The Chamber Subplot:
Explanation and
Facts
From New Clues to Harry
Potter: Book 5
by Galadriel
Waters (The Ultimate Unofficial Guide)
Explanation by Eric of
MuggleNet.com
The following clues
were discussed on the New Clues
Forums. Introduction to Plots and Subplots What many of you knew when you
first paged through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was that it
was immensely complex, whether or not you’d read the clue guide to the previous
books. Layers and layers of activities were happening at once, some in unison
and others separately. What some readers may not have known, however, was
that it seems as if there are a number of these 'background activities' going on
that a first glance may not have revealed. One of the discovered 'background
activities' (appropriately called subplots) in HP5 involves nothing less than
the Chamber of Secrets. Unlike other subplots, this was not shown to readers
directly. Only a series of hidden clues, puns, and other mentions were there to
resolve this. Thanks to the great HP Super Sleuths out there, resolve it we
did! The
Sub-Plot Points This
subplot is based entirely on running bits, juxtapositions, and plot parallels
throughout Book Five. All of the following clues which will be discussed point
to something going on with the Chamber of Secrets. The three main ideas
with this subplot are: These three points have
been hypothesized by our master HP Sleuths, and provide a basic structure within
which these theories will be explained, substantiated, and speculated.
Please Note: as
you read, all key words or phrases from excerpts will be colored gold, to point
them out. Running Bits Nearly half the running
bits throughout the book are in some way related to this subplot. Some point to
the Chamber of Secrets itself, others point to the basilisk, and some point to
the second floor bathroom. You may find it helpful to group them as
follows: Moaning Myrtle –
Spots, Dots, Pipes, Toilets Capitalized words are
listed in the back of New Clues to Book 5, and non-capitalized words are
similar terms which are used often but not quite enough to be running-bits.
Also, anything relating to either one of these words or terms could work as well
to point readers in the right direction. You’ll notice that Spot
Running-Bits are listed as relating both to Moaning Myrtle and mirrors.
Moaning Myrtle and spots were first paired together in Book 2, at Nearly
Headless Nick’s Deathday Party. On page 103 UK Version
(135 US), Peeves chases after Myrtle after kindly reminding her that, on top of
fat, ugly, and all the other things, she is spotty as well. In the
Then, on page 118 of the UK
Chamber of Secrets (156
'Oh
... I see ...' said Myrtle, picking at a spot on her
chin in a morose sort of way. 'Well ... anyway ... I'd try the egg in the
water. That's what Cedric Diggory did.' From these excerpts we see that
J.K.R has connected spots with Moaning Myrtle more than once. The connection of
spots to mirrors will be discussed below. Other words or terms such as
“spattering”, “spraying”, and such, can also imply many spots. It is important
to use juxtaposition in these cases and realize that they’re talking about the
same thing! Constant vigilance! The running bits listed, which
relate to bathrooms and toilets, are all there to get us thinking bathrooms –
specifically Myrtle’s. The clues to this subplot do not necessarily narrow down
to a certain event that is going on, unlike the Percy/Wormtail subplot uncovered in early December of last year by
some of the same Super Sleuths. These running bits and clues are meant to point
people towards something, not directly at it. Whether it be chairs, thrones, or any kind of slang, linguistic, or
term, no matter how humorous they may sound, each one is pointing us towards
this subplot. Occurrences of the terms “stone”,
“freezing”, “gaze”, “peer”, and other variations, can be related to someone
being petrified. All of them involve staring eyes of the snake, a glazed look,
or a horrified expression as seen on the petrified students in Book 2. J.K.R is
using facial expressions and certain gestures as clues, so be aware! These clues
are not implying that people are being petrified in Book Five; the terms are,
once again, there to make us “reflect” on the Chamber of Secrets. Pairs and the number 2 (as well
as the word “second”) seem to be there because Book 2 (the second book) is none
other than Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets! Anything with 2’s,
seconds, and pairs can be referring us to look in that book again. Juxtaposition Juxtapositioning is J.K.R’s way
of toying with us. It involves the deliberate placing of many particular words
in a sentence or paragraph next to each other, in order to point us to a
specific imagery. It’s there to twist our minds! Want an example? Take a look at
page 172 …screwing up his face…writing in midair…baboon’s
backside…caused Crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Luna laughed so
hard [open-mouthed] her magazine slipped
out of her grasp, slid down her legs and onto the floor. Take a look at that - eight
running-bits or key words in that short a space! There’s the screwing up of the
face like someone who would be petrified by a snake, and “hissing”, and then we
have more slipping and sliding! There’s more to this excerpt, so remember it.
Another great juxtaposition is
used on page 314-315
…Hermione,
who had just slid…getting to her feet… Hermione's eyes
slid rapidly down the notice. Her
expression became stony. On page 151
Want to
try your hand at juxtapositioning? One of the most prominent is when Peeves
causes quite the ruckus on page 597-598 of the
Plot Parallels Plot parallels are events which
happen at different times in a book, or in different books altogether, that are
almost precisely the same as each other. In Book Five, there are many
parallels to Chamber of Secrets. When introducing a plot parallel, J.K.R. will
tend to use the established Running-Bits to indicate them. Such an example can
be found in Chapter One of Book Five, page 20 in the UK Version and page 15 in
the ...The
balmy evening was suddenly piercingly, bitingly cold. They
were surrounded by total, impenetrable, silent
darkness, as though some giant hand had dropped a thick, icy mantle over the entire alleyway, blinding them. For
a split second Harry thought he had done magic
without meaning to…He turned his head this way and
that, trying to see something, but the
darkness pressed on his eyes like a weightless
veil. 'W-what
are you d-doing? St-stop it!' 'I'm
not doing anything! Shut up and don't
move!' 'I
c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I –' 'I
said shut up!' Harry
stood stock still, turning his sightless eyes left and right...he opened his eyes to their fullest extent, staring blankly around, unseeing. Is anybody strangely reminded of
the basilisk in the Chamber here, when Fawkes took its eyes out?! Piercing and
biting are like the fangs of the basilisk, or even Fawkes’ piercing of its eyes.
Then we have a variant of penetration, and “blinding them”. And next, most
importantly, Harry is turning his head “this way and that, trying to see
something”, just like the basilisk! Would it, assuming it thought like us, not
cry out “I’ve gone blind!” upon realizing its own handicap? Throughout that section we have
running bits and phrases juxtaposed such as cold, icy, and second. It’s almost
like J.K.R’s using them to guide us through the parallels so we know when to
start and when to stop! For HP Sleuths who want another
example before searching on their own, look on the very first page of Book Five
(both versions) for a briefer, but very powerful parallel. Remember, running
bits are usually used to start it off (Hint – look for a sea-snake)! There’s an
interesting one on page 10 of the UK Version and 4-5 in the
The
Chamber Subplot Point Putting running-bits,
juxtaposition, and plot parallels together, let’s move on to the subplot points.
The running-bits listed above which point to this particular subplot include
Chairs, Dung, Kings, Heads, Rooks, Crowns, Pipes, Regurgitating, Toilets, Sinks,
Spots, Mouths (Open), Feet, and monkeys. This is because not only are there
clues pointing us to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom (or even Moaning Myrtle who
resides in the bathroom), but to the Chamber itself, including the statue of
Salazar Slytherin. If you’ll recall from Book 2 (p.
226 UK, 307 US), the statue of Salazar Slytherin is described as “ancient and
monkey-like”. This, like the connections described to Myrtle above with the
running-bits, is something J.K.R established early on in the series and is now
using throughout Book Five. Take a look at page 172
There’s an even subtler
monkey clue on the train to Hogwarts with Luna on page 170
Liquid
squirted from every boil on the plant… and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine;
Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely
looked as though she was wearing a slimy green
hat, but Harry, whose hands had been busy preventing Trevor's escape,
received a faceful. It smelled like rancid
manure. Neville,
whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes. Did you see that? Not if you were
Neville! That’s one evil he’s seeing none of, and Harry sure isn’t saying
much. Assuming that Ginny’s new hat covers her ears, a familiar monkey-gesture
composite should come to mind... and did you notice Mimbulus Mimbletonia
(see page 45 of the guide) is also related to a monkey? The other two Chamber Point
running-bits which look to Salazar Slytherin are Feet and Mouths (Open). J.K.
tends to get really tricky here with us, because she uses the gesture effect as
a sign to point us to this. All variations of laughing or screaming involve
someone’s mouth open, which usually points out the “opening” of the Chamber and
monkey sightings. Feet point to Salazar Slytherin
because J.K.R. (via Harry) made special note of the stone statue’s feet as well
as his primal appearance. The event in the Chamber took place mostly, and ended
at, Slytherin’s feet. The toilet-related running-bits
as explained above and listed twice, are presumably once again to point us
towards bathrooms. A bathroom, particularly Moaning Myrtle’s, seems to be the
focus of these clues. Though sinking is also related to the Basilisk Point of
this subplot, as pointed out above they could also mean sinking as in bathroom
sinks with faucets. All variations of sink including sinking, sank, and sunk are
interrelated. Notice that when a character does
sink into something, it is usually a chair, throne, a seat, or any kind of
variation which basically means toilet. We think J.K.R’s intentions are not to
gross us out with all this toilet humor, but to point us once again towards
Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom and the sink entrance to the Chamber! What’s going on in the Chamber?
Can you tell? The
Basilisk Subplot Point This subplot point is referenced
with the same methods as the Chamber Point, through running-bits and parallels.
Running Bits relating to this point are Eyes (bulging, black, hurt), Twisted,
Coiling, Turns, Sliding, Sinking, Mate, Frogs, Toad, and Eggs. The running-bits
Frogs, Toads, and Eggs are involved because, well, what are the ingredients to
making a basilisk? They’re major enough to spark interest… why would J.K.R. use
these three running-bits if she just wanted to point us to a chamber? Why
would she use all of these if she only wanted to point us to the chamber?
Sounds like we’ve got a slippery new surprise to deal with! There are many plot parallels
with clues and running bits pointing toward a second basilisk, not just the
Chamber. Take a look at this one on page 676
Harry's stomach gave a
jolt… actually slid...They were descending at last... heard a shriek behind him and twisted around dangerously… no sign of a falling body… orange lights were growing larger and rounder on all sides...headlights
like luminous insect
eyes... Harry slid from its back… Talk about scary! Luminous eyes,
sliding, descending, and growing larger and rounder – it’s almost as if a
basilisk is coming towards us. Let’s not forget the shriek… coming towards us
through Salazar’s open mouth! On page 669
He
yelled [mouth-open] and stamped his enormous feet and the centaurs scattered out of the
way; pebble-sized droplets of Grawp's blood
showered Harry as he pulled Hermione to her
feet and the pair of them ran as fast as
they could for the shelter of the trees. Once there they looked back; Grawp was
snatching blindly at the centaurs as blood ran down his face; they were retreating in
disorder, galloping away through the trees on the other side of the clearing.
Harry and Hermione watched Grawp give another roar of
fury and plunge after them, smashing
more trees aside as he went. Don’t forget juxtaposition – spots are
present through both “showered” and “droplets”. Those excerpts point to a
basilisk in more of a physical way. There’s also a lot of peering
going on as well, such as on page 674 in the
And finally, the paragraph on
page 668 Harry …was watching
Grawp's feet, which were almost as long as Harry's whole body. Hermione gripped his
arm tightly; the centaurs were quite silent,
staring up at the giant, whose huge, round head moved from side to
side as he continued to peer amongst
them… If Sleuths want to look for
another one, there’s one on page 375
All of these key terms, such as
sliding, make up the event of the basilisk in Book 2. The basilisk slid up/down
the inside of Slytherin's statue, came out of the mouth, and landed smack on the
floor, fangs bared. When could this magical mating
have taken place? Well, do you recall where Trevor the toad was when Neville
found him at the end of Book One? What did Hagrid have in Book Two that
completes the equation? The scary thing is that the materials were there… What’s going on with the second
basilisk? What do you think? The
Mirror Subplot Point This subplot point is slightly
different and it could be part of an even greater threat than the first two! This subplot involves the
running-bits Spots, Cracks, Pairs, and 2s, and is largely based on specific
wording. All of the references, after being carefully examined, lead us to
believe that mirrors can be used as method of communication. Not just any
mirror, though… Thinking that they must be something of a “matched pair”
(somehow identical), try to speculate which mirrors we already know of that are
brother pairs. We already
know of the mirror that Sirius gave to Harry, and know that Sirius had one for
himself which was its twin. Therefore, is the mirror in Moaning Myrtle’s
bathroom an identical twin? Turn back to page 118
Under
a large, cracked and spotted mirror were a row of chipped, stone sinks. Now in OoP on page 516
A
cracked, age-spotted
mirror hung on the wall in the shadows. The second mirror too is
described as cracked and spotted… in that order. Rookwood himself is tied
somehow to spots, isn’t he? As it was with the second excerpt, there are Bk.5
running-bits in the first one. There’s something missing with the Chamber of
Secrets excerpt, isn’t there? Ah – yes, the fact that the mirror in Harry’s
dream was “age-spotted”, implying it was old. Back on page 118/156 of
Hermione… waved
vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp
floor. From this we can determine that
all three features are applied to both mirrors, and it’s definitely exciting as
the mirrors are three books apart! But exciting isn’t the tone this should be
approached with, if you think about it. What potential could these identical
mirrors have? If Voldemort has one… and the other one’s in Myrtle’s bathroom…
what does that mean? And finally, there’s been some
speculation about the mirror in the Room of Requirement, or, well, the Foe
Glass. HP Sleuths were wondering if this mirror was identical to the one in
Myrtle’s bathroom, but it doesn’t appear to be. Nor does it appear to be Mad-Eye
Moody’s Foe Glass… The Foe Glass in the Room of
Requirement is cracked, just like the mirror in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.
However, it is vital to note that there is no implication of spots whatsoever
with this mirror, as there is with the mirror in Myrtle’s bathroom and the one
in Harry’s dream. To be certain, let’s take a look at page 299-300 of the UK
Version of Goblet of Fire
( On
his desk stood what looked like a large, cracked, glass spinning top; Harry recognized it at once as a
Sneakoscope, because he owned one himself, though it was much smaller than
Moody's. In the corner on a small table stood an object that looked something
like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial. It was humming slightly. What
appeared to be a mirror hung opposite Harry on the wall, but it was not
reflecting the room. Shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none of them clearly in focus. All J.K.R. said about Moody’s Foe
Glass was that none of the figures were clear, not that it was cracked (see the
highlighted words of this excerpt). On top of that, it seems to be clear that
Foe Glasses are supposed to be shadowy, and people inside unclear. But either
way, there is still no implication of spots, so we can’t be sure that the Foe
Glass in the RoR is connected to Myrtle’s mirror. It’s still possible that the Foe
Glass in the RoR is tied to the one Imposter Moody/Moody has (or had). His Foe
Glass could have cracked since then, but it doesn’t seem probable.
Imposter Moody could also have damaged his dark detectors deliberately to keep
from setting them off! What’s going on with all these
paired mirrors? Who says I know? J Conclusion and Final
Thoughts There’s one other perk about
uncovering this subplot. J.K.R. said on an interview with Rainforest Books that
wizards have something even better than the Internet. She said we’ll see
it in later books! Could this be the introduction of such an internet: mirrors?
If you have a copy of Ultimate Unofficial Guide handy, turn to page 405.
WWP’s first guess on what it might be is “mirrors”! All in all, there’s definitely
something down there… The excerpts given here are but a few of an endless list.
There are tons of similar references all throughout Book Five. There are also
additional related clues plus one more big subplot to uncover!
Discovering more clues, more references, and more information is all part of
being an HP Sleuth. Congrats to the HP Sleuths in the MuggleNet New Clues
Forums, you have solved another one! Now, onto even more
Sleuthing!
Related Threads:
1.
There's something going on with the
Chamber itself.
2.
There's a second basilisk either on its
way or already existent.
3.
There is very dangerous potential for a
few particular... mirrors...
Toilets and Bathrooms – Chairs, Dung,
Thrones, Heads, Rooks, Crowns, Pipes, Regurgitating, Toilets, Sinking, Hot,
Cold, trolls
Mirrors – Spots, Spattering, Cracks, Pairs
Basilisk
– Eyes (bulging, black, hurt), Twisted, Coiling, Sliding, Sinking, Mate,
Frogs, corners, Toad, Eggs, Kings, Crowns
Petrification – Stone, Freezing, peering,
gazing, Cold, Eyes (wide)
Chamber – Second, Pairs, 2s, Ink,
Towers
Salazar Slytherin – Mouths (open), Stone, snakes, feet,
monkeys