Rowling Studies The Hogwarts Professor Podcast

Nick Jeffery read Robert Browning’s The Ring and the Book, a Victorian epic poem about a murder mystery in 17th Century Italy, to test a theory. John Granger’s best guess after surveying the chapter headings of Hallmarked Man last September was that, of all 77 sources for the 139 epigraphs in Strike8, Browning’s poem was the most likely to hold a secret message or special meaning inside it. John had said something similar about another Browning poem and Ink Black Heart, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, and Nick had confirmed that through his own reading and confirmation by Rowling herself. He thought John’s track record of spotting important epigraph sources merited a test reading.He published his findings on Friday in a post titled ‘The Ring and The Book – A Rowling Reading.’ In brief, the murder in Browning’s poem is a point-to-point model for the Ironbridge murder mystery in Hallmarked Man with characters in Rowling-Galbraith’s book — most notably, Chloe Griffiths, Tyler Powell, and Ian Griffiths — having their astonishing equivalents in Ring. The less obvious but more important links between the two are in their implicit feminism and other messages: Both works critique abusive relationships and patriarchal power: Guido’s control of Pompilia and Dino Longcaster’s control of Decima Mullins. The legal system (Books 8–9 especially) is satirized as formalistic, pedantic, and often blind to moral reality. True justice requires personal moral intuition beyond mere evidence or procedure. The Pope’s monologue (Book 10) weighs this tension most profoundly. In The Hallmarked Man the police are slow to act on new information gained by Strike and Robin and Farah Navabi manages to hoodwink the courts into escaping punishment for her part in Patterson’s crimes.The Ring and The Book dramatizes the eternal struggle between good and evil. Pompilia embodies instinctive purity, sacrificial love, and spiritual insight despite her suffering. Guido represents sophisticated, calculating evil that twists morality to justify cruelty. Browning affirms that evil exists but that good can somehow arise from or shine through evil’s consequences. In The Hallmarked Man evil is real, monstrous, and often cloaked in normalcy or power structures, but it can be exposed and defeated through persistence, intuition, and moral courage.Nick also discusses in this article the chiastic structure of Ring (!) and the ‘conversation’ he heard between Robert Browning in this poem with Aurora Leigh, the masterpiece by his late wife. His ‘Rowling Reading’ of Ring and the Book, consequently, will soon be a touchstone piece not only in Rowling Studies but Browning Studies as well (#ArmstrongBrowningLibraryAndMuseum @ Baylor). As they have done before with Nick’s ‘Rowling Reading’ articles. the Hogwarts Professor team recorded their conversation about the piece (listen to their discussions of I Capture the Castle and Aurora Leigh). Seven High Points of that Ring and the Book epigraph conversation include:* Nick’s review of why Serious Strikers and Rowling Readers should read The Ring and the Book along with the story of his immersion in it;* John’s explanation of why he was so confident that Browning’s poem was a template of some kind for Hallmarked Man even though only six of Strike8’s 139 epigraphs were taken from it;* Their survey of Rowling’s previous work with epigraphs — Deathly Hallows and Casual Vacancy all the way to Running Grave and Hallmarked Man — for works with similar embedded-in-the-epigraph texts and those without one (or in which it hasn’t yet been discovered);* Nick’s discussion of Rowling’s previous comments about epigraphs and her answer to the question, ‘Which Came First, the Epigraph or the Story?’;* John’s best guess pre-publication about the text that will be the epigraph source in Sleep Tight, Evangeline and which Strike text it will most resemble with its Whiskey Shambles title;* Nick’s commitment to exploring Blue Oyster Cult epigraphs in Career of Evil to see if one of that band’s albums, all of which supposedly had sci-fi themes and story continuity, served as a text-within-the-text for Strike3; and* John’s suggestion that the relationship of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, a great love with a shared vocation, might be a point of reflection for Serious Strikers as a template for understanding the Strike-Ellacott partnership.Nick and John will be recording their group charting of Hallmarked Man’s Part Eight this week with Sandy Hope and Ed Shardlow (and Presvytera Lois?), a survey of readers is in the works, and the long-awaited close look at the Strike series in light of the Cupid and Psyche myth draws ever nearer. Stay tuned!The Ten Questions, Epigraph Charting, and Links to Previous Epigraph Discussions Here and Elsewhere:The Ring and The Book – A Rowling Reading, Nick Jeffery, February 2026Intro to Epigraphs 101, John Granger, September 2022The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual Center, John Granger, October 2022A Rowling Reading of Aurora Leigh, Nick Jeffery, November 2025Beatrice Grove’s Pillar Post Page at HogwartsProfessor.com* Scroll down for Prof Groves’ posts about epigraphs and literary allusion in Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm, Troubled Blood, and Ink Black HeartLethal White: Ibsen’s ‘Rosmersholm’, John Granger, December 2018Rowling, Dylan Thomas, and the I Ching: Three Thoughts on Strike7’s Epigraphs, John Granger, April 2023‘Deathly Hallows’ and Penn’s ‘Fruits of Solitude,’ John Granger, October 2008The Aeschylus Epigraph in ‘Deathly Hallows,’ John Granger, October 2008Maid of the Silver Sea Epigraphs: Louise Freeman Davis’ Collected Posts, 2025The Faerie Queene Epigraphs in Troubled Blood* Scroll down the Troubled Blood Pillar Post for the Faerie Queene commentary by Beatrice Groves, Elizabeth Baird-Hardy and John GrangerRobert-Galbraith.com Posts about the Epigraphs in Each Book* Hallmarked Man’s Epigraphs: The Poetry* Hallmarked Man’s Epigraphs: The Prose* Scroll Down the site’s ‘Features’ Page for all the other Epigraph PostsAgents of Fortune: The Blue Oyster Cult Story, Martin Popoff, May 2016Pompilia: A Feminist Reading Of Robert Browning’S The Ring And The Book, Anne Brady, May 1988Roman Murder Mystery: The True Story of Pompilia, Derek Parker, January 2001Sleep Tight, Evangeline: Nick Jeffery and John Granger talk with Dimitra FimiHallmarked Man Epigraphs: The Tally SheetMatthew Arnold: 17 poems, 25 epigraphs, 6 from Merope: A Tragedy* 3, 17, 52, 103, 108, 110 (Merope), 21, 33, 68, 38, 97, 41, 45, 59, 58, 69, 73, 76, 80, 86, 96, 106, 119, 122, 124Robert Browning: 26 poems, 38 epigraphs including frontispiece, 6 from The Ring and the Book* 44, 75, 62, 64, 102, 118 (Ring and Book), frontispiece, 2, 9, 11, 107, 13, 16, 20, 26, 28, 32, 35, 37, 114, 39, 42, 93, 44, 75, 47, 51, 62, 64, 67, 116, 71, 77, 79, 84, 87, 120, 90, 91, 100, 102, 109, 118, 126A. E. Housman: 5 works, 25 poems, 28 epigraphs, 10 from Last Poems* 1, 5, 7, 53, 19, 92, 56, 65, 74, 105 (Last Poems), 23, 30, 34, 36, 40, 43, 46, 49, 57, 63, 78, 82, 89, 94, 98, 112, 115, 125John Oxenham: 1 work, 26 epigraphs* Parts 1-10, Epilogue, 15, 18, 22, 25, 27, 55, 60, 66, 83, 85, 88, 95, 111, 113, 127 (Maid of the Silver Sea)Albert Pike: 3 works (?), 22 epigraphs, 16 from Morals and Dogma* 4, 16, 12, 121 (Liturgy), 8, 10, 14, 29, 31, 48, 50, 54, 61, 70, 81, 99, 101 (Morals and Dogma), 24, 72 (Ancient and Accepted Rite?)Most epigraphs: Robert BrowningFrontispiece: Robert BrowningMost from one poem: Tie, Robert Browning 6 Ring and Book, Matthew Arnold 6 Merope: A TragedyMost from one novel: John Oxenham 26 Maid of the Silver SeaMost from one didactic or discursive argument: Albert Pike 22 (24?) Morals and DogmaConclusions: Ring and Book your best bet as template, Re-read Maid of the Silver Sea, read Merope: A TragedyTally Sheet of Epigraphs for Ink Black Heart:Poet: epigraph numbers, (total)* Christina Rossetti: 8, 14, 22, 24, 25, 35, 38, 50, 52, 54, 56, 84, 86, 90, 98, 103, 105, 107 (18)* Elizabeth Barrett Browning: 12, 21, 33, 39, 42, 45, 47, 58, 67, 71, 72, 82, 96, 101, 102, 104 (16; all but #s 21 and 58 from ‘Aurora Leigh’)* Mary Elizabeth Coleridge: Book, 1, 18, 20, 49, 79, 81, 91, 93, 94, 106 (11)* Emily Dickinson: 11, 31, 53, 58, 59, 65, 70, 76, 99 (8)* Charlotte Mew: 16, 17, 40, 55, 66, 92, 95 (7)* Felicia Hemans: 6, 10, 15, 63, 100 (5)* Amy Levy: 7, 23, 32, 80, 85 (5)* Jean Ingelow: 9, 27, 29, 37, 64 (5)* LEL!: 62, 68, 69, 83 (4); see also Rossetti 52 ‘LEL’)* Mary Tighe: 36 (Psyche), 43, 60, 88 (4)* Helen Hunt Jackson: 4, 87, 89 (3)* Joanna Baillie: 13, 21, 34 (3)* Augusta Webster: 44, 48, 51 (3)* Emily Pfeiffer: 3, 75 (2)* Charlotte Bronte: 19, 74 (2)* Adah Isaacs Menken: 30, 57 (2)* Constance Naden: 41, 46 (2)* Mathilda Blind: 61, 97 (2)* Mary Kendall: 73, 77 (2)* Martha Jane Jewsbury: 2 (‘To My Own Heart’)* Anne Evans: 28* ‘Michael Field’ (Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper): 78The Heart and Vision epigraphs in Ink Black Heart by chapter number:* Heart: 20, 106 (MEC); 21, 67; 52, 107; 68, 85; 2; 63, 80, 85; 17, 40, 55, 95 (Mew); 19, 74; 27; 30; 36, 60; 87 (23)* Vision: Frontispiece, 1, 49, 81 (MEC); 22, 25, 38, 90, 98 (CR); 59; 3; 34; 95; 57; 88; 48; 46 (17)Tally Sheet of Epigraphs for Cuckoo’s Calling:* Frontispiece: Rossetti -- A Dirge* Prologue: Lucius Accius, Telephus* Part One: Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy* Part Two: Virgil, Aeneid* Part Three: Virgil, Aeneid* Part Four: Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis* Part Five: Virgil, Georgics* Epilogue: Horace, Odes* [Closing Poem: Tennyson, Ulysses]Brackets/Latch: 19th Century English poets (see Groves)Most epigraphs: Virgil (3); no other author has more than oneMost frequently referenced work: Aeneid (2), shades in UlyssesCenter of Chiasmus: Aeneid (true if ring has 5, 8, or 9 parts)Turtleback lines: Not evident in authors list, perhaps in meanings of specific epigraphsConclusions:* Read Aeneid to look for Cuckoo’s parallels;* S

Last November Nick and John introduced Dimitra Fimi, the magnificent maven of Tolkien Studies and Professor of Fantasy and Children's Literature at the University of Glasgow, to students of J. K. Rowling’s work. In that discussion, ‘Reading Rowling as Myth Maker and Myth Re-Writer: A Conversation with Dr Dimitra Fimi,’ she shared her thoughts about Rowling’s creative use of mythology in Harry Potter but especially in the Cormoran Strike series.The Hogwarts Professor team asked her to join us again because of Rowling’s yuletide charm bracelet gift to Strike fandom and the recent announcement of the Strike 9 title, Sleep Tight, Evangeline. Her insights about the Longfellow poem as a possible even likely source of the next book’s epigraphs are engaging, but it is her expertise in the arcane area of miniature books as well as mythology and the light each shines on the two items attached to the last link of the charm bracelet that open up exciting possibilities.Her idea is that the Psalter on the ninth link of the charm bracelet may actually be, unlike the other tokens on the bracelet’s nine links, an object that will play a part in the story, a miniature book. It turns out that one inch high books were something of an industry as curios in the 19th and early 20th century, a means of demonstrating technological mastery.Dr Fimi discussed several projects she has been a part of in conjunctions with nano-technologists and the librarians at the University of Glasgow’s special collections division. The one that has the most obvious link to English literature is the ‘Tiny Alice project,’ a contemporary effort to minituarize Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories to unfathomable minuteness:The Tiny Alice Project has produced one of the world’s smallest books: a tiny reproduction of Lewis Carroll’s children’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). All 78 pages and 26,764 words of the story have been transposed on to a tiny silicon chip, with each page just the width of a human hair (60 microns). Each individual letter is just two microns high, and made from pure gold!Click on the icons below to find out more about the project, the technology behind it, and Lewis Carroll and his interest in the minuscule. Via the tabs above you can also discover the long tradition of miniature books, and teaching resources.Clip: Twixter link to tweet aboveYou can read Dr Fimi’s write-up of ‘Tiny Alice’ and the Miniature Book exhibition she curated at the University of Glasgow to highlight their special collection of these treasures at her 2019 blog post about them. Pictures that include annotated miniature books — copies in which their owners made notes in the miniscule margins of the printed pages — can be seen here.Later this week, Nick will be sharing his thoughts on Robert Browning’s The Ring and the Book as the Ironbridge Murder story’s template within Hallmarked Man, John, Nick, Sandy Hope, and Ed Shardlow will be parsing the ring within Strike8’s Part Seven, and more about Longfellow’s Evangeline — stay tuned!The Ten Questions Guiding Today’s Conversation with Dr Fimi with the Necessary Links for Fun Follow-Up:(Intro) So everything Serious Strikers are thinking and talking about this month made me think of you, Dimitra, and to write you hat-in-hand with an invitation for your return to HogwartsProfessor to share your perspective, knowledge, and first impressions. Thank you for making time to join us!1. (John) Jumping right in, then, two of the charms on the Strike9 or ‘Evangeline’ bracelet are Fimi areas of unique expertise: the Psalter and the Head of Persephone. I had urged readers to read your Miniature Books in Children’s Fantasy at A Kind of Elvish Craft: The Dimitra Fimi Substack Site in the links after our conversation here last November but I confess to being surprised still when you asked for the dimensions of the Psalter charm after Nick and I posted our thoughts on the subject. For those who haven’t read your ‘Miniature Books’ post, please share how one of the world authorities on the writing of J. R. R. Tolkien became interested in the smallest of texts, the ‘Little Books’ of 19th century printing.2. (Nick) So you asked for the dimensions of the Psalter, you weren’t thinking as we were that the Psalter charms would be a box holding a folded up paper with a psalm, maybe two, inside it. You’re thinking it might actually be a complete Coverdale Psalter? Is that possible?3. (John) What Nick and I hope to contribute to the nascent field of Rowling Studies, as you know, is a refocusing of the scholarship and the serious reader attention about her work on to her Lake Springs -- the biographical part of story inspiration -- her Shed Tools or intentional artistry, and the Golden Threads, the plot points and themes that run throughout her work, i.e., to bring Rowling Studies more in line with all literary scholarship about notable authors, living and dead.One of the Golden Threads we talked about in our Kanreki series last summer was the ‘Embedded Text,’ the books inside a book topos that is in almost every book Rowling writes (Kanreki Golden Thread posts one and two). Detective fiction is always about an embedded text, the narrative ‘written’ by the criminal to prevent the detective from reading the real story of what happened and Rowling-Galbraith often makes this narrative an actual book (Dumbledore Chocolate Frog Card, Tales of Beedle the Bard, Bombyx Mori, Talbot’s ‘True Book,’ The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus, etc.). How do you think a Psalter miniaturized book would appear in a Strike novel?4. (Nick) Has an author used a miniaturized book before in this way? Were there 19th Century Psalters that people wore as talismans or carried as the original Pocket Books?5. (John) And what about the Head of Persephone charm on that bracelet? It’s on the ninth and last link, paired with that Psalter. You shared your first thought about the Persephone charm, a hopeful note, on the comment thread here. As our go-to authority on Greek mythology, I’m dying to know more of your thinking about (a) the specific charm and its relation to the Cupid and Psyche myth-template to the Strike series, (b) its pairing with the Psalter, and (c) its position as the last charm on the bracelet. Do you still think it’s a sign that Robin will survive Sleep Tight, Evangeline?6. (Nick) As someone immersed in mythological studies and more than familiar with Rowling’s use of myth, do you think the Jungian interpretation of that myth as the ‘actualization of feminine identity’ is a better lens through which to read that embedded text or is the Spenserian lens of Eros/Anteros, False Cupid and Cupid more helpful? Or is this not a case of Either/Or but Both/And? Valentines Day Special7. (John) Rowling is a close reader and admirer of J. R. R. Tolkien, though that is more evident in the clear pointers to his work in her own work than from her interviews. How does her use of myth contrast with that of Tolkien and Lewis? (See John’s 2008 post about Rowling’s debts to Tolkien and the two part podcast with Tolkien scholars and Rowling Readers Dr Amy H Sturgis and Dr Sara Brown here and here for more on that influence.)8. (Nick) In an in-person meeting with UK Serious Strikers last week, Rowling shared with them and later via X with everyone the title of the ninth Strike novel, Sleep Tight, Evangeline. We’re pretty sure that title refers to a song by an American Blues group called ‘The Whiskey Shambles’ (story of the hunt, why Whiskey Shambles is a good bet). There is a famous poem, though, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called ‘Evangeline,’ one perhaps not as famous as ‘Aurora Leigh’ or ‘The Ring and the Book,’ other texts Rowling may have used as back-drops to her novels, but still another poem very famous in its own time akin to those epics. Is its subject matter as good a match-up with the possible direction of Sleep Tight as the Victorian poetry back-drop is with other Rowling models?9. (John) You’re a native Greek speaker; what does ‘Evangeline’ mean in Greek? Is it a common name in Greece or is it a ‘Virtue Name’ in the Puritan tradition of grace-filled names (cf., Credence Barebone is probably a reference to an Englishman named “Praise-God Barebone, whose son Nicholas may have been given the name If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned[3]“).10. (Nick) Don’t leave before trying to tie together the pieces of this conversation! Is there a thread joining the Psalter, the Head of Persephone, miniaturized books, and the title Sleep Tight, Evangeline?Dimitra Fimi is Professor of Fantasy and Children’s Literature at the University of Glasgow and Co-Director of the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic. Her Tolkien, Race and Cultural History won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies and she co-edited the critical edition of A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages which won the Tolkien Society Award for Best Book. Her Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies. Other work includes co-editing Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Work, its Precursors and its Legacies and Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy. She has contributed articles for the TLS and The Conversation, and has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs.When the rightly famous and beloved ‘The Great Courses’ series decided to offer a Lord of the Rings entry for their catalog of the very best in scholarship for adult-learners, they asked Dimitra Fimi to create ‘The World of J. R. R. Tolkien,’ one of their most popular courses and one you can enjoy in an Audible edition.Links Promised in Conversation:A Kind of Elvish Craft: The Dimitra Fimi Substack Site* Miniature Books in Children’s Fantasy* Parabasis: A Tribute to Dionysis Stavvopoulos* On Tolkien’s Letter 131 (4): “Romance” vs. ScienceDimitra Fimi articles at ‘The Conversation’* After 150 years, we still haven’t solved the puz

Happy Valentine’s Day!Mrs Murray met the UK StrikeFans.com contingent and Badly WiredLamp (“and friends”) on Thursday to talk about the Cormoran Strike novels. Yesterday, Friday the 13th, Rowling tweeted about the secret she had told them — the title of Strike9:Nick Jeffery found the most likely source of the title Sleep Tight, Evangeline, assuming it is not an anagram, in six minutes:BadlyWiredLamp who was at the Rowling meeting congratulated Nick on twixter seven minutes later: “Well done for finding it Nick!” with a hand salute emoji. Which semi-confirmation from a witness suggests he is spot on.Even more impressive, Nick wrote up a flash post about The Whiskey Shambles and other ‘Evangeline’ possibilities at the HogwartsProfessor weblog, ‘Sleep Tight, Evangeline – Title Release for Strike 9.’ Nick and John will be discussing this news as well as the Psalter and Head of Persephone charms with miniature book, Tolkien, and mythology expert Dimitra Fimi this weekend for a post here next week. See her ‘Miniature Books in Children’s Fantasy’ to prepare for that conversation. Stay tuned!But it’s Valentine’s Day! John and Nick celebrate this Hallmark Holiday with a journey through the Cormoran Strike novels’ V-Day celebrations and a discussion of the various Valentines and Cupid’s in the story, with special emphasis on the Cupid and Psyche myth that Rowling has suggested is the series story template.That suggestion came the week after Hallmarked Man’s publication in the first of her Public Service Announcements to “Robin and Strike fans:”This image came as a surprise even to Hogwarts Professor subscribers because, though we have been writing and talking about the Cupid and Psyche myth as one of the mythological templates behind the Strike series since early 2021, it was the first time Rowling had acknowledged this publicly. Since the September revelation of this connection by the author and the appearance of the head of Persephone at the end of her Strike9 clues Christmas Charm bracelet, Strike fandom is now on board with the idea. Which on-boarding Nick and John celebrate with this Hearts and Flowers conversation, in which:* Nick reviews the Valentines Day events in the Strike series, the importance of which makes 14 February to Serious Strikers what Halloween is to Harry Potter fans;* John discusses the post American Bar office scene in Troubled Blood that let the cat out of the bag about the Cupid and Psyche myth just beneath the Strellacott romance;* Nick updates that with Rowling’s PSAs and charm pointers to the Trials of Psyche in Robin’s story;* John lays out how and where Hallmarked Man features Valentine Longcaster, the character with the Cupid name, and a Valentine’s Day conflict with dogs to Guard the Gates of Hell (from charting Parts Five and Six);* Nick journeys back to Cuckoo’s Calling and explains how Lula Landry’s death and Robin’s first meeting with Strike are twist on Cupid and Psyche with Venus, Psyche, and Cupid, Hephaestus, and Ares all with their equivalents in Charlotte, Robin, and Cormoran;* John ups the ante of the conversation by bringing in Edmund Spenser and C. S. Lewis, two writers Rowling loves, both of whom wrote stories that turn on Cupid and Psyche, and suggesting that Galbraith, in using the Eros-Anteros distinction of those writers in the Strike series is answering allegorically the core question of human life: whether to focus the soul on the ephemeral body and its desires or on the noetic faculty of soul, the Heart, logos within us;* Nick and John then discuss Robin and Strike’s individual relationships Cuckoo to Hallmarked in light of Cupid-False Cupid and taking turns going through the Strike novels with a look at the principal murder victim and murderer and their respective relationships;* John shares the Jungian interpretation of Cupid and Psyche as the mythic representation of feminine actualization, the chrysalis of female identity;* And more!Below are the links to posts on this subject mentioned in their back and forth and to a translation of the original myth. Happy Valentines Day — and stand by for more discussion of Sleep Tight, Evangeline, the Psalter and Persephone Charms, and all things Strike and Mythology with Dimitra Fimi.Links Mentioned in the Valentines Day Celebration Conversation:Rowling Points to Myth of Cupid and Psyche in order to Console Strike Fans Disappointed with Hallmarked Man (8 September 2025, Nick Jeffery)Nick shares the context of Rowling’s tweet (fan disappointment!) and the background information about the illustration she chose for it.The Most Pleasant and Delectable Tale of the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche (Apuleius)A translation of the Silver Age Latin tale from Apuleius’ Golden Ass.A Mythological Key to Cormoran Strike? The Myth of Eros, Psyche, and Venus (22 April 2021, John Granger)The first post to discuss Rowling’s use of this specific myth within Cormoran Strike, it is essential reading and comes in four parts:* a discussion of Rowling’s stated beliefs about the soul and how it is the focus of her story-telling,* a review of her psychological artistry in Potter and the post Potter novels and screenplays,* a synopsis of the Eros and Psyche myth, and* a point to point look at the parallels in the story thus far with speculation about novels to come.Robin’s Two Perfumes: The Meaning of Philosychos and Narciso (9 June 2021, John Granger)The names of Robin’s baseline perfume, Philosychos, and the one she and Strike choose at story’s end, Narciso, both point less to the bedroom than to Robin’s allegorical, psychological, and mythological role as Psyche in the series.Erich Neumann in his Amor and Psyche: The Psychic Development of the Feminine describes this discipline as a “prohibition against pity” which “signifies Psyche’s struggle against the feminine nature.” …Psyche’s last trial involves her having to confront death, a “marriage” to which she was condemned as a sacrifice at the story’s start, a meeting she can only survive by transcending her feminine qualities of nurturing and pity. She must become, if only temporarily, a narcissist to pass through Hades and return to the world of the Sun and to Cupid. The myth, in Jungian lights, is about her transcending the accidental self, here her feminine and sexual relation to Eros or Cupid, for “ego-stability” leading to “individuation,” ascent to the greater, immortal Self.Robin as resident psychologist and loving soul is the Psyche-cipher of the Strike mysteries. She differs from the relatively passive Human Beauty of the myth in her active and determined “struggle against the feminine nature,” her “What. I. Do!” She not only wrestles with her desires for domesticity and maternity in her thinking but stands up to Strike-Cupid in their Valentine’s Day Street Fight and demands his respect or at least more considerate behavior. But she is still struggling with her difficulty to be the narcissist rather than the Great Mother when circumstances and her heroine’s journey of psychological individuation demand that.Reading Rowling as Myth Maker and Myth Re-Writer: A Conversation with Dr Dimitra FimiNick Jeffery and John Granger converse with Dr Dimitra Fimi about Harry Potter, Cormoran Strike, Tolkien, Jane Eyre, and the Mythological Artistry of J. K. Rowling, Hogwarts Saga to Hallmarked ManThe Hallmarked Man’s Mythological Template‘Cupid and Psyche’s importance for grasping the depths of Strike 8, from the “necessity” of the Silver Vault and the three men in Robin’s life, to spaghetti carbonara and ‘Maid of the Silver Sea’Ink Black Heart: The Mythic Backdrop (10 September 2022, John Granger)What Rowling is depicting in Robin’s journey through the events and mystery of Ink Black Heart include a trap set by Venus, one that takes Robin to a personal and professional underworld or hell, her survival and endurance of every temptation by her determination to be steely rather than empathetic, especially with respect to a certain “lame fellow” (!), and her re-surfacing from hell a changed person, one worthy of begrudging Venereal approval (or Zeus’ intervention — Rokeby!).Ink Black Heart: Strike as Zeus to Robin’s Leda and Cupid to Mads’ Psyche (10 November 2022, John Granger)These traditional portrayals of the every person’s human and divine aspects, soul and spirit as man and woman in dynamic, cathartic relationship — think Romeo and Juliet, Redcrosse Knight and Una, Cupid and Psyche — are perhaps, with her alchemical symbolism, sequencing, and coloring, Rowling’s greatest literary ‘reach’ and achievement in the Strike series, albeit one largely lost on her her vast reading audience. The deliberate conjunction-melange of archetypal psychology, mythology, and spiritual allegory in these novels is, especially in combination with her hermetic artistry, intertextual playfulness (Aurora Leigh!), and chiastic structures, testimony to the author being one of the most accomplished and challenging writers of the age in addition to the most popular (and least well understood, even by her fans).Hallmarked Man: Freemasonry and J. K. Rowling (7 February 2024, Nick Jeffery)The Royal Arch degree is unique in England for including the ceremony of “Passing the Veils” symbolising the path to enlightenment that a mason undergoes as he progresses in the craft. Given Peter Rowling’s upward social mobility from working class apprentice to engineer and moving from the Bristol suburbs to middle class Tutshill, it isn’t beyond reason to wonder if Peter might have been tempted by the social and career advantages that freemasonry might have offered him and exposed a young Joanne to some of the symbolism.Edinburgh, as well as being the home of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, is also home to if not the oldest lodge in the world, then at least the one with the oldest records. Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No. 1 has minutes of meetings from 31st July 1599. There have long been arguments between this Lodge and the one in Kilwinning

Elizabeth Baird Hardy, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts Professor, the genius behind AppalachianInkling.com, Hunger Games expert, and author of Milton, Spenser and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis Novels, joined Nick and John to discuss the Charm Bracelet that J. K. Rowling posted on her Twixter home page as a Christmas gift to her readers. She said that that the thirteen charms on nine links were a set of clues about the next Strike novel, the ninth in a ten book series.In the first Part of Elizabeth, Nick, and John’s conversation, they discussed Rowling’s charm bracelet history, speculated about why she posted this picture when she did, decided to look at each charm on the bracelet for its stand-alone meaning and its place in the nine link set, and to read the whole series as if it were a ring composition, one reflecting a nine Part structure in Strike 9. They then made deep dives into the details of each charm: the heart shaped box containing a ‘You and Me’ engagement ring, a golden diamond-laden egg, a foul anchor, two angels, and a Trojan horse.In this second Part of that conversation, the trio of Serious Strikers continue with the remaining charms on the bracelet, namely, a Jack-in-the-box, an Hourglass, a White Rose and Crocodile, a Corvid head, and a Psalter paired on the last link with the Head of Persephone. They share their thoughts, too, about the bracelet as a symbolic integer and its ring meaning.The notes below are in support of references they make mid-flight and to other resources of interest to Magic Charm Decoders! Enjoy.Thank you to all our subscribers with special gratitude and appreciations for our paid subscribers; you are the wind in our sails, the heat from our vents… Serious Strikers are reading Browning’s The Ring and the Book, charting Hallmarked Man Part Six, and reviewing the Myth of Cupid and Psyche to look for parallels in the Strike-Ellacott series. See you soon!Jack-in-the-Box Charm* Rowling claims this as her favorite charm (Nick and John in the conversation mistakenly attribute this preference to the Psalter charm):* Badly Wired Lamp ID’d it* Is it a devil — or a Racoon?* The jack in the box toy, the 'Jack' being a devil, was invented in Germany in the 16th century as a mockery of the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. * The shape of this charm, the golden circular center in the inside of the open box top, represents the transcendent spiritual realm and the square bottom with its four directions, the fallen world. The ‘jack’ devil lives in the latter but is from the former.* The charm is the third latched object in the chain, the heart box and Trojan horse preceding it and the psalter at chain’s end following it — which means the ring latch and center are latched objects with surprises inside. The two interior objects at center have deadly surprises and the beginning and end eternal life interiors. The symbolism here is of the human being and its capacity via choice for either spiritual perfection in sacrificial love (anteros) or consumption by individual desires (eros). The thing hidden inside, man’s spiritual capacity or heart, is either light or darkness, the inside bigger than the outside. (John)* What is the Strike 9 connection, the analogue to the demonic Jack in the box? Is it RFM? Uncle Ted? Ilsa’s husband Nick? Polworth?* The Jack’s position is at the center of the bracelet and between the hourglass and the Trojan horse. So it’s placed between cleverness and craftiness and things that we can control and bad surprises, but also time, because we can’t control time. (Elizabeth)Hourglass Charm* tempus fugit ‘like sand in an hourglass’* memento mori* infinite symbol* The Strike series may be a collection of mystery-story genres, each one illustrating a unique type of story, different from all the others while keeping the same core of characters and overarching narrative (cf., Rowling’s note in The Running Grave acknowledgements that that book was her “cult” book). The hourglass, then, may be Rowling’s pointer to Strike9 being a suspense drama in which the good guys not only have a challenging mission (find and rescue the missing Robin, Strike, Lucy, Pat, whomever) but have to do it before a literal deadline arrives. The Ticking Clock plot device.* If the Jack at link five is the center of the bracelet ring of nine links, how does the hourglass mirror the Trojan horse? It’s two parts? The deadline aspect? “Reveal the crazies inside before the hourglass empties”?White Rose Charm* White Rose of Yorkshire* The interior of the flower charm is a literal Turtleback or ring composition diagram.* White Rose of Dante: Paradiso Cantos XXXI and XXXIIThe true home of all the blessed is with God in the Empyrean, a heaven of pure light beyond time and space. Dante sees the blessed systematically arranged in an immense white rose: like a hologram, a three-dimensional image, the rose is formed from a ray of light reflected off the outer surface of the Primum Mobile (30.106-17). The queen of this white rose is the Virgin Mary, traditionally represented as a rose herself (see Par. 23.73-4). This celestial rose recalls large rose windows of Gothic cathedrals, many of which are dedicated to Mary. The image of the rose, often red, is also used to represent Christ or, in other contexts, earthly love. The white rose is symmetrically structured according to various criteria, including belief, age, and gender. One half of the rose, already full, holds those who, according to Christian tradition, believed in Christ to come (the blessed of the Hebrew Bible); the other half, with only a few seats still unoccupied, contains those who believed in Christ already come (saved Christians). Two gendered rows mark this division of the rose in two halves. In the row below Mary appear women of the Hebrew Bible (Eve, Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, Ruth, and unnamed others); Beatrice is seated next to Rachel, on the third row from the top. Opposite Mary, John the Baptist heads a row of men containing Francis, Benedict, Augustine, and other Christian fathers. Mary is flanked by Adam (first man) and Moses on one side, and Peter (first pope) and John the Evangelist on the other. John the Baptist is flanked by Lucy on one side and Anna, the mother of Mary, on the other. While only adults are seated in the upper section of the rose, below a certain line the rose contains souls of blessed children, their precise location based not on their own merits (since they lacked the power of free will) but on predestination. As physical laws do not apply in the Empyrean, Dante's ability to see these figures is not diminished by distance (30.118-23; 31.76-8).* White Rose of Mockingjay (Hunger Games finale)The prevailing symbol of Catching Fire and the most meaningful token the Christ figure of the series gives Katniss is a pearl, the solid-light symbolism of which we’ve discussed before. I think Commander Paylor’s name may be our last Madge-Pearl-Mags name reference in being a “pale orb.” That gold and pearls have a similar translucency and metaphysical correspondence with the ‘Light of the World’ make the twin possibilities that much more rich — and Commander Paylor’s ascending to Panem’s Presidency that much more meaningful and appropriate.Katniss steps into the Garden with the Pearl’s blessing (“on my authority”) and discovers roses of every possible color. There are red, of course, and “lush pink, sunset orange, and even pale blue.” She knows what she wants, though; the rose colored like light, the white rose, Dante’s symbolic prelude to the beatific vision and transcendence. Just as she cuts the “magnificent white bud just about to open” “from the top of a slender bush” (ibid, p. 355), the manacled, “pale, sickly green” President Snow, our snake in the Garden, speaks.“The colors, are lovely, of course, but nothing says perfection like white.”Our story Satan, you recall, left her a white rose in District 12 in chapter 1 and dropped roses with the bunker buster bombs in Part 1 to terrify Katniss. Now we know why. He was taunting her with her end, that as a seeker’s soul he knew her goal was perfection in Christ and taunted her with it, especially when he held Peeta-Christ and understood the cartharsis and chrysalis she would have to pass through to claim it herself. Now that she is in the inner sanctuary, the High Place, he tells her the truth she could not hear anywhere else, the final, ugly truth about the cause for which Katniss had sacrificed everything. Snow reveals, just as Peeta had told her at the story’s start, that she was deceived by those she trusted. President Coin killed Primrose with a weapon designed by Gale.Having been to the Absolute center, the world navel, and taken away the beatific vision as a white rose, Katniss is no longer a seeker but the resolution of contraries, an androgyn of justice and mercy. She is above right and wrong now as the phoenix-mockingjay and hears the voice of the “murderer” on the Hanging Tree at last. She deceives President Coin at the Victors Meeting as something of an avenging angel; she becomes a murderer herself by assassinating President Coin. Peeta-Christ comes down from the tree as her savior once again and prevents her suicide via Nightlock by his out-of-nowhere intervention.* Why does the White Rose share the seventh bracelet link with a crocodile? Faerie Queene!Crocodile Charm* The Crocodile in Shed, crocodile skin handbags (Hallmarked Man) “Maybe the4 crocodile or whatever they’re keeping in the shed’s chewed its way out,” said Strike. “ (Chapter 22, p 176; center chapter of Part 2)* Crocodile entry, Cirlot’s Dictionary of SymbolismCrocodile Two basically different aspects of the crocodile are blended in its symbolic meaning, representing the influence upon the animal of two of the four Elements. In the first place, because of it viciousness and destructive power, the crocodile came to signify fury and

On 23 December last year, Rowling changed her Twixter home page header and cameo with this tweeted explanation:The Charm Bracelet header features thirteen charms on nine links:Rowling tweeted an addendum about the Psalter and Jack in the Box charms:Nick Jeffery dropped an explanatory post two days later at the Hogwarts Professor weblog: J. K. Rowling Drops All the Strike 9 Clues for Christmas! It remains the only complete survey of the pieces and compendium of what Serious Strikers around the world have discovered about them.Beatrice Groves, author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, wrote up her charm bracelet thoughts at ‘The Strike Ellacott Files’ a month later. In ‘Charms, Psalms & Golden Clues: A brace(let) of clues for Strike 9,’ Prof Groves discusses the magical quality of charms as talismans and even incantational song:Rowling points out in this 2013 piece the link between the name given to charm bracelets and the magical world: ‘Why do we call those little masterpieces “charms” if not in allusion to their talismanic properties?… they are personal amulets.’ To charm someone is also to slightly to bewitch them, something Rowling plays with when Riddle exerts his charm on Ginny and literally possesses her: ‘If I say it myself, Harry, I’ve always been able to charm the people I needed.’ Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile Award is given to a smile that is both literally, as well as metaphorically, bewitching.The word ‘charm’ comes, through French, from the Latin ‘carmen’ which means ‘song, verse, oracular response, incantation.’ Its first meaning in English, therefore, was the magical one: ‘the chanting or recitation of a verse supposed to possess magic power or occult influence; incantation, enchantment; hence, any action, process, verse, sentence, word, or material thing, credited with such properties; a magic spell; a talisman, etc.’ (Oxford English Dictionary). From the sixteenth century onwards, ‘charm’ meant ‘anything worn about the person to avert evil or ensure prosperity’ because such amulets might contain the text of such a charm. And thinking about this made me aware for the first time of how in the most important charms in Harry Potter – the Fidelius Charm and the Patronus Charm – the word is not simply a synonym for spell but encodes this original, protective meaning. These magical ‘Charms’ like the charms on charm bracelets encode what Rowling calls ‘talismanic properties.’Nick and John invited Elizabeth Baird Hardy, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts Professor, the genius behind AppalachianInkling.com, Hunger Games expert, and author of Milton, Spenser and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis Novels to talk about these charms, especially about what she had written briefly on the subject. The goals of this conversation? * To introduce the subject to everyone not familiar with the Christmas tweets and bracelet-header, * to discuss the ‘Why?’ of this present to Strike fans everywhere, * to speculate about the meaning of the bracelet pieces individually and in a series, and * to brainstorm their qualities as clues for Strike9, the penultimate novel in the decalogy.Which is a lot! The good news is that the conversation never flagged and the revelations and possible meanings of the charms, thirteen in total on nine links, reward anyone listening in.Nick starts off the conversation with a review of the six charm bracelets in Rowling’s life and writing, one of which was a long forgotten piece in the margins of a Rowling web site:[You can read about those internet ‘Easter Eggs’ in ‘Hidden Photos at Rowling’s Website’ here, here, here, and here.]Nick offered as a guiding idea for our conversation the likelihood that the nine links in the bracelet were meaningful, i.e., that they reflected the structure of the book for which the bracelet is meant to be a clue. There are thirteen charms, he noted, but certainly Rowling-Galbraith could have had a thirteen link chain made if she hadn’t thought the nine links more than sufficient, even a pointer to Strike 9 being a nine Part mystery. Since, as Nick noted, she has trouble even passing up a shop selling charms, it seems likely she has been collecting the pieces for this one for some time. Perhaps this bracelet is a “target” toward which she has been writing with these books. It is certainly not something she just threw together for a header photo shoot. The trio elected to read the circular collection of charms, consequently, as pieces with individual meaning — as magical talismans of sorts per Prof Groves — and as a ring composition, with both aspects indicating the place and meaning of the piece in the book.After a brief discussion of why Rowling, Inc., would release this set of clues now, with another Strike novel or Bronte Studios television adaptation in the distant future — John offered the possibility that this bit of fan servicing was meant as a touch of appeasement qua Christmas gift to the many fans disappointed with Hallmarked Man — Elizabeth, John, and Nick tackled the thirteen charms on nine links.In Part One of their conversation, they talk about * the heart shaped engagement ring box;* the golden diamond-laden egg;* the anchor;* the two angels; and * the Trojan horse.Their preliminary conclusions at the half-way point?Mrs. Murray in her Nativity gift to her readers offers them clues not only to the next Strike-Ellacott novel but to the meaning of human life. Each of these five charms is a symbol with obvious and not so obvious Christian meaning. John reconsidered his answer to the ‘Why now?’ in light of this avalanche of symbolism; instead of it being fan servicing to rescue the brand, he thinks it may be Rowling’s attempt — on the most celebrated remnant Christian holiday in a post-Christian world — to reset her serious readers’ understanding of what she is about as a writer, what sort of transformation she is trying to create via story within her readers.Part two of this interpretative deep dive into Rowling’s artistry in metallurgical symbolism, her “charm work” literary alchemy, will follow shortly. There are five links with seven charms to come — Jack in the Box, Hourglass, White Rose, Crocodile, Corvid, Psalter, and the Head of Persephone — all as rich in meaning as the first four links.Below are links to subjects mentioned in this first conversation and additions not discussed but discovered after the fact, all shared for your consideration and comments!Thank you as always from the Hogwarts Professor team for your joining us with special appreciation to our paid subscribers!Subjects that Elizabeth, Nick, and John Discussed: The Heart Shaped Engagement Ring Charm:* The first, fourth, fifth, and ninth links are clasped objects with surprises inside,* Ink Black Heart and Deathly Hallows: The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual Center (John, October 2022)* Hallmarked Man, Part Five: The Center of Strike 8 is about “Inner Light” (Ed Shardlow)* Gold as “solid light” and diamonds as “inner light,” both reflecting in nature the Light of God’s Word or Logos that is found with in every man (cf., John 1:9 and Rowling’s comments about Casual Vacancy being “all about” her belief that “the light of God shines in every soul”);* The consequent symbolism of a golden wedding/engagement band with two diamonds;* The human being as a ‘heart in a box’ either enlightened ‘gold and diamonds’ or a dark ‘jack in the box’ devil* The two-stone ring, as Nick notes, is a “me and you” ring, alluding to a certain theme song. Also, Elizabeth notes, Robin is faced with a choice between two very different types of proposals, so the duality of the ring in the box connects to that conundrum, and since that is apparently where 9 will begin, it gives us a good idea that we are right in “reading” the bracelet starting with this oneThe Gold Diamond-Laden Egg Charm:* Assuming it is an ‘Easter Egg,’ the two meanings of that phrase;* Again, ‘gold and diamonds,’ as above; * Paschal meaning of Eggs: The custom of exchanging colored eggs entered the life of the Church. The symbolic meaning of the egg as the beginning of a new life was known even earlier. Christians saw in this symbol confirmation of their faith in the coming general resurrection. The Easter egg’s red color symbolized the all-conquering Divine Love, which alone could destroy hell!The Foul-Anchor Charm:* ‘Strike 9 to Heads to Portsmouth!’ (Nick, September 2025)* Foul Anchor (Wikipedia);* Eagle, Globe, and Anchor (Wikipedia);* Meaning of ‘Hector’ in Homeric Greek is ‘Holding Fast,’ and, by interpretation, ‘anchor;’* The Greek word for ‘Anchor’ found in the New Testament is ἄγκυρα, pronounced ‘ang-chor-a;’ * Hebrews 6:19:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.* Meaning of "Anchor of the Soul" in Hebrews 6:19?The Immediate Context of Hebrews 6:13-20The writer reassures wavering Jewish Christians by citing God’s oath to Abraham (Genesis 22:16-17). Two “unchangeable things” (God’s promise and His oath, v. 18) make it “impossible for God to lie.” The “hope set before us” (v. 18) functions as an anchor that has already “entered … b

Running Grave, book Seven of the ten novel Cormoran Strike murder mystery series by Joanne Murray (‘J. K. Rowling’) writing as ‘Robert Galbraith,’ is what the author described as her “cult novel.” The cult in question is the Universal Humanitarian Church led by Jonathan Wace; the Strike-Ellacott Agency is hired by a father to rescue his youngest son who has disappeared into the UHC’s Chapman Farm property. Robin Ellacott successfully infiltrates the compound and she and the young man escape.Soon after Robin’s near-thing deliverance and return to London, Strike attends a UHC rally in that city with hopes that he will be spotted by Wace and invited to meet back-stage. ‘Papa J’ takes the bait and he and Strike square off in the cult leader’s dressing room. Strike reveals much of what Robin and he have learned about the UHC’s criminal past and present in that verbal confrontation. Strike exits only after delivering a warning; stay away from his partner or “I will burn your church to the f*****g ground” (Part 8, chapter 112, 808; italics in original).In the midst of this tense back-and-forth between private detective and religious guru, Strike thrice mentions a book published in 1930, Who Moved the Stone?, a relatively short work of popular Christian apologetics:‘I see you’re one of those who prides themselves on disrespecting rites, mysteries, and religious observance,’ said Wace, smiling again. ‘I shall pray for you, Cormoran. I mean that sincerely.’‘I’ll tell you one book I’ve read, that’s right up your street,’ said Strike. ‘Came across it in a Christian mission where I was spending a night, just outside Nairobi. This was when I was still in the army. I’d drunk too much coffee, and there were only two books in the room, and it was late, and I didn’t think I’d be able to make much of a dent in the Bible, so I went for Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison. Have you read it?’‘I’ve heard of it,’ said Wace, sitting back in his chair, still smiling. ‘We recognise Jesus Christ as an important emissary of the Blessed Divinity, though, of course, he’s not the only one.’‘Oh, he had nothing on you, obviously,’ said Strike. ‘Anyway, Morison was a non-believer who set out to prove the resurrection never happened. He did an in-depth investigation into the events surrounding Jesus’ death, drawing on as many historical sources as he could find, and as a direct result, was converted to Christianity. You see what I’m driving at?’‘I’m afraid not,’ said Wace.‘What questions d’you think Morison would’ve wanted answered, if he set out to disprove the legend of the Drowned Prophet?’ (805)This calling into question of the UHC’s historical claim to other-worldly power causes those of Wace’s inner-circle minions to chafe and counter with traditional Oriental wisdom about wrestling with pigs. Strike again alludes to Morison’s book:‘Is that from the I Ching?’ asked Strike, looking from Zhou to Mazu. ‘Funnily enough, I’ve got a few questions on the subject of degradation, if you’d rather hear those? No?’ he said, when nobody answered. ‘Back to what I was saying, then.’‘Let’s suppose I fancy writing the new Who Moved the Stone? – working title, “Why Paddle in the North Sea at Five a.m.?” As a sceptical investigator of the miraculous ascension into heaven of Daiyu, I think I’d start with how Cherie knew Jordan Reaney would oversleep that morning. Then I’d be finding out why Daiyu was wearing a dress that made her as visible as possible in the dark, why she drowned off exactly the same stretch of beach as your first wife and – parallels with Who Moved the Stone? here – I’d want to know where the body went. But unlike Morison, I might include a chapter on Birmingham’ (805-806).John Granger and Nick Jeffery, as part of their Kanreki celebration of Rowling-Galbraith’s 60th birthday last July, discussed Texts-Within-the-Text as a Golden Thread that runs through all of the author’s work. Most of those embedded texts, though, are of Rowling’s invention, e.g., Dumbledore’s Chocolate Frog Card, Tales of Beedle the Bard, Bombyx Mori, The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus, Wace’s The Answer, etc. It’s fairly rare for Rowling-Galbraith to drop a reference to a real world book even in the relatively non-magical Strike series.In addition to the I Ching, however, Running Grave has Prudence Donleavy recommend two psychology texts to Robin (Lifton’s Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brain Washing in China and Hassan’s Combatting Cult Mind Control: Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults) in addition to Strike’s weaponization of Morison’s Who Moved the Stone?John and Nick chose to discuss Who Moved the Stone? this week rather than an embedded text that works as a template (cf., Aurora Leigh) or a Rowling favorite-book that shaped her perspective (e.g., I Capture the Castle) or a real-world book tied to the plot of Hallmarked Man (Bridge to Light, Pike’s Morals and Dogma) because it seemed to connect the dots of several recent Rowling revelations:* the “God-shaped vacuum” tweet; * the unforced admission that she suffers from VWD, a blood-clotting disorder; * the search for the coming Big Twist in the final books of the Strike series;* the Psalter charm on the Strike9 Christmas gift bracelet-of-clues; * the Church of St Giles in the Fields’ existence and its incredible absence from the first eight Strike books despite its overshadowing Denmark Street; and* the absence of Strike-series parallels to the Christian content and meaning of the Potter series, especially with respect to the Struggle to Believe in Deathly Hallows.For reasons the two discuss, all the above are pointers to possible Christian content of Strike books nine and ten, even that this content will be a substantial part of the mind-bending surprise finish to the series, namely, Strike’s transformation from a skeptic with respect to all things religious to believer. What bigger clue has Rowling presented in the series for that possibility than Strike’s confronting a religious “fraud and hypocrite” (799) with a book by an English skeptic about the evidence for belief in Christ’s Resurrection from the dead?Nick and John discuss both Who Moved the Stone? itself, its use in Running Grave in the Strike-Wace confrontation, and its possible meaning as a pointer to revelations and transformations to come:1. Why is a Rowling Reader interested in Frank Morison’s Who Moved the Stone? ? 2. Who was ‘Frank Morison‘? What is the story behind the writing of Who Moved the Stone? ? What place does it have, if any, in UK Christian apologetics?3. Do you think there are echoes of ‘Morison’s conclusions in the Passion parts of Dorothy Sayers’ Man Born to be King series for the BBC (1941)? 4. Chesterton per Wikipedia wrote in his review of Stone that he had been “under the impression it was a detective story” when he picked it up; how much does it read like a murder mystery, something akin to how Strike might sift through the evidence of a case?5. Five instances of deductive insights Ross-Morison offers by reasoning that even most Christian believers would have considered —6. A compare-and-contrast exercise of different perspectives -- John, believer, familiar with passion gospels; Nick, seeker, not so much -- how did their reading experiences differ?7. Why would Rowling-Galbraith have Strike mention this book, one that fosters conversions to Christian faith, in his face-to-face meeting with a religious charlatan? Shouldn’t he be belittling faith at that point?8. If there is a single ‘keyword’ in Stone, John believes it is “vacancy.” Nick and John discuss (1) the possibility that Rowling may have read this book as a young person and been struck by the God-shaped “vacancy” or “Vacuum” in her own life and (2) whether it could have been an influence on the Casual Vacancy title. They review Rowling comments about “the light of God shining from every soul” in her Vacancy interviews.9 - John expresses his bewilderment that Robin and Cormoran have never discussed their faith backgrounds or lack of one in the course of their relationship, especially in light of their UHC cult experiences and Talbot’s True Book with its occult and Christian content. Nick explains the fall out of the English Civil War to John.10. Could Strike’s familiarity with and seeming sympathy with the arguments of Stone a place-marker for future conversations about faith, not to mention revelations of why both Strike and Robin are so casual about the vacancy of a spiritual dimension in their lives?The remarkable take-away from this conversation was a discussion of the possibility that Rowling’s tweeted ‘Psyche Ascendant’ suggests the imminent death of Robin Ellacott in Strike 9 with Strike 10 being fallout of that death in the life of Cormoran Strike. ‘Fall out’ meaning Strike will learn the truth about all the questions to which he mistakenly thought he knew the answers — the suicides of his mother and Charlotte Campbell-Ross, the character of Jonny Rokeby, Ryan Murphy’s real motivation for pursuing Robin Ellacott, Cormoran’s relationships with his half-sister Lucy and “oldest mate” Dave Polworth — as well as ‘Who Killed the Better Half of the Strike Ellacott Detective Agency?’John thinks the revelations coupled with Strike’s grief may drive him to his knees in St Giles in the Fields Church, a ‘Digging Dobby’s Grave on Easter morning’ parallel. Make your case in the comment boxes below if you think that he has lost his mind somewhere on the drive east from Oklahoma to the Carolinas.The Granger family is now well settled in their South Carolina bungalow and Hogwarts Professor will be posting with regularity. Nick and John thank you for your patience and for your support!Links to Sources and Subjects Mentioned in Conversation:‘A Ring Reading of Running Grave, Part Eight’ (John Granger)Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison (Amazon)‘Albert Henry Ross’ aka ‘Frank Morison’ (Wikipedia)‘Frank Morison and Who Moved the Stone? Adv

Nick is joined by John Granger and special guest star Guido in their temporary headquarters as they await the move to Granger Towers. We discuss the revelation that J. K. Rowling has an inherited blood clotting disorder, and speculate that this could be von Willebrand Disease, and discuss what this could mean for a Golden Thread that John first explored more than five years ago. Nick surveys the instances of blood in all her published work, and John identifies a theme that Nick has missed - the Eucharist. Could this be the key to understanding the final narrative arch of the Strike series?Links Discussed in this Episode:The revelation of J. K. Rowling’s condition:https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/j-k-rowling-and-the-roy-phipps-connection/John discusses the Golden Thread on the Reading Writing Rowling Podcast in 2020.https://audioboom.com/posts/7566531-episode-37-troubled-blood-and-the-faerie-queene-strike-5John Granger’s book How Harry Cast his Spell exploring the Christian content and meaning in Harry Potter.https://www.amazon.com/How-Harry-Cast-His-Spell/dp/1414321880John’s visit to Denmark Street and St Giles-in-the-Fields in 2016.https://web.archive.org/web/20171130161236/https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/visiting-cormoran-strikes-pub-and-denmark-street-premises-in-london/Victor Turner - Colour Classification in Ndembu Ritual (1966)https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/vision/1966-turner.pdfThe Blood Survey:Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s StoneThe word “Blood” appears 33 times.dragon’s bloodThe Bloody BaronHarry thought Flint looked as if he had some troll blood in him.One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood.That’s unicorn blood.It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone.Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsThe word “Blood” appears 46 times.not a drop of magical blood in their veins‘Wizard blood is counting for less everywhere –’No Malfoy’s worth listenin’ ter. Bad blood, that’s what it is.‘No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood,’ he spat.who think they’re better than everyone else because they’re what people call pure-blood.Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway.‘… I smell blood … I SMELL BLOOD!’Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanThe word “Blood” appears 21 times.‘It all comes down to blood, as I was saying the other day. Bad blood will out. Now, I’m saying nothing against your family, Petunia’Ron and Hermione were standing underneath it, examining a tray of blood-flavoured lollipops.‘BLOOD!’ Ron yelled into the stunned silence. ‘HE’S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?’Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireThe word “Blood” appears 37 times.Now that they had removed their furs, the Durmstrang students were revealed to be wearing robes of a deep, blood red.‘B-blood of the enemy … forcibly taken … you will … resurrect your foe.’I wanted Harry Potter’s blood. I wanted the blood of the one who had stripped me of power thirteen years ago, for the lingering protection his mother once gave him, would then reside in my veins, too …Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixThe word “Blood” appears 85 times.‘Yoooou!’ she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. ‘Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!’‘Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal‘The pure-blood families are all interrelated,’ said Sirius. ‘If you’re only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left.‘Terrified? I hope I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, have never been guilty of cowardice in my life! The noble blood that runs in my veins –’Again and again Harry wrote the words on the parchment in what he soon came to realise was not ink, but his own blood.‘It seems there was some rather unusual kind of poison in that snake’s fangs that keeps wounds open. They’re sure they’ll find an antidote, though; they say they’ve had much worse cases than mine, and in the meantime I just have to keep taking a Blood-Replenishing Potion every hour.‘While you can still call home the place where your mother’s blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refugeHarry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceThe word “Blood” appears 105 times.‘If I had murdered Harry Potter, the Dark Lord could not have used his blood to regenerate, making him invincible –’Harry had never hated Malfoy more than as he lay there, like an absurd turtle on its back, blood dripping sickeningly into his open mouth.‘My daughter – pure-blooded descendant of Salazar Slytherin – hankering after a filthy, dirt-veined Muggle?’It was as though something large and scaly erupted into life in Harry’s stomach, clawing at his insides: hot blood seemed to flood his brainI’ve learned more from the Half-Blood Prince than Snape or Slughorn have taught me in –’‘Harry, I’d like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires – and, of course, his friend Sanguini.’Blood spurted from Malfoy’s face and chest as though he had been slashed with an invisible sword. He staggered backwards and collapsed on to the waterlogged floor with a great splash, his wand falling from his limp right hand.‘Payment?’ said Harry. ‘You’ve got to give the door something?’ ‘Yes,’ said Dumbledore. ‘Blood, if I am not much mistaken.’ ‘Blood?’Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsThe word “Blood” appears 125 times.As I reveal in chapter sixteen, Ivor Dillonsby claims he had already discovered eight uses of dragon’s blood when Dumbledore “borrowed” his papers.’MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society‘Splinched,’ said Hermione, her fingers already busy at Ron’s sleeve, where the blood was wettest and darkest.Was it his own blood pulsing through his veins that he could feel, or was it something beating inside the locket, like a tiny metal heart?‘Drop your wands,’ she whispered. ‘Drop them, or we’ll see exactly how filthy her blood is!’Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste.‘Precisely!’ said Dumbledore. ‘He took your blood and rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins, Harry, Lily’s protection inside both of you! He tethered you to life while he lives!’Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find ThemThe word “Blood” appears 11 times.The Kappa feeds on human blood but may be persuaded not to harm a person if it is thrown a cucumber with that person’s name carved into it.Re’em blood gives the drinker immense strength, though the difficulty in procuring it means that supplies are negligibleSalamander blood has powerful curative and restorative properties.Quidditch Through the AgesThe word “Blood” appears 6 times.The first Bludgers (or ‘Blooders’) were, as we have seen, flying rocksThe Tales of Beedle the BardThe word “Blood” appears 5 times.There is not a witch or wizard in existence whose blood has not mingled with that of MugglesCasual VacancyThe word “Blood” appears 97 times.Then pain such as he had never experienced sliced through his brain like a demolition ball. He barely noticed the smarting of his knees as they smacked onto the cold tarmac; his skull was awash with fire and blood; the agony was excruciating beyond endurance, except that endure it he must, for oblivion was still a minute away.All they could get out of her at first was, ‘The Fields, the bloody, bloody Fields …’‘Mrs Weedon’s new pills are upsetting her stomach,’ said Parminder calmly. ‘So we’re doing your bloods today, aren’t we?’Sharp, hot pain and the blood came at once; when she had cut herself right up to her elbow she pressed the wad of tissues onto the long wound, making sure nothing leaked onto her nightshirt or the carpet.Some of her self-hatred had oozed out with the blood.Pagford, bloody Pagford. Samantha had never meant to live here.That morning, at breakfast, she had tested her blood sugar with the glucometer for the first time, then taken out the prefilled needle and inserted it into her own belly. It had hurt much more than when deft Parminder did it.Did she find it easier to accept him as a separate individual than if he had been made from her flesh and blood? Her glucose-heavy, tainted blood …The Cuckoo’s CallingThe word “Blood” appears 64 times.Her accidental assailant was massive; his height, his general hairiness, coupled with a gently expanding belly, suggested a grizzly bear. One of his eyes was puffy and bruised, the skin just below the eyebrow cut. Congealing blood sat in raised white-edged nail tracks on his left cheek and the right side of his thick neck, revealed by the crumpled open collar of his shirt.Perhaps a knife would plunge between his shoulder blades as he walked through the front door of her flat; perhaps he would walk into the bedroom to discover her corpse, wrists slit, lying in a puddle of congealing blood in front of the fireplace.‘Pushing someone over a balcony’s a spur-of-the-moment thing,’ said Strike, as though he had felt her inner wince. ‘Hot blood. Blind temper.’When Lucy’s lips were pursed she bore a strong resemblance to their Aunt Joan, who was no blood relation to either of them.You’re a cold-blooded b*****d, aren’t you? No f*****g wonder old Jonny’s not keen on you.’Strike, however, knew Charlotte as intimately as a germ that had lingered in his blood for fifteen yearsSergeant Gary Topley lying in the blood-spattered dust of that Afghanistan road, his face unscathed, but with no body below the upper ribs.The SilkwormThe word “Blood” appears 140 times.Message after message, stuck out on the bloody cliffs at Gwithian trying to get reception—Strike had never taken the time to consider, although Polworth, a man of many pithy theories, took the view that such women (‘nervy, overbred’) were subconsciously looking for what he called ‘carthorse blood’.‘—and she says he won’t let the

Welcome to the Hogwarts Professor New Year’s Celebration! John and Nick look back to a packed 2025, as John looks forward to big changes in 2026. From the marathon Kanreki celebration in July to the joys of sharing The Hallmarked Man with friends around the world and plans for The Hogwarts Professor in 2026. John Granger, Nick Jeffery and the HogPro faculty wish you and your families a happy, healthy and fulfilled new year!1.) John, this time last year you said “I’m hopeful that 2025 will be the most exciting year in Hogwarts Professor’s 20+ year history, at least the busiest since the madhouse period following the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” As someone who was part of the initial fandom frenzy, how did this year compare?Not anything like 2007 which was a continuous love fest for Harry Potter and that series’ author, Woman of the Year, etc. I was on national teevee repeatedly in the run-up to Deathly Hallows publication and the weblog and podcasts and book sales and speaking dates all did numbers they will almost certainly never do again. Rowling world was the world undivided and I rode that tsunami wave for several years afterwards.Times have changed. Rowling is a much more influential and consequently divisive figure. Her legacy is proving to be at least as great in the political realm as it is in literature with almost 14 million people reading her tweets and her books not selling that well if very well by any other measure.And our role at Hogwarts Professor has changed correspondingly. We sided with Team Rowling against the Gender Theory Extremists in 2020 and were cancelled in consequence. No book deals, no speaking dates, and no podcasts because I refused to bend the knee to Potter fandom’s collective effort to cancel Rowling as a transphobic murderer for stating simple biological and psychological truths.In 2025, though, as I hoped last December and January, we re-emerged as leaders of the Royal Society of Rowling Readers. I am still ostracised, of course, from Potter fandom conventions and the like as well as from Strike podcasts, but our conversations, Nick, have an ever growing following globally and locally and one participating in the best conversations anywhere about the artistry and meaning of Rowling’s work.It’s been a great year and I am again hopeful, especially in light of our move east, that 2026 will be another break through year at Hogwarts Professor.Nick and John share their highlights of 2025 - 2.) Non-Rowling HogPro HighlightNick - Suzanne Collins - Sunrise on the Reaping Elizabeth Baird-Hardy’s posts inspired me to not just read the Hunger Games series, but Gregor the Overlander as well.John: The closing of ‘The Rowling Library’ magazine3.) Highlight from the Lake:Nick - Rowling’s blood disorder - von Willebrand DiseaseJohn: Tough Call! High on my list were (1) Rowling’s legal fund for defending women discriminated against for gender critical beliefs and (2) Rowling in Greenland but I’m going to go with both Rowling’s 7 August ‘Lake and Shed’ Tweets and Rowling’s 12 September ‘Changes in Beliefs’ tweeting post Charlie Kirk.4.) Highlight from the Shed:Nick - the Golden Threads! We have shared “Pregnancy Traps” and “Lost Child” threads this year which join “Bad Dad” and “Ghosts” which feature front and centre in “Hallmarked Man” John: Mythology – the forgotten Shed tool or more precisely the one neglected by even the most serious Strikers and Potter Pundits despite our efforts here really came to the fore in the wake of Rowling’s tweet post Hallmarked Man kerfuffle along with the advent of mythological mavin Dimitra Fimi’s into our conversations.5.) Highlight from Rowling Inc:Nick - The all-cast audio editions of Harry PotterJohn: Casting decisions about Bronte Studios/Netflix casting decisions for the small screen teevee adaptations – Black Snape!6.) Highlight from The Hallmarked Man release:Nick - That first English language sneak peek from Germany and the Robin ectopic pregnancy reveal!John: The realisation that for the first time Rowling wasn’t writing a self-contained Strike mystery with over-arching story details but the first of a three-part series-ending piece in which many of the players from the book will be returning in feature roles.7.) Highlight book 9 and 10 tease:John - Cupid and PsycheNick - J. K. Rowling’s fourth (or fifth) charm bracelet.8.) John Introduces the Kanreki Project and its relationship to fourth generation potter scholarship….· 55 total Substack posts 2023-2024· 3 posts Jan-June 2025…· 31 posts in July and 34 since (today #69)The Goal: Shift the Rowling Reader focus from latest book to work as a whole with the three critical taxonomy categories of Lake springs, Shed tools, and Golden Thread as our guides or lensesThe Means: the Kanreki blitz of Lake, Shed, and Golden Thread highlights from all of Rowling’s work in celebration of Rowling’s 60th birthday (the old) and the follow-up engagement with Serious Strikers before and after the publication of Hallmarked Man (the new)The Results:We nowhere near the finish line or even, I think, the avalanche tipping point that an authorised critical biography will push us over, but we have cleared the forest and prepared the field for that event, work that we will take another quantum leap forward in 2026 with our Lake, Shed, and Golden Thread Rowling Studies 101 online class.Which is to say that this is the year that the Substack Platform has really taken off, with an engaging and intelligent comments section that is really unparalleled, certainly J. K. Rowling fandom. I think much of this has been generated by our video conversations here. We have moved from the audio only Rowling Studies podcast; Nick, as the technical wizard, can you give us a peek behind the curtain? How have we done this, and what’s next?9.) One of the reasons I’m exploring better quality audio and video, is that we can start creating content that can be used as a reference, potentially for many years. Once we can do this, then we can start offering online courses, can we say anything yet about our plans, John?John: As soon as I’m settled in, we’ll finish the Hallmarked Man ring charting (I’ve been listening to the painful Part Five chapters while packing…) and then offer a free five part introduction to L/S/GT thinking and survey of what is known in those categories followed by a ten week course for those wanting a much deeper appreciation of Rowling, roots, branches, and leaves10.) John and Nick Wish Fulfillment Predictions for 2026John: Special guests on our shows – Elizabeth Baird-Hardy, Beatrice Groves, Lindsey and Company from Strike FansNick: A proper interview with Beatrice Groves, Dimitry Fimi or John Granger. I’m more than happy to be the impartial invigilator.John: Critical Biography news, More Rowling Biographical RevealsNick: A biography! (Authorised)John: Michael is Doorstepped and Tells All!Nick: A book! We know Rowling has the plots for a further 5 books one of which is “futuristic” but not set in space. But not the WB television reboot, that is scheduled for 2027!John: Rowling Confirms ‘Ending Trilogy Theory’Nick: Rowling to talk about Fantastic Beasts – this will be difficult… John: Rowling is Special Guest on Hogwarts Professor ShowNick: A get together, with The HogPro team.Apologies for limited commenting on threads and posting during my family relocation!Thank you for your patience, support, and prayers since November and in the coming month! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Merry Christmas! In between looking at houses to rent and packing up the Granger house in Oklahoma City, Nick and John put together this yuletide conversation about perhaps the most neglected of Rowling’s influences, Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. John was a reluctant reader, but, while listening to the audio book, reading the Gutenberg.com file on his computer, and digging the codex out of his packed boxes of books, the author of Harry Potter’s Bookshelf was totally won over to Nick’s enthusiasm for Castle.In fact, John now argues that, even if Rowling didn’t read it until she was writing Goblet of Fire as some have claimed, I Capture the Castle may be the best single book to understand what it is that Rowling-Galbraith attempts to do in her fiction. Just as Dodie Smith has her characters explain overtly and the story itself delivers covertly, When Rowling writes a story, like Smith it is inevitably one that is a marriage of Bronte and Austen, wonderfully accessible and engaging, but with important touches in the ‘Enigmatist’ style of Joyce and Nabokov, full of puzzles and twists in the fashion of God’s creative work (from the Estecean logos within every man [John 1:9] continuous with the Logos) rather than a portrait of creation per se. Can you say ‘non liturgical Sacred Art’?And if you accept, per Nick’s cogent argument, that Rowling read Castle many times as a young wannabe writer? Then this book becomes a touchstone of both Lake and Shed readings of Rowling’s work — and Smith one of the the most important influences on The Presence.Merry Christmas, again, to all our faithful readers and listeners! Thank you for your prayers and notes of support and encouragement to John and for making 2025 a benchmark year at Hogwarts Professor. And just you wait for the exciting surprises we have in hand for 2026!Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The Twelve Questions and ‘Links Down Below’ Referred to in Nick and John’s I Capture the Castle Conversation:Question 1. So, Nick, we spoke during our Aurora Leigh recording about your long term project to read all the books that Rowling has admitted to have read (link down below!), first question why? and secondly how is that going?Rowling’s Admitted Literary InfluencesWhat I want is a single internet page reference, frankly, of ‘Rowling’s Admitted Literary Influences’ or ‘Confessed Favorites’ or just ‘Books I have Read and Liked’ for my thesis writing so I needn’t do an information dump that will add fifty-plus citations to my Works Cited pages and do nothing for the argument I’m making.Here, then, is my best attempt at a collection, one in alphabetical order by last name of author cited, with a link to at least one source or interview in which Rowling is quoted as liking that writer. It is not meant as anything like a comprehensive gathering of Rowling’s comments about any author; the Austen entry alone would be longer than the whole list should be if I went that route. Each author gets one, maybe two notes just to justify their entry on the list.‘A Rowling Reading of Aurora Leigh’ Nick Jeffery Talking about ‘A Rowling Reading of Aurora Leigh’ Question 2. ... which has led me to three works that she has read from the point of view of writers starting out, and growing in their craft. Which leads us to this series of three chats covering Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and the Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott. I read Castle during the summer. Amid all the disruptions at Granger Towers, have you managed to read it yet? How did you find it?Capturing Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle: Elizabeth Baird-Hardy (October 2011)Certain elements of the story will certainly resonate with those of us who have been to Hogwarts a fair few times: a castle with an odd combination of ancient and modern elements, but no electricity; eccentric family members who are all loved despite their individual oddities (including Topaz’s resemblance to Fleur Delacour); travel by train; a character named Rose who may have been one of the reasons Rowling chose the name for Ron and Hermione’s daughter; descriptions of food that make even somewhat questionable British cuisine sound tasty; and inanimate objects that have their own personalities (the old dress frame, which Rose and Cassandra call Miss Blossom, is voiced by Cassandra and sounds much like the talking mirror in Harry’s room at the Leaky Caldron).But far more than some similar pieces, I Capture the Castle lends something less tangible to Rowling’s writing. The novel has a tone that, like the Hogwarts adventures, seamlessly winds together the comic and the crushing in a way that is reflective of life, particularly life as we see it when we are younger. Cassandra’s voice is, indeed, engaging, and readers will no doubt see how the narrative voice of Harry’s story has some of the same features.A J. K. Rowling Reading of I Capture the Castle: Nick Jeffery (December 2025)Parallels abound for Potter fans. The Mortmain’s eccentric household mirrors the Weasleys’ chaotic warmth: loved despite quirks, from Topaz’s nude communing with nature (evoking a less veiled Fleur Delacour) to Mortmain’s intellectual withdrawal. Food descriptions—meagre yet tantalising—prefigure Hogwarts feasts, turning humble meals into sensory delights. Inanimate objects gain voice: the family dress-frame “Miss Blossom” offers advice, akin to the chatty mirrors or portraits in Rowling’s world. Even names resonate—Rose Mortmain perhaps inspiring Ron and Hermione’s daughter—and train journeys punctuate the plot.The Blocked Writer: James Mortmain, a father who spent his fame early and now reads detective novels in an irritable stupor, mirrors the “faded glory” or “lost genius” archetypes seen in Rowling’s secondary characters, such as Xenophilius Lovegood and Jasper Chiswell.The Bohemian Stepmother: Topaz, who strides through the countryside in only wellington boots, shares the whimsical, slightly unhinged energy of a character like Luna Lovegood or Fleur Delacour.Material Yearning: The desperate desire of Cassandra’s sister, Rose, to marry into wealth reflects the very real, non-magical pressures of class and poverty that Rowling weaves into Harry Potter, Casual Vacancy, Strike and The Ickabog.Leda Strike parallels: Leda Fox-Cotton the bohemian London photographer, adopts Stephen, the working-class orphan, and saves him from both unrequited love and the responsibility that comes with the Mortmain family.Question 3. [story of finishing the book last night by candle light in my electricity free castle] So, in short Nick, I thought it astonishing! I didn’t read your piece until I’d finished reading Capture, of course, but I see there is some dispute about when Rowling first read it and its consequent influence on her as a writer. Can you bring us up to speed on the subject and where you land on this controversy?* She First Read It on her Prisoner of Azkaban Tour of United States?tom saysOctober 21, 2011 at 4:00 amIf I recall correctly, Rowling did not encounter this book until 1999 (between PoA & Goblet) when, on a book tour, a fan gave her a copy. This is pertinent to any speculation about how ‘Castle’ might have influenced the Potter series.* Rowling Website: “Books I Read and Re-Read as a Child”Question 4. Which, when you consider the other books on that virtual bookshelf -- works by Colette, Austen, Shakespeare, Goudge, Nesbit, and Sewell’s Black Beauty, something of a ‘Rowling’s Favorite Books and Authors as a Young Reader’ collection, I think we have to assume she is saying, “I read this book as a child or adolescent and loved it.” Taking that as our jumping off place, John, and having read my piece, do you wish you had read it before writing Harry Potter’s Bookshelf?Harry Potter’s Bookshelf: The Great Books behind the Hogwarts Adventures John Granger 2009Literary Allusion in Harry Potter Beatrice Groves 2017Question 5. So, yes, I certainly do think it belongs -- with Aurora Leigh and Little Women -- on the ‘Rowling Reader Essential Reading List.’ The part I thought most interesting in your piece was, of course, the Shed elements I missed. Rowling famously said that she loved Jo Marsh in Little Women because, in addition to the shared name and the character being a wannabe writer, she was plain, a characteristic with which the young, plain Jane Rowling easily identified. What correspondences do you think Little Jo would have found between her life and Cassandra Mortmain’s?* Nick Jeffery’s Kanreki discussion of Rowling’s House on Edge of Estate with Two Children, Bad Dad ‘Golden Thread’ (Lethal White)Question 6. Have I missed any, John?* Rockefeller Chapel, University of ChicagoQuestion 7. Forgive me for thinking, Nick, that Cassandra’s time in church taking in the silence there with all her senses may be the biggest take-away for the young Rowling; if the Church of England left their chapel doors open in the 70s as churches I grew up in did in the US, it’s hard to imagine Jo the Reader not running next door to see what she felt there after reading that passage. (Chapter 13, conversation with vicar, pp 234-238). The correspondence with Beatrice Groves’ favorite scene in the Strike novels was fairly plain, no? What other scenes and characters do you see in Rowling’s work that echo those in Castle?* Chapter 13, I Capture the Castle: Cassandra’s Conversation with the Vicar and time in the Chapel vis a vis Strike in the Chapel after Charlotte’s Death* Beatrice Groves on Running Grave’s Chapel Scene: ‘Strike’s Church Going’Question 8. I’m guessing, John, you found some I have overlooked?Question 9. The Mortmain, Colly, and Cotton cryptonyms as well as Topaz and Cassandra, the embedded text complete with intratextuual references (Simon on psycho-analysis), the angelic servant-orphan living under the stairs (or Dobby’s lair!) a

John Granger Attempts to Convince Nick (and You!) That The Hallmarked Man will be Considered the Best of the Series.We review our take-away impressions from our initial reading of The Hallmarked Man. Although we enjoyed it, especially John’s incredible prediction of Robin’s ectopic pregnancy, neither of us came away thinking this was the finest book in the series. For Nick, this was a surprise, as enthusiastic J. K. Rowling fan that he is other than Career of Evil every book he has read has been his favourite. Using an innovative analysis of the character pairs surrounding both Cormoran and Robin, John argues that we can’t really appreciate the artistry of book number eight until we consider its place in the series. Join John and Nick as they review the mysteries that remain to be resolved and how The Hallmarked Man sets readers up for shocking reveals in Strike 9 and 10!Why Troubled Blood is the Best Strike Novel:* The Pillar Post Collection of Troubled Blood Posts at HogwartsProfessor by John Granger, Elizabeth Baird-Hardy, Louise Freeman, Beatrice Groves, and Nick JefferyTroubled Blood and Faerie Queene: The Kanreki ConversationBut What If We Judge Strike Novels by a Different Standard than Shed Artifice? What About Setting Up the ‘Biggest Twist’ in Detective Fiction History?* If Rowling is to be judged by the ‘shock’ of the reveals in Strike 10, then The Hallmarked Man, the most disappointing book in the series even to many Serious Strikers, will almost certainly be remembered as the book that set up the finale with the greatest technical misdirection while playing fair.* The ending must be a shock, one that readers do not see coming, BUT* The author must provide the necessary clues and pointers repeatedly and emphatically lest the reader feel cheated at the point of revelation.* If the Big Mysteries of the series are to be solved with the necessary shock per both Russian Formalist and Perennialist understanding, then the answers to be revealed in the final two Strike novels, Books Two and Three of the finale trilogy, should be embedded in The Hallmarked Man.* Rowling on Playing Fair with Readers:The writer says that she wanted to extend the shelf of detective fiction without breaking it. “Part of the appeal and fascination of the genre is that it has clear rules. I’m intrigued by those rules and I like playing with them. Your detective should always lay out the information fairly for the reader, but he will always be ahead of the game. In terms of creating a character, I think Cormoran Strike conforms to certain universal rules but he is very much of this time.* On the Virtue of ‘Penetration’ in Austen, Dickens, and Rowling* Rowling on the Big Twist’ in Austen’s Emma:“I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never, and will never, do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in Emma.”What are the Key Mysteries of the Strike series?Nancarrow FamilyWhy did Leda and Ted leave home in Cornwall as they did?Why did Ted and Joan not “save” Strike and Lucy?Was Leda murdered or did she commit suicide?If she was murdered, who dunit?If she commited suicide, why did she do it?What happened to Switch Whittaker?Cormoran StrikeIs Jonny Rokeby his biological father?What SIB case was he investigating when he was blown up?Was he the father of Charlotte’s lost baby? If not, then who was?Why has he been so unstable in his relations with women post Charlotte Campbell?Charlotte CampbellWhy did her mother hate her so much?What was her relationship with her three step-fathers? Especially Dino LongcasterWho was the father of her lost child?Was the child intentionally aborted or was it a miscarriage?What was written in her “suicide note”?Was Charlotte murdered or did she commit suicide?If she was murdered, who done it?If she committed suicide, why did she do it?What happened to the billionaire lover?What clues do we get in Hallmarked Man that would answer these questions?- Strike 8 - Greatest Hits of Strikes 1-7: compilation, concentration of perumbration in series as whole* Decima/Lion - incest* Rupert’s biological father not his father of record (Dino)* Sacha Legard a liar with secrets* Ryan Murphy working a plan off-stage - Charlotte’s long gameStrike about ‘Pairings’ in Lethal WhiteStrike continued to pore over the list of names as though he might suddenly see something emerging out of his dense, spiky handwriting, the way unfocused eyes may spot the 3D image hidden in a series of brightly colored dots. All that occurred to him, however, was the fact that there was an unusual number of pairs connected to Chiswell’s death: couples—Geraint and Della, Jimmy and Flick; pairs of full siblings—Izzy and Fizzy, Jimmy and Billy; the duo of blackmailing collaborators—Jimmy and Geraint; and the subsets of each blackmailer and his deputy—Flick and Aamir. There was even the quasi-parental pairing of Della and Aamir. This left two people who formed a pair in being isolated within the otherwise close-knit family: the widowed Kinvara and Raphael, the unsatisfactory, outsider son.Strike tapped his pen unconsciously against the notebook, thinking. Pairs. The whole business had begun with a pair of crimes: Chiswell’s blackmail and Billy’s allegation of infanticide. He had been trying to find the connection between them from the start, unable to believe that they could be entirely separate cases, even if on the face of it their only link was in the blood tie between the Knight brothers.Part Two, Chapter 52Key Relationship Pairings in Cormoran Strike:Who Killed Leda Strike?To Rowling-Galbraith’s credit, credible arguments in dedicated posts have been made that every person in the list below was the one who murdered Leda Strike. Who do you think did it?* Jonny Rokeby and the Harringay Crime Syndicate (Heroin Dark Lord 2.0),* Ted Nancarrow (Uncle Ted Did It),* Dave Polworth,* Leda Strike (!),* Lucy Fantoni (Lucy and Joan Did It and here),* Sir Randolph Whittaker,* Nick Herbert,* Peter Gillespie, and* Charlotte Campbell-RossScripted Ten Questions:1. So, Nick, back when we first read Hallmarked Man we said that there were four things we knew for sure would be said about Strike 8 in the future. Do you remember what they were?2. And, John, you’ve been thinking about the ‘Set-Up’ idea and how future Rowling Readers will think of Hallmarked Man, even that they will think of it as the best Strike novel. I thought that was Troubled Blood by consensus. What’s made you change your mind?3. So, Nick, yes, Troubled Blood I suspect will be ranked as the best of series, even best book written by Rowling ever, but, if looked at as the book that served the most critical place in setting up the finale, I think Hallmarked Man has to be considered better in that crucial way than Strike 5, better than any Strike novel. Can you think of another Strike mystery that reviews specific plot points and raises new aspects of characters and relationships the way Strike 8 does?4. Are you giving Hallmarked Man a specific function with respect to the last three books than any of the others? If so, John, what is that exactly and what evidence do we have that in Rowling’s comments about reader-writer obligations and writer ambitions?5. Nick, I think Hallmarked Man sets us up to answer the Key mysteries that remain, that the first seven books left for the final three to answer. I’m going to organize those unresolved questions into three groups and challenge you to think of the ones I’m missing, especially if I’m missing a category.6. If I understand the intention of your listing these remaining questions, John, your saying that the restatement of specific plot points and characters from the first seven Strike novels in Hallmarked Man points to the possible, even probable answers to those questions. What specifically are the hallmarks in this respect of Hallmarked Man?7. If you take those four points, Nick, and revisit the mysteries lists in three categories, do you see how Rowling hits a fairness point with respect to clueing readers into what will no doubt be shocking answers to them if they’re not looking for the set-ups?8. That’s fun, Nick, but there’s another way at reaching the same conclusions, namely, charting the key relationships of Strike and Ellacott to the key family, friends, and foes in their lives and how they run in pairs or parallel couplets (cue PPoint slides).9. Can we review incest and violence against or trafficking of young women in the Strike series? Are those the underpinning of the majority of the mysteries that remain in the books?10. Many Serious Strikers and Gonzo Galbraithians hated Striuke 8 because Hallmarked Man failed to meet expectations. In conclusion, do you think, Nick, that this argument that the most recent Strike-Ellacott adventure is the best because of how it sets us up for the wild finish to come will be persuasive -- or just annoying?On Imagination as Transpersonal Faculty and Non-Liturgical Sacred ArtThe Neo-Iconoclasm of Film (and Other Screened Adaptations): Justin requested within his question for an expansion of my allusion to story adaptations into screened media as a “neo-iconoclasm.” I can do that here briefly in two parts. First, by urging you to read my review of the first Hunger Games movie adaptation, ‘Gamesmakers Hijack Story: Capitol Wins Again,’ in which I discussed at post’s end how ‘Watching Movies is a a Near Sure Means to Being Hijacked by Movie Makers.’ In that, I explain via an excerpt from Jerry Mander’s Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, the soul corrosive effects of screened images.Second, here is a brief introduction to the substance of the book I am working on.Rowling is a woman of profound contradictions. On the one hand, like all of us she is the walking incarnation of her Freudian family romance per Paglia, the ideas and blindspots of the age in which we live, with the peculiar individual prejudices and preferences and politics of her upbringing, education, a

John Granger rarely listens to audio adaptations of books unless he’s on a long drive, though he admits they have played an important part in his life as a reader.Nick Jeffery listens to audio books everyday and often for hours at a time; he credits the medium for his mid-life rebirth as a reader (re-reader!).Zossima Granger, writer in residence at ProtagonistBook.com (Give the gift of an unforgettable story!) and host of Teller Talk interview series at Zossima’s Story Stack Substack page, cannot remember a time when Harry Potter and audio books were not an important part of his life. He like Nick listens to one book per week or more.So — what do these Potter Pundits and Serious Strikers think of the new Audible ‘Full Cast Audio’ (FCA) unabridged dramatization of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which in the UK and Commonwealth nations is Philosopher’s Stone?They loved it! No, the adaptation wasn’t perfect, and, yes, there are a few jarring miscues and disappointments. As they explain in their ten point discussion of their experience listening to the Audible production, however, there’s reason to be very excited about this audio version of the first Potter novel and the six promised FCA dramatizations.Nick lays out the audio adaptation history of the Hogwarts Saga, to include, in addition to the background of the new FCA books, the Stephen Fry and Jim Dale legacies. And then he asks the questions below!* What is your relationship with audio books? Are you a frequent listener?* Were the Fry/Dale Potter adaptations an important part of your experience of the Hogwarts Saga?* Did you listen to the ‘full cast audio’ adaptation of Christmas Pig? Other books?* What were your expectations -- fears and hopes -- for the Sorcerer’s Stone full cast audio adaptation?* What was the biggest surprise you experienced in your first listening?* Which of the voice actors brought out a different dimension of the text than you expected?* What is your favorite scene in Stone and was the full cast audio depiction of it a delight or a disappointment?* Fry, Dale, or Full Cast: will you listen to all three versions in the future? Do you have a strong preference?* Thumbs up or down: one to five stars, please, for the Audible production and your biggest grins and gripes.* What changes do you hope the producers will make before they release the next six adaptations?Please join in the conversation by sharing your answers to these questions in the comment boxes below. What is your relationship with books you listen to rather than read? What do think of the new FCA dramatization?And, when you’ve made your contribution to this conversation and you’d like more conversation between Nick Jeffery and Zossima Granger for dessert, check out Teller Talk #4, ‘Harry Potter and the Skill of Reading’! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

John Granger in September 2022, weeks after the publication of Ink Black Heart, tackled the tangle of 108 poetic epigraphs in Strike 6 from twenty-two Anglo-American Victorian women poets in search of a common theme, of a prevalent meaning, or, the Holy Grail, a work among the many works that acted to Heart as Rosmersholm did to Lethal White and Faerie Queene did to Troubled Blood. This effort involved listing the poets, the epigraphs (citing poems by each woman), and, without reading each poem, noting simply what each brief excerpt included. You can read the results of those surveys at ‘Ink Black Heart: Intro to Epigraphs 101.’The anticipated result of those tabulations was that the poetic epigraphs in Heart, in tandem with the cardiac Part headings from Grey’s Anatomy, were consistently about the heart as spiritual faculty rather than bodily pump. The surprise finding was that 13% of the epigraphs were from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh. John speculated in conclusion that it was the heart of Rowling’s sixth Strike-Ellacott novel:Again, this is not the place to write at any length about the relevance of ‘Aurora Leigh’ as a mirroring text within Ink Black Heart. Like you, I look forward to Beatrice Groves’ exegesis to complement her Cuckoo’s Calling work with Rossetti’s ‘Dirge’ and Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses.’ The two important things to note here are only that ‘Aurora Leigh’ is the poem most deployed in Strike6 epigraphs and that it is a melange of “Biblical and classical history and mythology, as well as modern novels.” That it would work as something of a template or touchstone for Ink Black Heart, a novel with mythological and hermetic backdrops and archetypal symbols used to reinvent the depth and range of the most modern of genres, the murder mystery, as psychomachian allegory, seems almost a no-brainer. If you can only read one book or poem to buttress your understanding of Strike6, it has to be Durkheim’s Suicide, Evola’s Ride the Tiger, or Browning’s ‘Aurora Leigh,’ and I think the epic poem is your best bet.When Rowling agreed to a live interview with Serious Strikers on Twitter the month after Ink Black Heart’s publication, one hosted by the Barmy Army, John listed the first question he would ask her to be about the importance if any of Aurora Leigh for understanding Strike 6: “Is Barret Browning’s Aurora Leigh the backdrop story to Ink Black Heart the way Rosmersholm and Faerie Queen were to the fourth and fifth Strike mysteries?”Nick Jeffery included this question in a veritable barrage of questions he launched during the Barmy Army interview, and, incredibly, Rowling responded:John concluded in his write up of the Barmy Army interview:If I get “all credit” for the spotting, I must take the blame as well for misspelling Browning’s name and for Nick’s saying there were thirteen rather than fourteen Leigh epigraphs. All credit to @gbjeffen for succeeding in getting Rowling to answer a question, something I have not succeeding in doing in more than two decades of reading her work and writing about its artistry and meaning. Look for the seven point Ink Black Heart: Aurora Leigh post in the coming week.John, however, never wrote up that '“seven point Ink Black Heart Aurora Leigh post” and his expectation of a Beatrice Groves exegesis also never materialized. That project was delayed until Nick Jeffery, in his years long effort to read everything Rowling has admitted to reading and liking (see this list of those books, a list that predates the 2022 revelations in re Aurora Leigh), arrived at the 1856 epic novel in blank verse. Last week Nick wrote up his findings here as ‘A Rowling Reading of Aurora Leigh: The Influence of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh on J.K. Rowling.’John and Nick put Hallmarked Man aside, consequently, in this week’s conversation to talk about this poem, Nick’s essay, and the place of this work in Fourth Generation Rowling Studies. Enjoy!Next week they’ll chart Part Three of Hallmarked Man, discuss the astrological symbols and meaning embedded in Strike 8’s names and plot points, and review with a Generation Hex special guest the long anticipated full-cast audio book of Harry Potter. and the Philosopher’s Stone. Stay tuned — and please join the Paid Subscribers club to keep the HogPro lights on and restore heat and power to John’s home! Many thanks to all subscribers around the world with a special shout-out this week to the six listeners in Norway: Tussen Takk!The Ten Questions and Promised Links:Little Women and Harry Potter: Jo Rowling is Jo March The Seven Points of CorrespondenceYou see, I was a plain — and that is relevant! you know that is relevant, that isn’t a trivial thing, especially when you’re a kid — I was a very plain, bookish, freckly, bright, little girl. I was a massive book worm and I spent a significant part of my reading looking for people like me.Now I didn’t come up with nothing. Y’know, I remember Jo March who had a temper and wanted to be a writer so that was a lifeline. There’s a heroine in a book called Little White Horse that I’ve spoken about publicly who was plain and that was fabulous. “Wow! You get to be a heroine and get not to be a raving beauty..”But y’know these were pretty slim pickings. J. K. Rowling: Deathly Hallows, Part 2, DVD extras, ‘The Women of Harry Potter‘ Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Battle for AmericaA fascinating look at the cultural roots, political impact, and enduring legacy of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s revolutionary bestseller.Uncle Tom’s Cabin is likely the most influential novel ever written by an American. In a fitting tribute to the two hundredth anniversary of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s birth, Bancroft Prize-winning historian David S. Reynolds reveals her book’s impact not only on the abolitionist movement and the American Civil War but also on worldwide events, including the end of serfdom in Russia, down to its influence in the twentieth century. He explores how both Stowe’s background as the daughter in a famously intellectual family of preachers and her religious visions were fundamental to the novel. And he demonstrates why the book was beloved by millions―and won over even some southerners―while fueling lasting conflicts over the meaning of America. Although vilified over the years as often as praised, it has remained a cultural landmark, proliferating in the form of plays, songs, films, and merchandise―a rich legacy that has both fed and contested American racial stereotypes. Interview Questions1. [Nick] I wrote the essay, John, but the reason I read Aurora Leigh late 2025 dates back to September 2022 and a discovery you made while sorting through the 108 poetic epigraphs of Rowling’s Ink Black Heart. Before we jump into the Elizabeth Barrett Browning epic poem, can you run us through that effort and finding?2. [John] 13% of course is nothing like the 100% epigraphical backdrops of Lethal White and Troubled Blood but, just reading the Wikipedia summary of Aurora Leigh, I thought it a very strong possibility that it might have served a similar function for Ink Black Heart. Which is where you enter the picture, Nick. I’ve never managed to get Rowling to answer even one of my questions in a quarter century of asking; you pried three answers out of her in one go! And on your first effort? Please tell us that story and what Rowling revealed about Aurora Leigh.3. [Nick] And so we had almost immediate confirmation of your highly speculative conclusion from the epigraphs, John. And you promised a seven point essay of compare and contrast criticism vis a vis Aurora Leigh and Ink Black Heart. What happened to that post?4. [John] So my notes for that were put aside, literally folded and stuffed in my Norton Critical edition of Aurora Leigh, waiting for the leisure time post dissertation to read the verse-novel and write up the seven points. But you revived that long forgotten project with your essay, Nick, so let’s skip to that work. I’m confident few of our listeners are familiar with Elizabeth Barrett Browning or her most important and final poem; can you introduce us to both subjects?5. [John] How easy or hard was it to enter into the story, visualize the surroundings, and empathize with the characters?6. [John] And you charted the ring of Aurora Leigh’s nine parts in your post! How hard was that? You didn’t discuss it at any length in your post; how important do you think that is for understanding the work? Was it largely a hat-tip to the great epic poets?7. [John] If I had one complaint about your exegesis it’s that you only spent two sentences on what I thought were profound findings, namely the ‘meaning in the middle’ and the turtle-back correspondences between parts two and eight. Those are the giant take-aways, I think, of Leigh’s influence on Rowling the Re-Reader and Magpie Borrower-Writer, no? Say some more about that, please.8. [John] You wrote that Rowling’s selections from Aurora Leigh for epigraphs “are not arbitrary; they serve as interpretive keys, inviting readers to draw connections between the 19th-century verse and Rowling’s modern tale of online toxicity, anonymity, and justice.” Can you give us some examples of what you mean?9. [John] Rowling specifies a parallel between Heart’s Zoe and Leigh’s Marian. Can you explain that link and its importance and any other character parallels and inspirations?10. [John] You close with ‘Thematic Resonances and Broader Literary Influence,’ which are probably the most important connections between EBB and JKR beyond the plot point parallels and character echoes in Ink Black Heart. Can you summarize those in a way to push Serious Strikers and Rowling Readers to make the effort to find a copy of Aurora Leigh and read it?*Optional [Nick] So how close did I come to your ‘seven points,’ John? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/su

The Hogwarts Professor comment threads have been jumping so Nick Jeffery and John Granger decided to dedicate a conversation to a review of the Greatest Hits in the last week (to do a complete review yourself, click on ‘Activity’ in the left margin of the Hogwarts Professor Substack home page).After their reviewing the remarkably global and growing audience of Rowling Readers — 36 countries, 46 states! — and tracking The Presence’s location — her yacht seems to be in Fiji but she is touring Levesden Studios? — Nick and John read out fifteen comment subjects and discuss the merits, deficiencies, and promise of each.The lede story is the theory shared by Jaclyn Hayes that Cormoran Strike and the late Charlotte Campbell were half-siblings with Jonny Rokeby in common as their absentee father. From her notes: I think Charlotte was blackmailed (via threat of exposing the relatedness btw her and Cormoran) into marrying Jago to provide him a male heir. Perhaps their relatedness is even an open secret in Charlotte’s family, similar to the “secret” relatedness of Decima and Rupert in THM (another parallel). Charlotte was forbidden from telling Cormoran about the blackmail, but since she’s conniving and obsessed with him, she uses their unexpected encounter at the Paralympics gala to drop hints about her predicament, hoping he’ll solve the mystery and save her or take her back once she’s fulfilled the terms of her marriage/birth agreement with Jago. She then orchestrates another encounter with Cormoran to drop more hints-- this time at Franco’s, which she knows will trigger the memory of her father’s outrage at seeing her and Cormoran dating again. She hopes Cormoran will realize her father was angry because he knew they were related, not simply because he thinks Cormoran wasn’t good enough for her. She then tells Coromoran things would be different if he’d taken the job her father offered him (calling to mind the job Tara gives Rupert to keep him quiet in THM), and says she found out she was pregnant at Tara’s house and later “lost” (not aborted) the baby. Read the whole thing. Ed Shardlow’s response, in which he points out that the hallmark given to silver and DNA testing of human beings have a lot in common, and Tamspells and Jaclyn Hayes discussion of Strike’s dreams in previous books give the Strike:Charlotte::Rupert:Decima theory some heft. Cheryl Rose Orrocks asked for help with research she is doing on a possible divine marker, mythologically divine at least, being placed in each book at the appearance of that novel’s killer. The only holes in her theory at the time Nick and John recorded their conversation were Troubled Blood and Running Grave — and Catherine has since posted a neat solution for Strike 5. Check that out and please share the missing god or goddess from Running Grave!Nick and John also review and discuss:* Ed Shardlow’s idea that the characters creating narratives inside Rowling-Galbraith stories are perhaps best understood as creating their stories as Rowling writes hers, i.e., inspired by Lake material and crafted with the tools in their Sheds;* Vicky’s thank you to Dr Fimi for the Ursula Le Guin quotation;* Ed Shardlow’s ‘RL Mystery’ with back-up from Tamspells and J. S. Maleksen;* Cheryl Rose Orrocks’ YouTube notes about the Dirty Bomb Theory conversation (and just how wrong John is about Carmen the opera and Carmen Ellacott); and* Answers to listener requests for more information — all of which can be found in the Links section below!In the week to come, John pledges to post his Hallmarked Man Names exegesis, Nick is working on his review of Aurora Leigh, the supposed template of Ink Black Heart (and the only book ever confirmed by Rowling as such), they will record their Part Two ring charting this weekend, and John is reorganizing his 2017 seven week online course — Wizard Reading Formula — for which class Paid Subscribers will get a greater than 50% discount.John and Nick thank everyone listening and especially those active on the comment threads and taking part in the Hallmarked Man Ring Reading Workshop!Links to Subjects Discussed in the Conversation Above:Cheryl Rose Orrocks: Can you let me know the title and author of the book about Gothic elements?The one John used for Harry Potter’s Bookshelf was Patterns of fear in the Gothic novel, 1790-1830 by Ann Tracy, now only ‘in print’ via a Kindle version.John read from his much longer Harry Meets Hamlet and Scrooge: Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Adventures as the Gateway to English Literature in the conversation above, in which the list of subjects is spelled out (e.g., the castle, supernatural atmosphere, horror, isolation, subterranean passages, fragmentation and reunion, prophecy, ancestral curse, tainted blood, bond of blood, graveyard, corpses, Decay of Aristocratic Privilege, Rise of Bourgeoisie, forest, memories, dreams, found book, doppelgangers, scar or tell-tale mark, mysterious stranger, confused origin, night, mist and fog, distant past, death,, etc.).John also recommends The Handbook of Gothic Literature, ed. Marie Mulvy-Roberts, and The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, ed. Jerrold Hogle.Who is the mystery writer John was talking about who killed a women when she was an adolescent?Anne Perry, author of the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt and William Monk series of historical detective fiction. John recommends Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century, the book written by the journalist who out’d Perry as a convicted murderer writing murder mysteries. Perry died in 2023. J. S. Maleksen I too enjoyed this post, immensely. Can someone recommend a version of Cupid and Psyche and other relevant works of mythology for a Striker who assiduously avoided mythology through seven years of post-secondary education. I’m willing to gut it out in order to understand Rowling’s work. TIA.John shared his favorites in the conversation above — Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, Graves’ The Greek Myths, Powell’s Classical Myth, and Schwab’s Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece but Dr Dimitra Fimi responded in the thread today:It’s a really difficult question this, and yet it shouldn’t be. But the truth is that there is no contemporary authoritative collection of Greek/Classical mythological retellings that’s up-to-date with recent scholarship, etc. Catherine recommends Hamilton’s book below, which is still good in many respects, but these earlier compilations (like Bulfinch’s too) often synthesize different versions of mythological narratives, and omit some interesting variations. My recommendations are a bit heavier on the scholarly side of things, but still readable (the issue will be getting hold of them, but I provide links where possible):1) Classical Myth by Barry B. Powell - as implied by the astronomical price on Amazon.uk (https://amzn.to/3JYkLfF) this is mostly available second-hand now, but there is a scanned version via Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/classicalmyth0000powe (you’ll need to create a free account, but once you do you can log in and borrow the book digitally to read)2) Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources (2 Volumes) by Timothy Gantz is great, and at least easier to get hold of. It gives the tales and their versions as well as an overview of their sources. The Amazon price of Vol. 1, for example, is a bit more accessible: https://amzn.to/4oTFKQ1For those interested in the de profundis interpretation of classical myth, see The Door in the Sky: Coomaraswamy on Myth and Meaning and Symbolism in Greek Mythology by Paul Diel.You can find the post about Beedle the Bard that Dr Fimi discussed in her conversation with Nick and John at her Substack, ‘A Kind of Elvish Craft:’ “You must’ve heard of Babbitty Rabbitty!”: Secondary World Fairy Tales in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Dimitra Fimi is Professor of Fantasy and Children’s Literature at the University of Glasgow and Co-Director of the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic. Her Tolkien, Race and Cultural History won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies and she co-edited the critical edition of A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages which won the Tolkien Society Award for Best Book. Her Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies. Other work includes co-editing Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Work, its Precursors and its Legacies and Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy. She has contributed articles for the TLS and The Conversation, and has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs.When the rightly famous and beloved ‘The Great Courses’ series decided to offer a Lord of the Rings entry for their catalog of the very best in scholarship for adult-learners, they asked Dimitra Fimi to create ‘The World of J. R. R. Tolkien,’ one of their most popular courses and one you can enjoy in an Audible edition.Links Promised in Conversation:A Kind of Elvish Craft: The Dimitra Fimi Substack Site* Miniature Books in Children’s Fantasy* Parabasis: A Tribute to Dionysis Stavvopoulos* On Tolkien’s Letter 131 (4): “Romance” vs. ScienceDimitra Fimi articles at ‘The Conversation’* After 150 years, we still haven’t solved the puzzle of Alice in Wonderland (2015)Kanreki Conversations about Rowling-Galbraith ‘Golden Threads’* Pregnancy Traps in the Works of Rowling-Galbraith* Golden Threads in Rowling-Galbraith (1)* Golden Threads in Rowling-Galbraith (2)* ‘The Lost Child’ Golden Thread* Alternative Explanations of ‘The Lost Child’ Golden Thread* The Induced Abortion Hypothesis* The July 2025 Kanreki IndexOur Ten Questions for Dr Fimi:1. How does a woman born and raised on the Greek island of Salamis wind up in Cardiff studying Celtic Mythology?2. You’re a Tolkien scholar and expert in fantasy and Children’s literature. Tolkienistas are legend for looking down their Ent noses at Harry Potter, though there are important exceptions to that rule (the late Stratford Caldecott, his wife Leonie, Amy H. Sturgis, others). How did you meet the Boy Who Lived and what were your first impressions of Rowling as author?3. You have a lot in common with Rowling, no? Tolkien devotee, serious student of mythology, and a wonderful appreciation of the magic of story, especially magical stories for children. The Tolkien influence on Rowling is well documented though she has tried to belittle it, but her use of myths as templates for her stories is less well known but at least as important. What do you make of her admittedly “shameless” borrowing from folk tales and myths?4. I guess this is a segue to the Cormoran Strike books which are awash in myths -- Leda and the Swan, Castor and Pollux, Cupid and Psyche, Artemis and Tisiphone... Am I missing any?5. You’ve seen Rowling’s recent confirmation of the Cupid and Psyche myth in her tweeted painting of ‘Psyche Ascendant.’ That suggests we’ll see the happy ending of the myth in Strikes 9 and 10. Or does it? What did you see of that myth specifically in Hallmarked Man?6. Running Grave has another embedded text, not a myth per se, one that makes sense in light of Rowling’s love of everything the Bronte sisters wrote. Tell us what made you think of Jane Eyre as you were reading Strike 7.7. Rowling did something unusual in 2019, well, among the unusual things she did that year, in inviting readers to interpret her work in light of their ‘Lake’ inspiration as well as her intentional ‘Shed’ artistry. Writers like Lewis and Tolkien would be aghast at that, though Inkling Studies today necessarily include heavy biographical leanings in almost everything written about those authors. What is your take in general on what Lewis called ‘The Personal Heresy’ and about Rowling as a living author inviting that critical perspective while she is still among us?8. It’s fascinating, frankly, that you are not so compartmentalized in your reading that Rowling is still a writer you read outside of her fantasy and children’s literature. Do you read the Strike-Ellacott stories because you also love a good detective novel or is it your interest in Rowling and whatever she is writing?9. Have you read Christmas Pig? John believes that in fifty years, the Lord tarrying, high school and college students will read Pig as Rowling’s representative work the way we had to read Tale of Two Cities or Christmas Carol to be exposed to Dickens.10. John tries to read imaginative fiction through what he calls an “iconological lens,” a method born of his Perennialist beliefs and life as an Orthodox Christian. In what ways do you think your childhood and secondary education gave you a sympathy unusual for multi-valent texts than those born and raised in relatively secular cultures? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Nick Jeffery and John Granger sat down today to talk about the wonderful comment threads beneath their Hallmarked Man posts since publication day. They see every comment on every thread and realized no one else was seeing the brilliant theories and ideas from the Hogwarts Professor community.John was tasked with reviewing every comment post publication comment thread to identify the best offering they had not discussed in previous posts. Nick had the harder job of culling that list down to the best ten ideas; he balked and chose thirteen. John added two, just because.They both recommend you click on the links below as you listen to Nick and John embrace, push back, and marvel at the great Serious Striker conversations to be had here.The best of the best? J. S. Maleksen’s ‘Dirty Bomb Charlotte,’ which makes the credible argument that Rowling has written a back-stage scenario in which Charlotte seduces Ryan F. Murphy to destroy Robin Ellacott. Why? When? What? How? Read the comment beneath the #1 link below and listen to Nick and John talk, no, rave about this seemingly off-the-wall bit of speculation.And then wade through the rest! Thank you to all the contributors to our conversations; please remember it was Nick, not John, who decided not to use your idea. Hallmarked Man Names and Part One ring-charting later this week — stay tuned!Links to Reader Ideas and Theories from the HogPro Comment Threads1. J. S. Maleksen: ‘Dirty Bomb Charlotte:’ Ryan Murphy Killed CharlotteThank you for discussing my first Running Grave RFM comments.As you may have noticed, my theory is a bit of a work in progress. In keeping with the Hogwarts Professor/ Rowling Studies standards, I am striving to put it all together and set forth a textual basis for my contention that the relapsing, unstable RFM we see in the later parts of RG and all of HM is the dirty bomb left by Charlotte with the intent of exacting revenge on Robin and Strike.In RG, after listening to a portion of Charlotte’s final 3 voicemail messages, Strike frets about the possibility that Charlotte will seek out RFM and spin a web of lies to him. He expresses concern in his inner monologue that RFM would have no loyalty to Strike and that RFM could use the information to turn Robin against him.Understanding that I may be in nutter drawer/Gateshead territory and mindful that I am diverging from my original post slightly, I contend that RFM met up with Charlotte at some point, maybe in the month or two, before she died. She used McCabes (the agency she hired to get dirt on Jago in IBH) to get info on Robin, discovered RFM, contacted him seduced him, and filled his head with lies about Strike and Robin.On the night Charlotte dies, RFM is there. They are drinking together. They get into a fight. She assaults him (like she assaulted Strike and Dormer) and because ‘he is mean and aggressive when he gets drunk’ (yes this is where this line from Wardle in RG becomes relevant) he hits her back, they fight, and she dies. He makes the murder look like a suicide, writes a suicide note that is based on the information she has given him about Strike and her family and her kids. There is nothing in the suicide note about Strike being in love with Robin. Remember, the only evidence that this appears in the note is Strike’s egotistical presumption that is based solely on Strike’s conjecture.RFM uses his position at the Met to make sure the final determination is suicide.The guilt and self-loathing he feels thereafter causes him to spend as much time as possible in Spain (rather than taking the earlier flight to see Robin after she escapes from Chapman Farm.) It also causes him to declare his love for Robin on his first night back with her. He’s drinking and unraveling and he thinks if he can make it work with Robin and rescue her from an abusive Strike, it will make up for the fact that he committed murder.This also explains his mistakes in the gang shooting case, including roughing up a suspect and all of the descriptions of him being overly stressed and exhausted including on the night he got Robin pregnant.This is the thought process that led me to post under Nick’s ‘Charlotte was Murdered’ thread. It just took me a little longer to articulate it.Once again, thanks to both of you for all of the fine work you do.* Catherine: Strike 9 will be about Strike searching to find Lost Robin/Psyche3. June McGarry: Incest Part 1 — Leda and Ted Half-Siblings4. Tamspells: Incest Part 2 — Charlotte Raped by Dino Step Father5. Vicky: Names Idea 1 — Decima Mullins – Shirley Mullens6.Kathleen OConnor Names Idea 2 — Rupert Fleetwood – Lady Patricia Fleetword-Chiswell7. Sandy Hope: Cupid and Psyche 1 — Psyche’s Sisters in Hallmarked Man8. Kelly Loomis Cupid and Psyche 2 — Chelsea Arts Club Cupid, Etc.9. June McGarry: — Strike lies to READERS about Paternity Test10. Ed Shardlow — Planet Narnia Theory for Strike series* Ed Shardlow: The Five Strikes in Hallmarked Man11. Brenna Hill — Meaning of Ellacotts’ Naming Puppy ‘Betty’12. Ed Shardlow — Meaning of Hallmarked Man Titles, Other Strike Series Titles13. Ed Shardlow Lions, Eyes, Bridges, Silver, Swans, Steps14. Joanna — ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’15. Brenna Hill — Dirk and EXCALIBUR This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

When Running Grave was published, John Granger charted each Part’s chapter sets, the Book-as-a-Whole, and then the Book as the concluding novel of a seven book series. It took him weeks and weeks, it yielded astonishing revelations via Rowling-Galbraith’s structural artistry, and… it was a rather joyless affair. No one joined him in the process to verify or discount via a separate but simultaneous reading what he found, no one learned how to do it while looking over his shoulder, and very few appreciated what it was all about. Fast forward to September 2025 and the publication of Hallmarked Man. Nick Jeffery and John had collaborated in a month-long Lake-and-Shed reading marathon of everything Rowling had written as well as the Golden Threads running through all her work. They were looking for a new Special Project they could offer the growing list of Paid Subscribers in addition to the weekly conversations and articles they posted for all comers. Why not do a series of posts only the most Serious Strikers would be interested in, a full-on charting of Strike 8?John has posted three Ring Composition throat-clearing exercises complete with video and transcripts — the Heart of Ring Composition, the Mechanics and Mystery of Ring Composition, and a Case Study in Reading a Strike Novel Ring (Career of Evil) — to warm up the niche audience for this adventure. In the conversation above, Nick and John lay out their hopes for this series, namely, that participants will leave with:* an adamantine grasp of what charting a book involves (chapter notes, latch, turn, and t-back lines with explanations);* a clockworks understanding of Strike 8 ‘structural artistry, * charts they’ve drawn of the Parts’ chapter sets as well as the Whole Book; and, most important,* a Ring Reading Skill Set to be deployed on classic novels as well as contemporary favorites, an essential for those who love to read and re-read the Greats, alive and dead.We’ll start with Part One next week; there’s a blank ring below for you to give it a shot and John’s first draft to compare and contrast with your findings.This kind of thing is not for everyone, of course, so most of what goes on here is for all subscribers. Nick and John will be posting about the Hallmarked Man’s new names, Browning’s The Ring and the Book (a big part of Strike 8’s epigraphs), more on the Cupid and Psyche backdrop to the series (it solves some of Robin’s most mysterious behaviors, believe it or not!), and the hidden-in-plain-sight Rowling favorite author and book imbedded in her latest work (no hints!). That’s in addition, again, to Nick and John’s discussions of the theories and insights of HogPro readers, the alchemy, Who Moved the Stone?, the Masonic Symbolism, and the book they rushed to overlook, Maid of the Silver Sea.It’s a great time to be a Rowling Reader — and to be either a paid or free subscriber to Hogwarts Professor! Thank you for your support and engagement with the conversations here.Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Nick Jeffery and John Granger do a Compare and Contrast test of the latest Cormoran Strike novel, The Hallmarked Man, and the previous seven books in Rowling-Galbraith’s longest series of novels. Adapting a list of ‘Greatest Hits’ moments from the first ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling’ podcast John did with Katie McDaniel and a panel of Potter Pundits in Roanoke, Virginia, Nick and John share their favorite moments first from the series and then from Strike 8 before contrasting the quality of these highlights.The point of the exercise? Besides being a fun review of Strike-Ellacott adventures, a Greatest Hits collection of their highs and lows, Agency cases and sub-contractors included, the absence of any Hallmarked Man moments that merit a ‘Best in Series’ badge suggests that Strike 8 will be remembered best for how it set up Strikes 9 and 10.Whatever your thoughts about that thesis, please share the scenes on your Greatest Hits list, both for the series and Hallmarked Man, per the numbered categories below. Nick and John have a few more to run through that they couldn’t get to on their first ‘go’ at this; feel free to share categories they should discuss in addition to the ones listed here:* Top Pat Chauncey scene* The One Scene that You Remember Most Often or ‘That Changed Your Life’* Top ‘Text-within-a-Text’* Funniest Scene* Top ‘Drop the Book’ moment* Best ‘Narrative misdirection/Ostrananie’ Moment* Conclusion: Series and Hallmarked manJohn is working on his charting of Hallmarked Man for the paid subscriber list as well as reviewing and revising his 2017 online course, ‘Wizard Reading Formula.’ More on those projects and the Kanreki Series in his next conversation with Nick; stay tuned!Links to Ideas, Posts, and Theories Mentioned* Talbot’s ‘True Book’ in Troubled Blood* Kathryn Kent’s weblog post in The Silkworm* The Goldfish in the Agency Office* Running Grave and Hallmarked Man overlaps, and Ryan Murphy’s involvement.* Three Take-Aways from Hallmarked Man: What We Know Readers will say in Ten Years about Strike 8 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Nick Jeffery and John Granger do a Compare and Contrast test of the latest Cormoran Strike novel, The Hallmarked Man, and the previous seven books in Rowling-Galbraith’s longest series of novels. Adapting a list of ‘Greatest Hits’ moments from the first ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling’ podcast John did with Katie McDaniel and a panel of Potter Pundits in Roanoke, Virginia, Nick and John share their favorite moments first from the series and then from Strike 8 before contrasting the quality of these highlights.The point of the exercise? Besides being a fun review of Strike-Ellacott adventures, a Greatest Hits collection of their highs and lows, Agency cases and sub-contractors included, the absence of any Hallmarked Man moments that merit a ‘Best in Series’ badge suggests that Strike 8 will be remembered best for how it set up Strikes 9 and 10.Whatever your thoughts about that thesis, please share the scenes on your Greatest Hits list, both for the series and Hallmarked Man, per the numbered categories below. Nick and John have a few more to run through that they couldn’t get to on their first ‘go’ at this; feel free to share categories they should discuss in addition to the ones listed here:* Top Strike-Ellacott Moments* Ellacott taking care of wrecked Strike* Strike taking care of wrecked Ellacott* The Two having a frank conversation about the Agency, their vocation* The Two having a frank conversation about life and their relationship* Top Mystery Reveal* Top Agency Subcontractor moment* Top Agency case not the focus of the novel* Top Strike Confront-the-Killer moment,* Top “Magical” Moment (heart-rending/opening)* Top Moment-that-We-didn’t-know-was-a-Moment-until-later* Top Saving People MomentJohn is working on his charting of Hallmarked Man for the paid subscriber list as well as reviewing and revising his 2017 online course, ‘Wizard Reading Formula.’ More on those projects and the Kanreki Series in his next conversation with Nick; stay tuned!Links to Ideas, Posts, and Theories Mentioned* Roanoke ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling’ Harry Potter Review[‘reading, Writing, Rowling’s] first episode was recorded at CoLab in Roanoke, Virginia, at the May 2017 Roanoke Harry Potter Fest and celebrates 20 years of Harry Potter. Listen to a stellar crew of Hogwarts professors discuss [with hosts John Granger and Katy McDaniel] their favorite moments in the Harry Potter series, inspired by Bloomsbury Publishing’s recent reader poll. Guests Louise Freeman, Elizabeth Baird Hardy, Emily Strand, and Lana Whited identify the best moments featuring the trio friendship, surprises and narrative misdirection, wizard magic, Snape, texts-within-the-text, and those inspirational messages that make the Harry Potter series profound and emotionally resonant to readers worldwide.* Rowling’s Favorite Painting and What It Suggests about Her Artistry and Meaning: Caravaggio’s ‘Supper at Emmaus’Professor Groves suggests strongly that what Rowling took away from her “mesmerised” “slow mining” of Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus was the central Mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, the “guiler beguiled” idea of Aulen’s Christus Victor. I find that argument compelling and want to build on it. There are embedded symbols in Supper at Emmaus that I think the fascinated Rowling would have noticed as she looked at the painting in the National Gallery, at the print on her wall in Exeter and London, and at the image on her first website, symbols beyond the “realism” of the Christ as imagined by Caravaggio and the revelation at the breaking of bread of His divinity.* Robin is Sterile Prediction: Chlamydia to Ectopic Pregnancy (December 2023)The thesis of this Hogwarts Professor essay — what I hope will be the subject of our second ‘Rowling Studies’ podcast here — is that Robin Venetia Ellacott will not have children with Murphy, Strike, or any other partner, because she cannot, at least not without some extraordinary efforts via in vitro conception and surrogacy. I will attempt to explain how this infertility is possible, to detail the ‘Lake’ suggestions from Rowling’s life and personal experience that shows she is more than familiar with this condition among women, and to share the ‘Shed’ literary markers in Running Grave and Rowling’s other novels that this is indeed what she has in mind for Strike’s partner Robin.Means Before Motive: How is it Possible that Robin is Sterile?In a word, “Chlamydia.”* The Hallmarked Man’s Mythological Template ‘Cupid and Psyche’s importance for grasping the depths of Strike 8, from the “necessity” of the Silver Vault and the three men in Robin’s life, to spaghetti carbonara and ‘Maid of the Silver Sea’ (links list to previous posts, 2021-present on this subject)* Charlotte Was Murdered, Mate; It Wasn’t a Suicide* The Strange Death of Charlotte Campbell: Could the Psycho-Ex be the Focus of a Murder Investigation in Strike 8? (Nick Jeffery, November 2023)* Strike8: The Charlotte Campbell Murder Mystery: Nick Jeffery’s Idea Checks a Lot of Boxes (John Granger, November 2023)* The Mysterious Death of Charlotte Campbell: Was It Suicide or Was It Murder? The ‘Rowling Studies’ Pilot Episode (December 2023)* J. S. Maleksen’s Re-read of Running Grave in Search of Ryan MurphyAfter reading HM twice, I re-read ‘Running Grave’ with this theory in mind. It occurred to me that RFM might have read Charlotte’s suicide note because it was in the police file. He might have even read through statements made by Charlotte’s family members about Charlotte’s relationship with Strike. At the very least, he would have read that Strike was in love with Robin and may have even bought into the ‘Strike was abusive to Charlotte’ narrative and the ‘Strike has been in a romantic relationship with Robin since he broke up with Charlotte’ narrative. This would explain why RFM is significantly more chippy towards Strike after Robin returns from Chapman Farm than he was at the beginning of ‘Running Grave.’ Come to think of it, if Nick’s theory is right and the suicide was a murder, it’s quite possible that RFM may have been the lead investigator because, as we now know, he kinda sucks at his job. RFM would have had no reason to disclose any of this information to Robin because “she gets ratty every time he says anything against Strike.” Details identifying the investigating officer may not have been published. Alternatively, Iverson could have been the investigating officer and she could have shared this information with RFM and RFM can’t tell Robin how he got the information because he had a fling with Iverson while Robin was at Chapman Farm.This might lead to an explanation as to why/how RFM fell off the wagon (guilt about having cheated on Robin and/or fear that Robin hasn’t been honest about her relationship with Strike and/or his perception that Robin is being cowed by an abusive Strike)It makes sense to me that the period of time when Robin was at Chapman Farm is the most plausible and likely spot for JKR to have buried details about RFM, and his true character and motivations. The story as told from Robin and Strike’s respective points of view intentionally distracted us from what RFM was up to during Robin’s time at Chapman Farm. Indeed, he was often an afterthought of Robin’s if she even thought about him at all.Incidentally, this makes the ‘RFM as gorilla man theory’ more plausible because walking around with all of this information in his head could have motivated RFM to take extreme measures to get Robin to abandon Strike and the agency.I love your Substack and Podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Nick and John have posted eight Hallmarked Man conversations since its publication last month and, as interesting as their back-and-forth talks have been, South Wales to American Fly Over Country, Lake to Shed, much of the best theorizing and interpreting of Strike 8 has been happening in the comment threads beneath those posts and in email messaging with John. Determined that these insights wouldn’t be lost or invisible to Serious Strikers, they chose ten of the most challenging for a fun introduction to the fandom conversations readers not privy to the backchannel moderators network or who neglect the comment threads are missing.In addition, Nick shares the credible speculation that Rowling’s weeklong absence from tweeting has been because she is on her Samsara yacht in the South Pacific, circling Bora Bora, believe it or don’t. John quizzes Nick, too, about the election in South Wales, Caerphilly to be exact, and the reason the results in that dependably Labour area have the UK buzzing (and why Strike readers might expect the populist party victories will color Strikes 9 and 10).A quick ‘table of contents’ for their hasty review, then, followed by links and transcripts! Enjoy — and, yes, have at in the comment threads, please, the locus of Strike fandom conversations.* Ed Shardlow: Gorilla Ryan* Vicky: Boxes and Plush Toys* Sandra Hope: Traditional Symbolism* Justin Clavet: Only Fans Gaffe (Ed Shardlow -- ‘Not Proven’ error)* Bora Bora* Justin Clavet: On Manhood* Ed Shardlow: Ickabog Parallel Book Theory* Sandra Hope: Hallmarked Man as Rowling’s ‘Greatest Hits’ allusion collection* LC - Dorothy Sayers* Kathleen O’Connor -- Alternative Incest* Caerphilly elections -- UK meaning* Ring Composition ProjectPromised Links and Transcripts:* Ed Shardlow’s ‘Gorilla Ryan’ TheoryThe Ryan the Gorilla theory came to me at the point in the book where Robin has an epiphany following an impulse to look up the meaning of a name. I think this was the Jolanda-Violet realisation, but I thought she’d suddenly realised the full extent of Ryan’s dark side, with the significance being the previously noted meaning of his name “Sea King” suggesting a connection between him and Wade King.That theory seemed very flimsy at first, but on further examination it might have some mileage. There are some notable differences between the attack in the Land Rover and the previous ones. Although we imagine the attacker wearing a gorilla mask, there’s no mention of it, and in fact it says she can see his face. Also the Land Rover attacker makes no demands that she, “Stop” or, “Leave it”. She hits Wade with the pepper spray, which of course, would be difficult for Ryan to cover up, but she didn’t inflict any such injuries on the gorilla attacker. Wade clearly intends to hurt her, whereas the other attacks had no physical violence and look very much like they were just intended to scare her.1) It’s hinted that Branfoot knows about Robin’s rape, and she says it’s on the internet, but we never get any indication that King or Griffiths know about it. Strike and Robin never consider that the attacker might be someone who knows about it because they’re close to Robin. That seems like an oversight.2) The gorilla attacker never refers to a specific case. Murphy may be scaring her into quitting the job and getting away from Strike, whereas a suspect would want her to stop investigating their specific case.3) The police don’t take the rubber gorilla and dagger for DNA testing. That’s pretty strange, unless there’s someone on the inside blocking the investigation.There’s a bit of an issue with the guy in the green jacket, who presumably Robin can see isn’t Ryan when he’s on the industrial estate and outside her flat. Presumably that was Wade.So, there would need to be some explanation for how or why Murphy is wearing the same jacket when he accosts her with the ceremonial dagger. But that’s not insurmountable.Murphy would have been very surprised to encounter Matthew (sic, he means ‘Martin’ -ed.), who he knows from Masham, outside Robin’s flat. The narrative very much prompts us to think there’s something going on with Murphy, but then we put this down to his work issues and associated relapse, but perhaps that blinds us (and Robin) to another possibility. And if it is the case, then Strike hasn’t just let Robin go to dinner with his romantic rival, but she’s heading into mortal danger. Were his instincts subconsciously alerting him to the threat? Did he leave it too late to shout, “Brake!” again?Nicola Reed’s Objection to ‘Gorilla Ryan’ (Sandy Hope, too)Kathleen O’Connor’s Cogent Counterpoint to John’s Incredulity about No One Noticing How Short Faux-Wright was in the Ramsay Silver footageVicky on the Interpretation of Robin’s “Stuffed Toy” DreamBrenna Hill asks ‘Why is the New Ellacott Puppy Named Betty?’Sandra Hope Jumpstarts Conversation about Traditional Symbolism in Hallmarked Man* Masonic Orb Pendant for sale on Etsy ($795)* Jacob’s Ladder Mosaic in Masonic Hall, London (Alamy)* The Bohun Swan (‘Chained Swan’) (Wikipedia)Justin Clavet: The ‘Only Fans’ Gaffe· I commented on the Hogwarts Professor gaffes pillar [Placeholder, ed.] post about the OnlyFans error - that the OnlyFans website was launched in November 2016, but in the book, the murdered Sofia is said to be a prolific OnlyFans poster before her disappearance in June of that same year. The OnlyFans account is only a small point in this large plot, but one that is repeatedly referred to, and Sofia’s OnlyFans account is what ultimately brought her to the attention of her killer. For such a meticulous plotter and, as John would say, “OCD” author as Rowling is, does this real-world chronological impossibility give you pause? What other big historical error like this can be found in her books?· Did you notice that the interview with the pornstar occurs in chapter 69? I think Rowling was having a bit of (structural) fun and winking at the observant reader with that one.* Justin Clavet’s 3 September ‘Gaffes’ posting about ‘Only Fans’The reference to OnlyFans in chapter 33 (p. 269) felt anachronistic to me, as I don’t remember ever hearing about the website before the pandemic era. And sure enough, according to Wikipedia (citing a New York Times article), the website didn’t launch until November 2016. Therefore, Sofia – who was murdered in June 2016 – could not have been a prolific OnlyFans poster. Sofia’s supposed OnlyFans account is referenced several further times throughout the book. Based on data from Google Trends, it seems incredibly unlikely that Strike and Robin would have readily known what OnlyFans was in late 2016/early 2017. So Where is Bora Bora?The Caerphilly 2025 Election: Victories for Left and Right Wing Populist Parties* 2025 Caerphilly Bi-Election (Wikipedia!)* UK’s Ruling Labour Suffer Crushing Defeat Against Political Insurgents at Ballot Box (Breitbart)Justin Clavet ‘On Manhood in Hallmarked Man’The biggest thing that struck me in this book was the persistent themes of manhood woven throughout: the responsibilities, relationships, and hardships of men. * The central crime is linked with a secretive fraternal organization. * It opens with the death of Strike’s father figure Ted, a “proper man” (p. 38), by whose maxims Strike is newly resolved to live. * We learn that Ted would’ve murdered (or been murdered by) his father Trevik if he hadn’t left home and joined the army (p. 39), just like Strike would have come to blows (or worse) with his step-father Whittaker if he hadn’t left home and joined the army. * While he loses the man he called his dad, he has a real meeting with his natural father for the first time. Rokeby shares that, in Strike, he had produced a proper man” (p. 747). * Strike celebrates not having fathered a child (while Robin is distraught in the wake of her own lost child, and devastated that the option to be a mother may no longer be hers to choose).* Richard de Leon says that his brother Danny was made the way he is because of his father’s mistreatment. * Strike is bewildered that Danny (who integrates his brother’s Christian name into his porn name, Dick de Lion) and Richard could be so close and share so much with each other, contrasting this with his own relationship with Al. * Leda and Rena are both shown to have suffered because of the absence of their more stable brothers. * Strike observes that “men are seen as disposable in certain contexts” (pp. 107f).* Wardle, who is shown to be a caring and dedicated father to his young child, opens up to Strike about his depression and his marriage troubles. * Strike reflects on the shallow friendships he has with other men, and later sees how this kind of friendship can be toxic with the wrong personalities (in Powell, Pratt, and Jones, p. 860). * Strike fears Wardle may be at risk of suicide. Niall is found to have committed suicide after his brother in arms was horrifically executed by Islamist combatants. The public can’t be bothered to care about the tragic loss of this man who heroically put his life on the line for his country - preferring instead to lend their attention to the spectacle of another man, Branfoot, who went to extreme lengths to indulge his basest and most perverse desires (p. 873).Like many events in this book, this theme - with characters showing genuine concern and thoughtful consideration of complex men’s issues - is a mirror image of one presented in Troubled Blood with the character of Carl Oakden and his cynical men’s rights grift.This barely scratches the surface of the notes that I took on this theme, which I saw running deep through the whole book. I wondered if I was just seeing this in the text because of my own perspective as a man, or if it really was there. Indeed, you could find hints of this theme in each of the preceding seven books. But the structural clues left me convinced it was intentional. And when I watched this video (https://robert-galbraith.com/robert-galbraith-disc

Nick Jeffery and John Granger continue their Q&A conversations about Rowling-Galbraith’s Hallmarked Man (if you missed the first discussion, click here to catch up). As usual, the pair promised to send links and notes along with their recorded back and forth for anyone wanting to read more about the subjects they discussed. Scroll down for their seven plus one questions and a bevy of bonus material they trust will add to your appreciation of Rowling’s Strike 8 artistry and meaning. Cheers!Q1: What is the meaning of or artistry involved with Pat Chauncey’s three fish in the Agency’s fish tank, ‘Robin,’ ‘Cormoran,’ and ‘Travolta/Elton’?Mise en Abyme (Wikipedia)In Western art history, mise en abyme (French pronunciation: [miz ɑ̃n‿abim]; also mise en abîme) is the technique of placing a copy of an image within itself, often in a way that suggests an infinitely recurring sequence. In film theory and literary theory, it refers to the story within a story technique.The term is derived from heraldry, and means placed into abyss (exact middle of a shield). It was first appropriated for modern criticism by the French author André Gide. A common sense of the phrase is the visual experience of standing between two mirrors and seeing an infinite reproduction of one’s image. Another is the Droste effect, in which a picture appears within itself, in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appearSnargaloff pods (Harry Potter Wiki)“It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air... Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches... Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod... At once, the prickly vines shot back inside and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood“— The trio dealing with the Snargaluff plant in sixth year Herbology classSnargaluff was a magical plant with the appearance of a gnarled stump, but had dangerous hidden thorn-covered vines that attacked when provoked, and was usually best handled by more than one person.Juliana’s Question about the Oranda Goldfish:did anyone else notice - I confess to only noticing this on my second re-read of THM- that Travolta, Pat’s third fish, dies?What do we think about this? Could this mean Mr. Ryan F. Murphy dies…? Or could it just be foreshadowing of the fact that him and Robin don’t end up together? I think the fish symbolism was quite humorous and delightful paralleling such a deep and intricate plot. Just wanted to know if anyone noticed this tinge of humor towards the end of the book… As for the fish theory, Pat’s three fish in the tank: Strike, Robin and the third, she calls, Travolta — ironically, named after a “handsome” man. I’m thinking JKR meant Travolta, the fish to symbolize Murphy…What I was referring to in my original comment: the three fish = the love triangle between Ellacott/Murphy/Strike. I was asking: since Travolta died in Chapter 113, do we think this foreshadows Murphy either dying physically, or just that Robin and Murphy do not end up together?John’s ‘Fish and Peas’ Response:It’s a relief to learn that Travolta’s most famous role wasn’t a character named Ryan Murphy that everyone in the world except myself knows very well. Thank you for this explanation!There’s more to your idea, though, I think, then you have shared. Forgive me if you were already aware of this textual argument that suggests very strongly that these Oranda goldfish have been an important part of Rowling’s plan from the series from the start. In brief, it’s about the peas.In Part 2, Chapter 3, of ‘Cuckoo’s Calling,’ Robin and Matt are having their first fight about Strike and the Agency. The chapter ends with an odd note that this disagreement has blemished the Cunliffe couple’s engagement.“She waited until he had walked away into the sitting room before turning off the tap. There was, she noticed, a fragment of frozen pea caught in the setting of her engagement ring.” (73)Your theory that the fish bowl is an embedded picture of the state of Robin’s feelings for Murphy and Strike, a Mise en abyme of sorts, is given credibility in the eyes of this reader by the appearance of frozen peas as the cure for the dying Cormoran goldfish. It is hard for a Rowling Reader to believe that these two mentions of frozen pea fragments were coincidental or unrelated, which means that (a) Rowling had the office Oranda goldfish scene-within-the-scene in Strike 8 foreshadowed by the Strike 1 tiff, and (b) therefore of real significance.There is another pea bit, of course, in ‘Troubled Blood’ at Skegness, a passage that links Robin’s heart or essence with peas.Strike was still watching the starlings when Robin set down two polystyrene trays, two small wooden forks and two cans of Coke on the table.“Mushy peas,” said Strike, looking at Robin’s tray, where a hefty dollop of what looked like green porridge sat alongside her fish and chips.“Yorkshire caviar,” said Robin, sitting down. “I didn’t think you’d want any.”“You were right,” said Strike, picking up a sachet of tomato sauce while watching with something like revulsion as Robin dipped a chip into the green sludge and ate it.“Soft Southerner, you are,” she said, and Strike laughed. (807-808)If you tie this in with the fish symbolism embedded in Rowling’s favorite paintings and the meaning of ‘Oranda,’ this is quite a bit of depth in that fish bowl -- and in your argument that the death of Travolta signifies Murphy is out of consideration.You’re probably to young to remember this but Travolta’s most famous role will always be Tony Manero in ‘Saturday Night Fever,’ the breakout event of his acting career. Manero longs for a woman way out of his league, attempts to rape her after they win a dance contest, she naturally rejects him, but they wind up as friends.Or in a book so heavy in the cultish beliefs and practices of Freemasonry, especially with respect to policemen that are also “on the square,” maybe the Travolta-Murphy link is just that the actor is, with Tom Cruise, as famous (well...) for his beliefs in Scientology as for his acting ability.So, yes, it’s fun, your ‘Peas and Fish’ theory, but there’s something to it.Check out this note on ‘Peas’ in the Strike novels from Renee over at the weblog: https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/hallmarked-man-placeholder-post-index/comment-page-1/#comment-1699017 The fish symbolism embedded in Rowling’s favorite painting: https://hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/p/rowlings-favorite-painting-and-what And the meaning of ‘Oranda:’ https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/rowling-twixter-fish-and-strike-update/Follow-Up by Julianna:I’m not sure what exact chapter this is in, but let’s also not forget that on Sark, Strike procures a bag of frozen peas to soothe the spade to his face injury. I also want to add that he has used frozen peas before, to soothe his aching leg too, but I could be wrong about that…I cant remember where I’ve read that, so it might not be true….Lastly, after reading Renee’s comment, I have to say, that now I do believe that the peas might have been an ongoing symbol for Strike (a la…the pea in the engagement ring) and…stay with me here….peas are potentially, what save Cormoran, the goldfish, from dying.“The black fish called Cormoran was again flailing helplessly at the top of the tank. ‘Stupid a*****e, you’ve done it to your f*cking self’.” And the very last line of the book being: “Then pushed himself into a standing position ear and knee both throbbing. In the absence of anything else he could do to improve his present situation, he set off for the attic to fetch the empty margerine tub…and some peas.” (Chapter 127).My point being: this could be a way of Rowling saying, that Strike saves himself from himself…another psychological undertone in her stories. (Lake reference: Rowling has pulled herself up out of poverty ‘by her own bootstraps’ we say.) Thoughts? Thanks for induldging me here, John! I am enjoying this conversation. Apologies for the grammar and potentially confusing train of thoughts.And from Vicky:Loving the theories and symbolism around the peas and fish! Just had a thought too re John quoting the Troubled blood scene. Robin calls mushy peas by a familiar term “Yorkshire caviar”. Caviar is of course fish eggs, and poor Robin, Yorkshire born, spends much of THM agonising over the thought and pressure of freezing her eggs. Giuliana mentioned the frozen peas Strike puts on his swollen face after the spade hit...maybe this is foreshadowing to their intimate and honest dinner conversation later with Robin baring her heart to Strike about her ectopic pregnancy griefQ2: Why didn’t the Strike-Ellacott Agency or the Metropolitan Police figure out how the murderer entered the Ramsay Silver vault to kill William Wright the first time they saw the grainy surveillance film of the auction house crate deliveries?Tweet UrlFrom ‘The Locked Room Lecture’ (John Dickson Carr) It’s silly to be disappointed in a border-line absurd Locked Room Mystery such as Hallmarked Man because improbability is close to a requirement in such stories:“But this point must be made, because a few people who do not like the slightly lurid insist on treating their preferences as rules. They use, as a stamp of condemnation, the word ‘improbable.’ And thereby they gull the unwary into their own belief that ‘improbable’ simply means ‘bad.’“Now, it seems reasonable to point out that the word improbable is the very last which should ever be used to curse detective fiction in any case. A great part of our liking fofr detective fiction is based on a liking for improbability. When A is murdered, and B and C are under strong suspicion, it is improbably that the innocent-looking D can be guilty. But he is. If G has a perfect alibi, sworn to at every point by every other letter in the alphabet, it is improbable tha