J.K. Rowling Shares Names Of Four Wizarding Schools Around The World


On Sunday night, J.K. Rowling shared the names of four wizarding schools around the world. The Harry Potter universe continues to expand, as fans want to know more about her fictitious world.

Before now, only three schools had been given official names. The British school, accessible by train from Platform 9 and 3/4s at London King’s Cross, is the most well-known as Hogwarts. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were introduced in the fourth book, as the French and north European schools that make up the Triwizard tournament with Hogwarts. According to Rowling, there are only 11 wizarding schools in total, so there is not one for each country.

The Harry Potter author took to her website, Pottermore, to share the names of four of the eight schools people still had no idea about. Ilvermorny is the name of the school in North America, which is featured in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Very little is known about this mythical school, except its location. This is possibly due to magic being an extremely secretive subject in the United States.

Four New Wizard Schools Have Names, Shared By J.K. Rowling
[Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images]
The three other schools are Uagadou in Africa, Majoutokoro in Japan, and Castelobruxo in Brazil. They are known for different things, and have other mythical locations and elements. For example, Uagadou is in the mythical location of the Mountains of the Moon, while Brazil’s messenger owls are called Dream Messengers, according to The A.V. Club. Japan’s school is famous for its Quidditch, despite not being mentioned once in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when Harry and his friends go to the Quidditch World Cup.

Rowling seemed forced to share more about the fictitious wizarding schools due to Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in the movies, sharing the names at the Celebration of Harry Potter event this weekend. The cast got together at Universal Studios, Orlando, and shared some never-before-known facts with reporters. Rowling used Lynch’s comment as an excuse to update her Pottermore website even more.

While many report that there are only 11 schools, TIME reports that there are only 11 registered with the International Confederation of Wizards. There are smaller schools where children can learn magic, and there may be other larger schools that are not registered yet. It does open the possibility of another good vs. evil battle for the future.

Not all the schools only accept children from the age of 11, unlike Hogwarts. This could open another door for another good vs. evil battle. For example, Japanese students can learn magic from 7-years-old, and then board at Majoutokoro from 11. The other schools do not give ages that students start.

J.K. Rowling Releases Names Of Four More Of The 11 Wizarding Schools
[Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images]
There is also information about the type of magic the students learn, which could affect whether they are good or evil. Durmstrang already has a reputation for evil wizardry, due to some former students’ decisions. Ilvermony is linked to indigenous magic, which could be viewed either way. Rowling had shared the link to indigenous magic before, but said she could not share the tribes as that would reveal the school’s actual location. All that is known is that it is somewhere on the east coast of America, but not in New York.

To protect the schools and the students, muggles are not able to see them. Hogwarts had already touched on this by creating portals to the station platform, and using magic to cover up locations. Brazil’s school is magically made to look like a ruin to muggles, but students and wizards are able to see the jungle-located school.

Despite the Harry Potter books officially ending years ago, the world has still lived on. Rowling helped with that through her site, Pottermore, where more information is shared on a regular basis.

[Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images]

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