A Guide To Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone Part 2
Welcome back to your intro into the Harry Potter universe! If you’re just joining us, there is still time to enter into our Harry Potter challenge over here at Daemon’s Movies! You can also jump into our Harry Potter book challenge over on Daemon’s Books! We’d love to have you; and you’ll be able to win cool prizes each month!
Last week, we looked at the important characters that come into play in Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, and those that will be important in the upcoming films. Today, I’m going to take you on a brief (hopefully!) trip through the places that are important during the first film. I’ll also throw in a few other things that will come into play.
If you have questions or see things I’ve missed (or want to elaborate on something) just comment away! I’d love to hear from you.
Onward!
In The Sorcerer’s Stone, there are several places that Harry and his pals visit throughout the film. I’ll go in chronological order (and will avoid spoilers).
Number 4 Privet Drive: This is where Harry Potter is left as a teeny baby after his parent’s death. It is the home of his aunt and uncle – Petunia and Vernon. While Harry is treated horribly by the Dursley’s, Privet Drive is his home.. that is until he finds himself at Hogwarts.
Diagon Alley: After Hagrid finds Harry and they begin their journey into the Wizard World, Hagrid brings Harry to Diagon Alley – the best place to find all your wizarding supplies. With stores like Florish and Blotts, Ollivander’s Wand Shop, and Quality Quidditch Supplies, there isn’t a better place to get your Hogwarts supplies! Diagon Alley is also the home to Gringotts Bank!
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: This is going to be a long one, so buckle in. Hogwarts is one of the schools in the world for training young witches and wizards. If you remember from last week, Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster, and the most powerful wizard around.
Hogarts is divided into four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Each student is sorted into their house in their first year by the Hogwarts sorting hat – a wizard hat that can see inside your head and place you in the house most appropriate with your personality.
That being said, each house has special traits that they prefer their students to have. The houses originated from the first four founders or Hogwarts, and are so named for the original professors. (We’ll go more into that at a later date; and even more in depth in the book version of this guide – if you’re interested!).
In a nutshell – Gryffindor (the lion) looks for heroes, and those of true heart. Ravenclaw’s (the eagle) are the smarty-pants of Hogwarts (GO RAVENCLAW! WHOOOOT!), Hufflepuff (the badger) are those that are loyal and just, and Slytherins (the snake)… well, Slytherins are just bad news. There was never a dark witch or wizard that did not come from the Slytherin house in Hogwarts. In fact, You-Know-Who himself was a student in the Syltherin house.
Hogwarts quickly becomes Harry’s home; much more than Privet drive ever was. I could probably go on for AGES talking about Hogwarts, but I’ll stop here for now.
The Forbidden Forest: Pretty much everything that needs to be known about the Forbidden Forest is in its name. It’s forbidden for a reason; but also holds many interesting creatures – most of which are friends with Hagrid.
Quidditch: Quidditch is the only sport in the wizard world. Played in the air on broomsticks, Quidditch is sort of like basketball.
There are 4 balls – the red quaffle which scores the points, the black bludgers which try to knock the players off of their brooms, and the tiny golden snitch. When a player catches the snitch, the game is over.
The Quidditch positions are: 1 Keeper (guards the three hoops to keep the quaffle out), 2 Beaters (uses a bat to knock the bludgers towards the other team and away from theirs) 3 Chasers (they try to score with the Quaffle), and 1 Seeker. It is the Seeker’s job to find the Golden Snitch and end the game. Harry is the seeker for Gryffindor – and is the youngest Hogwarts player in a century.
PHEW!! Okay, so now we’ve got places, characters, and Quidditch under control. I could go into detail about spells, and magical objects, but I think that’s more of a “wrapping up” the first film type article.
I’m sure you’re completely overloaded, but thanks for sticking with me until the very end! If you have questions, or just want to discuss the fantastic world of Harry Potter – feel free to comment below!
We also look forward to hearing your thoughts about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! Be sure to come back to Daemon’s Movies on February 1 to submit your opinion piece or review and to enter our February giveaway!
See you all in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets!
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