retweeted Emma Watson’s comments and those of Dan Radcliffe, comments which we agree with and support. However, my editors pointed out that retweeting Rowling’s essay might make seem like we also agree with her statements, which would make the position of the Lexicon less than clear. So I want to state that position very clearly.

Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We love and support them. They are our friends, fellow fans, and truly part of our family.

As for the Lexicon’s stance on enjoying the Harry Potter books despite the author’s politics or philosophy, let me just say that in all its twenty years of existence, the Lexicon has always been an expression of fans’ love for the world of Harry Potter and by extension, of Newt Scamander. The Lexicon has never been a JK Rowling fansite. I personally have never read anything else she had written — I’m a fan of the Wizarding World. As for the rest, I’m honestly not interested. We will continue to celebrate the wonderfully imaginative world which was created.

Maybe some of you will find it difficult to separate the creative work from the creator. Before you leave Harry Potter fandom, please read what Dan Radcliffe had to say about that:

To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much. (from The Trevor Project website)

If you still feel the need to go, leave knowing that you are loved and you will be missed. And we will always be friends. Always.

Steve VanderArk and the Editors of the Harry Potter Lexicon

The post To be clear … appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.

View Details

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

The post Encore Episode: “Oh wait a minute, who was that?” appeared first on Harry Potter Lexicon.