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{{Short description|Series of fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling}}
{{About|the fantasy book series|the titular character|Harry Potter (character)|the film series|Harry Potter (film series)|related topics|List of Harry Potter related topics|other uses|Harry Potter (disambiguation)}}
{{About|the novel series|the character|Harry Potter (character)|the film series|Harry Potter (film series){{!}}''Harry Potter'' (film series)|the franchise|Wizarding World|the universe|Fictional universe of Harry Potter|other uses|Harry Potter (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-move-indef}}{{Good article}}
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{{Infobox Novel series
{{Good article}}
| name = Harry Potter
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
| books = ]<!-- "Harry Potter" originates from the UK, therefore, by ], we refer to books by their original UK titles; "Sorcerer's Stone" ONLY applies to the US and not elsewhere in the English-speaking world, and Misplaced Pages is an English-language encyclopaedia, not an American encyclopaedia. So if you change this, you *will* be reverted --><br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
| image = ] with Motto.|alt=The Coat of Arms of Hogwarts, featuring scarlet and gold Gryffindor colours with the mascot Lion, yellow and black of Hufflepuff with the symbolic badger, bronze and blue Ravenclaw colours with an eagle, and Slytherin green and silver with a serpent mascot.]]
{{Infobox book series
| name = ''Harry Potter''
| books = {{Plainlist|
* <!--Please do not change the title of the first book. It was published as "Philosopher's" first --> '']'' (1997)
* '']'' (1998)
* '']'' (1999)
* '']'' (2000)
* '']'' (2003)
* '']'' (2005)
* '']'' (2007)}}<!-- Please do not add "Cursed Child" to this list of the novels. It is primarily a theatrical play. Discuss on talk page if you disagree. -->
| image = ]
| alt = The ''Harry Potter'' logo first used for the American edition of the novel series (and some other editions worldwide), and then the film series.
| author = ] | author = ]
| translator =
| cover_artist = <!--1st edition artist--> ]<!--book 1 -->, ]<!--books 2 and 3-->, Giles Greenfield<!--book 4-->, Jason Cockcroft<!--books 5, 6, 7-->
| country = United Kingdom | country = United Kingdom
| language = English | language = English
| genre = ], ], ], ], ], ] | genre = ]
| publisher = <!--1st edition publisher-->]
| publisher = ] (UK)<br />] (US) ] (CAN)
| pub_date = 29 June 1997 – 21 July 2007 | pub_date = 26 June 1997 – 21 July 2007
| media_type = Print (] and ])<br />] | media_type = {{Plainlist|
* Print (] and ])
* ]
* ]
}} }}
| number_of_books = 7
'''''Harry Potter''''' is a ] ] written by the British author ]. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent ] ] and his best friends ] and ], all of whom are students at ]. The main ] concerns Harry's quest to overcome the evil dark wizard ], whose aim is to conquer the ] and subjugate non-magical people, and who seeks to destroy all those who stand in his way, such as Harry's parents.
| website = {{URL|https://www.harrypotter.com/}}
}}

'''''Harry Potter''''' is a series of seven ] written by British author ]. The novels chronicle the lives of a young ], ], and his friends, ] and ], all of whom are students at ]. The main ] concerns Harry's conflict with ], a ] who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the ], and subjugate all wizards and ]s (non-magical people).

The series was originally published in English by ] in the United Kingdom and ] in the United States. A series of many genres, including ], ], ], and the British ] (which includes elements of ], ], ], ], and ]), the world of ''Harry Potter'' explores numerous themes and includes many cultural meanings and references.<ref name="meanings" /> Major themes in the series include prejudice, corruption, madness, love, and death.<ref name="Geordie Greig">{{cite news |first=Geordie |last=Greig |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1507438/There-would-be-so-much-to-tell-her....html |title=There would be so much to tell her... |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=4 April 2007 |date=11 January 2006 |location=London |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311032026/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F01%2F10%2Fnrowl110.xml |archive-date=11 March 2007 }}</ref>

Since the release of the first novel, '']'', on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are widely considered cornerstones of modern literature,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2996578.stm|title=Potter's place in the literary canon|work=BBC News|last=Allsobrook|first='Marian|date=18 June 2003|access-date=15 October 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109162755/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2996578.stm|archive-date=9 January 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/harry-potters-place-in-literature/|title=Harry Potter's place in literature|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|last=Bartlett|first=Kellie|date=6 January 2005|df=dmy-all|access-date=18 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313053821/https://www.chronicle.com/article/harry-potters-place-in-literature/|archive-date=13 March 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> though the books have received mixed reviews from critics and literary scholars. {{as of|2023|February}}, the books have sold more than 600&nbsp;million copies worldwide, making them the ], ]. The last four books all set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 2.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and 8.3 million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.


] adapted the original seven books into an eight-part ]. In 2016, the total value of the ''Harry Potter'' franchise was estimated at $25&nbsp;billion,<ref name="Time25">{{cite magazine |last1=Meyer |first1=Katie |date=6 April 2016 |title=Harry Potter's $25 Billion Magic Spell |url=https://money.com/billion-dollar-spell-harry-potter/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514014809/https://money.com/billion-dollar-spell-harry-potter/ |archive-date=14 May 2021 |access-date=4 November 2016 |magazine=]}}</ref> making it one of the ]. '']'' is a play based on a story co-written by Rowling. A television series based on books is in production at ].
Since the 30 June 1997 release of the first novel '']'' (re-titled ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' in the United States), the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2996578.stm|title=Potter's place in the literary canon|publisher=BBC|last=Allsobrook |first=Dr. Marian|date=18 June 2003|accessdate=15 October 2007}}</ref> The series has also had some share of criticism, including concern for the increasingly dark tone. As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been ],<ref name="Translations for Harry Potter" /><ref name="boxofficemojo" /> and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.


The success of the books and films has allowed the ''Harry Potter'' franchise to expand with numerous derivative works, a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a studio tour in London that opened in 2012, ] on which J. K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight, and a trilogy of ] films premiering in November 2016 with '']'', among many other developments. Themed attractions, collectively known as ], have been built at several ] amusement parks around the world.
A series of many ]s, including ] and ] (with elements of ], ], and ]), it has many cultural meanings and references.<ref>Fry, Stephen
BBC Radio4, 10 December 2005.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Up!|work=ew.com|last=Jenson|first=Jeff|year=2000|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,85524~5~0~,00.html|accessdate=20 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Last Chapter|author=Nancy Carpentier Brown|publisher=Our Sunday Visitor|year=2007|url=http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/TheLastChapter.pdf|accessdate=28 April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author= J. K. Rowling| title=J. K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival| url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80| accessdate=10 October 2006}}</ref> According to Rowling, the main theme is death,<ref name="Geordie Greig">{{cite news|author=Geordie Greig|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/10/nrowl110.xml|title='There would be so much to tell her...'|publisher=Daily Telegraph|accessdate = 4 April 2007|date=11 January 2006 | location=London}}</ref> although it is primarily considered to be a work of ]. There are also many other themes in the series, such as love and prejudice.<ref name="Mzimba, Lizo, moderator. Interview with ] and J.K. Rowling"/>


English-language versions of the books are published by ] in the United Kingdom, ] in the United States, ] in Australia, and ] in Canada. Through 2010, the first six books have been made into ] by ]; it is the ] of all time. The seventh book has been made into two films which are planned to be released nearly eight months apart: Part I was released 19 November 2010 and the ] is currently scheduled for release on 15 July 2011.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=53203|title=WB Sets Lots of New Release Dates!|publisher=Comingsoon.net|accessdate=7 September 2010|date=24 February 2009}}</ref> The series also originated much ] merchandise, making the Harry Potter brand worth in excess of $15&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/article3663197.ece|title=Business big shot: Harry Potter author JK Rowling|accessdate=14 July 2009 | location=London | work=The Times | first=Susan | last=Thompson | date=2 April 2008}}</ref>
{{TOC limit|limit=3}} {{TOC limit|limit=3}}


==Plot== == Plot ==
{{See|Harry Potter universe}} {{Further|Fictional universe of Harry Potter}}
<!-- Per ], "a novel is a primary source for its own plot summary", and citations are not needed for purely descriptive plot details. -->
].|alt=Complete set of the seven books<br /> of the ''Harry Potter'' ].]]
The novels revolve around ], an orphan who discovers at the age of eleven that he is a wizard, living within the ordinary world of non-magical or ] people.<ref>{{cite news|url = http://edition.cnn.com/2000/books/reviews/07/14/review.potter.goblet/|title=Review: Gladly drinking from Rowling's 'Goblet of Fire'|first=Kristin|last=Lemmerman|date=14 July 2000|publisher=CNN|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> Wizard ability is inborn, but magical children like Harry are invited to attend wizarding school to learn the magical skills necessary to succeed in the ].<ref name="muggle guide" /> Harry becomes a student at ], and it is here that most of the events of the novels take place, as Harry develops through his adolescence, learning to overcome the problems that face him, magical, social and emotional, including ordinary teenage challenges such as friendships and exams, and the greater challenge of preparing himself for the confrontation that lies ahead.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.southflorida.com/movies/sfe-potter-synopses,0,6711375.story|title=Plot summaries for the first five Potter books|last=Hajela|first=Deepti|date=14 July 2005|publisher= SouthFlorida.com |archiveurl= http://www.ebookee.com/Harry-Potter-All-7-Novels-Deluxe-Editions_218867.html|archivedate=15 May 2010|accessdate=29 September 2008}}</ref>


=== Early years ===
Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.khouse.org/articles/2001/374/|title=Potter books: Wicked witchcraft?|last=Foster|first=Julie| date=October 2001| publisher =Koinonia House| accessdate= 15 May 2010}}</ref> with the main narrative being set in the years 1991–98<ref>{{HPref|book=7}}</ref><ref>The date is established by ]'s deathday cake in ''Chamber of Secrets'', indicates the date of Harry's second year as 1992.</ref> The books also contain many ]s, with a significant number being from the year 1976 when Harry's parents were in their fifth year at Hogwarts. Other memories date from various determinable and undeterminable periods after 1945, although little reference is made to historic features or events of any period. The only specific dates given in the series are in the second and seventh book. In the second, Chamber of Secrets, a 400th anniversary of a date of death is stated to be measured from 1594 (making the year of the 400th anniversary 1994). In the final book on the grave of Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter, their year of death is given as taking place in 1981.
] was one of the cafés in ] where Rowling wrote the first part of ''Harry Potter''.|alt="The Elephant House", a small, painted red café where Rowling wrote a few chapters of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'']]


The series follows the life of a boy named ]. In the first book, ''] (]'' in the US), Harry lives in a cupboard under the stairs in the house of the ], his aunt, uncle and cousin, who all treat him poorly. At the age of 11, Harry discovers that he is a ]. He meets a half-giant named ] who gives him a letter of acceptance to attend the ]. Harry learns that his parents, ] and ], also had magical powers and were murdered by the dark wizard ] when Harry was a baby. When Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, his curse rebounded, seemingly killing Voldemort, and Harry survived with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. The event made Harry famous among the community of wizards and ].
===Wizarding world===
When the story of Harry Potter opens, it is clear that some remarkable event has taken place in the wizarding world, an event so very remarkable that even the Muggles notice signs of it. The full background to the stories and to the person of Harry Potter is only revealed gradually, through the series. In the first book Harry discovers that as a baby he witnessed his parents' murder by the power-obsessed dark wizard, ], who then attempted to kill him also.<ref name="hp-stories">{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-07-19-potter-books_N.htm|title=The Harry Potter stories so far: A quick CliffsNotes review |work=USA Today|accessdate=28 September 2008 | first=Carol | last=Memmott | date=19 July 2007}}</ref> For reasons not immediately revealed, the spell with which Voldemort tried to kill Harry rebounded. Harry survives with only a lightning-shaped mark on his forehead as a memento of the attack, and Voldemort disappears. As its inadvertent saviour from Voldemort's reign of terror, Harry becomes a living legend in the wizard world. However, at the orders of his patron, the venerable and well-known wizard ], the orphaned Harry is placed in the home of his unpleasant ] (non-wizard) relatives (The Dursleys), who keep him safe but hide his true heritage from him in hopes that he will grow up "normally".<ref name="hp-stories" />


Harry becomes a student at Hogwarts and is sorted into ]. He gains the friendship of ], a member of a large but poor wizarding family, and ], a witch of non-magical, or ], parentage. The trio develop an enmity with the rich ] student ]. Harry encounters the school's headmaster, ]; the ]s professor, ], who displays a dislike for him; and the ] teacher, ]. Quirrell turns out to be allied with Voldemort, who is still alive as a weak spirit. The first book concludes with Harry's confrontation with Voldemort, who, in his quest to regain a body, yearns to possess the ], a substance that bestows everlasting life.
The first novel in the series, '']'' (changed in the U.S. to ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone''), begins near Harry's eleventh birthday. Half-] ] reveals Harry's history and introduces him to the ].<ref name="hp-stories" /> The world J. K. Rowling created is both completely separate from and yet intimately connected to the real world. While the ] of ] is an ] and the '']''’ ] a mythic past, the Wizarding world of ''Harry Potter'' exists alongside that of the real world and contains magical elements similar to things in the non-magical world. Many of its institutions and locations are in places that are recognizable in the real world, such as London.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/07/15/svharry15.xml&page=3|title=Harry Potter and the parallel universe|publisher=Telegraph.com|accessdate=28 September 2008 | location=London | first=Nigel | last=Farndale | date=15 July 2007}}</ref> It comprises a fragmented collection of hidden streets, overlooked and ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles that remain invisible to the non-magical population of ]s.<ref name="muggle guide">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/820551.stm|publisher=BBC|title=A Muggle's guide to Harry Potter|date=28 May 2004|accessdate=22 August 2008}}</ref>


'']'' describes Harry's second year at Hogwarts. Students are attacked and petrified by an unknown creature; wizards of Muggle parentage are the primary targets. The attacks appear related to the mythical ] and resemble attacks fifty years earlier. Harry discovers an ability to speak the snake language ], which he learns is rare and associated with the ]. When Hermione is attacked and Ron's younger sister, ], abducted, Harry and Ron uncover the chamber's secrets and enter it. Harry discovers that Ginny was possessed by an old diary, inside which the memory of ], Voldemort's younger self, resides. On Voldemort's behalf, Ginny opened the chamber and unleashed the ], an ancient monster that kills or petrifies those who make direct or indirect eye contact, respectively. With the help of Dumbledore's ], Fawkes, and the ], Harry slays the basilisk and destroys the diary.
With Hagrid's help, Harry prepares for and undertakes his first year of study at Hogwarts. As Harry begins to explore the magical world, the reader is introduced to many of the primary locations used throughout the series. Harry meets most of the main characters and gains his two closest friends: ], a fun-loving member of an ancient, large, happy, but hard-up wizarding family, and ], a gifted and hard working witch of non-magical parentage.<ref name="hp-stories"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80|title=J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival|date=15 August 2004|publisher=J.K. Rowling.com|accessdate=27 September 2008}}</ref> Harry also encounters the school's potions master, ], who displays a deep and abiding dislike for him. The plot concludes with Harry's second confrontation with Lord Voldemort, who in his quest for immortality, yearns to gain the power of the ].<ref name="hp-stories" />


In the third novel, '']'', Harry learns that he is targeted by ], an escaped convict who allegedly assisted in his parents' murder. ], creatures that feed on happiness, search for Sirius and guard the school. As Harry struggles with his reaction to the dementors, he reaches out to ], a new professor who teaches him the ]. On a windy night, Ron is dragged by a black dog into the ], a haunted house, and Harry and Hermione follow. The dog is revealed to be Sirius Black. Lupin enters the shack and explains that Sirius was James Potter's best friend; he was framed by another friend of James, ], who hides as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. As the full moon rises, Lupin transforms into a werewolf and bounds away, and the group chase after him. They are surrounded by dementors, but are saved by a figure resembling James who casts a stag Patronus. This is later revealed to be a future version of Harry, who traveled back in time with Hermione using a device called a ]. The duo help Sirius escape on a ], while Pettigrew escapes.
The series continues with '']'' describing Harry's second year at Hogwarts. He and his friends investigate a 50-year-old mystery that appears tied to recent sinister events at the school. Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, enrols in her first year at Hogwarts, and finds a notebook which turns out to be Voldemort's school-time diary. Ginny becomes possessed by Voldemort through the diary and opens the "Chamber of Secrets", unleashing an ancient monster within, which begins attacking students at Hogwarts. The novel delves into the history of Hogwarts and a legend revolving around the Chamber. Also, for the first time, Harry realises that racial prejudice exists in the wizarding world, and he learns that Voldemort's reign of terror was often directed at wizards who were descended from Muggles. Harry is also shocked to learn that he can speak ], the language of snakes; this rare ability is often equated with the ]. The novel ends after Harry saves the life of ], by destroying a ] and the diary, in which Voldemort saved a piece of his soul (although Harry does not realise this until later in the series). The concept of storing part of one's soul inside of an object in order to prevent death is officially introduced in the sixth novel under the term "]".


=== Voldemort returns ===
The third novel, '']'', follows Harry in his third year of magical education. It is the only book in the series which does not feature Voldemort. Instead, Harry must deal with the knowledge that he has been targeted by ], an escaped murderer believed to have assisted in the deaths of Harry's parents. As Harry struggles with his reaction to the ]—dark creatures with the power to devour a human soul—which are ostensibly protecting the school, he reaches out to ], a ] teacher with a dark secret. Lupin teaches Harry defensive measures which are well above the level of magic generally shown by people his age. Harry learns that both Lupin and Black were close friends of his father and that Black was framed by their fourth friend, ].<ref name="hp-plot-azkaban">{{cite news|url= http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/books/rowling-azkaban.html?ex=1222747200&en=c3365ba3baa3bf40&ei=5070|title=Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban|last=Maguire|first=Gregory|date=5 September 1999|work=The New York Times|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> In this book, another recurring theme throughout the series is emphasised—in every book there is a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, none of whom lasts more than one school year. In the sixth book, it is implied that the job has actually been jinxed.
]


In Harry's fourth year of school (detailed in '']''), Hogwarts hosts the ], a contest between Hogwarts and the schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Harry is unwillingly entered into the contest, becoming Hogwarts' second participant after ], an unusual occurrence that causes his friends to distance themselves from him. Harry claims the Triwizard Cup with Cedric, but he is teleported to a graveyard where Pettigrew kills Cedric, then resurrects Voldemort using Harry's blood. Voldemort convenes his supporters, the ]s, and Harry manages to escape after a duel with Voldemort. Upon returning to Hogwarts, it is revealed that a Death Eater, ], in disguise as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, ], engineered Harry's entry into the tournament, secretly helped him, and had him teleported to Voldemort.
===Voldemort returns===
]" – A Café in Edinburgh in which Rowling wrote the first part of ''Harry Potter''.|alt="The Elephant House", a small, painted red café where Rowling wrote a few chapters of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''.]]
During Harry's fourth year of school (detailed in '']'') Harry is unwillingly-entered as a participant in the ], a dangerous contest with witches and wizards of visiting schools.<ref name="hp-plot-goblet">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/23/books/rowling-goblet.html?ex=1222747200&en=6a7b0d89257dcebb&ei=5070|title=Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire|last=King|first=Stephen|date=23 July 2000|work=The New York Times|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> Harry attempts to discover who entered him in the tournament and, more importantly, why.<ref name="hp-plot-goblet2">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/23/books/rowling-goblet.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=6a7b0d89257dcebb&ex=1222747200|title=Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2|last=King|first=Stephen|date=23 July 2000|work=The New York Times|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> Harry is guided through the tournament by Professor Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, who turns out to be an impostor - one of Voldemort's supporters in disguise. The whole event turns out to be a plan to bring Voldemort back to power. The point at which the mystery is unravelled marks the series' shift from foreboding and uncertainty into open conflict. The novel ends with the death of Cedric Diggory, one of Harry's opponents in the tournament, and Voldemort's resurgence.


In the fifth book, '']'', Harry must confront the newly resurfaced Voldemort. In response to Voldemort's reappearance, Dumbledore re-activates the ], a secret society which works from Sirius Black's dark family home to defeat Voldemort's minions and protect Voldemort's targets, especially Harry. The Order includes many of the adults Harry trusts, including Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and members of the ], but also some surprising members; the loyalties of some characters are not so obvious, such as Mundungus Fletcher. Despite Harry's description of Voldemort's recent activities, the ] and many others in the magical world refuse to believe that Voldemort has returned.<ref name="hp-phoenix-plot">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/books/review/rowling-phoenix.html?ex=1222747200&en=c19fb010046d89c7&ei=5070 |title=Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ |date=13 July 2003|work=The New York Times|accessdate=28 September 2008 | first=John | last=Leonard}}</ref> In the fifth book, '']'', the ] refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned. Dumbledore re-activates the ], a secret society to counter Voldemort; meanwhile, the Ministry tightens control of Hogwarts by appointing ] as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and she gradually increases her powers. When Umbridge bans practical teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry, Ron and Hermione form "]", a secret group to continue the teachings. Harry has recurring dreams of a dark corridor in the Ministry of Magic, eventually dreaming that Sirius is being tortured there. He races to the Ministry with his friends, but it is a trap, planted in his head by Voldemort. The group are attacked by Death Eaters and saved by the Order of the Phoenix, but Sirius is killed in the battle. A duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort convinces the ministry of Voldemort's return. A prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort is revealed: one must die at the hands of the other.


In the sixth book, '']'', Snape teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts while ] becomes the Potions master. Harry finds an old textbook with annotations by the Half-Blood Prince, due to which he achieves success in Potions class. Harry also takes lessons with Dumbledore, viewing memories about the early life of Voldemort in a device called a ]. Harry learns from a drunken Slughorn that he used to teach Tom Riddle, and that Voldemort divided his soul into pieces, creating a series of ]es. Harry and Dumbledore travel to a distant lake to destroy a Horcrux; they succeed, but Dumbledore weakens. On their return, they find Draco Malfoy and Death Eaters attacking the school. The book ends with the killing of Dumbledore by Professor Snape, the titular Half-Blood Prince.
In an attempt to counter and eventually discredit Dumbledore, who along with Harry is the most prominent voice in the Wizarding World attempting to warn of the Dark Lord's return, the Ministry appoints ] as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She transforms the school by a dictatorial regime and refuses to allow the students to learn ways to defend themselves against dark magic.<ref name="hp-phoenix-plot" /> Harry forms "]", a secret study group to teach his classmates the higher-level skills of Defence Against the Dark Arts that he has learned. The novel introduces Harry to ], an airy young witch with a tendency to believe in oddball ]. An important prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort is revealed,<ref name="Ivory Tower 1">{{cite book|last=A Whited|first=Lana|title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon | publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=2004|isbn=9780826215499|page=371}}</ref> and Harry discovers that he and Voldemort have a painful connection, allowing Harry to view some of Voldemort's actions telepathically. In the novel's climax, Harry and his school friends face off against Voldemort's ], who include the rich and arrogant Malfoy family. The timely arrival of members of the Order of the Phoenix saves the children's lives and allows many of the Death Eaters to be captured and imprisoned.<ref name="hp-phoenix-plot" />


In '']'', the seventh and final novel in the series, Lord Voldemort gains control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione learn about the ], legendary items that lead to mastery over death. The group infiltrates the ministry, where they steal a locket Horcrux, and visit ], where they are attacked by Nagini, Voldemort's snake. A silver doe Patronus leads them to the Sword of Gryffindor, with which they destroy the locket. They steal a Horcrux from Gringotts and travel to Hogwarts, culminating in a battle with the Death Eaters. Snape is killed by Voldemort out of paranoia, but he lends Harry his memories before he dies. Harry learns that Snape was always loyal to Dumbledore, and that Harry is himself a Horcrux. Harry surrenders to Voldemort and is killed. The defenders of Hogwarts continue to fight on; Harry is resurrected, faces Voldemort and kills him.
In '']'', the protagonists, who are in their sixth year, have passed their OWLs and start on their specialist NEWT courses. Voldemort is leading another wizarding war, which has become so violent that even Muggles have noticed some of its effects. Although Harry and friends are relatively protected from that danger at Hogwarts, they are subject to all the difficulties of adolescence. At the beginning of the novel, he stumbles upon an old potions textbook filled with annotations and recommendations signed by a mysterious writer, the Half-Blood Prince. While the shortcuts written in the book help Harry to excel at potions, he eventually learns to mistrust the anonymous writer's spells. Harry also takes private tutoring with Albus Dumbledore, who shows him various memories concerning the early life of Voldemort. These reveal that Voldemort's soul is splintered into a series of ]es, evil enchanted items hidden in various locations.<ref name="harry-potter-prince">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/books/16choc.html?pagewanted=all| title= Harry Potter Works His Magic Again in a Far Darker Tale |last=Kakutani|first=Michiko|date= 16 July 2005|work=The New York Times|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> Harry's snobbish adversary, Draco Malfoy, attempts to attack Dumbledore, and the book culminates in the killing of Dumbledore by Professor Snape.


An epilogue titled "Nineteen Years Later" describes the lives of the surviving characters and the impact of Voldemort's death. Harry and Ginny are married with three ], and Ron and Hermione are married with ].
'']'', the last book in the series, begins directly after the events of the sixth book. Voldemort has completed his ascension to power and gains control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron, and Hermione drop out of school so that they can find and destroy Voldemort's remaining horcruxes. To ensure their own safety as well as that of their family and friends, they are forced to ]. As they search for the horcruxes, the trio learn details about Dumbledore's past, as well as Snape's true motives.


== Style and allusions ==
The book culminates in the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, in conjunction with members of the Order of the Phoenix and many of the teachers and students, defend Hogwarts from Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and various ]. Several major characters are killed in the first wave of the battle and Voldemort resumes his intention to kill Harry. In an effort to save the survivors, Harry surrenders himself but the battle resumes as the parents of many Hogwarts students, residents of the nearby village ] and other magical creatures arrive to reinforce the Order of the Phoenix. After a while, Harry returns from the dead. With the last horcrux destroyed (Harry), Harry finally faces Voldemort. Harry offers the Dark Lord a chance at remorse, but Voldemort ignores this and attempts to kill Harry one final time; resulting in Voldemort's death, again, by a rebounding spell (the complications of which are described in depth near the end of the novel). An epilogue describes the lives of the surviving characters and the effects on the wizarding world.
===Genre and style===
The novels fall into the genre of ], and qualify as a type of fantasy called "]", "contemporary fantasy", or "]". They are mainly dramas, and maintain a fairly serious and dark tone throughout, though they do contain some notable instances of ] and black humour. In many respects, they are also examples of the '']'', or ] novel,<ref>{{cite news |last=Anne Le Lievre |first=Kerrie |year=2003 |title=Wizards and wainscots: generic structures and genre themes in the Harry Potter series |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OON/is_1_24/ai_107896944/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206041643/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OON/is_1_24/ai_107896944/ |archive-date=6 December 2008 |access-date=1 September 2008 |publisher=CNET Networks}}</ref> and contain elements of ], adventure, ], ], and ]. The books are also, in the words of ], "shrewd mystery tales",<ref name="Wild About Harry">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html|title=Wild About Harry|last=King|first=Stephen|date=23 July 2000|newspaper=The New York Times|quote=...the Harry Potter books are, at heart, satisfyingly shrewd mystery tales.|author-link=Stephen King|access-date=9 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417021723/http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html|archive-date=17 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and each book is constructed in the manner of a ]-style ] adventure. The stories are told from a ] point of view with very few exceptions (such as the opening chapters of '']'', '']'' and '']'' and the first two chapters of '']'').


The series can be considered part of the British children's ], which includes ]'s '']'', ]'s '']'', '']'' and the '']'' series, and Frank Richards's '']'' novels: the ''Harry Potter'' books are predominantly set in ], a fictional British boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of ].<ref name="Harry Potter Boarding">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/563232.stm|title=Harry Potter makes boarding fashionable|work=BBC News|access-date=1 September 2008|date=13 December 1999|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228112231/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/563232.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In this sense they are "in a direct line of descent from ]'s '']'' and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of ] life", though they are, as many note, more contemporary, grittier, darker, and more mature than the typical boarding school novel, addressing serious ] of death, love, loss, prejudice, coming-of-age, and the loss of innocence in a 1990s British setting.<ref>{{cite book |last= Ellen Jones |first= Leslie |title= JRR Tolkien: A Biography |publisher= Greenwood Press |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0-313-32340-9 |page= |url= https://archive.org/details/jrrtolkienbiogra0000jone/page/16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= A Whited | first = Lana | title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon | publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8262-1549-9|page=28}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2023}}
===Supplementary works===
{{See also|J. K. Rowling#Philanthropy|l1=J. K. Rowling: Philanthropy}}
Rowling has expanded the ] with several short books produced for various charities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6903111.stm|title=How Rowling conjured up millions|publisher=BBC|accessdate=7 September 2008 | date=19 July 2007 | first=Simon | last=Atkinson}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/1198169/used/Comic%20Relief%20:%20Quidditch%20through%20the%20ages|title=Comic Relief : Quidditch through the ages|publisher=Albris|accessdate=7 September 2008}}</ref> In 2001, she released '']'' (a purported Hogwarts textbook) and '']'' (a book Harry reads for fun). Proceeds from the sale of these two books benefitted the charity ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicrelief.com/stuff-to-buy/harrys-books/the-money/|title=The Money|publisher=Comic Relief| archiveurl =http://web.archive.org/web/20071029034316/http://www.comicrelief.com/stuff-to-buy/harrys-books/the-money/|archivedate=15 May 2010|accessdate=25 October 2007}}</ref> In 2007, Rowling composed seven handwritten copies of '']'', a collection of fairy tales that is featured in the final novel, one of which was auctioned to raise money for the Children's High Level Group, a fund for mentally disabled children in poor countries. The book was published internationally on 4 December 2008<ref name="fetches">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7142656.stm|title=JK Rowling book fetches £2&nbsp;m|date= 13 December 2007|publisher=BBC|accessdate=13 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000137983|title=Amazon purchase book|publisher=Amazon.com Inc|accessdate=14 December 2007}}</ref> Rowling also wrote an 800-word ] in 2008 as part of a fundraiser organised by the bookseller ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Rowling pens Potter prequel for charities|author=Williams, Rachel |work=]|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/may/29/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling | location=London | date=29 May 2008 | accessdate=30 March 2010}} Retrieved on 31 May 2008.</ref>


In ''Harry Potter'', Rowling juxtaposes the extraordinary against the ordinary.{{Sfn|Natov|2002|p=129}} Her narrative features two worlds: a contemporary world inhabited by non-magical people called ], and another featuring wizards. It differs from typical ] in that its magical elements stay grounded in the mundane.{{sfn|Butler|2012|pp=233–34}} Paintings move and talk; books bite readers; letters shout messages; and maps show live journeys, making the wizarding world both exotic and familiar.{{Sfn|Natov|2002|p=129}}{{sfn|Butler|2012|p=234}} This blend of realistic and romantic elements extends to Rowling's characters. Their names are often ]{{clarify|date=January 2024}}: Malfoy is difficult, Filch is unpleasant, and Lupin is a werewolf.{{sfn|Park|2003|p=183}}{{Sfn|Natov|2002|p=130}} Harry is ordinary and relatable, with down-to-earth features such as wearing broken glasses;{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2008|p=233}} the scholar Roni Natov terms him an "everychild".{{sfn|Ostry|2003|p=97}} These elements serve to highlight Harry when he is heroic, making him both an ] and a fairytale hero.{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2008|p=233}}{{sfn|Ostry|2003|pp=90, 97–98}}
==Structure and genre==
{{See also|Harry Potter influences and analogues}}
The ''Harry Potter'' novels fall within the genre of ]; however, in many respects they are also ]s, or ] novels,<ref>{{cite news|url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OON/is_1_24/ai_107896944|title=Wizards and wainscots: generic structures and genre themes in the Harry Potter series|last=Anne Le Lievre|first= Kerrie |year=2003|publisher=CNET Networks |accessdate=1 September 2008}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot = H3llBot}}</ref> and contain elements of ], adventure, ], and ]. They can be considered part of the British children's ] genre, which includes ]'s ], ]'s '']'', '']'' and the '']'' series, and ] '']'' novels: the ''Harry Potter'' books are predominantly set in ], a fictional British boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of ].<ref name="Harry Potter Boarding">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/563232.stm|title=Harry Potter makes boarding fashionable |publisher=BBC|accessdate=1 September 2008 | date=13 December 1999}}</ref> In this sense they are "in a direct line of descent from ]'s '']'' and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of ] life".<ref>{{cite book|last= Ellen Jones | first = Leslie| title = JRR Tolkien: A Biography | publisher=Greenwood Press|year= 2003 | accessdate=9 September 2005|isbn=978-0313323409|page=16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= A Whited | first = Lana | title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon | publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=2004|isbn=9780826215499|page=28}}</ref> They are also, in the words of ], "shrewd mystery tales",<ref name="Wild About Harry">
{{cite news
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html
| work = The New York Times
| title = Wild About Harry
| date = 23 July 2000
| first = Stephen
| last = King
| authorlink = Stephen King
| accessdate = 9 August 2010
| quote = …the Harry Potter books are, at heart, satisfyingly shrewd mystery tales.
}}</ref> and each book is constructed in the manner of a ]-style ] adventure. The stories are told from a ] point of view with very few exceptions (such as the opening chapters of '']'' and '']'' and the first two chapters of '']'').


In the middle of each book, Harry struggles with the problems he encounters, and dealing with them often involves the need to violate some school rules—the penalties, in case of being caught out, being disciplinary punishments set out in the Hogwarts regulations (in which the ''Harry Potter'' books follow many precedents in the boarding school ]).<ref name="Harry Potter Boarding" /> However, the stories reach their climax in the ], near or just after ], when events escalate far beyond in-school squabbles and struggles, and Harry must confront either ] or one of his followers, the ], with the stakes a matter of life and death–a point underlined, as the series progresses, by one or more characters being killed in each of the final four books.<ref name="Harry Potter Last Adventure" /><ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/06/26/rowling-potter-deaths.html | archiveurl =http://web.archive.org/web/20060630023326/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/06/26/rowling-potter-deaths.html | archivedate=12 May 2010|title=Two characters to die in last 'Harry Potter' book: J.K. Rowling|publisher=CBC|accessdate=1 September 2008 | date=26 June 2006}}</ref> In the aftermath, he learns important lessons through exposition and discussions with ] and ] ]. 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 ], near or just after ], when events escalate far beyond in-school squabbles and struggles, and Harry must confront either ] or one of his followers, the ], 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.<ref name="Harry Potter Last Adventure" /><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/two-characters-to-die-in-last-harry-potter-book-j-k-rowling-1.598355 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20060630023326/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/06/26/rowling-potter-deaths.html | archive-date=30 June 2006|title=Two characters to die in last 'Harry Potter' book: J.K. Rowling|publisher=CBC|access-date=1 September 2008 |url-status= live | date=26 June 2006}}</ref> In the aftermath, he learns important lessons through exposition and discussions with head teacher and mentor ]. The only exception to this school-centred setting is the final novel, '']'', in which Harry and his friends spend most of their time away from Hogwarts, and only return there to face Voldemort at the '']''.<ref name="Harry Potter Last Adventure">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1637886_1637891,00.html|title=Harry Potter's Last Adventure|last=Grossman|first=Lev|magazine=]|access-date=1 September 2008|date=28 June 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827145911/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1637886_1637891,00.html|archive-date=27 August 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>


===Allusions===
In the final novel, '']'', Harry and his friends spend most of their time away from Hogwarts, and only return there to face Voldemort at the ].<ref name="Harry Potter Last Adventure">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1637886_1637891,00.html|title=Harry Potter's Last Adventure | last=Grossman|first=Lev|publisher=Time Inc|accessdate=1 September 2008 | date=28 June 2007}}</ref> Completing the bildungsroman format, in this part Harry must grow up prematurely, losing the chance of a last year as a pupil in a school and needing to act as an adult, on whose decisions everybody else depends—the grown-ups included.<ref>{{cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6910106.stm|title=Press views: The Deathly Hallows |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|accessdate=22 August 2008 | date=21 July 2007}}</ref>
The ''Harry Potter'' stories feature imagery and motifs drawn from ] and ]. Harry's ability to draw the ] from the ] resembles the Arthurian ] legend.{{sfn|Alton|2008|p=216}} His life with the Dursleys has been compared to ].{{sfn|Gallardo|Smith|2003|p=195}} 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 ], is described as a holder of the Philosopher's Stone.<ref name="Scriptorium Press">{{cite journal|last1=Arden |first1=Heather |last2=Lorenz |first2=Kathryn |title=The Harry Potter Stories and French Arthurian Romance|journal=Arthuriana|volume=13 |issue=12|pages=54–68|date=June 2003|jstor=27870516|doi=10.1353/art.2003.0005 |s2cid=161603742 | issn=1078-6279}}</ref> 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, which are similar to the "marvellous tents" put up for knightly tournaments, imaginary animals like dragons and unicorns that exist around Hogwarts, and the banners with heraldic animals for the four Houses of Hogwarts.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/>


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.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/> Other aspects borrowed from French Arthurian romances include the use of owls as messengers, werewolves as characters, and white deer.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/> 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.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/> 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.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/>
==Themes==
According to Rowling, a major theme in the series is ]: "My books are largely about death. They open with the death of Harry's parents. There is Voldemort's obsession with conquering death and his quest for ] at any price, the goal of anyone with magic. I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We're all frightened of it."<ref name="Geordie Greig"/>


Like C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', ''Harry Potter'' also contains Christian symbolism and ]. The series has been viewed as a Christian moral fable in the ] tradition, in which stand-ins for good and evil fight for supremacy over a person's soul.{{Sfn|Singer|2016|pp= 26–27}} Children's literature critic Joy Farmer sees parallels between Harry and ].{{Sfn|Farmer|2001|p=58}} Comparing Rowling with Lewis, she argues that "magic is both authors' way of talking about spiritual reality".{{Sfn|Farmer|2001|p=55}} According to ], Christian imagery is particularly strong in the final scenes of the series: Harry dies in self-sacrifice and Voldemort delivers an "]" speech, after which Harry is ] and defeats his enemy.{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2008|pp=238–39}}
Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including ]. Themes such as ], oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series.<ref name="Greenwald2005">{{cite journal|last=Greenwald|first=Janey|title=Understanding Harry Potter: Parallels to the Deaf World|journal=The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education|volume=10|issue=4|pages=442–450|year=2005|doi=10.1093/deafed/eni041|pmid=16000691|month=Fall|last2=Greenwald|first2=J|issn=1081-4159|url=http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=16000691|format=Free full text}}</ref> Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered.<ref name="Duffy2002">{{cite journal|last=Duffy|first=Edward|title=Sentences in Harry Potter, Students in Future Writing Classes|journal=Rhetoric Review|volume=21|issue=2|year=2002|page=177|doi=10.1207/S15327981RR2102_03}}</ref> Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to ]" and that also pass on a message to "question authority and... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm|title=JK Rowling outs Dumbledore as gay|accessdate=21 October 2007|date=21 October 2007|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC}}</ref>


Rowling stated that she did not reveal ''Harry Potter''{{'}}s religious parallels in the beginning because doing so would have "give too much away to fans who might then see the parallels".<ref name="Adler2007">{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1572107/harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-opens-up-about-books-christian-imagery/|title='Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books' Christian Imagery|last=Adler|first=Shawn|date=17 October 2007|publisher=]|language=en|access-date=3 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014091806/http://www.mtv.com/news/1572107/harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-opens-up-about-books-christian-imagery/|archive-date=14 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In the final book of the series, '']'', Rowling makes the book's Christian imagery more explicit, quoting both ] and ] (]) when Harry visits his parents' ].<ref name="Adler2007"/> ] teaches Harry Potter that the meaning of these verses from the ] are "living beyond death. Living after death", which Rowling states "epitomize the whole series".<ref name="Adler2007"/><ref name="SedlmayrWaller2014">{{cite book|last1=Sedlmayr|first1=Gerold|last2=Waller|first2=Nicole|title=Politics in Fantasy Media: Essays on Ideology and Gender in Fiction, Film, Television and Games|date=28 October 2014|publisher=]|language=en|isbn=9781476617558|page=132|quote=During this press conference, Rowling stated that the Bible quotations in that novel "almost epitomize the whole series. I think they sum up all the themes in the whole series" (reported in Adler).}}</ref><ref name="Falconer2008">{{cite book|last=Falconer|first=Rachel|title=The Crossover Novel: Contemporary Children's Fiction and Its Adult Readership|date=21 October 2008|publisher=]|language=en|isbn=9781135865016|page=69|quote=These New Testament verses (Matthew 6:19 and 1 Corinthians 15:26) together denote the promise of resurrection through the Son of God's consent to die.52 In interview, Rowling has stressed that these two quotations 'sum up{{snd}}they almost epitomize the whole series'.}}</ref> Rowling also exhibits Christian values in developing Albus Dumbledore as a God-like character, the divine, trusted leader of the series, guiding the long-suffering hero along his quest. In the seventh novel, Harry speaks with and questions the deceased Dumbledore much like a person of faith would talk to and question God.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cooke |first=Rachel |title=ProQuest Ebook Central |journal=] |doi=10.5260/cca.199425|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }} {{subscription required}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2024}}
While the books could be said to comprise many other themes, such as power/abuse of power, ], ], and free choice, they are, as J. K. Rowling states, "deeply entrenched in the whole plot"; the writer prefers to let themes "grow organically", rather than sitting down and consciously attempting to impart such ideas to her readers.<ref name="Mzimba, Lizo, moderator. Interview with ] and J.K. Rowling">{{cite news|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2003/0302-newsround-mzimba.htm|publisher= Quick Quotes Quill| title=Interview with Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling|moderator=Lizo Mzimba|date=February 2003|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040104114558/http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2003/0302-newsround-mzimba.htmaccess|archivedate=13 May 2010|date=28 July 2008}}</ref> Along the same lines is the ever-present theme of adolescence, in whose depiction Rowling has been purposeful in acknowledging her characters' sexualities and not leaving Harry, as she put it, "stuck in a state of permanent pre-pubescence".<ref name="Favourite chapter">{{cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0299-guardian-carey.htm|publisher=Quick-Quote-Quill |title=About the Books: transcript of J.K. Rowling's live interview on Scholastic.com|date=16 February 1999|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040110094409/http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0299-guardian-carey.htm|archivedate=13 May 2010|accessdate=28 July 2008}}</ref> Rowling said that, to her, the moral significance of the tales seems "blindingly obvious". The key for her was the choice between what is right and what is easy, "because that ... is how ] is started, with people being ] and taking the easy route and suddenly finding themselves in deep trouble."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-vancouversun-wyman.htm|first=Wyman|last=Max|title="You can lead a fool to a book but you cannot make them think": Author has frank words for the religious right|publisher=The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)|date=26 October 2000 |accessdate=28 July 2008}}</ref>


== Themes ==
==Origins and publishing history==
].|alt=J.K. Rowling, a blond, blue-eyed woman, who is the author of the series.|link=J.K. Rowling]] ] |alt=J.K. Rowling, a blond, blue-eyed woman, who is the author of the series]]
In 1990, J. K. Rowling was on a crowded train from ] to ] when the idea for Harry suddenly "fell into her head". Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:<ref name="Harry falls into author's head">{{cite web|publisher=JKRowling.com|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm|title=Biography|first= JK |last = Rowling |accessdate=21 May 2006|year=2006}}</ref>


''Harry Potter''{{'s}} overarching theme is death.{{Sfn|Ciaccio|2008|pp=39–40}}{{Sfn|Groves|2017|pp=xxi–xxii, 135–136}} In the first book, when Harry looks into the Mirror of Erised, he feels both joy and "a terrible sadness" at seeing his desire: his parents, alive and with him.{{sfn|Natov|2002|pp= 134–36}} Confronting their loss is central to Harry's character arc and manifests in different ways through the series, such as in his struggles with ].{{sfn|Natov|2002|pp=134–36}}{{sfn|Taub|Servaty-Seib|2008|pp=23–27}} Other characters in Harry's life die; he even faces his own death in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''.{{Sfn|Pharr|2016|pp=20–21}} The series has an ] perspective—Harry must grow mature enough to accept death.{{Sfn|Los|2008|pp=32–33}} In Harry's world, death is not binary but mutable, a state that exists in degrees.{{Sfn|Stojilkov|2015|p=135}} Unlike Voldemort, who evades death by separating and hiding his soul in seven parts, Harry's soul is whole, nourished by friendship and love.{{Sfn|Los|2008|pp=32–33}}
{{quote|"I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who did not know he was a wizard became more and more real to me."}}


Love distinguishes Harry and Voldemort. Harry is a hero because he loves others, even willing to accept death to save them; Voldemort is a villain because he does not.{{Sfn|Pharr|2016|pp= 14–15, 20–21}} Harry carries the protection of his mother's sacrifice in his blood; Voldemort, who wants Harry's blood and the protection it carries, does not understand that love vanquishes death.{{Sfn|Farmer|2001|p=58}}
Rowling completed ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' in 1995 and the ] was sent off to several prospective ].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.eitb24.com/new/en/B24_57676/entertainment/FACTBOX-Final-Harry-Potter-book-set-for-release/|title=Final Harry Potter book set for release|date=15 July 2007|publisher=]|accessdate=21 August 2008}}</ref> The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to Bloomsbury. After eight other publishers had rejected ''Philosopher's Stone'', Bloomsbury offered Rowling a £2,500 advance for its publication.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc| url= http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_22/b3935414.htm| title=Nigel Newton | first=John| last=Lawless| accessdate = 9 September 2006|year=2005}}</ref><ref name="Ivory Tower 2">{{cite book|last=A Whited|first=Lana |title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon|publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=2004| isbn = 9780826215499 |page=351|url=http://books.google.com/?id=iO5pApw2JycC&pg=PA351}}</ref> Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular ] in mind when beginning to write the ''Harry Potter'' books, the publishers initially targeted children aged nine to eleven.<ref>
{{cite web
| url = http://www.newsobserver.com/308/story/637623.html
| title = The magic years
| last = Huler
| first = Scott
| work = The News & Observer Publishing Company
| accessdate = 28 September 2008
}}{{Dead link
| date = August 2010
}}</ref> On the eve of publishing, Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more ] pen name in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name because she has no ].<ref name="Ivory Tower 2" /><ref>{{cite news| url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1349288/Harry-Potter-and-the-mystery-of-J-Ks-lost-initial.html|title=Harry Potter and the mystery of J K's lost initial|last=Savill|first=Richard|date=21 June 2001|publisher=Telegraph.com|accessdate=27 September 2008 | location=London}}</ref>


Rowling has spoken about thematising death and loss in the series. Soon after she started writing ''Philosopher's Stone'', her mother died; she said that "I really think from that moment on, death became a central, if not the central theme of the seven books".{{sfn|Groves|2017|p=138}} Rowling has described Harry as "the prism through which I view death", and further stated that "all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death".{{sfn|Groves|2017|p=135}}
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was published by ], the publisher of all ''Harry Potter'' books in the United Kingdom, on 30 June 1997.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/820885.stm|title=The Potter phenomenon|date= 18 February 2003|publisher=BBC|accessdate=27 September 2008}}</ref> It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by ]—the American publisher of the books—as ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'',<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.nypost.com/seven/07022007/news/nationalnews/wild_about_harry_nationalnews_.htm|title=Wild about Harry|publisher=NYP Holdings, Inc.|accessdate=27 September 2008 | date=2 July 2007}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> after Rowling had received US$105,000 for the American rights—an unprecedented amount for a children's book by a then-unknown author.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/business/web21interview.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1|title=A Brief Walk Through Time at Scholastic|last=Rozhon|first=Tracie|work= The New York Times |date=21 April 2007|accessdate = 21 April 2007|page=C3}}</ref> Fearing that American readers would not associate the word "philosopher" with a magical theme (although the ] is alchemy-related), Scholastic insisted that the book be given the title ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' for the American market.


While ''Harry Potter'' can be viewed as a story about good vs. evil, its moral divisions are not absolute.{{sfn|Shanoes|2003|pp=131–32}}{{sfn|McEvoy|2016|p=207}} First impressions of characters are often misleading. Harry assumes in the first book that Quirrell is on the side of good because he opposes Snape, who appears to be malicious; in reality, Quirrell is an agent of Voldemort, while Snape is loyal to Dumbledore. This pattern later recurs with Moody and Snape.{{sfn|Shanoes|2003|pp= 131–32}} In Rowling's world, good and evil are choices rather than inherent attributes: second chances and the possibility of redemption are key themes of the series.{{sfn|Doughty|2002|pp= 247–49}}{{Sfn|Berberich|2016|p=153}} This is reflected in Harry's self-doubts after learning his connections to Voldemort, such as Parseltongue;{{sfn|Doughty|2002|pp=247–49}} and prominently in Snape's characterisation, which has been described as complex and multifaceted.{{sfn|Birch|2008|pp=110–13}} In some scholars' view, while Rowling's narrative appears on the surface to be about Harry, her focus may actually be on Snape's morality and character arc.{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2016|p=204}}{{sfn|Applebaum|2008|pp=84–85}}
The second book, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.<ref name="Harry Potter UK Release Dates">{{cite news|url=http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/235354|title=A Potter timeline for muggles|date=14 July 2007| work= ] | accessdate = 27 September 2008}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by ] and ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/jul/19/jkjoannekathleenrowling | title= Speed-reading after lights out|date=19 July 2000|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|accessdate=27 September 2008 | location= London}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03EFDC163CF937A25754C0A9659C8B63 |title=Harry Potter and the Internet Pirates|work=The New York Times|accessdate=21 August 2008 | first=Amy | last=Harmon | date= 14 July 2003}}</ref> It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/16/harrypotter.books|title=Harry Potter and the hottest day of summer|last=Cassy|first=John|date=16 January 2003|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|accessdate=27 September 2008 | location=London}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' was published on 16 July 2005, and it sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4113663.stm|title=July date for Harry Potter book |date=21 December 2004|publisher=BBC|accessdate=27 September 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|title=Harry Potter finale sales hit 11&nbsp;m |publisher=BBC News|accessdate=21 August 2008 | date=23 July 2007}}</ref> The seventh and final novel, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', was published 21 July 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm|title=Rowling unveils last Potter date |date=1 February 2007|publisher=BBC|accessdate=27 September 2008}}</ref> The book sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of release, breaking down to 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|title=Harry Potter finale sales hit 11&nbsp;m |date=23 July 2007|publisher=BBC|accessdate=20 August 2008}}</ref>


Rowling said that, to her, the moral significance of the tales seems "blindingly obvious". In the fourth book, Dumbledore speaks of a "choice between what is right and what is easy"; Rowling views this as a key theme, "because that ... is how tyranny is started, with people being apathetic and taking the easy route and suddenly finding themselves in deep trouble".<ref>{{cite news |first=Wyman |last=Max |title="You can lead a fool to a book but you cannot make them think": Author has frank words for the religious right |newspaper=] |date=26 October 2000 |page=A3 |id={{ProQuest|242655908}}}}</ref>
===Translations===

Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including ]. Themes such as ], oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series.<ref name="Greenwald2005">{{cite journal|last1=Greenwald|first1=Janey|title=Understanding Harry Potter: Parallels to the Deaf World|journal=The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education|volume=10|issue=4|pages=442–450|date=Fall 2005|doi=10.1093/deafed/eni041|pmid=16000691|last2=Greenwald|first2=J |format=Free full text|doi-access=free}}</ref> Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered.<ref name="Duffy2002">{{cite journal|last=Duffy|first=Edward|title=Sentences in Harry Potter, Students in Future Writing Classes|journal=Rhetoric Review|volume=21|issue=2|year=2002|page=177|doi=10.1207/S15327981RR2102_03|s2cid=144654506}}</ref> Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to ]" and that they also pass on a message to "question authority and... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm|title=JK Rowling outs Dumbledore as gay|access-date=21 October 2007|date=21 October 2007|work=BBC News|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022052510/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm|archive-date=22 October 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

== Development history ==
{{Main|Harry Potter influences and analogues}}

In 1990, Rowling was on a crowded train from ] to ] when the idea for Harry suddenly "fell into" her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:<ref name="Harry falls into author's head">{{cite web|publisher=JKRowling.com|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm|title=Biography|first= JK |last = Rowling |access-date=21 May 2006|year=2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060421032312/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=21 April 2006}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who did not know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.}}

Rowling completed ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' in 1995 and the ] was sent off to several prospective ].{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=73}} The second agent she tried, ], offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to several publishers.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=156, 159–161}}

=== Publishing history ===
]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/media/bookseller_image_tandcs.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710055833/http://www.bloomsbury.com/media/bookseller_image_tandcs.pdf |archive-date=10 July 2007 |title=Harry Potter Books (UK Editions) Terms and Conditions for Use of Images for Book Promotion |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |date=10 July 2007 |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref>]]

After twelve other publishers had rejected ''Philosopher's Stone'', ] agreed to publish the book.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=159–160}} Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular ] in mind when beginning to write the ''Harry Potter'' books, the publishers initially targeted children aged nine to eleven.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/308/story/637623.html |title=The magic years |last=Huler |first=Scott |work=The News & Observer |access-date=28 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218170339/http://www.newsobserver.com/308/story/637623.html |archive-date=18 December 2008 }}</ref> On the eve of publishing, Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more ] pen name in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name because she has no ].{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=76}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1349288/Harry-Potter-and-the-mystery-of-J-Ks-lost-initial.html|title=Harry Potter and the mystery of J K's lost initial|last=Savill|first=Richard|date=21 June 2001|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220012350/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1349288/Harry-Potter-and-the-mystery-of-J-Ks-lost-initial.html|archive-date=20 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was published by Bloomsbury, the publisher of all ''Harry Potter'' books in the United Kingdom, on 26 June 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-9780747532699/|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|access-date=27 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626181223/http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-9780747532699/|archive-date=26 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by ]—the American publisher of the books—as ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'',<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.nypost.com/seven/07022007/news/nationalnews/wild_about_harry_nationalnews_.htm|title=Wild about Harry|publisher=NYP Holdings, Inc.|access-date=27 September 2008 | date=2 July 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821084927/http://www.nypost.com/seven/07022007/news/nationalnews/wild_about_harry_nationalnews_.htm |archive-date=21 August 2009}}</ref> after the American rights sold for US$105,000—a record amount for a children's book by an unknown author.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/business/web21interview.html|title=A Brief Walk Through Time at Scholastic|last=Rozhon|first=Tracie|work=The New York Times|date=21 April 2007|access-date=21 April 2007|page=C3|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416133919/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/business/web21interview.html|archive-date=16 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Scholastic feared that American readers would not associate the word "philosopher" with magic, and Rowling suggested the title ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' for the American market.{{sfn|Errington|2017|p=145}} Rowling has later said that she regrets the change.{{sfn|Whited|2015|pp=75}}

The second book, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' was published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.<ref name="Harry Potter UK Release Dates">{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/235354|title=A Potter timeline for muggles|date=14 July 2007|work=Toronto Star|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220001353/http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/235354|archive-date=20 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/19/jkjoannekathleenrowling|title=Speed-reading after lights out|date=19 July 2000|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231101931/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/19/jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=31 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' is the longest book in the series, at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/business/harry-potter-and-the-internet-pirates.html |title=Harry Potter and the Internet Pirates |work=The New York Times |access-date=21 August 2008 |first=Amy |last=Harmon |date=14 July 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403074718/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/business/harry-potter-and-the-internet-pirates.html |archive-date=3 April 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/16/harrypotter.books|title=Harry Potter and the hottest day of summer|last=Cassy|first=John|date=16 January 2003|work=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231091101/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/16/harrypotter.books|archive-date=31 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' was published on 16 July 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4113663.stm|title=July date for Harry Potter book|date=21 December 2004|work=BBC News|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229024606/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4113663.stm|archive-date=29 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="finale sales">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|title=Harry Potter finale sales hit 11&nbsp;m|work=BBC News|access-date=21 August 2008|date=23 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225034725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|archive-date=25 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The seventh and final novel, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', was published on 21 July 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm|title=Rowling unveils last Potter date|date=1 February 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228101051/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the final book (in fact, the epilogue) was completed "in something like 1990".<ref name="last chapter">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5119836.stm|title=Rowling to kill two in final book|work=BBC News|date=27 June 2006|access-date=25 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803133633/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5119836.stm|archive-date=3 August 2009}}</ref>

Rowling retained rights to digital editions and released them on the Pottermore website in 2012. Vendors such as Amazon displayed the ebooks in the form of links to Pottermore, which controlled pricing.{{sfn|Clark|Phillips|2019|p=47}} All seven ''Harry Potter'' novels have been released in unabridged ] versions, with ] reading the British editions and ] voicing the series for the American editions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rich |first1=Mokoto |title=The Voice of Harry Potter Can Keep a Secret |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/books/17dale.html |work=The New York Times |date=17 July 2007 |access-date=6 September 2019 |archive-date=6 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906002232/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/books/17dale.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Harry Potter Audiobooks and E-Books |url=http://www.mugglenet.com/harry-potter/harry-potter-series/audiobooks-and-e-books/ |website=Mugglenet |publisher=Dose Media |access-date=6 September 2019 |archive-date=6 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906002235/http://www.mugglenet.com/harry-potter/harry-potter-series/audiobooks-and-e-books/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> On ], the series has been listened, as of November 2022, for over a billion hours.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63794444 |title=Harry Potter: Fans have listened to books for one billion hours |work=BBC Newsround |date=30 November 2022 |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=6 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206180533/https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63794444 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Translations ===
{{Main|Harry Potter in translation}} {{Main|Harry Potter in translation}}
], 2007]]
The series has been translated into 67 languages,<ref name="Translations for Harry Potter">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7649962.stm|title=Rowling 'makes £5 every second' |date=3 October 2008|publisher=]|accessdate=17 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/18/harrypotter.artsandentertainment|title=Harry Potter breaks 400m in sales|date=18 June 2008|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|accessdate=17 October 2008 | location=London | first=Guy | last=Dammann}}</ref> placing Rowling among the most translated authors in history.<ref>{{cite web|title=Guinness World Records: L. Ron Hubbard Is the Most Translated Author|author=KMaul|url=http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/tbs_landing.jsp|publisher=The Book Standard|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080308213411/http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/tbs_landing.jsp|archivedate=12 May 2010|year=2005|accessdate=19 July 2007}}</ref> The books have seen translations to diverse languages such as ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. The first volume has been translated into ] and even ],<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/harry_potter.htm|title=Harry Potter in Greek|last=Wilson |first=Andrew|year=2006|publisher=Andrew Wilson |accessdate=28 July 2008}}</ref> making it the longest published work in Ancient Greek since the novels of ] in the 3rd century AD.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://playalicious.com/reference/news/greek_harry.html|title=Harry Potter? It's All Greek to Me|last=Castle|first=Tim|date=2 December 2004|publisher=Reuters|accessdate=28 July 2008}}</ref>


The series has been translated into more than 80 languages,<ref name="Harry Potter copies">{{cite press release |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Scholastic Marks 25 Year Anniversary of The Publication of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone |url=http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/scholastic-marks-25-year-anniversary-publication-jk-rowling-s-harry-potter-and-sorcere |location=New York, New York |publisher=Scholastic |agency= |date=2023-02-06 |access-date=2023-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313054050/http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/scholastic-marks-25-year-anniversary-publication-jk-rowling-s-harry-potter-and-sorcere|archive-date=13 March 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> placing Rowling among the most translated authors in history. The books have seen translations to diverse languages such as ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. The first volume has been translated into ] and even ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/harry_potter.htm|title=Harry Potter in Greek|last=Wilson|first=Andrew|year=2006|publisher=Andrew Wilson|access-date=28 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621122227/http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/harry_potter.htm|archive-date=21 June 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> making it the longest published work in Ancient Greek since the novels of ] in the 3rd century AD.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://playalicious.com/reference/news/greek_harry.html |title=Harry Potter? It's All Greek to Me |last=Castle |first=Tim |date=2 December 2004|agency=Reuters |access-date=28 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119214752/http://playalicious.com/reference/news/greek_harry.html |archive-date= 19 January 2008}}</ref> The second volume has also been translated into Latin.<ref>{{cite web|title = Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Latin)|url = http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-latin-9780747588771/|website = Bloomsbury Publishing|access-date = 13 August 2015|first = Skyron|last = LTD|url-status=live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150905162802/http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-latin-9780747588771/|archive-date = 5 September 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref>
Some of the translators hired to work on the books were well-known authors before their work on ''Harry Potter'', such as ], who oversaw the Russian translation of the series' fifth book. The ] translation of books two to seven was undertaken by ], a popular literary critic and cultural commentator.<ref>{{cite web|title=Not lost in translation: Harry Potter in Turkish |last=Güler |first=Emrah |url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=29054|year=2005|work=The Turkish Daily News|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070930171135/http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=29054|archivedate=15 May 2010|accessdate = 9 May 2007}}</ref> For reasons of secrecy, translation can only start when the books are released in English; thus there is a lag of several months before the translations are available. This has led to more and more copies of the English editions being sold to impatient fans in non-English speaking countries. Such was the clamour to read the fifth book that its English language edition became the first English-language book ever to top the bestseller list in France.<ref>{{cite news|author=Staff Writer|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3036000/3036350.stm|publisher=BBC|title=OOTP is best seller in France&nbsp;— in English!|date=1 July 2003|accessdate=28 July 2008}}</ref>


Some of the translators hired to work on the books were well-known authors before their work on ''Harry Potter'', such as ], who oversaw the Russian translation of the series' fifth book. The ] translation of books two to seven was undertaken by ], a popular literary critic and cultural commentator.<ref>{{cite web|title=Not lost in translation: Harry Potter in Turkish |last=Güler |first=Emrah |url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=29054|year=2005|work=The Turkish Daily News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930171135/http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=29054|archive-date=30 September 2007 |access-date =9 May 2007}}</ref> For reasons of secrecy, translation on a given book could only start after it had been released in English, leading to a lag of several months before the translations were available. This led to more and more copies of the English editions being sold to impatient fans in non-English speaking countries; for example, such was the clamour to read ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' that its English language edition became the first English-language book ever to top the best-seller list in France.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3036000/3036350.stm|work=BBC News|title=OOTP is best seller in France—in English!|date=1 July 2003|access-date=28 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613202533/http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3036000/3036350.stm|archive-date=13 June 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
The United States editions of the ''Harry Potter'' novels have required the adaptation of the texts into ], as many words and concepts used by the characters in the novels may have not been understood by a young American audience.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html|title=Differences in the UK and US Versions of Four Harry Potter Books |date=21 January 2008|publisher=FAST US-1|accessdate=17 August 2008}}</ref>


The United States editions were adapted into ] to make them more understandable to a young American audience.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html |title=Differences in the UK and US Versions of Four Harry Potter Books |date=21 January 2008 |publisher=FAST US-1 |access-date=17 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319041313/http://www15.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html |archive-date=19 March 2015}}</ref>
===Completion of the series===
In December 2005, Rowling stated on her web site, "2006 will be the year when I write the final book in the ''Harry Potter'' series."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/12/27/showbuzz/index.html?iref=newssearch|title=Rowling gearing up for final 'Potter'|date=27 December 2005|publisher=CNN|accessdate=28 September 2008}} {{Dead link|date=August 2010|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}</ref> Updates then followed in her ] chronicling the progress of '']'', with the release date of 21 July 2007. The book itself was finished on 11 January 2007 in the ], ], where she scrawled a message on the back of a bust of ]. It read: "J. K. Rowling finished writing ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' in this room (552) on 11 January 2007."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6324289.stm|title=Potter author signs off in style|publisher=BBC|date=2 February 2007 | accessdate=5 January 2010}}</ref>


=== Cover art ===
Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the final book (in fact, the epilogue) was completed "in something like 1990".<ref name="last chapter">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5119836.stm|title=Rowling to kill two in final book|publisher=BBC|date=27 June 2006|accessdate=25 July 2007}}</ref><ref name="last chapter means epilogue">{{cite news|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/1201-bbc-hpandme.htm|title=Harry Potter and Me|date=28 December 2001|accessdate=12 September 2007|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> In June 2006, Rowling, on an appearance on the British talk show '']'', announced that the chapter had been modified as one character "got a reprieve" and two others who previously survived the story had in fact been killed. On 28 March 2007, the cover art for the Bloomsbury Adult and Child versions and the Scholastic version were released.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/default.aspx?sec=2&sec2=1&sec3=7|title=Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at Bloomsbury Publishing|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/covers/art7.htm|title=Cover Art: Harry Potter 7|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070419030755/http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/covers/art7.htm|archivedate=12 May 2010|publisher=Scholastic|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref>
For cover art, Bloomsbury chose painted art in a classic style of design, with the first cover a watercolour and pencil drawing by illustrator ] showing Harry boarding the Hogwarts Express, and a title in the font ].<ref name="Me and Harry Potter">{{cite web|last1=Taylor|first1=Thomas|title=Me and Harry Potter|url=http://www.thomastaylor-author.com/me-and-harry-potter/|website=Thomas Taylor (author site)|date=26 July 2012|access-date=23 September 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923144627/http://www.thomastaylor-author.com/me-and-harry-potter/|archive-date=23 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The first releases of the successive books in the series followed in the same style but somewhat more realistic, illustrating scenes from the books. These covers were created by first ] and then Jason Cockroft.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jan/20/books.booksnews|title=Harry Potter beats Austen in sale rooms|last=Thorpe|first=Vanessa|date=20 January 2002|work=The Observer|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=21 November 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140613021140/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jan/20/books.booksnews|archive-date=13 June 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>


Due to the appeal of the books among an adult audience, Bloomsbury commissioned a second line of editions in an 'adult' style. These initially used black-and-white photographic art for the covers showing objects from the books (including a very American Hogwarts Express) without depicting people, but later shifted to partial colourisation with a picture of Slytherin's locket on the cover of the final book.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
==Achievements==
===Cultural impact===
{{details|Harry Potter fandom}}
] in Newark, ] for the midnight release of '']''.|alt=A large crowd of fans wait outside of a Borders store in Delaware, waiting for the release of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince''.|link=Harry Potter fandom]]
Fans of the series were so eager for the latest instalment that bookstores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, ], and other ] have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been highly successful in attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' sold in the first 24 hours.<ref name="Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts">{{cite news
|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article545338.ece|publisher=Times Online|title=Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts|date=18 July 2005|accessdate=29 July 2008|last=Freeman|first=Simon | location=London}}</ref><ref name="Potter book smashes sales records">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4692093.stm|publisher=BBC
|title=Potter book smashes sales records|date=18 July 2005|accessdate=29 July 2008}}</ref> The final book in the series, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' became the fastest selling book in history, moving 11 million units in the first twenty-four hours of release .<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/business/worldbusiness/23iht-potter.4.6789605.html | work=The New York Times | date=23 July 2007 | accessdate=30 March 2010 | title='Harry Potter' tale is fastest-selling book in history}}</ref> The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to the release of two editions of each ''Harry Potter'' book, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/default.aspx?sec=2|title=Harry Potter at Bloomsbury Publishing&nbsp;— Adult and Children Covers|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|accessdate=18 August 2008}}</ref> Besides meeting online through blogs, ]s, and fansites, ''Harry Potter'' super-fans can also meet at ''Harry Potter'' ]. The word ''Muggle'' has spread beyond its ''Harry Potter'' origins, becoming one of few pop culture words to land in the ].<ref>{{cite web|title='Muggle' Redux in the Oxford English Dictionary|author= McCaffrey, Meg|url=http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA294413.html|date=1 May 2003|accessdate = 1 May 2007|publisher=School Library Journal}}</ref> The Harry Potter fandom has embraced podcasts as a regular, often weekly, insight to the latest discussion in the fandom. Both ] and ]<ref name=apple-enews>{{cite news|url=https://www.apple.com/enews/2005/09/08enews1.html|title=Book corner: Secrets of Podcasting|date=8 September 2005|accessdate=31 January 2007|publisher=]}}</ref> have reached the top spot of iTunes podcast rankings and have been polled one of the top 50 favourite podcasts.<ref name=pr-newswire-mc>{{cite news|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-08-2005/0004210790&EDATE=|title=Mugglenet.com Taps Limelight's Magic for Podcast Delivery of Harry Potter Content|date=8 November 2005|accessdate=31 January 2007|publisher=PR Newswire}}</ref>


International and later editions have been created by a range of designers, including ] for US audiences and ] in Finland.<ref>Rowling, J.K. '']''; American edition; ]; 2007; Final credits page</ref><ref name=msnbc>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Illustrator puts a bit of herself on Potter cover: GrandPré feels pressure to create something special with each book|publisher=Today.com|date=8 March 2005|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/illustrator-puts-bit-herself-potter-cover-wbna7127158|access-date=12 February 2007|df=dmy-all|archive-date=7 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407112748/https://www.today.com/popculture/illustrator-puts-bit-herself-potter-cover-wbna7127158|url-status=live}}</ref> For a later American release, ] created covers in a somewhat anime-influenced style.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://archive.wired.com/geekdad/2013/02/new-harry-potter-covers/ |title=New Harry Potter Covers by Kazu Kibuishi |last=Liu |first=Jonathan H. |date=13 February 2013 |magazine=Wired |access-date=6 July 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712183204/http://archive.wired.com/geekdad/2013/02/new-harry-potter-covers/ |archive-date=12 July 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name='reading'>{{cite web|url=http://www.reading.org/literacy-daily/literature/post/books/2014/08/15/5-questions-with-kazu-kibuishi-(amulet-series) |title=5 Questions With... Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet series) |last=Hall |first=April |date=15 August 2014 |website=www.reading.org |access-date=6 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418145444/http://reading.org/literacy-daily/literature/post/books/2014/08/15/5-questions-with-kazu-kibuishi-%28amulet-series%29 |archive-date=18 April 2015 }}</ref>
===Awards and honours===
The ''Harry Potter'' series have been the recipients of a host of awards since the initial publication of ''Philosopher's Stone'' including four Whitaker Platinum Book Awards (all of which were awarded in 2001),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1556674.stm|title=Book honour for Harry Potter author|date=21 September 2001|publisher=BBC|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> three ]s (1997–1999),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7626896.stm|title=JK Rowling: From rags to riches|date=20 September 2008|publisher=BBC|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> two ] (1999 and 2001),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1360641.stm|title=Book 'Oscar' for Potter author|date=30 May 2001|publisher=BBC|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> the inaugural ] (1999),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9907/16/harry/index.html|title=Harry Potter casts a spell on the world|date=18 July 1999|publisher=CNN|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> the ] (2006),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|title=Harry Potter: Meet J.K. Rowling|publisher=Scholastic Inc|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070604101828/http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|archivedate=15 May 2010|accessdate=27 September 2008}}</ref> among others. In 2000, '']'' was nominated for Best Novel in the ] while in 2001, '']'' won said award.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25801212/|title=Moviegoers get wound up over ‘Watchmen’|date= 22 July 2008|publisher=MSNBC|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> Honours include a commendation for the ] (1997),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/823533.stm|title=Harry Potter beaten to top award|date= 7 July 2000|publisher=BBC|accessdate=28 September 2008}}</ref> a short listing for the ] (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' Choices, and best books lists of the ], ''The New York Times'', ], and '']''.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Arthur A. Levine Books|url=http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp|title=Awards|first=Arthur|last=Levine|accessdate=21 May 2006|date=2001–2005}}</ref>


== Reception ==
===Commercial success===
=== Commercial success ===
{{See also|List of best-selling books}} {{See also|List of best-selling books}}
]''|alt=A large crowd of fans wait outside of a Borders store in Delaware, waiting for the release of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'']]
The popularity of the ''Harry Potter'' series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other ''Harry Potter'' related license holders. This success has made Rowling the first and thus far only billionaire author.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html|title=J. K. Rowling And The Billion-Dollar Empire|last=Watson|first=Julie|date=26 February 2004|publisher=Forbes|accessdate=3 December 2007}}</ref> The books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular ]s produced by ], all of which have been highly successful in their own right with the first, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', ranking number seven on the ] and three others ranking in the top 15, while all six films released, so far, place in the top 30.<ref name="boxofficemojo">{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/|publisher=BoxOfficeMojo.com|title=All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses|date=27 April 2008|accessdate=29 July 2008|date=1998–2008|publisher=Box Office Mojo, LLC.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2784397.ece|title=J.K. Rowling publishes Harry Potter spin-off|date=1 November 2007|publisher=Telegraph.com|accessdate=28 September 2008 | location=London | first1=Jenny | last1=Booth}}</ref> The films have in turn spawned eight video games and have led to the licensing of more than 400 additional Harry Potter products (including an ]) that have, as of 2005, made the Harry Potter brand worth US$4&nbsp;billion and J. K. Rowling worth $1 billion<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Joanne-(JK)-Rowling_CRTT.html|title=The World's Billionaires:#891 Joanne (JK) Rowling|date=8 March 2007|publisher=Forbes|accessdate=29 July 2008}}</ref> making her, by some reports, richer than ].<ref name="J. K. Rowling Richer than the Queen">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2979033.stm|publisher=BBC|title=J. K. Rowling Richer than the Queen|date=27 April 2003|accessdate=29 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Harry Potter Brand Wizard">{{cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2005/di20050721_060250.htm|work=Business Week|title=Harry Potter Brand Wizard|date=21 July 2005|accessdate=29 July 2008}}</ref> However, Rowling has stated that this is false.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3492060.stm|title=Rowling joins Forbes billionaires|publisher=BBC|accessdate=9 September 2008 | date=27 February 2004}}</ref>


The popularity of the ''Harry Potter'' series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other ''Harry Potter'' related license holders. This success has made Rowling the first and thus far only billionaire author.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html|title=J. K. Rowling and the Billion-Dollar Empire|last=Watson|first=Julie|date=26 February 2004|work=Forbes|access-date=3 December 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211114104/http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html|archive-date=11 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The books have sold more than 600&nbsp;million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular ]s produced by ], ].<ref name="boxofficemojo">{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/|website=Box Office Mojo|title=All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses|date=1998–2008|access-date=29 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103063039/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world|archive-date=3 November 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Harry Potter copies" /> The total revenue from the book sales is estimated, as of November 2018, to be around $7.7 billion.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Billion Dollar Business Behind 'Harry Potter' Franchise|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/323363|website=entrepreneur|date=18 November 2018|access-date=22 December 2020|archive-date=28 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028235753/https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/323363|url-status=live}}</ref> The first novel in the series, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books in history.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Chalton|first1=Nicola|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eF8HDgAAQBAJ&q=philosopher%27s+stone+120+million&pg=PA129|title=20th Century in Bite-Sized Chunks|last2=Macardle|first2=Meredith|date=2017-03-15|publisher=Book Sales|isbn=978-0-7858-3510-3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-09-05|title=Burbank Public Library offering digital copies of first 'Harry Potter' novel to recognize the book's 20th anniversary|url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-me-burbank-library-harry-potter-20180831-story.html|access-date=2020-09-03|website=Burbank Leader|language=en-US|archive-date=9 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009114803/https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-me-burbank-library-harry-potter-20180831-story.html/|url-status=live}}</ref> The films have in turn spawned eight video games and have led to the licensing of more than 400 additional ''Harry Potter'' products. The ''Harry Potter'' brand has been estimated to be worth as much as $25&nbsp;billion.<ref name="Time25" />
The great demand for Harry Potter books motivated the ''New York Times'' to create a separate bestseller list for children's literature in 2000, just before the release of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. By 24 June 2000, Rowling's novels had been on the list for 79 straight weeks; the first three novels were each on the hardcover bestseller list.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E0DD1730F937A15755C0A9669C8B63|title=The Times Plans a Children's Best-Seller List |last=Smith|first=Dinitia|date=24 June 2000|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=30 September 2008}}</ref> On 12 April 2007, ] declared that ''Deathly Hallows'' had broken its ] record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0413/potterh.html|title=New Harry Potter breaks pre-order record|date=13 April 2007|publisher=RTÉ.ie Entertainment|accessdate = 23 April 2007}}</ref> For the release of ''Goblet of Fire'', 9,000 ] trucks were used with no other purpose than to deliver the book.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight>{{cite news|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,276735_2,00.html|title=Wild About Harry|date=31 August 2005|publisher=ew.com|accessdate=4 March 2007|work=]|last=Fierman|first=Daniel|quote=When I buy the books for my grandchildren, I have them all gift wrapped but one...that's for me. And I have not been 12 for over 50 years.}}</ref> Together, Amazon.com and ] pre-sold more than 700,000 copies of the book.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight/> In the United States, the book's initial printing run was 3.8&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight/> This record statistic was broken by '']'', with 8.5&nbsp;million, which was then shattered by ''Half-Blood Prince'' with 10.8&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=cnn-hbp>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/14/harry.potter/index.html|title=Harry Potter hits midnight frenzy|date=15 July 2005|publisher=CNN|accessdate=15 January 2007 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20061221021913/http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/14/harry.potter/index.html |archivedate = 21 December 2006}}</ref> 6.9&nbsp;million copies of ''Prince'' were sold in the U.S. within the first 24 hours of its release; in the United Kingdom more than two million copies were sold on the first day.<ref name=bbc-hbp-record>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4700000/newsid_4701400/4701409.stm|title=Worksheet: Half-Blood Prince sets UK record|date=20 July 2005|publisher=BBC|accessdate=19 January 2007}}</ref> The initial U.S. print run for ''Deathly Hallows'' was 12&nbsp;million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6452987.stm|title=Record print run for final Potter|date=15 March 2007|publisher=BBC|accessdate=22 May 2007}}</ref>


The great demand for ''Harry Potter'' novels motivated '']'' to create a separate best-seller list for children's literature in 2000, just before the release of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. By 24 June 2000, Rowling's novels had been on the list for 79 straight weeks; the first three novels were each on the hardcover best-seller list.<ref name="NYT_2000/06/24">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html|title=The Times Plans a Children's Best-Seller List|last=Smith|first=Dinitia|date=24 June 2000|work=The New York Times|access-date=30 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621233421/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html|archive-date=21 June 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> On 12 April 2007, ] declared that ''Deathly Hallows'' had broken its ] record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0413/potterh.html|title=New Harry Potter breaks pre-order record|date=13 April 2007|publisher=RTÉ.ie Entertainment|access-date=23 April 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418090204/http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0413/potterh.html|archive-date=18 April 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> For the release of ''Goblet of Fire'', 9,000 ] trucks were used with no other purpose than to deliver the book.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2000/07/21/harry-potter-craze/ |title=Wild About Harry|date=21 July 2000 |access-date=26 October 2019 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |last=Fierman |first=Daniel |quote=When I buy the books for my grandchildren, I have them all gift wrapped but one...that's for me. And I have not been 12 for over 50 years. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070331142859/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,276735_2,00.html |archive-date=31 March 2007}}</ref> Together, Amazon.com and ] pre-sold more than 700,000 copies of the book.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight /> In the United States, the book's initial printing run was 3.8&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight /> This record statistic was broken by ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', with 8.5&nbsp;million, which was then shattered by ''Half-Blood Prince'' with 10.8&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=cnn-hbp>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/14/harry.potter/index.html|title=Harry Potter hits midnight frenzy|date=15 July 2005|publisher=CNN|access-date=15 January 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061221021913/http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/14/harry.potter/index.html |archive-date = 21 December 2006}}</ref> Within the first 24 hours of its release, 6.9&nbsp;million copies of ''Prince'' were sold in the US; in the UK more than two million copies were sold on the first day.<ref name=bbc-hbp-record>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4700000/newsid_4701400/4701409.stm|title=Worksheet: Half-Blood Prince sets UK record|date=20 July 2005|work=BBC News|access-date=19 January 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204111225/http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4700000/newsid_4701400/4701409.stm|archive-date=4 February 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The initial US print run for ''Deathly Hallows'' was 12&nbsp;million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6452987.stm|title=Record print run for final Potter|date=15 March 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=22 May 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325235438/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6452987.stm|archive-date=25 March 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Reception and controversy==
===Literary criticism===
]


Fans of the series were so eager for the latest instalment that bookstores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been highly successful in attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' sold in the first 24 hours.<ref name="Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts">{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article545338.ece|work=The Times|title=Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts|date=18 July 2005|access-date=29 July 2008|last=Freeman|first=Simon|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615074030/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article545338.ece|archive-date=15 June 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Potter book smashes sales records">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4692093.stm|work=BBC News|title=Potter book smashes sales records|date=18 July 2005|access-date=29 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227212208/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4692093.stm|archive-date=27 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The final book in the series, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' became the fastest selling book in history, moving 11&nbsp;million units in the first twenty-four hours of release.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/business/worldbusiness/23iht-potter.4.6789605.html | work=The New York Times | date=23 July 2007 | access-date=30 March 2010 | title='Harry Potter' tale is fastest-selling book in history | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208091143/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/business/worldbusiness/23iht-potter.4.6789605.html | archive-date=8 December 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> The book sold 2.7&nbsp;million copies in the UK and 8.3&nbsp;million in the US.<ref name="finale sales" /> The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to the release of two editions of each ''Harry Potter'' book, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/default.aspx?sec=2 |title=Harry Potter at Bloomsbury Publishing&nbsp;– Adult and Children Covers |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |access-date=18 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828054035/http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/default.aspx?sec=2 |archive-date=28 August 2008 }}</ref>
Early in its history, ''Harry Potter'' received positive reviews. On publication, the first volume, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', attracted attention from the Scottish newspapers, such as '']'', which said it had "all the makings of a classic",<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps">{{cite book|last=Eccleshare|first=Julia|title=A Guide to the Harry Potter Novels|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2002|isbn=9780826453174|url=http://books.google.com/?id=cHjF5K2uVdsC&pg=PA10&dq=the+most+imaginative+debut+since+Roald+Dahl|page=10}}</ref> and '']'', which called it "Magic stuff".<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" /> Soon the English newspapers joined in, with more than one comparing it to ]'s work: '']'' rated it as "the most imaginative debut since Roald Dahl",<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" /> a view echoed by '']'' ("comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified"),<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" /> while '']'' called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit".<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" />


{| class="wikitable"
By the time of the release of the fifth volume, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,'' the books began to receive strong criticism from a number of literary scholars. Yale professor, literary scholar and critic ] raised criticisms of the books' literary merits, saying, "Rowling's mind is so governed by clichés and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing."<ref>{{cite news|work=The Boston Globe|date=24 September 2003|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/|title=Dumbing down American readers|first=Harold|last=Bloom|accessdate = 20 June 2006}}</ref> ] authored a ''New York Times'' op-ed article calling Rowling's universe a "], made up of patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of ]&nbsp;... written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip".<ref name="Harry Potter and the Childish Adult">{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Harry Potter and the Childish Adult|date=7 July 2003|accessdate=1 August 2008|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E4D8113AF934A35754C0A9659C8B63|first=A. S.|last=Byatt}}</ref>
|+
!Book
!Sales<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-19 |title=Harry Potter books stats and facts |publisher=WordsRated |url=https://wordsrated.com/harry-potter-stats/ |access-date=2023-06-11 |language=en-US |archive-date=15 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515153907/https://wordsrated.com/harry-potter-stats/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''
|120 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''
|77 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''
|65 million
|}


=== Literary criticism ===
], a novelist and poet, advocated the books were not suited for children, who would be unable to grasp the complex themes. Rosen also stated that "J. K. Rowling is more of an adult writer."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3958599.ece|work=The Times|title=Harry Potter ‘is too boring and grown-up for young readers’|date=19 May 2008|accessdate=15 January 2011|last=Sweeney|first=Charlene | location=London}}</ref> The critic ] wrote in '']'' on his experience of judging '']'' for the ]. His overall view of the series was negative—"the Potter saga was essentially patronising, conservative, highly derivative, dispiritingly nostalgic for a bygone Britain", and he speaks of "pedestrian, ungrammatical prose style".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/jun/25/booksforchildrenandteenagers.guardianchildrensfictionprize2000|work=The Observer|title=Why Harry Potter does not cast a spell over me|date=25 June 2000|accessdate=1 August 2008|last=Holden|first=Anthony | location=London}}</ref> ] said, "I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the 'incredible originality' of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited."<ref>{{cite news|title=Chronicles of Earthsea|publisher=guardian.co.uk|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin|accessdate=2 October 2009 | location=London | date=9 February 2004}}</ref>
Early in its history, ''Harry Potter'' received positive reviews. On publication, the first book, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', attracted attention from the Scottish newspapers, such as '']'', which said it had "all the makings of a classic",<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps">{{harvnb|Eccleshare|2002|p=10}}</ref> and '']'', which called it "Magic stuff".<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" /> Soon the English newspapers joined in, with '']'' comparing it to ]'s work ("comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified"),<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" /> while '']'' called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit".<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" />


By the time of the release of the fifth book, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,'' the books began to receive strong criticism from a number of literary scholars. Yale professor, literary scholar, and critic ] raised criticisms of the books' literary merits, saying, "Rowling's mind is so governed by clichés and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing."<ref>{{cite news|work=The Boston Globe|date=24 September 2003|url=https://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/|title=Dumbing down American readers|first=Harold|last=Bloom|access-date=20 June 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060617015302/http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/|archive-date=17 June 2006|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ] authored an op-ed article in ''The New York Times'' calling Rowling's universe a "secondary secondary world, made up of intelligently patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of children's literature&nbsp;... written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip."<ref name="Harry Potter and the Childish Adult">{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Harry Potter and the Childish Adult|date=7 July 2003|access-date=1 August 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/opinion/harry-potter-and-the-childish-adult.html|first=A. S.|last=Byatt|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417131152/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/opinion/harry-potter-and-the-childish-adult.html|archive-date=17 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
By contrast, author ], while admitting that the series is "not what the poets hoped for", nevertheless goes on to say, "but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful prose".<ref name="Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'">{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jul/11/books.harrypotter|work=The Guardian|title=Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'|date=11 July 2003|accessdate=1 August 2008|last=Allison|first=Rebecca | location=London}}</ref> The literary critic A. N. Wilson praised the Harry Potter series in '']'', stating: "There are not many writers who have JK’s Dickensian ability to make us turn the pages, to weep—openly, with tears splashing—and a few pages later to laugh, at invariably good jokes&nbsp;... We have lived through a decade in which we have followed the publication of the liveliest, funniest, scariest and most moving children’s stories ever written".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article2139573.ece|title=Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling|last=Wilson|first=A. N.|date=29 July 2007|publisher=Times Online|accessdate=28 September 2008 | location=London}}</ref> Charles Taylor of ], who is primarily a movie critic,<ref>{{cite web|year=2000|publisher=Salon.com|url=http://www.salon.com/col/bios/tayl/index.html|title=Salon Columnist|accessdate=3 August 2008}}</ref> took issue with Byatt's criticisms in particular. While he conceded that she may have "a valid cultural point—a teeny one—about the impulses that drive us to reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art",<ref name="A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile" /> he rejected her claims that the series is lacking in serious ] and that it owes its success merely to the childhood reassurances it offers. Taylor stressed the progressively darker tone of the books, shown by the murder of a classmate and close friend and the psychological wounds and ] each causes. Taylor also argued that ''Philosopher's Stone'', said to be the most light-hearted of the seven published books, disrupts the childhood reassurances that Byatt claims spur the series' success: the book opens with news of a ], for example.<ref name="A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile">{{cite news| title=www.purevolume.com/rendermn|url=http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2003/07/08/byatt_rowling/index.html|publisher=Salon.com|title=A. S. Byatt and the goblet of bile|date=8 July 2003|accessdate=3 August 2008|first=Charles|last=Taylor}}</ref>


], a novelist and poet, held the opinion that the books were not suited for children, as they would be unable to grasp the complex themes. Rosen also stated that "J. K. Rowling is more of an adult writer."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3958599.ece|work=The Times|title=Harry Potter 'is too boring and grown-up for young readers'|date=19 May 2008|access-date=15 January 2011|last=Sweeney|first=Charlene|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615234710/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3958599.ece|archive-date=15 June 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The critic ] wrote in '']'' on his experience of judging '']'' for the ]. His overall view of the series was negative—"the Potter saga was essentially patronising, conservative, highly derivative, dispiritingly nostalgic for a bygone Britain", and he speaks of "a pedestrian, ungrammatical prose style".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jun/25/booksforchildrenandteenagers.guardianchildrensfictionprize2000|work=The Observer|title=Why Harry Potter does not cast a spell over me|date=25 June 2000|access-date=1 August 2008|last=Holden|first=Anthony|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824155219/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jun/25/booksforchildrenandteenagers.guardianchildrensfictionprize2000|archive-date=24 August 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ] said, "I have no great opinion of it it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a '],' good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited."<ref>{{cite news|title=Chronicles of Earthsea|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin|access-date=2 October 2009|location=London|date=9 February 2004|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002164434/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin|archive-date=2 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> By contrast, author ], while admitting that the series is "not what the poets hoped for", nevertheless goes on to say, "but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful prose".<ref name="Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/11/books.harrypotter|work=The Guardian|title=Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'|date=11 July 2003|access-date=1 August 2008|last=Allison|first=Rebecca|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518003516/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/11/books.harrypotter|archive-date=18 May 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
] called the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", and declared "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-cocked sense of humour" to be "remarkable". However, he wrote that despite the story being "a good one", he is "a little tired of discovering Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of all seven books.<ref name="Wild About Harry" /> King has also joked that "Rowling's never met an adverb she did not like!" He does however predict that Harry Potter "will indeed stand time's test and wind up on a shelf where only the best are kept; I think Harry will take his place with ], ], ], and ] and this is one series not just for the decade, but for the ages".<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Guardian Unlimited| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/dec/31/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling| title=JK Rowling:The mistress of all she surveys| first= Killian| last=Fox|date=31 December 2006|accessdate = 10 February 2007 | location=London}}</ref>


The literary critic A. N. Wilson praised the ''Harry Potter'' series in '']'', stating, "There are not many writers who have JK's ] ability to make us turn the pages, to weep—openly, with tears splashing—and a few pages later to laugh, at invariably good jokes&nbsp;... We have lived through a decade in which we have followed the publication of the liveliest, funniest, scariest and most moving children's stories ever written."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article2139573.ece|title=Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling|last=Wilson|first=A. N.|date=29 July 2007|work=The Times|access-date=28 September 2008|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706162943/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article2139573.ece|archive-date=6 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Charles Taylor of ], who is primarily a movie critic,<ref>{{cite news|year=2000 |work=Salon.com |url=http://www.salon.com/col/bios/tayl/index.html |title=Salon Columnist |access-date=3 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616165227/http://www.salon.com/col/bios/tayl/index.html |archive-date=16 June 2008 }}</ref> took issue with Byatt's criticisms in particular. While he conceded that she may have "a valid cultural point—a teeny one—about the impulses that drive us to reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art",<ref name="A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile" /> he rejected her claims that the series is lacking in serious ] and that it owes its success merely to the childhood reassurances it offers.<ref name="A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile">{{cite news|title=A. S. Byatt and the goblet of bile |url=http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2003/07/08/byatt_rowling/index.html |work=Salon.com |date=8 July 2003 |access-date=3 August 2008 |first=Charles |last=Taylor |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616143458/http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2003/07/08/byatt_rowling/index.html |archive-date=16 June 2008 }}</ref> ] called the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", and declared "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-cocked sense of humor" to be "remarkable". However, he wrote that he is "a little tired of discovering Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of all seven books.<ref name="Wild About Harry" /><ref>{{cite news| work=The Guardian| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/dec/31/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling| title=JK Rowling: The mistress of all she surveys| first=Killian| last=Fox| date=31 December 2006| access-date=10 February 2007| location=London| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140928204220/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/dec/31/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling| archive-date=28 September 2014| df=dmy-all}}</ref>
===Social impacts===
Although ] named Rowling as a runner-up for its 2007 ] award, noting the social, moral, and ] she has given ],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695436,00.html|title=Person of the Year 2007 Runners-Up: J. K. Rowling|date=23 December 2007|publisher=]|accessdate=23 December 2007}}</ref> cultural comments on the series have been mixed. '']'' book critic Ron Charles opined in July 2007 that the large numbers of adults reading the ''Potter'' series but few other books may represent a "bad case of cultural infantilism", and that the straightforward "good vs. evil" theme of the series is "childish". He also argued "through no fault of Rowling's", the cultural and marketing "hysteria" marked by the publication of the later books "trains children and adults to expect the roar of the coliseum, a ] experience that no other novel can possibly provide".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301730_pf.html| title=Harry Potter and the Death of Reading |date=15 July 2007| author= Charles, Ron | accessdate= 16 April 2008 | publisher= '']''}}</ref>


Sameer Rahim of '']'' disagreed, saying "It depresses me to see 16- and 17-year-olds reading the series when they could be reading the great novels of childhood such as '']'' or '']''."<ref>{{cite news| work=The Telegraph| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9202484/The-Casual-Vacancy-why-Im-dreading-JK-Rowlings-adult-novel.html| title=The Casual Vacancy: why I'm dreading JK Rowling's adult novel| first=Sameer| last=Rahim| date=13 April 2012| access-date=28 March 2017| location=London| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102191526/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9202484/The-Casual-Vacancy-why-Im-dreading-JK-Rowlings-adult-novel.html| archive-date=2 January 2018| df=dmy-all}}</ref> '']'' book critic ] opined in July 2007 that "through no fault of Rowling's", the cultural and marketing "hysteria" marked by the publication of the later books "trains children and adults to expect the roar of the coliseum, a mass-media experience that no other novel can possibly provide".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301730_pf.html|title=Harry Potter and the Death of Reading|date=15 July 2007|last=Charles|first=Ron|access-date=16 April 2008|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725212731/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301730_pf.html|archive-date=25 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Jenny Sawyer wrote in '']'' on 25 July 2007 that Harry Potter neither faces a "moral struggle" nor undergoes any ethical growth and is thus "no guide in circumstances in which right and wrong are anything less than black and white".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0725/p09s02-coop.html|title=Missing from 'Harry Potter"&nbsp;– a real moral struggle|last=Sawyer|first=Jenny|access-date=16 April 2008|work=]|date=25 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193238/http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0725/p09s02-coop.html|archive-date=27 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In contrast Emily Griesinger described Harry's first passage through to ] as an application of faith and hope, and his encounter with the ] as the first of many in which Harry is shaped by the choices he makes.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Griesinger |first=E. |year=2002 |title=Harry Potter and the "deeper magic": narrating hope in children's literature |journal=Christianity and Literature |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=455–480 |doi=10.1177/014833310205100308 }}</ref>
Librarian Nancy Knapp pointed out the books' potential to improve ] by motivating children to read much more than they otherwise would.<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP">{{cite journal
|last=Knapp|first=N.F.|year=2003|title=In Defense of Harry Potter: An Apologia|journal=School Libraries Worldwide
|publisher=International Association of School Librarianship|volume=9|issue=1|pages=78–91
|url=http://www.iasl-online.org/files/jan03-knapp.pdf|accessdate=14 May 2009
}}</ref> Agreeing about the motivating effects, Diane Penrod also praised the books' blending of simple entertainment with "the qualities of highbrow literary fiction", but expressed concern about the distracting effect of the prolific ] that accompanies the book launches.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Penrod|first=D|date=December 2001|title=The Trouble with Harry: A Reason for Teaching Media Literacy to Young Adults|journal=The Writing Instructor|publisher=Professional Writing Program at Purdue University|url=http://www.writinginstructor.com/penrod.html|accessdate=16 May 2009}}</ref>


In an 8 November 2002, '']'' article, Chris Suellentrop likened Potter to a "trust-fund kid whose success at school is largely attributable to the gifts his friends and relatives lavish upon him".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.slate.com/?id=2073627 | title=Harry Potter: Fraud | last=Suellentrop | first=Chris | access-date=16 April 2008 | work=] | date=8 November 2002 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327002437/http://www.slate.com/?id=2073627 | archive-date=27 March 2008 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> In a 12 August 2007 review of ''Deathly Hallows'' in ''The New York Times'', however, ] praised Rowling for "unmooring" her "English school story" from literary precedents "bound up with dreams of wealth and class and snobbery", arguing that she had instead created "a world of youthful democracy and diversity".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Hitchens-t.html| title=The Boy Who Lived| last=Hitchens| first=Christopher| access-date=1 April 2008| newspaper=The New York Times| author-link=Christopher Hitchens| date=12 August 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416024446/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Hitchens-t.html| archive-date=16 April 2009| url-status=live}}</ref>
Jennifer Conn used Snape's and Quidditch coach Madam Hooch's teaching methods as examples of what to avoid and what to emulate in clinical teaching,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Conn|first=J.J.|year=2002|title=What can clinical teachers learn from ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone''?|journal=Medical Education|volume=36|issue=12|pages=1176–1181|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01376.x|pmid=12472752}}</ref> and Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year ] class: "sociological concepts including ], ], and ]; stratification and ]; ]; and ]".<ref name="Fields2007HPSociologicalImagination">{{cite journal|last=Fields|first=J.W.|year=2007|title=''Harry Potter'', Benjamin Bloom, and the Sociological Imagination|journal=International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education|volume=19|issue=2|issn=1812-9129|url=http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE160.pdf|accessdate=15 May 2009}}</ref>
In 2016, an article written by ] compared the politics of Harry Potter to the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign. She suggests that these themes are also present in the presidential election and it may play a significant role in how Americans have responded to the campaign.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=C. Mutz|first=Diana|year=2016|title=Harry Potter and the Deathly Donald|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-donald/84B3BED39ACA703DC7B8BE2D5486B185/core-reader|journal=Elections in Focus|volume=49|access-date=29 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921153343/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-donald/84B3BED39ACA703DC7B8BE2D5486B185/core-reader|archive-date=21 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>


There is ongoing discussion regarding the extent to which the series was inspired by ]'s ''Lord of the Rings'' books.<ref>Wetherill, Louise. "Harry Potter: Merely Frodo Baggins with a Wand?", in ''Ampthill Literary Festival Yearbook 2015''. Ampthill: Literary Festival Committee, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-5175506-8-4}}, pp. 85–92.</ref>
Jenny Sawyer wrote in 25 July 2007 '']'' that the books represent a "disturbing trend in commercial storytelling and Western society" in that stories "moral center have all but vanished from much of today's ]&nbsp;... after 10 years, 4,195 pages, and over 375 million copies, J. K. Rowling's towering achievement lacks the cornerstone of almost all great children's literature: the hero's moral journey". Harry Potter, Sawyer argues, neither faces a "moral struggle" nor undergoes any ethical growth, and is thus "no guide in circumstances in which right and wrong are anything less than black and white".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0725/p09s02-coop.html| title=Missing from 'Harry Potter"&nbsp;– a real moral struggle | author= Sawyer, Jenny | accessdate= 16 April 2008 | publisher= '']''|date=25 July 2007}}</ref> On the other hand Emily Griesinger described Harry's first passage through to ] as an application of faith and hope, and his encounter with the Sorting Hat as the first of many in which Harry is shaped by the choices he makes. She also noted the "deeper magic" by which the self-sacrifice of Harry's mother protects the boy throughout the series, and which the power-hungry ] fails to understand.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Griesinger|first=E.|year=2002|title=Harry Potter and the "deeper magic": narrating hope in children's literature|journal=Christianity and Literature|volume=51|issue=3|pages=455–480|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb049/is_3_51/ai_n28919307/|accessdate=15 May 2009}}</ref>


=== Thematic critique ===
In an 8 November 2002 '']'' article, Chris Suellentrop likened Potter to a "trust-fund kid whose success at school is largely attributable to the gifts his friends and relatives lavish upon him". Noting that in Rowling's fiction, magical ability potential is "something you are born to, not something you can achieve", Suellentrop wrote that Dumbledore's maxim that "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" is hypocritical, as "the school that Dumbledore runs values native gifts above all else".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.slate.com/?id=2073627| title=Harry Potter: Fraud | author= Suellentrop, Chris
<!-- This section heading is linked above in the Religion, wealth and remarriage section-->
| accessdate= 16 April 2008 | publisher= '']''|date=8 November 2002}}</ref> In a 12 August 2007 '']'' review of ''The Deathly Hallows'', however, ] praised Rowling for "unmooring" her "English school story" from literary precedents "bound up with dreams of wealth and class and snobbery", arguing that she had instead created "a world of youthful democracy and diversity".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Hitchens-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin| title=The Boy Who Lived | author= Hitchens, Christopher| accessdate= 1 April 2008 | publisher= ''The New York Times''|date=12 August 2007|page=2}}</ref>
The portrayal of women in ''Harry Potter'' has been described as complex and varied, but nonetheless conforming to stereotypical and ] depictions of gender.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp=139–41}}; {{Harvnb|Pugh|Wallace|2006}}; {{Harvnb|Eberhardt|2017}}.</ref> Gender divides are ostensibly absent in the books: Hogwarts is ] and women hold positions of power in wizarding society. However, this setting obscures the typecasting of female characters and the general depiction of conventional gender roles.{{sfn|Pugh|Wallace|2006}} According to scholars Elizabeth Heilman and Trevor Donaldson, the subordination of female characters goes further early in the series. The final three books "showcase richer roles and more powerful females": for instance, the series' "most matriarchal character", Molly Weasley, engages substantially in the final battle of ''Deathly Hallows'', while other women are shown as leaders.{{sfn|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp=139–41}} Hermione Granger, in particular, becomes an active and independent character essential to the protagonists' battle against evil.{{sfn|Berents|2012|pp= 144–49}} Yet, even particularly capable female characters such as Hermione and ] are placed in supporting roles,{{sfn|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp= 142–47}} and Hermione's status as a feminist model is debated.{{sfn|Bell|Alexander|2012|pp=1–8}} Girls and women are more frequently shown as emotional, more often defined by their appearance, and less often given agency in family settings.{{sfn|Pugh|Wallace|2006}}{{sfn|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp=149–55}}


The social hierarchy of wizards in Rowling's world has drawn debate among critics. "Purebloods" have two wizard parents; "half-bloods" have one; and "Muggle-born" wizards have magical abilities, although neither of their parents is a wizard.{{Sfn|Barratt|2012|p=64}} Lord Voldemort and his followers believe that blood purity is paramount and that Muggles are subhuman.{{Sfn|Barratt|2012|pp=63, 67}} According to the literary scholar Andrew Blake, ''Harry Potter'' rejects blood purity as a basis for social division;{{Sfn|Blake|2002|p=103}} Suman Gupta agrees that Voldemort's philosophy represents "absolute evil";{{sfn|Gupta|2009|p=104}} and Nel and Eccleshare agree that advocates of racial or blood-based hierarchies are antagonists.{{Sfn|Nel|2001|p=44}}{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|p=78}} Gupta, following Blake,{{Sfn|Gupta|2009|p=105}} suggests that the essential superiority of wizards over Muggles—wizards can use magic and Muggles cannot—means that the books cannot coherently reject anti-Muggle prejudice by appealing to equality between wizards and Muggles. Rather, according to Gupta, ''Harry Potter'' models a form of tolerance based on the "charity and altruism of those belonging to superior races" towards lesser races.{{sfn|Gupta|2009|pp=108–10}}
===Controversies===
{{Main|Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series|Religious debates over the Harry Potter series|Politics of Harry Potter}}
The books have been the subject of a number of ], stemming either from claims by American Christian groups that the magic in the books promotes witchcraft among children, or from various conflicts over copyright and trademark infringements. The popularity and high ] of the series has led Rowling, her publishers, and ] ] to take legal measures to protect their copyright, which have included banning the sale of ''Harry Potter'' imitations, targeting the owners of websites over the "Harry Potter" ], and suing author ] to counter her accusations that Rowling had plagiarised her work.<ref>{{cite web|title=SScholastic Inc, J.K. Rowling and Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P, Plaintiffs/Counterclaim Defendants, -against- Nancy Stouffer: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|url=http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouffer.htm|date=17 September 2002|accessdate=12 June 2007|publisher=ICQ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Warner Brothers bullying ruins Field family Xmas|author= McCarthy, Kieren|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/21/warner_brothers_bullying_ruins_field/ |year=2000|publisher=The Register|accessdate=3 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2092661.stm|publisher=BBC|title=Fake Harry Potter novel hits China|date=4 July 2002|accessdate=11 March 2007}}</ref> Various religious conservatives have claimed that the books promote witchcraft and are therefore unsuitable for children,<ref>{{cite web|title=Opinion Roundup: Positive About Potter|author= Olsen, Ted|url=http://www.cesnur.org/recens/potter_010.htm|publisher=Cesnur.org|accessdate=6 July 2007}}</ref> while a number of critics have criticised the books for promoting various political agendas.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Tolkien's Timeless Tale |author=Bonta, Steve |journal=The New American |accessdate=3 May 2007 |date=28 January 2002 |volume=18 |issue=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article2116237.ece|title=Hogwarts is a winner because boys will be sexist neocon boys|last=Liddle|first=Rod|date= 21 July 2007|work=]|accessdate=17 August 2008 | location=London}}</ref>


''Harry Potter's''{{'s}} depiction of race, specifically the slavery of ], has received varied responses. Scholars such as ] have praised the books' ] sentiments, viewing Hermione's ] as a model for younger readers' political engagement.{{sfn|Carey|2003|pp=105–107, 114}}{{sfn|Horne|2010|p=76}} Other critics including ] find the portrayal of house-elves "most difficult to accept": the elves are denied the right to free themselves and rely on the benevolence of others like Hermione.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|2002|pp=178–181}}{{sfn|Horne|2010|p=81}} Pharr terms the house-elves a disharmonious element in the series, writing that Rowling leaves their fate hanging;{{sfn|Pharr|2016|pp=12–13}} at the end of ''Deathly Hallows'', the elves remain enslaved and cheerful.{{sfn|Barratt|2012|p=52}} The goblins of the world of Harry Potter have also received criticism for following antisemitic caricatures{{snd}}particularly for their grotesque "hook-nosed" portrayal in the films, an appearance associated with ].<ref>{{cite web |last=Levy |first=Marianne |title=Is this picture of Harry Potter's goblin bankers offensive? |url=https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/harry-potter-is-gringotts-picture-antisemitic-1.482785 |website=The Jewish Chronicle |access-date=30 September 2022 |archive-date=30 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930030859/https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/harry-potter-is-gringotts-picture-antisemitic-1.482785 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Richer |first=Stephen |title=Debunking the Harry Potter Antisemitism Myth |url=https://momentmag.com/debunking-the-harry-potter-anti-semitism-myth/ |website=Moment Magazine |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=14 July 2011 |archive-date=27 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127175405/https://momentmag.com/debunking-the-harry-potter-anti-semitism-myth/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Berlatsky |first=Noah |title=Opinion {{!}} Why most people still miss these antisemitic tropes in "Harry Potter" |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/j-k-rowling-s-harry-potter-goblins-echo-jewish-caricatures-ncna1287043 |website=NBC News |date=6 January 2022 |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328185424/https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/j-k-rowling-s-harry-potter-goblins-echo-jewish-caricatures-ncna1287043 |url-status=live }}</ref>
The books also aroused controversies in the literary and publishing worlds. In 1997 to 1998 '']'' won almost all the UK awards judged by children, but none of the children's book awards judged by adults,<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing">{{cite book|last=Eccleshare|first=J.|title=A guide to the Harry Potter novels|publisher=Continuum International|year=2002|pages=7–14|chapter=The Publishing of a Phenomenon|isbn=0826453171|url=http://books.google.com/?id=cHjF5K2uVdsC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=%22a+hugely+entertaining+thriller%22+Rowling+%22a+first-rate+writer+for+children%22+scotsman|accessdate=15 May 2009}}</ref> and Sandra Beckett suggested the reason was ] towards books that were popular among children.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover" /> In 1999 the winner of the ] children's division was entered for the first time on the shortlist for the main award, and one judge threatened to resign if '']'' was declared the overall winner; it finished second, very close behind the winner of the poetry prize, ]'s translation of the ] ] '']''.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover">{{cite book|last=Beckett|first=S.L.|title=Crossover Fiction|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2008|pages=112–115|chapter=Child-to-Adult Crossover Fiction|isbn=041598033X|url=http://books.google.com/?id=9ipnQ2ryU7IC&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq=%22Harry+Potter+and+the+Philosopher%27s+Stone%22+book+sales+bestseller|accessdate=16 May 2009}}</ref>


=== Controversies ===
In 2000, shortly before the publication of '']'', the previous three ''Harry Potter'' books topped the ''New York Times'' fiction best-seller list and a third of the entries were children's books. The newspaper created a new children's section covering children's books, including both fiction and non-fiction, and initially counting only hardback sales. The move was supported by publishers and booksellers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=D.|date=24 June 2000|title=The Times Plans a Children's Best-Seller List|journal=The New York Times Book|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html|accessdate=16 May 2009}}</ref> In 2004 ''The New York Times'' further split the children's list, which was still dominated by ''Harry Potter'' books into sections for series and individual books, and removed the ''Harry Potter'' books from the section for individual books.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/ten-years-later-harry-potter-vanishes-from-the-best-seller-list/|title=Ten Years Later, Harry Potter Vanishes From the Best-Seller List|last=Garner|first=D.|date=1 May 2008|work=The New York Times|accessdate=16 May 2009}}</ref> The split in 2000 attracted condemnation, praise and some comments that presented both benefits and disadvantages of the move.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html|title=A list of their own|last=Bolonik|first=K.|date=16 August 2000|publisher=Salon.com|accessdate=16 May 2009}}</ref> ''Time'' suggested that, on the same principle, Billboard should have created a separate "]s" list in 1964 when the ] held the top five places in its list, and ] should have created a separate game-show list when '']'' dominated the ].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Corliss|first=R.|date=21 July 2000|title= Why 'Harry Potter' Did a Harry Houdini |journal=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,50554,00.html|accessdate=16 May 2009}}</ref>
{{Main|Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series|Religious debates over the Harry Potter series|Politics of Harry Potter|Tanya Grotter}}


The books have been the subject of a number of ], stemming from various conflicts over copyright and trademark infringements. The popularity and high ] of the series has led Rowling, her publishers, and film distributor ] to take legal measures to protect their copyright, which have included banning the sale of ''Harry Potter'' imitations, targeting the owners of websites over the "Harry Potter" ], and suing author ] to counter her accusations that Rowling had plagiarised her work.<ref>{{cite web|title=Scholastic Inc, J.K. Rowling and Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P, Plaintiffs/Counterclaim Defendants, -against- Nancy Stouffer: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|url=http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouffer.htm|date=17 September 2002|access-date=12 June 2007|publisher=ICQ|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607163634/http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouffer.htm|archive-date=7 June 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Warner Brothers bullying ruins Field family Xmas|last=McCarthy|first=Kieren|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/21/warner_brothers_bullying_ruins_field/|year=2000|work=The Register|access-date=3 May 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103090134/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/21/warner_brothers_bullying_ruins_field/|archive-date=3 November 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2092661.stm|work=BBC News|title=Fake Harry Potter novel hits China|date=4 July 2002|access-date=11 March 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901094955/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2092661.stm|archive-date=1 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Audiobooks==
The ''Harry Potter'' books have all been released in unabridged audiobook versions. The UK versions are read by ] and the US versions are read by ]. Dale is also the narrator for the special features disc on the DVDs.


Various religious fundamentalists have claimed that the books promote witchcraft and religions such as ] and are therefore unsuitable for children,<ref>O'Kane, Caitlin. . ]. Retrieved on 3 September 2019. "Rev. Reehil believes, 'The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.' It is unclear if the movies have been banned, since they don't require children to read spells." Archived from the </ref><ref>Anatol, Giselle Liza (2003). ''Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays''. p. 54.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/12052212/Religious-parents-want-Harry-Potter-banned-from-the-classroom-because-it-glorifies-witchcraft.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/12052212/Religious-parents-want-Harry-Potter-banned-from-the-classroom-because-it-glorifies-witchcraft.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Religious parents want Harry Potter banned from the classroom because it 'glorifies witchcraft'|first=Javier|last=Espinoza|date=16 December 2015|via=The Telegraph }}{{cbignore}}</ref> while a number of critics have criticised the books for promoting various political agendas.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tolkien's Timeless Tale |last=Bonta |first=Steve |magazine=The New American |date=28 January 2002 |volume=18 |issue=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article2116237.ece|title=Hogwarts is a winner because boys will be sexist neocon boys|last=Liddle|first=Rod|date=21 July 2007|work=The Times|access-date=17 August 2008|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604212652/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article2116237.ece|archive-date=4 June 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The series has landed the ]s' Top 10 Banned Book List in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2019 with claims it was anti-family, discussed magic and witchcraft, contained actual spells and curses, referenced the occult/Satanism, violence, and had characters who used "nefarious means" to attain goals, as well as conflicts with religious viewpoints.<ref>{{Cite web|last=American Library Association|date=26 March 2013|title=Top 10 Most Challenged Books Lists|url=http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Advocacy, Legislation & Issues|language=en|archive-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724195723/http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Films==

The books also aroused controversies in the literary and publishing worlds. From 1997 to 1998, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' won almost all the United Kingdom awards judged by children, but none of the children's book awards judged by adults,{{sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=7–14}} and Sandra Beckett suggested the reason was ] towards books that were popular among children.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover" /> In 1999, the winner of the ] children's division was entered for the first time on the shortlist for the main award, and one judge threatened to resign if ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' was declared the overall winner; it finished second, very close behind the winner of the poetry prize, ]'s translation of the ] epic '']''.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover">{{cite book|last=Beckett|first=S.L.|title=Crossover Fiction|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2008|pages=112–115|chapter=Child-to-Adult Crossover Fiction|isbn=978-0-415-98033-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ipnQ2ryU7IC&q=%22Harry+Potter+and+the+Philosopher%27s+Stone%22+book+sales+bestseller&pg=PA114|access-date=16 May 2009|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316064618/https://books.google.com/books?id=9ipnQ2ryU7IC&q=%22Harry+Potter+and+the+Philosopher%27s+Stone%22+book+sales+bestseller&pg=PA114|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2000, shortly before the publication of '']'', the previous three ''Harry Potter'' books topped ''The New York Times'' fiction best-seller list and a third of the entries were children's books. The newspaper created a new children's section covering children's books, including both fiction and non-fiction, and initially counting only hardback sales. The move was supported by publishers and booksellers.<ref name="NYT_2000/06/24" /> In 2004, ''The New York Times'' further split the children's list, which was still dominated by ''Harry Potter'' books, into sections for series and individual books and removed the ''Harry Potter'' books from the section for individual books.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/ten-years-later-harry-potter-vanishes-from-the-best-seller-list/|title=Ten Years Later, Harry Potter Vanishes From the Best-Seller List|last=Garner|first=D.|date=1 May 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=16 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210215250/http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/ten-years-later-harry-potter-vanishes-from-the-best-seller-list/|archive-date=10 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> The split in 2000 attracted condemnation, praise and some comments that presented both benefits and disadvantages of the move.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html |title=A list of their own |last=Bolonik |first=K. |date=16 August 2000 |work=Salon.com |access-date=16 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504135643/http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html |archive-date=4 May 2009 }}</ref> '']'' suggested that, on the same principle, '']'' should have created a separate "]s" list in 1964 when ] held the top five places in its list, and ] should have created a separate game-show list when '']'' dominated the ].<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Corliss|first=R.|date=21 July 2000|title=Why 'Harry Potter' Did a Harry Houdini|magazine=]|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,50554,00.html|access-date=16 May 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310173814/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,50554,00.html|archive-date=10 March 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Legacy==
===Influence on literature===
], London]]

''Harry Potter'' transformed children's literature.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|pp=8, 164–65}}{{sfn|Butler|2012|p= 232}} In the 1970s, children's books were generally ] as opposed to fantastic,{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=106–8}} while adult fantasy became popular because of the influence of '']''.{{sfn|Stableford|2009|pp=xli, lx–lxi, 72}} The next decade saw an increasing interest in grim, realist themes, with an outflow of fantasy readers and writers to adult works.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|p=161–62}}{{sfn|Stableford|2009|pp=72–73}}

The commercial success of ''Harry Potter'' reversed this trend.{{sfn|Stableford|2009|p=73}} The scale of its growth had no precedent in the children's market: within four years of the series' inception, it occupied 28% of that field by revenue.{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=108–9}} Children's literature rose in cultural status,{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=105–6}} and fantasy became a dominant genre.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|pp=164–65}} Older works in the genre, including ]'s '']'' series and ]'s '']'', were reprinted and rose in popularity; some authors re-established their careers.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|p=167}} In the following decades, many ''Harry Potter'' imitators and subversive responses grew popular.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|p=168–70}}{{sfn|Striphas|2009|pp=158–59, 166–67}}

Rowling has been compared to ], who also wrote in simple language about groups of children and long held sway over the British children's market.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|James|2012|p=167}}{{sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=33–35}} She has also been described as an heir to ].{{sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=10–12}} Some critics view ''Harry Potter''{{'s}} rise, along with the concurrent success of ]'s '']'', as part of a broader shift in reading tastes: a rejection of literary fiction in favour of plot and adventure.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|James|2012|pp=165, 171}} This is reflected in the BBC's 2003 "]" survey of the UK's favourite books, where Pullman and Rowling ranked at numbers&nbsp;3 and 5, respectively, with very few British literary classics in the top&nbsp;10.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|James|2012|p=165}}

=== Cultural impact ===
{{further|Harry Potter fandom}}
]]]

''Harry Potter'' has been described as a cultural phenomenon.{{sfn|Gunelius|2008|p=99}}{{sfn|Taub|Servaty-Seib|2008|p=13}} The word "Muggle" has spread beyond its origins in the books, entering the '']'' in 2003.{{sfn|Gunelius|2008|p=121}} A real-life version of the sport ] was created in 2005 and featured as an exhibition tournament in the ].{{sfn|Popple|2015|pp=194–95}} Characters and elements from the series have inspired ]s of several organisms, including the dinosaur '']'', the spider '']'', the wasp '']'', and the crab '']''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kean|first1=Danuta|title=Harry Potter character provides name for new species of crab|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/harry-potter-name-species-crab-harryplax-severus-severus-snape|work=The Guardian|date=27 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223092112/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/harry-potter-name-species-crab-harryplax-severus-severus-snape|archive-date=23 February 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Librarian Nancy Knapp pointed out the books' potential to improve ] by motivating children to read much more than they otherwise would.<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP">{{cite journal|last=Knapp |first=N.F. |year=2003 |title=In Defense of Harry Potter: An Apologia |journal=School Libraries Worldwide |publisher=International Association of School Librarianship |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=78–91 |url=http://www.iasl-online.org/files/jan03-knapp.pdf |access-date=14 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309051050/http://www.iasl-online.org/files/jan03-knapp.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2011 }}</ref> The seven-book series has a word count of 1,083,594 (US edition). Agreeing about the motivating effects, Diane Penrod also praised the books' blending of simple entertainment with "the qualities of highbrow literary fiction", but expressed concern about the distracting effect of the prolific merchandise that accompanies the book launches.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Penrod |first=D |date=December 2001 |title=The Trouble with Harry: A Reason for Teaching Media Literacy to Young Adults |journal=The Writing Instructor |publisher=Professional Writing Program at Purdue University |url=http://www.writinginstructor.com/penrod.html |access-date=16 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216160155/http://www.writinginstructor.com/penrod.html |archive-date=16 December 2008 }}</ref> However, the assumption that Harry Potter books have increased literacy among young people is "largely a folk legend".<ref name=Heilman2008 />

Research by the ] (NEA) has found no increase in reading among children coinciding with the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon, nor has the broader downward trend in reading among Americans been arrested during the rise in the popularity of the Harry Potter books.<ref name=Heilman2008 /><ref>{{Cite web |url= http://arts.gov/sites/default/files/ToRead.pdf |title= To Read or Not to Read; A question of national consequence |publisher= ] |date= November 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151115010136/https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/ToRead.pdf |archive-date= 15 November 2015 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> The research also found that children who read Harry Potter books were not more likely to go on to read outside the fantasy and mystery genres.<ref name=Heilman2008 /> NEA chairman ] said the series, "got millions of kids to read a long and reasonably complex series of books. The trouble is that one Harry Potter novel every few years is not enough to reverse the decline in reading."<ref name=Rich2007 />

Many ] and ] works about ''Harry Potter'' have been made. In March 2007, "Harry Potter" was the most commonly searched fan fiction subject on the internet.<ref name=most-searched-fanfiction>{{cite news|url=http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/67161/fantastic-fiction |title=Fantastic Fiction |date=20 March 2007 |access-date=7 April 2007 |last=Hurd |first=Gordon |work=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222003119/http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/67161/fantastic-fiction |archive-date=22 December 2007 }}</ref>
Jennifer Conn used Snape's and Quidditch coach Madam Hooch's teaching methods as examples of what to avoid and what to emulate in clinical teaching,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Conn|first=J.J.|year=2002|title=What can clinical teachers learn from ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''?|journal=Medical Education|volume=36|issue=12|pages=1176–1181|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01376.x|pmid=12472752|citeseerx=10.1.1.463.8854|s2cid=22560995}}</ref> and Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and ]; ] and ]; ]; and ]".<ref name="Fields2007HPSociologicalImagination">{{cite journal|last=Fields|first=J.W.|year=2007|title=''Harry Potter'', Benjamin Bloom, and the Sociological Imagination|journal=International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education|volume=19|issue=2|url=http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE160.pdf|access-date=15 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818204930/http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE160.pdf|archive-date=18 August 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

From the early 2000s onwards, several news reports appeared in the UK of the Harry Potter book and movie series driving demand for pet owls,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1716013.stm|title=Potter sparks pet owl demand|date=2001-12-18|access-date=2018-04-12|language=en-GB|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815182750/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1716013.stm|archive-date=15 August 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and even reports that after the end of the movie series these same pet owls were now being abandoned by their owners.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-of-pet-owls-abandoned-after-840299|title=Hundreds of pet owls abandoned after Harry Potter craze fades|last=Paul|first=David|date=2012-05-19|work=mirror|access-date=2018-04-12|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412145317/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-of-pet-owls-abandoned-after-840299|archive-date=12 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> This led J. K. Rowling to issue several statements urging Harry Potter fans to refrain from purchasing pet owls.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/harry-potter-studio-tour-accused-of-cruelty-over-use-of-owls-in-live-shows-10127081.html|title=Harry Potter tour accused of cruelty for use of live 'Hedwigs'|date=2015-03-23|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-04-12|language=en-GB|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412211800/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/harry-potter-studio-tour-accused-of-cruelty-over-use-of-owls-in-live-shows-10127081.html|archive-date=12 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Despite the media flurry, research into the popularity of Harry Potter and sales of owls in the UK failed to find any evidence that the Harry Potter franchise had influenced the buying of owls in the country or the number of owls reaching animal shelters and sanctuaries.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Megias|first1=Diane A.|last2=Anderson|first2=Sean C.|last3=Smith|first3=Robert J.|last4=Veríssimo|first4=Diogo|date=2017-10-04|title=Investigating the impact of media on demand for wildlife: A case study of Harry Potter and the UK trade in owls|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=12|issue=10|pages=e0182368|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0182368|pmid=28976986|pmc=5627891|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1282368M|issn=1932-6203|df=dmy-all|doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Awards, honours, and recognition ==
{{further|List of awards and nominations received by J. K. Rowling}}

The ''Harry Potter'' series has been recognised by a host of awards since the initial publication of ''Philosopher's Stone'', including a platinum award from the Whitaker Gold and Platinum Book Awards (2001),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bill|first=Neto|date=19 April 2021|title=Fiction Genres|url=https://ebooksdiscounts.com/literary-genres/fiction-genres/|access-date=19 April 2021|website=eBooks Discounts|archive-date=28 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328052246/https://ebooksdiscounts.com/literary-genres/fiction-genres/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1556674.stm|title=Book honour for Harry Potter author|date=21 September 2001|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228112437/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1556674.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> three ]s (1997–1999),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7626896.stm|title=JK Rowling: From rags to riches|date=20 September 2008|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7626896.stm|archive-date=13 July 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> two ] Book Awards (1999 and 2001),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1360641.stm|title=Book 'Oscar' for Potter author|date=30 May 2001|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227212449/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1360641.stm|archive-date=27 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> the inaugural ] (1999),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9907/16/harry/index.html|title=Harry Potter casts a spell on the world|date=18 July 1999|publisher=CNN|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726101923/http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9907/16/harry/index.html|archive-date=26 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and the ] (2006),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|title=Harry Potter: Meet J.K. Rowling|publisher=Scholastic Inc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604101828/http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|archive-date=4 June 2007 |access-date=27 September 2008}}</ref> among others. In 2000, '']'' was nominated for a ], and in 2001, '']'' won said award.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2001 Hugo Awards|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2001-hugo-awards/|access-date=19 April 2021|website=]|date=26 July 2007|archive-date=7 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507164752/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2001-hugo-awards/|url-status=live}}</ref> Honours include a commendation for the ] (1997),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/823533.stm|title=Harry Potter beaten to top award|date=7 July 2000|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228101106/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/823533.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> a short listing for the ] (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' choices, and best books lists of the ], ''The New York Times'', ], and '']''.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Arthur A. Levine Books |url=http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp |title=Awards |first=Arthur |last=Levine |access-date=21 May 2006 |date=2001–2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429093544/http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp |archive-date=29 April 2006 }}</ref>

In 2002, sociologist Andrew Blake named ''Harry Potter'' a British pop culture icon along with the likes of ] and ].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fenske|first1=Claudia|title=Muggles, Monsters and Magicians: A Literary Analysis of the Harry Potter Series|date=2008|publisher=Peter Lang|page=3}}</ref> In 2003, four of the books were named in the top 24 of the BBC's ] survey of the best loved novels in the UK.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031065136/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |date=31 October 2012 }}. BBC. Retrieved 7 December 2016</ref> A 2004 study found that books in the series were commonly read aloud in elementary schools in ].<ref>{{cite journal|year=2004 |title=Interactive Read-Alouds: Is There a Common Set of Implementation Practices? |journal=] |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=8–17 |url=http://www.fisherandfrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rt-read-alouds.pdf |access-date=19 August 2012 |last=Fisher |first=Douglas |doi=10.1598/RT.58.1.1 |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207031123/http://www.fisherandfrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rt-read-alouds.pdf |archive-date=7 December 2013 }}</ref> Based on a 2007 online poll, the US ] listed the series in its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".<ref name=NEA2007>{{cite web |url= http://www.nea.org/grants/13154.htm/ |title= Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children |author= National Education Association |year= 2007 |access-date= 19 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120920064649/http://www.nea.org/grants/13154.htm/ |archive-date= 20 September 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> ] named Rowling as a runner-up for its 2007 ] award, noting the social, moral, and ] she has given ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695436,00.html|title=Person of the Year 2007 Runners-up: J. K. Rowling|date=23 December 2007|magazine=]|access-date=23 December 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221164141/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695436,00.html|archive-date=21 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Three of the books placed among the "Top 100 Chapter Books" of all time, or children's novels, in a 2012 survey published by '']'': ''Sorcerer's Stone'' ranked number three, ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' 12th, and ''Goblet of Fire'' 98th.<ref name=SLJChapter2012>{{cite web |url= http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |title= Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results |last= Bird |first= Elizabeth |publisher= A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. ] (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com) |date= 7 July 2012 |access-date= 19 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120713031015/http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |archive-date= 13 July 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2007, the seven ''Harry Potter'' book covers were depicted on a ] issued by ].<ref>{{cite news |title=Owls get the sack, Harry Potter gets a set of stamps |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/21/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling |access-date=22 September 2022 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922154714/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/21/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the ] of the ] in ] featured a 100-foot tall rendition of Lord Voldemort in a segment designed to showcase the UK's cultural icons.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/london-olympics-voldemort-mary-poppins_n_1710785.html|title=London Olympics: Voldemort, Mary Poppins Have An Epic Duel|last=Bell|first=Crystal|date=2012-07-27|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=2017-08-15|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414081107/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/london-olympics-voldemort-mary-poppins_n_1710785.html|archive-date=14 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In November 2019, the ] listed the ''Harry Potter'' series on its list of the ].<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302788| title = 100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts| work = ]| date = 5 November 2019| access-date = 10 November 2019| archive-date = 3 November 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201103164736/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302788| url-status = live}}</ref>

== Adaptations ==
{{further|Wizarding World}}

=== Films ===
{{Main|Harry Potter (film series)}} {{Main|Harry Potter (film series)}}
] ]
In 1998, Rowling sold the film rights of the first four ''Harry Potter'' books to ] for a reported £1&nbsp;million ($1,982,900).<ref name="Books: Cover Stories At the Frankfurt Book Fair">{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/books-cover-stories-at-the-frankfurt-book-fair-1177247.html|work=The Independent|title=Books: Cover Stories At the Frankfurt Book Fair |date=10 October 1998|accessdate=18 July 2009 | location=London}}</ref><ref name="WiGBPd About Harry">{{cite news |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-austfinrev-bagwell.html|publisher='']''|title=WiGBPd About Harry|date=19 July 2000|accessdate=26 May 2007}}</ref> Rowling demanded the principal cast be kept strictly British, nonetheless allowing for the inclusion of Irish actors such as the late ] as Dumbledore, and for casting of French and ] actors in '']'' where characters from the book are specified as such.<ref name="Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone">{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2001/nov/16/jkjoannekathleenrowling|publisher=Guardian Unlimited|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|date=16 November 2001|accessdate=26 May 2007 | location=London}}</ref> After many directors including ], ], ], and ] were considered, ] was appointed on 28 March 2000 as director for '']'' (titled "''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone''" in the United States), with Warner Bros. citing his work on other family films such as '']'' and '']'' and proven experience with directing children as influences for their decision.<ref name=columbus>{{cite news|url=http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/034/034098p1.html|title=Chris Columbus to Direct Harry Potter|accessdate=8 July 2007|date=28 March 2000|publisher=IGN|author= Linder, Bran}}</ref> After ], filming began in October 2000 at ] and in London itself, with production ending in July 2001.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://movies.warnerbros.com/pub/movie/releases/harrycast.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020414155653/http://movies.warnerbros.com/pub/movie/releases/harrycast.html|archivedate=15 May 2010|publisher=Warner Brothers|title=Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson bring Harry, Ron and Hermione to life for Warner Bros. Pictures: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone|date=21 August 2000|accessdate=26 May 2007}}</ref><ref name=greg>{{cite web|url=http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/comingsoon.html|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)|accessdate=30 May 2007|author=Schmitz, Greg Dean |publisher=Yahoo!}}</ref> ''Philosopher's Stone'' was released on 14 November 2001. Just three days after the film's release, production for '']'', also directed by Columbus, began. Filming was completed in summer 2002, with the film being released on 15 November 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807858489/info|title=Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)|publisher=Yahoo! Inc|accessdate=18 August 2008}}</ref> ] portrayed ], doing so for all succeeding films in the franchise.


In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights for ''Harry Potter'' to ] for a reported ]1 million (US$2,000,000).{{sfn|Gunelius|2008|pp=8, 37}}{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=210}} Rowling had creative control on the film series, observing the filmmaking process of ''Philosopher's Stone'' and serving as producer on the two-part ''Deathly Hallows'', alongside ] and ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100920005538/en/Warner-Bros.-Pictures-Worldwide-Satellite-Trailer-Debut%C2%A0Harry |title=Warner Bros. Pictures mentions J. K. Rowling as producer |publisher=Business Wire |date=20 September 2010 |access-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227092506/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100920005538/en/Warner-Bros.-Pictures-Worldwide-Satellite-Trailer-Debut%C2%A0Harry |archive-date=27 December 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Rowling demanded the principal cast be kept strictly British and Irish, nonetheless allowing for the inclusion or French and Eastern European actors where characters from the book are specified as such.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/nov/16/jkjoannekathleenrowling|work=The Guardian|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|date=16 November 2001|access-date=26 May 2007|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930184717/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/nov/16/jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=30 September 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Columbus declined to direct '']'', only acting as producer. Mexican director ] took over the job, and after shooting in 2003, the film was released on 4 June 2004. Due to the fourth film beginning its production before the third's release, ] was chosen as the director for '']'', released on 18 November 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/433/433108p1.html|title=Goblet Helmer Confirmed|publisher=IGN|date=11 August 2003|accessdate=29 July 2007}}</ref> Newell became the first British director of the series, with television director ] following suit after he was chosen to helm '']''. Production began in January 2006 and the film was released the following year in July 2007.<ref>{{cite news|title='Phoenix' Rising|date=6 April 2007|page=28|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20016352,00.html|last=Daly|first=Steve|work=]|accessdate=1 April 2007}}</ref> After executives were extremely pleased with his work on the film, Yates was selected to helm '']'', which was released on 15 July 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.darkhorizons.com/interviews/1448/david-yates-for-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince- |title=David Yates Dark Horizons Interview, OOTP and HBP Production |publisher=Darkhorizons.com |date=2009-07-13 |accessdate=2011-02-24}}</ref><ref name=yates-director-scifi>{{cite news|url=http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=41338|title=Yates Confirmed For Potter VI|date=3 May 2007|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070505052125/http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=41338|archivedate=13 May 2010|publisher=Sci Fi Wire|accessdate=3 May 2007|last=Spelling|first=Ian}}</ref><ref name="date change">{{cite web|url=http://movies.tvguide.com/Movie-News/Harry-Potter-Changes-1005104.aspx|title=Coming Sooner: ''Harry Potter'' Changes Release Date|work=TVGuide.com|accessdate=15 April 2009}}</ref><ref name="release-date-hbp-film">{{cite web|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-moves/story.aspx?guid={F4F52B7F-D1B1-4DC0-BF8A-AD0D9252BE7A}&dist=hppr|title=Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince|date=14 August 2008|publisher=Market Watch|accessdate=17 August 2008}}</ref>
] directs ] on location for ''Deathly Hallows'', 2009.]]
In March 2008, Warner Bros. President and COO ] announced that the final instalment in the series, '']'', would be released in ]: Part 1 on 19 November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011. David Yates returned to helm his third and fourth ''Potter'' films, becoming the only director to have helmed more than one film since Columbus. Production of both parts started in February 2009, with the final day of principal photography taking place on 12 June 2010.<ref>{{cite news|title=Final 'Harry Potter' book will be split into two movies|date=13 March 2008|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-potter13mar13,1,5626063.story|work=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=13 March 2008 | first=Geoff | last=Boucher}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=02:30 AM |url=http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/june-12-2010-confirmed-final-day-deathly-hallows-principal-photography-73871/ |title=Last Day 12 June 2010 |publisher=Snitchseeker.com |date= |accessdate=2011-02-24}}</ref>


] was selected as the director for '']'' (titled "''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone''" in the United States).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/034/034098p1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113042745/http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/034/034098p1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 January 2008 |title=Chris Columbus to Direct Harry Potter |access-date=8 July 2007 |date=28 March 2000 |website=IGN |last=Linder |first=Bran }}</ref> ''Philosopher's Stone'' was released on 14 November 2001. Just three days after the film's release, production for '']'', also directed by Columbus, began and the film was released on 15 November 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807858489/info |title=Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) |publisher=Yahoo! Inc |access-date=18 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724130653/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807858489/info |archive-date=24 July 2008 }}</ref> Columbus declined to direct '']'', only acting as producer. Mexican director ] took over the job, and after shooting in 2003, the film was released on 4 June 2004. Due to the fourth film beginning its production before the third's release, ] was chosen as the director for '']'', released on 18 November 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/433/433108p1.html|title=Goblet Helmer Confirmed|website=IGN|date=11 August 2003|access-date=29 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629051548/http://movies.ign.com/articles/433/433108p1.html|archive-date=29 June 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Newell became the first British director of the series, with television director ] following suit after he was chosen to helm '']''. Production began in January 2006 and the film was released the following year in July 2007.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Sneak peek: ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''|date=6 April 2007|page=28|url=https://ew.com/article/2007/04/03/sneak-peek-harry-potter-and-order-phoenix/|last=Daly|first=Steve|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=26 October 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406191438/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20016352,00.html|archive-date=6 April 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Yates was selected to direct '']'', which was released on 15 July 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.tvguide.com/Movie-News/Harry-Potter-Changes-1005104.aspx |title=Coming Sooner: ''Harry Potter'' Changes Release Date |work=TV Guide |access-date=15 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418151643/http://movies.tvguide.com/Movie-News/Harry-Potter-Changes-1005104.aspx |archive-date=18 April 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-moves/story.aspx?guid={F4F52B7F-D1B1-4DC0-BF8A-AD0D9252BE7A}&dist=hppr |title=Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |date=14 August 2008 |publisher=Market Watch |access-date=17 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820102646/http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-moves/story.aspx?guid=%7BF4F52B7F-D1B1-4DC0-BF8A-AD0D9252BE7A%7D |archive-date=20 August 2008 |df=dmy }}</ref> The final instalment in the series, '']'' was released in two cinematic parts: '']'' on 19 November 2010 and '']'' on 15 July 2011.<ref>{{cite news|title=Final 'Harry Potter' book will be split into two movies|date=13 March 2008|url=https://latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-potter13mar13,1,5626063.story|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=13 March 2008|first=Geoff|last=Boucher|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517002014/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-potter13mar13,1,5626063.story|archive-date=17 May 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/june-12-2010-confirmed-final-day-deathly-hallows-principal-photography-73871/ |title=Last Day 12 June 2010 |publisher=Snitchseeker.com |access-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817184257/http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/june-12-2010-confirmed-final-day-deathly-hallows-principal-photography-73871/ |archive-date=17 August 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
J. K. Rowling gained creative control on the film series, playing an active role within the filmmaking process of ''Philosopher's Stone'' and serving as producer on the two-part ''Deathly Hallows'', alongside ] and ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100920005538/en/Warner-Bros.-Pictures-Worldwide-Satellite-Trailer-Debut%C2%A0Harry |title=Warner Bros. Pictures mentions J. K. Rowling as producer |publisher=Business Wire |date=2010-09-20 |accessdate=2011-02-24}}</ref> The ''Harry Potter'' films have been top-rank ] hits, with all seven current releases on the ]. Columbus' ''Philosopher's Stone'' became the highest-grossing ''Potter'' film upon completing its theatrical run in 2002, but it was eventually topped by Yates' ''Deathly Hallows''. Yates' first two instalments grossed higher than any other film after ''Philosopher's Stone'', while Cuarón's ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' grossed the least.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/|title=All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses|publisher=]|accessdate=29 July 2007}}</ref> As well as financial success, the film series has also been a ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/HarryPotter.php |title=Box Office Harry Potter |publisher=The-numbers.com |date= |accessdate=2011-02-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/search/?q=harry%20potter |title=Box Office Mojo |publisher=boxofficemojo.com |accessdate=2011-03-11}}</ref>


==== Spin-off prequels ====
Opinions of the films are generally divided among fans, with one group preferring the more faithful approach of the first two films, and another group preferring the more stylised character-driven approach of the later films.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a64205/harry-potter-books-vs-films.html|title=Harry Potter: Books vs films|publisher=digitalspy.co.uk|accessdate=7 September 2008}}</ref> Rowling has been constantly supportive of all the films and evaluated ''Deathly Hallows Part 1'' as her "favourite one" in the series.<ref name=jk-on-ps-film>{{cite web|url=http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/specials/potter/0,12405,184807,00.html|title=Potter Power!|publisher=]|accessdate=31 May 2007}}</ref><ref name=jk-on-poa-film>{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2004-05-27-potter-movie-book_x.htm|title=New 'Potter' movie sneaks in spoilers for upcoming books|date=27 May 2004|accessdate=31 May 2007|work=]|last=Puig|first=Claudia}}</ref><ref name=jk-on-gof-film>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4410000/newsid_4415400/4415454.stm|title=JK 'loves' Goblet Of Fire movie|date=7 November 2005|accessdate=31 May 2007|publisher=BBC ]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?|publisher=''Comingsoon.net''|title=Exclusive: ''Harry Potter'' Director David Yates|date=13 July 2009|accessdate=19 June 2010}}</ref> She wrote on her website of the changes in the book-to-film transition, "It is simply impossible to incorporate every one of my storylines into a film that has to be kept under four hours long. Obviously films have restrictions novels do not have, constraints of time and budget; I can create dazzling effects relying on nothing but the interaction of my own and my readers’ imaginations".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=94 |title=How did you feel about the POA filmmakers leaving the Marauder’s Map’s background out of the story? (A Mugglenet/Lexicon question) |publisher=J. K. Rowling|last=Rowling |first=J. K. |accessdate=6 September 2008}}</ref>
{{Main|Fantastic Beasts (film series)}}


A prequel series is planned to consist of five films, taking place before the main series.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fantastic Beasts: JK Rowling confirms there will be five films in Harry Potter spin-off series|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jk-rowlingfive-films-harry-potter-spin-off-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-a7360481.html|website=Independent.co.uk|date=14 October 2016|access-date=7 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108003319/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jk-rowlingfive-films-harry-potter-spin-off-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-a7360481.html|archive-date=8 January 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The first film '']'' was released in November 2016, followed by the second '']'' in November 2018 and '']'' in April 2022. Rowling wrote the screenplays for all three films,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a870007/fantastic-beasts-3-cast-release-date-plot-title-city/|title=Fantastic Beasts 3 cast, release date, plot, title and everything you need to know|date=10 December 2018|work=Digital Spy|access-date=28 December 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229031505/https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a870007/fantastic-beasts-3-cast-release-date-plot-title-city/|archive-date=29 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> marking her foray into screenwriting.
At the ] in February 2011, Rowling was joined by producers David Heyman and David Barron along with directors David Yates, Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell in collecting the ] on behalf of all the films in the series. Actors ] and ], who play protagonists ] and ], were also in attendance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12353795|title=Harry Potter franchise to get Outstanding BAFTA award|publisher=BBC|date=3 February 2011|accessdate=3 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/awards/film/outstanding-british-contribution-to-cinema-the-harry-potter-films,1631,BA.html|title=Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema in 2011 - The Harry Potter films|publisher=BAFTA|date=3 February 2011|accessdate=3 February 2011}}</ref>


==Games== === Games ===
{{see also|Harry Potter video games}}
There are eight ''Harry Potter'' video games which correspond with the films and books. The games are produced by ], with the game version of the first entry in the series, '']'', being released in November 2001. The video games are released to coincide with the films, containing scenery and details from the films as well as the tone and spirit of the books. Objectives usually occur in and around ], along with various other magical areas. The story and design of the games follows the selected film's characterisation and plot; EA worked closely with Warner Brothers to include scenes from the films. The last game in the series, ''Deathly Hallows'', was split with ] released in November 2010 and ] debuting on consoles in July 2011. The two-part game forms the first entry to convey an intense theme of action and violence, with the gameplay revolving around a third-person shooter style format.<ref> Retrieved 19 June 2010.</ref><ref> Retrieved 19 June 2010.</ref>
A number of other non-EA ''Harry Potter'' games have been released, including DVD/board games such as '']'', '']'' and '']'' which are influenced by the themes of both the novels and films.<ref name="LHPVGHP">{{cite web|url = http://videogames.lego.com/en-us/harrypotter/AboutTheGame/Screenshots/Default.aspx|title = LEGO.com Video Game: Harry Potter Home}}</ref><ref name=release>{{cite web|url = http://www.ttgames.com/node/206|title = LEGO Harry Potter coming soon!|date = 26 April 2010|publisher = ]|accessdate = 8 July 2010}}</ref>


A number of non-interactive media games and board games have been released such as ''] Harry Potter Edition'', ''] Harry Potter'' and '']'' models, which are influenced by the themes of both the novels and films.
==Attractions==
===United States===
{{main|The Wizarding World of Harry Potter}}
After the success of the films and books, Universal and Warner Brothers announced they would create "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter," a new ''Harry Potter''-themed expansion to the ] theme park at ] in Florida. The new land, promoted as the seventh themed "island" of the park, was built from land reserved for expansion outside of the park's original border, as well as from much of the existing "island," ]. A soft opening was held at the end of March 2010, with the land opening on 16 June 2010 for reserved guests. The land officially opened to the public on 18 June 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/os-universal-harry-potter-staying-pow20100617,0,1970029.story|title=Big day is here: Universal hopes Harry Potter's magic will last|first=Jason|last=Garcia|date=17 June 2010|accessdate=19 June 2010|publisher=''Orlando Sentinel''}}</ref>


There are fourteen ''Harry Potter'' video games, eight corresponding with the films and books and six spin-offs. The film/book-based games are produced by ] (EA), as was '']'', with the game version of the first entry in the series, '']'', being released in November 2001. ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' went on to become one of the best-selling ] games ever.<ref name="ownt">{{cite web |url=http://www.ownt.com/qtakes/2003/gamestats/gamestats.shtm |title=All Time Top 20 Best Selling Games |access-date=1 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221044930/http://www.ownt.com/qtakes/2003/gamestats/gamestats.shtm |archive-date=21 February 2006 |date=21 May 2003}}</ref> The video games were released to coincide with the films. Objectives usually occur in and around ]. The story and design of the games follow the selected film's characterisation and plot; EA worked closely with Warner Bros. to include scenes from the films. The last game in the series, ''Deathly Hallows'', was split, with '']'' released in November 2010 and '']'' debuting on consoles in July 2011.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310225855/http://harrypotter.ea.com/ |date=10 March 2012 }} Retrieved 19 June 2010.</ref><ref> Retrieved 19 June 2010. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701172944/http://www.ea.com/videos?video_id=89a42107c3649210VgnVCM1000001065140aRCRD |date=1 July 2010 }}</ref>
Guests enter the land through a recreation of the Hogsmeade station,<ref>{{cite news|publisher=''Daily Mail''|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1213793/Harry-Potter-theme-park-Universal-unveils-details-Wizarding-World-Harry-Potter.html|title=Hogwarts opens in Florida: Amazing new Harry Potter theme park to cast its spell over British tourists|accessdate=19 September 2009|date=19 September 2009 | location=London}}</ref> leading into the village of ], with a ] Hogwarts castle at the very end of the street. The castle contains the expansion's centrepiece attraction, ''Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey,'' a ] attraction which takes passengers through many realistic scenes influenced by the movies and books, including soaring over Hogwarts, getting involved in a Quidditch match, and having close encounters with dragons, dementors, and the Whomping Willow.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australia-times.com.au/entertainment/article.php?id=7096|title=Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park opens|date=19 June 2010|accessdate=19 June 2010|publisher=''Australia Times''}}</ref> Other attractions include a twin high-speed rollercoaster named the ''],'' a renovation of the previously existing rollercoaster, '']'', and a family roller coaster called '']'', a renovation of the previously existing ride, '']''. In addition to the three rides are several themed shops and restaurants, heavily inspired by their appearances in the books and films: Honeydukes sells sweets, such as chocolate frogs and ''Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans'', ''Ollivander's'' offers personalized magic wands, Zonko's Joke Shop sells various items including Sneakoscopes, and the Three Broomsticks serves food and drink, most notably Butterbeer and pumpkin juice.


The spin-off games '']'' and '']'' were developed by ] and published by ]. The spin-off games '']'' and '']'' were developed by ] and use the ], an ] book designed to be used in conjunction with the ] and ].<ref>{{cite news|last=Robinson |first=Andy |title=E3 2012: Sony announces intriguing Wonderbook for PS3—Harry Potter author on board |url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/351325/sony-announces-intriguing-wonderbook-for-ps3-harry-potter-author-on-board/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608043904/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/351325/sony-announces-intriguing-wonderbook-for-ps3-harry-potter-author-on-board/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 June 2012 |access-date=5 June 2012 |newspaper=Computer and Video Games |date=5 June 2012 }}</ref> The ''Harry Potter'' universe is also featured in '']'', with the settings and side characters featured in the Harry Potter Adventure World, and Harry, Voldemort, and Hermione as playable characters. In 2017, ] opened its own Harry Potter-themed game design studio, by the name of ], before releasing '']'', developed by Jam City, in 2018 and '']'', developed by ], in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery game now available on iPhone and iPad, but it's an obnoxious free-to-play game | author = Mayo, Benjamin | work = 9to5Mac | date = 24 April 2018 | access-date = 25 April 2018 |url=https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/25/harry-potter-hogwarts-mystery-game-now-available-on-iphone-and-ipad-but-its-an-obnoxious-free-to-play-game/ | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425134242/https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/25/harry-potter-hogwarts-mystery-game-now-available-on-iphone-and-ipad-but-its-an-obnoxious-free-to-play-game/ | archive-date = 25 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-11 |title=Hogwarts Legacy—extended gameplay showcase |url=https://www.gematsu.com/2022/11/hogwarts-legacy-extended-gameplay-showcase |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=Gematsu |language=en-US}}</ref>
Developed at a cost of $265 million, the new land "has seen capacity crowds waits of up to two hours just to enter the ... merchandise shop." Islands of Adventure saw a massive increase in attendance following the expansion, seeing gains of as much as 36%,<ref>{{cite web|last=Brigante |first=Ricky |url=http://www.insidethemagic.net/2010/12/harry-potter-gives-universals-islands-of-adventure-park-huge-attendance-boost-in-2010-but-numbers-still-dont-rival-disneys/ |title=Harry Potter gives Universal’s Islands of Adventure park huge attendance boost in 2010 – but numbers still don’t rival Disney’s |publisher=Inside the Magic |date= |accessdate=2011-05-04}}</ref> a period during which attendance to competitor resort ] dropped slightly.<ref>{{cite web|author=POSTED: 2:42 pm EDT August 10, 2010 |url=http://www.wesh.com/r/24580700/detail.html |title=Disney World Attendance Declines Slightly - Orlando News Story - WESH Orlando |publisher=Wesh.com |date=2010-08-10 |accessdate=2011-05-04}}</ref> Disney had itself entered negotiations for a ''Harry Potter''-themed expansion, but ultimately turned down the opportunity.<ref>Barbaro, Michael, , ''The New York Times'', 8 January 2011 (9 January 2011 p. A14 NY ed.). Retrieved 9 January 2011.</ref>


===United Kingdom=== === Stage production ===
{{Main|Harry Potter and the Cursed Child}}
In March 2011, Warner Bros. announced plans to build a tourist attraction in the ] to showcase the ''Harry Potter'' film series. Warner Bros. Studio Tour London will be a behind-the-scenes walking tour featuring authentic sets, costumes and props from the film series. The attraction will be located at ] where all eight of the ''Harry Potter'' films were made. Warner Bros. stated that two new sound stages would be constructed to house and showcase the famous sets from each of the British-made productions, following a £100 million investment.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12645416|title=BBC|accessdate=18 May 2011}}</ref>


''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I and II'' is a play which serves as a sequel to the books, beginning nineteen years after the events of '']''. It was written by ] based on an original new story by Thorne, Rowling and ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.harrypottertheplaylondon.com|title=Harry Potter and the Cursed Child|year=2016|website=Harry Potter The Play|publisher=harrypottertheplaylondon.com|access-date=26 July 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926023138/http://www.harrypottertheplaylondon.com/|archive-date=26 September 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> It has run at the ] in London's ] since previews began on 7 June 2016 with an official premiere on 30 June 2016.<ref name="nyt07june2016">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/theater/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-preview.html|title='Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' Begins Previews in London, as Magic Continues|last=Lyall|first=Sarah|date=7 June 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 June 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410234000/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/theater/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-preview.html|archive-date=10 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The first four months of tickets for the June–September performances were sold out within several hours upon release.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34660716 | title=First batch of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets sell out | work=BBC News | date=29 October 2015 | access-date=29 October 2015 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029094840/http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34660716 | archive-date=29 October 2015 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> Forthcoming productions are planned for Broadway<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2017/05/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-april-22-2018-broadway-opening-1202083963/|title='Harry Potter And The Cursed Child' Sets April 22, 2018 Broadway Opening|last=Gerard|first=Jeremy|date=4 May 2017|work=Deadline|access-date=4 May 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504184601/http://deadline.com/2017/05/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-april-22-2018-broadway-opening-1202083963/|archive-date=4 May 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and Melbourne.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.harrypottertheplay.com/au/|title=Harry Potter and the Cursed Child {{!}} Melbourne|website=Harry Potter and the Cursed Child {{!}} Melbourne|language=en-US|access-date=2017-10-25|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024044426/https://www.harrypottertheplay.com/au/|archive-date=24 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}


The script was released as a book at the time of the premiere, with a revised version following the next year.
==Further reading ==

{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|En Harry Potter Misplaced Pages article.ogg|2011-01-02}}
===Television===
{{refbegin}}
On 25 January 2021, it was reported that a live-action television series has been in early development at ]. Though it was noted that the series has "complicated rights issues", due to a seven-year rights deal with Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution that included US broadcast, cable and streaming rights to the franchise, which ends in April 2025.<ref>{{cite web|last=Goldberg|first=Lesley|title='Harry Potter' Live-Action TV Series in Early Development at HBO Max (Exclusive)|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/harry-potter-live-action-tv-series-in-early-development-at-hbo-max-exclusive|date=25 January 2021|access-date=25 January 2021|website=]|archive-date=28 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428045541/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/harry-potter-live-action-tv-series-in-early-development-at-hbo-max-exclusive|url-status=live}}</ref> On 12 April 2023, the series was confirmed to be in development, and will be streamed on the new streaming service ] (formerly known as HBO Max).<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 April 2023 |title=First ever Harry Potter television series ordered by new streaming service, Max |url=https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/first-ever-harry-potter-television-series-coming-to-max |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Wizarding World |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412214511/https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/first-ever-harry-potter-television-series-coming-to-max |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=12 April 2023 |title=Introducing the enhanced streaming service: Max |url=https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/introducing-enhanced-streaming-service-max |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Wizarding World |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412214510/https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/introducing-enhanced-streaming-service-max |url-status=live }}</ref> On 23 February 2024, ] CEO ] announced that the series would debut on Max in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tapp |first=Tom |date=2024-02-23 |title='Harry Potter' TV Series Due To Hit Max In 2026: Everything We Know About The Cast, What J.K. Rowling Says & More—Update |url=https://deadline.com/2024/02/harry-potter-tv-series-max-release-date-cast-1235323284/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref> On 25 June 2024, it was announced the series was moved from Max to ].<ref>{{cite web|last=White|first=Peter|title='Harry Potter' & 'Welcome To Derry' Moving From Max To HBO As Part Of Big-Budget Streaming Strategy Rethink|url=https://deadline.com/2024/06/harry-potter-welcome-to-derry-moving-from-max-to-hbo-1235983023/|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=25 June 2024|access-date=25 June 2024}}</ref>
* {{citation |last = Agarwal |first =Nikita |coauthor= Chitra Agarwal|year =2005 |title =Friends and Foes of Harry Potter: Names Decoded|url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=JGQBcu5O_ZcC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher=Outskirts Press |isbn=159800221X |accessdate = }}

* {{citation |last = Anatol |first =Giselle Liza |coauthor= |year =2003 |title =Reading Harry Potter: critical essays |url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=-__ICQemqaEC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher=Praeger |isbn= 0313320675 |accessdate = }}
== Attractions ==
* {{citation |last = Burkart |first = Gina|coauthor= |year =2005 |title =A parent's guide to Harry Potter |url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=c0Vx_faEKUcC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher= InterVarsity Press|isbn= 0830832882 |accessdate = }}
{{Main|The Wizarding World of Harry Potter|Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter}}
* {{citation |last = Duriez|first =Colin |coauthor= |year =2007 |title = Field Guide to Harry Potter|url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=WZwZWP5Sl3AC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher=IVP Books |isbn=9780830834303 |accessdate = }}
]
* {{citation |last = Gunelius |first =Susan |coauthor= |year =2008 |title =Harry Potter: the story of a global business phenomenon |url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=abYKXvCwEToC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=023020323X |accessdate = }}

* {{citation |last = Heilman|first =Elizabeth E |coauthor= |year =2008 |title =Critical perspectives on Harry Potter |url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=-jtl-ZDxEFkC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher= Routledge|isbn= 978-0-415-96484-5|accessdate = }}
Universal and Warner Brothers created ''The Wizarding World of Harry Potter'', a ''Harry Potter''-themed expansion to the ] theme park at ] in Florida. It opened to the public on 18 June 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/os-universal-harry-potter-staying-pow20100617,0,1970029.story|title=Big day is here: Universal hopes Harry Potter's magic will last|first=Jason|last=Garcia|date=17 June 2010|access-date=19 June 2010|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905/http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/os-universal-harry-potter-staying-pow20100617,0,1970029.story|archive-date=5 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> It includes a recreation of ] and several rides; its flagship attraction is '']'', which exists within a recreation of ] School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australia-times.com.au/entertainment/article.php?id=7096 |title=Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park opens |date=June 19, 2010 |access-date=June 19, 2010 |publisher=Australia Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101707/http://www.australia-times.com.au/entertainment/article.php?id=7096 |archive-date=July 6, 2011 }}</ref>
* {{citation |last =Mulholland |first =Neil |coauthor= |year = 2007|title =The psychology of Harry Potter: an unauthorized examination of the boy who lived|url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=BoX-6R21MgQC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=9781932100884 |accessdate = }}

* {{citation |last =Silvester |first =William |coauthor= |year = 2010|title =Harry Potter Collector's Handbook |url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=06FgsmilUXAC&lpg=PP1&dq=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true |publisher=Krause |isbn= 9781440208973 |accessdate = }}
In 2014 Universal opened a ''Harry Potter''-themed area at the ] theme park. It includes a recreation of ].<ref name=tpinsider140708>{{cite news |last=Niles |first=Robert |date=July 8, 2014 |title=The Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Diagon Alley opens officially at Universal Studios Florida |url=http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201407/4112/ |work=Theme Park Insider |access-date=15 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915120158/http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201407/4112/ |archive-date=September 15, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The flagship attraction is the '']'' roller coaster ride.<ref>{{Cite magazine|author=Kohler, Chris|year=2014|title=What to Expect From the Wild New Harry Potter Ride, 'Escape From Gringotts'|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/06/diagon-alley-gringotts-ride/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702225829/http://www.wired.com/2014/06/diagon-alley-gringotts-ride/|archive-date=2 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> A completely functioning ] was created for the Diagon Alley expansion, connecting King's Cross Station at Universal Studios to the Hogsmeade station at Islands of Adventure.<ref name="IGN">{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/08/details-on-expansion-of-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-in-orlando-confirmed-including-diagon-alley-as-second-location?abthid=518a6ec50c27b4992700000e|title=Details on Expansion of Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando Confirmed, Including Diagon Alley as Second Location|last=Goldman|first=Eric|date=May 8, 2013|access-date=May 8, 2013|website=IGN|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008180723/http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/08/details-on-expansion-of-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-in-orlando-confirmed-including-diagon-alley-as-second-location?abthid=518a6ec50c27b4992700000e|archive-date=October 8, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="What may come to Wizarding World of Harry Potter 2.0 at Universal Orlando">{{cite news|last=MacDonald|first=Brady|title=What may come to Wizarding World of Harry Potter 2.0 at Universal Orlando|url=https://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-diagon-alley-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-05201309,0,640470,full.story|access-date=May 18, 2013|newspaper=]|date=May 9, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510183411/http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-diagon-alley-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-05201309%2C0%2C640470%2Cfull.story|archive-date=May 10, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> ''The Wizarding World of Harry Potter'' opened at the ] theme park near ], ] in 2016,<ref name=nytimes20140409>{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Brooks |date=8 April 2014 |title=A Makeover at Universal Studios Hollywood Aims at Disney |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/business/media/a-makeover-of-universal-studios-hollywood-aims-to-catch-up-to-disney.html |newspaper=] |location=] |access-date=12 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912083943/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/business/media/a-makeover-of-universal-studios-hollywood-aims-to-catch-up-to-disney.html |archive-date=12 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://latimes.com/travel/themeparks/la-trb-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-hollywood-20160114-story.html|title=What to expect when the Wizarding World at Universal Studios Hollywood opens in April|website=]|date=14 January 2016|access-date=3 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403091029/http://www.latimes.com/travel/themeparks/la-trb-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-hollywood-20160114-story.html|archive-date=3 April 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and in ] theme park in ], Japan in 2014. The Osaka venue includes the village of Hogsmeade, ''Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey'' ride, and '']'' roller coaster.<ref name=orlando20140418>{{cite news |last=Bevil |first=Dewayne |date=18 April 2014 |title=Universal Studios Japan: Wizarding World of Harry Potter to open July 15 |url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-blog/os-universal-studios-japan-harry-potter-20140418-post.html |newspaper=] |access-date=12 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912073410/http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-blog/os-universal-studios-japan-harry-potter-20140418-post.html |archive-date=12 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=cnn20140716>{{cite news |last=Cripps |first=Karla |date=16 July 2014 |title=Universal Studios Japan's 'Wizarding World of Harry Potter' opens |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/travel/universal-studios-japan-harry-potter/ |newspaper=] |access-date=12 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912075407/http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/travel/universal-studios-japan-harry-potter/ |archive-date=12 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Other ''Harry Potter'' roller coasters are the '']'' and '']'', both at ].

] is a behind-the-scenes walking tour in London featuring authentic sets, costumes and props from the film series. The attraction is located at ], where all eight of the ''Harry Potter'' films were made. Warner Bros. constructed two new sound stages to house and showcase the sets from each of the British-made productions, following a £100&nbsp;million investment.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12645416|title=Harry Potter tour to open at Leavesden studios in 2012|access-date=18 May 2011|work=BBC News|date=5 March 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325033117/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12645416|archive-date=25 March 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> It opened to the public in March 2012.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16257334 |title=Harry Potter tour at Leavesden Studios reveals new sets |access-date=16 February 2012 |work=BBC News |date=19 December 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222215659/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16257334 |archive-date=22 February 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

== Supplementary works ==
{{See also|J. K. Rowling#Philanthropy}}

Rowling expanded the ] with short books produced for charities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6903111.stm|title=How Rowling conjured up millions|work=BBC News|access-date=7 September 2008|date=19 July 2007|first=Simon|last=Atkinson|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228111436/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6903111.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/1198169/used/Comic%20Relief%20:%20Quidditch%20through%20the%20ages |title=Comic Relief: Quidditch Through the Ages|publisher=Albris|access-date=7 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726050800/http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/1198169/used/Comic%20Relief%20%3A%20Quidditch%20through%20the%20ages|archive-date=26 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 2001, she released '']'' (a purported Hogwarts textbook) and '']'' (a book Harry reads for fun). Proceeds from the sale of these two books benefited the charity ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicrelief.com/stuff-to-buy/harrys-books/the-money/|title=The Money|publisher=Comic Relief| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071029034316/http://www.comicrelief.com/stuff-to-buy/harrys-books/the-money/|archive-date=29 October 2007 |access-date=25 October 2007}}</ref> In 2007, Rowling composed seven handwritten copies of '']'', a collection of fairy tales that is featured in the final novel, one of which was auctioned to raise money for the Children's High Level Group, a fund for mentally disabled children in poor countries. The book was published internationally on 4 December 2008.<ref name="fetches">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7142656.stm|title=JK Rowling book fetches £2&nbsp;m|date=13 December 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=13 December 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215120757/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7142656.stm|archive-date=15 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000137983 |title=The Tales of Beedle the Bard |website=Amazon UK |access-date=14 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217031800/http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000137983 |archive-date=17 December 2007 }}</ref> Rowling also wrote an 800-word ] in 2008 as part of a fundraiser organised by the bookseller ].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/29/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling|title=Rowling pens Potter prequel for charities|date=29 May 2008|newspaper=]|location=London|last=Williams|first=Rachel|access-date=30 March 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002203005/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/29/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=2 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> All three of these books contain extra information about the wizarding world not included in the original novels.

In 2016, she released three new e-books: '']'', '']'' and '']''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Chan |first=Melissa |date=17 August 2016 |title=J.K. Rowling Is About to Release 3 New 'Harry Potter' Books |url=https://time.com/4455746/j-k-rowling-pottermore-new-harry-potter-books/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216234750/http://time.com/4455746/j-k-rowling-pottermore-new-harry-potter-books/ |archive-date=16 December 2016 |access-date=2016-12-22 |magazine=] |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{anchor|Pottermore}}
Rowling's website ] was launched in 2012.<ref name="waiting">{{cite web|url=http://insider.pottermore.com/2012/03/waiting-for-pottermore.html |title=Waiting for Pottermore? |work=Pottermore Insider |date=8 March 2012 |access-date=9 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310102525/http://insider.pottermore.com/2012/03/waiting-for-pottermore.html |archive-date=10 March 2012 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/23/pottermore-secrets-revealed-j-k-rowlings-new-site-is-e-book-meets-interactive-world/ |title='Pottermore' Secrets Revealed: J.K. Rowling's New Site is E-Book Meets Interactive World |first=Sonia |last=van Gilder Cooke |date=23 June 2011 |magazine=] |access-date=6 January 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829110641/http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/23/pottermore-secrets-revealed-j-k-rowlings-new-site-is-e-book-meets-interactive-world/ |archive-date=29 August 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The site was redesigned in 2015 as WizardingWorld and it mainly focuses on the information already available, rather than exploration.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pottermore|url=https://www.pottermore.com/news/Welcome-to-the-new-Pottermore|website=Pottermore|access-date=8 October 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926135910/https://www.pottermore.com/news/Welcome-to-the-new-Pottermore|archive-date=26 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

== See also ==
* ]
* '']''

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="meanings">Sources that refer to the many genres, cultural meanings and references of the series include:
* {{cite web|last=Fry|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Fry|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076w0r|title=Living with Harry Potter|publisher=BBC Radio 4|date=10 December 2005|access-date=10 December 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021121215/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076w0r|archive-date=21 October 2014|url-status=dead |ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine|title=Why J.K. Rowling waited to read ''Harry Potter'' to her daughter|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|last=Jensen|first=Jeff|author-link=Jeff Jensen|url=https://ew.com/article/2000/09/07/why-jk-rowling-waited-read-harry-potter-her-daughter|access-date=19 August 2015|date=7 September 2000|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905211717/http://www.ew.com/article/2000/09/07/why-jk-rowling-waited-read-harry-potter-her-daughter|archive-date=5 September 2015|df=dmy-all|ref=none}}
* {{cite web|title=The Last Chapter|author=Nancy Carpentier Brown|publisher=Our Sunday Visitor|year=2007|url=http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/TheLastChapter.pdf|access-date=28 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013134200/http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/TheLastChapter.pdf|archive-date=13 October 2007|url-status=dead|ref=none}}
* {{cite web |author=J. K. Rowling |title=J. K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival |url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80 |access-date=10 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820213620/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80 <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=20 August 2006 |url-status=dead |ref=none}}</ref>

<ref name=Heilman2008>{{harvnb|Heilman|2008|p=2}}</ref>

<ref name=Rich2007>{{Cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/arts/11iht-11potter.6606863.html |newspaper=] |last= Rich |first= Motoko |author-link=Motoko Rich |title= Harry Potter has limited effect on reading habits |date= 11 July 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170223130911/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/arts/11iht-11potter.6606863.html |archive-date= 23 February 2017 |df= dmy-all |ref=none}}</ref>
}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
<!-- Book chapters from Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays -->
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|title=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=978-0-313-32067-5|location=Westport, Connecticut|oclc=50774592|ref=none}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Brycchan|last=Carey|author-link=Brycchan Carey|title=Hermione and the house-elves: the literary and historical contexts of J. K. Rowling's antislavery campaign|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Ximena|last1=Gallardo|first2=C. Jason|last2=Smith|title=Cinderfella: J. K. Rowling's wily web of gender|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Elaine|last=Ostry|title=Accepting Mudbloods: the ambivalent social vision of J. K. Rowling's fairy tales|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Julia|last=Park|title=Class and socioeconomic identity in Harry Potter's England|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Veronica|last=Shanoes|title=Cruel heroes and treacherous texts: educating the reader in moral complexity and critical reading in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
*{{Cite book|last=Barratt|first=Bethany|title=The Politics of Harry Potter|publisher=]|year=2012|isbn=978-0-230-60899-3|location=New York|doi=10.1057/9781137016546}}

<!-- Book chapters from Hermione Granger Saves the World -->
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Bell |editor1-first=Christopher |title=Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts |year=2012 |publisher=] |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-7137-9|ref=none}}
** {{cite encyclopedia|first1=Christopher|last1=Bell|first2=Julie|last2=Alexander|title=Introduction|editor1-last=Bell |editor1-first=Christopher |encyclopedia=Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts |year=2012 |publisher=]}}
** {{cite encyclopedia|first1=Helen|last1=Berents|title=Hermione Granger goes to war|editor1-last=Bell |editor1-first=Christopher |encyclopedia=Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts |year=2012 |publisher=] }}

<!-- Book chapters from Heroism in the Harry Potter Series -->
* {{Cite book|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena|title=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-317-12211-1|doi=10.4324/9781315586748|ref=none}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Christine|last1=Berberich|title=Harry Potter and the idea of the gentleman as hero|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Kathleen|last1=McEvoy|title=Heroism at the margins|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Maria|last1=Nikolajeva|author-link=Maria Nikolajeva|title=Adult heroism and role models in the Harry Potter novels|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Mary|last1=Pharr|title=A paradox: the Harry Potter series as both epic and postmodern|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
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* {{Cite book|last=Blake|first=Andrew|url=https://archive.org/details/irresistiblerise0000blak|url-access=registration|title=The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter|publisher=]|year=2002|isbn=1-85984-666-1|location=London|oclc=49594480}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Catherine|last=Butler|title=Modern children's fantasy|author-link=Catherine Butler|editor1-last=James|editor1-first=Edward|editor1-link=Edward James (historian)|editor2-last=Mendlesohn|editor2-first=Farah|editor2-link=Farah Mendlesohn|encyclopedia=The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature|publisher=]|year=2012|isbn=978-0-521-42959-7|doi=10.1017/CCOL9780521429597}}
* {{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Giles |last2=Phillips |first2=Angus |title=Inside Book Publishing |publisher=] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-351-26571-3}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Eberhardt|first=Maeve|title=Gendered representations through speech: The case of the Harry Potter series|journal=]|year=2017|volume=26|issue=3|pages=227–246|doi=10.1177/0963947017701851|s2cid=149129001}}
* {{Cite book|last=Eccleshare|first=Julia|author-link=Julia Eccleshare|url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoharrypott0000eccl/|url-access=registration|title=A Guide to the Harry Potter Novels|year=2002|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-84714-418-8|location=London|oclc=229341237}}
* {{cite book|last=Errington|first=Philip W.|date=2017|title=J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-4742-9737-0}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Farmer|first=Joy|date=2001|title=The magician's niece: the kinship between J. K. Rowling and C. S. Lewis|journal=]|volume=23|issue=2|pages=53–64|issn=0146-9339|jstor=26814627}}
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* {{cite book |last=Gunelius |first=Susan |title=Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon |publisher=] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-59410-4 |doi=10.1057/9780230594104 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Gupta|first=Suman|title=Re-Reading Harry Potter|publisher=]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-230-21958-8|location=London|doi=10.1057/9780230279711|edition=2nd}}

<!-- Book chapters from Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter -->
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|title=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|isbn=978-1-135-89154-1|edition=2nd|doi=10.4324/9780203892817}}
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** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Peter|last1=Applebaum|title=The great Snape debate|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Megan L.|last1=Birch|title=Schooling Harry Potter: teachers and learning, power and knowledge|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Peter|last1=Ciaccio|title=Harry Potter and Christian theology|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Elizabeth E.|last1=Heilman|first2=Trevor|last2=Donaldson|title=From sexist to (sort-of) feminist representations of gender in the Harry Potter series|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Maria|last1=Nikolajeva|author-link=Maria Nikolajeva|title=Harry Potter and the secrets of children's literature|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Deborah J.|last1=Taub|first2=Heather L.|last2=Servaty-Seib|title=Controversial content: is Harry Potter harmful to children?|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Horne|first=Jackie C.|title=Harry and the other: answering the race question in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter|journal=]|volume=34|number=1|year=2010|pages=76–104|doi=10.1353/uni.0.0488|s2cid=143738308|id={{ProQuest|221753179}}}}
* {{Cite book|last=Kirk|first=Connie Ann|author-link= Connie Ann Kirk |url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingbiograp0000kirk|url-access=registration|title=J.K. Rowling: A Biography|year=2003|publisher=]|isbn=0-313-32205-8|oclc=49991592}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Levy|first1=Michael|author1-link=Michael M. Levy|title=]|last2=Mendlesohn|first2=Farah|publisher=]|year=2016|isbn=978-1-107-01814-3|author2-link=Farah Mendlesohn|doi=10.1017/CBO9781139087421}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Los|first=Fraser|date=2008|title=Harry Potter and the nature of death|journal=Alternatives Journal|volume=34|issue=1|pages= 32–33|jstor=45033580}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Mendlesohn|first1=Farah|author1-link=Farah Mendlesohn|last2=James|first2=Edward|author2-link=Edward James (historian)|title=A Short History of Fantasy|publisher=Libri Publishing|year=2012|isbn=978-1-907471-66-7|oclc=857653620}}
* {{Cite book|last=Nel|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Nel |url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingsharryp0000nelp|url-access=registration|title=J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide|year=2001|publisher=]|isbn=0-8264-5232-9|location=New York|oclc=47050453}}
* {{cite book |last=Popple |first=Jennifer E. |chapter=Embracing the magic: Muggle Quidditch and the transformation of gender equality from fantasy to reality |editor-last=Brenner |editor-first=Lisa S. |title=Playing Harry Potter: Essays and Interviews on Fandom and Performance |year=2015 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-4766-2136-4}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Pugh|first1=Tison|last2=Wallace|first2=David L.|title=Heteronormative heroism and queering the school story in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series|journal=]|volume=31|issue=3|date=Fall 2006|pages=260–281|doi=10.1353/chq.2006.0053|s2cid=143508785 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Sean|url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingbiograp0000smit_j1n9|url-access=registration|title=J.K. Rowling: A Biography|year=2002|publisher=]|isbn=0-09-944542-5|oclc=51303518}}
* {{Cite book|last=Stableford|first=Brian M.|author-link=Brian Stableford|title=The A to Z of Fantasy Literature|publisher=]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8108-6345-3|oclc=1200815959}}
* {{Cite book|last=Striphas|first=Theodore G.|title=The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control|title-link=The Late Age of Print|publisher=]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-231-14814-6|location=New York|pages=]|chapter=Harry Potter and the Culture of the Copy|oclc=256532755|author-link=Ted Striphas}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Stojilkov|first=Andrea|date=2015|title=Life(and)death in 'Harry Potter': the immortality of love and soul|journal=Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal|volume=48|issue=2|pages=133–148|issn=0027-1276|jstor=44030425}}

<!-- Book chapters from The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter -->
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8262-6330-8 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |location=Columbia, Missouri |oclc=56424948 |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Terri |last1=Doughty |title=Locating Harry Potter in the 'Boys' Book' market |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |encyclopedia=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=] |year=2002 |isbn=9780826214430 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |url-access=registration}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia |first=Farah |last=Mendlesohn |author-link=Farah Mendlesohn |title=Crowning the king: Harry Potter and the construction of authority |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |encyclopedia=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=] |year=2002 |isbn=9780826214430 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |url-access=registration}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia |first=Roni |last=Natov |title=Harry Potter and the extraordinariness of the ordinary |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |encyclopedia=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=] |year=2002 |isbn=9780826214430 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |chapter=A survey of the critical reception of the Harry Potter series |last=Whited |first=Lana A. |title=Critical Insights: The Harry Potter Series |editor1-last=Grimes |editor1-first=M. Katherine |editor2-last=Whited |editor2-first=Lana A. |date=2015 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-61925-520-3 |id={{EBSCOhost|108515151|dbcode=lkh}}}}
{{refend}} {{refend}}


== Further reading ==
==External links==
* {{Cite book |last=Agarwal |first=Nikita |author2=Chitra Agarwal |year=2005 |title=Friends and Foes of Harry Potter: Names Decoded |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGQBcu5O_ZcC&q=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1 |publisher=Outskirts Press |isbn=978-1-59800-221-8 }}
{{Wiktionary|Appendix:Harry Potter}}
* {{Cite web |last=Allardice |first=Lisa |date=18 June 2022 |title='There was practically a riot at King's Cross': an oral history of Harry Potter at 25 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/18/riot-kings-cross-oral-history-harry-potter-philosophers-stone-25-publishers |access-date=26 August 2024 |website=The Guardian}}
{{wikibooks|Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter}}
* {{Cite book |last=Burkart |first=Gina |year=2005 |title=A parent's guide to Harry Potter |url=https://archive.org/details/parentsguidetoha00burk |url-access=registration |quote=Harry Potter. |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-3288-0 }}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Cite book |last=Duriez |first=Colin |year=2007 |title=Field Guide to Harry Potter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZwZWP5Sl3AC&q=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1 |publisher=IVP Books |isbn=978-0-8308-3430-3 }}
{{Commons category|Harry Potter}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mulholland |first=Neil |year=2007 |title=The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BoX-6R21MgQC&q=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=978-1-932100-88-4 }}
* {{Wikia|harrypotter|Harry Potter}}
* {{Cite book |last=Silvester |first=William |year=2010 |title=Harry Potter Collector's Handbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnRQmAEACAAJ |publisher=Krause |isbn=978-1-4402-0897-3 }}
<!-- Fan sites are covered within ]. No need to include them again here. -->
*
* – Official website (Warner Bros.)
* on Bloomsbury.com (International publisher)
* on Scholastic.com (US publisher)
* on Raincoast.com (Canadian publisher)
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{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|Misplaced Pages - Harry Potter (spoken by AI voice).mp3|date=28 October 2024}}
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* —Official website (Warner Bros.)
* at Bloomsbury.com (International publisher)
* at Scholastic.com (US publisher)
* at Raincoast.com (Canadian publisher)
* {{Guardian topic}}
* {{NYTtopic|complete_coverage/harry_potter|Harry Potter}}
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Latest revision as of 04:05, 5 December 2024

Series of fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling This article is about the novel series. For the character, see Harry Potter (character). For the film series, see Harry Potter (film series). For the franchise, see Wizarding World. For the universe, see Fictional universe of Harry Potter. For other uses, see Harry Potter (disambiguation).

Harry Potter


AuthorJ. K. Rowling
Cover artistThomas Taylor, Cliff Wright, Giles Greenfield, Jason Cockcroft
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy
PublisherBloomsbury
Published26 June 1997 – 21 July 2007
Media type
No. of books7
Websitewww.harrypotter.com

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people).

The series was originally published in English by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Press in the United States. A series of many genres, including fantasy, drama, coming-of-age fiction, and the British school story (which includes elements of mystery, thriller, adventure, horror, and romance), the world of Harry Potter explores numerous themes and includes many cultural meanings and references. Major themes in the series include prejudice, corruption, madness, love, and death.

Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are widely considered cornerstones of modern literature, though the books have received mixed reviews from critics and literary scholars. As of February 2023, the books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, available in dozens of languages. The last four books all set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 2.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and 8.3 million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.

Warner Bros. Pictures adapted the original seven books into an eight-part namesake film series. In 2016, the total value of the Harry Potter franchise was estimated at $25 billion, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play based on a story co-written by Rowling. A television series based on books is in production at HBO.

The success of the books and films has allowed the Harry Potter franchise to expand with numerous derivative works, a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a studio tour in London that opened in 2012, a digital platform on which J. K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight, and a trilogy of spin-off films premiering in November 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, among many other developments. Themed attractions, collectively known as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, have been built at several Universal Destinations & Experiences amusement parks around the world.

Plot

Further information: Fictional universe of Harry Potter

Early years

"The Elephant House", a small, painted red café where Rowling wrote a few chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The Elephant House was one of the cafés in Edinburgh where Rowling wrote the first part of Harry Potter.

The series follows the life of a boy named Harry Potter. In the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US), Harry lives in a cupboard under the stairs in the house of the Dursleys, his aunt, uncle and cousin, who all treat him poorly. At the age of 11, Harry discovers that he is a wizard. He meets a half-giant named Hagrid who gives him a letter of acceptance to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents, Lily and James Potter, also had magical powers and were murdered by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort when Harry was a baby. When Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, his curse rebounded, seemingly killing Voldemort, and Harry survived with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. The event made Harry famous among the community of wizards and witches.

Harry becomes a student at Hogwarts and is sorted into Gryffindor House. He gains the friendship of Ron Weasley, a member of a large but poor wizarding family, and Hermione Granger, a witch of non-magical, or Muggle, parentage. The trio develop an enmity with the rich pure-blood student Draco Malfoy. Harry encounters the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore; the potions professor, Severus Snape, who displays a dislike for him; and the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Quirinus Quirrell. Quirrell turns out to be allied with Voldemort, who is still alive as a weak spirit. The first book concludes with Harry's confrontation with Voldemort, who, in his quest to regain a body, yearns to possess the Philosopher's Stone, a substance that bestows everlasting life.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets describes Harry's second year at Hogwarts. Students are attacked and petrified by an unknown creature; wizards of Muggle parentage are the primary targets. The attacks appear related to the mythical Chamber of Secrets and resemble attacks fifty years earlier. Harry discovers an ability to speak the snake language Parseltongue, which he learns is rare and associated with the Dark Arts. When Hermione is attacked and Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, abducted, Harry and Ron uncover the chamber's secrets and enter it. Harry discovers that Ginny was possessed by an old diary, inside which the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle, Voldemort's younger self, resides. On Voldemort's behalf, Ginny opened the chamber and unleashed the basilisk, an ancient monster that kills or petrifies those who make direct or indirect eye contact, respectively. With the help of Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, and the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry slays the basilisk and destroys the diary.

In the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry learns that he is targeted by Sirius Black, an escaped convict who allegedly assisted in his parents' murder. Dementors, creatures that feed on happiness, search for Sirius and guard the school. As Harry struggles with his reaction to the dementors, he reaches out to Remus Lupin, a new professor who teaches him the Patronus charm. On a windy night, Ron is dragged by a black dog into the Shrieking Shack, a haunted house, and Harry and Hermione follow. The dog is revealed to be Sirius Black. Lupin enters the shack and explains that Sirius was James Potter's best friend; he was framed by another friend of James, Peter Pettigrew, who hides as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. As the full moon rises, Lupin transforms into a werewolf and bounds away, and the group chase after him. They are surrounded by dementors, but are saved by a figure resembling James who casts a stag Patronus. This is later revealed to be a future version of Harry, who traveled back in time with Hermione using a device called a Time Turner. The duo help Sirius escape on a Hippogriff, while Pettigrew escapes.

Voldemort returns

The former 1st floor Nicholson's Cafe now renamed Spoon in Edinburgh where J. K. Rowling wrote the first few chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In Harry's fourth year of school (detailed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Hogwarts hosts the Triwizard Tournament, a contest between Hogwarts and the schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Harry is unwillingly entered into the contest, becoming Hogwarts' second participant after Cedric Diggory, an unusual occurrence that causes his friends to distance themselves from him. Harry claims the Triwizard Cup with Cedric, but he is teleported to a graveyard where Pettigrew kills Cedric, then resurrects Voldemort using Harry's blood. Voldemort convenes his supporters, the Death Eaters, and Harry manages to escape after a duel with Voldemort. Upon returning to Hogwarts, it is revealed that a Death Eater, Barty Crouch, Jr, in disguise as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, engineered Harry's entry into the tournament, secretly helped him, and had him teleported to Voldemort.

In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned. Dumbledore re-activates the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society to counter Voldemort; meanwhile, the Ministry tightens control of Hogwarts by appointing Dolores Umbridge as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and she gradually increases her powers. When Umbridge bans practical teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry, Ron and Hermione form "Dumbledore's Army", a secret group to continue the teachings. Harry has recurring dreams of a dark corridor in the Ministry of Magic, eventually dreaming that Sirius is being tortured there. He races to the Ministry with his friends, but it is a trap, planted in his head by Voldemort. The group are attacked by Death Eaters and saved by the Order of the Phoenix, but Sirius is killed in the battle. A duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort convinces the ministry of Voldemort's return. A prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort is revealed: one must die at the hands of the other.

In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Snape teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts while Horace Slughorn becomes the Potions master. Harry finds an old textbook with annotations by the Half-Blood Prince, due to which he achieves success in Potions class. Harry also takes lessons with Dumbledore, viewing memories about the early life of Voldemort in a device called a Pensieve. Harry learns from a drunken Slughorn that he used to teach Tom Riddle, and that Voldemort divided his soul into pieces, creating a series of Horcruxes. Harry and Dumbledore travel to a distant lake to destroy a Horcrux; they succeed, but Dumbledore weakens. On their return, they find Draco Malfoy and Death Eaters attacking the school. The book ends with the killing of Dumbledore by Professor Snape, the titular Half-Blood Prince.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final novel in the series, Lord Voldemort gains control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione learn about the Deathly Hallows, legendary items that lead to mastery over death. The group infiltrates the ministry, where they steal a locket Horcrux, and visit Godric's Hollow, where they are attacked by Nagini, Voldemort's snake. A silver doe Patronus leads them to the Sword of Gryffindor, with which they destroy the locket. They steal a Horcrux from Gringotts and travel to Hogwarts, culminating in a battle with the Death Eaters. Snape is killed by Voldemort out of paranoia, but he lends Harry his memories before he dies. Harry learns that Snape was always loyal to Dumbledore, and that Harry is himself a Horcrux. Harry surrenders to Voldemort and is killed. The defenders of Hogwarts continue to fight on; Harry is resurrected, faces Voldemort and kills him.

An epilogue titled "Nineteen Years Later" describes the lives of the surviving characters and the impact of Voldemort's death. Harry and Ginny are married with three children, and Ron and Hermione are married with two children.

Style and allusions

Genre and style

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, and contain elements of mystery, adventure, horror, thriller, and romance. The books are also, in the words of Stephen King, "shrewd mystery tales", 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. 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.

In Harry Potter, Rowling juxtaposes the extraordinary against the ordinary. Her narrative features two worlds: a contemporary world inhabited by non-magical people called Muggles, and another featuring wizards. It differs from typical portal fantasy in that its magical elements stay grounded in the mundane. Paintings move and talk; books bite readers; letters shout messages; and maps show live journeys, making the wizarding world both exotic and familiar. This blend of realistic and romantic elements extends to Rowling's characters. Their names are often onomatopoeic: Malfoy is difficult, Filch is unpleasant, and Lupin is a werewolf. Harry is ordinary and relatable, with down-to-earth features such as wearing broken glasses; the scholar Roni Natov terms him an "everychild". These elements serve to highlight Harry when he is heroic, making him both an everyman and a fairytale hero.

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. 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.

Allusions

The Harry Potter stories feature imagery and motifs drawn from Arthurian myth and fairytales. Harry's ability to draw the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat resembles the Arthurian sword in the stone legend. His life with the Dursleys has been compared to Cinderella. 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. 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, which are similar to the "marvellous tents" put up for knightly tournaments, imaginary animals like dragons and unicorns that exist around Hogwarts, and the banners with heraldic animals for the four Houses of Hogwarts.

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. Other aspects borrowed from French Arthurian romances include the use of owls as messengers, werewolves as characters, and white deer. 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. 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.

Like C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter also contains Christian symbolism and allegory. The series has been viewed as a Christian moral fable in the psychomachia tradition, in which stand-ins for good and evil fight for supremacy over a person's soul. Children's literature critic Joy Farmer sees parallels between Harry and Jesus Christ. Comparing Rowling with Lewis, she argues that "magic is both authors' way of talking about spiritual reality". According to Maria Nikolajeva, Christian imagery is particularly strong in the final scenes of the series: Harry dies in self-sacrifice and Voldemort delivers an "ecce homo" speech, after which Harry is resurrected and defeats his enemy.

Rowling stated that she did not reveal Harry Potter's religious parallels in the beginning because doing so would have "give too much away to fans who might then see the parallels". In the final book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling makes the book's Christian imagery more explicit, quoting both Matthew 6:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:26 (King James Version) when Harry visits his parents' graves. Hermione Granger teaches Harry Potter that the meaning of these verses from the Christian Bible are "living beyond death. Living after death", which Rowling states "epitomize the whole series". Rowling also exhibits Christian values in developing Albus Dumbledore as a God-like character, the divine, trusted leader of the series, guiding the long-suffering hero along his quest. In the seventh novel, Harry speaks with and questions the deceased Dumbledore much like a person of faith would talk to and question God.

Themes

J.K. Rowling, a blond, blue-eyed woman, who is the author of the series
The novelist, J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter's overarching theme is death. In the first book, when Harry looks into the Mirror of Erised, he feels both joy and "a terrible sadness" at seeing his desire: his parents, alive and with him. Confronting their loss is central to Harry's character arc and manifests in different ways through the series, such as in his struggles with Dementors. Other characters in Harry's life die; he even faces his own death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The series has an existential perspective—Harry must grow mature enough to accept death. In Harry's world, death is not binary but mutable, a state that exists in degrees. Unlike Voldemort, who evades death by separating and hiding his soul in seven parts, Harry's soul is whole, nourished by friendship and love.

Love distinguishes Harry and Voldemort. Harry is a hero because he loves others, even willing to accept death to save them; Voldemort is a villain because he does not. Harry carries the protection of his mother's sacrifice in his blood; Voldemort, who wants Harry's blood and the protection it carries, does not understand that love vanquishes death.

Rowling has spoken about thematising death and loss in the series. Soon after she started writing Philosopher's Stone, her mother died; she said that "I really think from that moment on, death became a central, if not the central theme of the seven books". Rowling has described Harry as "the prism through which I view death", and further stated that "all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death".

While Harry Potter can be viewed as a story about good vs. evil, its moral divisions are not absolute. First impressions of characters are often misleading. Harry assumes in the first book that Quirrell is on the side of good because he opposes Snape, who appears to be malicious; in reality, Quirrell is an agent of Voldemort, while Snape is loyal to Dumbledore. This pattern later recurs with Moody and Snape. In Rowling's world, good and evil are choices rather than inherent attributes: second chances and the possibility of redemption are key themes of the series. This is reflected in Harry's self-doubts after learning his connections to Voldemort, such as Parseltongue; and prominently in Snape's characterisation, which has been described as complex and multifaceted. In some scholars' view, while Rowling's narrative appears on the surface to be about Harry, her focus may actually be on Snape's morality and character arc.

Rowling said that, to her, the moral significance of the tales seems "blindingly obvious". In the fourth book, Dumbledore speaks of a "choice between what is right and what is easy"; Rowling views this as a key theme, "because that ... is how tyranny is started, with people being apathetic and taking the easy route and suddenly finding themselves in deep trouble".

Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including political subtexts. Themes such as normality, oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series. Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered. Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry" and that they also pass on a message to "question authority and... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth".

Development history

Main article: Harry Potter influences and analogues

In 1990, Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry suddenly "fell into" her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:

I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who did not know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.

Rowling completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1995 and the manuscript was sent off to several prospective agents. The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to several publishers.

Publishing history

The logo used in British, Australian, and Canadian editions before 2010, which uses the typeface Cochin Bold

After twelve other publishers had rejected Philosopher's Stone, Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book. Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when beginning to write the Harry Potter books, the publishers initially targeted children aged nine to eleven. On the eve of publishing, Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name because she has no middle name.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published by Bloomsbury, the publisher of all Harry Potter books in the United Kingdom, on 26 June 1997. It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by Scholastic—the American publisher of the books—as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, after the American rights sold for US$105,000—a record amount for a children's book by an unknown author. Scholastic feared that American readers would not associate the word "philosopher" with magic, and Rowling suggested the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the American market. Rowling has later said that she regrets the change.

The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series, at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version. It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005. The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published on 21 July 2007. Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the final book (in fact, the epilogue) was completed "in something like 1990".

Rowling retained rights to digital editions and released them on the Pottermore website in 2012. Vendors such as Amazon displayed the ebooks in the form of links to Pottermore, which controlled pricing. All seven Harry Potter novels have been released in unabridged audiobook versions, with Stephen Fry reading the British editions and Jim Dale voicing the series for the American editions. On Audible, the series has been listened, as of November 2022, for over a billion hours.

Translations

Main article: Harry Potter in translation
The Russian translation of The Deathly Hallows goes on sale in Moscow, 2007

The series has been translated into more than 80 languages, placing Rowling among the most translated authors in history. The books have seen translations to diverse languages such as Korean, Armenian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Bulgarian, Welsh, Afrikaans, Albanian, Latvian, Vietnamese and Hawaiian. The first volume has been translated into Latin and even Ancient Greek, making it the longest published work in Ancient Greek since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the 3rd century AD. The second volume has also been translated into Latin.

Some of the translators hired to work on the books were well-known authors before their work on Harry Potter, such as Viktor Golyshev, who oversaw the Russian translation of the series' fifth book. The Turkish translation of books two to seven was undertaken by Sevin Okyay, a popular literary critic and cultural commentator. For reasons of secrecy, translation on a given book could only start after it had been released in English, leading to a lag of several months before the translations were available. This led to more and more copies of the English editions being sold to impatient fans in non-English speaking countries; for example, such was the clamour to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that its English language edition became the first English-language book ever to top the best-seller list in France.

The United States editions were adapted into American English to make them more understandable to a young American audience.

Cover art

For cover art, Bloomsbury chose painted art in a classic style of design, with the first cover a watercolour and pencil drawing by illustrator Thomas Taylor showing Harry boarding the Hogwarts Express, and a title in the font Cochin Bold. The first releases of the successive books in the series followed in the same style but somewhat more realistic, illustrating scenes from the books. These covers were created by first Cliff Wright and then Jason Cockroft.

Due to the appeal of the books among an adult audience, Bloomsbury commissioned a second line of editions in an 'adult' style. These initially used black-and-white photographic art for the covers showing objects from the books (including a very American Hogwarts Express) without depicting people, but later shifted to partial colourisation with a picture of Slytherin's locket on the cover of the final book.

International and later editions have been created by a range of designers, including Mary GrandPré for US audiences and Mika Launis in Finland. For a later American release, Kazu Kibuishi created covers in a somewhat anime-influenced style.

Reception

Commercial success

See also: List of best-selling books
A large crowd of fans wait outside of a Borders store in Delaware, waiting for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Crowd outside a book store for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The popularity of the Harry Potter series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related license holders. This success has made Rowling the first and thus far only billionaire author. The books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, all of which have been highly successful in their own right. The total revenue from the book sales is estimated, as of November 2018, to be around $7.7 billion. The first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books in history. The films have in turn spawned eight video games and have led to the licensing of more than 400 additional Harry Potter products. The Harry Potter brand has been estimated to be worth as much as $25 billion.

The great demand for Harry Potter novels motivated The New York Times to create a separate best-seller list for children's literature in 2000, just before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. By 24 June 2000, Rowling's novels had been on the list for 79 straight weeks; the first three novels were each on the hardcover best-seller list. On 12 April 2007, Barnes & Noble declared that Deathly Hallows had broken its pre-order record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site. For the release of Goblet of Fire, 9,000 FedEx trucks were used with no other purpose than to deliver the book. Together, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble pre-sold more than 700,000 copies of the book. In the United States, the book's initial printing run was 3.8 million copies. This record statistic was broken by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, with 8.5 million, which was then shattered by Half-Blood Prince with 10.8 million copies. Within the first 24 hours of its release, 6.9 million copies of Prince were sold in the US; in the UK more than two million copies were sold on the first day. The initial US print run for Deathly Hallows was 12 million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Fans of the series were so eager for the latest instalment that bookstores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been highly successful in attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold in the first 24 hours. The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows became the fastest selling book in history, moving 11 million units in the first twenty-four hours of release. The book sold 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US. The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to the release of two editions of each Harry Potter book, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults.

Book Sales
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 120 million
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 77 million
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 65 million
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 65 million
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 65 million
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 65 million
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 65 million

Literary criticism

Early in its history, Harry Potter received positive reviews. On publication, the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, attracted attention from the Scottish newspapers, such as The Scotsman, which said it had "all the makings of a classic", and The Glasgow Herald, which called it "Magic stuff". Soon the English newspapers joined in, with The Sunday Times comparing it to Roald Dahl's work ("comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified"), while The Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit".

By the time of the release of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the books began to receive strong criticism from a number of literary scholars. Yale professor, literary scholar, and critic Harold Bloom raised criticisms of the books' literary merits, saying, "Rowling's mind is so governed by clichés and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing." A. S. Byatt authored an op-ed article in The New York Times calling Rowling's universe a "secondary secondary world, made up of intelligently patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of children's literature ... written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip."

Michael Rosen, a novelist and poet, held the opinion that the books were not suited for children, as they would be unable to grasp the complex themes. Rosen also stated that "J. K. Rowling is more of an adult writer." The critic Anthony Holden wrote in The Observer on his experience of judging Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the 1999 Whitbread Awards. His overall view of the series was negative—"the Potter saga was essentially patronising, conservative, highly derivative, dispiritingly nostalgic for a bygone Britain", and he speaks of "a pedestrian, ungrammatical prose style". Ursula K. Le Guin said, "I have no great opinion of it it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a 'school novel,' good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited." By contrast, author Fay Weldon, while admitting that the series is "not what the poets hoped for", nevertheless goes on to say, "but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful prose".

The literary critic A. N. Wilson praised the Harry Potter series in The Times, stating, "There are not many writers who have JK's Dickensian ability to make us turn the pages, to weep—openly, with tears splashing—and a few pages later to laugh, at invariably good jokes ... We have lived through a decade in which we have followed the publication of the liveliest, funniest, scariest and most moving children's stories ever written." Charles Taylor of Salon.com, who is primarily a movie critic, took issue with Byatt's criticisms in particular. While he conceded that she may have "a valid cultural point—a teeny one—about the impulses that drive us to reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art", he rejected her claims that the series is lacking in serious literary merit and that it owes its success merely to the childhood reassurances it offers. Stephen King called the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", and declared "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-cocked sense of humor" to be "remarkable". However, he wrote that he is "a little tired of discovering Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of all seven books.

Sameer Rahim of The Daily Telegraph disagreed, saying "It depresses me to see 16- and 17-year-olds reading the series when they could be reading the great novels of childhood such as Oliver Twist or A House for Mr Biswas." The Washington Post book critic Ron Charles opined in July 2007 that "through no fault of Rowling's", the cultural and marketing "hysteria" marked by the publication of the later books "trains children and adults to expect the roar of the coliseum, a mass-media experience that no other novel can possibly provide". Jenny Sawyer wrote in The Christian Science Monitor on 25 July 2007 that Harry Potter neither faces a "moral struggle" nor undergoes any ethical growth and is thus "no guide in circumstances in which right and wrong are anything less than black and white". In contrast Emily Griesinger described Harry's first passage through to Platform 9+3⁄4 as an application of faith and hope, and his encounter with the Sorting Hat as the first of many in which Harry is shaped by the choices he makes.

In an 8 November 2002, Slate article, Chris Suellentrop likened Potter to a "trust-fund kid whose success at school is largely attributable to the gifts his friends and relatives lavish upon him". In a 12 August 2007 review of Deathly Hallows in The New York Times, however, Christopher Hitchens praised Rowling for "unmooring" her "English school story" from literary precedents "bound up with dreams of wealth and class and snobbery", arguing that she had instead created "a world of youthful democracy and diversity". In 2016, an article written by Diana C. Mutz compared the politics of Harry Potter to the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign. She suggests that these themes are also present in the presidential election and it may play a significant role in how Americans have responded to the campaign.

There is ongoing discussion regarding the extent to which the series was inspired by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books.

Thematic critique

The portrayal of women in Harry Potter has been described as complex and varied, but nonetheless conforming to stereotypical and patriarchal depictions of gender. Gender divides are ostensibly absent in the books: Hogwarts is coeducational and women hold positions of power in wizarding society. However, this setting obscures the typecasting of female characters and the general depiction of conventional gender roles. According to scholars Elizabeth Heilman and Trevor Donaldson, the subordination of female characters goes further early in the series. The final three books "showcase richer roles and more powerful females": for instance, the series' "most matriarchal character", Molly Weasley, engages substantially in the final battle of Deathly Hallows, while other women are shown as leaders. Hermione Granger, in particular, becomes an active and independent character essential to the protagonists' battle against evil. Yet, even particularly capable female characters such as Hermione and Minerva McGonagall are placed in supporting roles, and Hermione's status as a feminist model is debated. Girls and women are more frequently shown as emotional, more often defined by their appearance, and less often given agency in family settings.

The social hierarchy of wizards in Rowling's world has drawn debate among critics. "Purebloods" have two wizard parents; "half-bloods" have one; and "Muggle-born" wizards have magical abilities, although neither of their parents is a wizard. Lord Voldemort and his followers believe that blood purity is paramount and that Muggles are subhuman. According to the literary scholar Andrew Blake, Harry Potter rejects blood purity as a basis for social division; Suman Gupta agrees that Voldemort's philosophy represents "absolute evil"; and Nel and Eccleshare agree that advocates of racial or blood-based hierarchies are antagonists. Gupta, following Blake, suggests that the essential superiority of wizards over Muggles—wizards can use magic and Muggles cannot—means that the books cannot coherently reject anti-Muggle prejudice by appealing to equality between wizards and Muggles. Rather, according to Gupta, Harry Potter models a form of tolerance based on the "charity and altruism of those belonging to superior races" towards lesser races.

Harry Potter's's depiction of race, specifically the slavery of house-elves, has received varied responses. Scholars such as Brycchan Carey have praised the books' abolitionist sentiments, viewing Hermione's Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare as a model for younger readers' political engagement. Other critics including Farah Mendlesohn find the portrayal of house-elves "most difficult to accept": the elves are denied the right to free themselves and rely on the benevolence of others like Hermione. Pharr terms the house-elves a disharmonious element in the series, writing that Rowling leaves their fate hanging; at the end of Deathly Hallows, the elves remain enslaved and cheerful. The goblins of the world of Harry Potter have also received criticism for following antisemitic caricatures – particularly for their grotesque "hook-nosed" portrayal in the films, an appearance associated with Jewish stereotypes.

Controversies

Main articles: Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series, Religious debates over the Harry Potter series, Politics of Harry Potter, and Tanya Grotter

The books have been the subject of a number of legal proceedings, stemming from various conflicts over copyright and trademark infringements. The popularity and high market value of the series has led Rowling, her publishers, and film distributor Warner Bros. to take legal measures to protect their copyright, which have included banning the sale of Harry Potter imitations, targeting the owners of websites over the "Harry Potter" domain name, and suing author Nancy Stouffer to counter her accusations that Rowling had plagiarised her work.

Various religious fundamentalists have claimed that the books promote witchcraft and religions such as Wicca and are therefore unsuitable for children, while a number of critics have criticised the books for promoting various political agendas. The series has landed the American Library Associations' Top 10 Banned Book List in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2019 with claims it was anti-family, discussed magic and witchcraft, contained actual spells and curses, referenced the occult/Satanism, violence, and had characters who used "nefarious means" to attain goals, as well as conflicts with religious viewpoints.

The books also aroused controversies in the literary and publishing worlds. From 1997 to 1998, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won almost all the United Kingdom awards judged by children, but none of the children's book awards judged by adults, and Sandra Beckett suggested the reason was intellectual snobbery towards books that were popular among children. In 1999, the winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year award children's division was entered for the first time on the shortlist for the main award, and one judge threatened to resign if Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was declared the overall winner; it finished second, very close behind the winner of the poetry prize, Seamus Heaney's translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.

In 2000, shortly before the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the previous three Harry Potter books topped The New York Times fiction best-seller list and a third of the entries were children's books. The newspaper created a new children's section covering children's books, including both fiction and non-fiction, and initially counting only hardback sales. The move was supported by publishers and booksellers. In 2004, The New York Times further split the children's list, which was still dominated by Harry Potter books, into sections for series and individual books and removed the Harry Potter books from the section for individual books. The split in 2000 attracted condemnation, praise and some comments that presented both benefits and disadvantages of the move. Time suggested that, on the same principle, Billboard should have created a separate "mop-tops" list in 1964 when The Beatles held the top five places in its list, and Nielsen should have created a separate game-show list when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? dominated the ratings.

Legacy

Influence on literature

Sculpture of Harry Potter in Leicester Square, London, 2020
Sculpture of Harry Potter in Leicester Square, London

Harry Potter transformed children's literature. In the 1970s, children's books were generally realistic as opposed to fantastic, while adult fantasy became popular because of the influence of The Lord of the Rings. The next decade saw an increasing interest in grim, realist themes, with an outflow of fantasy readers and writers to adult works.

The commercial success of Harry Potter reversed this trend. The scale of its growth had no precedent in the children's market: within four years of the series' inception, it occupied 28% of that field by revenue. Children's literature rose in cultural status, and fantasy became a dominant genre. Older works in the genre, including Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series and Diane Duane's Young Wizards, were reprinted and rose in popularity; some authors re-established their careers. In the following decades, many Harry Potter imitators and subversive responses grew popular.

Rowling has been compared to Enid Blyton, who also wrote in simple language about groups of children and long held sway over the British children's market. She has also been described as an heir to Roald Dahl. Some critics view Harry Potter's rise, along with the concurrent success of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, as part of a broader shift in reading tastes: a rejection of literary fiction in favour of plot and adventure. This is reflected in the BBC's 2003 "Big Read" survey of the UK's favourite books, where Pullman and Rowling ranked at numbers 3 and 5, respectively, with very few British literary classics in the top 10.

Cultural impact

Further information: Harry Potter fandom
"Platform 9+3⁄4" sign on London King's Cross railway station

Harry Potter has been described as a cultural phenomenon. The word "Muggle" has spread beyond its origins in the books, entering the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003. A real-life version of the sport Quidditch was created in 2005 and featured as an exhibition tournament in the 2012 London Olympics. Characters and elements from the series have inspired scientific names of several organisms, including the dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia, the spider Eriovixia gryffindori, the wasp Ampulex dementor, and the crab Harryplax severus.

Librarian Nancy Knapp pointed out the books' potential to improve literacy by motivating children to read much more than they otherwise would. The seven-book series has a word count of 1,083,594 (US edition). Agreeing about the motivating effects, Diane Penrod also praised the books' blending of simple entertainment with "the qualities of highbrow literary fiction", but expressed concern about the distracting effect of the prolific merchandise that accompanies the book launches. However, the assumption that Harry Potter books have increased literacy among young people is "largely a folk legend".

Research by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has found no increase in reading among children coinciding with the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon, nor has the broader downward trend in reading among Americans been arrested during the rise in the popularity of the Harry Potter books. The research also found that children who read Harry Potter books were not more likely to go on to read outside the fantasy and mystery genres. NEA chairman Dana Gioia said the series, "got millions of kids to read a long and reasonably complex series of books. The trouble is that one Harry Potter novel every few years is not enough to reverse the decline in reading."

Many fan fiction and fan art works about Harry Potter have been made. In March 2007, "Harry Potter" was the most commonly searched fan fiction subject on the internet. Jennifer Conn used Snape's and Quidditch coach Madam Hooch's teaching methods as examples of what to avoid and what to emulate in clinical teaching, and Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and socialisation; stratification and social inequality; social institutions; and social theory".

From the early 2000s onwards, several news reports appeared in the UK of the Harry Potter book and movie series driving demand for pet owls, and even reports that after the end of the movie series these same pet owls were now being abandoned by their owners. This led J. K. Rowling to issue several statements urging Harry Potter fans to refrain from purchasing pet owls. Despite the media flurry, research into the popularity of Harry Potter and sales of owls in the UK failed to find any evidence that the Harry Potter franchise had influenced the buying of owls in the country or the number of owls reaching animal shelters and sanctuaries.

Awards, honours, and recognition

Further information: List of awards and nominations received by J. K. Rowling

The Harry Potter series has been recognised by a host of awards since the initial publication of Philosopher's Stone, including a platinum award from the Whitaker Gold and Platinum Book Awards (2001), three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes (1997–1999), two Scottish Arts Council Book Awards (1999 and 2001), the inaugural Whitbread children's book of the year award (1999), and the WHSmith book of the year (2006), among others. In 2000, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel, and in 2001, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won said award. Honours include a commendation for the Carnegie Medal (1997), a short listing for the Guardian Children's Award (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' choices, and best books lists of the American Library Association, The New York Times, Chicago Public Library, and Publishers Weekly.

In 2002, sociologist Andrew Blake named Harry Potter a British pop culture icon along with the likes of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes. In 2003, four of the books were named in the top 24 of the BBC's The Big Read survey of the best loved novels in the UK. A 2004 study found that books in the series were commonly read aloud in elementary schools in San Diego County, California. Based on a 2007 online poll, the US National Education Association listed the series in its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". Time magazine named Rowling as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year award, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom. Three of the books placed among the "Top 100 Chapter Books" of all time, or children's novels, in a 2012 survey published by School Library Journal: Sorcerer's Stone ranked number three, Prisoner of Azkaban 12th, and Goblet of Fire 98th.

In 2007, the seven Harry Potter book covers were depicted on a series of UK postage stamps issued by Royal Mail. In 2012, the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London featured a 100-foot tall rendition of Lord Voldemort in a segment designed to showcase the UK's cultural icons. In November 2019, the BBC listed the Harry Potter series on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

Adaptations

Further information: Wizarding World

Films

Main article: Harry Potter (film series)
The red locomotive train used as the "Hogwarts Express" in the film series. In the front it has the numbers "5912" inscripted on it
The locomotive that features as the "Hogwarts Express" in the film series

In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights for Harry Potter to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million (US$2,000,000). Rowling had creative control on the film series, observing the filmmaking process of Philosopher's Stone and serving as producer on the two-part Deathly Hallows, alongside David Heyman and David Barron. Rowling demanded the principal cast be kept strictly British and Irish, nonetheless allowing for the inclusion or French and Eastern European actors where characters from the book are specified as such.

Chris Columbus was selected as the director for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (titled "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States). Philosopher's Stone was released on 14 November 2001. Just three days after the film's release, production for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, also directed by Columbus, began and the film was released on 15 November 2002. Columbus declined to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, only acting as producer. Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón took over the job, and after shooting in 2003, the film was released on 4 June 2004. Due to the fourth film beginning its production before the third's release, Mike Newell was chosen as the director for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, released on 18 November 2005. Newell became the first British director of the series, with television director David Yates following suit after he was chosen to helm Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Production began in January 2006 and the film was released the following year in July 2007. Yates was selected to direct Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which was released on 15 July 2009. The final instalment in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in two cinematic parts: Part 1 on 19 November 2010 and Part 2 on 15 July 2011.

Spin-off prequels

Main article: Fantastic Beasts (film series)

A prequel series is planned to consist of five films, taking place before the main series. The first film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in November 2016, followed by the second Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in November 2018 and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in April 2022. Rowling wrote the screenplays for all three films, marking her foray into screenwriting.

Games

See also: Harry Potter video games

A number of non-interactive media games and board games have been released such as Cluedo Harry Potter Edition, Scene It? Harry Potter and Lego Harry Potter models, which are influenced by the themes of both the novels and films.

There are fourteen Harry Potter video games, eight corresponding with the films and books and six spin-offs. The film/book-based games are produced by Electronic Arts (EA), as was Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, with the game version of the first entry in the series, Philosopher's Stone, being released in November 2001. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone went on to become one of the best-selling PlayStation games ever. The video games were released to coincide with the films. Objectives usually occur in and around Hogwarts. The story and design of the games follow the selected film's characterisation and plot; EA worked closely with Warner Bros. to include scenes from the films. The last game in the series, Deathly Hallows, was split, with Part 1 released in November 2010 and Part 2 debuting on consoles in July 2011.

The spin-off games Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4 and Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7 were developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The spin-off games Book of Spells and Book of Potions were developed by London Studio and use the Wonderbook, an augmented reality book designed to be used in conjunction with the PlayStation Move and PlayStation Eye. The Harry Potter universe is also featured in Lego Dimensions, with the settings and side characters featured in the Harry Potter Adventure World, and Harry, Voldemort, and Hermione as playable characters. In 2017, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment opened its own Harry Potter-themed game design studio, by the name of Portkey Games, before releasing Hogwarts Mystery, developed by Jam City, in 2018 and Hogwarts Legacy, developed by Avalanche Software, in 2023.

Stage production

Main article: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I and II is a play which serves as a sequel to the books, beginning nineteen years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was written by Jack Thorne based on an original new story by Thorne, Rowling and John Tiffany. It has run at the Palace Theatre in London's West End since previews began on 7 June 2016 with an official premiere on 30 June 2016. The first four months of tickets for the June–September performances were sold out within several hours upon release. Forthcoming productions are planned for Broadway and Melbourne.

The script was released as a book at the time of the premiere, with a revised version following the next year.

Television

On 25 January 2021, it was reported that a live-action television series has been in early development at HBO Max. Though it was noted that the series has "complicated rights issues", due to a seven-year rights deal with Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution that included US broadcast, cable and streaming rights to the franchise, which ends in April 2025. On 12 April 2023, the series was confirmed to be in development, and will be streamed on the new streaming service Max (formerly known as HBO Max). On 23 February 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced that the series would debut on Max in 2026. On 25 June 2024, it was announced the series was moved from Max to HBO.

Attractions

Main articles: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter
Hogwarts Castle as depicted in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, located in Universal Orlando Resort's Island of Adventure

Universal and Warner Brothers created The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a Harry Potter-themed expansion to the Islands of Adventure theme park at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. It opened to the public on 18 June 2010. It includes a recreation of Hogsmeade and several rides; its flagship attraction is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which exists within a recreation of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In 2014 Universal opened a Harry Potter-themed area at the Universal Studios Florida theme park. It includes a recreation of Diagon Alley. The flagship attraction is the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts roller coaster ride. A completely functioning full-scale replica of the Hogwarts Express was created for the Diagon Alley expansion, connecting King's Cross Station at Universal Studios to the Hogsmeade station at Islands of Adventure. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park near Los Angeles, California in 2016, and in Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, Japan in 2014. The Osaka venue includes the village of Hogsmeade, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, and Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster. Other Harry Potter roller coasters are the Dragon Challenge and Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, both at Universal Islands of Adventure.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is a behind-the-scenes walking tour in London featuring authentic sets, costumes and props from the film series. The attraction is located at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, where all eight of the Harry Potter films were made. Warner Bros. constructed two new sound stages to house and showcase the sets from each of the British-made productions, following a £100 million investment. It opened to the public in March 2012.

Supplementary works

See also: J. K. Rowling § Philanthropy

Rowling expanded the Harry Potter universe with short books produced for charities. In 2001, she released Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (a purported Hogwarts textbook) and Quidditch Through the Ages (a book Harry reads for fun). Proceeds from the sale of these two books benefited the charity Comic Relief. In 2007, Rowling composed seven handwritten copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a collection of fairy tales that is featured in the final novel, one of which was auctioned to raise money for the Children's High Level Group, a fund for mentally disabled children in poor countries. The book was published internationally on 4 December 2008. Rowling also wrote an 800-word prequel in 2008 as part of a fundraiser organised by the bookseller Waterstones. All three of these books contain extra information about the wizarding world not included in the original novels.

In 2016, she released three new e-books: Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists and Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies.

Rowling's website Pottermore was launched in 2012. 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. The site was redesigned in 2015 as WizardingWorld and it mainly focuses on the information already available, rather than exploration.

See also

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Sources

  • Bell, Christopher, ed. (2012). Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-7137-9.
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    • Berents, Helen (2012). "Hermione Granger goes to war". In Bell, Christopher (ed.). Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts. McFarland & Company.

Further reading

External links

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