Podcasts about dumbledore

This week on MuggleCast: “SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!” It's time to discuss one of the biggest shocks in the entire Harry Potter series. Join us as we begin to wrap up our chapter-by-chapter re-read of Half-Blood Prince! Chapter by Chapter continues with Chapter 27 of Half-Blood Prince, “The Lightning Struck Tower” (cue Andrew pitching Universal his attraction idea once again) Draco thinks he has the upper hand here, but Dumbledore shows grace and humility. Is Draco trying to blame Albus for the trouble they're both in? Did Dumbledore know about the Vanishing Cabinet? This chapter offers us a couple of clues. Micah offers several fascinating bits of symbolism concerning the Lightning-Struck Tower itself. We look at how the idea to use coins to communicate has come around full circle, from Death Eaters, to Hermione, and back to Death Eaters. Did Dumbledore think such a large audience would witness his death? For a big planner like Albus, he may not've seen that twist coming. The Astronomy Tower has made several appearances across the Harry Potter series to date. We review the times that it's popped up. Lynx Line: You're Dumbledore in the afterlife. When Snape gets there next year, what's the first thing you're saying to him? Reminder: Year 5 of the MuggleCast Collectors Club is here! You can receive SIX exclusive stickers by joining us on Patreon. These stickers can go on the custom Collectors Club Card we released a few years ago, or you can put them wherever else you like! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 18 - The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, covered by Sarah! "For the greater good" wasn't Grindelwald's idea — so now Harry has to deal with that. This episode covers the truth about Dumbledore's past, his friendship with Grindelwald, and the moment Harry realizes the person he trusted most kept everything from him.  ⚡️

Alice, Martha, and SPECIAL GUEST Shut Up Tim discuss the second five minutes of Half-Blood Prince, which sees Harry taking Dumbledore's arm off to Budleigh Babberton, Dumbledore channeling his inner Sanguini, and David Yates quickly turning into David Yikes. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/realweirdsisters New episodes are released every Monday and special topics shows are released periodically. Don't forget to subscribe to our show to make sure you never miss an episode!

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Go to http://betterhelp.com/super for 10% off your first month. Head to http://factormeals.com/super50off and use code 'super50off' to get 50% off and FREE Daily Greens per box! What if Dumbledore's “drinking problem” in Harry Potter wasn't just a running gag… but an actual curse? Throughout the Harry Potter series, Dumbledore constantly offers people drinks — tea, brandy, wine, mead, butterbeer — and somehow nobody ever seems to drink with him. From Hagrid and Slughorn to the Dursleys and even the Yule Ball, a bizarre pattern quietly follows Albus Dumbledore throughout the entire story. Today we explore one of the strangest hidden patterns in Harry Potter and the shocking moment the curse may have begun. #HarryPotter #Dumbledore #HarryPotterTheory

Book 7, Chapter 7: The Will of Albus Dumbledore

How very right Alice and Martha were about the first single-digit One Page at a Time! "Jim Dale" gets to do the full narration this week, as Mr. Dursley drifts into an uneasy sleep and the cat on the wall doesn't move an inch (wow!). Dumbledore stomps down the Privet Drive runway, and while we're at it, we may as well do a deep dive into the origins of the street's name! Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/realweirdsisters New episodes are released every Monday and special topics shows are released periodically. Don't forget to subscribe to our show to make sure you never miss an episode! 

Mallory returns to the podcast to discuss the final tale from Beedle. We dive a bit deeper on the brothers themselves as well as the Hallows that they are gifted by Death. In part two of the conversation we tackle Dumbledore's commentary on the tale.

On this week's episode, we're following Dumbledore and Harry into an unholy place... and finding deep comparisons between the chosen location for Voldemort's most protected Horcrux, and the legacy of the item it is contained within. Join Andrew, Eric, Micah, and Laura as they discuss a particular cave filled with water you wouldn't want to drink, and an important bonding moment between Harry and his headmaster. This week we're discussing Half-Blood Prince Chapter 26, “The Cave” The hosts analyze a new metaphor for the Cave by comparing it to a mother's womb. Harry and Dumbledore hope to retrieve a life form from the center, but it will cost them. What is the significance between Voldemort choosing his mother's locket, and this natural formation as its hiding spot? Real Talk, Part One: Could Harry have ever "beaten" the cave without Dumbledore's help? Real Talk, Part Two: Does the punishing difficulty of the Cave set an unreasonably high standard for readers regarding future Horcrux retrievals? Are Dumbledore's secrets being revealed while he takes the potion? Just what can we make of what he is experiencing, based on what he says? Micah's new theory about Dumbledore's visions stuns Eric. Do our Ariana Dumbledore theories re: the cave and Albus's protestations still hold water? Lynx Line: You are drinking from the basin and going through all the feelings. What are you screaming to the person who is forcing the liquid down your throat? Quizzitch: With a span of over 426 mapped miles, made of limestone, WHERE is the world's longest known cave system located? In Bonus MuggleCast, we watch and react to 5 classic episodes by the Potter Puppet Pals! Only half of the hosts have ever seen these classic fan entries into canon, despite their popularity! What things new and old will we find in the content? Watch along with us and discover, only on our Patreon, located at Patreon.com/MuggleCast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The thing that Dumbledore wants to force Slughorn to do against Slughorn's will… Dumbledore actually has Slughorn's best interests at heart. That's the greatness of this character: he will go against your will and he'll be right. After he's done with you and you do what he made you do against your will, will you be thankful? Yeah, kind of. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we discuss Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Albus Dumbledore and how they evolved over Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We also discuss Voldemort's continuing rise to power and how that sets up Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Enjoy!Topics/Summary:·      1:16 The goals we set for season two. 1) Explore Hogwarts. If there's one that we could have done more with, it's probably this one. However, we still did a ton in this regard. 2) Develop relationships. Check! 3) Begin Voldemort's journey. We absolutely did this as well, especially with the diary. Tom Riddle as a shadow of the Dark Lord functions very effectively to set up his rise to power.·      21:20 The power of dark magic. With Sirius Black in our future, the idea of dark magic should evolve in this season. Seeing Ginny floating above the Chamber of Secrets, for example, would be a sight that would really draw the line between dark and light magic.·      26:41 Harry and Dumbledore. It should be clear that Dumbledore is pulling the strings here. He has a say in the goings on of the wizarding world. Additionally, Harry has a deep dark past, and that past is what influences a lot of Dumbledore's decisions. ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.comthepotterdiscussion.comNox

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On this week's episode, don't talk to your Divination professor when she's had a few too many because she might just SET YOU OFF! Join Andrew, Eric, Micah and Laura as they confront Dumbledore about that night at the Hog's Head. Year 5 of the MuggleCast Collectors Club is here! You can receive SIX exclusive stickers by joining us on Patreon. These stickers can go on the custom Collectors Club Card we released a few years ago, or you can put them wherever else you like! Chapter-by-Chapter continues with Chapter 25 of Half-Blood Prince, The Seer Overheard Harry is contemplating retrieving the Prince's book from the Room of Requirement. Hasn't Harry learned anything from trusting mysterious books? Hermione discovers an old newspaper clipping featuring Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team. But the Prince can't be a woman, right?! Connecting the Threads: much like Hermione discovers the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk, she begins to unravel the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. Trelawney seems pretty miffed at Dumbledore these days. Now that's she served her purpose, is Sybill old news? Or is Albus just too busy for anyone not named Horcrux? Could Snape overhearing the prophecy be the biggest secret that Dumbledore has kept from Harry? Does Dumbledore downplay the impact of this revelation? Was he ever planning to tell Harry? The Lightening-Struck Tower: we recall the first time we read this chapter... and not feeling good about Dumbledore's chances. Hunting Horcruxes: does Dumbledore sacrifice the safety of the school to go on an adventure with Harry? Lynx Line: You're Harry and you run into Snape on your way to Dumbledore's office after just learning he overheard the prophecy… What happens? Quizzitch: What is the more common name of the ailment known as pertussis? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Julian Wamble returns to the Defense Against the Dark Arts bonus episode with listener responses from Patreon, Discord, and Spotify. Three threads drive the conversation: whether Dumbledore ever actually tried to break the curse on the DADA position, whether Lucius Malfoy as Chair of Governors had reasons to keep it broken, and what magical education is failing to teach about consent, consequences, and the ethics of power. The reflection asks a bigger question: why don't we have a real-world equivalent of DADA? Because we don't need one. The conditioning DADA has to do explicitly in a classroom happens in our world through media, history, policing, and the composition of the spaces we grow up in. The fear arrives before school does. What school teaches, in the wizarding world and ours, isn't how to defend yourself. It's who the defenders are.

JC:  Dumbledore taking the Dursleys to task. That's the way that he is throughout this chapter, and I remember thinking this feels like fanfic because it felt like such fantasy fulfillment. I had wanted to see somebody tell the Dursleys how badly they treated Harry for so long, and to have Dumbledore come in and do it, I had to keep thinking, 'Really?! Is this really happening?' For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Chapter 15 - The Goblin's Revenge, covered by Abby! The sword of Gryffindor is real, the resistance at Hogwarts is alive, and maybe Dumbledore had a plan all along? But none of that matters right now, the trio is broken, Hermione is sobbing in the rain, and Harry is alone with a locket around his neck.⚡️

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger come to the end of their second year at Hogwarts. We spend most of the episode in Ancient Greece following the inventor of the horcrux: Herpo the Foul. Enjoy!Topics/Summary:·      Listen to Tea Leaves S2 E7 here! Read more about Herpo the Foul here (if you dare)!·      1:56 Quick Recap and Herpo the Foul. We open in Ancient Greece, thousands of years ago. Herpo the Foul lives in a big, nonmagical family. He feels like he can't make his voice heard, and that he has no power. This leads to the formation of an obscurus and his magical journey begins. This part of the episode should be the majority. We explore his life and how he used his powers to gain an edge, eventually breaking out of simple curses and discovering horcruxes. The similarities to Voldemort should be obvious.·      26:13 Back to Harry. We open in the girls' bathroom with Fawkes, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart returning from the Chamber. Harry and Ron go up to Dumbledore's office where they are scolded, but also rewarded. Harry hands Dumbledore the diary and we should feel the weight of that moment, especially because of how much buildup we had in the previous part of this episode. Lucius and Dobby enter, and Harry gives the diary to Lucius before they leave, who hands it to Dobby. Dobby is free! Finally, we have a final shot of the trio getting on the train and going back home. It is the end of this year, but certainly not the end of the story. Soon, they will learn of the horrible, terrible, escaped Sirius Black… ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.comthepotterdiscussion.comNox

Get behind the bar and start mixing Polyjuice Potion and Veritaserum together for a new special drink: Join Irvin, Karoline, Sophia and our guest Lizzie, in discussion of Chapter 35 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - "Veritaserum"! Join the discussion on our website In this episode: Mad Barty Crouch Eyes What does Dumbledore know during the Third Task? What does Moody call Lord Voldemort?  What about Fake Moody? Who calls Voldemort "daddy"? Is Winky a master Occlumens… or just very drunk? The merits of villain monologues Hermione is a walking and talking book, really Cheating on behalf of Harry Is Snape foe(glass) or friend? Is Moody's chest a Tardis? Resources: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Sevens by Irvin Khaytman The Fallen Fathers of Goblet of Fire by Irvin Khaytman The Schemes Behind the Spite: Why Voldemort Really Jinxed the DADA Job by Sophia Jenkins The Role of Books in the Hogwarts Saga by David Martin A Very Bad Year for Albus Dumbledore (and it's all Snape's fault) by Josie Kearns Dumbledore: The Life and Lies by Irvin Khaytman Pub's Jukebox: The Tournament by Slytherin Soundtrack Contact: Website: https://threebroomstickspod.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threebroomstickspod/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threebroomstickspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/threebroompod Email: 3broomstickspod@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/3broomsticks 

This week, Alex & Dan go down to the TWRAD Vault to delve once more into the entertainment industry to bring you their great, not so great and down right terrible casting choices from the silver screen! They discuss Harry Potter's Dumbledore, MCU's Iron-clad Avenger, an infamous casting of a Bond Girl and one of the most impressive castings of Wonder Woman in a failing DCU franchise - and many more, including some of yours, thanks to the power of social media and the Gramophone - where we get a listener's question through on the topic of being worthy!#GITS

Potter Revisited Episode #109 Make Hogwarts Great Again AKA Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 11 "The Sorting Hat's New Song" It is such an odd time to be rereading OOTP with its themes of government overreach  Harry sees the Thestrals pulling the carriages when Ron doesn't and is starting to think he is losing it since Luna can see them too  Harry is bottling up a lot of feelings, thoughts and emotions which isn't healthy  Luna says Hagrid is a bad teacher and tbh, she isn't wrong. Ginny, Ron and Harry have a biased view This is one of the only times where Harry is starting the year with people talking about him negatively  Harry notes that the new person at the staff table is the witch from his Ministry Hearing - while Hermione instantly infers that Umbridge is the new DADA teacher The Sorting Hat has a new song that is very different from his usual - explaining the different houses and their preferred traits This song goes into some Founders lore including rifts in friendships, ego clouding judgement and if sorting is actually a good thing and issues a warning that Hogwarts is in danger  Shay has some issues with how the hat generalizes the houses, such as Slytherin's and Hufflepuff's  Dumbledore is scandalously interrupted by Umbridge who gives a weird speech   Umbridge gives off the vibe that she has never spoken to a real child before and comes off very condescending Children should not be friends with teachers / adults, Umbridge!!! Ron and Hermione quickly realize they have Prefect Duties at the end of the feast to attend to Is Ron acting odd about his badge because he feels he doesn't deserve it, or that he doesn't want to rub it in Harry's face that he got it  Or is it more about not wanting to be like Percy, who abandoned the family? Neville is so excited that he knows the password and will be able to remember it Harry is surprised and angry that Seamus' mom doesn't believe him and Dumbledore, and how Seamus is fishing for information on how Cedric died  Dean brings up that is parents don't know what has happened because he hasn't told them - does Hogwarts not inform parents, especially muggle parents? Death of a student would be a big thing to keep hidden We love Ron standing up for Harry. He would throw down if needed  Neville's quiet support of Harry is so nice Harry has people on his side, but is is struggling with having people he has known for years turn against him which is hard  Snape Sucks count for Chapter 11: 0 Email any thoughts, questions or feedback to  potterrevisitedpodcast@gmail.com Music: Shelter Song by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Follow Us:  Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/potterrevisited Twitter https://twitter.com/potterevisited Instagram https://www.instagram.com/potterrevisited_/ Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4v2Xt0OIQ8_LCVYhKf2S5A TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@potterrevisited  

On this week's episode, get ready for the worst scavenger hunt ever! Join Eric, Micah, Laura and special guest Rachel as they take a trip down Horcrux memory lane and learn what near-impossible task lies ahead for Harry and company!  Welcome Slug Club member and host of The Menuscript, Rachel! This week we're discussing Half-Blood Prince Chapter 23, "Horcruxes" The Slughorn Files: UNREDACTED What do we make of Slughorn's interest in Tom becoming Minister of Magic? Did Tom learn some of his less-than-wholesome skills from observing Slughorn? What was the inciting event that made Dumbledore so “fierce” about a no-Horcrux curriculum?  And should Horcruxes be a banned topic at Hogwarts? Why was Voldemort willing to risk part of his soul to reopen the Chamber of Secrets? Hallows Happy Dumbledore: with both the Elder Wand and Resurrection Stone in his possession, why didn't Albus ask Harry for his Invisibility Cloak and just dip? When Dumbledore suggests the possibility of a living Horcrux in Nagini, should this not have been MAJOR confirmation that Harry was a Horcrux as well? Why does Harry's capacity for love give him power the Dark Lord knows not? Lynx Line: If Horcruxes were a subscription service, what would their tagline be? Quizzitch: On July 7th, 2007, the “New 7 Wonders of the Modern World” were unveiled by the New 7 Wonders Committee in Switzerland, with input from around the world. Of the NEW 7 Wonders of the Modern world, which one is the MOST modern? In Bonus MuggleCast, we're keeping with the Horcrux theme… and giving the Harry Potter TV show license to change one major character death. Find out what the hosts came up with at Patreon.com/MuggleCast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden ThreadsLast July, Nick Jeffery and I put together a month long review of Rowling's work in celebration of her 60th birthday, a Kanreki party. Every day we posted conversations about each of Rowling's works with Nick discussing a ‘Lake' point, something biographical or bibliographical, and me talking about a ‘Shed' quality of the work, the author's traditional tools, artistry, and meaning.That worked great for about twenty days. Then we ran out of books. What to do for the remaining days of the month?We decided to talk about Golden Threads, the plot points, themes, and twists that run through everything Rowling has written. We started out with a survey of the fifteen-plus already identified by Rowling Re-readers and Fourth Generation types (see here and here) and then with more in depth looks at the ones that were controversial or more difficult to see. We closed off the month with the ‘Lost Child' Golden Thread and the possibility that Rowling's inspiration for the Harry Potter series was the trauma of pre-natal infanticide (‘abortion').As disturbing as that Golden Thread was to many Rowling fans and Feminist Gate Keepers, there was another third-rail string we didn't discuss, namely, the plot point of incest that readers encounter again and again in the Potter and Strike series as well as the stand-alone stories.Incest as Golden ThreadNick and I discuss the Incest Golden Thread on the fly in the conversation above about Strike-Ellacott fandom theories about Sleep Tight, Evangeline and the series finale. Here are some written references if you want to review them by looking at the books in question on your shelf.* Harry PotterThe foundation crime of the Hogwarts Saga is the abuse of Merope Gaunt by her father Marvolo and her brother Morfin. The abuse in question in this children's book series is not explicitly sexual. As with the abuse of Ariana Dumbledore by the Muggle boys, however, that Merope's father and brother violated her is there between the lines; her trauma is so great that she loses her capacity for magic (as she does after her Riddle lover leaves her) and the family does not send her to Hogwarts lest their shameful secret be revealed. No broken Merope, no Lord Voldemort, no Potter family murder and orphan Harry — no series. Though the Saga's foundation crime, the Gaunt family's abuse of its only young woman, is not revealed until Order of the Phoenix, it is the tragedy on which all the core conflicts of the septology are built.* Casual VacancyStuart ‘Fats' Wall is the adopted son of Tessa and Colin Wall. A teenager in Vacancy, he and Krystall Wheedon are the star-crossed lovers around whose choices and behaviors the ensemble drama largely turn. Fats at the end of the book claims responsibility for all the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother posts by means of which the secrets of Padford citizens are spilled.In the climax of the Wall family drama after Robbie's drowning and Krystall's suicide, Tessa reveals to Fats his personal history. His biological mother was only fourteen when he was born, an age that sadly means it is possible-to-likely that he is the fruit of incest. Tessa, a diabetic woman unlikely to carry a baby to term successfully, compelled her unwilling husband to agree to the adoption despite his mental fragility. Again, the foundation crime of this very involved story is incest, the abuse of a young woman by her family. * Lethal WhiteIn the first of only two Rowling books in which every epigraph was taken from a single work, the fourth Strike novel takes all of its headings from Henrik Ibsen's Rosmersholm, a play in which suicide and incest go hand in hand, especially in the White Horse finale. The novel parallels its epigraph source in astonishing ways.The Chiswell family has its secrets. The Minister of Culture hires Strike's agency to find ‘dirt' on Jimmy Knight and Geraint Winn that can used as counter “bargaining chips” to end their capacity to blackmail him. He shares neither what information they have that they are holding over his head to extort money and revenge nor what Billy Knight witnessed years ago. If Jasper or Izzy Chiswell had told Strike this information in the beginning, it is likely the pater familias would not have been murdered. The biggest secrets, of course, are about the sexual relationship between Raphael and his step-mother and the step-son's plans to murder father and eventually Kinvarra in order to be free to spend the millions he'll make from sale of the Stubbs. Not quite incest, a step-mother in bed with her step-son, but something like it.Rosmersholm‘s family secrets are if anything more disturbing. Kroll reveals to Rebecca that Dr. West, her adoptive father, was very likely her biological father as well. It is implied heavily that after her mother's death Rebecca's relationship with Dr. West changed from filial to sexual; Kroll's revelation about this is something of an Oedipus Rex moment. Rebecca realizes that she had been sleeping with her father and the incest taboo crushes her ability to accept Rosmer's overdue marriage proposal, a proposal for which she had convinced the ailing Mrs Rosmer to commit suicide.* Troubled BloodThe psychopathic murderer and torturer of children that the police and public believe killed Margot Bamborough is Dennis Creed. We learn in chapter 8 of Strike 5 via the Peg-Legged PI reading The Demon of Paradise Park that Creed was the incestuous rape off-spring of Agnes Waite and her step-father Awdry, a man who wanted to kill the child at birth but which the mother prevented (to her eventual regret). Awdry abused the boy all through his childhood, especially after Agnes' escape as a young woman (reminiscent of Peggy Nancarrow's flight from St Mawes). Troubled Blood is haunted by the victims of Creed's madness, all of whose deaths can be traced back to Awdry's violent sexual violation of his step-daughter.* Hallmarked ManThe mystery Cormoran Strike agrees with no little hesitation to try to solve is ‘What happened to Rupert Fleetwood?' Decima Longcaster Mullins, mother of Fleetwood's son Lion, believes her baby-daddy was the unidentifiable murdered man in the Ramsey Silver Vault. We learn before that victim's identity is revealed that Fleetwood fled the UK after he learned that the woman he loved was his half-sister and his son the product of unwitting incest. Rowling-Galbraith reveals only in the epilogue that Ian Griffiths murdered Tyler Powell because the young man was determined to rescue the young woman living with Griffith as his daughter who was pregnant with his child. Once again, the foundation crimes of a Rowling work turn on the intentional sexual abuse of a girl by a father-figure, here compounded by an Oedipus Rex like incest-in-ignorance episode. Incest Notes* Fantastic BeastsAs in the Harry Potter novels, there are no explicitly incestuous relationships in the Fantastic Beasts screenplays. The conception of Leta Lestrange, however, checks the ‘rape,' ‘power abuse,' and ‘inter-family' boxes of father-daughter incest nightmare. Her mother, Laurena Kama, was desired by Corvus Lestrange III even though she was married to Mustafa and the mother of Yusof. Corvus compelled her by the Imperius Curse to join him and, while she was under his control, which is to say ‘unable to consent or resist his will,' conceived Leta, who took his name as if her mother had been his wife. Leta unknowingly avenges the Kama family by her switching her younger half-brother Corvus IV with the Dumbledore baby that results in his death by drowning.* IckabogNick Jeffery points out in our conversation that there can be no more incestuous means of conceiving a child than the Ickabog species' parthenogenic reproduction. If one accepts that as incest, the Ickabog's death after delivery and the imprinted character of the Ickaboggle by its first contact post partum have to be read allegorically.* Cuckoo's CallingThere is no mention made in the first Strike novel of John Bristow's having sexually abused his younger also-adopted sibling-sister, Lula Landry. I'm going to include it in these ‘Incest Notes' because I think it possible that the man who killed his brother Charlie and envied his sister Lula ‘played' with her cruelly, which fostered her mental instability. I think this is more than imaginative free association head-canon because of Lula's successful search for and planned meeting her real sibling brother Jonah Agyeman the night of her death. Bristow-Agyeman, the false and true brothers, are figures of erotic and anterotic love in her life, so much that I don't think incest is a stretch for John Bristow, the unloved chick in the nest.Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.So what?There has been a real up-tick in speculation about how the Strike series will finish in its last two books with the guess work largely turning on how the Big Unresolved Mysteries will play out. The reason I've written up these thumbnail etchings of incest occurrences through Rowling's work is because several of the theories Nick and I are seeing in the comment boxes here and on the YouTube HogwartsProfessor channel are incest driven.To get that, a Serious Striker, beyond grasping that incest is a ‘thing' to expect in a Rowling piece like Bad Dad, Divine Mother, Violence Against Women, and at least one Lost Child, has to have in sight at all times three ideas that act as premises:* Closing Trilogy Theory: Hallmarked Man the first of a three book finale which introduces the main characters;There's a real split in Strike fandom about what to think of Hallmarked Man. The great mass of readers on Reddit I'm told and at least one Substack Sage believe it is “the worst book of the series,” a real stinker. Nick and I — and most of the Hogwarts Professor readers who comment on our posts and conversations — in contrast think it is a brilliant book, one that may eventually be considered one of the best in the Strellacott decalogy.The difference is that the one group reads Strike 8 as if it were just like the first seven books in the series, i.e., a stand alone mystery whose cast of characters will in large part disappear from the stage before the next book begins. That working assumption makes the extraordinarily large cast of players in Hallmarked Man and the five different story-lines just with respect to whom the silver vault corpse might be, not to mention the Strike-Ellacott romance and over arching mysteries clues seem a confusing pile-up of plot points and people, few of which made this book fun-to-read. The author seems like she just lost control of the story and threw everything that occurred to her into the story and cut none of it out.Our working theory disagrees with that Just-Like-All-the-Others assumption and finds the possibility that Rowling has just lost her way very unlikely. Having just finished charting each of Strike 8's chapter sets or ‘Parts' and found that each is an intricate ring, as well as those Parts working as a ring, too, believing that the author is asleep at the wheel seems borderline preposterous.We think that the first seven books, each written playfully on the model of its Harry Potter numeric counterpart, are a closed set — and that the last three books in the ten book series are being written as a trilogy in which the Great Mysteries introduced in the first seven will be resolved.Hallmarked Man, as the first book in this three part series, is burdened with introducing all the principal players of this extended finale inside a book whose mystery allows their appearance and character reveal without pointing too obviously to their part in the upcoming drama. Hence Tara, Dino, Valentine, Ralph Lawrence, Sacha, and at long last Rokeby playing the roles they do in this book.* Trilogy will resolve at last the Leda Margaret, Charlotte, and Strike/Ellacott story line mysteries; The end of Strike 10 seems to be a hard stop according to Rowling. She is obliged, consequently, in the next two books to give her readers satisfaction on the many hanging threads in the series, most notably:* The story of Strike's conception, the IED explosion, and his SIB medal;* Peggy Nancarrow, a.k.a., Leda Strike, why she left St Mawes as she did, why she raised her children as she did, and all the circumstances of her seeming suicide (Where's Switch?); and* Charlotte Campbell-Ross, sometimes referred to as the Honorable Milady Bezerko, and the baby she claims to have conceived with Strike, her backstage efforts to upend Strike's relationship with Robin, her break-up with the hotelier billionaire, her suicide note, and, echoing Leda, the circumstances of her seeming suicide.That's the shortest of lists obviously with nothing about Murphy or Robin or the host of other key players in the series. Given the ending of Hallmarked Man, I'm very much inclined to think that Sleep Tight, Evangeline's mystery will turn on where Robin went after Strike's proposal on the stairs which will necessarily involve Murphy, and, forgive me, many of the players from Strike 8 as Rowling-Galbraith begins rolling out the stunning twists hidden beneath the surface of Strike 8. All those fun confrontations with Charlotte's bizarro family, from Emilia at the end of Grave to Tara, Dino, Valentine, and Sacha? My bet is we'll learn in the next books how much Strike and Ellacott missed in their meetings with each.* Serious Strikers think incest is at the heart of the Strike, Nancarrow, and Campbell mysteries.Leda's Conception* Ted's Daughter with an Unknown WomenA real stretch, I know, but Ted, per the invaluable Cormoran Strike Timeline, was fourteen years older than his younger sister Peggy. If you think it inconceivable that Ted was Leda's father, you either imagine that just-barely-teenage boys cannot sire children (see George Hamilton's life for his sexcapades at age twelve with his stepmother) or you make nothing of the fact that Trevik gave up his daughter for his mother's upbringing when his wife died. Perhaps the cause of the Nancarrow house nightmare and Ted's departure for the Army “lest murder be done” was because, a la Hamilton, Leda's mother was not a young lass with whom Ted met outside The Victory but Trevik's abused wife, Ted's own mother. Which is to say he was both Leda's brother and biological father. Hence the otherwise almost inexplicable relationship of Ted, his barren wife, and Peggy-Leda. Just sayin'!Strike's conception:* Son of Leda and Ted;Leda is 23, give or take a year, at Strike's conception early in 1974 and her older brother is 37 and married to Joan who cannot have children. It's possible that Ted is Cormoran's dad, just as Joan is delighted to hear Strike say he is in Troubled Blood, the only barrier being our being told repeatedly that Ted was a “proper man.” Perhaps that repeated telling is a marker that he wasn't always that proper but did his best to set his sister (daughter?) up well with the Rokeby paternity evidence. See ‘Uncle Ted It' for more speculation along these lines.* Son of Leda and Trevik Nancarrow;I'm thinking that if Rowling is pointing to an incest relationship in the Nancarrow family it isn't with “proper man” Ted, the long-suffering and ever vigilant older brother but to the “pure terror” and “hard-drinking” man despised by sister and brother. You'll forgive for thinking that anything to which Rowling-Galbraith is clearly hopeful her readers will believe is not the surprise ending of her ten book series.* Rokeby deception If Strike's or Leda's conception was incestuous, especially if Ted was the father of either, then Rokeby was deceived about his parentage, I presume with Ted's SIB-driven assistance. The best motivation I have read about why Leda was murdered and her death staged as a seeming suicide, beyond even the Mad Guillespie theories, is that she tired of this deception, hence her refusal to accept Rokeby's child support, and intended to tell Cormoran who his father really was. So Ted killed her. Charlotte Conception and Abuse by Father, Relations with Half-Brother:* Tara and Dino's DaughterFiona wrote to me privately to share her theory that Dino is not only the father of Valentine, Cosima, Decima, and Rupert, but also of Charlotte:In response to a post by Cheryl Rose Orrocks on 17 Feb 2026, my current theory is that Dino Longcaster is Charlotte's father and that his son, Valentine Longcaster, will be revealed as her abuser and the possible biological father of Charlotte's children. Hence the 2nd incest storyline will also involve the Longcaster family. This could be why Charlotte's mother, Tara, despised Charlotte so much.If Jago Ross is somehow linked to the matter of the DNA test involving Bijou and Strike, it may be because he had Charlotte's birth children DNA tested to confirm parentage. Maybe Jago discovers he is not the biological father and assumes Strike is, hence the reason he wants to obtain Strike's DNA results.This would need a whole longish post to unfurl but the high points of Fiona's idea is that, just as with the Fleetwoods, Dino impregnated Campbell's wife Tara unknown to the father. When the Campbells divorced (he doesn't seem to have found out?), Dino then became Charlotte's stepfather in addition to being her biological father.And maybe even the father of her children that she claimed were Cormoran's and Jago's? Whew.* Dino's Sexual AbuseRubes posted her theory on a thread here on 3 March that Dino Longcaster abused Charlotte his step-daughter after his marriage to her then mother, Tara Campbell Longcaster:I think Charlotte got involved with Dino as a teenager (whether willingly or not). That is why she ran away and attempted to kill herself. She told her mother who disbelieved her or knew and it is the source of their conflict. Dino was also maybe the stepfather that tried to have her committed.Dino and his daughter [Cosima] gave me Ivanka and Donald Trump vibes. Maybe he sublimated that incestuous desire with young Charlotte. He is also obsessed with looks and perfection and we know Charlotte as Venus is the epitome of beautyI think Charlotte either extorted him all these years or else continued the on-and-off affair so he would help support her lifestyle.He might even be the father of the twins. It would support both the false paternity and incest themes in THM. We also have multiple examples of (step)fathers grooming/abusing their stepdaughters throughout the series.* Valentine or Sacha relations; Strike child, Ross twinsBoth the ‘Dino Did Her' theories suggest in turn that, a la the Brockbank twins Noel and Holly, the Longcaster and Legard half-siblings Valentine and Sacha had sexual relationships with their beloved swinging sis Charlotte. Either man could be the father of the mystery baby she told Strike was theirs and either one could also be the baby daddy of Jago Ross' supposed twins.As Fiona suggests, if the results of Bijou's DNA testing of Strike winds up in Ross' hands — perhaps Rowling makes the whole effort Ross-inspired after he discovers the twins are not his? — he is the one who reveals to Strike that neither of them was the father of Charlotte's only children. If so, I look forward to reading how Rowling has Strike or Robin connect the dots with the incestuous Campbell-Legard-Longcaster family love-pit.ConclusionsDoes incest tie up all the loose threads in this series? No way. I suppose incest or at least cousin-marriage is a way of life in Afghanistan but I don't see how incest explains for us all the questions surrounding the IED blast.But with respect to the several conception questions we've been straddled with, incest definitely throws up some fascinating possibilities (and ‘throws up' reflects the nausea inducing aspects of this viscerally felt taboo). If you accept the Finishing Trilogy Idea and its corollary that all the mysteries will be resolved in the last three books and that Hallmarked Man has given us our cast of characters, then the possibility that the soft-incest of Decima and Rupert with its sort of happy ending in Strike 8 was an introit to an inbreeding heavy finish in the last two books.Please share your thoughts in the comment boxes below about these theories and about my conversation with Nick in the video above!Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Alice and Martha break down the most fun and hilarious page yet! Dumbledore senses traces of magic in a very mysterious manner, Harry brags about his fitness and his youth, and Voldemort once again fails to realize that physical pain is not the worst thing in the world. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/realweirdsisters New episodes are released every Monday and special topics shows are released periodically. Don't forget to subscribe to our show to make sure you never miss an episode! 

Book 7, Chapter 6: The Ghoul In Pajamas

Julie returns to the podcast to discuss the darkest of Beedle's tales. We talk about the troubled warlock and debate Dumbledore's commentary, which features some interesting details.

On this week's episode, it's time for Slughorn Unfiltered. We're going into the true memory that Dumbledore and Harry have been after, opening a significant path forward in the quest to defeat Voldemort! Chapter-by-Chapter continues with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 22: After the Burial Is Hagrid being a bad friend by asking the trio to break curfew? This isn't the first time Hagrid has put Harry in danger re: Aragog; we recall moments in Chamber of Secrets which connect. Hermione and Ron's reactions to Harry taking liquid luck still make us giggle. How did Hagrid actually fend off all of Aragog's family to get him to his hut? Is Harry being a bad friend to Hagrid by inviting Slughorn to the funeral, knowing Slughorn wants to turn a profit? Could Harry have gotten Horace's memory without using Felix Felicis? We go through why Harry is successful and what steps are taken which ensure his victory with the memory. Does Horace Slughorn appear again in this book? Does he avoid Harry after this? Odds and Ends discuss the first Potions lesson of the year, which was an important one for both Harry and Draco. Lynx Line: When did you successfully persuade someone to do something they didn't want to do, and how did you do it? Quizzitch: 1 On which Earth continent would you find the world's biggest spider, Theraposa blondi aka “The Goliath Birdeater”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, the hidden force within Hogwarts continues to roam the castle, petrifying students and ghosts alike. Tensions on the quidditch pitch rise, and suspicions of who this heir could be rise with them. An unexpected suspect rises to the top of the pool: Harry. Enjoy!Topics/Summary:·      Listen to Tea Leaves S2 E4 here!·      1:44 Quick Recap and Dumbledore's office. They are examining Mrs. Norris, trying to decide what happened to her. The air is intense, with little conversation and noise. Lockhart is of course trying to break in to offer his well-traveled advice, but they won't hear of it.·      8:08 The Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch Match. We should see more of Harry and Draco's complex relationship with intense searches for the snitch. In addition, Dobby's bludger is on a mission to take Harry out of commission. Harry crashes and Lockhart takes all the bones out of his arm.·      16:51 The Hospital Wing. Dobby reveals to Harry that it was him that blocked the platform, and that he enchanted the bludger to go after Harry. We aren't too happy with Dobby at this point. We also see Dumbledore and McGonagall bring in Colin Creevey, also petrified. This is getting real.·      24:35 The trio decides on using poly-juice potion to continue their investigation, then go dueling. Lockhart's Dueling Club isn't exactly a raging success, seeing as Snape wiped the floor with him. When Draco and Harry duel, Draco summons a snake and Harry speaks parcel tongue to it, though it doesn't know it. Justin Finch-Flechley thinks he was almost attacked. ·      30:52 Justin got attacked! Harry found him and Nearly Headless Nick petrified in a hallway, just when classes get out and the entire student body sees him. Now Harry is seen as a threat and the need to investigate these attacks grows.  ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.comthepotterdiscussion.comNox

On Episode 500 we discuss...→ Remembering Caleb Graves→ Discovery of self in the afterlife space→ "Baby Mort"→ Dumbledore's complexity→ "Do not pity the dead, pity the living”→ The uncertainty of Dumbledore's presenceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/alohomora-the-original-harry-potter-book-club--5016402/support.

Was Ginny the TRUE Master of Harry's Wand? This episode is sponsored by Better Help – Go to BetterHelp.com/SUPER to get 10% off your first month. Head to https://Factormeals.com/Super50off  and use code 'super50off' to get 50% off and FREE daily greens per box (See website for more details). Did Ginny Weasley secretly become the true master of Harry Potter's wand? It sounds impossible… but when you take a closer look at how wand allegiance actually works in the wizarding world, there's a shocking stretch of the series where Harry may not have been the master of his own wand at all. From Draco Malfoy disarming Dumbledore, to the chaos at Malfoy Manor, to a very overlooked moment in Order of the Phoenix… this theory connects the dots in a way that completely changes how you view Harry's magic. And if it's true… Ginny may have been the true master of Harry's wand for nearly an entire book. Let's dive in.

On this week's episode, we hope you know the difference between a ghost and an Inferius, lest you want to incur the sass of Severus Snape. Join Andrew, Eric, Micah and Laura as we suffer through Defense Against The Dark Arts while trying very hard to break into the Room of Requirement. Chapter-by-Chapter continues with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 21: The Unknowable Room Main Discussion #1: Distracted by Draco Fudge Flashback: We reflect on the Minister's comments in the very first chapter of this book: "The other side can do magic too." As Hermione consistently reminds Harry throughout the chapter, he is taking his eyes off the prize. Why is Harry not more focused given how testy Dumbledore was with him during their last lesson? We debate whether or not Dumbledore should have offered Harry more guidance Snitch Report: Given how Dobby behaves after tailing Draco, should Harry have been more mindful of what he was asking the former Malfoy house-elf to do? Why did it take Harry (and Hermione) 452 pages to realize Draco was using the Room of Requirement? Main Discussion #2: EMO Slytherins Snape is in rare form. Do we attribute his more-than-sassy nature to Draco? Dumbledore? Or did he just not have his coffee? Draco is in over his head. Do we have any sympathy for him? Lynx Line: What would you say to make the Room of Requirement open for you to reveal what Draco is up to? [Wrong answers only] Quizzitch: In Chapter 21, Harry is searching for a phrase that'll get him into the Room of Requirement… kind of like a password. WHO was the host of the United States television game show called “Password,” from 1961 to 1975? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently, having seen what becomes of people when they become billionaires, how it warps them… I have felt a greater appreciation for what Dumbledore did for Harry by not having him be raised from the age of one as The Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, the savior. Neglect and abuse are awful; uncontained indulgence is frightening in a completely different way. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Harry and Ron crash their flying Ford Anglia into the Womping Willow. Snape brings them both up to Hogwarts, and they serve their detentions. A mysterious voice echoes from somewhere far away, and Harry begins to wonder who, what, and where it is. Something is afoot at Hogwarts....Topics/Summary:·      3:33 Quick recap and Snape taking Harry and Ron up to the castle. It is important that Snape is the one to bring these two up to show his ability to move outside the lines, especially early on. Dumbledore defends Harry and gets his punishment down from expulsion to detention.·      15:23 Detention. I was debating whether to have any middle time between their conversation with Snape and their detention. Of course they need time to put their bags down and say hello to their friends, but that might change the air of the detention. Harry is addressing Gildroy Lockhart's fan mail and hears a voice. As he walks back to his dormitory, he hears it again and begins to wonder what it might mean…25:25 The final beats of the story. The whole quidditch practice showdown happens, and Ron's wand backfires on him. We also have Professor Lockhart's class and we begin to understand just how incompetent he really is. The final sequence of the story is the Deathday Party. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to Nearly Headless Nick's party, and as they leave, Harry hears the voice again. It is closer and more intense than ever before, so he runs after it. They come across the horrible scene with Mrs. Norris, the water, and the writing on the wall: “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened; enemies of the heir, beware.” ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.comthepotterdiscussion.comNox

On Episode 499 we discuss...→ Phoenix's song→ Emotional responses to Dumbledore's death→ The significance of disarming→ Fleur's strength, and parental love→ Lupin and Tonks' relationship→ The importance of individualityBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/alohomora-the-original-harry-potter-book-club--5016402/support.

Elizabeth returns to discuss a great tale featuring three witches and a knight who face trials as they attempt to better their lives. Once again we also cover Dumbledore's fantastic commentary.

Vi er nået til de sidste to kapitler i Harry Potter og Halvblodsprinsen, hvor vi får sagt endeligt farvel til Dumbledore, samt bundet knuder på alle løse ender! Lyt med, når vi får samlet op på de forskellige knaster ml. Fleur & Molly, samt Lupus & Tonks. Vi går desuden i dybden med konsekvenserne af et varulvebid, og så kigger vi fremad på den farefulde rejse, der venter lige om hjørnet.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we analyze the second trailer released by HBO for the Harry Potter TV show. This one is for a behind-the-scenes special called Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic. It is a behind the scenes look at the production of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first season of the Harry Potter TV show. Enjoy!Topics/Summary:Listen to episode 326 analyzing the first official trailer here!·      2:54 Dominic McLaughlin looks so much like Harry! But it's not in the way that he looks like Daniel Radcliff, but that he looks like the Harry from the books.  There are still some differences, but that continues to support the idea that these characters will be similar, but not the same.·      9:00 Wow! We're getting behind the scenes footage! It's crazy to think that we just got the release date to the TV show itself, and we're already getting full releases of behind-the-scenes specials. We've almost graduated the point where the product itself is the goal, but an expansion of the fandom and the story.·      14:56 Philosopher's Stone? Christmas? We glossed over some of the most important pieces of information we learned from the trailer. For one, the project is called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, not the Sorcerer's Stone. And it will be released this year! Christmas has the right feeling of magic and family to make for the perfect release date.·      21:13 Still no Voldemort? HBO has confirmed that he has been cast and will appear in at least a few seasons, so it's odd that we haven't heard a peep. They're really keeping this under wraps! I don't really care about the name of the actor playing him, just the interpretation of the character. In this way the casting does actually matter, so any information would be great!·      27:29 Snape and Dumbledore and still stealing the show! Even in the special trailer, these two had big features and interviews. I want them to have a heavy feature, but it would be a shame if they took over the screen. ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.comthepotterdiscussion.comNox

Book 7, Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior

In this Prof Responds episode, Professor Julian Wamble takes on one of Harry Potter's most misunderstood characters: Cho Chang. Drawing on listener responses to the main episode, Prof explores three themes— Harry's emotional failures and why the text excuses them, Cho's racial coding as a disposable "other" in Harry's romantic arc, and what her sidelining costs the story. The reflection reframes Cho entirely. The wizarding world is a culture built on emotional concealment, Occlumency, modified memories, and institutional denial of Cedric Diggory's death. Snape, Dumbledore, and Slughorn all follow that logic, and fandom has long celebrated their damage as a form of complexity. Cho refuses it. Her tears are not a weakness. They are witness, proof that Cedric existed and that grief cannot be managed away. In a world that teaches "conceal, don't feel," her willingness to grieve openly is an act of rebellion.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we analyze the trailer for the Harry Potter TV show. We have our first looks at Hogwarts, The Hogwarts Express, 4 Privet Drive, Snape, Dumbledore, and many more exciting characters and places in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Enjoy!Topics/Summary:·      1:36 4 Privet Drive looks similar to the films. The Dursleys clearly have a mean streak, and Petunia has a big feature. Is she going to be the one doling out punishment to Harry the most? The cupboard under the stairs is more depressing than the films for sure. The whole house looks similar, but it feels a little darker.·      12:40 Harry looks great in action! This is the first time we've seen him acting live.·       14:22 Rubeus Hagrid makes an appearance, but it's not what I imagined. His voice is just the voice of a normal person, not the big clumsy person we know and love. I'm sure we will grow to love him as we always do, but right now I don't see the vision.·      18:35 The Hogwarts Express is fantastic! It looks pretty much the same which is the right choice. They did it right the first time and I'm glad they didn't mess with it. However, King Cross is something of an improvement I think compared to the films. Hogsmeade Station is also a cool place which comes across well.·      23:41 Hogwarts is …… interesting. In every shot, I thought one of two things: this is a sky lodge, or this looks exactly like the film. I'm a little disappointed that this is our first impression of the castle because the best parts of the castle are big and bright, not closed off and lit with torches like the majority of what we saw.·      30:30 The characters look awesome. I am blown away by Snape and Dumbledore! Snape clearly has such depth and I'm so looking forward to seeing him develop. And Dumbledore looks like a combination between the Gambon and Harris versions which might be the best of both worlds. Ron is something of a dufus, but that might open the door for the biggest character transformation in the whole series. ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.comthepotterdiscussion.comNox

The new play “Giant,” on Broadway, dramatizes the scandal around Roald Dahl, the beloved children's-book author who, in the nineteen-eighties, began making antisemitic statements and invoking stereotypes about Jewish influence. John Lithgow portrays Dahl as he faces off against his American publisher, who presses him to retract his statements. The events that the show focusses on took place more than forty years ago, but they couldn't be more relevant today, as antisemitism surges during a war in the Middle East. Lithgow joins David Remnick to discuss the question of whether to separate the art from the artist—and about his own hesitation regarding his role as the wizard Dumbledore in HBO's new “Harry Potter” series, because of J. K. Rowling's history of anti-trans statements.    Further reading:  “‘Giant' Takes on Roald Dahl and his Antisemitism,” by John Lahr   New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

For personal reasons, Professor Julian Wamble is taking a brief detour from the regularly scheduled programming — which also means listeners who haven't caught the Cho Chang episode yet have an extra week to do so before the Prof Responds follow-up drops next week. In the meantime, Julian shares the very first trial episode he ever recorded for Critical Magic Theory, back in 2023, a full six months before the podcast officially launched. Recorded at his therapist's nudging (who may or may not be Dumbledore??), the mini-episode lays out the three social hierarchies of the Wizarding World — Pure-Bloods, Half-Bloods, Muggle-borns, and Squibs — a framework Julian uses at the top of every class he teaches at GW, and the conceptual backbone the podcast has quietly run on ever since.Laugh along as Past Julian tries very hard to sound professional, and rejoice that the whole thing is blessedly short because 2023 Julian didn't think anyone would want to listen to him for very long.Joke's on him.

On this week's episode, we take another trip down memory lane. Be sure to hide your valuable family heirlooms because there is a thieving Dark Lord lurking. Join Andrew, Eric, Micah and Laura as they do the Hokey Pokey and they turn themselves around... because that's what it's all about! Chapter-by-Chapter continues with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 20: Lord Voldemort's Request Memory #1: Hepzibah, Hokey & Helga Hufflepuff We debate whether or not Tom Riddle should have been given a post at Hogwarts vs. allowing him to dabble in dark artifacts at Borgin and Burkes Hokey The Scapegoat: we compare how Tom Riddle used her much like he used Morfin and Hagrid! Hepzibah Smith displays some of Hufflepuff's less-than-flattering character traits. Do we agree she is Slughorn "lite" in her behavior? What do we make of the “young, attractive man charming the older, wealthy woman” trope? Memory #2: Awkward Job Interview Given how his appearance has begun to change, does Dumbledore already suspect Horcruxes during Voldemort's trip to Hogwarts? Do we agree with Dumbledore that Voldemort didn't actually come to Hogwarts to get the Defense Against The Dark Arts (DADA) post? Doesn't the Ministry, school governors, and other faculty notice the turnover rate for the DADA position? Why isn't anything done to break the curse? Lynx Line: In an alternate universe where Dumbledore decided to give Tom a second chance, what Hogwarts position should he have offered Tom instead of DADA Professor [wrong answers only]? Quizzitch: In Chapter 20, we learn why Hogwarts cannot have a DADA teacher for more than year. In United States history, which two American Presidents served less than one year in office? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Episode 496 we discuss...→ The magical abilities and symbolism of centaurs→ The role of divination and nature magic in Hogwarts→ Patronus symbolism and mythology→ House elf loyalty and conditioning→ Magical plants and their creative uses→ Dumbledore's Intentions and Student PerspectivesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/alohomora-the-original-harry-potter-book-club--5016402/support.

She was the first girl Harry Potter called his "girlfriend." But, she was also a seeker, Cedric's date, a defender of her best friend, a member of Dumbledore's Army, and the only person brave enough to feel all the feelings when Cedric was taken. In this episode, we give Cho Chang the full Critical Magic Theory treatment.Listeners weighed in, and chaos ensued! What does it mean that J.K. Rowling's only (??) East Asian character is named Cho Chang, sorted into the house synonymous with intelligence, and written to be most desirable when she is least demanding? How do we reconcile the fact that her emotions are treated as a weakness? Who is this girl outside of what Harry sees?Let's find out together!

This week, the hosts discuss the ethics of commanding your House-Elf to tail your enemy. Why isn't Kreacher punishing himself for being so rude to Harry, when Dobby couldn't do the same about his masters? And, have any of us ever worried about being replaced like Ron does after missing out on the Quidditch match due to being poisoned? All these discussion points and more on the latest episode of our Chapter-by-Chapter analysis for Half-Blood Prince. Welcome to the show Slug Club member Stef! Chapter-by-Chapter continues with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 19: Elf Tails How is it that Kreacher can speak ill of his master, Harry? When Dobby struggled hard to do so? Has Kreacher been bending the rules due to technicality? Does Peeves operate an underground House-Elf fight club? How is he so tuned in to Dobby and Kreacher's fight?... And how does he follow them? Ethically, is Harry asking the elves to follow Draco sound? Should there be limits to what you can ask your House-Elf to do? What alternatives might Harry have used to track Draco - how about a magical AirTag? Is Draco's plan too convoluted to work? Where do we stand on the Dumbledore vs Snape argument that Hagrid overhears? This week's Lynx Line: Have we ever felt in danger of becoming replaced? How did we handle it? MVP of the week has us creating new Quidditch nicknames for Harry, inspired by Draco's. Our weekly Quizzitch segment returns (now with 800% more 14-year-olds.) Which 1950's BBC Radio programme first coined the term, meaning a nonfatal, unspecified illness such as a cold or flu, and called it "The Dreaded Lurgi"? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life? In this solo episode, I share 15 actionable tips for writing deep characters, curated from past interviews on the podcast. In the intro, thoughts from London Book Fair [Instagram reel @jfpennauthor; Publishing Perspectives; Audible; Spotify]; Insights from a 7-figure author business [BookBub]. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn This episode has been created from previous episodes of The Creative Penn Podcast, curated by Joanna Penn, as well as chapters from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book. Links to the individual episodes are included in the transcript below. In this episode: Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' trifecta, how to hook readers on the very first page Define the Dramatic Question: Who is your character when the chips are down? Absolute specificity. Why “she's controlling” isn't good enough Understand the Heroine's Journey, strength through connection, not solo action Use ‘Metaphor Families' to anchor dialogue and give every character a distinctive voice Find the Diagnostic Detail, the moments that prove a character is real Writing pain onto the page without writing memoir Write diverse characters as real people, not stereotypes or plot devices Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero' status. Compelling beats likeable. Build vibrant side characters for series longevity and spin-off potential Use voice as a rhythmic tool Link character and plot until they're inseparable Why discovery writers can write out of order and still build deep character Find the sensory details that make characters live and breathe More help with how to write fiction here, or in my book, How to Write a Novel. Writing Characters: 15 Tips for Writing Deep Character in Your Fiction In today's episode, I'm sharing fifteen tips for writing deep characters, synthesised from some of the most insightful interviews on The Creative Penn Podcast over the past few years, combined with what I've learned across more than forty books of my own. I'll be referencing episodes with Matt Bird, Will Storr, Gail Carriger, Barbara Nickless, and Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. I'll also draw on my own book, How to Write a Novel, which covers these fundamentals in detail. Whether you're writing your first novel or your fiftieth, whether you're a plotter or a discovery writer like me, these tips will help you create characters that readers believe in, care about, and invest in—and keep coming back for more. Let's get into it. 1. Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' Trifecta When I spoke with Matt Bird on episode 624, he laid out the three things you need to achieve on the very first page of your book or in the first ten minutes of a film. He calls it “Believe, Care, and Invest.” First, the reader must believe the character is a real person, somehow proving they are not a cardboard imitation of a human being, not just a generic type walking through a generic plot. Second, the reader must care about the character's circumstances. And third, the reader must invest in the character's ability to solve the story's central problem. Matt used The Hunger Games as his primary example, and it's brilliant. On the very first page, we believe Katniss's voice. Suzanne Collins writes in first person with a staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short declarative sentences—that immediately grounds us in a survivalist mentality. We care because Katniss is starving. She's protecting her little sister. And we invest because she is out there bow hunting, which Matt pointed out is one of the most badass things a character can do. She even kills a lynx two pages in and sells the pelt. We invest in her resourcefulness and grit before the plot has even begun. Matt was very clear that this has nothing to do with the character being “likable.” He said his subtitle, Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love, doesn't mean the character has to be a good person. He described “hero” as both gender-neutral and morally neutral. A hero can be totally evil or totally good. What matters is that we believe, care, and invest. He demonstrated this beautifully by breaking down the first ten minutes of WeCrashed, where the characters of Adam and Rebekah Neumann are absolutely not likable, but we are completely hooked. Adam steals his neighbour's Chinese food through a carefully orchestrated con involving an imaginary beer. It's not admirable behaviour, but the tradecraft involved, as Matt put it—using a term from spy movies—makes us invest in him. We see a character trying to solve the big problem of his life, which is that he's poor and wants to be rich, and we want to see if he can pull it off. Actionable step: Go to the first page of your current work in progress. Does it achieve all three? Does the reader believe this is a real person with a distinctive voice? Do they care about the character's circumstances? And do they invest in the character's ability to handle what's coming? If even one of those three is missing, that's your revision priority. 2. Define the Dramatic Question: Who Are They Really? Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling, came on episode 490 and gave one of the most powerful frameworks I've ever heard for character-driven fiction. He explained that the human brain evolved language primarily to swap social information—in other words, to gossip. We are wired to monitor other people, to ask the question: who is this person when the chips are down? That's what Will calls the Dramatic Question, and it's what he believes lies at the heart of all compelling storytelling. It's not a question about plot. It's a question about the character's soul. And every scene in your novel should force the character to answer it. His example of Lawrence of Arabia is unforgettable. The Dramatic Question for the entire film is: who are you, Lawrence? Are you ordinary or are you extraordinary? At the beginning, Lawrence is a cocky, rebellious young soldier who believes his rebelliousness makes him superior. Every iconic scene in that three-hour film tests that belief. Sometimes Lawrence acts as though he truly is extraordinary—leading the Arabs into battle, being hailed as a god—and sometimes the world strips him bare and he sees himself as ordinary. Because it's a tragedy, he never overcomes his flaw. He doubles down on his belief that he's extraordinary until he becomes monstrous, culminating in that iconic scene where he lifts a bloody dagger and sees his own reflection with horror. Will also used Jaws to demonstrate how this works in a pure action thriller. Brody's dramatic question is simple: are you going to be old Brody who is terrified of the water, or new Brody who can overcome that fear? Every scene where the shark appears is really asking that question. And the last moment of the film isn't the shark blowing up. It's Brody swimming back through the water, saying he used to be scared of the water and he can't imagine why. Actionable step: Write down the Dramatic Question for your protagonist in a single sentence. Is it “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you brave enough to love again?” or “Will you sacrifice your principles for survival?” If you can't answer this with specificity, your character might still be a sketch rather than a person. 3. Get rid of Vague Flaws, and use Absolute Specificity This was one of Will Storr's most important points. He said that vague thinking about characters is really the enemy. When he teaches workshops and asks writers to describe their character's flaw, most of them say something like “they're very controlling.” And Will's response is: that's not good enough. Everyone is controlling. How are they controlling? What's the specific mechanism? He gave the example of a profile he read of Theresa May during the UK's Brexit chaos. Someone who knew her said that Theresa May's problem was that she always thinks she's the only adult in every room she goes into. Will said that stopped him in his tracks because it's so precise. If you define a character with that level of specificity, you can take them and put them in any genre, any situation—a spaceship, a Victorian drawing room, a school playground—and you will know exactly how they're going to behave. The same applies to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, as Will described it: a man who believes absolutely in capitalistic success and the idea that when you die, you're going to be weighed on a scale, just as God weighs you for sin, but now you're weighed for success. That's not a vague flaw. That's a worldview you can drop into any story and watch it combust. Will made another counterintuitive point that I found really valuable: writers often think that piling on multiple traits will create a complex character, but the opposite is true. Starting with one highly specific flaw and running it through the demands of a relentless plot is what generates complexity. You end up with a far more nuanced, original character than if you'd started with a laundry list of vague attributes. Actionable step: Take your protagonist's flaw and pressure-test it. Is it specific enough that you could place this character in any situation and predict their behaviour? If you're stuck at “she's stubborn” or “he's insecure,” keep pushing. What kind of stubborn? What kind of insecure? Find the diagnostic sentence—the Theresa May level of precision. 4. Understand the Heroine's Journey: Strength Through Connection Gail Carriger came on episode 550 to discuss her nonfiction book, The Heroine's Journey, and it completely reframed how I think about some of my own fiction. Gail explained that the core difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey comes down to how strength and victory are defined. The Hero's Journey is about strength through solo action. The hero must be continually isolated to get stronger. He goes out of civilisation, faces strife alone, and achieves victory through physical prowess and self-actualisation. The Heroine's Journey is the opposite. The heroine achieves her goals by activating a network. She's a delegator, a general. She identifies where she can't do something alone, finds the people who can help, and portions out the work for mutual gain. Gail put it simply: the heroine is very good at asking for help, which our culture tends to devalue but which is actually a powerful form of strength. Crucially, Gail stressed that gender is irrelevant to which journey you're writing. Her go-to examples are striking: the recent Wonder Woman film is practically a beat-for-beat hero's journey—Gilgamesh on screen, as Gail described it. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, both the first book and the series as a whole, is a classic heroine's journey. Harry's power comes from his network—Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his friendships with Ron and Hermione. He doesn't defeat Voldemort alone. He defeats Voldemort because of love and connection. This distinction has real practical consequences for writers. If you're writing a hero's journey and you hit writer's block, Gail said, the solution is usually to isolate your hero further and pile on more strife. But if you're writing a heroine's journey, the solution is probably to throw a new character into the scene—someone who has advice to offer or a skill the heroine lacks. The actual solutions to writer's block are different depending on which narrative you're writing. As I reflected on my own work, I realised that my ARKANE thriller protagonist, Morgan Sierra, follows a hero's journey—she's a solo operative, a lone wolf like Jack Reacher or James Bond. But my Mapwalker fantasy series follows a heroine's journey, with Sienna and her group of friends working together. I hadn't consciously chosen those paths; the stories led me there. But understanding the framework helps me write more intentionally now. Actionable step: Identify which journey your protagonist is on. Does your character gain strength by being alone (hero) or by building connections (heroine)? This will inform every plot decision you make, from how they face obstacles to how your story ends. 5. Use ‘Metaphor Families' to Anchor Dialogue and Voice One of the most practical techniques Matt Bird shared on episode 624 is the idea of assigning each character a “metaphor family”—a specific well of language that they draw from. This gives each character a distinctive voice that goes beyond accent or dialect. Matt explained how in The Wire, one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, every character has a different metaphor family. What struck him was that Omar, this iconic character, never utters a single curse word in the entire series. His metaphor family is pirate. He talks about parlays, uses language that feels like it belongs in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it creates this incredible ironic counterpoint against his urban setting. It tells us immediately that this is a character who sees himself in a tradition of people that doesn't match his immediate surroundings. Matt also referenced the UK version of The Office, where Gareth works at a paper company but aspires to the military. So all of his language is drawn from a military metaphor family. He doesn't talk about filing and photocopying; he talks about tactics and discipline and being on the front line. This tells us that the character has a life and dreams beyond the immediate scene—and it's the gap between aspiration and reality that makes him both funny and believable. He pointed out that a metaphor family sometimes comes from a character's background, but it's often more interesting when it comes from their aspirations. What does your character want to be? What world do they fantasise about inhabiting? That's where their language should come from. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a spiritual hermit, but his metaphor family is military. He uses the language of generals and commanders, and that ironic counterpoint is part of what makes him feel so rich. Actionable step: Assign each of your main characters a metaphor family. It could be based on their job, their background, or—more interestingly—their secret aspirations. Then go through your dialogue and make sure each character is consistently drawing from that well of language. If two characters sound the same when you strip away the dialogue tags, this is the fix. 6. Find the Diagnostic Detail: The Diagonal Toast Avoid clichéd character tags—the random scar, the eye patch, the mysterious limp—unless they serve a deep narrative purpose. Matt Bird on episode 624 was very funny about this: he pointed out that Nick Fury, Odin, and eventually Thor all have eye patches in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eye patches are done, he said. You cannot do eye patches anymore. Instead, look for what I'm calling the “diagonal toast” detail, after a scene Matt described from Captain Marvel. In the film, Captain Marvel is trying to determine whether Nick Fury is who he says he is. She asks him to prove he isn't a shapeshifting alien. Fury shares biographical details—his history, his mother—but then she pushes further and says, name one more thing you couldn't possibly have made up about yourself. And Fury says: if toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it. Matt said that detail is gold for a writer because it feels pulled from a real life. You can pull it from your own life and gift it to your characters, and the reader can tell it's not manufactured. He gave another example from The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's mother won't answer the phone after dark. The show's creator, David Chase, confirmed on the DVD commentary that this came from his own mother, who genuinely would not answer the phone after dark and couldn't explain why. Matt's practical advice was to keep a journal. Write down the strange, specific things that people do or say. Mine your own life for those hyper-specific details. You just need one per book. In my own writing, I've used this approach. In my ARKANE thrillers, my character Morgan Sierra has always been Angelina Jolie in my mind—specifically Jolie in Lara Croft or Mr and Mrs Smith. And Blake Daniel in my crime thriller series was based on Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy. I paste pictures of actors into my Scrivener projects. It helps with visuals, but also with the sense of the character, their energy and physicality. But visual details only take you so far. It's the behavioural quirks—the diagonal toast moments—that make a character feel genuinely alive. That said, physical character tags can work brilliantly when they serve the story. As I discuss in How to Write a Novel, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike is an amputee, and his pain and the physical challenges of his prosthesis are a key part of every story—it's not a cosmetic detail, it's woven into the action and the character's psychology. My character Blake Daniel always wears gloves to cover the scars on his hands, which provides an angle into his wounded past as well as a visual cue for the reader. And of course, Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar isn't just a mark—it's a direct connection to his nemesis and the mythology of the entire series. The rule of thumb is: if the tag tells us something about the character's interior life or connects to the plot, it's earning its place. If it's just there to make the character visually distinctive, it's probably a crutch. Game of Thrones takes character tags further with the family houses, each with their own mottos and sigils. The Starks say “Winter is coming” and their sigil is a dire wolf. Those aren't just labels—they're worldview made visible. Actionable step: Start a “diagonal toast” notebook. Every time you notice something strange and specific about someone's behaviour—something that feels too real to be made up—write it down. Then gift it to a character who needs more texture. 7. Displace Your Own Trauma into the Work Barbara Nickless shared something deeply personal on episode 732 that fundamentally changed how I think about putting pain onto the page. While starting At First Light, the first book in her Dr. Evan Wilding series, she lost her son to epilepsy—something called SUDEP, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. Barbara said that writing helped her cope with the trauma, that doing a deep dive into Old English literature and the Viking Age for the book's research became a lifeline. But here's what's important: she didn't give Dr. Evan Wilding her exact trauma. Evan Wilding is four feet five inches, and Barbara described how he has to walk through a world that won't adjust to him. That's its own form of learning to cope when circumstances are beyond your control. She displaced her genuine grief into the character's different but parallel struggle. When I asked her about the difference between writing for therapy and writing for an audience, she drew on her experience teaching creative writing to veterans through a collaboration between the US Department of Defense and the National Endowment for the Arts. She said she's found that she can pour her heartache into her characters and process it through them, even when writing professionally, and that the genuine emotion is what touches readers. We've all been through our own losses and griefs, so seeing how a character copes can be deeply meaningful. I've always found that putting my own pain onto the page is the most direct way to connect with a reader's soul. My character Morgan Sierra's musings on religion and the supernatural are often my own. Her restlessness, her fascination with the darker edges of faith—those come from me. But her Krav Maga fighting skills and her ability to kill the bad guys are definitely her own. That gap between what's mine and what's hers is where the fiction lives. Barbara also said something on that episode that I wrote down and stuck on my wall. She said the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul. I've been thinking about that ever since. On my own wall, I have “Measure your life by what you create.” Different words, same truth. Actionable step: If you're carrying something heavy—grief, anger, fear, regret—consider how you might displace it into a character's different but emotionally parallel struggle. Don't copy your exact situation; transform it. The emotion will be genuine, and the reader will feel it. 8. Write Diverse Characters as Real People When I spoke with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673—Sarah is Choctaw and a historical fiction author honoured by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian—she offered a perspective that every fiction writer needs to hear. The key message was to move away from stereotypes. Don't write your American Indian character as the “Wise Guide” who exists solely to dispense mystic wisdom to the white protagonist. Don't limit diverse characters to historical settings, as though they only exist in the past. Place them in normal, contemporary roles. Your spaceship captain, your forensic scientist, your small-town baker—any of them can be American Indian, or Nigerian, or Japanese, and their heritage should be a lived-in part of their identity, not the sole reason they exist in the story. I write international thrillers and dark fantasy, and my fiction is populated with characters from all over the world. I have a multi-cultural family and I've lived in many places and travelled widely, so I've met, worked with, and had relationships with people from different cultures. I find story ideas through travel, and if I set my books in a certain place, then the story is naturally populated with the people who live there. As I discuss in my book, How to Write a Novel, the world is a diverse place, so your fiction needs to be populated with all kinds of people. If I only populated my fiction with characters like me, they would be boring novels. There are many dimensions of difference—race, nationality, sex, age, body type, ability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, class, culture, education level—and even then, don't assume that similar types of people think the same way. Some authors worry they will make mistakes. We live in a time of outrage, and some authors have been criticised for writing outside their own experience. So is it too dangerous to try? Of course not. The media amplifies outliers, and most authors include diverse characters in every book without causing offence because they work hard to get it right. It's about awareness, research, and intent. Actionable step: Audit the cast of your current work in progress. Have you written a mono-cultural perspective for all of them? If so, consider who could bring a different background, perspective, or set of cultural specifics to the story. Not as a token addition, but as a real person with a real life. 9. Respect Tribal and Cultural Specificity Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673 was emphatic about one thing: never treat diverse groups as monolithic. If you're writing a Native American character, you must research the specific nation. Choctaw is not Navajo, just as British is not French. Sarah described the distinct cultural markers of the Choctaw people—the diamond pattern you'll see on traditional shirts and dresses, which represents the diamondback rattlesnake. They have distinct dances and songs. She said that if she saw someone in traditional dress at a distance, she would know whether they were Choctaw based on what they were wearing. She encouraged writers who want to write specifically about a nation to get to know those people. Go to events, go to a powwow, learn about the individual culture. She noted that a big misconception is that American Indians exist only in the past—she stressed that they are still here, still living their cultures, and fiction should reflect that present reality. I took a similar approach when writing Destroyer of Worlds, which is set mostly in India. I read books about Hindu myth, watched documentaries about the sadhus, and had one of my Indian readers from Mumbai check my cultural references. For Risen Gods, set in New Zealand with a young Maori protagonist, I studied books about Maori mythology and fiction by Maori authors, and had a male Maori reader check for cultural issues. Research is simply an act of empathy. The practical takeaway is this: if you're going to include a character from a specific cultural background, do the work. Use specific cultural details rather than generic signifiers. Sarah talked about how even she fell into stereotypes when she was first writing, until her mother pointed them out. If someone from within a culture can fall into those traps, the rest of us certainly can. Do the research, try your best, ask for help, and apologise if you need to. Actionable step: If you're writing a character from a specific culture, identify three to five sensory or behavioural details that are particular to that culture—not the generic version, but the real, researched, lived-in version. Consider hiring a sensitivity reader from that community to check your work. 10. Give Your Protagonist a Morally Neutral ‘Hero' Status Matt Bird was clear about this on episode 624: the word “hero” simply means the protagonist, the person we follow through the story. It's a functional role, not a moral label. We don't have to like them. We don't even have to root for their goals in a moral sense. We just have to find them compelling enough to invest our attention in their problem-solving. Think of Succession, where every member of the Roy family is varying degrees of awful, and yet the show was utterly compelling. Or WeCrashed, where Adam Neumann is a narcissistic con artist, but we can't look away because he's trying to solve the enormous problem of building an empire from nothing, and the tradecraft he employs is fascinating. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, readers must want to spend time with your characters. They don't have to be lovable or even likable—that will depend on your genre and story choices—but they have to be captivating enough that we want to spend time with them. A character who is trying to solve a massive problem will naturally draw investment from the audience, even if we wouldn't want to have tea with them. Will Storr extended this idea by pointing out that the audience will actually root for a character to solve their problem even if the audience doesn't actually want the character's goal to be achieved in the real world. We don't really want more billionaires, but we invested in Adam Neumann's rise because that was the problem the story posed, and our brains are wired to invest in problem-solving. This connects to something deeper: what does your character want, and why? As I explore in How to Write a Novel, desire operates on multiple levels. Take a character like Phil, who joins the military during wartime. On the surface, she wants to serve her country. But she also wants to escape her dead-end town and learn new skills. Deeper still, her father and grandfather served, and by joining up, she hopes to finally earn their respect. And perhaps deepest of all, her father died on a mission under mysterious circumstances, and she wants to find out what happened from the inside. That layering of motivation is what turns a flat character into a three-dimensional one. The audience doesn't need to be told all of this explicitly. It can emerge through action, dialogue, and the choices the character makes under pressure. But you, the writer, need to know it. You need to know what your character really wants deep down, because that desire—more than any external plot device—is what drives the story forward. And your antagonist needs the same depth. They also want something, often diametrically opposed to your protagonist, and they need a reason that makes sense to them. In my ARKANE thriller Tree of Life, my antagonist is the heiress of a Brazilian mining empire who wants to restore the Earth to its original state to atone for the destruction caused by her father's company. She's part of a radical ecological group who believe the only way to restore Nature is to end all human life. It's extreme, but in an era of climate change, it's a motivation readers can understand—even if they disagree with the solution. Actionable step: If you're struggling to make a morally grey character work, make sure their problem is big enough and their methods are specific and interesting enough that we invest in the how, even if we're ambivalent about the what. 11. Build Vibrant Side Characters Gail Carriger made a point on episode 550 that was equal parts craft advice and business strategy. In a Heroine's Journey model, side characters aren't just fodder to be killed off to motivate the hero. They form a network. And because you don't have to kill them—unlike in a hero's journey, where allies are often betrayed or removed so the hero can be further isolated—you can pick up those side characters and give them their own books. Gail said this creates a really voracious reader base. You write one series with vivid side characters, and then readers fall in love with those side characters and want their stories. So you write spin-offs. The romance genre does this brilliantly—think of the Bridgerton books, where each sibling gets their own novel. The side character in one book becomes the protagonist in the next. Barbara Nickless experienced this firsthand with her Dr. Evan Wilding series. She has River Wilding, Evan's adventurous brother, and Diana, the axe-throwing research assistant, and her editor has already expressed interest in a spin-off series with those characters. Barbara described creating characters she wants to spend time with, or characters who give her nightmares but also intrigue her. That's the dual test: are they interesting enough for you to write, and interesting enough for readers to demand more? As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, characters that span series can deepen the reader's relationship with them as you expand their backstory into new plots. Readers will remember the character more than the plot or the book title, and look forward to the next instalment because they want more time with those people. British crime author Angela Marsons described it as readers feeling like returning to her characters is like putting on a pair of old slippers. Actionable step: Look at your supporting cast. Is there a side character who is vivid enough to carry their own story? If not, what could you add—a specific hobby, a distinct voice, a compelling backstory—that would make readers want more of them? 12. Use Voice as a Rhythmic Tool Voice is one of the most important elements of novel writing, and Matt Bird helped me think about it in a technical, mechanical way that I found really useful. He pointed out that the ratio of periods to commas defines a character's internal reality. A staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short sentences—suggests a character who is certain, grounded, or perhaps survivalist and traumatised. Katniss in The Hunger Games has a period-heavy voice. She's in survival mode. She doesn't have time for complexity or qualification. A flowing, comma-heavy style suggests someone more academic, more nuanced, or possibly more scattered and manipulative. The character who qualifies everything, who adds sub-clauses and digressions, is a different kind of person from the character who speaks in declarations. This is something you can actually measure. Pull up a passage of your character's dialogue or internal monologue and count the periods versus the commas. If the rhythm doesn't match who the character is supposed to be, you've found a mismatch you can fix. Sentence length is the heartbeat of your character's persona. And voice extends beyond rhythm to the words themselves. As I discussed in the metaphor families tip, each character should draw from a distinctive well of language. But voice also encompasses their relationship to silence. Some characters talk around the thing they mean; others say it straight. Some are self-deprecating; others are blunt to the point of rudeness. All of these choices are character choices, not just style choices. I find it useful to read my dialogue aloud—and not just to check for naturalness, but to hear whether each character sounds distinct. If you could swap dialogue lines between two characters and nobody would notice, you have a voice problem. One practical test: cover the dialogue tags and see if you can tell who's speaking from the words alone. Actionable step: Choose a key passage from your protagonist's point of view and read it aloud. Does the rhythm match the character? A soldier under fire should not sound like a philosophy professor at a wine tasting. Adjust the ratio of periods to commas until the voice feels right. 13. Link Character and Plot Until They're Inseparable Will Storr made the case on episode 490 that the number one problem he sees in the writing he encounters—in workshops, in submissions, even in published books—is that the characters and the plots are unconnected. There's a story happening, and there are people in it, but the story isn't a product of who those people are. He said a story should be like life. In our lives, the plots are intimately connected to who we are as characters. The goals we pursue, the obstacles we face, the same problems that keep recurring—these are products of our personalities, our flaws, our specific ways of being in the world. His framework is that your plot should be designed specifically to plot against your character. You've got a character with a particular flaw; the plot exists to test that flaw over and over until the character either transforms or doubles down and explodes. Jaws is the perfect example. Brody is afraid of water. A shark shows up in the coastal town he's responsible for protecting. The entire plot is engineered to force him to confront the one thing he cannot face. Will pointed out that the whole plot of Jaws is structured around Brody's flaw. It begins with the shark arriving, the midpoint is when Brody finally gets the courage to go into the water, and the very final scene isn't the shark blowing up—it's Brody swimming back through the water. Even a film that's ninety-eight percent action is, at its core, structured around a character with a character flaw. This is the standard I aspire to in my own work, even in my action-heavy thrillers. The external plot should be a mirror of the internal struggle. When those two are aligned, the story becomes irresistible. Will also made an important point about series fiction, which is where most commercial authors live. I asked him how this works when your character can't be transformed at the end of every book because there has to be a next book. His answer was elegant: you don't cure them. Episodic TV characters like Fleabag or David Brent or Basil Fawlty never truly change—and the fact that they don't change is actually the source of the comedy. But every episode throws a new story event at them that tests and exposes their flaw. You just keep throwing story events at them again and again. That's a soap opera, a sitcom, and a book series. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, character flaws are aspects of personality that affect the person so much that facing and overcoming them becomes central to the plot. In Jaws, the protagonist Brody is afraid of the water, but he has to overcome that flaw to destroy the killer shark and save the town. But remember, your characters should feel like real people, so never define them purely by their flaws. The character addicted to painkillers might also be a brilliant and successful female lawyer who gets up at four in the morning to work out at the gym, likes eighties music, and volunteers at the local dog shelter at weekends. Character wounds are different from flaws. They're formed from life experience and are part of your character's backstory—traumatic events that happened before the events of your novel but shape the character's reactions in the present. In my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra's husband Elian died in her arms during a military operation. This happened before the series begins, but her memories of it recur when she faces a firefight, and she struggles to find happiness again for fear of losing someone she loves once more. And then there's the perennial advice: show, don't tell. Most writers have heard this so many times that it's easy to nod and then promptly write scenes that tell rather than show. Basically, you need to reveal your character through action and dialogue, rather than explanation. In my thriller Day of the Vikings, Morgan Sierra fights a Neo-Viking in the halls of the British Museum and brings him down with Krav Maga. That fight scene isn't just about showing action. It opens up questions about her backstory, demonstrates character, and moves the plot forward. Telling would be something like: “Morgan was an expert in Krav Maga.” Showing is the reader discovering it through the scene itself. Actionable step: Look at the main plot events of your novel. For each major turning point, ask: does this scene specifically test my protagonist's flaw? If not, can you redesign the scene so that it does? The tighter the connection between character and plot, the more powerful the story. 14. The ‘Maestra' Approach: Write Out of Order If you're a discovery writer like me, you may feel like the deep character work I've been describing sounds more suited to plotters. But Barbara Nickless gave me a beautiful metaphor on episode 732 that reframes it entirely. Barbara described her evolving writing process as being like a maestra standing in front of an orchestra. Sometimes you bring in the horns—a certain theme—and sometimes you bring in the strings—a certain character—and sometimes you turn to the soloist. It's a more organic and jumping-around process than linear writing, and Barbara said she's only recently given herself permission to work this way. When I told her that I use Scrivener to write in scenes out of order and then drag and drop them into a structure later, she was genuinely intrigued. And this is how I've always worked. I'll see the story in my mind like a movie trailer—flashes of the big emotional scenes, the pivotal confrontations, the moments of revelation—and I write those first. I don't know how they hang together until quite late in the process. Then I'll move scenes around, print the whole thing out, and figure out the connective tissue. The point is that discovery writers can absolutely build deep characters. Sometimes writing the big emotional scenes first is how you discover who the character is before you fill in the rest. You don't need a twenty-page character worksheet or a 200-page outline like Jeffery Deaver. You need to be willing to follow the character into the unknown and trust that the structure will emerge. As Barbara said, she writes to know what she's thinking. That's the discovery writer's credo. And I would add: I write to know who my characters are. Actionable step: If you're stuck on your current chapter, skip it. Write the scene that's burning in your imagination, even if it's from the middle or the end. That scene might be the key to unlocking who your character really is. 15. Use Research to Help with Empathy Research shouldn't just be about factual accuracy—it's a tool for finding the sensory details that create empathy. Barbara Nickless described research as almost an excuse to explore things that fascinate her, and I feel exactly the same way. I would go so far as to say that writing is an excuse for me to explore the things that interest me. Barbara and I both travel for our stories. For her Dr. Evan Wilding books, she did deep research into Old English literature and the Viking Age. For my thriller End of Days, I transcribed hours of video from Appalachian snake-handling churches on YouTube to understand the worldview of the worshippers, because my antagonist was brought up in that tradition. I couldn't just make that up. I had to hear their language, feel their conviction, understand why they would hold venomous serpents as an act of faith. Barbara also mentioned getting to Israel and the West Bank for research, and I've been to both places too. Finding that one specific sensory detail—the smell of a particular location, the specific way an expert handles a tool, the sound of a particular kind of music—makes the character's life feel lived-in. It's the difference between a character who is described as living in a place and a character who inhabits it. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, don't write what you know. Write what you want to learn about. I love research. It's part of why I'm an author in the first place. I take any excuse to dive into a world different from my own. Research using books, films, podcasts, and travel, and focus particularly on sources produced by people from the worldview you want to understand. Actionable step: For your next piece of character research, go beyond reading. Watch a documentary, visit a location, talk to someone who lives the experience. Find one sensory detail—a smell, a sound, a texture—that you couldn't have invented. That detail will make your character feel real. Bonus: Measure Your Life by What You Create In an age of AI and a tsunami of content, your ultimate brand protection is the quality of your human creation. Barbara Nickless said that the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul, and I believe that with every fibre of my being. Don't be afraid to take that step back, like I did with my deadlifting. Take the time to master these deeper craft skills. It might feel like you're slowing down or going backwards by not chasing the latest marketing trend, but it's the only way to step forward into a sustainable, high-quality career. Your characters are your signature. No AI can replicate the specificity of your lived experience, the emotional truth of your displaced trauma, or the sensory details you've gathered from a life of curiosity and travel. Those are yours. Pour them into your characters, and they will resonate for years to come. Actionable Takeaway: Identify the Dramatic Question for your current protagonist. Can you state it in a single sentence with the kind of specificity Will Storr described? Is it as clear as “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you the only adult in the room?” If you can't answer it with that kind of precision, your character might still be a sketch. Give them a diagonal toast moment today. Find the one hyper-specific detail that proves they are not an imitation of life. And then ask yourself: does your plot test your character's flaw in every major scene? If you can align those two things—a precisely defined character and a plot that exists to test them—you will have a story that readers cannot put down. References and Deep Dives The episodes I've referenced today are all available with full transcripts at TheCreativePenn.com: Episode 732 — Facing Fears, and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless Episode 673 — Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Episode 624 — Writing Characters with Matt Bird Episode 550 — The Heroine's Journey with Gail Carriger Episode 490 — How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr Books mentioned: The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love by Matt Bird The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn You can find all my books for authors at CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at JFPennBooks.com Happy writing! How was this episode created? This episode was initiated created by NotebookLM based on YouTube videos of the episodes linked above from YouTube/TheCreativePenn, plus my text chapters on character from How to Write a Novel. NotebookLM created a blog post from the material and then I expanded it and fact checked it with Claude.ai 4.6 Opus, and then I used my voice clone at ElevenLabs to narrate it. The post Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character first appeared on The Creative Penn.

On this week's episode, unless you have a bezoar (and a bit of cheek) handy, we highly recommend you brush up on on all of Golpalott's laws! Join Andrew, Eric, Micah and Laura for a show full of alchemy, apparition and plenty of teenage angst! News: Warner Bros. Discovery has a new home in Paramount; plus several dozen young actors have been cast as various Hogwarts students Chapter-by-Chapter continues with Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 18: Birthday Surprises We analyze Golpalott's Third Law: could this Potions class teach Harry something about how to ultimately destroy Voldemort? Does the creation of a Horcrux have an alchemical element to it? How does alchemy present in other book series, such as The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel? Can we expect to learn more about Dumbledore and Flamel's partnership in the new Harry Potter TV Show? Apparition: Just put your mind to it! Does this class pass our sniff test? Bezoar! Hermione is upset (again) with Harry's success in Potions. Does Harry's cheek make him a bit to overconfident when trying to acquire Slughorn's unredacted memory? When Harry can't locate Malfoy on the Marauder's Map, why does overlook the Room of Requirement? MVP: Destination. Determination. Deliberation. Which is the of the Three D's? Lynx Line: Name a time in school where you found yourself totally out of your depth subject-wise. Did you overcome your knowledge gap? If so, was it due to hard work and determination? A good teacher or tutor? Or did you merely squeak by in class and never take up the subject again? Quizzitch: In this chapter, a bezoar from the stomach of a goat is used as a cure for poison. In reality, bezoars can appear in humans as ailments. What popular soft drink brand is used to treat bezoars in humans? Answer next week's question via the Quizzitch Form! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for a very important H-word to be introduced to Harry. No, Fat Lady, it's not the one you experienced over your holiday break! Join the MuggleCasters as we discuss Chapter 17 of Half-Blood Prince, in which Dumbledore introduces Harry to 'A Sluggish Memory'. The Fat Lady seems to be telling herself to practice abstinence after the holidays. Sounds like it was a party in the portraits over Christmas! How do students end up missing the new Common Room passwords? Is it the school's fault, or is it the students? It's time for the students to learn how to apparate! ... For a price. We look at why Hogwarts and the Ministry might be charging for these additional lessons. Dismissive Dumby: Albus' ego is on full display as he plays off Harry's questions about Snape and Draco. As expected, Andrew comes in with a #DumbleDefense.  Back in the memories, Dumbledore shows Harry more about Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts. Why didn't Dumbledore do more when Tom Riddle was at school and clearing causing trouble? We learn the real reason Dumbledore asked Slughorn back to teach, and we hear that certain H-word a first time (No, it's not 'Hufflepuff' or 'Horace') Connecting the Threads: There are some big parallels between Chapter 17 of Chamber of Secrets, and this Chapter of Half-Blood Prince! MVP: Which memory truly is THE most important memory Dumbledore has collected? Lynx Line: You've just learned to Apparate. Where are you going first? Quizzitch: While Lord Voldemort commits patricide by killing Tom Riddle Sr., what is the broader term used when someone kills a near-relative of theirs such as a grandparent? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alice and Martha head back to the seventh book, where Harry and Hermione are about to find out the truth (?) about Dumbledore's friendships with both Grindelwald and "Dogbreath" Doge. Plus, find out if Chuck Knives prevailed and how Zach W. has been confirming his listenership! Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/realweirdsisters New episodes are released every Monday and special topics shows are released periodically. Don't forget to subscribe to our show to make sure you never miss an episode!

In the very final episode of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Vanessa Zoltan, Casper ter Kuile, and Matt Potts revisit Book 1, Chapter 1 through our very first theme of commitment. They discuss why the Dursleys love normalcy, what Dumbledore is thinking when he leaves Harry on the doorstep, and the power of love.Thank you to everyone who has supported this show over the past ten years. If you miss us terribly, remember you can still find new content on our patreon at www.patreon.com/harrypottersacredtext Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Valentine's Day approaches in the Muggle world, romance is also a focus in this area of Half-Blood Prince. Join Andrew, Eric, Micah and Laura as they watch Harry watch Draco, watch Hermione regret her revenge against Ron, and watch Snape learn that Harry is suddenly good at Potions.  New Throwback Content: This Saturday, February 14 at 11am ET, MuggleCast will stream the Chamber of Secrets PC Game LIVE on our Twitch! It will later be available on our YouTube channel. A listener recently reviewed us being “as cozy as a warm blanket on a cold day.” We're very touched! If you feel similarly, be sure to tell us by leaving a review. Chapter by Chapter continues with Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 15: The Unbreakable Vow The MC Pensive segment takes us back to an episode we recorded seven years ago. Hermione decides to take Cormac McLaggen to Slughorn's Christmas Party, just as Ron feared she would. Is this revenge satisfying for the readers? Do we feel bad when it doesn't work out for Hermione? Should love potions be taken more seriously than they are, by everyone? Harry is (rightly) worried. Eric asks, how does Cormac not know how to show someone a good time? Harry says that he kinda always thought Filch and Madame Prince were a thing. The hosts pick apart that offhand comment... ...and then we speculate. COULD that be a thing? Filch and Madame Prince? What do they have in common? How does Mrs. Norris feel? Is Snape's attempt to detect Draco's lying ethical? We know there's more in it at stake for him. Should Draco have been suspicious that Snape was working for Dumbledore, based on Snape's emphasis on the importance of DADA for Crabbe and Goyle? What If?: Harry overheard that Draco's mission was to kill Dumbledore? What if it was said aloud? What would Harry do? Odds and Ends include the Number 12 (our favorite), and vampires. Our MVP segment asks who is the best character to take to Slughorn's Christmas party? Our Lynx Line topic this week for Slug Club patrons: Who should Snape and Trelawney have invited as their dates to Slughorn's party? And, what would their pick-up lines have been? Participate in our weekly trivia segment by answering this week's Quizzitch question at MuggleCast.com/Quizzitch! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices