O is for Ollivanders

The last shop was narrow and shabby.  Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. (The Sorcerer's Stone, 82)

I was in third grade the first time I encountered the Harry Potter series.  I remember thinking even then that it was surprising there was only one place you could buy a wand, a crucial magical item for every witch and wizard!



Of course, we later learn there are other wand makers as well, such as when Victor Krum brags about his wand: "I vos one of the last to purchase a Gregorovich vand.  They are the best - although I know, of course, that you Britons set much store by Ollivander" (The Deathly Hallows, 150).

Ollivanders is the only one in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade that is mentioned in the books and is where most of Hogwarts students get their wands.

What a monopoly!

Considering the fact that presumably each young witch or wizard only buys one wand in their lifetime though, Hank Green brings up another great point about the pricing of wands:

Well you don't seem to have much industry

[...]

I don't understand how any business gets done

when a wand only costs seven galleons.

That doesn't seem like much to me.

Mr. Ollivander not only makes and sells wands, but he also has a keen memory of them, as he tells Harry, "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand" (The Sorcerer's Stone, 85).

Making a wand is an awful lot of work, including dangerous foraging for magical cores for the wands:

"Ah, now, this is one of mine, isn't it?" said Mr. Ollivander, with much more enthusiasm, as Cedric handed over his wand.  "Yes, I remember it well.  Containing a single hair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn...must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail." (The Goblet of Fire, 309)

I found a conversion counter that says 7 galleons is equivalent to $70.49.  For gathering and buying resources, making wands, and keeping a store open, that is not very much money at all.

Tomorrow, a mysterious magical item will be featured on the blog: P is for Pensieve.

E is for Epilogue

As you could tell from yesterday's "Accio Deathly Hallows" reference, I love Hank Green and his yearly Harry Potter songs, so I thought it fitting to let him start up a discussion on the epilogue of The Deathly Hallows:

I want J.K. Rowling to say, 'The epilogue was crap,' 'cuz we all know it was crap.  And I want J.K. Rowling to say, "Voldemort had a son - and the story's just begun." And I want J.K. Rowling to say that's she's writing Book Eight.

The all important question, then, is why was the epilogue crap?

• It's six pages long. We have full chapters in other books about platform 9 3/4, so why not give us a little more at the end of it all?
• "The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters" (The Sorcerer's Stone)
• "Aboard the Hogwarts Express" (The Goblet of Fire)
• The other books all mention the journey to Hogwarts as well, though not through title names.
• It's a lot of name dropping.  Want to guess how many characters are mentioned in six pages?
• Harry, Lily, Albus, Ginny, James, Percy, Rose, Ron, Hermione, Hugo, Draco, Scorpius, Mr. Weasley, Teddy, Victoire, and Neville makes 16 to my count.  And that's without the implied mentions of Dumbledore and Snape.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we get to catch up with everyone...but 16 is a lot of characters in six pages.
• Rowling had planned to include even more character details, which can be read here!
• "Her original epilogue was "a lot more detailed," including the name of every child born to the Weasley clan in the past 19 years.  For example, Victoire, who was snogging Teddy, Lupin and Tonks' son, is Bill and Fleur's eldest child" ("J.K. Rowling Goes Beyond the Epilogue, Beyond Hogwarts).
• But most of all, the epilogue was crap because I wish that it had been it's own book/series.  I don't want "All was well" as a summation of 19 years (759).  I want to enjoy every minute of every year of each of those families! But alas, wizard angst.

"And I want J.K. Rowling to say that she's writing Book Eight."

Though it's not quite Book Eight, the next big thing for the Harry Potter universe will be discussed in my next post on Monday!  F is for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

D is for Deathly Hallows

 For my last two years at Grand Valley State University, I worked at the Writing Center along with a lot of Harry Potter and book loving people.  One day we got into a discussion about how even the best books can be critiqued.  (I think Katie, from The Fiction Diaries might have been part of this discussion as well and if not, you should still check out her blog anyway, because she's great!)

The critique we discussed of the Harry Potter series was the Deathly Hallows.  Harry is already out hunting for seven horcruxes, and then J.K. Rowling adds in three Deathly Hallows to search for as well.  I definitely enjoyed the Deathly Hallows as a part of the series, but they don't really add much.  From the Elder Wand, we learn more about Dumbledore and Grindelwald and from the Cloak of Invisibility we learn more about Harry's famous lineage...But the objects themselves as super-power magical articles do not add depth.

Xenophilius Lovegood explains, "'the ancient story refers to three objects, or Hallows, which, if united, will make the possessor master of Death'" (410).  It was never clear to me whether or not the Hallows played a role in Harry's encounter with Voldemort at the end of The Deathly Hallows.  It would make sense that they would, as Harry was the master of Death (though he did not ever have all three Hallows at once), but the book doesn't explicitly say that the Hallows had anything to do with his survival.

Much as I like the Deathly Hallows, if I had to critique the Harry Potter series, it would be with the voice of my former colleagues in saying that the Deathly Hallows are superfluous.

What is something in the Harry Potter series that you would critique if you had to come up with something?

Here's a special treat about waiting for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!  Though it was written by Hank Green before the book came out, many of the "what ifs" were actually pretty prophetic! Enjoy!

Tomorrow, the Harry Potter fun continues with E is for Epilogue.