Answers to the Harry Potter questions you were shy about asking

On the night of July 31, a new book about Harry Potter was published, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which has already been adapted into a play in London. Since 1997, 7 volumes of the saga have been published, which has become the main children's - and not only - reading of the last 20 years.

The latest book, which British author JK Rowling co-wrote with the playwrights, features a mature Harry Potter and his son. The Meduza portal has prepared answers to “embarrassing” questions about Harry Potter that will help keep the conversation going with fans of books about the wizard from Hogwarts.

Harry Potter - who is it at all?

When Harry was one year old, the evil wizard Voldemort tried to kill him, but the power of his mother’s love saved the boy (both his father and mother were killed). From the assassination attempt, Harry had a scar on his forehead in the form of lightning for the rest of his life, and Voldemort lost his body, but not his soul - and brought many more misfortunes to the world of wizards. Harry Potter grew up in a family of uncles and aunts. About the fact that he is a magician, Harry learned only in 11 years, when he was enrolled in the school of magic Hogwarts.

And what's the plot?

In the confrontation between Harry Potter and Voldemort (former Hogwarts student Tom Riddle). The fact is that when Voldemort killed Potter's mother, the boy became one of the Horcruxes - an object that contains part of the evil wizard's soul. A significant part of the plot is built on this: Harry can penetrate Voldemort's mind (and vice versa - this causes great pain to both).

On the side of Voldemort are wizards who consider that wizards should be only purebreds (which means that their parents should also have magical abilities); for Harry Potter - a small number of wizards (including his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger - and, of course, the head of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore).

Together with him they fight against Voldemort, who plans to become a dictator of the wizarding world. Harry's task is to destroy all the cross-fighters and kill Voldemort, and he, in turn, throughout the series tries to kill "the boy who survived." Voldemort in books is called by name by no means all: it is often said about him, because of fear, “that-one-cannot-call”.

Is there any non-magicians in the book?

Oh yeah. Non-wizards are called “Muggles” - these are ordinary people who do not have magical abilities. Many pureblood wizards look down on Muggles. Children of wizards who do not have the ability to cast spells are called squibs. This is, for example, Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch. It also happens that Muggles have wizard children. A striking example is Hermione Granger. Both of her parents are ordinary dentists, and their daughter is the best student at Hogwarts. True, the Slytherin house, where supporters of “pure blood” fall, teased her for being a “mudblood.”

Is this a true book for kids?

Not really. The first pair of volumes is really a bit “childish”, although not everyone agrees with this statement, but it becomes interesting for adults as well. There is everything in the books: a fascinating plot, fights and even politics (the minister of magic meets with the British prime minister; he, like many real politicians, hides from problems, not wanting to acknowledge Voldemort’s return, but the opposition opposes him). So that adults don't hesitate to read Harry Potter books (although we insist that there is nothing shameful about this!), Bloomsbury has even released volumes. with “older” covers.

And when events unfold in the books?

In the recent past.

Harry Potter was born 31 July 1980, that is, he - the same age as the Crimea prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya and the daughter of Bill Clinton Chelsea. In the 1991 year, when he turned 11 years, he became a student at Hogwarts. Each of the seven books covers one academic year - from 1991 to 1998.

In the first book, however, there is an episode from 1981, when Harry is left very young with his aunt and uncle, and in the seventh - the epilogue, where events take place 1 September 2017-th. In the epilogue, the main characters - already quite adult - accompany their children to Hogwarts. In the eighth book of the event begins with this scene.

How correctly in Russian - Severus Snape or Severus Snape? Or maybe villain Zley?

Any book is best read in the original language. In the case of Harry Potter, this will help avoid the translations of names and inaccuracies that fans have often found. In Russia, Harry Potter was published twice: by publishing houses "Rosmen" and "Machaon". They hold different points of view on how to call the heroes. Machaon used the translation by Maria Spivak, which was originally distributed only on the Internet. A distinctive feature of the translation is Spivak names. Dumbledore (Dumbledore) with her Dumbledore, Poluna (Luna Lovegood) - Psihuna, a professor of potions and protection from the dark arts - Zlodeus Zley. "Rosman" treated the names more carefully: the potions professors called Severus Snape (in the original - Severus Snape, Severus Snape). Both translations have both supporters and opponents.

And the eighth book is what?

This is a play that has already been staged in London. The premiere took place on July 30. The next day the play came out on paper. This is not a novel, and JK Rowling is just one of its authors. Together with Rowling, the play was written by playwright Jack Thorn and director John Tiffany (he put the play in London; by the way, 4 August is up for sale put up new tickets on 2017 year).

On the official site of the play saysthat the play was written by Thorn on the basis of the story invented by the three of them, but the name Rowling is highlighted on the cover of the book. In the play, events begin after 19 years after the victory over Voldemort. Harry Potter works in the Ministry of Magic, and his son Albus is trying to live a normal life, coping with his father's fame. In Russia, the book promises to be released in November 2016, translated by Spivak. Some fans have already submitted a petition demanding prevent this.

Is the eighth book exactly the last?

JK Rowling says yes. But even in 2007, when the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published, she said that she was not going to write more books about Potter. So there can be anything.

In general, is "Harry Potter" like the "Lord of the Rings"?

In terms of fame, probably, yes. The Lord of the Rings sold 150 to millions of copies, and the first part of Harry Potter sold around 100 to millions of copies. And according to “The Lord of the Rings”, and according to “Harry Potter” they made films - and by the last as much 8 (!) Parts - and all of them, to put it mildly, were not left without spectators.

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