There's already a topic about mistakes called "Mistakes By Jkr, Slip ups in the HBP".

Anyway your answer is:

Heya,
DD said: "After an interval of some years, however, he used Nagini to kill an old Muggle man, and it might then have occured to him to turn her into the last Horcrux." (chap23-Horcruxes p507)

The muggle that he killed wasn't the one in GOF the 1st chap? Didn't he used the A.V instead of Nagini? The man was too afraid when he saw LV's face etc..

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Yes, Slughorn never notices Ron with Harry around. He always forgets his name so this is just another time he did and i admit when i first read it i was like "WHAT?" because it was such an obvious mistake but J.K. was fooling us all!

I can't believe no one else caught this...

After the Burial
HBP(ch.22 pg.483 us) the enormous dead spider lying on its back outside, its legs curled and tangled... HBP(ch.22 pg.484 us) eight milky eyes stared blankly at the sky?

Maybe... Jo is as afraid of spiders as Ron... or as Slughorn calls him Rupert.... But this one just jumped right off the page at me !!

To be honest I was really surprised to see these two mistakes only 2 pages apart... and was wondering who "edits" and "proof-reads" her books? The second can be dismissed as intentional... she does on her website...

But just like with Marcus Flint doing an extra year... Jo handles it with a great sense of humor... "Guess the mistake was his... not mine !!"

Jo is a wonderful writer... and is entitled to a few mistakes... and please keep in mind she has publishers... editors... proof-readers... and hopefully a typesetter or two who should be catching most of them... before we do !!


I won't be so forgiving in the next book if I don't like the ending !!

I don't know if this has been spotted before, if it has, my apologies.

In GoF, Priori Incantatem causes the wand to regurgitate a ghost of its spells in reverse order, with the last one that had been cast coming out first. But James Potter emerges earlier than Lily Potter, saying "... your mother is coming ...", while everywhere else it is stipulated that James Potter died first.

CoS 125 (English paperback edition): lacewings have to be stewed for 21 days.
CoS 158: Hermione: " ... adding more lacewings to the Potion. It's ready."

In CoS, Harry and Ron still had their own voices after taking the Polyjuice Potion, and had to lower them to sound more like Crabbe and Goyle.
In GoF, the the real Moody in the Pensieve talked with "a familiar gruff voice". Barty Crouch would have had to make a special effort with the voice to fool everyone who knew the real Moody, of course, but sounding completely the same is quite a feat. Isn't it more likely that your voice would change along with the other physical characteristics that include the vocal chords? The only thing that wouldn't change would be your thoughts...

kats

heya tatesha,
Thanks a lot coz i'm not an expert in arachnids or whatever are they I'm like Ron, I just hate spiders so i'll never take the time to search his eyes coz his legs are more than enough!! (=disgusting!)

I'm not sure this is a mistake... but it sure has me confused.

In OotP(ch.7 hb.pg.121 us) when Mr. Weasley escorts Harry to his Disciplinary Hearing.

The Elevator voice announces as they are going down...
Level 7: Department of Magical Games and Sports,
Level 6: Department of Magical Transportation,
Level 5: Department of International Magical Cooperation,
Level 4: Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures,
Level 3: Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes,
Level 2: Department of Magical Law Enforcement,
Level 1: Department of Magical Mysteries
The levels below (Dungeons and Wizengamot) must be reached by stairs.

But in OotP(ch.9 hb.pg.154 us) Lucius Malfoy is at The Ministry of Magic talking w/ Cornielius Fudge on the 9th level... after Harry's hearing...

J.K.Rowlings says 9th level... the level above the dungeons is Level 1... and later... when Harry figures things out it makea a lot of difference what level we see Lucius on.

Am I befuddled... or confunded.. I'm definarely confused !!

A Diagram of Levels 9 and 10 Says in OotP(ch.34) Level 9: Department of Magical Mysteries.

Now I am even more confunded...

I added the color show mistake... ???

It can be the 9th level when the 8th level is the Atrium. Each level counted down from the Atrium is going one up ... level 9 can be reached by lift, but the lift doesn't go as far as level 10 where the courtrooms are, so they have to get out at the 9th and go down the stairs.

I think that after the hearing, they trundled up the stairs again and it is in the corridor near the lift that Harry saw Malfoy talking to Fudge.

I see what you mean Bumblebee... one would assume that if you assumed someone else's physical characteristics, it would include the larynx (vocal cords) as well. It is possible that the polyjuice potion only changes the outward physical appearance... but that does seem a bit odd.

I noticed a lot of inconsistancies in this book...

In another thread we discussed Snape's handwriting.

HBP(ch.9 pg.189 us) Handwriting described or in my version typeset.
HBP(ch.9 pg.193 us) This book is the property of the HBP.
HBP(ch.12 pg.238 us) Harry is impressed by the imaginative little jinxes and hexes scribbled in the margins which Harry was convinced the HBP had invented himself. The Prince had proved to be a much more effective teacher than Snape thus far.

Yet when he goes into Snape's Pensieve memory... he sees Snape taking his O.W.L... he sees Snape writing on the parchment... and describes it!!

Granted Harry is not the most observant of youths... but wouldn't you recognize the handwriting of someone you thought to be brilliant ? It would have been identical to the handwriting in the margin... as it was written in the same year !!

I don't think this was a mistake by J.K.Rowling. It is just Slughorns bad memory. He does have a tendancy to remember his more favourable students (SLUG CLUB) such as Harry, Hermione, Ginny etc.

yea i agree i mean i noticed that mistake as well and when i saw it i was like....what the??? because i was thinking that jk wouldn't name her character accidentaly after the actor but then i realised it was just that slughorn never did remember people's names unless he thought they were of much importance.

Excuse me for nitpicking, but one thing in OotP that has annoyed me is an astronomical inaccuracy.

Let me explain: In the book night is falling when Harry is in the park, and it has completely gone dark when the Dementors attack. There are numerous references to the falling of darkness. But it is the second of August, and it doesn't get dark until quite late. Much later than the time that is mentioned in the book (conjuring the Patronus at 21:23).

Well, JKR has probably checked when the sun goes down ... but unfortunately, sunset is not the time that it goes dark. That is much later, when the sun has sunk further below the horizon. At first, the sun is down but it is still light. As the sun sinks lower, it gets darker. The further north a place is, the longer it takes to get completely dark ...

Now the book says it was completely dark at 21:23. But although the sun sets at 20:47 on August 2 (local daylight savings time), the twilight period is very long. It doesn't get completely dark until the time of "astronomical twilight", when the sun has sunk 18 degrees below the horizon. Which on August 2 is at 23:36! At 21:23 it would be twilight, but still light enough to see without street lamps. See the definitions below ...

LONDON on August 2
Sunset: 20:47
C Twi: 21:28 (not dark yet, but you start needing lights)
N Twi: 22:22 (you can still see something and it isn't dark enough for observing stars)
A Twi: 23:36 (complete darkness)

by comparison, EDINBURGH on August 2 (where JKR lives)
Sunset: 20:19
C Twi: 21:07
N Twi: 22:18
A Twi: ///// (it doesn't get completely dark at all in Edinburgh)

Civil twilight is defined to begin in the morning, and to end in the evening when the center of the Sun is geometrically 6 degrees below the horizon. This is the limit at which twilight illumination is sufficient, under good weather conditions, for terrestrial objects to be clearly distinguished; at the beginning of morning civil twilight, or end of evening civil twilight, the horizon is clearly defined and the brightest stars are visible under good atmospheric conditions in the absence of moonlight or other illumination. In the morning before the beginning of civil twilight and in the evening after the end of civil twilight, artificial illumination is normally required to carry on ordinary outdoor activities. Complete darkness, however, ends sometime prior to the beginning of morning civil twilight and begins sometime after the end of evening civil twilight.

Nautical twilight is defined to begin in the morning, and to end in the evening, when the center of the sun is geometrically 12 degrees below the horizon. At the beginning or end of nautical twilight, under good atmospheric conditions and in the absence of other illumination, general outlines of ground objects may be distinguishable, but detailed outdoor operations are not possible, and the horizon is indistinct.

Astronomical twilight is defined to begin in the morning, and to end in the evening when the center of the Sun is geometrically 18 degrees below the horizon. Before the beginning of astronomical twilight in the morning and after the end of astronomical twilight in the evening the Sun does not contribute to sky illumination; for a considerable interval after the beginning of morning twilight and before the end of evening twilight, sky illumination is so faint that it is practically imperceptible.

Gee, nothing gets past you. That was really thorough. It's not altogether a big mistake really is it. Seeing how many people were probably focusing on what was going on rather than how dark it was.

Yes, I know, I was nitpicking really.
It just surprised me that JKR isn't more aware of the specific nature of twilight, seeing that she lives in Edinburgh where it stays light for rather a long time after sunset, particularly in the month of July. By the time August comes along you can't read without a lamp at midnight any more, but still ...

I miss out quite a lot of things really, I just picked up on this one because I happen to know this stuff ...

EDITED -- the following paragraphs are added --

The same problem with time and darkness crops up again a few pages later in OotP, when the Advance Guard comes to escort Harry to Grimmauld Place.

Again, it is getting dark. They fly in the dark across the country to London. After they land, and get into the house, a meeting of the Order is about to start. The youngsters have to wait until the meeting is over. Some time later, the meeting ends and preparations are started for dinner. Then they have dinner and after that, there is a discussion about how much Harry has a right to know, and there is an ugly scene with Molly trying to send all the schoolgoing Weasley children upstairs (Ginny did not go quietly, lol). Then Harry gets some of his questions answered, and when Molly comes back in she orders them all to bed.
My point is: all this takes time. How late do you think it is when they have dinner? How late do you think it would be when it's already dark when Harry arrives? Sunset is just a little earlier than on August 2 (it's August 6 when he arrives at Grimmauld Place). The darkness and the time elapsed could fit if it was a day in the middle of winter, but not in summer! Plus, aren't the kids starving by then, eating so late that it must be near midnight when they finally sit down to have dinner? Oops ...

And why does the group fly Southward and Southwestward for such a long time when Harry lives in Surrey and London lies to the North??

And couldn't they have used Side-Along Apparition instead of flying?

I am sure that I have read somewhere that JK has said that she called Ron "Rupert" for a "bit of fun" as Slughorn does have a terrible memory for names of people who don't interest him. JK also knew that this would be picked up as a mistake.

Jimmy Smith is right. It's written in the books that the darkness is a dementor's effect. Just re-read the 1st chap. of the half-blood prince.

No this is definitely not a mistake. JKR was asked in an interview whether she meant to put Rupert's name in the book. She said yes, and that she thought the fans would find it amusing. Slughorn didn't give a about Ron, and calling him by the wrong name is an understandable thing for Slughorn to do.

I've merged "interesting mistake" with this thread as they are discussing the same thing, at least some of the time anyway.

razz

hmmmm Bumblebee I almost feel bad doing this to you :/ You did alot of work with all of that, you know, finding the time the sun sets and such. But you forgot a few things.

A. You dont know exactly where privet drive is located, so the time for darkness to fall could vary emmensly.

B. HBP takes place in 1996. And if I understood your post corectly, you were using sun set times from recent dates.

I would just like to point that out.

cheese puff?

As I read this thread... I get really embarrassed.

We are "enchanted" with these books... obviously. My children's children are reading these books... as is my mother... that is 4 generations... and we are all delighted by them.

Like I was when I read the J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit... Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave... and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.

At present 1093 people are veiwing this forum... and my curious question to you all... is would J.K. Rowling ever have had the courage to write... then publish these books if she knew her words were going to picked apart by millions... and translated into how many languages?

God Bless Her.

I hope her story ends well... and that Harry Potter and Dumbledore will live on... in our hearts... as did "Bilbo, Frodo, Strider, Legolas, Gimli and Gandalf"... "Merlin, Arthur and Morgaine"... whatever happens...

Will your children's children read these books... even though they will know who R.A.B is !? I hope so.

Even with our modern technology... I truly believe this story will live on and encourage children to read.... not just watch the dvd.

Hiya witnessed UK!

Could I ask you to please read the forum rules? Double posts are not allowed. Next time simply hit the 'edit' button on the top rioght corner of the post you want to modify and then you can add anything you want.

If you need anything, feel free to contact any of the mods or prefects for help.

***IGNORE***

Bumblebee..... I am speechless >.<

well... not entirley speechless. But crappers, you showed me. Thats the last time I'm gonna try to be a smart-alec around you (my name is alec so I'm not sure how well this will work out, heh)

But yeah, good work, you really looked into almost everything there is to look into about that. Alot of people ddont take into account what year it really is in the books, but you did! >.< oi oi oi, I do not feel very smart right now

but oh well, life goes on, I'm just goin to have to think about what I (and you) say more carefully

cheese puff?

He he he he...

hmmm ... (looks over shoulder) eh ... was that really me gloating over someone's humility? Liking it? Really? ... Shame! Shame! Ugh!

Seriously, El Cheeser, I don't think Jo Rowling has to worry about correcting it. She created a magnificent work, and nobody -- including myself, despite me saying that it annoyed me -- cares about the times of sunset. What we do care about is all there, in amazingly abundant measure.

So after this bit of nitpicking fun, forgive me for being so smug, because I'm the one who should be humbled. Jo, you can have a galaxy of astronomical errors for all I care!

I may have missed something ver very big, and if i have you can tell me.

On page 315 of the HBP, Harry asked Lupin if he knew anyone in his time at school that was the half blood prince. Remus says no, and tells him to check the date of the book to see when this half bllod prince went to Hogwarts. When Harry checks, he is dissappointed. Seeing that the book was from 50 years ago, he realises that none of his dad's friends, nor his dad went to hogwarts 50 years ago. But on Page 563 Snape tells Harry that he is the HBP. How can that be? In the book Harry finds out that none of his dad's friends were at Hogwarts 50 years ago. But it forgot to mention enemies... Snape too was not at Hogwarts 50 years ago, so how does this work out

Interested in all ideas, and as i said, i may hae missed something very big.

What NO the HbP is Snape's mother or something. It's not Snape...I'm sure it's not...But the last time I read the book was this summer so I'm re reading it for the third time...I may be wrong, but I clearly remember that it was Snape's mother or something and that her last name was Prince and that she was a half blood or something of that sort.

But i dont understand why Snape said that he was the Half Blood Prince if it was his mom.



MOD EDIT: Hiya Captain , Double posting is not permitted on the forums. Please refer to the rules forum. There is an edit button on the top right hand of your original post where you can add after thoughts. I have added your second post in here. Thanks.

The page That he said he was the HBP was on... uh.... Page 563

But I remember Hermione finding out, and yes, it was Snape's mother...I think. Like I said, I haven't read the book in months, that's exactly why I'm re reading, and I'm re reading the PS/SS too, please bear with me I'm trying to read three books at a time. (Chronicles of Narnia) But I clearly clealy remember Hermione saying it was Snape's mother, and if not his mother, someone else's mother, but I remember it being a woman.

I don't remember Snape saying it was him...Can you please clarify the page for me please, so I can check it?

And I know this isn't my spot to tell you this, but instead of double posting, the mods prefer if you use the edit button so the topic isn't filled with yourposts over and over.

I think most people here share the belief that it had been the textbook of Severus Snape's mother Eileen Prince, and that Severus inherited the book and then put his comments and spells in it.

Alternatively, he could have gotten the book second-hand.

It's pretty certain that Severus Snape was the person who write in the book, given that the description of the handwriting in the book is very similar to that of Snape's writing on the examn paper as seen by Harry in the Pensieve.

Hmm, that makes sence, Snape inheriting it from his mother. But Hermione DID say that the handwritng looked more of a woman's font then a man's, so could it be possible that the both of them took notes in the textbook?

EDIT:

Wow, I've never seen a board that gets replies fast like this one.

But there was no prince, it was just a last name. And it was Snape's mother, and it makes sence that BOTH of them could've taken notes in the book.

Just because it dates back 50 years doesnt mean it wasn't Snape's. I think Snape got the book second-hand, and recorded all the stuff himself. It couldn't've been he and his mother, because then there would be two different handwritings. Also, Snape had a hunch Harry was using his book, and who else would know the book so well besides its rightful owner?
I think maybe Snape's mother wasn't such a good person, and helped Sanpe make up spells. I also think Eileen Prince is the reason why Severus is so good a potions. Maybe there'll be more on her in Book 7.

Hmm...Maybe...So you'r saying that Snape wrote down the notes, but his mother helped him...If that's the case...We know who the "peince" is, but why would Jo bring up a charactor like that so late in the series?

Snape is the half-blood prince, and all the notes in the book are his. Harry notices that the writing in the margines of the book is the same as the writing that says "property of the half-blood prince". Same later says that he is the half blood prince. Thus, snape wrote the spells and stuff inthe margins.

erm, if any of you have actually read the hbp, then at the end when harry tries to use secumsempra and levicorpus(the spells that snape invented himself) snape actually says "potter, I am the half blood prince!"
and hermione doesnt say anywhere that the handwriting looks like a girls, in fact, its the other way round, harry says the hand writing looks like a guys.
so there you have it.
Snape was the hbp, look at the last few chapters of book 6 and you'll all see!

priori_incantatem, not everyone writes in their schoolbooks. Some people are very neat, some think that writing in the margins of books is a sacrilege (lol, think of Madam Pince), and some want to keep the book "clean" so that it can be used by someone else later.

So it can easily have been both Eileen Prince's and Severus Snape's and still only have Snape's writing in it.

yeah, its probably just a second hand book, but mind you, although hermione says shes going to look for old potions awards the book never says she finds any from eileen prince. She could have royally sucked at potions but the snape got the book and was a prodegy.
you never know, lets try and ask jk this some time