J.K. Rowling reads at The White House in 2010. (Photo courtesy Executive Office of the President via Wikimedia Commons)As a treat (no pun intended) for fans of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, through her website, Pottermore, has released a set of five new essays on Halloween, based on characters and locales the series' young wizard visited over the course of his seven years of exploits and adventures. They're not exactly stories, and for the more hardcore fans, they may be a bit short. But for an author who's already given readers a wide world to explore, it ought to be forgivable.
Much like the wizarding world and its secrets, the stories are a bit hidden, but not impossible to find on Pottermore. Each new piece is marked with a red quill in a moment of the books on Pottermore. A little double clicking and mouse hovering gets you the stories. It'd be a bit spoiler-ish to let you in on the clues, but we're talking easy to find and hardly a disappointment to read once found.
Dolores Umbridge's set provides background on a witch that may be hated even more than Lord Voldemort himself, depending on which fan you ask. It chronicles her surprising family history, and the vile, self-centered climb she made through the Ministry of Magic to reach some semblance of the top. “Even at seventeen,” the story reads, “Dolores was judgmental, prejudiced and sadistic, although her conscientious attitude, saccharine manner towards her superiors ... and stealth with which she took credit ... gained her advancement.”
Find out why Dolores Umbridge is who she is here: http://t.co/AGaqcM8XbY
— Damion Julien-Rohman (@legendpenguin) October 31, 2014
Find the #ministryofmagic here: http://t.co/r0acV1bkaZ
— Damion Julien-Rohman (@legendpenguin) October 31, 2014
“Ministers for Magic” gives an enjoyably detailed look at how the Ministry of Magic is run, with a brief history on its past Prime Ministers, all the way back to the 1700s, when the Minister of Magic position was first created. If you look closely, you'll find a few distant relatives of modern Potter characters and how they handled the job. The Ministry itself is run quite similarly to the governments of today — democratic elections with terms in office and the like. But it also had its fair share of radicals, corruption and folks that wanted to do the job properly in terms of the brief blurbs of the Prime Ministers, which makes the read even more fascinating if you love the history behind the series.
Azkaban is twisted. http://t.co/l5NMyiMCvv @statepress
— Damion Julien-Rohman (@legendpenguin) October 31, 2014
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Interested in Thestrals? Read here: http://t.co/HULJnh7lia
— Damion Julien-Rohman (@legendpenguin) October 31, 2014
The two shortest stories come in the form of “Thestrals” and “Naming Seers.” “Thestrals” give a surprisingly compelling synopsis on the black winged horses of the series, who peacefully represent death and are seen by those who have experienced it. “Seers” provides some very light yet informative insight behind naming a future witch or wizard after their born, which includes the dwindling practice of consulting a Seer (read: also a fortune teller) for an answer.
Reach the reporter at Damion.Julien-Rohman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @legendpenguin
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