A Closer Look At Harry Potter

After all this time you wouldn’t have thought that there was any closer we could look at the series, but the vast amount of information out there says otherwise. There’s plenty of information about each about the books and films on their own, but what about the series as a whole? What are the facts and figures that give Harry Potter the marvellouss depth and detail? What are the key pieces of information that make you realise just how much work Rowling invested in creating her world? What are random bits of information about the actors that you never thought you needed to know? All that and more are answered below.

The Stats

The total word count across the entire series is 1 084 170.
Philosopher’s Stone: 76,944 words
Chamber of Secrets: 85,141 words
Prisoner of Azkaban: 107,253 words
Goblet of Fire: 190,637 words
Order of the Phoenix: 257,045 words
Half-Blood Prince: 168,923 words
Deathly Hallows: 198,227 words
The series is made up of 4095 pages
Translated into 73 languages
Sold more than 500 million copies (as of May 2013)
In 2012 all 7 books were in the top 10 best selling books of all time
As of 2015, the Harry Potter series is the second-highest grossing film franchise of all time having grossed more than $7.7 billion worldwide.

Series Fun Facts

Hagrid is 8 feet, 6 inches tall.
Ron Weasley originally swore a lot, but Rowling’s publisher wouldn’t let her use that sort of language because it would’ve been inappropriate for young readers.
Throughout the eight-movies five actresses played Pansy Parkinson
Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) got a mini-fan and a fruit bat stuck in his shaggy beard.
To keep Deathly Hallows from leaking early, Bloomsbury gave it codenames such as Edinburgh Potmakers or The Life and Times of Clara Rose Lovett: An Epic Novel Covering Many Generations.
The brooms used in the series aren’t regular brooms, they were made by modeller Pierre Bohanna using aircraft-grade titanium to support the weight of the actors.
Animatronics were made for the actors to interact with on set, including baby mandrakes, Hedwig, the Monster Book of Monsters, and Buckbeak.
Harry’s scar was applied 5800 times in the making of the films. 2000 times on Radcliffe and the rest on film and stunt doubles.
Harry went through 160 glasses.
Some original names of the characters were Hermione Puckle, Neville Puff, Draco Spinks, Lily Moon, Madhari Patil, and Mati Patil.
While filming Prisoner of Azkaban, Tom Felton’s robes had their pockets sewn shut because he kept trying to sneak food onto the set.
Forty versions of Salazar Slytherin’s locket had to be created to accommodate Harry and Ron’s failed attempts to destroy.
Voldemort awkwardly hugging Draco was not scripted, but improvised by Fiennes. Felton’s shocked response was authentic.
Voldemort’s wand is made of yew.
Rowling said she would have fought the decision to make it Sorcerer’s Stone if she had been in a better position.

Words, Names and Their Meanings

Each of Dumbledore’s names has a meaning – Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore
Albus is white in Latin
Wulfric was a name of a saint who became a holy man after seeing a
homeless man
Percival was a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table
Brian is Celtic for strong
Dumbledore is Old English for bumblebee.
The Hogwarts motto,”Draco dormeins nunquam titillandus” means “Never tickle a sleeping dragon”
Muggle existed in the early to mid-1900s, as a jazz-word that was used for pot smokers.
Hogwarts is the name of a plant
Voldemort comes from the French words meaning “flight of death” (the T is silent)
The wizarding world’s plants come from a real book called Culpeper’s Complete Herbal. The book was penned in the 17th century by English botanist and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper. You can actually read it here.
Accio – Originally, the word meant “send (for)”, “summon (forth),” or “fetch”, among other things
Evanesco – literally means to vanish
Incendio – Latin for fire-raising
Expelliarmus – incantation loosely combines expellere (drive out or expel) and arma (weapon)
Nox – Latin word for night
Expecto Patronum – means ‘I await a patron’
Crucio – Cruciare means torment/torture
Avada Kedavra – derives from the Aramaic phrase Abhadda kedhabhra, which means to ‘disappear like this word’. (Also probable origin of abracadabra)
Severus – means severe or serious
Draco Malfoy – Draco translates to dragon, while Malfoy can be traced back to malus, which means bad, evil, or wicked
Remus Lupin – In mythology, Remus was raised by wolves, and Lupin is a form of Lupus which means wolf.
Side note: Lupin’s father was called Lyall which also means wolf, his mother’s maiden name was Howell
Quidditch – also known as Ikarosfairke or “Ikarus ball,” which refers to the Greek myth of Icarus who flew too close to the sun.