The Harry Potter Lexicon

With the new year comes a new Wizard of the Month… Harvey Ridgebit

This is a new canon character, but the Peruvian Vipertooth and the dragon sanctuary in Romania are not. So is this the reservation where Charlie works? Would Charlie’s occupation be Dragonologist then? hmmm…

Edit: At 9:30 pm EST Dec31, the copyright date in the site’s meta data was changed to 2007.
By 9 am Jan1st the date on the Biography journal had reverted to 2004.
Still no change on the FSA archive, or the copyright notices in the entry and exit flash screens.

On another note, Jo did not wish Tom Riddle a happy birthday this year, and she never has.

As most folks do at this time of the year, we have looked back at the events of the past year on the Lexicon and marveled at it all.
To quote Dumbledore from the first Leaving Feast “Another year gone! … What a year it has been!”
We welcomed new staff, introduced several exciting new features and enjoyed amazing gifts from Jo. We hope you enjoy this list of some things that were important to us.

Lexicon Highlights of 2006

and Happy New Year!

I started playing around with Google Trends yesterday, and came up with some fun results I wanted to share. For those who don’t know, it’s a set of statistics about where (in what countries and cities) different terms and phrases are most commonly Googled.

First, “Harry Potter” is most frequently Googled in Bolivia, with no English-speaking countries in the top ten, although the city in which people most frequently search for him is Salt Lake City.

More importantly, “Harry Potter Lexicon” is by far most commonly searched in the Phillipines, with the US a distant second.

I also thought it was interesting to look at the countries which most frequently Googled some of our favorite characters:
Dumbledore - Australia
Snape - UK (by a significant margin)
Hagrid - Sweden (twice as often as any other country)
Hermione - Peru
Ron Weasley - Chile
Voldemort - Hungary (by far)
Harry - Bolivia

And as for some key words and phrases:
Horcrux - US
Hogwarts - Sweden (nearly three times as often as any other country)
Diagon Alley - Italy (by far)
Quidditch - Poland

It’s a fun site to play with - you can check it out yourself here: Google Trends

The Do Not Disturb sign is back on the Door today.
The Door was open for a full week this time.

I’ve now completed a page in the Guide to JKR.com detailing the puzzle behind the Door Opening #7.
I included some screenshots of the candle in the mirror. As I noted in a previous update, the site seems to be getting “darker” and the flame on the candle in the Links bookcase was shrinking. Well, notice the candle in the mirror has too!

Please join us in wishing a very Happy Birthday today, December 27th, to
Steve Vander Ark, HH, CWWEA-ld, MMM, KCL, SM, Gurg

Headmaster of the HPLexicon,
Chief Warlock of the Wizarding Examinations Authority- Lexicon Division,
Minister for Muggle Magic
Keeper of Canon and Lists at the Floo Network
Supreme Mugwump of the Wizardry Fandom
Gurg of the HP giants

Steve, no title is quite fitting for the important role you serve in our world or the position you hold in our hearts. Thank you for all you do, and here’s wishing you many happy returns!

As part of our quest for the possible meanings of ‘hallows,’ Lexicon friend Bandersnatch kindly agreed to assemble some information for us. The result is an excellent essay which gives us some context for the new book’s title.

Enjoy: The Grail Hallows and Harry Potter

We asked Roonwit to write this entry about his (and Pablo’s) research into the titles, and this is what he sent us…
Warner Bros. have often registered decoy trademarks with the real Harry Potter titles, for example the trademarks
HARRY POTTER AND THE GREEN FLAME TORCH,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HOGSMEADE TOMB,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HOGWARTS HALLOWS
are some of those registered on 24th July 2003 under the alias “Seabottom Productions Limited”. They obviously do this because they need the title registered before it is announced, but HP fans do occasionally check the registrations in publically accessible databases, so registering just the real titles would be a bit of a giveaway.

After the release of book 7’s title, Pablo (aka El Cronista) from harrylatino.com, spotted that the trademark DEATHLY HALLOWS had been registered under a new alias “Stone Connect (UK) Limited” and found two others and guessed they might be the alternate titles Jo mentioned on her website. Presumably Warner Bros. realizes that we read the databases and chose to register the trademark without the “Harry Potter and the” to hide them further.

However the ones Pablo found were only part of the full list, of which
HEART OF RAVENCLAW,
DEATHLY HALLOWS,
DEADLY VEIL,
DEMON’S SWORD,
QUEST OF THE SERPENT
were all registered on 5th December 2006.

Such registrations contain decoys for the real titles, other words relating to the Harry Potter books (for example WHOMPING WILLOW is also a trademark), but they could also contain the alternate titles Jo considered for the 7th book if she decided to register them.

The other trademarks were registered to “Stone Connect (UK) Limited” on 5th September 2006:
GREY LADY,
HEIR OF GRYFFINDOR,
LOST SCEPTRE,
BROKEN WAND,
GRYFFINDOR QUEST,
PEVERELL QUEST

and on 2nd November 2005:
WAND OF GRYFFINDOR,
RING OF DESTINY,
ELDER WAND,

and on 25th October 2005:
REVENGE OF DUMBLEDORE
MARCH OF THE DEATH EATERS,
RETURN OF THE DARK LORD,

and on 22nd October 2005:
CURSE OF NAGINI,
LAST PROPHECY,
HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS,
MUDBLOOD REVOLT,
SEVENTH HORCRUX,
WAND OF GRINDELWALD,
FINAL CURSE

It is interesting to note that HARRY POTTER AND THE HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS was registered at the same time as the title of book 6, and HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS were registered, so, given the resemblence to the final title, it is possible that this was the working title for book 7 back in 2003.

Lisa writes: Thanks, Roonwit, and Pablo for doing all of this. We have a better picture of Jo’s naming process (and lots of titles to chuckle about) because of your hard work.

As John said, we’re trying to research this with more authoritative sources than are usually found free on the web. Some brilliant research and theorizing is being done, but here at the Lexicon we want to be cautious and make sure we’re giving you the best tools we can.

One area of confusion for a lot of people is “is ‘Hallows’ a noun or verb?” Many fans are going to one of the free dictionaries on the web and they are inadequate for such old-fashioned words. I consulted the mother of all English dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary and found that hallows can be either a noun or a verb, but that only one form of usage makes sense in the context of the stories.

Adverb/verb
Deathly as an adverb: Resembling death (”deathly cold”).
Hallows as a verb: To make holy or set aside for God (”Bring their candles to be blessed and hallowed”).
My interpretation? A blessing ceremony that turns deadly or looks like it does — which seems too overtly religious to me.

Adjective/noun
Deathly as an adjective: Causing death, resembling death or pertaining to death (”deathly mists,” “deathly stillness” and “His wounds, many and deathly”).
Hallows as a noun: A saint (All Hallows=All Saints), a saint’s shrine or collection of relics (can also be pagan relics). Note: The noun is usually plural.
My interpretation? A powerful place or collection of powerful objects that appears death-like, causes death or has power over death.

Another curious meaning for ‘Hallow’ and ‘Hollow’ is that it is an old-fashioned way to shout hello, especially while hunting. I am certain that this is not what Jo has in mind.

Good morning!

We’ve been working around our already jammed holiday schedules to do some site updates with the new book title. We’ll be abbreviating it site-wide as DH, as you probably could have guessed.

I’ve got a brand-new page up and running: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Lisa has been helping me put together some research on the title (from reputable sources rather than Google, which is challenging sometimes) and I’ve got some information there. Hopefully more will be coming soon.

Lisa has also made a placeholder image until we get the book’s real cover, which you can see on our main page.

One thing I found that I thought was interesting: in OP26, Voldemort’s hands are described as “deathly white.” It’s on page 586 in the Scholastic (American) version. Someone else probably already saw that, but I haven’t had time to jump into the forums and see.

Keep the speculation flowing!

The secret Door on Jo’s site is open just in time for Christmas! But you’ll still need to puzzle your way in. Here’s how:
1. Click on the open door in the mirror, a small tree will appear.
2. Click near the top of the Door, a wreath will appear.
3. Click near the top of the mirror, garland will appear.
4. Click on a spiderweb, to “clear the cobwebs”.
5. Click on the windchimes (second chime from the right), it turns into a key.
6. Drag the key to the lock, the Door opens.
7. Click on the gift, it opens.
8. Click in the box to play the game of Hangman. Type letters on your keyboard to guess the title.

I’ll have detailed instructions with screenshots posted in the Guide to JKR.com soon. Wow what an exciting day!

Thank you for the magical Christmas present Jo! Happy Christmas!

Notes: Clever Jo had told us to expect the title today! Remember in OP in the Hall of Prophecies, when the prophecies were crashing around, and we heard “… at the solstice will come a new…” said the figure of an old, bearded man… “…and none will come after…” said the figure of a young woman. Today, Dec. 21st is the winter solstice.

Leaky is having traffic issues, so if they appear down, please have patience.

I’m enjoying the “Reusable Hangman - Spell It Or He’ll Swing”, a Weasley Wizarding Wheezes product.

ALSO:This is the 7th Door opening! How fitting to reveal the title of the seventh book.

Be sure to check out Bandersnatch’s comments in the Pensieve for some very interesting thoughts.

Jo has updated her site this morning with a new Diary entry and a Rumour.

… and we have another birthday! The WotM calendar on Jo’s site is displaying birthday wishes to Charlie Weasley for December 12th.
Happy Birthday Charlie!