Comments on: The Marauder’s Map

By: gelatogirl

gelatogirl — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:19:13 +0000

As a Lord of the Rings fan, I was pleasantly surprised at the description of the Hinkypunk in this chapter – it “lures travellers into bogs… people follow the light.” This is very similar to what happens in the Dead Marshes in Return of the King. Yay for the collision of two fantastic worlds!

(Brilliant website by the way! I am enjoying this commentary as I reread HP – I’ve discovered so much here! Thanks!)

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:39:20 +0000

Some foreshadowing from this line: What if Black did know the passage was there?

Also, Lupin says there are certain defenses one can use to ward off dementors. What are the other defenses besides the Patronus Charm?

By: May

May — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:47:08 +0000

The scene where Harry first entered Honeydukes was also described in rich detail. “Chunks of creamy nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees…” It’s these descriptions that makes Jo’s world so much more real than it really is and entertaining to read. Her writing style really is exceptional.

The map is brilliant! It makes me wonder how the four creators wrote it. Like what sort of magic or spells did they use to write a map that is never consistent (the dots are forever moving around). Did they place some sort of tracking spell over the entirety of Hogwarts? It’ll be interesting to find out…

I just realized Draco has been wearing his arm in bandages ever since the start of the school year up to around November, just so he could get Hagrid into major trouble. How despicable can a person get?

By: Grace has Victory

Grace has Victory — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:45:14 +0000

Amanda, I don’t suppose they checked out who was in the dormitories; they had more interesting areas to explore.

They were only three when Peter Pettigrew faked his death, so they wouldn’t be familiar with his name from the newspaper reports. If they ever saw his name on the map, they probably assumed it was just another boy in Ron’s class.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:54:40 +0000

[spoiler alert]
One thing about the map is pretty strange. I imagine Fred and George often seeing the Gryffindor tower on the map, yet never stopped to think about why someone called Peter Pettigrew was in the same bed as their younger brother?

By: rtozier

rtozier — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:34:47 +0000

Another example of JKR’s forward planning: “Not many people are aware that the Potters knew YKW was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against YKW, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off…” The identity of that spy has now of course been revealed.

By: Casey

Casey — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:39:15 +0000

yram, I believe the map works only off of the knowledge that the Marauders bestowed upon it. As they do not know about the Chamber of Secrets or where it is or what is in it, none of these would show up on the map at the time that was all occurring. I can definitely see them perusing the map, trying to figure out where it might be (as all the students are trying to figure it out) but to no avail. As for the events of the first book, they had no idea what was going on, unlike Harry and co. I don’t think they would notice Quirrell acting strange, as they would be using it for their own purposes. We must remember that Hogwarts is huge, so the map must cover a lot of ground. I find it hard to believe they’d be looking at it one night for whatever reason, and then focus on Quirrell for no reason, even if he was around the third floor corridor.

By: Grace has Victory

Grace has Victory — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:59:45 +0000

We don’t know what gillywater is, but I suspect it’s made of gillyflower essence.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/233808/gillyflower

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:06:46 +0000

Gillywater? Does anyone know what that is? It sounds an awful lot like gillyweed, which (spoiler alert?) is what Harry uses in the second challenge of the Triwizard Tournament to breathe under water. Why is gillywater so commonplace? Wouldn’t more witches and wizards be drinking it and exploring open waters? Wouldn’t everyone competing in the Triwizard Tournament think to drink large quantities of this water before the second challenge? I’d love to hear theories on this.

By: John Kearns

John Kearns — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:23:06 +0000

elizabethauthor, the two artists’ styles are very similar – more similar, I think, than any other two artists I have on this site. But this one is definitely by salamandersoup. You can look at their pages to see what I mean:
http://hpcompanion.com/artists/salamandersoup
http://hpcompanion.com/artists/tealin-raintree