Pottermore

Apr. 16th, 2012 08:14 pm
lucathia: (fishbones: x'd out eyes)
[personal profile] lucathia
Played around a bit with Pottermore today. I'm WildWolf10589 on there. I completely thought we'd be using our names, but it turns out that you must choose from a randomized list of names to protect your identity. So everyone has very random names with a bunch of numbers tacked on at the end. I hope there aren't too many other people named "WildWolf" around. =P

I clicked through Book 1, picked up a lot of random stuff, did not earn my house many points, had my browser crashed three times, but thought the overall experience was interesting. Lots of pretty backgrounds and scenery with some sound effects for all the different scenes in the books. Lots of information dumps. |D;; There's a long page just about different woods used in wands. I read through half of it before I had to take a break once I realized just how long the page was! I thought the section about Cherry was particularly interesting.

Cherry

This very rare wand wood creates a wand of strange power, most highly prized by the wizarding students of the school of Mahoutokoro in Japan, where those who own cherry wands have special prestige. The Western wand-purchaser should dispel from their minds any notion that the pink blossom of the living tree makes for a frivolous or merely ornamental wand, for cherry wood often makes a wand that possesses truly lethal power, whatever the core, but if teamed with dragon heartstring, the wand ought never to be teamed with a wizard without exceptional self-control and strength of mind.


Hah! Mahoutokoro. And cherry/sakura, of course. Well, now we have a name for a school in Japan! Would've been nice for crossovers with manga and anime.

My wand is 10 inches, unicorn hair, black walnut, unyielding. Apparently, the magical community never changed to the metric system... I'd always thought it was a localization thing that made the measurements appear in inches for me!

Black Walnut

Less common than the standard walnut wand, that of black walnut seeks a master of good instincts and powerful insight. Black walnut is a very handsome wood, but not the easiest to master. It has one pronounced quirk, which is that it is abnormally attuned to inner conflict, and loses power dramatically if its possessor practises any form of self-deception. If the witch or wizard is unable or unwilling to be honest with themselves or others, the wand often fails to perform adequately and must be matched with a new owner if it is to regain its former prowess. Paired with a sincere, self-aware owner, however, it becomes one of the most loyal and impressive wands of all, with a particular flair in all kinds of charmwork.


Eeep, inner conflict, huh? I would probably have my wand fail me at some point then. I don't always feel I'm particularly honest with myself!

A lot was also revealed about McGonagall throughout Book 1. Damn, she's been through a lot. With how detailed her story was here, I feel like an entire spin-off could have been dedicated to her. I wonder how many other characters JKR goes into depth about like this throughout Pottermore! I know some people are afraid that new info will contradict their fics or headcanon, or don't like that we're getting all this info yet they're not from the original books, but since I don't have very solid headcanon myself, I don't mind too much. And gosh is this one rich and detailed universe.

Interestingly enough, I got sorted into Ravenclaw. When asked previously what house I thought I'd be in for Harry Potter, I replied that I felt I would currently be in Hufflepuff but that I used to be much more of a Ravenclaw. Looks like I'm still quite a Ravenclaw. |D;;

Anyone on Pottermore? :3

Date: 2012-04-17 04:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fumiko123.livejournal.com
me me me, i just signed up for it just now. seems like a interesting game to waste some time ^^ my username is SpiritWillow1620

Date: 2012-04-17 06:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fumiko123.livejournal.com
=X just got to the wand part, mine is vine with unicorn hair, 11 3/4 inch, quite flexible (playing mabi right now so havent gotten to house yet)

Date: 2012-04-17 08:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fumiko123.livejournal.com
ugh, Hufflepuff T^T i know its not nice to my own house but still it has the worse reputation of them all for being stupid (which the perfect said was untrue)

Date: 2012-04-17 04:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] absolutehymn007.livejournal.com
Can anyone join Pottermore now? I haven't checked in a while, and it was doing all of that beta business anyways. I'll add you WIldWolf when I join!

The wand wood descriptions are interesting! Cherry + dragon heartstring... I could totally master that! XDD

My top OC for Harry Potter had a cedar wand and his best friend had a mahogany wand. I wonder what those descriptions would be?

Also, I wikia'd McGonagall's history a long time ago and yeah, I was totally immersed in its detail and how much she's been through. She's such a pro character - my second fav!

Date: 2012-04-17 05:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] absolutehymn007.livejournal.com
The registration pages were not animated so I could actually get registered at home. Oooo thanks for the cedar wood description! Aww, boo. Mahogany is my favorite wood to use in writing lol. I'll probably spend forever reading wood descriptions too. I like all of those "this means this" type things.

Anyways, about the cedar wand, that fits my character quite well. He's very strong and protective of his friends and family. He's rather intimidating-looking and gives off that serious aura when not around his close ones. Don't cross him!

Snape and McGonagall <3 I also like their friendship rivalry of intelligent wit. And Quidditch!

My choices of usernames were rather odd (FireboltSkull and WaveWormwood), but then there was the one I ended up with that I like: ShadowAccio28849.

It's late so I'll go get sorted into a house and get my wand tomorrow.

Date: 2012-04-17 07:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sac527.livejournal.com
Adding you too, Hymn! (I'm SpiritThestral650)

Date: 2012-04-17 09:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] oriaon.livejournal.com
Adding you as WolfsbaneKey16021 if that's okay! xD;

KuwaNeko

Date: 2012-04-17 05:56 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I just got in too (actually yesterday, but today I started playing). I'm StormSpirit29996. my wand is 10 3/4, Ebony, Phoenix Feather, Reasonably Supple I laughed so hard reading the ebony description; still cant believe it... "one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure" bullseye....damn(I suddenly feel too predictable) I ended up in Griffindor. cant say I'm completely astonished, but for more than a moment there I though I'd end up in Ravenclaw (or Hufflepuff). I'm still grinning

Date: 2012-04-17 07:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gottis-chan.livejournal.com
I am Slytherin for some reason. :O

Name's: FlameThorn55
And my wand is and alder wand with dragon's core. :0

Date: 2012-04-17 07:40 am (UTC)

Date: 2012-04-17 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] oriaon.livejournal.com
I got Slytherin too xDD
All right if I add? (WolfsbaneKey16021)

Date: 2012-04-17 09:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gottis-chan.livejournal.com
OF COURSE :DDD (Hi Ori ♥)

Date: 2012-04-17 07:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sac527.livejournal.com
/waves

I'm SpiritThestral650.
Gryffindor (surprise, surprise)
My wand is aspen, phoenix feather core, 12.5", reasonably supple. lol.

/goes to add you

Date: 2012-04-17 07:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sac527.livejournal.com
\o/

I think the "spirit"-something naming is a trend. I'm really sensing patterns here. Lol.

12.5"! Ahahahaha.

Potion making is going to slowly drive me mad. I've had the screen lock up on me and "waste" ingredients waaaaayyy too often. x.x No wonder they throw galleons at you throughout the game; it's a money sink. Still. FOR THE POINTS!!!! XD

Date: 2012-04-17 09:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sac527.livejournal.com
/applauds you

I wish there was a chat or a message option on Pottermore, you know?

Date: 2012-04-17 06:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wingedcrash.livejournal.com
Cherry wands sound awesome! *goes to read up more about wands* I kinda skipped through it because I wanted to only get to the sorting, heh. Can I add you? I'm MagicKnight19381. I chose that name because I wanted to be the dashing knight of Hufflepuff, but somehow I ended up in Slytherin. ;_;

All the additional information on Professor McGonagall was really interesting. *u* I enjoyed that a lot.

Date: 2012-04-18 10:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wingedcrash.livejournal.com
It's a good thing we can go back to old chapters. I'd hate to have missed that one chocolate frog card forever. orz And the articles too, yeah. c: Hmmm, I never actually read that, though I want to after some people pointed it out~ Indeed. ;_; I was so shocked at first. Hufflepuff...*reaches*

Date: 2012-04-17 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] oriaon.livejournal.com
I got sorted into Slytherin xD;
If you want to add me: WolfsbaneKey16021
(actually, yeah, I'm going to be a jerk and just add everyone first without permission :x)

Where do you go to read wand analysis?

Date: 2012-04-18 01:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] echo-hitsuzen.livejournal.com
Wow we have similar wand! Mine is also made of black walnut and unicorn core :)

Date: 2012-04-19 05:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rei.livejournal.com
My username is StormOwl151. :) Feel free to add me! I was sorted into Slytherin - I am still sort of mystified about that to this day tbh.