Beyond Hogwarts


<Latest Articles
Comments Index
Save Last On

Search Beyond Hogwarts:

Reference Desk:
Beyond Hogwarts FAQ
Wizard to Muggle Currency Converter
Harry Potter Spelling Reference


Emmeline Vance: The Future Rosetta Stone

by Louis CasaBianca

Emmeline Vance appears in Order of the Phoenix for exactly 42 words, and yet she may very well be the key to understanding Snape, and therefore the key to understanding all seven books. First she's part of Harry Potter's guard on the way to 12 Grimauld Place. Next, in Half-Blood Prince, she's dead, killed around the corner from the Muggle Prime Minister's office.

> Read the full article

Pages:  <<  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  >  >>

Reader Comments:

WOW! In the Harry Potter series, things that were minor in the past had been pointed out later in the book and were usually a big part of the plot. This is another time that an event which only lasted around 40 words could mean where the story end. This is amazing. If J.K. Rowling actually is going to point out this in the 7th book, I won't be suprised. I never really paid attention to that, I would have skipped this if i wouldn't have read this!

Posted by Gaia from San-Diego, CA on December 25, 2006 7:27 PM

i have been considering this for a while, however who else could be a -eater spy? how do we know there isnt another -eater spy for dumbledore? and perhaps he "captured and ed" emaline, there are many possiblities, but i would like to say well done for noticing this, most people i ask have to re-read the book, and i bought the american copy because it has better detailing of events quite often, which is quite fustrating

Posted by joe from my house on December 26, 2006 03:06 AM

Woah. I'm stunned by the authors ability to spot such small details. It makes sense, no question about it.

However... Why make such a fuss about a minor character such as Emmeline Vance? If this is how Joanne has thought as well, what role Emmeline play?

Posted by Rane from Sweden on December 26, 2006 06:30 AM

i dont think its really a big thing, ok, maybe its a way to find out about snape but what else? i think that if it was part of the plan then emmeline would have appeared more than 42 words!

Posted by huzaifah from london on December 26, 2006 09:17 AM

i disagree with huzaifah from london. If you consider that the bezoars and wolfsbane were only one sentence, and they play a huge part in other plots, why should emmeline be mentioned in more then 40 words?

Posted by sydney marshall from st. paul, MN on December 26, 2006 10:30 AM

I do think that you've got a point and maybe just because she was only mentioned in 42 words she is the perfect caracter to do so...

Posted by Maxime from Amsterdam on December 26, 2006 1:43 PM

The thing that has always bothered me is that all the books seem to have something really important, really crucial in them when you go back and look at them. The best example is Chamber, my least favorite book. The diary was a horcrux, and we had no idea. That said, it really doesn't seem like we've had anything that important come out of Sorcerer's (I could make the same argument about Goblet, but that would be off topic). But now today I've heard about two things that could be really important: James Potter's Invisibility Cloak (which Dumbledore passed on to Harry in Sorcerer's) and the Draught of the Living . I don't think Emmeline is important, but the Draught probably is.

I'm not really making conjectures here, just talking out loud.

Posted by Laina from Asheville, NC, USA on December 26, 2006 2:14 PM

I think the assessment that we'll see significance given to both Emmeline Vance and the Draught of Living is definitely on the right track. Well done.

There's something about the name "Emmeline Vance" that screams "I'm an anagram for something!", or at the very least "I have secret meaning!" but I haven't been able to figure out anything reasonable. I suppose that's Rowling's point. But it's fun to speculate!

Posted by Tim from Bloomington, IN on December 26, 2006 6:44 PM

Taking off from the most recent comment, "Emmeline Vance" is, in fact, an anagram for "Menace Evil Men," suggesting that she exists for that purpose.

Posted by Kim on December 26, 2006 8:42 PM

Hey everyone, this is Louis, who wrote "Defogging the Future" and the article we're all commenting on. Kim, that was BRILLIANT. "Emmeline Vance" is such an unusual name, and JKR loves anagrams so much (I AM LORD VOLDEMORT, for example), that I'm absoutely sure that anagram was intentional. With your kind permission I'll include that comment in the next edition of "Defogging," which goes to the printers in a week or so, and put in a line crediting you with that discovery. I'll also send you a free autographed book for your great discovery. Tim gets one too for thinking of the idea. And thanks to everyone who commented, good, bad or otherwise. I really appreciate it.

Posted by Louis from Santa Monica on December 26, 2006 9:51 PM

I, also, am amazed! Keep these wonderful ideas coming!

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on December 26, 2006 11:54 PM

Kim - Nicely done. I was using some web site that helps unscramble anagrams that I found with Google, but it wasn't helping very much (it kept coming up with phrases involving the word "Cavemen"). So easy a caveman can do it?

And thanks, Louis. I appreciate it.

Posted by Tim from Bloomington, IN on December 27, 2006 05:08 AM

Pages:  <<  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  >  >>



Latest Discussions | Comments | The Septology | Harry's World | Harry Potter Movies | FAQ


BeyondHogwarts.com is not affiliated with or approved by
Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros., or J.K. Rowling
Original Content Copyright © 2006-2009 David Haber, All Rights Reserved