The Harry Potter books inspired millions of wannabe Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs to go check out the movies. But with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them based on an original JK Rowling screenplay, fans looking to flesh out the New York-set period fantasy with oodles of whimsical backstory will need to find new sources of reading.
Luckily Rowling herself has been sprinkling her Pottermore site with magical fairy dust in the form of short stories and “historical” notes about this brave New World of witchy wonders. The latest piece is titled Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and reveals the origins of the US version of Hogwarts. So what does it tell us about the American wizarding world that’s set to begin casting its spell on us all over again this November?
North American magic has European roots
Rowling has already been accused of cultural appropriation after suggesting the Native American “skinwalker” legend was a variation on her own animagus concept from the Potter books in a previous Pottermore entry. So perhaps it’s no surprise that her new story barely mentions the contributions of the indigenous population to North America’s first wizarding school. Ilvermory, we’re told, was started by an Irish witch named Isolt Sayre, who set out on the Mayflower in 1620 for a life in the New World, and an English muggle named James Steward who met her there. The institution’s earliest students included children from the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes, but there are precious few details about how indigenous magic might have shifted North American wizarding culture in new and interesting directions.
And homegrown witchcraft has Slytherin origins
Isolt, Rowling reveals, had travelled across the Atlantic to escape her evil aunt Gormlaith, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself with Death Eater-like views on witchy purity. But as we’ve been told so many times in the Potter movies and books, Slytherins are not necessarily evil. In fact, Isolt’s ability to speak Parseltongue ends up coming in rather useful when her nefarious relative catches up with her in North America.
Dobby the house elf has an American cousin
Not so long ago I wrote about Rowling Americanizing the world of Harry Potter for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. And yet it strikes me that the British author is importing quintessentially European fantasy staples across the oceans, too. The latest Pottermore entry introduces a grumpy homunculus called a Pukwudgie (this one is named William) who Rowling describes as being “a short, grey-faced, large-eared creature distantly related to the European goblin”, adding: “Fiercely independent, tricky and not over-fond of humankind (whether magical or mundane), it possesses its own powerful magic. Pukwudgies hunt with deadly, poisonous arrows and enjoy playing tricks on humans.” All of which sounds an awful lot like the traditional mischievous goblin of northern European folklore.
At least one new fantastic beast is rooted in indigenous myth
Rowling introduces a creature named the Wampus that’s clearly based on the legend of the wampus cat, a cougar-like creature drawn from Cherokee mythology. Along with the Pukwudgie, and further local magical beasts known as the Horned Serpent and Thunderbird (an avian creature that creates a storm as it flies) these magical monsters make up the four houses of Ilvermory. Might any of these creatures be among those primed to escape Newt’s “special” suitcase and wreak havoc in New York later this year?
Young American witches cannot carry wands outside of school
Is this Rowling’s satire on American drinking laws, or some kind of comment on gun control? Either way, we’re told that Ilvermory students during the time of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are required to leave their magical aides at home when they leave the institution. Which presumably means poor old Newt will have to forget about receiving any help from American Harry Potter types when it comes to getting all his beasties back in the box this November.
