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The author, who turned 55 this year, and the wizard were both bornon July 31.
Fans can all agree that Rowling's world-building is superb ― andthe whimsical names she gave her charactersare no exception. On Pottermore, she revealed that, early in the creative process, she came up withnames for 40 Hogwarts students in Harry's year― every member of the Golden Trio included.
For example, Harry's namereferences his leadership qualitiesand Ron's pertains to his role as a sidekick.
"Harry" is the middle-English version of "Henry," a name popular among English kings through the centuries. For "Ronald," Rowling seemingly looked to the Old Norse "Rögnvaldr," a title for a ruler's adviser.
In contrast, Hermione's name, taken from Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" (and Greek mythology, more broadly) has less to do with her own traits than with her Muggle parents' desire to pick a clever moniker.
Many people,celebs included, strongly identify with a specific Hogwarts house.
You might be surprised to learn, then, that Rowling first wrote down the words Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff on the back of an airplane vomit bag. She revealed this tidbiton Twitter in 2017.
According to Pottermore (which has since become Wizarding World), Harry Pottershares a name with his great-grandfather.
Although this ancestor ― who lived in the late 19th century and early 20th century ― doesn't appear in the books, his timeline would intersect with the "Fantastic Beasts" era.
At a glance, plant names like "Mugwort" and "toadflax" sound like words pulled from Rowling's boundless imagination. But these flora actually exist in the Muggle world.
As the author explainedin a 2003 interview with CBS' "60 Minutes,"the plants in the series come from a compendium called "The Complete Herbal" by English botanist and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper.
Nicolas Flamel, the eponymous sorcerer from "Sorcerer's Stone," was a French businessman and scribe born in the 14th century. The real Flamel's connection to alchemy, embellished after his death, is at best tenuous.
Scotland's capital is teeming with Gothic architecture, cobblestone streets, and narrow passageways.
Rowlingwas enchanted by the city's locales, fromGreyfriars Kirkyard― where the "real" Tom Riddle is buried ― to George Heriot's School, a private institution whose turreted building inspired Hogwarts.
You can even visitthe cafes where Harry's story began, namely The Elephant House, the so-called "Birthplace of Harry Potter" ― be sure to check out the bathroom, which is covered in Potter-centric graffiti left by fans over the years ― andSpoon, a restaurant that Rowling frequented in its former incarnation as Nicolson's Cafe.
Forget Voldemort ― one-time Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Dolores Umbridge has been deemed one of fiction's creepiest villains by none other than famed horror writer Stephen King.
"The gently smiling Dolores Umbridge, with her girlish voice, toadlike face, and clutching, stubby fingers, is the greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter," King wrote inhis 2009 review of "Order of the Phoenix" for Entertainment Weekly.
It's no secret that Rowling, whostudied Classical languages and mythologyat Exeter University, is familiar with Latin.
Not only do the series'many spellscome from that ancient language ― but also so does Hogwarts' motto, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" ("Never tickle a sleeping dragon").
“你知道的,大多数学校的口号是这个ngs like persevere and nobility, clarity, and fidelity or something, it just amused me to give an entirely practical piece of advice for the Hogwarts school motto," Rowling explainedin a 2005 BBC interview.
Magical creatures aside, there were a slew of ordinary animals in the Harry Potter movies ― and they were overseen by a separate animal production team.
Four different owlsplayed Harry's bird, Hedwig and over a dozen rats portrayed Ron's pet rodent, Scabbers.
Sellingmore than 500 million copies worldwide, the "Harry Potter" books have been translated into 80 different languages — recently,Scots, a language spoken as a first language by90,000 people.
Prior to a creative row with Rowling, Steven Spielberg was pegged to direct "Sorcerer's Stone" ― and he wanted Haley Joel Osment (of "Sixth Sense" fame) to play the Chosen One.
In fact, Daniel Radcliffe beat out more than 300 child actors for the part of a lifetime,according to The Telegraph.
One of themost notable differences between the books and the moviesis mischievous Hogwarts ghost Peeves' absence from the film adaptations.
已故的英国喜剧演员和演员里克梅奥尔actually cast as the poltergeist in "Sorcerer's Stone" — but director Chris Columbus cut Mayall's scenes after a few weeks of shooting because he didn't like the look of the character onscreen.
"It was three weeks later, so I was in the film for around three weeks and then they cut me out. But I still got the money," Mayall saidduring an interview for his 2011 film "When Evil Calls: The Raven.""So that is the most exciting film I've ever been in because I got the oodle and I wasn't in it. Fantastic."
When she was in her 20s, Rowling struggled with depression.
During an interview with Oprah Winfrey, she shared that Dementors are based on the "hollowed-out feeling" of depression.
"I know sadness. Sadness is to cry and to feel. But it's that cold absence of feeling — that really hollowed-out feeling. That's what Dementors are," she said.
Character deaths are one of the narrative elements that Rowling plotted in advance.
Originally, she planned for Ron's dad, Arthur Weasley,to meet a grim fate in "Order of the Phoenix"— but she changed her mind.
"I think part of the reason for that is there were very few good fathers in the book," she saidin an interview with "Today" in 2007. "In fact, you could make a very good case for Arthur Weasley being the only good father in the whole series."
Early proofs and print-outs of "Deathly Hallows" were given humorousred-herring titlessuch as "Edinburgh Potmakers" and "The Life and Times of Clara Rose Lovett: An epic novel covering many generations."
One of the "Harry Potter" costume designers, Jany Temime, previously told Insider that actress Evanna Lynch helped craft a lot of her character's jewelry.
In particular, Lynch made Luna's famous beaded, radish-shaped earrings herself.
"It was an excellent collaboration," Temime recalled. "She was a very clever kid to work with."
Since they included silk ties and wool sweaters, the Hogwarts uniforms were some of the most expensive costumes in the series to make.
"I never wanted to use anything but the most perfect material," she previously told Insider. "The ties are in silk, we used wool [for the sweaters], we used a very expensive material for the gowns."
But Temime said theselooks were worth the investmentsince "Harry Potter" film shoots could last a while and cheaper materials "would have looked terrible after one month."
FromQuidditch sequencestothe flying books in Hogwarts' library, green-screen technology played an essential part in bringing the magic of the "Harry Potter" universe to the big screen.
Not every special effect, however, was added post-production. Animatronics were used for creaturessuch as Professor Sprout's baby mandrakesand the "Monster Book of Monsters." There was also an animatronic Buckbeak used for close-up shots of the Hippogriff.
The brooms were crafted from airplane-grade titanium.
"People think of them as a prop the kids are carrying around, but in reality, they have to sit on them," Eddie Newquist, chief creative officer of Global Entertainment Services — the firm responsible for The Harry Potter Exhibition ―told Popular Mechanicsin 2011.
"They have to be mounted onto motion-control bases for green-screen shots and special-effects shots, so they have to be very thin and incredibly durable," he added.
Although some of the food that appeared in the "Harry Potter" movies was made from painted resin, there were edible items in the mixfor the feast scene in "Goblet of Fire."
If you want to eat like a Hogwarts student, you can try some of the magical offerings at Universal Studios' Wizarding World of Harry Potter,from butterbeer to bangers and mash.
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