Hey guys, welcome back to my blog! Today I’m coming at you with a blog post I’ve been meaning to write for years but have been putting off simply because I just don’t want to write it! Last year I intended to write a whole series about different aspects of the Potterverse but found that as much as I enjoy Harry Poter as a series of books, I actually don’t like talking about it with other people because it’s so exhausting. But, this year I want to make an effort to actually talk with you guys about the series more because I plan on re-reading it at some stage, even if it makes me a bit uncomfortable because there are so many differing opinions!
Okay, so I have a lot of opinions but I don’t want this series to be a hate series because I do love the Harry Potter books and I do still adore Newt Scamander as a character. I’m definitely not here to bash the characters that influenced so much of my childhood! So, because this is a more negative post I wanted to just mention three things for this discussion and then it’ll be over I promise!
TWITTER TIDBITS NO ONE NEEDS.
2018 was a big year for the Wizarding World, we got a new Fantastic Beasts movie, which I’ll talk about later but an old Hogwarts fact also came to light on Twitter. This is my main point for this blog post which is why it’s going first, J K Rowling shares wayy too many pointless “facts” on Twitter and Pottermore.
For example, in December this old poop fact made its rounds in December and freaked a lot of people out:
Honestly, she comes out with some really great content but, her little Twitter poop nuggets are ridiculous and completely unnecessary. As far as I’m concerned, (and yes I’m aware that she wrote the books so it should be up to her) the HP books and BF movies are canon and that’s it. The Hp movies don’t mean squat to me in terms of actual canon content and The Cursed Child literally, never happened.
THE CURSED CHILD – IT’S NOT CANON, IT’S NOT!
Speaking of The Cursed Child, did we really need The Cursed Child? I don’t know about you guys (but please tell me!) but, I’ve never actually wanted any other type of content involving these characters. I’ve talked about this before but if we ever get any more Potterverse bookish content, which inevitably we will, I would only really want to read about The Hogwarts Founders which I wrote about here or about something completely different that doesn’t involve a crazy plot or any HP characters. which. will. never. happen.
So, J K adding to canon, if she did it right it could be amazing. If she wrote something fantastic that she had clearly put some real effort into and it came out for like, the 40th or 50th HP anniversary instead of those dumb Hogwarts house special additions it could really make my day. But, realistically if J K Rowling continues to stomp all over my childhood and bring out new content every year or two I will just stop caring like I’ve already started to.
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND THAT TIME WARNER LET JK GO LITERALLY INSANE WITH THE SCRIPT & WHO CARES ABOUT PLOTHOLES ANYWAY?!
I have no negative feelings toward Newt Scamander, none at all. I love him, I love his girlfriend, Tina with the beautiful face and beautiful brain & I love his best friend, Jacob who bakes and giggles and has no other character traits but deserves your love anyway. I love and respect these characters so so much which maybe you wouldn’t know if you read my review of FB 2 but, I truly do love them with my entire heart. BUT, and there is most definitely a but.
I never wanted this franchise and I still don’t really want it.
This is going to be a 5 movie franchise with a film coming out every 2 years. I will literally be 24 when the last movie comes out and that is insane, that is 5 and a bit years into my future. what. the hell????
Fantastic Beasts is a whole-ass franchise no one asked for, that is already derailing itself at the second movie. There are plot holes, scathing reviews, and wizard nazis.
Sure, lots of us would like a little more story surrounding The Marauders or what I would personally love, The Hogwarts Founders – but did anyone, and I mean anyone, go up to J K Rowling and ask for a Newt Scamander 5-movie series?
I really feel like J K Rowling needs to be stopped unless she actually plans on writing some really good stuff, and I don’t mean to sound like an **hole. But, Rowing is not a scriptwriter, she’s a novelist and she’s made it pretty clear that she should stick to what she’s good at because all this new content is making me anxious.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT J K ROWLING ADDING TO HP CANON?
DO YOU LOVE THE NEW CONTENT?
HAVE HAVE
allonsythornraxx 
Thank you for writing this! I remember when the final book was written, we were begging for more but she’s like “nope, I’m going to leave it as it is”. Look where we are now, where most of us actually begging for her to stop. I love FB, I literally cried when the trailer for the first movie dropped, but 5 movies are too long. Cursed Child would be great, if the plot is really well-written instead of the mess it is. Not to mention her additions on twitter and pottermore. Like, I don’t see other authors talking about plumbing system in their world. I would love a series about Hogwarts Founders, Marauders, even Next Gen (no, not Cursed Child), but if her writing ideas are what these “tidbits” facts suggest, I think I’m better off reading real fanfiction. I’m sorry if it sounds harsh, but at this point many people stop caring about HP and turn off the noise against the new content
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Haha, no problem! I agree, I feel like we were really happy when the series came out and we actually wanted more content but now we’re literally begging her to stop.
I really enjoy the first FB movie but I agree, 5 movies is too much, especially when JK is not a scriptwriter and clearly isn’t being supervised.
Exactly, you don’t see other authors adding massive character developments & plot sidelines on their social medias. If other authors ever have something they deem massively important to add to the plot or characters they’ll write a novella or something, why couldn’t JK Rowling do that? It’s not like they wouldn’t have published it.
I completely agree, other stories would be really interesting, but at this point, I’m pretty sick of her wrecking her own characters. It just makes me sad.
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The more JK Rowling writes the less I care it seems. I loved the Harry Potter books and I did enjoy the first Fantastic Beasts movie, however the second one I really didn’t like and I don’t think I will see/read the rest. Crimes of Grindelwald just annoyed me a lot. I haven’t and won’t read Cursed Child. But I think a book on the founders would be good because it is a complete different time with different characters! I personally don’t want a marauders book because I think it could ruin what I imagine the marauders to be like.
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I feel the exact same way! I love the HP books too but, JK is really ruining the magic of the series with all her extra add ons! I did like the first FB and I will probably see the third film just because my family like the movies. I haven’t read Cursed CHild either but I’ve seen enough reviews to know that I don’t want to read it.
I agree Founders would be really cool but, The Marauders would be liking beating a dead horse in my opinion. Especially, because I doubt many people would be actually happy with the end result.
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I could not agree with you more! The retconning going on over on JK Rowling’s twitter has reached the point of hilarity. Also, I really enjoyed the first Fantastic Beasts movie, since it was pretty removed from the original Harry Potter franchise, but then along comes the second, and Dumbledore, Mcgonagall, and 30000000 plot-holes are thrown in, and it becomes slightly less fun.
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The first DB movie was so much fun and I was really enjoying the main group but the second film totally ruined that, because they were hardly in it! Honestly, the plot holes in Fb 2 were ridiculous, JK needs a fact checker and maybe a supervisor!
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I liked the first Fantastic Beast movie and was kind on board with the idea she’d be creating a story unrelated to Harry. I am actually disappointed she had to tie Dumbledore and Grindelvald into it instead of just focusing on Newt in one or two movies and calling it a day.
And the revelation of random tidbits has to stop. Especially since I’m not even sure Rowling is the one writing Pottermore stuff. They were looking to hire writers familiar with HP awhile ago, so for all I know it’s random employees coming up with this stuff. Either way, they need to think about consistency and logic. The stupid toilet tweet doesn’t even make sense. Like there wouldn’t have been a designated private room to relieve yourself? People would seriously just squat in random places? I don’t think so.
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I really enjoyed the first FB too, I really like Newt and the main cast so I was interested to see where she would take the characters but I ended up not loving the second film because the characters were barely in the film. I agree, I kind of feel like we got enough info on the Dumbledore x Grindelwald situation in The Deathly Hallows so I don’t understand why she had to tie them to the story. I would have preferred a smaller story with the new characters in a trilogy or something like that.
Yes! I don’t think she does write most of that stuff tbh. It might get run by her or someone she works with but I doubt she sees everything that goes on the site. Honestly, the toilet tweet was so ridiculous and disgusting, like why would anyone think of that let alone release it as “canon” information? Exactly, they would still have had to have bathrooms even if that didn’t have legit toilets & plumbing. And what would the first years who couldn’t perform the spells have done? Honestly, it a whole mess.
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I like to pretend Cursed Child doesn’t exist. I haven’t seen the second FB movie, but the first was cute. I would be down with having more Newt and creatures movies (and Jacob), but feel like it maybe turned into the Dumbledore and Grindlewhatshisface show. (Not that I’m opposed to Jude Law, he’s a sweetie.) Like, maybe the franchise is Rowling’s extended tweet that Dumbledore is actually gay, and therefore the series IS diverse (tick).
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Haha, me too! What play? No idea what you’re talking about!
I enjoyed the first FB movie and saw the 2nd one in the cinemas too and it is not worth it! If you can find it on a subscription platform and put it on in the background maybe give it a try but it’s definitely not worth paying for! It’s definitely gone from being about Newt and the beasts to being the Dumbledore x Grindelwald show, but like, they’re just super close friends bc Holywood hates gay people.
Honestly, it’s a mess. She IS trying to make it more diverse but at the same time, she makes all of her poc character evil or super shady/Slytherin types. She’s just making an lgbt cash grab and I’m mad about it.
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YAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSS!! Although I feel like Maas is doing the same thing. It upsets me SO much that the only non-hetero character she has is the only one who is paired up and blissfully happy, or in some stupid love triangle with males falling over themselves to be with the girl. (Sorry, I’ve just turned this into a general rant now…)
The other thing I hate about CC is that the entire plot goes against Volde’s ENTIRE CHARACTER. Like… WTF Rowling?? Did you forget the basis of the evil guy from your super successful series?? I’m so confused!!!
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Same! All of these little additions and plot holes annoy me so much! For me the HP books are canon, FB is a spin off (so canon in its own right but separate) and The Cursed Child is fanfic. However, I am suspending my judgement about whether it’s actually bad until I have seen it. In a play, the script is not the whole story, so releasing it separately and MARKETING IT AS A NOVEL 😡 is guaranteed to disappoint. Such a stupid money-making move.
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Yes, all her additions online are just ridiculous, if she has so much to add she should put it on Pottermore or just write a few novellas. I completely agree, the books are canon and so are the movies but everything else isn’t.
I agree we don’t have the play where I live, but marketing it as a novel was a deliberate cash grab!
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Interesting post! When I finished reading “Deathly Hollows” right after it came out, I was happy to be done. Loved the story but was happy to be done. I admit to thinking that it might be cool to have a series about Teddy Lupin – with completely different characters and maybe only brief references to the HP series. But if Rowling never did that it would be OK. As far as I’m concerned the series ended wonderfully with the “Deathly Hollows” book.
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I felt the same way, I thought the series had a strong ending and I don’t think it needed any add ons. A Teddy Lupin series would be so interesting and back in the day we might have even wanted it, but I think these days we’re trusting JK less and less with these characters.
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I really like the concept of the Fantastic Beasts movies, but I think they have overly complicated plots for what’s being achieved in each one, and the plot holes in the second one were clearly because someone thought, “Ooh! This will be dramatic!” with no regards to whether it makes any sense. I want to love the franchise, but it’s not well written and that’s a disappointment.
Also, I consider Cursed Child canon, but I do ignore it. And if J. K. Rowling wanted to redo Harry’s future and erase Cursed Child like she’s erasing her canon in the FB films, I’d be totally on board.
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I agree I think the FB movies could have been an interesting duology or trilogy, frankly even a standalone if they had tied it up a bit differently. I really enjoyed the main cast from the first movie but I feel like they were barely in the second film. Yeah, the second film could have been written so much better and it was SUCH a disappointment!
Haha, yes! If JK wanted to totally erase that weird plot I’d be okay with that too!
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I roll my eyes every time I see a new tweet by JKRowling. Really, I can’t get out of my head the bathroom topic. It’s really disgusting. I saw only the first Fantastic beast movie, but I agree with you, she needs to be stopped.
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I’m the same way these days. I honestly don’t understand why she feels the need to tell us these things, especially the bathroom thing because that’s honestly disgusting.
Really, I feel like if she really does have all these ideas than instead of grossing us out on Twitter she should go post them on Pottermore and then not bring them up again, or go write a new HP World book or something. Otherwise, this is just a lot of random information that she’s been “sitting with for 20+ years”, but actually probably came up with randomly at 3am the same day.
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