Pottermore Website

In 2011, Rowling launched a new website announcing an upcoming project called
Pottermore.[31] Pottermore opened to the general public on 14 April 2012.[32]

Pottermore allows users to be sorted, be chosen by their wand and play various
minigames. The main purpose of the website was to allow the user to journey through
the story with access to content not revealed by JK Rowling previously, with over
18,000 words of additional content.[33]
In September 2015, the website was completely overhauled and most of the features
were removed. The site has been redesigned and it mainly focuses on the information
already available, rather than exploration.[34][verification needed]
Structure and genre

The novels fall into the genre of fantasy literature, and qualify as a type of
fantasy called "urban fantasy", "contemporary fantasy", or "low fantasy". They are
mainly dramas, and maintain a fairly serious and dark tone throughout, though they
do contain some notable instances of tragicomedy and black humour. In many
respects, they are also examples of the bildungsroman, or coming of age novel,[35]
and contain elements of mystery, adventure, horror, thriller, and romance. The
books are also, in the words of Stephen King, "shrewd mystery tales",[36] and each
book is constructed in the manner of a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery adventure. The
stories are told from a third person limited point of view with very few exceptions
(such as the opening chapters of Philosopher's Stone, Goblet of Fire and Deathly
Hallows and the first two chapters of Half-Blood Prince).
The series can be considered part of the British children's boarding school genre,
which includes Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co., Enid Blyton's Malory Towers, St.
Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl series, and Frank Richards's Billy Bunter novels:
the Harry Potter books are predominantly set in Hogwarts, a fictional British
boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of magic.[37] In
this sense they are "in a direct line of descent from Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's
School Days and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of British public school
life", though they are, as many note, more contemporary, grittier, darker, and more
mature than the typical boarding school novel, addressing serious themes of death,
love, loss, prejudice, coming-of-age, and the loss of innocence in a 1990s British
setting.[38][39]
The Harry Potter stories feature medieval imagery and motifs drawn from the King
Arthur stories. Hogwarts resembles a medieval university-cum-castle with several
professors who belong to an Order of Merlin; Old Professor Binns still lectures
about the International Warlock Convention of 1289; and a real historical person, a
14th-century scribe, Sir Nicolas Flamel, is described as a holder of the
Philosopher's Stone.[40] Other medieval elements in Hogwarts include coats-of-arms
and medieval weapons on the walls, letters written on parchment and sealed with
wax, the Great Hall of Hogwarts which is similar to the Great Hall of Camelot, the
use of Latin phrases, the tents put up for Quidditch tournaments are similar to the
"marvellous tents" put up for knightly tournaments, imaginary animals like dragons
and unicorns which exist around Hogwarts, and the banners with heraldic animals for
the four Houses of Hogwarts.[40]
Many of the motifs of the Potter stories such as the hero's quest invoking objects
that confer invisibility, magical animals and trees, a forest full of danger and
the recognition of a character based upon scars are drawn from medieval French
Arthurian romances.[40] Other aspects borrowed from French Arthurian romances
include the use of owls as messengers, werewolves as characters, and white deer.
[40] The American scholars Heather Arden and Kathrn Lorenz in particular argue that
many aspects of the Potter stories are inspired by a 14th-century French Arthurian
romance, Claris et Laris, writing of the "startling" similarities between the
adventures of Potter and the knight Claris.[40] Arden and Lorenz noted that Rowling
graduated from the University of Exeter in 1986 with a degree in French literature
and spent a year living in France afterwards.[40]
Arnden and Lorenz wrote about the similarity between the Arthurian romances, where
Camelot is a place of wonder and safety, and from where the heroic knights must
venture forth facing various perils, usually in an enchanted forest; and Hogwarts,
likewise a wondrous safe place, where Harry Potter and friends must periodically
venture forth from to the magical forest that surrounds Hogwarts.[40] In the same
way that knights in the Arthurian romances usually have a female helper, who is
very intelligent and has a connection with nature, Harry has Hermione who plays a
similar role.[40]
Like an Arthurian knight, Harry receives advice and encouragement from his mentor,
Albus Dumbledore, who resembles both Merlin and King Arthur, but must vanquish his
foes alone.[40] Arnden and Lorenz wrote that with Rowling's books, the characters
are "...not a simple reworking of the well-known heroes of romance, but a protean
melding of different characters to form new ones...".[40] However, Lorenz and
Arnden argue the main inspiration for Harry Potter was Sir Percival, one of the
Knights of the Round Table who searches for the Holy Grail.[40] Both Potter and Sir
Percival had an "orphaned or semi-orphaned youth, with inherent nobility and
powers", being raised by relatives who tried to keep them away from the places
where they really belong, Hogwarts and Camelot respectively.[40]
Both Percival and Potter are however outsiders in the places that they belong,
unfamiliar with the rules of knighthood and magic, but both show extraordinary
natural abilities with Percival proving himself an exceptional fighter while Potter
is an excellent player of Quidditch.[40] And finally, both Percival and Potter
found love and acceptance from surrogate families, in the form of the Knights of
the Round Table and the Weasley family respectively.[40]
Each of the seven books is set over the course of one school year. Harry struggles
with the problems he encounters, and dealing with them often involves the need to
violate some school rules. If students are caught breaking rules, they are often
disciplined by Hogwarts professors. The stories reach their climax in the summer
term, near or just after final exams, when events escalate far beyond in-school
squabbles and struggles, and Harry must confront either Voldemort or one of his
followers, the Death Eaters, with the stakes a matter of life and death – a point
underlined, as the series progresses, by characters being killed in each of the
final four books.[41][42] In the aftermath, he learns important lessons through
exposition and discussions with head teacher and mentor Albus Dumbledore. The only
exception to this school-centred setting is the final novel, Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows, in which Harry and his friends spend most of their time away from
Hogwarts, and only return there to face Voldemort at the dénouement.[41]

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In 2011, Rowling launched a new website announcing an upcoming project called

Pottermore.[31] Pottermore opened to the general public on 14 April 2012.[32]

Structure and genre

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