Friday, July 8, 2011

Sneak Peek 2 - History of Hogwarts Express

click to enlarge


It's not much, but lets see what we can find in this newest sneak peek to give us hints as to what's to come in Pottermore, and hopefully, how to get in early.

One of the first things I noticed is that there's secrets to unlock.  I would guess that these are all the bonus insights JK Rowling has written for Pottermore.

Also, did you see the two quills on trunk and the thing that looks like a slide carousel/eye.  I wonder what the quills designate?  But their appearance does give a strong hint to the possibility of the quill quest for early entry.

What more do you see?

Keep hitting refresh and I'll keep updating as we go!

I can't remember if we saw the "Read About" items down the left-hand side in a prior preview (yes, we did).  Will have to go check.  But it's interesting to me to think about what they represent.  Based on the detailed preview below suggesting that this section holds more information on places, characters, and creatures, I think these symbols represent:


Read About:
  • A sign of two people facing off -- characters in the story
  • A finger pointing --Places
  • A trunk -- Magical Things, or whatever items like the Hogwarts Express would be classified under
  • The Eye? --Creatures

Did you catch Neville's toad Trevor sitting on some luggage near the train?

Oh, and it's kind of fuzzy, can't be sure, but look at the golden item suspended high in the train station like a clock.  It looks almost like it has wings...almost like a Golden Snitch .

And here's the third preview!

click to enlarge

Why, Jo, why?  Why did you have to blur out all the detail?

But as we can see, there's a special section for

  • Places
  • Characters
  • Creatures
There's a scarlet quill in this picture! Did you catch it? Up above the "New from JK Rowling."

So, two pictures and three quills.  Seems to me the quill quest may be on!

Is this all?  JKR said she'd give us three previews, and she called this last one the third. Does that mean we have to go 3 weeks with nothing new to taunt us???

To see the prior sneak peeks, look at Pottermore The Final Reveal and Pottermore Previews.

Also, we're discussing eye imagery in these previews in the comment trail.  For more thoughts on how JK Rowling has used eye imagery throughout the series, check out these posts: That Deathly Hallows Symbol and  Mad-Eye's Mad Eye.

    19 comments:

    1. I think Jo is trying to kill us with these little tidbits :D

      We'll learn more about Hogwarts Express! Yay!

      I'm pretty sure that we'll have to do something in order to 'unlock' the information she's hidden there, but I hope that it won't be too hard - I'm so not good at riddles!

      I absolutely LOVE the look of it! And we can save the entries to our Favourites too - awesome!

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    2. Also in this chapter: Places, Characters, Creatures - more information?!

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    3. "It looks almost like it has wings...almost like a golden Snitch" - I thought it was a clock...

      And what's that blueish thing at the forefront? Looks like a chocolate frog to me. But maybe I'm just seeing things :D

      It won't be fuzzy like this when Pottermore opens, right?

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    4. Farida -- thanks for catching my goof! I put in my tweet that I thought is was a clock shaped like a snitch, but skipped the clock part here. Typing too fast.

      You're right, that does look something like a chocolate frog card. I'm assuming they've fuzzed up some stuff for the preview. Definitely on the detail page.! :-(

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    5. There's quills in both pictures! I know these are probably permanent parts of the Pottermore site, but it does fit with the theory that we will be on a quill quest to get in early!

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    6. Guys, hit refresh if you haven't recently, as I've updated since first posting.

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    7. The thing under the trunk (which looks a bit like an eye to me) had me curious too. It shows up in one of the other preview images. =D

      Anyways, awhile back I was clue hunting and I was going over the background to pottermore (http://assets.pottermore.com/emcp/css/images/bg.jpg) with a fine toothed comb and I noticed something. Look at the wood carving in the center of the desk, (just under the tail of the owl) it looks a lot like our mysterious eye like symbol.

      Also, did you notice? There are no mysterious numbers next to the owl in this preview.

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    8. also, that thing that you guys are saying looks like a chocolate frog card, is actually a bag with a P badge on it (Percy's perfect badge?) You can see it clearly in the old hogwarts express preview image. (http://press.pottermore.com/launch/Pottermore_HogwartsExpress_230611.jpg)

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    9. also, that thing that you guys are saying looks like a chocolate frog card, is actually a bag with a P badge on it - Yeah, I can see it now :))

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    10. Roxanne -- is the prefect badge the thing you were talking about looks a bit like an eye in your first post?

      I noticed that about the missing numbers next to the owl. Still very curious about that, as well as the quills.

      Going to look at the desk now.

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    11. No, the eye like symbol that im referring to is what you called "The slide carousel". =D

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    12. Places
      Characters
      Creatures
      Things -- or whatever Hogwarts Express is

      and there are 4 items under Read About

      In some of those prior previews, there were only 2 items or 3 under Read About.

      So, I'm assuming those 4 sign-pots point to these 4 items.

      Am updating now.

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    13. Does that mean we have to go 3 weeks with nothing new to taunt us??? - How shall we ever manage? - :D

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    14. Roxanne -- do you think that eye could be a creature eye? (Still looks like a slide carousel to me!)

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    15. I have no idea what it is. I've just been calling it an eye since that's what it reminds me of. Did you see it carved into the desk at pottermore?

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    16. It looks like a roulette to me. And there is something stuck there... some tiny bits... Maybe we'll have to press it and it'll go round or something?

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    17. Roxanne -- just looked at the Pottermore desk, and you're right. It does resemble an eye. It's just so blury. I think Farida's right too in that the thing on today's release also looks like a roulette table. But a roulette table seems out of place in JKR's world. The slots are jut so precise. That's why it reminded me of a slide carousel, but I knew it couldn't be that, as it would be out of place as well, and plus is outdated.

      An eye, though, she uses eye imagery tremendously in her work, especially the Eye of Horus and the Turkish evil eye bead.

      I'm going to post two links at the bottom to posts I've done on those.

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    18. Pottermore apparently has an official blog now:

      http://insider.pottermore.com/

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    19. Guys, I've posted with a possible new clue to early entry for Pottermore, with help from one of this blog's commentators. Check: http://bit.ly/pufK8I

      And Roxanne -- thanks for the tip on the Pottermore blog. I'm sorry I didn't respond then as I was at LeakyCon!

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