I liked the bit on Pencives. They aren't super rare and expensive, although they probably are somewhat. Its more the fact, that people are scared of them.

 

Pandora is a silly name. :\

hmm I wonder where the name Selene first came up in ff.

 

Pandora is much better than Selene.

 

It also fits with the Lovegood naming pattern.

 

It fits, seeing as she unleashed Luna on the world. The wizarding world's greatest source of hope, optimism, and free thought in the aftermath of Albus Dumbledore. How great would that be if she were the next uber wizard? Or is that just me being up too early in the morning?

 

Imagine Hermione banging her head against the wall because no matter how much she reads she just can't match Luna's power.

 

You should always be up too early in the morning in that case.

 

I honestly thought Selene was established canon for the longest time until someone on DLP corrected me. I guess the moon-goddess thing was so similar to JKR's own naming conventions that it just never occurred to me that it was anything different once I heard it - though by that logic, Diana, Phoebe, Hecate or Chandra could have been equally plausible. And yet, for the record, I never bought the idea of "Virginia" Weasley for a second.

I like Pandora, though. It seems like a very pureblood type name that fits far better with the eccentric character she is implied to be (by being married to Xeno-freaking-philius if nothing else). My headcanon is that she was a mad scientist type and possibly an Unspeakable so this works perfectly. Pandora on the edge of discovering a huge, Earth-shaking discovery about the magical world that prompted the other Unspeakables to stage a convenient accident, which no one ever questioned, because messing around with Erumpent horn/Acromantula venom/Time sand/whatever is dangerous, after all. Someone needs to write this or refer me to it if it's been done. And yes, it segues nicely into Super!Luna.

The Pensieve bit is nice and makes sense. I sure as hell wouldn't want to use the fucking thing. It makes me wonder if it was ever actually established that the Snape's Worst Memory Pensieve was borrowed from Dumbledore? Or if so, what the implications of this might be?

 

See I hate that birth names match their personality or future jobs.

Before the series finished I assumed their was some wizarding tradition when they came of age, or latter, where some people where rechristened.

 

Like many things in the Potterverse (well, fiction in general, but especially the Potterverse) I try not to think too hard about it. Otherwise my skull would have spontaneously combusted as soon as I read the words "Accio books about Horcruxes."

Discussion of Pottermore's canon status has already been beaten to death, reanimated and blasted in the face with a bazooka. However, I will say that I shamelessly ignore the things that I find too overly moronic. Those points can still be decent for use in humor/parody fics though, I can't remember where (though I'm thinking it may have been a fic in Almost Recommended?) but I got a genuine laugh from someone commenting that Remus Lupin's parents were tempting fate in the most stupidly blatant way.

The recent Quidditch World Cup Reports have some interesting tidbits among a torrent of sport trivia that is boring as fuck. I've cherrypicked the interesting stuff for everyone here. If you read into it (which is probably futile, but also fun, so who cares) it does give us some small basis for JKR's vision of the international wizarding world. I'm not on Pottermore so I'm just going by what I see copypasta'd on various fan forums and HP Wiki, so I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies on my part.

Quote:
Rather than their usual group of performing trolls, the Norwegian National Quidditch team elected to bring a Selma as their mascot for the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, a decision defended by team manager Arnulf Moe as reflecting the "steely determination and ferocity" of his team. The Selma was placed in a magical lake in the Patagonian Desert where it engaged in a fight with the Fijian Dukuwaqa, which eventually escalated into a conflict between many of the team mascots.
The Selma is a Norwegian cryptid described as a giant serpent consisting on a diet of fish and human flesh.

Quote:
Curupiras are red-haired, forest-dwelling dwarves native to Brazil. Curupiras are fiercely protective of any other magical creature, and will defend them when they feel they are being harmed by humans. The feet of the Curupiras face backwards relative to their bodies.
A group of Curupiras are used as the mascot for the Brazilian National Quidditch team. During the opening ceremony of the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, the Curupiras believed that the handlers attempting to stop a fight between the Fijian Dukuwaqa and Norwegian Selma were hurting the creatures and thus attacked, adding to the (already extreme) chaos and bloodshed.
The Curupira blends many features of West African and European fairies but was usually regarded as a demonic figure. The name comes from the Tupi language kuru'pir, meaning "covered in blisters". According to the cultural legends, this creature has bright red/orange hair, and resembles a man or a dwarf, but its feet are turned backwards. Curupira lives in the forests of Brazil and uses its backward feet to create footprints that lead to its starting point, thus making hunters and travelers confused. It can also create illusions and produce a sound like a high pitched whistle, in order to scare and drive its victim to madness.

Quote:
The mascot for the [Fijian National Quidditch] team is a Dukuwaqa. In the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, Fiji's Dukuwaqa clashed with a Norwegian Selma and Brazilian Curupiras, resulting in a disastrous opening ceremony where 300 casualties occurred.
Quote:
The Dukuwaqa was a magical creature native to the warm oceans around Fiji. A shape-shifter, the Dukuwaqa possesses the ability to transform itself from a man into a shark and back (something impossible for non-Animagus wizards, as transformation into an animal renders the transformed individual with the mind of that animal, and are thus unable to perform the spell needed to transform back into a human). A Dukuwaqa was the mascot of the Fijian National Quidditch team.
For the opening ceremony of the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, the Fijian team transported their Dukuwaqa to a magical lake created by the Argentinian Council of Magic in the Patagonian Desert. During the ceremony, the Dukuwaqa, upset by being relocated from the warm open ocean to a small tepid lake, attacked the Norwegian's Selma it was meant to share the lake with. Attempts by both nations to stop the fighting were hampered by the Brazilian Curupiras, who believed the handlers to be attempting to cause the creatures harm.
The Dakuwaqa is a shark/fish-god in Fijian mythology known for protecting fishermen from danger and evil creatures at sea. It can shape-shift into a human form, but its true form is a muscular Fijian man with the upper torso of a shark.

Interesting parallel to Krum's half-assed shark transformation in GOF.

And as per Ginny's Quidditch correspondent article, the idea of Haiti having Inferi as mascots is kind of cool. It's a reference to the zombies in voodoo magic, obviously. It's kind of funny to think of Haitian wizards as having a totally nonchalant attitude towards Inferi, using them to mop floors and shit.

Quote:
The Mexican National Quidditch team, formerly the New Spanish Quidditch team, is the national Quidditch team of Mexico. The team participated in the 1809 Quidditch World Cup against the Romanian National Quidditch team, the game in which Romanian Beater Niko Nenad let loose the killer forest with Dark magic.
Quote:
Nenad was an extremely volatile and unstable man. During the quarter- and semi-finals of the 1809 Quidditch World Cup, the other players on the Romanian team witnessed him knock himself over the head with his own broom, and set his feet on fire out of frustration. Ivan Popa [A Romanian teammate] had to intervene twice when he tried to strangle two different referees. His teammates became so concerned with his behaviour that they tried to convince the team's manager to replace him with another player for the final — which was to be played between Romania and New Spain on the West Siberian Plain — but he chose not to listen.
Prior to the final, Nenad jinxed the whole of the forest adjacent to the pitch, handsomely paying local Siberian Dark wizards to help him carry out the job, and possibly also calling upon less-principled fans. Two hours into the game, when New Spain were ahead on points and Romania were exhausted, Nenad deliberately sent a Bludger flying into the forest. The trees instantly sprang to life and proceeded to attack the stadium, resulting in several injuries and deaths. Nenad was killed early in the carnage by a "particularly violent" spruce.
Also some info about broomsticks, which isn't spectacularly interesting, but worth mentioning I suppose.

Quote:
The Yajirushi (矢印) was a world-class broomstick developed in Japan and unveiled for the first time during the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, where the Japanese National Quidditch team played with the brooms.
Quote:
The Starsweeper XXI was a world-class broomstick. The American National Quidditch team played with Starsweeper XXIs in the 2014 Quidditch World Cup.
Quote:
The Firebolt Supreme was a world-class broomstick made after the original Firebolt. The Bulgarian National Quidditch team played with Firebolt Supremes in the 2014 Quidditch World Cup.
Quote:
The Thunderbolt VII is a broomstick produced in Manchester, England, as a competitor to the Firebolt Supreme. Many experts feel that the Thunderbolt VII has sacrificed safety for speed.
The Nigerian National Quidditch team rode on Thunderbolt VIIs for the 2014 Quidditch World Cup. There was a lot of controversy about it on their quarter-final defeat to Japan on 10 June, 2014. Nigerian Seeker Samuel Equiano's broom was hit by a Bludger, which smashed its tail off. All broomsticks ought to be able to take all Bludger hits, due to this, an inquiry into the Thunderbolt VII was immediately launched. Shortly after the match, unconfirmed rumours stated that a group of Nigerian warlocks were headed for the Thunderbolt Headquarters in Manchester.
______

 

Holy shiiit the new Pottermore release is great. Forget Dolores Umbridge, the section on the Minister for Magic is great. She's given every single Minister for Magic in history, with a biography for each one and their years of office.

We also know now that the Minister for Magic is democratically elected by wizards each 7 years, and that the Muggle Prime Minister has no legal power over the Ministry of Magic.

 

Can anyone hook us up with some ctrl-C/ctrl-V?

 

Ministers for Magic:

Naming seers:

Azkaban:

The Umbridge stuff is already in the other thread. There was something on Thestrals too, and something on Trelawney, but nothing really new.

 

Thank god for that. Not that it will stop people.

 

Seems like now that they've cut down on the number of scenes per chapter the quantity of information has gone up. And did that Azkaban story imply architecture influences the magical atmosphere of a building?

 

Just read about Umbridge. To be honest as interesting as the new information was I thought it was pretty obvious from the start that she wan't pureblood. Very Interesting about the ministers as well. Seems like we only have one openly muggle born minister and I'd bet quite a bit of money he got himself wacked.

 

Can someone post the stuff about Thestrals here?

 

Here you go.