Pottermore Releases First Piece on North American Magic

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Today, Pottermore released the first piece of writing on the North American wizarding world. Titled “Fourteenth Century – Seventeenth Century,” the writing by J.K. Rowling is the first piece of four in a series called “The History of Magic in North America,” which, according to Pottermore,

[…] will bring to light the history of this previously unexplored corner of the wizarding world in the run[-]up to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

In the piece, the Native American origins of the magical community of North America are discussed in detail for the first time. It says,

The Native American magical community and those of Europe and Africa had known about each other long before the immigration of European No-Majs in the seventeenth century. They were already aware of the many similarities between their communities.

Additionally, the existence of “skin walkers,” mentioned in our original post on the new Pottermore information, developed from Native American Animagi:

The legend of the Native American ‘skin walker’ – an evil witch or wizard [who] can transform into an animal at will – has its basis in fact. A legend grew up around the Native American Animagi that they had sacrificed close family members to gain their powers of transformation. In fact, the majority of Animagi assumed animal forms to escape persecution or to hunt for the tribe. Such derogatory rumours often originated with No-Maj medicine men, who were sometimes faking magical powers themselves, and fearful of exposure.

Finally, the piece explains that the use of magic wands originated in Europe, and “the most glaring difference between magic practised by Native Americans and the wizards of Europe was the absence of a wand.”

You can find the text of “Fourteenth Century – Seventeenth Century” in full on Pottermore.

More of “The History of Magic in North America” is still to come, with new information set to be “revealed each day at 2pm [GMT] until Friday 11 March.”

Are you excited to know more about magic in North America? What do you think of our first glimpse into this part of the wizarding world? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!