New J. K. Rowling Story Focuses On Segregation Of Wizards And Muggles


J. K. Rowling’s new story focuses on the segregation of wizards and Muggles, according to The Wrap. The best-selling author’s latest story in the Harry Potter universe is set in North America. It’s one of a series of four stories about magical life in the United States designed to lay the groundwork for the new movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Fantastic Beasts is due to be released November 18 and will star Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scarmander, the magizoologist who wrote one of the textbooks used at Hogwarts.

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The new story, “Rappaport’s Law,” is the third of four stories being e-published on the website Pottermore. The first story, “Fourteenth Century – Seventeenth Century” in the History of Magic in North America series has caused considerable controversy, as reported in The Inquisitr, for cultural appropriation and misinterpretation of Navajo tradition.

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The second story, “Seventeenth Century and Beyond,” tells of the early settlement of European wizards in North America, the rise of the Scourers, the Salem Witch Trials as seen from the wizarding point of view, and the development of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA). The fourth story in the series is due to be released March 11.

As explained in The Telegraph,”Rappaport’s Law,” J. K. Rowling’s new story, tells how and why the American wizarding community came to segregate itself from the Muggle, or No-Maj (no-magic) inhabitants of North America. Rowling explains why wizards and witches in North American keep a stricter separation between themselves and their No-Maj neighbors than is the case in Europe or Asia.

“In 1790, the fifteenth President of MACUSA, Emily Rappaport, instituted a law designed to create total segregation of the wizarding and No-Maj communities. This followed one of the most serious breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy, leading to a humiliating censure of MACUSA by the International Confederation of Wizards.” from “Rappaport’s Law,” by J. K. Rowling

SPOILERS WARNING

J. K. Rowling’s new story takes place in 1790, a year after George Washington was elected president, and 98 years after the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Dorcus Twelvetrees is a pretty witch, the daughter of a senior MACUSA official, and alas, a girl with more hair than wit. She makes the mistake of being too honest with her new beau, a handsome No-Maj named Bartholomew Barebone. Unbeknownst to Dorcus, Bartholomew is a descendant of the Scourers, a group of wizarding roughnecks who started as a vigilante police force, but quickly became corrupt witchhunters, eventually intermarrying with No-Majs (Muggles) and over the generations, going from passing for No-Maj to being No-Maj as the magical genes faded. Dorcus reveals the secret of her people to Bartholomew, and his actions… well, that would be telling. The results, however, were that the wizards and witches of the newly minted United States of America were driven “deeper underground,” Rowling says, than their European counterparts.

“Rappaport’s Law enforced strict segregation between the No-Maj and wizarding communities. Wizards were no longer allowed to befriend or marry No-Majs. Penalties for fraternising with No-Majs were harsh. Communication with No-Majs was limited to that necessary to perform daily activities.” from “Rappaport’s Law,” by J. K. Rowling

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The new movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is set in North America during the Roaring ’20s. Its hero is magizoologist Newt Scarmander, who has come to the United States for research. Scarmander is not familiar with Rappaport’s Law, which will doubtless lead to some mistakes and misunderstandings as he explores the wilds of New York City searching for North American magical creatures. Scarmander is mentioned only in passing in the Harry Potter books, as the author of one of Harry’s textbooks.

J. K. Rowling explained on her website Pottermore than Harry’s friend Luna Lovegood would eventually marry Professor Scarmander’s grandson Rolf Scarmander and become a magizoologist herself. In the movie, Eddie Redmayne will play Newt Scarmander and Samantha Morton will play the leader of New Salem Philanthropic Society, a group dedicated to exposing and killing wizards and witches. J. K. Rowling’s new story is designed to set the stage for the movie, which will be released this fall.

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[Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images]

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