About a month ago, J.K. (“Jo”) Rowling revealed her patronus on Twitter. It’s not a phoenix as many might have suspected. Instead, she told the world that her patronus is… a pine marten.
.@acciowandspells It’s a pine marten.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 10, 2014
Jo has also revealed in a previous interview that she very much loves the Hufflepuff house, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to note that the pine marten is a close relative to the badger, which is Hufflepuff’s mascot. Rowling has stated in the past too that she relates quite a lot with Hermione, whose patronus is an otter, which is also a close relative to the pine marten! Can I just say (though I’m absolutely sure that I’m not the first nor the last person to say this): J.K. Rowling thinks of literally everything and I love her so much for it!
This revelation of her patronus came just three days after this reply to another fan on Twitter:
@AlwaysUchiwa Keep watching Pottermore… — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 7, 2014
As I mentioned in my previous article announcing Ravenclaw’s second consecutive Pottermore House Cup win, I am very excited about this forthcoming “Patronus Quiz” on Pottermore. When Pottermore was first released, everyone was excited to discover their wand cores and woods, plus even more excited to find out their Hogwarts house. Those two quizzes were the biggest draw for Pottermore users in the beginning, and I have a feeling that the Harry Potter fandom will be very excited to take another Rowling-written quiz.
In the month since Rowling hinted at this forthcoming Patronus Quiz, some have stated their opinions that this quiz really should have been released when Prisoner of Azkaban was released on Pottermore. That is, when Harry was taught to cast Expecto Patronum by Professor Lupin. I myself had expected that originally too, but I am glad that Pottermore waited, for two reasons:
- Firstly, when you have surefire reasons to draw in users, you spread them out. You don’t want to release all your most exciting features right away and then be left with nothing to bring users back later.
- Secondly (and more importantly), Pottermore may follow where Harry goes and what Harry sees, just like the book does, but its interactivity was really set up in such a way that it feels (at least a little bit) as though you are a student at Hogwarts. That’s why everyone’s wands don’t have Phoenix cores and not everyone was sorted into Gryffindor. It makes absolute sense that we should wait to find out our patronuses when Dumbledore’s Army finds out their patronuses.
Personally, I really have no idea what my patronus is. Do you have any ideas about yours? Share them in the comments!
