Harry Potter fandom
The Harry Potter fandom is an international, informal community drawn together by the Harry Potter series.
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Online encyclopedias
Many online encylopedias, most famously the Harry Potter Lexicon, which was given a "fan site award" by J. K. Rowling herself, have been created to document the series. These sites tend to stick very close to the canon, trying not to jump to conclusions.
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is fiction written by fans. There are many fan fiction stories on the internet devoted to Harry Potter, and several sites dedicated to Harry Potter fan fiction (such as Harry Potter Fanfiction.com, The Sugar Quill, Portkey.org and FictionAlley), as well as several websites which have entire sections devoted to fan fiction too (such as Mugglenet Fanfiction and USHP Fanfiction).
When asked about fan fiction, Rowling said "I've read some of it. I find it very flattering that people love the characters that much." She generally supports fan fiction (although she has asked that sites that contain fanfic with adult content password-protect the stories so children under 18 cannot access it).
Fan fiction and fan-cognition in general tend to have an interesting derivative view of themes and characters in the books. For example, some believe that the online fan crowd has much more sympathy for Draco Malfoy than the average fan. This has led to the rise of the characterisation known as "Fanon Draco" or "Draco In Leather Trousers" (coined for a scene in noted fanfiction author Cassandra Claire's "Draco Trilogy"), which some fans find annoying and similar to a Mary Sue-ised canon character (also known as a Qanonreip, which comes from The Potter Sue Of The Day Report and is derived from "canon rape").
Another popular figure of the Harry Potter fan fiction is Severus Snape, with many fictions' expansions on canon of this character being widely accepted by the fan fiction community. These include fan representation such as casting him as a Vampire, and in a mocking retort to that, giving him a set of fuzzy bat slippers to wear—a joke which was started on the "All About Snivellus Snape" threads which existed on CoSForums shortly after the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (see also MuggleNet). Whilst the great majority of Severus Snape fan fiction includes a lot of OOC behaviour, a fair few authors also manage to write the character as true to the Harry Potter series as possible.
Shipping in the Harry Potter fandom
One of the most frequently discussed subjects in the fandom are the "ship debates", a controversy that has been going on in the Harry Potter fandom for as long as its participants can remember. The main ship debate centers on whether Hermione should/could/will romantically belong with Harry or Ron. Other ships popular in fandom include Harry/Ginny, Harry/Draco, Harry/Luna, Harry/Ron, Ron/Luna, Draco/Hermione, and Sirius/Remus. Shipping is often a major theme in fanfiction.
J. K. Rowling herself has expressed enjoyment over the "shipper debates" on her website, while letting the shippers know that they should have had the matter figured out by now (at least as to the question of who Hermione will "choose") [1]. She has also referred to the two opposing factions in the Hermione ship debate as "scary and vehement" [2]. More recently Rowling seems to have become more aware of just how much controversy and speculation surrounds the romantic future of her characters, and had this to say on the "rumours" section of her website:
Ive also heard a whisper about Ron and Hermiones son time-travelling, so I shall go further and tell you that NONE of the characters in the books has returned from the future. As for the idea of Ron and Hermione having a son…(chuckles as the distant roars of a million shippers reach my ears, all cursing me to an eternity of unsatisfied curiosity).
—(jkrowling.com)
Ships in the Harry Potter fandom are characterised by either having already happened or having some obstacle(s) which supporters of the particular ship, obviously, believe to be either nonexistent or destined to be overcome by the factors in the story that drive the relationship forward. However, debating between two ships has been quite useless in winning converts, as both factions in each ship debate are quite set in their ways about shipping, to the point that emotions and allegiances to larger fandom personalities tend to dictate ship more often than logic. Most shippers will even admit to avoiding the debates, as they consider them childish, pointless and generally wanky.
Fan art
Sites such as ArtisticAlley host thousands of pieces of fan art, created by artists of all degrees of skill, sorted by book chapter, and by character. Also, individual sites, such as Art Dungeon and Seventeen Sickles, showcase the works of talented individual artists. However, artists tend to draw for their ships and create their own personal sites. There is no way to document the thousands of sites like this.
External links
Official sites
- jkrowling.com: J. K. Rowling's official site, with news and bits of info about the books and characters from the author herself.
- HarryPotter.com: Warner Bros. official Harry Potter site, with games and movie news.
- Scholastic's Harry Potter site
- Bloomsbury's Harry Potter site
Unofficial sites
News
- MuggleNet, one of the top fansites. Winner of the J. K. Rowling Fan Site Award.
- HPANA, or the Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator. Winner of the J. K. Rowling Fan Site Award.
- The Leaky Cauldron, popular fan site featuring news, forums, occasional interviews with the movie cast, and other "extras". Winner of the J. K. Rowling Fan Site Award.
- Veritaserum, popular fansite featuring pictures, videos, and other general information.
- PottersRealm.com, an online resource for Harry Potter fans featuring news, video downloads, fan fiction, discussion forums, image galleries and other information.
Encyclopedias
- The Harry Potter Lexicon, an extensive encyclopedia of Harry Potter information available in three languages. Winner of the J. K. Rowling Fan Site Award.
Fan fiction
- HarryPotterFanFiction.com, a repository of Harry Potter fan fiction.
- The Sugar Quill, a fan fiction website of Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny pairing fans.
- Portkey.org, fan fiction site devoted to Harry/Hermione, Draco/Ginny, Ron/Luna, and James/Lily stories.
- PhoenixSong.Net, a fanfic and fan art website of Harry/Ginny pairing fans.
Discussion
- The Perfects Room, Harry Potter editorials and more.
- Hogwarts Fans, a site designed for spirited debate of the past and future of Harry Potter.
Definitive character sites
Other sites
- Immeritus, a Sirius Black fan club. Winner of the J. K. Rowling Fan Site Award.
- PottersKeys.com, fansite dedicated to the official website of J.K. Rowling.
Categories: Harry Potter | Fandom