~I solemnly swear that I am up to no good~
Specialis Revelio: a spell that reveals an object's hidden secrets.
Welcome to the first Specialis Revelio post! Before jumping into this huge series, I wanted to make an introductory post explaining what you can expect on this blog and within each post.
In case the blog's title and description didn't make it clear, I am embarking upon an analytical read-through of the Harry Potter series. I'll be going chapter by chapter, reading and discussing a lot of in-depth details. I made this video on my YouTube channel describing this new series. It's a touch outdated at this point, because I was still asking for help putting everything together and hadn't come up with a name yet, but I did explain why I decided to do this and how I plan to go about it, so I'll just drop that here for you.
So now that that's out of the way, I wanted to explain the structure of each blog post. I intend to have a blog post discussing each and every chapter of the series. I'll do videos on my YouTube channel for each book, but those will probably be broad overviews of everything discussed on here.
I plan to structure each post in a way so that both HP newbies and diehard Potterheads can glean information. In an era where so many people have read Harry Potter, discerning spoilers can be difficult, and it's especially difficult to discuss these chapters analytically without referencing things that happen later in the series.
How posts will be structured:
1) Summary: Just as it sounds, I'll give a *brief* summary of the chapter. Or at least as brief as my long-winded self can manage.
2) Timeline (if applicable): This will be a really short section just putting the time frame of this chapter into context. Sometimes it's obvious, with an extended scene continuing through several chapters, and other times it's more ambiguous (like the first chapter of the series).
3) Personal Thoughts: This is my little fangirl section, where I talk about my favorite moments in the chapter & just generally what I love or hate about the events of this chapter.
4) WWP Analysis: While re-reading the HP series, I'll also be reading a series of books called the "Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter." In general, these books provide a literary analysis of each chapter of the series. I'll nitpick what I think are the key details from this analysis and put them here. I don't want to focus on the symbolism, etc too much, but I know some people will enjoy that, hence this section.
5) Notes for First Years: These are things that people reading for the first time should make note of. Now, these aren't things that are major plot points or obvious things happening in the chapter (that's what the summary's for!) but instead little details to keep in the back of your mind moving forward. Storing this detail in your memory for later will most likely lead to an AHA moment further down the road. I'll keep these vague so as not to spoil anything. ex: "Hey that person seems cool."
6) Controversial moments: Anything that happens within this chapter that has some sort of controversy or debate surrounding it. Ex: anything that seems to not make sense or seemingly creates a plot hole will be found here.
7) My Remembrall is Glowing: These are details that have slipped my mind over the years. Maybe it jogged my memory upon re-reading it, or maybe it's something that I've completely overlooked. This includes anything from random characters mentioned offhandedly to scenes that I completely forgot existed. Although this is partially for my own benefit, it's certainly helpful for others as well, because if I forgot it, chances are you did too.
8) Got Peeves'd: An allusion to Peeves the Poltergeist, this section is for things the movies decided to change or leave out entirely. In these sections, I'll mention anything of note that was forgotten, as well as give a brief opinion or explanation for that detail being left out.
9) Divination Class: This is our glimpse into the future, aka foreshadowing. Anything that comes back around or is strongly alluded to gets mentioned here.
10) Miscellaneous: Not sure if this will be an actual, lasting section, but this is basically where I'll put anything that falls outside of the other sections. If I have some sort of theory about something that's unclear, it'll go here. Personal thoughts about the series that have some sort of spoilery aspect to them? Here. Just basically anything miscellaneous that falls through the cracks.
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Attn: First Years! (aka people reading the Harry Potter series for the first time): Here's a guide to which sections of my posts you should & should not read:
Sections #1-5: Definite YES. These sections will be completely spoiler-free, as they deal directly with the chapter at hand and will help you understand the current events within the series.
Sections #6-7: It depends. These shouldn't contain spoilers. #6 should be mostly contained to the chapter & #7 will mostly be rather minor things. However, I'll employ a spoiler warning if I feel these sections get into actual spoilers.
Section #8: Sure... if you've seen the movies. Sometimes, people see the movie before reading the book. And (although that saddens me) that's fine! If you're already familiar with the movies (and/or don't mind knowing movie details), this section will give you a bit of insight. But if you haven't seen the movies and don't want to know what's left in & what's cut, stop after section #7.
Sections #9-10: Nope. These are at the end for a reason. These are the ones you probably shouldn't read if you haven't read the full series. There will be a spoiler warning posted before these, but still don't read them if you don't want to be spoiled.
So, that's what you should expect from my posts! Despite being super long-winded, I'll try my hardest to keep the length short, but pack as much info as possible!
Let me know down in the comments what you think about this new series! If you have any suggestions for other things I should look at while reading the series, please let me know down in the comments as well, because I definitely don't want to overlook any cool topics to delve into!
~Mischief Managed~
