Rowling releasing four on-line stories about Wizarding North America.

[The Romulan Republic]

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/jk ... r=abcn_tco

J.K. Rowling is treating her fans to multiple new wizarding stories this week.

Rowling's website Pottermore announced on Monday that she will be releasing four new stories this week as part of a "Magic in North America" series.

"Prepare to learn much more about the wizarding world this year, as we publish the first in a series of new writing by J.K. Rowling called 'Magic in North America,'" according to the Pottermore site.

"You’ve got four days of new writing by J.K. Rowling to look forward to – as always, remember to breathe."

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The first installment of the series, titled "History of Magic in North America," will be released on Tuesday.

"We were able to share with you the name of the North American wizarding school earlier this year, but there’s just so much more to tell you about witches and wizards across the world," the site said.

"'Magic in North America' will bring to light the history of this previously unexplored corner of the wizarding world in the run up to 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,'" the site continued.

"History of Magic in North America" will be released on Pottermore on Tuesday at 2 p.m. GMT.

Watch a promo video for "Magic in North America" below:

Excellent. I've wanted to know more about Wizard America for a long time (its one of the main selling points of the Fantastic Beasts movie as well).

Edits: Fixed link.

[The Romulan Republic]

Okay, I watched the video, and it references witch trials, the magical Congress of the US, and freaking Skinwalkers.

Oh, and what looks like an Eagle animagus.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Okay, I watched the video, and it references witch trials, the magical Congress of the US, and freaking Skinwalkers.

Oh, and what looks like an Eagle animagus.

It's America, what other kind of animagus would there be? (Except maybe an elephant).

[Elheru Aran]

Okay, I watched the video, and it references witch trials, the magical Congress of the US, and freaking Skinwalkers.

Oh, and what looks like an Eagle animagus.

It's America, what other kind of animagus would there be? (Except maybe an elephant).

Off the top of my head:

Bison. Turkey. Deer (white-tailed, mule). Elk. Moose. Bears. Squirrel. Panther. Bobcat. Plenty of options

I mean, can't you see a turkey Patronus gobbling angrily at a pack of Dementors?

[RogueIce]

Am I the only one more curious about the hotel headline included in that article text?

[Tribble]

By "magic of North America" does she mean all of North America, or the USA?

Okay, I watched the video, and it references witch trials, the magical Congress of the US, and freaking Skinwalkers.

Oh, and what looks like an Eagle animagus.

It's America, what other kind of animagus would there be? (Except maybe an elephant).

Off the top of my head:

Bison. Turkey. Deer (white-tailed, mule). Elk. Moose. Bears. Squirrel. Panther. Bobcat. Plenty of options

I mean, can't you see a turkey Patronus gobbling angrily at a pack of Dementors?

Don't forget beavers, alligators, loons and chipmunks. Oh and Canadian geese; those ugly bastards would hiss and honk at pretty much anything

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah, I'm wondering about the non-US parts of the continent too.

Okay, I watched the video, and it references witch trials, the magical Congress of the US, and freaking Skinwalkers.

Oh, and what looks like an Eagle animagus.

It's America, what other kind of animagus would there be? (Except maybe an elephant).

Off the top of my head:

Bison. Turkey. Deer (white-tailed, mule). Elk. Moose. Bears. Squirrel. Panther. Bobcat. Plenty of options

I mean, can't you see a turkey Patronus gobbling angrily at a pack of Dementors?

Cougar, wolf, owl, rattlesnake, beaver, aligator... though Tribble beat me to the last two.

North America actually has awesome wildlife.

Or they could have a non-North American animal, I suppose. I don't recall any rule that your animagus animal has to be from the same region as you.

But where did elephant come from, I wonder? No elephants in North America, at least for a long time. Maybe a Republican Party voter is an elephant animagus? And we could have a Democratic donkey animagus.

Theory: Barrack Obama is a wizard donkey animagus.

On that note, I do wonder about wizarding politics, including parties. Its something the novels didn't really flesh out. You can basically divide British wizards into three informal camps (Reformers, Conservatives/establishment, and radical blood purists), but its not really laid out beyond that.

Am I the only one more curious about the hotel headline included in that article text?

You mean the story that Rowling vandalized a hotel room?

[RogueIce]

Am I the only one more curious about the hotel headline included in that article text?

You mean the story that Rowling vandalized a hotel room?

That would be it, yes.

[LadyTevar]

It is also interesting how she says "Skinwalkers" were maligned by non-Mage shamans. Does anyone here know actual views on Skinwalkers from the various tribes/cultures? (Related Tribes, or those with a common bond like the Five Nations, seem to share the same mythos)

[Crazedwraith]

And now Twitter is objecting to her having a take on native americans...

[Gandalf]

I'm curious if the inherent conservatism of the wizard world meant that they were on the slavery side of the abolition debate?

[Grumman]

I'm curious if the inherent conservatism of the wizard world meant that they were on the slavery side of the abolition debate?

In my opinion, their inherent conservatism would make them oppose slavery. To a wizard, slavery means forcefully turning a human into something akin to a House Elf. They clearly have no problem with exploiting a magical creature's inherent compulsion to serve, but trying to create that compulsion - as with the Imperius Curse - is unforgiveable.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'd very much like to know where Wizards came down on the issue, and to what extent the Civil War effected American wizards.

But I tend to think that the wizards would have tended to be anti-slavery for a few reasons.

1. British wizards, at least, don't seem to make much of an issue of racial distinctions between humans. Their is a bit of national rivalry/prejudice as I recall, but it doesn't appear to be based on race. Likewise, incidentally, they actually seem more progressive on gender equality than our world (aside from the easy access to socially tolerated date rape potions, anyway, though in the books men tend to be the victims of them- take that however you want to). It seems as though they are overwhelmingly focussed on magical identity, which I suppose makes some kind of sense when dealing with a society that defines itself by its magical nature and relies on magic for virtually everything.

2. Their would undoubtably be black Muggle born children born into slavery, and while the anti-Muggle crowd might not give a damn about them, a lot of wizards would probably see them as "our people" being held in subjugation by Muggles.

Though really, that could be an interesting angle, and a cause of division among wizards- those who want to free Muggle born wizards and witches in slavery, and those who think basically "They're mud bloods, fuck them." And maybe additional parties who either think wizards shouldn't interfere in Muggle affairs out of respect for Muggles, or because it poses a risk to the Statute of Secrecy.

God damn, someone really needs to write a good American Civil War Harry Potter fanfic. The politics and world building could be fascinating. Hell, if I was rich, I'd pay Rowling to officially authorize such a project, though I might prefer to have someone else write it because I don't know how familiar Rowling, as a Brit, is with 19th. Century American history.

3. Wizards, as Grumman noted, tend to be conservative. And their national boundaries tend to follow the Muggle world's (probably for practicality when dealing with Muggle governments, and maybe a sense of nationalism that is at least partly imported by Muggle borns). So they're unlikely to appreciate America suddenly splitting in two.

Ultimately, though, I don't think most wizards would have involved themselves directly. Statute of Secrecy. The American Magical Congress, or whatever their government is called, would likely be mainly involved in terms of protecting wizards who got in the path of the Muggle fighting and trying to keep the odd radical from involving themselves in Muggle affairs too overtly (though as I recall, wizards and witches are allowed to break the Statute of Secrecy to save Muggle lives).

I do like the idea that some of the early war incompetence by Union generals was pro-Confederate witches and wizards putting Confundus or Imperious spells on Union officers. And that Lee was under a retaliatory pro-Union spell when he ordered Picket's Charge.

[The Romulan Republic]

Damn it, now I'm wondering weather I have the time and energy to spare to sit down and try to write a Harry Potter American Civil War fic. I really want to, but it would take a lot of research to do the history justice.

[The Romulan Republic]

Some reasons wizards might have favoured the Confederacy:

1. Tendencies towards provincialism. Wizards seem to tend to live in small, isolated communities, and the Confederacy's "States' rights" bull shit might therefore have held some appeal.

2. For the Pure Blood radicals, like I said, not wanting to help/include African American Muggle Borns.

Edit: And apologies for the triple post. I keep thinking of more I could add on this topic. Seriously, there's so much you could get into with wizarding America.

[Gandalf]

I'm curious if the inherent conservatism of the wizard world meant that they were on the slavery side of the abolition debate?

In my opinion, their inherent conservatism would make them oppose slavery. To a wizard, slavery means forcefully turning a human into something akin to a House Elf. They clearly have no problem with exploiting a magical creature's inherent compulsion to serve, but trying to create that compulsion - as with the Imperius Curse - is unforgiveable.

Wizards routinely violate muggles without their consent, with the memory charms being the most obvious example.

If 1990s wizarding Britain seems to have no problem with invading muggle's minds in order to keep their dominion over them a secret, I don't see why physical exploitation of a subset of muggles would be an issue to them in 18th century America. It perhaps may even be seen as the natural order of things. It would explain why wizards who have labour saving magic chose to sit by and let a lot of preventable violence happen.

[The Romulan Republic]

Having read the first two posts Rowling has made on the subject, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. A lot of it is somewhat flat.

I do find the concept of Spoiler

the "Scourers", wizard mercenaries in lawless frontier America who became extremely corrupt and started selling people out to Muggle witch hunters, intriguing. Supposedly this, and the Salem Witch Trials specifically, were the reason for Wizarding American creating a united government before the US was created. And these assholes (those that weren't caught and executed) went into hiding in the Muggle world and tried to turn Muggles against the wizards.

Its an interesting... almost reversal of the Death Eaters. And a cautionary tale about mercenaries.

Edit: Added spoiler tags.

[The Romulan Republic]

Wow, she turned wizard America into a real crap hole (at least up to the 20's). Basically complete segregation from the non-magic world and heavy-handed authoritarian shit due to a major breach of the Statute of Secrecy in the late 1800s.

Interestingly, she claims that American wizards nonetheless fought in WWI, and that their were magic users on both sides. But she skipped right over the US Civil War (maybe Rowling just isn't interested, or maybe she knows that talking about the Civil War is still something of a political mine field with American audiences).

Since she didn't discuss anything post-20's, I'd guess what this is primarily about is indeed build up/set up for the Fantastic Beasts film.

[ray245]

It's interesting that Wizards still thought of themselves as Americans and fought for the US despite segregation.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, realistically, you're going to have some people (perhaps especially in America), who don't give a damn what the government says. And complete segregation only happened post-American Revolution, so the concept of America as a nation (and the distrust of government authority that accompanied its creation) would have been introduced by Muggleborns.

Also, if their were wizards on the other side, then it becomes wizarding business in any case.

[Tribble]

So, the stories seem to just focus on the US, eh? Well, it's to be expected, but the article should have said "United States" rather than "North America," at least that way it wouldn't have gotten my hopes up *sigh*

[Gandalf]

It's interesting that Wizards still thought of themselves as Americans and fought for the US despite segregation.

Why would wizards oppose segregation? They've essentially perfected it.

[The Romulan Republic]

We're talking about the segregation in the Wizarding World, I believe. Not its Muggle counterpart.

Edit: Though I'll again note that their is little to no evidence that the average wizard gives two shits about skin colour.