Attention Harry Potter Nerds: An Internet Wizard Uncovered Ilvermorny Info
Coding is basically magic.
Since we're still holding out hope that Harry Potter is real, we've all been hanging on every word J.K. Rowling publishes on Pottermore, which of course included the descriptions of three of the four new wizarding schools she introduced in January.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any information on the school we were REALLY interested in, Ilvermorny. Sure, learning about Mahoutokoro in Japan, Uagadou somewhere on the continent of Africa and Castelobruxo in Brazil was really awesome, but what we all really wanted to know about was the school here in North America.
We still don't have information on where Ilvermorny is located, or what classes there are like, but thanks to some clever internet magic, we may have some knowledge about how the students live.
Harry Potter fans have been eagerly awaiting for information on Ilvermorny, the North American magic school, since its existence was announced in January.
Ilvermorny (pronounced Ill-ver-morn-ee) was one of four new magic schools J.K. Rowling announced on Pottermore in January.
Not a whole lot is known at this point, just what J.K. Rowling tweeted in June of 2015.
Well now, thanks to an internet wizard on reddit, we might know some more information.
According to reddit user TigerC10, the code on the Pottermore website revealed a bit of information about the houses. The source code for the sorting for Ilvermorny reveals that the houses are Horned Serpent, Wampus, Thunderbird or Pukwudgie. As Mugglenet points out, two of these—the Wampus and the Thunderbird—have already been featured on Pottermore, while discussing wandmakers in the Americas.
So, what are these creatures?
We know they all have to do with Native American mythology, which makes sense, looking at the tweet JKR sent out a few months ago. Let's take a look at what we know about the mythology of each of these creatures.
Horned Serpent
The Horned Serpent appears in the mythology of many different Native American tribes, though the details end up varying between them.
Thunderbird
The Thunderbird is a legendary creature for many Native Americans. It is thought to be a supernatural bird with great strength and power.
I'm calling it now, the Thunderbird will probably be the Gryffindor of Ilvermorny.
Pukwudgie
A Pukwudgie is a small, human like creature with enlarged features. They originate from the Wampanoag tribe and are said to have many magical features, including the ability to appear and disappear at will, create fire and transform into a porcupine. (Yeah, this dude is probably going to be the Slytherin...)
Wampus
A Wampus is a creature from folklore which is most often depicted as a type of cougar.
We're not sure when all this will be officially announced, it would make the most sense if it came out later this year, in the run-up to "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
We're looking forward to full descriptions of each of the houses, and of course figuring out which house our favorite Harry Potter characters would be in if they lived here in North America.