MuggleCast 46 Transcript
Show Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: Because Sunday just wouldn’t exist without it (thank you Kristen, 18, of Massachusetts) – this is MuggleCast Episode 46 for July 01st, 2006.
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Hello, everyone and welcome to this LIVE – oh, wait. No it’s not.
Ben: Whoops!
Kevin: Ooops!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Ben: I am Ben Schoen.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Jamie: And I’m still last, even after being away for ages.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Andrew: Three cohosts return this week. Kevin and Jamie, you’ve been off for a while. And Laura, we just don’t care about you.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: But yeah, we were going to the LIVE podcast this week, and SkypeCast apparently cannot handle our awesomeness.
Ben: We’re too much!
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Laura: Apparently.
Ben: MuggleCast is too hot to handle.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: There’s the title for this week’s show, “Too Hot To Handle.”
Andrew: “Too…” Perfect! Perfect! I love it!
Ben: Do that.
Andrew: All right, so before we do anything else, we already have a title already let’s just wrap the show up now.
Ben: Yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Goodnight everyone! Micah Tannenbaum is standing by in the MuggleCast News center with the latest Harry Potter news stories.
News
Micah: Back in May, Bloomsbury co-founder Liz Calder predicted that the seventh book in the Potter series would be released in 2007. Now, a new article released by Reuters also predicts the aforementioned:
USA Today wanted to know which characters the “experts” thought were going to die in Book 7, so they asked Emerson and Melissa from The Leaky Cauldron to give some odds. If you head over to MuggleNet.com, you can read the full article. And even though they called them separately, notice the similarity of the numbers we provided – must be that love connection.
For their work on Goblet of Fire, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have been nominated for SyFy Genre awards in the categories of best actor and best actress, respectively. Well, we hope. The pair also picked up nominations for best young actor, and the fourth Harry Potter movie is up for best movie. Voting will commence on July 10th, finishing 30 days later.
James Walters, young Sirius Black, recently did an interview with Harry Potter FanZone in which he discussed the Order of the Phoenix set, how he landed the role, other cast members, filming, and director David Yates.
The Queen’s 80th birthday celebration at Buckingham Palace took place last Sunday and a report by CBBC Newsround stated that JK Rowling was one of the first stars to arrive. Additionally, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Matthew Lewis were in attendance to see the show. There is video, photographs, screen caps, and reports available from the birthday bash over on MuggleNet.com.
And on Monday, Jo did a rare, live interview on UK talk show Richard & Judy where she revealed some interesting information. Again video, transcript, and screenshots from the interview are available on MuggleNet.com. She discussed the potential of Harry Potter being killed in the final book and said “one character got a reprieve” and “two die that I didn’t intend to die.” And while JK didn’t divulge the characters on the show, she did sit down and talk to me afterwards, revealing just who was saved and the duo that she killed. And this is earth-shattering news: the two who die are **** and **** while the one who received the reprieve is ****. Can you all believe that?
That’s all the news for this July 01st, 2006 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.
Andrew: All right. Thank you, Micah. [laughs] Or should I say Miz-ike-ah, recommended by Katie Brown.
Jamie: Or, or, or M to the T Dawg.
Andrew: Oooh.
Kevin: Oooh, getting fancy.
Andrew: Or how about, Sir Baums-alot. [laughs]
Ben: Oooh.
Jamie: Sir Baums-alot.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: That’s funny on a few different levels.
Ben: Dude, you can’t say “bomb” on Skype.
Andrew: That’s from… [laughs] Yeah, I forgot.
Ben: What did you…
[Kevin laughs]
Jamie: Funny – it is funny on a few different levels. It is.
Andrew: It is. It is. That one comes from Kaitlyn, 16, from Chicago. [laughs] Keep the names coming.
Announcements
Andrew: All right, so as we said MuggleCast LIVE did not work out like we hyped up so much and we’re going to be…
Ben: Well, you hyped up.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: I was excited, what can I say? We’re working on getting a streaming server. We had a couple of people e-mail us in to help us out, but it looks like Jeremy is going to help us set up an entire system where we can stream the show, and as many people can come in as they want, and there won’t be any problems. It’ll work a lot better then SkypeCast.
Las Vegas and New York City are quickly approaching. We remind everyone to visit LeakyMug.com, our brand-new Leaky Mug website – in association with PotterCast and The Leaky Cauldron. [clears throat] You can RSVP for either show or both of them just by going there. You can also find out information on The Leaky Mug, about the cohosts, and Mucho Moro.
Coming To America
Andrew: Jamie…
Ben: Moro?
Andrew: [clears throat] …you haven’t been on the show for a while, but you’re always IMing us and letting us know how excited you are for this podcast.
Jamie: I am. I am.
Andrew: Why don’t you let everyone know.
Jamie: I am ridiculously excited.
Ben: Jamie, Jamie?
Jamie: Yes, Ben?
Ben: If you had to use two words to describe…
Jamie: Yeah?
Ben: …how excited – two words to describe how you’re feeling about Vegas, would you say proud and excited?
Jamie: That – yes!
Ben: Would that be a fair assessment.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: I’d say, I’d say, I’d say proud, excited, pleased – oh, that’s three words!
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: No, I am. I am so excited. If I try to speak to say the words how excited I am, they won’t come out. Just because the English language can’t convey such excitement, in fact.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, now you’re probably giving people the impression that you’re being sarcastic. [laughs]
Ben: He – no…
Jamie: No, okay. Sorry, I am actually not being sarcastic. I’m not being sarcastic. I actually can’t wait.
Andrew: This is your second trip back to the US, isn’t it?
Jamie: It is, but I’m not used to such heat so I am actually just going to melt…
Andrew: Ohhh…
Jamie: …and be a puddle on the floor.
Kevin: Oh, okay.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: The climate…
Jamie: No, seriously, 106 degrees – the closest I’ve gotten to that is like sticking my head in an oven, which I do do regularly, obviously. You know?
[Everyone laughs]
Kevin: That’s his self-tanning method.
Jamie: It’s a British custom.
Andrew: And then…
Jamie: It’s a British custom.
Andrew: And then, let’s tell people about your trip. Then after Vegas, you’re actually staying at my house.
Ben: Me…
Jamie: Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
Andrew: Which is going to be totally weird – with Ben.
Ben: Me, me and – Jamie and I are going to cuddle.
Andrew: We’re going to…
Jamie: We are going to cuddle!
Andrew: We’re going to show you a time in Medford.
Kevin: [laughs] Oh yeah!
Andrew: [laughs] You just wait!
Kevin: A great time there!
Andrew: Boy, oh boy! Oh darn, I gave out my location. And then we’re going to go up to New York City and it’s all going to be a lot of fun.
So, don’t forget, LeakyMug.com.
Back To Announcements
Andrew: Also, Jamie’s favorite announcement – buy a MuggleCast t-shirt.
Jamie: Oh yeah!
Andrew: Or else you have no reason to live.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: Please, please, please buy them. I mean, we’ve never mentioned it before, but we do need to finally, you know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: It’s just…
Ben’s Top 10 Reasons To Buy 11 More MuggleCast T-Shirts
Ben: Hey, guys?
Jamie: What, Ben?
Ben: I have a special – a very special Top 10 list this week.
Andrew: Ohhh.
Jamie: Oooh.
Laura: Gasp!
Ben: That has to go in right now, okay?
Andrew: Ohhh. Geez. All right. Okay.
Ben: This is dire. Just give me one second to pull it up.
Andrew: Okay.
Ben: Top 10 list has been gone for quite some time, okay? And so, it is absolutely essential we bring it back this week. And here’s why: the Top 10 Reasons To Buy 11 More MuggleCast T-Shirts.
Andrew: Was this created by you or someone else?
Jamie: Oh my god!
Ben: Someone sent this in.
Andrew: Oh okay.
Ben: Thanks to Kate.
Andrew: Oh okay.
Ben: Since everyone bought one for National T-Shirt Day, of course. Okay.
No. 10: Support MuggleCast so that it can be brought to your iPod every week.
No. 9: Andrew worked so hard to get his bill passed by Congress to make a National MuggleCast T-Shirt Day in the first place. [Andrew and Laura laugh]
No. 8: The MuggleCasters will be able to afford food in Nevada for the LIVE podcast.
Jamie: That’s a true one.
Ben:
No. 7: Because we might as well make June, National Wear Your MuggleCast T-Shirt Month and you’ll need more as they wear out.
No 6: You have to buy them or you can’t listen to the show, which becomes the new rule for MuggleCast.
Andrew: Oh, I like that.
[Laura laughs]
Ben: No. 5: You can look cool in your Abercrombie and Fitch and your Aeropostale, but seriously, how about a nice 100% cotton black MuggleCast t-shirt?
Andrew: [laughs] Oh yeah.
Jamie: [laughs] Fruits of the Loom.
[Laura and Andrew laugh]
Andrew: Yeah. It’s not even Fruits of the Loom. [laughs]
Jamie: Oh my god, if it’s not Fruits of the Loom, then…
Andrew: Forget it!
Ben: Hey, here’s – here’s my favorite.
Andrew: What?
Ben: Here’s my favorite.
Andrew: What?
Ben: No. 4: You’re going to be paying for Jamie’s food because he’s poor…
Jamie: I am.
[Laura laughs]
Ben: …and he’s living on the streets and has pieced together a computer and headset with stale scraps of bread…
[Andrew gasps]
Jamie: I have.
Ben: …an empty toilet roll – toilet paper roll holder and a old spoon to record the show.
[Everyone laughs throughout]
Jamie: And, and, and, and the tears of small children as well.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: Yeah. No 3…
Jamie: That is a Chuck Norris quote. Hey Ben, also?
Ben: Yeah?
Jamie: If it’s your favorite, why isn’t it No. 1? That’s like saying “My Top 10 Favorite Places” and my favorite is No. 4. Why isn’t it…
Ben: Hey, hey, be quiet.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: No. 3: A portion of the MuggleCast t-shirt revenue goes to supplying JKR with lined paper
Jamie: Yes.
Ben: No. 2: Although you don’t know who manufactures Tootsie Rolls, [laughs] you do know who makes MuggleCast t-shirts, and you know you’re going to get your money’s worth from MuggleCast.
And No. 1: MuggleCast t-shirts are made out of a special synthetic fabric. And in like one year there is going to be something big that happens and all the clothing in the entire world is going to deteriorate. And all we’re going to have left are these MuggleCast t-shirts. So, if you want clothing, buy a MuggleCast t-shirt.
Andrew: [laughs] Da da da da da!
Laura: Please.
Ben: So, there’s the Top 10 Reasons To Buy 11 More MuggleCast T-Shirts.
Andrew: I thought it was going to say there was a special chemical that’s going to make it degrade into pieces and force people to buy a new one.
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: Yeah.
Kevin: But that’s not a bad idea.
Last Two Announcements
Ben: But, one final announcement.
Andrew: No, we – I still have one.
Ben: But, one more announcement before we go to Andrew’s. I’m starting a segment starting next week called “Ben’s Mailbag”.
Andrew: Awww.
Ben: The packages he hasn’t sent Jamie, Laura or anyone else. No, no.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, no kidding. Let’s do that.
Ben: No, actually, actually, I’d like to take the time right now (next week I’ll actually start a real segment), but I’d like to take the time right now to thank two special souls for sending me Subway gift cards. Thank you very much. I forgot.
Andrew: Okay, now just one more piece of business here. As some of you may know the second annual Podcast Awards start on July 01st and the Podcast Awards are recognized around the podcasting community as the pinnacle of all podcasting recognition. So, this year, we want to enter the Podcast Awards and we’re shooting for the categories of “Podcast of the Year” and “Best Entertainment Podcast.” I definitely think we’re able to – we’d be able to get in.
Jamie: Andrew?
Andrew: What?
Jamie: Sorry, we’re in one more category, as well. It’s “Best Podcast Called MuggleCast.” We’re the only…
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Funny.
Andrew: That’s funny, yeah. [laughs]
Ben: That was lame as hell.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Jamie: I hope we win. I hope we win.
Andrew: You’re “Sir” – I’m going to name you “Sir Baums-A-Lot.” Oh!
Jamie: Hey!
Andrew: [laughs] So, the first phase of these awards is the nomination process which is done by you guys, the listeners, and we have complete faith in being able to pick up a nomination. So, we are asking you for your help. To nominate MuggleCast visit PodcastAwards.com and fill out the nomination form. A link can be found on MuggleCast.com, as well. The form asks for the name of the Podcast you’re nominating, which is MuggleCast; the Podcast URL, which is www.MuggleCast.com; your name; your email address, which is used to verify your nomination. There is also a comment box where you let the judges know why you think the Podcast is deserving of being nominated to the category. So, please help us out and again, voting begins on July 1st and runs through July 15th. We ask everyone to support this show by nominating us and we thank everyone very, very much in advance. Then, the Podcast Awards Ceremony – awards show – is late September at the Portable Media Expo and last year…
Ben: In Ontario, California.
Kevin: Oooh.
Andrew: Yeah, and we really, really…
Kevin: Would like to go to California.
Andrew: …would like to win this.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, that too, but…[laughs]
Kevin: Yeah. We really want to go to California so please nominate us.
Andrew: No, but seriously, we really would love to win the award…
Kevin: Go to California.
Andrew: …and show all the podcasters out there that Harry Potter Podcast can…
Ben: We’re the best.
Andrew: Yeah, there you go. So, thank you, everyone and visit MuggleCast.com for information.
Ben: And also… And in order to finance our future trip to California, purchase a MuggleCast t-shirt today.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: There you go!
Jamie: Or eleven of them.
Ben: I love it.
Andrew: That does it for this week’s announcements.
Listener Rebuttals – Pyramids of Furmat
Andrew: Now moving on to Listener Rebuttals. Megan, 14 of New Jersey – representing. Megan writes:
Andrew: [laughs] So yeah, I sort of missed that or I could just say that JK Rowling added that to the Rumors portion of her site after the show came out. I’ll stick with that one.
Listener Rebuttals – Chariots of Light
Andrew: Next up, Kalie, 15, from California. She writes – and this is a really interesting theory here, to extend on my Book 7 theory, title theory, whatever you want to call it:
Okay.
And she writes:
And this was Lady Lupin, Editorial #3. So, she was wondering if we had any input on that. I think that’s really interesting.
Jamie: It is interesting.
Andrew: Because, and I’ll quote again, “The Chariot represents the understanding and harmonizing – harmonizing…” [laughs]
Kevin: Andrew can talk!
Andrew: “…harmonizing of opposing forces to bring about an end to strife and difficulty.” So…
Jamie: Where did this title come from, The Chariots of Light?
Andrew: Well, it’s basically…
Jamie: Did you make it up, Andrew?
Andrew: No – yes, I made it up.
Jamie: Okay.
Andrew: No. [laughs] I called JK Rowling. No, the UK Patent and Trademark Office…
Jamie: Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Andrew: You know all that? You might have heard about that a while ago.
Jamie: Like that C-Trading Company or something, wasn’t it?
Andrew: Yeah, so they’ve withdrawn all the bogus trademarks, except for three: Pyramids of Furmat – I don’t even know why they have that anymore. Maybe because she brought it up on her Rumors page.
Jamie: No, no, it’s not – I don’t think it’s going to be for, I don’t think it’s going to be for books or anything. It’s going to be for, like, merchandise, and board games, trading cards.
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: Just stuff like that, which it could be useful for. Or, it could just be a complete ploy.
Kevin: It probably is a ploy.
Andrew: Right, well…
Jamie: Create a discussions.
Andrew: Well, listen…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: The thing was, they had fifteen other titles already trademarked, but then they withdrew them and the only ones that are trademarked right now are the titles of all the books, and those three last titles. And Half-Blood Prince was actually registered back in 2003…
Jamie: By who?
Andrew: …but it came out… By Warner Brothers or whoever’s trademark it is.
Jamie: Yeah, but the thing is, they don’t own the – they shouldn’t own the trademark to the books.
Andrew: Yeah, they do. They own the rights.
Jamie: What?
Andrew: They own the rights to the name and stuff so they can’t go printing it – so people can’t go printing it on shirts and…
Jamie: Wait, wait, wait. Warner Brothers owned the name?
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah. I think so.
Andrew: I’m pretty sure it’s Warner Brothers, yeah.
Jamie: They aren’t the publishing company or have anything to do with books.
Andrew: No, but they don’t underwrite it because…
Kevin: It doesn’t matter, though, because they don’t want people infringing on that name, is what’s happening.
Andrew: Right.
Laura: No, because I’m opening my book up right now and it says, “Copyright 2005, Warner Brothers.”
Jamie: But, ummm…
Andrew: In the book?
Laura: Yeah, in the book.
Andrew: I never knew it said it in the book. [laughs] Geez. Huh, that’s interesting.
Jamie: That is weird.
Andrew: Nonetheless… Okay, so Pyramids of Furmat is a dud and not going to happen, but this Chariots of Light is very convincing. So, mark my words, I have the title to Book 7.
Ben: Yeah.
Jamie: Well, I think it’s interesting, but I don’t know. I don’t think – I think it’s…
Andrew: I understand this skeptic – buh buh buh – the skepticism…
Jamie: I’ve got to have skepticism about this.
Laura: It just doesn’t sound – I don’t know.
Kevin: I would think that, as she gets closer to completing the book, we’re going to see a bunch of possible titles pop up on the copyright site and we’ll have to guess which one it is.
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: Right. I think Chariots of Fire is the music that plays when you’re in the cornfield with Emma and you’re…
Ben: Yeah, yeah.
Jamie: …moving towards…
Ben: How does it go, Jamie?
Jamie: It goes, din-din-din-din-din-bam-bam. And then, “Oh, Emma.” “Oh, Ben.” “Oh, Emma.” “Oh, Ben.” “Oh, Emma.” “Oh, Ben.” “Oh, Ben.” “Oh, Emma.” “Bemma.” “Bemma.” “Ben.” “Em.” “Emma.” “Bem.”
[Everyone laughs]
Listener Rebuttal – Rowena’s Horcrux
Andrew: All right, next rebuttal…
Ben: We found our blooper.
Andrew: …Morgan, 15, of Seattle:
End quote.
Jamie: And that’s the end of that one? That’s the end of that one?
Andrew: Yes. I said it, I said it. [pretend cough] “I love you, Andrew.” End quote. So…[laughs]
Jamie: Okay, can I start this?
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Okay. I would say that it was mentioned in the book that, specifically, Voldemort liked trophies and a book or a quill – I mean, a book, obviously his diary, but that’s completely different to just a normal book. It seems like it would have to be a lot more important than a book or a quill…
Laura: He likes shiny things.
Jamie: …to be used as a Horcrux. Yeah, but I just think that it would have to be more important than that.
Kevin: Yeah, I think so, too.
Listener Rebuttals – Memories
Andrew: Chase, 17, of Illinois writes, quote:
Laura: [correcting pronunciation] Occlumency.
Andrew: Occul-lu…
Laura: [correcting pronunciation] Occlumency!
Andrew: Occ-u…Occ-u…wah wah…
Laura: [correcting pronunciation] Occlumency!
Andrew: Occu…Occu…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew:
So, what do you think, Ben? This was your theory on last week’s show.
Ben: I think – I’m pretty sure, I’m still pretty sure that the memory’s still there. Because, that wouldn’t make sense for the memory to disappear completely from your mind. That’s like saying – no, that just wouldn’t make sense.
Laura: Well, I understand where you are coming from, but I’ve just been sort of re-reading Order of the Phoenix and whenever Snape is about to teach Harry, he removes the memories because he doesn’t want Harry to see them…
Kevin: That’s true, yeah.
Laura: …and if they weren’t there…
Kevin: You won’t be able to access them. Yep.
Laura: If they were, Harry would be able to see them.
Kevin: What would be the point of putting them in the Pensieve if it’s not going to hide them?
Andrew: Oooh alas.
Laura: Not to mention, Dumbledore said, “If like me, you find that your memory is crowded, you can remove memories and put them in the Pensieve.”
Jamie: But, when they say…
Ben: I don’t think…
Jamie: Has that been anywhere in the books, where it says that if you take one out, you create space for new memories, or is it just…
Laura: [laughs] Is it like a computer, Jamie?
Ben: I don’t think – I don’t think it’s like a hard drive. Like, if you have a hard drive up there, you can only have so many memories. It does work like that.
Jamie: Then it crashes.
Ben: Yeah, then it crashes.
Jamie: It crashes.
Laura: I don’t think it’s meant to be that way. I think it’s more of a method of protection.
Jamie: What, so that if you get captured and tortured…
Laura: Well, yeah, so that no one can shove Veritaserum down your throat.
Ben: But, there’s no way that’s true because, because why would Dumbledore leave his basin with his memories in it sitting out there in plain view?
Laura: Well, it wasn’t really in plain view. He had it…
Ben: What happens if he spills it? What if you spill your Pensieve?
Kevin: Yeah, but you don’t know what type of protection is on that.
Ben: Harry just dived right into it.
Kevin: Yeah, but that’s Dumbledore.
Laura: Well, maybe Dumbledore meant for him to see it.
Kevin: Exactly, I mean…
Laura: It just doesn’t make sense that he would have a place to store his memories if he didn’t have a reason to store them there.
Kevin: Not to mention, remember the fact that Dumbledore put the enchantment on the Mirror of Erised, so that you couldn’t get the stone unless you actually needed it. I mean, what prevents him from putting something like that on…
Ben: I think the reason that Dumbledore was using a Pensieve to store his memories, was so that after he was gone – he knew his death was imminent – that it would make sense for him to have that, so someone like Harry could use the knowledge that he’s accrued through all of these years to be able to become successful on his journey to defeat Voldemort.
Laura: But then, why would Snape store his memories in the Pensieve?
Ben: I don’t know. I mean, like, for example, the one memory that Snape had of – the one memory. “Snape’s Worst Memory” – the chapter that’s in Order of the Phoenix. It’s the case where, maybe, he had a crush on Lily Evans, and maybe the case where that’s the only memory he has of her so he wants to keep it safe.
Jamie: No, but like…
Ben: It doesn’t make sense for you to say that if you extract it from your head, that you never…
Jamie: It could be, though. It could be, though.
Kevin: No, but…
Ben: That the only way you can read…
Jamie: Because…
Ben: How would that make sense?
Kevin: You would have a recollection but you wouldn’t have the memory itself. You know what I mean?
Ben: But, what defines a memory, though?
Jamie: But, Ben, Ben, Ben. Say, if you took out the visual memory of Snape’s worst memory, yeah? He could probably still see in his mind the words, “This time, they pick me up and put me down,” but he couldn’t see it visually. Maybe that’s it.
Ben: That doesn’t make sense.
Jamie: Well, I’m sorry, Ben. [laughs]
Ben: You should be.
Jamie: You clearly have a doctorate in…
[Ben laughs]
Jamie: …I don’t know, wizard memories.
Laura: Yeah, well, it doesn’t make sense that Snape would take those memories out to protect them from Harry seeing them, and then have Harry…
Kevin: Exactly, yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Laura: …be able to have access to them.
Andrew: That’s really convincing and…[laughs]
Jamie: Yes.
Character Discussion: The Dark Lord
Andrew: Character discussion this week will be returning back, or – well, we’re bringing the segment back. We haven’t done it in a couple of shows.
Ben: Actually, it was two weeks ago. The week you were gone, we did it.
Andrew: That’s a couple. That’s a couple.
Ben: Okay.
[Andrew and Ben laugh]
Andrew: We are going to discuss Voldemort. We saved Voldemort for this week because we were doing a live show, but now, we’ll do it prerecorded, anyway [laughs]. So, Tom Marvolo Riddle, otherwise known as Lord Voldemort, possibly the greatest dark wizard of all time, was born to Merope Gaunt on December 31, 1926. Voldemort [laughs] grew up shunned by his father, this being the reason he hates Muggles and anyone associated with them. He is extremely powerful, using his talents to commit such unimaginable atrocities, that many witches and wizards fear speaking his name, and replace it instead with, quote, “You, hyphen…
Laura: Oh my god!
Andrew: …Know, hyphen, Who.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: And…
Laura: [laughs] Just say it!
Andrew: What?!
Jamie: Andrew. Andrew?
Andrew: [laughs] …He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. All right! I’ll get rid of the hyphens! Sorry!
Jamie: Quote, “H – E, hyphen, W H O…”
Andrew: [laughs] Well, I don’t want to say it! Voldemort returned to power at the end of Goblet of Fire and is now obsessed with finding out how to destroy The Boy Who Lived.
MuggleCast In Parseltounge
Jamie: Can I just say, in like…
Andrew: What?
Jamie: Well, two things. In about four episodes time, can we do a MuggleCast Parseltongue edition?
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: Everything’s in Parseltongue.
Andrew: Yeah. Good one.
Laura: Yeah, because I have my Parseltongue…
Andrew: Do it.
Jamie: Yeah. Let’s do that.
Laura: …books right beside me. I’m studying it.
Voldemort – Evil By Nature Or Nurture?
Jamie: Yeah, exactly. I thought we all did. What about – you’ve put that he’s extremely powerful, using his talents to commit such unimaginable atrocities that many witches and wizards fear speaking his name. Is that because, I mean do you think it’s only him that could become this powerful and use these talents, or is it like – or is it just that any person can do it, but nobody is evil enough, apart from him, to do it?
Andrew: Well, Jamie, I think that he was born completely evil because his mother was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.
Kevin: I don’t think anyone’s born evil.
Jamie: No, and Andrew, you can’t really say that because, well, I mean, it’s not like you’ve bought…
Andrew: What?
Jamie: Well, Hitler’s, I think grandsons or great-grandsons, you know, are completely, absolutely disgusted by him. And they’ve just said that they aren’t having any children because – just so…
Andrew: Well, no, I…
Jamie: …you know, the can’t continue his bloodline.
Andrew: Yeah, but this is the magic world and there could be something in the bloodline that’s…
Jamie: I know. It’s just – it’s just interesting, you know, to make the comparison.
Kevin: I’m one of those people who don’t blame the kids for the sins of the father, I guess, kind of.
Jamie: No, same. I agree, I agree. That’s because you are a Dave Matthews…
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: …Band fan.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: What do you think, Laura?
Laura: Well, I think that it’s kind of important to mention, when we first met Merope in Half-Blood Prince, is it just me, or did it kind of describe that she had odd facial features? They were almost sort of off in a way, and that her eyes kind of veered off in different directions? And we’ve seen that the pureblood families tend to interbreed with one another, and you can definitely get some weird gene mutations from that.
Kevin: That’s true.
Laura: So…
Ben: Sounds like Kansas.
Laura: [laughs] It sounds like Georgia, too!
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: But, I think he could have something a little wrong up in his head, but I think that… [laughs]
Jamie: Six-finger city.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: I think that he was definitely born a little more evil than anyone else because we saw as a child that he did terrible things, like hang bunny rabbits and…
Jamie: But when you say, “evil,” do you mean like…
Kevin: Cruel?
Jamie: …antisocial personality disorder?
Kevin: Yeah, like…
Jamie: No, so, he’s a sociopath. He’s not, he isn’t… It’s quite hard to say evil, because when you compare him to – sorry, go on.
I Want To Know What Love Is
Laura: Well, at the same time, though, I think that some of his childhood events kind of had a huge bearing on what he became, because he couldn’t understand why Lily would sacrifice herself for Harry because no one would have ever done that for him.
Jamie: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I agree.
Ben: He doesn’t want to – he doesn’t know what love is. [sings] He wants you…
Jamie: [sings] I wanna know what love is…
Ben: [sings] I want you to show me!
Andrew: Why is there a song associated with everything today?! [laughs]
Ben: [continues singing] I wanna feel what love is…
Andrew: Oh, boy. Kevin, what do you think?
Kevin: I said exactly what I wanted to. I don’t believe that someone is responsible for the sins of their father. I don’t think that you’re born evil. I really don’t think you’re born evil. I think that the environment you grow up in or perhaps…
Jamie: Exactly, yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, it defines you. And he just ended up growing in…
Ben: [imitating Dumbledore] “It’s our choices, Harry, far more than our abilities.”
Laura: Yeah, but how many, how many kids in orphanages hang bunny rabbits?
Andrew: Yeah, that’s not normal.
Kevin: Yeah, but…
Jamie: Isn’t it?
Andrew: Okay, maybe he wasn’t born completely evil…
Laura: That’s a little messed up!
Andrew: …but he might have been born messed up, like whoever just said that, said. I mean like Laura, like Laura [laughs] pointed out: Little kids don’t do those things to bunnies.
Jamie: I thought it was normal. [laughs]
Andrew: Using the magic of Writley…
Jamie: Don’t you, Andrew?
Andrew: …Eric’s opinion is that Voldemort decided, chose, to look at his life half-empty as opposed to half-full. He wasn’t abused or tortured as a kid, just parent-less. He could have had friends, and his orphan matrons could have been parents to him if he chose to see them as that, and he decided to bring torture and that kind of stuff on his terrified classmates. Therefore, he was born evil.
Jamie: No.
Andrew: That’s…
Jamie: No, because when…
Andrew: What?
Jamie: When he was a baby he didn’t sort of…
Kevin: He didn’t make a conscious choice…
Jamie: …wriggle and crawl and kill bunnies, yeah.
Andrew: That’s a good point.
Jamie: He was nurtured.
Andrew: Hold on, that’s a good point though. If you’re not brought up in a regular family and you don’t have parents to look up to, you’re messed up.
Kevin: Which would be environmental. I mean it’s…
Jamie: Exactly, exactly. So, it’s nurture, not nature.
Andrew: Okay. I like that. I change my mind. [laughs]
It Is Our Choices…
Ben: That’s not true! The environment may play a factor, but I completely disagree, man.
Andrew: What? With what? That parents don’t play a role?
Ben: The parents do play a role, but what I’m saying is that he had the choice to – he had two paths to choose, you know? He could have chose to battle against adversity and work his way through it and become a better person out of it, or he could choose to become this dark wizard guy.
Kevin: Yeah, but the question is, what would make him make that choice to become the dark wizard? Why would he chose that?
Ben: Personality disorder?
Kevin: But where would he get his personality?
Laura: Because he has a hunger for power.
Andrew: Because he has a hunger for power and he’s got this magic that could be used to harness the power.
Kevin: I think it was exactly what Jamie said – nurture. He wasn’t properly brought up.
Andrew: Well, that’s what we’re saying, but it’s also he was power-hungry. I mean you could be born to want to be power-hungry.
Laura: I don’t know. I think there was some sort of point in stating that the pureblood families all tend to interbreed, because while we know that your personality isn’t necessarily passed on to you by your parents if you’ve never known them, like Voldemort did, but there can be certain diseases or sicknesses or disorders…
Kevin: That’s true, yeah.
Laura: …that you can get genetically that can cause other issues.
Magical Limitations
Ben: I don’t know how prevalent genetic disorders are in the magical world, so…
Laura: I don’t know. Merope sounded pretty messed up [laughs] to me.
Ben: Yeah, but I don’t know. Don’t you think with something like magic, they would have cures and stuff for things like manic depression?
Laura: Well, why would they? They can’t even stop a Killing Curse.
Ben: Because, it’s the magical world. They have magic.
Laura: Which they can’t use to stop a Killing Curse. [laughs]
Ben: Right, but they can cure a common cold.
Jamie: No, but, I think that magic’s a kind of an inexact science. Magic, just like medicine or veterinary science, because…
Kevin: It has to be learned, yeah.
Jamie: It has to be learned.
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: And they can discover spells in fifty years that do different things. I’m sure 10,000 ago, they couldn’t cure colds or stuff like that. Still, people still learn stuff. They can’t just click their fingers and they know everything. It’s like that. They can’t be always all-powerful at everything.
Lily and Voldemort
Andrew: Well, let’s move onto the next question.
Jamie: Oooh, I like this one.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Can I say it?
Andrew: Yeah, I think you can.
Jamie: All right. Three: Why was Voldemort offering Lily so many chances to live?
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: What’s wrong with that?
Andrew:[laughs] You don’t have to say the number!
Jamie: Oh yeah, yeah. Sorry, okay.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Jamie: Section six, question three: Why was Voldemort…
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: …offering Lily so many chances to live? Jo says he actually would have let her live.
Andrew: Would have let her live if what? Was there a second part to that sentence?
Kevin: He gave her the opportunity to live so many times.
Ben: [imitating Voldemort] Stand aside, silly girl!
Andrew: Oh.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: I see.
Kevin: I think we’ve discussed this before.
Laura: And he said it more than once, too.
Andrew: I think we might have.
Kevin: Because I think I remember us saying…
Laura: Probably.
Kevin: …something about him being manipulative and looking for people who could further his cause, and it just so happened that Lily may have been in the position where, you know, she could have contributed to bringing down the Ministry of Magic.
Snape and Lily
Jamie: Or, or, no…
Kevin: Or, at the same time, Snape liked…
Ben: Or…
Jamie: I think it was more than…
Ben: What if Snape put in the good word and said, “Don’t kill her,”
Kevin: Exactly. Yeah.
Jamie: No, no…
Kevin: I think that’s a possibility.
Jamie: But…
Laura: Yeah, I think that’s what makes it a little more interesting, because we discussed the possibility that Snape might have been there.
Jamie: What about, though, that he just didn’t see her as enough of a threat in power? Magical power? He had to kill James, since he could have hurt him, disabled him, whatever. But Lily, she was clutching Harry. She couldn’t do complicated wand work. And he was so set in his mind that he had to kill Harry that he didn’t really have time for secondary objectives like that. And the only reason he killed James was because he had to, whereas he thought, perhaps, he didn’t have time to kill Lily or people would already on their way, you know?
Laura: Mmmm, I don’t know, because…
Jamie: Maybe.
Laura: …I think it was Hagrid that said in the first book, that Voldemort got to the point where he just liked killing.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.
Laura: And I don’t think that he would just walk into a house and kill everybody in it and let one person survive. I think there’s definitely a big underlying reason as to why he did that because in the interview last summer where Emerson and Melissa went and talked to Jo, she said, “I can’t tell you.”
Jamie: Oh, right, yeah.
Laura: So, I think it’s something very important.
Kevin: It probably is, yeah.
The Only One He Ever Feared
Andrew: So, we know that Dumbledore was, quote/unquote, “the only man he ever feared.”
Ben: The “only one,” you sexist pig! [laughs]
Andrew: The only one. [laughs] The only one!
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: The only…what?! It says, “The only one he ever feared.”
Ben: You said, “the only man.”
Andrew: Oh.
Jamie: The only human being.
Andrew: Sorry! Sorry!
Laura: You jerk.
Jamie: The only homo sapien.
Andrew: [laughs] We know that Dumbledore was the only one he ever feared, but why? He is powerful, yes, but isn’t Harry his real opposite?
Jamie: No, no, because…
Andrew: I – hold on! I’m answering this!
Ben: [impersonating Jaime] No! No!
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: It’s because – it’s because Dumbledore…
Andrew: Okay, fine.
Jamie: No, I was just going to say it’s because Voldemort had to get to a table tennis game; English against Switzerland, so he had to kill Dumbledore.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: No, no, no, the thing is, is that he didn’t see Harry as powerful magically. He just thought that he could be his obstacle.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s what I was going to say.
Jamie: He had the potential to be his obstacle, but he had to get him out of the way quickly, and this relates back to the previous point about why he didn’t kill Lily. Perhaps, he just thought he had to get rid of Harry before he gets too big for his boots, whereas Dumbledore, he thought, could stop him. And that he had the power to kill him because Voldemort thinks that the only bad thing is death. So, perhaps he realized that Dumbledore knew about the Horcruxes, so that he feared that he could get rid of them and then kill him.
Laura: Well, I think he might have definitely had some fear of Dumbledore from when he went to school.
Jamie: Yeah, definitely.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Because Dumbledore was really the only one who suspected him of having opened the Chamber, and he always probably saw Dumbledore as the person who would expose him.
The Fate Of Lord Voldemort
Andrew: What will the outcome of Book 7 be for him? If Harry kills him, will he come back as a ghost, etc? Well, aren’t we supposed to learn in Book 7 how ghosts, or who…
Jamie: Yeah, we are, yeah.
Andrew: …what determines what makes a ghost in the first place?
Jamie: Unfinished business.
Ben: We already learned that, didn’t we? Nick told… Yeah, unfinished business.
Jamie: Like an imprint of themselves on Earth, but you couldn’t…
Ben: Right, but could a ghostly Voldemort be able to rally a cause?
Jamie: No, because he doesn’t have…
Andrew: No.
Laura: I don’t think so.
Jamie: He doesn’t have unfinished business because it’s finished. It’s finished.
Kevin: It’s true, yeah.
Jamie: You can’t just not like what happened to you in real life, and come back because of that. I think it’s like, if you get killed prematurely, before you’ve got to do something, the whole fate through destiny argument comes in here. If you’re destined to do something, and you get killed prematurely, perhaps you have to come back and finish that off; whereas the Voldemort and Harry thing has gone through to conclusion when, if Voldemort dies. So, you know it’s…
Ben: So, you’re saying that if Voldemort got run over by a bus before he had the chance to meet Harry in the final battle, then he could come back as a ghost?
Laura: Yeah. I don’t think so.
Jamie: No, I don’t think he – no, because that would just be half of the, half of the… It would just conclude the whole thing, anyway. I think, say, if somebody has – I’m thinking, I’m thinking. If they have like a big part in creating, I don’t know, a magical corporation around the world, or if one thing can’t happen because somebody dies – something like that. I think perhaps then they come back. Or if say, or if say they have a duty to guide somebody through life, so then they come back. But, I don’t think they can come back just because the odds didn’t suit them during life.
Laura: Well, I’ve always been of the opinion that regardless of what happens to Voldemort, he could never come back as a ghost because his soul isn’t whole.
Andrew: Oooh…
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.
Laura: His soul is fragmented and scattered everywhere, and I’ve always really been of the opinion that you’ve got to have a complete soul to be able to come back.
Ben: I don’t know about that.
Andrew: Interesting.
Laura: So there.
Andrew: Maybe that’s how it is brought up in Book 7.
Kevin: Yeah, but I mean, we don’t know enough about what it takes to be a ghost to really, truly judge.
Laura: No, we don’t. That’s just my opinion. [laughs]
Kevin: Exactly.
Jamie: Or what constitutes a ghost? Because a ghost doesn’t have a brain in him. So, it must just have a mind. A sort of – an ethereal mind somewhere.
Gimme A Butterbeer: Media Craze On Harry’s Fate
Andrew: So, now we’re going to move on to Gimme A Butterbeer.
Jamie: [gasps] Andrew, Andrew, wait, wait!
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: What, what?
Jamie: What is this? What is this, Gimme A Butterbeer? What is it? What is it?
Andrew: [laughs] Well, Jamie – this is scripted.
Jamie: No, it’s not. It’s not scripted.
Andrew: Gimme A Butterbeer is Ben’s segment where he whines about something in the Harry Potter world.
Jamie: Ah, thank you, Andrew! Thank you, Andrew!
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: Not whining, [laughs] but expressing his concern.
Jamie: Andrew, thank you for telling me about that segment.
Andrew: You’re welcome. So, you’ll be able to experience one now.
Ben: This week we’re going back to the traditional format of Gimme A Butterbeer. Last week was a little out there, but we’re back and better than ever.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: There was something in the media this past week that really got on my nerves. Last night I was sitting at my computer, working on MuggleNet, when my older brother walked in the room and said, “Is it true that the Harry Potter author is going to kill the main character?” I looked at him and sighed. The media has blown things out of proportion again. During her interview with the UK talk show, Richard and Judy – Jamie, are you a big fan of that show?
Jamie: I’ve seen it a few times. It’s okay. It’s like…
Ben: Oprah?
Jamie: It’s, well – oh god, no, no. It isn’t at all. It’s just two people interviewing, say, one person.
Andrew: [laughs] Two people.
Kevin: Two on one?
Jamie: [laughs] Yes.
Andrew: [laughs] Very descriptive.
Jamie: I know it sounds obvious, but it’s two people, Richard and Judy.
[Ben and Andrew laugh]
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: [laughs] “It’s two people, Richard and Judy.”
Ben: Either way, either way, either way
Andrew: Well, thanks for that.
Ben: All right.
Andrew: All right.
Jamie: Yeah, like… Whatever.
Ben: During her interview on the talk show, JK Rowling said, like she has said countless times before, that no character in the series is safe. Her exact words were, “We are dealing with pure evil, so they don’t target the extras, do they? They go straight for the main characters; or I do.” Just like little kids, the media has asked JKR the same question time and time again: if she plans to kill off Harry. Thinking that the next time she might just give away the entire ending to the series she’s been formulating for the past sixteen years. Yeah, right.
Sure, this was her first ever live TV interview that she’s participated in, and sure, she did offer quite a bit of information about Book 7, such as the fact that she is now going to kill off two additional characters than originally planned, while one who initially got the axe will be saved. The wizarding world is at war, people. Of course people are going to die.
Don’t hang me for this, but I honestly think it would be pretty cool if Harry did die in Book 7. Maybe I’m just a bitter young man, but seeing the headlines about Jo planning to kill off Harry in Book 7 are starting to get a little more than annoying. I guess when you’re in her shoes, you’re going to be forced to answer the same question a million times. But that’s what gets me. The answer never changes, but the media still reacts the same. And worst of all, they still pull an Andrew and mispronounce her name by calling her JK Rowling [pronounced like Rowling] instead of JK Rowling [pronounced correctly].
[Laura laughs]
Ben: I’m Ben Schoen, and I say, Gimme A Butterbeer.
Jamie: I like that, Ben. I like that.
Ben: Thank you.
Laura: Well, I don’t think that Hermione is going to get the axe, but I’m not sure that’s really…
Jamie: Relevant.
Laura: …pertinent to the discussion at hand. I think that this is – [laughs] Shut up, Jamie.
[Jamie and Laura laugh]
Laura: Anyway. I really think this is a very large scale problem that we have with the media, and we will probably always have with the media because it’s not just with Harry Potter. They like to do this with everything. So, Ben, thank you.
Jamie: But, isn’t that part of the media, especially some media? You know, it’s like you expect, say, the tabloids are always going to sensationalize stuff. It’s like, that’s why they report it. It’s like, they’re there to do that.
Andrew: Right.
Laura: Yeah, but that’s why they have tabloids.
Kevin: Exactly.
Laura: That’s what tabloids are there for.
Jamie: Wait, exactly, so…
Laura: When you’re talking about actual interviews, the fact that people ask the same question over, and over, and over, as though one day she’s just going to break down and say, “Yes, I hate Harry. I’m going to kill him,” is ridiculous.
Jamie: But, but you’re speaking from the point of view of a big fan of Harry Potter. Every single person who listens to this show…
Kevin: Exactly.
Jamie: …is a big fan of Harry Potter…
Kevin: What about…
Jamie: …so they have heard it many times before.
Kevin: …the…
Jamie: The general public, exactly. People tuning into Richard and Judy – apart from the people who had seen it advertised say, on this site, or on TV and just want to see Jo on there. The people who have tuned in just because they watch Richard and Judy wouldn’t know about all the stuff that we know about…
Kevin: Yeah, they go by demographic. I mean…
Jamie: …so they have to say it. So, they have to do it.
Kevin: Yeah, if the demographic of Richard and Judy doesn’t listen to the other shows, then why would they assume? Exactly.
Jamie: Exactly, yeah.
Laura: Yeah, but isn’t it kind of like when they get any other celebrity on and it seems like you’re hearing the same interview ten times?
Jamie: But that’s just how things are, I think. They don’t interview – I think, personally, they don’t always interview them just to get information; they interview them because it’s publicity, and because they have to interview them.
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: It’s like, we want to hear different questions, but if they ask, say, why are Sirius’s eyes gray, or were they gray, people tuning in would think, “What the hell are they talking about? We don’t want to know details as complicated as that!” Whereas, we do. So, it’s like they interview people to the extent that they have to be interviewed, and that they have to ask specific questions for it to be popular, and for people to tune in.
Ben: Right.
Jamie: And also, if they ask questions about Harry dying, then it’s going to hit the papers, as well; whereas if they ask about Sirius’s eyes being gray, it isn’t going to be like, you know, “News-flash! Sirius’s eyes are gray,” because…
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.
Laura: Touché, touché.
Ben: Right. But, Jamie, the reason I’m saying that is because – the reason I was sort of griping about it is because this happens once every six months, it seems like. There will be a big media explosion because JK Rowling will say something that, “Oh, Harry might be killed, too.”
Jamie: It’s to do with revival, though. Ben, it’s to do with revival. It’s like, even though for us, Harry Potter is ongoing and for a big part of the population it’s ongoing. For just the general reader who has read it and that’s it, Harry dying in the seventh book is a news-flash. It’s something new, whereas for us it’s been talked about to death. So, you know, they’re just catering for the general public, not for the big Potter fans.
Laura: Yeah, but…
Jamie: I know it happens…
Laura: …if the general public doesn’t read the book, why do they care? [laughs]
Jamie: Well, no, they do read it, but it’s like when they see JK Rowling on there, they think, “Oh, right. She’s the author of Harry Potter,” not, she’s done all of these interviews, she owns a website, she talks about us; they don’t think about all the things that we talk about, that we think about. They think that she wrote Harry Potter, and they associate her with that name. So, when they talk about, that Harry Potter’s going to die, it’s a lot more important than if they talk about Lily Evans dying. But, of course, for us it’s completely different. But, you can’t look at it from a subjective point of view like that.
Andrew: I think the reason why so many television news stations have been reporting on the story is because it’s a good sell. It’s a good teaser.
Jamie: Well, exactly, yeah.
Kevin: Yep.
Andrew: When people are – when the news hosts are saying, “Coming up! JK Rowling reveals who will die in Book 7.”
Jamie: Will Potter die? Yeah.
Andrew: “Oh, I’ll tell my kids this and they’ll finally talk to me, and I’ll be able to start a conversation with them,” like all that. It’s a good sell. It’s…
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: People dying is a big thing as well, in any book, especially Potter, so it’s like…
Andrew: Yeah, well…
Kevin: In any media, people dying is a big deal.
Andrew: …it’s not like we’re seeing A Series of Unfortunate Events on the news, where Lemony Snicket reveals how many people are dying in the next book. Nobody cares, but it’s the fact that it’s Harry Potter.
Jamie: [laughs] Exactly.
Why Did Jo Do Richard And Judy?
Andrew: But also, why would JK Rowling do this interview with Richard and Judy when there’s no book in sight, and it’s sort of a down time? And this isn’t normal for her. She doesn’t just come on and do interviews like this. Now, one of the points of having her on was because this was the new Richard and Judy, I believe. This was their new season or whatever.
Jamie: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: And they’re back, and they’re live, and fresh, and look what we can do. Why did she do this, Jamie?
Jamie: I’ve seen Richard and Judy a few times. It’s a very relaxed show.
Andrew: It is, yeah.
Jamie: I mean even though after people – the media will catch up with whatever she said. I’m sure she felt extremely relaxed doing it. It isn’t like, I mean, do you guys know Paxman, Jeremy Paxman? He’s a political interviewer over here, and he’s just – he’s so horrible to the people. He will just fire the same questions at them. He asked Tony Blair the same question fifteen times because he didn’t respond to it; he just kept dodging it. But you know Richard and Judy…
Ben: Sounds like Bill O’Reilly.
Jamie: Huh?
Kevin: Yeah.
Ben: Sounds like Bill O’Reilly.
Laura: Yeah, it does sound like Bill O’Reilly. [laughs]
Jamie: But yeah, these people are just completely different. It’s just a relaxed seating area, where they just talk. It isn’t even really an interview, you know? It’s just a chat. And, I think she just wants – she obviously wants to tell people about what’s going on. She wants to create discussion. You know? It’s just like…
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, and I think JK Rowling has been very good about slipping tidbits of information, to make it so that…
Jamie: Oh, yeah.
Kevin: …the fan base isn’t going stagnant, where we just have all this information, and we’re just sitting on it. You know?
Jamie: Yeah, definitely, yeah.
Kevin: And I think this was a great opportunity for her to do exactly that, throw a little twist in things, and give us the information.
Andrew: I just found it interesting, because with Book 6, JK Rowling only granted one interview to a US publication, like a newspaper or magazine, and then to one media outlet, which was The Today Show. And, I can’t remember if she did that for people in England. I’m sure she did.
Jamie: It means every single interview is more valuable.
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Jamie: It’s like my teacher, ages ago, told me a story, that if he found two priceless stamps, like, two were made, he’d burn one so that he had one, and it was worth even more. It’s just like that. Interviews by her are worth their weight in gold, just because she doesn’t do many.
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: So, every single person tunes in when she does something. I’m sure Richard and Judy’s viewing figures went up massively for that show.
Andrew: Oh yeah. Well especially now, they’re getting all this publicity…
Jamie: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: …with all these separate news articles. So, that’s that. Anyone else want to bring anything up?
Laura: Nope.
Who Will Die In Book 7?
Ben: Well, that transitions nicely into our next discussion.
Andrew: Yes, it does. Who is going to die in Book 7? Because now we know two additional people are going to die, on top of the “bloodbath” that we will be seeing, and she also gave the reprieve…
Jamie: Who said it was a bloodbath?
Andrew: She did.
Jamie: Oh, did she?
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: When did she say that? Bloody hell! Oh no!
Andrew: Yeah.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: I’m going to cry.
Laura: Oh, I will, too.
Andrew: [laughs] Well, it’s a war. She said it’s going to be a bloodbath. She gave the reprieve to one person – she gave a reprieve to one person.
[Jamie sings a sad tune]
Andrew: We had a poll – we have a poll up on MuggleNet, and I’ll just look right now. And, I’ll vote “Harry.” And, fans on MuggleNet: the number one response right now is “No idea”. [laughs] But, that’s right under 20 percent. The second person is Snape, at 16.9 percent.
Kevin: Snape being the person who dies?
Andrew: No, who got saved. So, what do you guys think? Laura, what do you think?
Laura: I don’t know. The more and more I’ve thought about it, I think maybe Ron might have gotten the reprieve…
Jamie: Yeah, that sounds right.
Laura: …because a lot of fans have noticed a good amount of evidence pointing towards Ron’s death…
Jamie: I agree with that. That’s excellent.
Laura: …sprinkled throughout the books. And I would just be hysterical if Ron died, so I hope that he doesn’t.
Jamie: I love you Laura, that’s brilliant.
Andrew: Well, that’s gotten that over with real quick because that’s what I was thinking, too.
Jamie: Yeah, I think that sounds right. All right, should we just go on then, to four?
Andrew: Well, yeah – huh?
Jamie: Should we just go on then, to four? What constitutes a main character?
Laura: Well, who do you think will die? Who are the two people?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Well, two additional people on top of more people. That’s what bugs me about all this press this story has been getting because we’ve already…
Ben: Knew…
Andrew: We’ve known that for a while that a lot of people are going to be dying. We, as MuggleNet, should release a press release saying, “A ton of people are going to die,” imagine the press we would get.
[Ben and Andrew laugh]
Laura: Yeah, really. [laughs]
Andrew: So, who do we think will die? Let’s go around the table here. Kevin, you want to start? Or Laura – whoever you want.
Kevin: Ah, good question. Well, I think one of the Trio is definitely going to die. I honestly still think Ron is, and I honestly still think Hagrid is, so I would say those two people.
Jamie: Yeah. I think we’ve got to get away from seeing the Trio as children still.
Kevin: Exactly.
Andrew: Mhm.
Jamie: Because, I think about seeing them as, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore as the adults, then Harry, Ron, and Hermione. How can they die? They’re children. But, it isn’t like that at all, because Voldemort doesn’t differentiate between children and adults. So, I think you’re absolutely right: one of the Trio has to die. They can’t not, because I think if they don’t, then Jo wouldn’t be portraying the whole thing accurately.
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: Because with the thing they face now – it’s just improbable that all three of them will get through unscathed. You know?
Andrew: Right.
Ben: Mhm.
Andrew: And could the chess match be foreshadowing this, with Ron sacrificing himself?
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: It just seems like…
Laura: Well, a lot of people have thought that, yeah. And…
Andrew: Yeah, it’s an interesting theory, because a lot of people relate all the foreshadowing to what we saw in Book 1 with the tests that they had to get around. So…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: What were you going to say, Laura?
Laura: Well, I think that’s definitely a very important thing to point out because if you look at the series, it’s almost symmetrical, in a way. Because if you look at Book 1, it’s possibly going to have connections to Book 7. Book 2 had connections to Book 6, Book 3 had connections to Book 5, and so on and so forth. So, I think that there is definitely some foreshadowing in that department. As for Ron dying, I think that out of the trio he is probably the most likely…
Jamie: Yeah, I agree.
Laura: …but at this point, I’m not sure about it.
Snape’s Fate
Laura: I think that Snape is definitely a likely character to take the axe. I’m not sure why he’ll do it or what side he’ll be on when he does.
Andrew: I was reading a few theories on the COS Forums, and some people seem to think that Snape would die in saving Harry’s life, and ultimately proving that he is good. Because, it’s been going back and forth throughout the series, and finally this could be the final moment. On the other hand, he could die being bad.
Jamie: It’s a bit.
Andrew: There are so many possibilities with Snape.
Jamie: I’ll say two things: it’s a bit kind of fairy tale-ish to think that if one person does something bad, he’s got to redeem himself by ultimately doing something good for the person who he’s been bad to. Snape could die saving Harry and Wormtail could save Lupin using his hand and kill Greyback or something. But, I don’t know. I just don’t think you can see the books as having sort of catharsis at the end of them. You know? Everything being wrapped up and all emotions being purged at the end. It’s more like, things that happen won’t necessarily be in equilibrium.
Ben: I have a question.
Laura: Yeah, for all we know, Snape could die and save Ron.
Jamie: And save Ron, yeah. But…
Ben: Okay, my question is: if Harry – if Snape has a life debt or whatever to Harry’s dad because James saved Snape’s life, if Snape dies in the process of saving Harry’s life, does Harry technically owe a life debt to Snape, then?
Jamie: Well yeah, it’s just ongoing.
Ben: It’s circular. Yeah, it’s circular.
Jamie: But, the thing is life debts don’t have to involve the person dying to save them. They could just save them by shooting the person dead who is about to kill them. He could owe him in all different ways and pay him back in all different ways. It isn’t like one person has to die to save the other and one of that person’s relations has to die to save him, I think. A life debt just means he owes him big time, you know?
Ben: Okay.
Jamie: But, I was going to say, do you think Harry could cope with Ron dying? Because then it would be his godfather, Dumbledore, then Ron; not to mention his parents.
Laura: That’s what I was thinking. I was thinking that, because when you think about motivations for Harry to do what he needs to do…
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: …I think Sirius and Dumbledore constitute for enough of one.
Jamie: Yeah, I agree.
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: I’m not sure that there would be any point to killing Ron, at this point.
Ben: I don’t know. I’ve always been – okay. There’s a Yellowcard song called Avendale.
Laura: Oh my god.
Ben: They talk about how “real life ain’t no fairy tale.”
[Jamie laughs]
Ben: And it’s just my belief that…
Jamie: Real life ain’t no fairy tale? [laughs]
Ben: …Jo – yeah. And that Jo realizes this too. And I just don’t think it would make sense for as you said, [in a British accent] catharsis, or whatever word.
Jamie: Catharsis, yeah.
Ben: Everything ends up so…
Jamie: It’s a purging of emotions.
Ben: Everything ends up peachy-keen.
Jamie: It’s a purging of emotions, like one person dies on one side, one person dies on the other and everything’s sorted. In this big a battle, all ends can’t be tied up, you know? It’s just absolutely impossible.
Ben: Right. And does…
Laura: Well…
Ben: Does good always triumph over evil?
Jamie: No, of course not. No.
Andrew: No.
Ben: So, it could…
Jamie: She realizes that.
Ben: Do you think – I mean, I think it would be pretty cool if Voldemort won.
Jamie: But no, he can’t.
Ben: Can’t beat death?
Laura: Mmmm, I don’t think so.
What If Voldemort Wins?
Andrew: Wait, let’s talk about that, because there’s been a lot of speculation over Harry’s death, especially now that JK Rowling has suggested that, “Well, I’ve never really felt tempted to kill off Harry before the seventh book,” because she doesn’t want authors in the future to write sequels.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: Well, how could you kill Harry before the seventh book, anyway?
Kevin: Yeah, that’s true.
Andrew: Well, that – no. I know…
Kevin: No!
Laura: [laughs] I mean, what would Book 7 be without Harry being alive?
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: No, honestly I think it would be pretty – hold on, hold on. I think it would be pretty cool, when they were talking about the death that was going to happen in Book 5, Eric and I had a discussion about this, and we thought it’d be neat – this is like, way before MuggleCast – if the person who died in Book 5 was Harry.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s really neat.
Ben: And then…
[Jamie laughs]
Ben: Now hold on. Hold on.
Andrew: I think it would be.
[Laura laughs]
Ben: Then Book 6 was trying to find a way to bring someone back from dying.
Jamie: The thing is, right, you’re forgetting that she’s human. If you spent the best part of two decades writing a septology, you – I think you’d have to be a pretty hard human to kill off the main character, one that you’ve clearly fallen in love with over that time.
Andrew: You would have to be a hard human, but that’s what would make the spearies, [laughs] spearies – series so special.
Jamie: It wouldn’t be special, though.
Andrew: I think – yes it would!
Jamie: Think of how many people she’d alienate. Think how many she’d alienate doing that.
Laura: Mmmm.
Andrew: It’s funny because people outside of the Harry Potter fandom think, “Oh, she would never kill Harry. That would absolutely kill the fandom! I mean, think about the merchandising and the publicity and the movies – you can’t even call it Harry Potter if your main character’s dead!” But in reality, I think it’s completely possible. Especially this new interview was definitely interesting; she wouldn’t kill him off before the seventh book, but she never directly said no, and of course she’s going to leave it open.
Laura: Well…
Andrew: I don’t know.
Laura: I think that if Harry does die, it’s going to be at the end [laughs] of the seventh book.
Kevin: I think it would be a twist, but I don’t think she’d kill him.
Ben: What do you guys think the chances are of one of the characters getting the reprieve being Harry?
Jamie: No, I think that’s unlikely.
Ben: Do you think that that’s been set in stone for a while?
Laura: Mmmm.
Andrew: She’s – yeah. He’s too huge of a character. I mean, and she also said that she changed the last chapter of Book 7 around a little bit, and I guess that has to do with the reprieve. But, it’s interesting, it’s interesting.
Ben: I don’t know. I just – I just think it would be pretty sweet if Voldemort won.
Laura: I understand what you guys are saying about the books relating to real life because I feel that way too, and I think that it would be a really gross underestimate of the horrors of war if everybody that we love gets through it. But at the same time, I think that we have to remember that there’s a certain formula to this because it is a book. And…
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: …for instance, if it were absolutely 100 percent real, then Voldemort wouldn’t wait until the end of every school year to attack Harry.
Jamie’s Bet
Jamie: Yeah, I agree. If I’m so confident that Harry won’t die – if Harry dies, I will record myself eating fifty jumbo sausages.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: And put it on the Internet.
Ben: I’m going to hold you to that.
Jamie: I swear to god I’ll do that.
Ben: Okay, a video, a video of yourself.
Andrew: Yeah, this is going to be a video, right?
Jamie: Yeah. Obviously, yeah.
Andrew: We’ll stick it on YouTube?
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay. [laughs]
Jamie: I swear to everyone I will do that.
Ben: So, you’re honestly that convinced Harry is not going to die?
Jamie: Harry is not going to die. I can put myself in her situation. I just could not kill off my main character. I just don’t think it’s going to be like he kills Voldemort…
Kevin: Yeah, see, I don’t see that either.
Jamie: …and he’s lying there mortally wounded. I just can’t…
Kevin: It’s just kind of cliché, like…
Jamie: I just, just cannot – I can’t picture myself reading Harry dying. It’s just everything…
Kevin: How about Ginny?
Jamie: …after everything he’s been through, I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Andrew: Just look at the…
Kevin: No, she’s important now.
Jamie: What, Ginny dying?
Andrew: Nobody cares about Ginny.
[Ben laughs]
Kevin: Exactly, I know. That’s all…
Laura: Harry cares about Ginny. [laughs]
Andrew: Okay, Harry does, but who cares? Harry’s going to die anyway.
[Jamie and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Look at Book 5 and look at Book 6. Sirius and Dumbledore are so close to Harry…
Kevin: Yeah, but…
Andrew: …and they’re both pretty big characters in the books. JK Rowling…
Ben: Is heartless!
Kevin: Yeah, but…
Andrew: It takes some you-know-what to cut off those characters. So now I think…
Kevin: I don’t…
Andrew: …it’s all leading up to end with Harry dying.
Jamie: No, but Andrew, there’s a…
Andrew: And Ben, let’s do a special podcast on this. [laughs]
Jamie: In these books, the only thing that really matters is him. It’s the only thing that everyone’s concerned about; everything in that book is back-story apart from his quest. To think…
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: I just couldn’t imagine her ever killing him off. And I’m betting fifty sausages on it!
Andrew: But then what happens? But then what happens? Everyone is upset, everyone feels the emotion…
Ben: Mmmm.
Andrew: …and that’s the whole point of the series. And I am convinced!
Ben: That Harry will die.
Laura: Yeah, but you will still feel that same emotion if Harry’s alive, because you’re seeing..
Jamie: Yeah, and he’s sitting there crying because Hermione’s died.
Ben: No! No, no, no!
Laura: …through his eyes how awful he feels about his friends and…
Andrew: No, but you’ll feel the most emotion…
Laura: I’m going to feel…
Andrew: …if Harry dies, and either JK Rowling’s sitting here listening to this, shaking her head, or… [laughs]
Ben: She’s like, “Go Andrew and Ben!”
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Laura: Here’s what you don’t understand about me, okay?
Andrew: Oh, tell me.
Laura: I was crying before Dumbledore died.
Andrew: Yeah, but that’s because you’re a big baby.
Laura: I am going to burst into tears when I open – no, when I open Book 7 I’m just going to…[laughs]
Andrew: Me too!
Laura: …burst into tears. [laughs] I’m just going to start crying all over the place.
Andrew: Me too. Great.
Sequels?
Ben: The final point that I’d like to make with this discussion is that JK Rowling says she does not want to leave it open for anybody to write a sequel.
Andrew: Really?
Ben: The only way she can accomplish that is by killing Harry.
Jamie: Yes, absolutely right. But is it, is that, is it worth…
Andrew: Now…
Laura: There’s fan fiction already.
Jamie: People write – yeah, exactly. It’s like, I’m sure she can copyright something – she can copyright it in a way that stops people writing. It’s a bit over the top to…
Ben: No one’s going to publish…
Jamie: …kill him just because, you know?
Andrew: Yeah, but then you’re going to get people…
Ben: Harry’s going to die!
Andrew: …writing about characters called Parry Hotter. [laughs]
Ben: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: It’s already happened.
Ben: Yeah, get this. A year from now, you’re going to look back on this and we’re going to be playing the recording for you when you’re eating your sausages, okay?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Jamie: No, but Ben…
Ben: Because you’re going to be upset because they…
Jamie: I agree, I probably will.
Ben: What?
Jamie: But I just don’t – she could stop every single bit of fan fiction now if she wanted to. Parry Hotter is only around because she allows it to be around, and Warner Brothers allow it to be around. They own absolutely everything to do with it. The word “Quidditch” you can’t use without – it’s like if she wanted to stop sequels being written, she could stop sequels being written. It is a bit – she doesn’t have to kill Harry off to stop sequels being written.
Andrew: True, true.
Jamie: It’s just that I can’t see it happening. But, if you want to send in…
Ben: He’s going to die!
Jamie: He’s not going to die. Can we move on?
Ben: The – everyone has to die, dude, so you’re wrong. Wooo!
Andrew: The final chapter is the epilogue, correct?
Laura: Yes.
Andrew: So, I mean, in reality, that’s sort of going to help kill off any sequels.
Ben: Yeah.
Kevin: It’s true, yeah.
Andrew: Any thoughts of people creating sequels. But, at the same time it would be an excellent ending.
Jamie’s British Joke of the Day
Andrew: Jamie! It is time for your British Joke of the Day.
Jamie: I’ll just say I’ve posted this on the fan forums already, but since I am completely uninspired and can’t find a joke, I thought I’d say it again on here for all the people who missed it.
There’s this guy and I bought a telescope off him. This telescope’s worth 150 pounds, and I bought it off him for ten thousand pounds. He must have seen me coming.
[Everyone laughs and groans]
Ben: Oh, Jamie.
Jamie: Crap joke – off the show. There you go.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Jamie: Am I getting worse? Are they getting worse? People, please write to me and tell me how bad they’re getting. A little weak?
Andrew: That one was a little weak.
Jamie: Like Monday to Tuesday.
Andrew: Just a little.
[Everyone laughs]
Show Close
Andrew [Show Close music in the background]: Okay, well that does wrap up MuggleCast 46. Again, completely un-live and pre-recorded. Once again, I’m Andrew Sims.
Ben: I am Ben Schoen.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence, last again.
Kevin: And least.
Andrew: Don’t… [laughs]
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Jamie, you can host the whole entire show next week.
Jamie: That’s fine. Excellent.
Andrew: You’re going to be on for next week, right?
Jamie: Yes. Until Vegas. Vegas.
Kevin: Oh, cool!
Andrew: Sweet. Don’t forget everyone, vote for us in the Podcast Awards, because we want to win.
Jamie: Not go to California.
Kevin: Go to California.
Andrew: [laughs] Because we want to go to California, and it would just be…
Jamie: Come on, Andrew, wrap it up.
Andrew: What would it be? I’m trying to think what it would be!
Kevin: Awesome!
Ben: It would be awesome!
Jamie: It would be convivial.
Andrew: It would be an honor to win a Podcast Award. It would be awesome.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: It would be convivial.
Andrew: Yes. Yes, it would.
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: We’ll see everyone next week for Episode 47.
Kevin: Goodbye!
Andrew: Bye!
Laura: Bye.
Bloopers
Laura: I’ve also…
Ben: Hey Andrew, you want to stop the recording – sorry, Laura.
Laura: Okay.
Andrew: No, let’s wait until the chapter discussion begins.
Ben: Dude, that’s like…
Laura: Okay. Well, I’ve also…
Ben: Dude, we’ll have to do over…
Laura: Rarrowrowrorr! [makes a cat noise]
Ben: …more than half the show.
Andrew: We have more than halfway to go.
Kevin: Nice, Laura!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Laura!
Kevin: Meowed.
Andrew: [imitating Laura’s cat noise] Rraor!
Laura: Sorry. Okay.
Andrew: Sorry.
Ben: [imitating Laura’s cat noise] Rraor!
Kevin: You have to put that in as a blooper.
Laura: I was frustrated! [laughs]
———————–
Written by: Micah, Amanda, David, Jessica, Margaret, Martina, Rhiannon, and Sarah