Analysis of J.K Rowling’s Pottermore
The story of Harry Potter: the boy who lived is the most well-known story in the world. Even more well known is, perhaps, the author of it all. J.K Rowling had so much of this brilliant story to tell and she just couldn’t fit it all into seven books. Instead, she created Pottermore. Pottermore is an interactive and immersive fan experience that uses interactive hyper texts, music, graphics and a “choose your own adventure” element in order to portray how the wizarding world is meant to be seen, heard and lived, not read. Rowling wanted users to seem like they are living in the wizarding world as well as give the fans a nostalgic experience and share the story beyond the books.
The House Sorting Quiz
The first honor that is bestowed upon users when they first enter the site is to be sorted into a house. To do this, users must take a personality quiz to see if they fall under Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. As an eleven-year-old child, I dreamed of not only going to Hogwarts, but being sorted into Hufflepuff. Through Pottermore, I got to live that dream. Virtually anyway. The virtual quiz sorted me into Hufflepuff and I was now a student of Hogwarts. Visually, the quiz uses a split screen element. On one side, there are GIFs of art that represents the top page drawings of J.K Rowling in the books. On the other screen is an interactive virtual list of answers to questions in order to sort users into their houses. This sort of “choose your own path” option is one way Pottermore engages fans into the wizarding world they so desperately want to be a part of. By using the split screen element and quiz style, users get to see true qualities of their house personalities and visually be a part of their houses. Pottermore makes the wizarding houses, something that should be seen and expanded on, into a reality.
Discovering Interactive Patronuses
On Pottermore, fans can also discover their patronus in an interactive and immersive way. Users enter a digitized forest while following an animated stag patronus. To follow the stag, the cursor is used as a wand complete with white speckles to add a magical effect. As one navigates the forest, a patronus is revealed. This is another “choose your own path” quiz but, instead of scrolling through a list of answers to questions, users must choose between random words by moving their “wand” or cursor over the words to choose them. After the user has navigated to interactive forest, a paronus mystically appears along with a detailed back story of the beast. During this conjuring of sorts, mystical forest music plays adding that magical effect. My patronus is a mastiff. After this discovery, a ghostly dog appeared above my cursor and multiple text boxes appeared linking writings of J.K Rowling’s to information about different patronuses. These interactive Pottermore features puts the user inside the wizarding world. Again, Rowling meant for the wizarding world to be seen and heard, not just read and it gives nerds like me the satisfaction of being that much closer to actually being a witch or wizard.
Entering Digital Hogwarts
Pottermore also has an interactive map feature of Hogwarts castle. This is a 3D model of the castle and gives users the ability to explore on their own again in a “choose your own path” style. This map mimics google maps street view in the sense a user is able to utilize scrolling to zoom in and out of parts of the castle. The ability to zoom in and out and go to where a user chooses gives users the ability to physically be inside of the castle and experience it through ways a book never could. Again, magical music is playing, close to the films’ scores, as users weave in and out of the castle. During this navigation, orbs of light will appear bating users to click on them with their cursor. When the orb of light is clicked, it opens a passage from a book in the series, fun facts written by J.K Rowling or a history lesson. This gives fans the ability to learn information about the series that Rowling doesn’t disclose in the book series. This not only engages fans into the wizarding world by making them informationally a part of it, but also engages their physical senses to submerge them into the world physically instead of mentally. There are one hundred orbs of light three different physical structures to navigate, such as the Quidditch field, other than the castle in this interactive map. It is so expansive I have yet to navigate through all of them, but I’ll get there eventually.
The Map Within Pottermore
The best part about Pottermore is its never-ending hyperlinks. Every time a character name, or a charm, house, creature or location is mentioned in a work written by Rowling, it is hyperlinked to a different piece of writing or information. All characters have brief descriptions which leads to their backstory which can lead to their family or a place. That place could be significant to an object which Rowling just happened to write a poem about. That poem could have historical context which brings users to writings about when in history her inspiration came from. The hyperlinks are endless, and I honestly don’t think one person could read every piece of work on the site. Users can make connections on their own, like a map, in their own way. This just goes to show the effort Rowling put in to forcing users to feel like a part of the physical story. These hyperlinks also make users aware of the space these narratives are on, in a non-linear sense, and the physical way we navigate them. When the first book came out in 1998, that’s all it was. A book. This digital space gives fans a way to consume the wizarding world in a way Rowling intended for it to be seen, and allows them to be transported to this mystical world that satisfies the need to heed the call of Hogwarts.
