The Harry Potter Lexicon is a fan-created online encyclopedia of the Harry Potter series. The Harry Potter Lexicon, also known as HPL, was created by librarian Steve Vander Ark and is a member of the Floo Network. It contains detailed information for all seven published Harry Potter books. The Lexicon lists characters, places, creatures, spells, potions and magical devices, as well as analyzing magical theory and other details of the series. The Lexicon is credited as creating one of the first timelines of all events occurring in the Harry Potter universe. A similar timeline of events was adopted by Warner Bros. for inclusion with their Harry Potter film DVDs, and was accepted by author J. K. Rowling as conforming to her works. The Lexicon is a winner of J.K. Rowling's Fan Site Award. Rowling said:[1]
| “ | This is such a great site that I have been known to sneak into an internet café while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter (which is embarrassing). A website for the dangerously obsessive; my natural home. | ” |
The Lexicon also has its Spanish (El Diccionario de los Magos) and French (L'Encyclopédie Harry Potter) versions, with other languages in preparation.
Contents |
Site sections
The Lexicon has many different sections covering different subjects, including:
- Encyclopedia of Spells
- A Wizard's Atlas
- The Bestiary - Monstrous beasts of every kind
- Which Wizard - Who's who in the wizarding world
- Encyclopedia of Potions
- Visitor's Guide to Hogwarts
- Gazetteer of the Wizarding World
- Magic and Magical Theory
- Handbook of Quidditch - The Sport of Warlocks
- Magical Items and Devices
- Wizarding Through the Ages
- Detailed Reader's Guides
- Muggle Studies
R.A.B. leak
Toward the end of the summer in 2005, The Harry Potter Lexicon reported that a "well-placed source" confirmed the identity of R.A.B., which was a mystery from the sixth book, as "Regulus Arcturus Black". Soon afterward, this was removed from the site, allegedly at the publisher's request. In MuggleCast Episode 7, Melissa Anelli, Editor of The Leaky Cauldron fan site, stated that she had a good idea what the source was, but declined to be more specific out of respect for the HP-Lexicon's webmaster. However, she did somewhat defend the credibility of the source and hint at his/her identity with the following statement:
| “ | Well, I just want to address what people say, when they say, 'How could it be anybody other than J. K. Rowling?' It could very well be somebody other than J. K. Rowling. Clearly any information that is accurate about the books ultimately comes from J. K. Rowling, but many people are now involved making sure her books go around the world, go into different editions, go to the illustrators. You know what I mean? So different people need to see different things. | ” |
Lawsuit
The book "The Harry Potter Lexicon" was due to be released November 28, 2007. This book's purpose is to serve as an encyclopedia counterpart to the Harry Potter series. On October 31, 2007, J.K. Rowling along with Warner Brothers filed a lawsuit against RDR Books and unnamed people (one of which is Steve Vander Ark) seeking damages copyright and federal trademark infringement and any profits to be gained from an upcoming book to be released by Vander Ark and Hp-Lexicon. The lawsuit states, "The infringing book is particularly troubling as it is in direct contravention to Ms. Rowling's repeatedly stated intention to publish her own companion books to the series." [2] On the same day, J.K. Rowling posted a new news article on her website regarding this lawsuit stating: :[3]
| “ | It's also old news that I hope one day to write the definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia, which will include all the material that never made it into the novels, and that I will give the royalties from this book to charity.
I cannot, therefore, approve of "companion books" or "encyclopedias" that seek to pre-empt my definitive Potter reference book for their authors’ own personal gain. The losers in such a situation would be the charities, that I hope, eventually, to benefit. | ” |
She later updated her website to add:
| “ | From what I understand the proposed book is not criticism or review of Harry Potter's world, which would be entirely legitimate - neither I nor anybody connected with Harry Potter has ever tried to prevent such works being published. It is, we believe, a print version of the website, except now the information that was freely available to everybody is to become a commercial enterprise.
It is not reasonable, or legal, for anybody, fan or otherwise, to take an author's hard work, re-organise their characters and plots, and sell them for their own commercial gain. | ” |
RDR Books says in a statement that "[the book] only promotes the sale of J.K. Rowling's work and we intend to publish on schedule as planned." On November 8, 2007, a Judge Paterson imposed a restraining order preventing the release of The Harry Potter Lexicon. The injunction is expected to last until February at which time J.K. Rowling said she will return to court if necessary if they refuse to make the changes she has asked for.
References
External links
- http://www.hp-lexicon.org – The Harry Potter Lexicon
