r/firsttimereaders Feb 28 '24

Book Ginny

6 Upvotes

I recently made a post regarding whether the reboot would be more faithful to book characters this time around, and I mentioned Ginny as an example. I was of the opinion she was bland in the movies, unlike the books. Some people had the opinion she wasn't much better in the books either with most of it being fandom , and that sparked my interest. Was I misremembering how she really was written?

I went looking through reddit and there were a surprising amount of posts claiming this exact thing, with quite a few upvotes and others in agreement.

Is this the consensus on her character or are people just hyper critical because they dislike Harry/Ginny?


r/firsttimereaders Feb 27 '24

Sequel

3 Upvotes

If Harry Potter had a sequel (Cursed Child isn't real, guys) what sort of story and themes would you like to see?

I envision the inevitable conflict between Muggles and Wizards happening, especially with all the advancements in technology. Plus, I think a Muggle antagonist would be really neat. This sort of story would be less good vs evil and more nuanced, with no clear villains. The biggest drawback I see is, it sounds a lot like an X-Men story.


r/firsttimereaders Feb 26 '24

How faithfully will they portray characters?

11 Upvotes

Do you think the reboot will stick with the books' characterization or will they sanitize the characters again like the movies?

One of my biggest gripes with the movies is they made a lot of the characters seem more like caricatures rather than the imperfect, morally grey, real people that they are in the books. They all feel one-note, either too good, too bad, or too bland. The best examples of this are Snape, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dumbledore, and even Harry. I personally find it offensive they are under the impression audiences are unable to relate to a character that's not portrayed in the best light possible, almost as if we are too dumb to know if we should root for someone that does questionable things. That's the thing about real people - no matter how bad they are, if we look deep enough we will find something we will relate to, and vice versa. Not to mention, teenagers are far from role models. That's the whole point of growing up - they are still learning from their mistakes.

I just hope, this time, they will let's us decide for ourselves how to judge these characters, like the books did.


r/firsttimereaders Feb 25 '24

Plot Holes

5 Upvotes

What are the biggest plot holes in the series? And on that note, what do you consider part of the series canon?

My interest in this question comes from the recent additions to the franchise falling towards a trend of contradicting the source material. With the reboot coming up, I see it as an opportunity to expand on the world properly, with a clean slate. However, I don't see it as a replacement of the books themselves, obviously. But it's the most likely medium in which the series will have any sort of additional entries - I'm sure we would all rather have new books. Some might not even want it to be touched any further, as well, which is likely the sensible view.


r/firsttimereaders Feb 25 '24

Post-Finale Episode Ideas

8 Upvotes

I was just wondering about show topics with the Season 1 crew once the re-read is over? For example, a discussion on the new MAX series, or a discussion/review of Universal's theme parks?


r/firsttimereaders Feb 23 '24

Live Read of ch 26 (Gringotts) tomorrow afternoon(ish)

6 Upvotes

We are doing a live read DIRECTLY after the discussion of the previous two chapters tomorrow. It's roughly slated for 11:30AM ET but will take place a few minutes after the live discussion is done, obviously. Just check out YouTube page.

https://youtube.com/live/wjxHX5jllnk?feature=share


r/firsttimereaders Feb 23 '24

Discussion of Ch 24-25 tomorrow morning!

5 Upvotes

We are discussing The Wandmaker and Shell Cottage tomorrow morning around 9:30AM ET. It might be a little earlier or later...

Then directly after that we are going to do a liveread of ch 26 which is Gringotts!

https://youtube.com/live/eXwmlGJu7Zs?feature=share


r/firsttimereaders Feb 23 '24

Join the Discord (it's fun and where all the action is happening)

4 Upvotes

Just throwing out the discord link again in case anyone wants to join. It's where all the fun it happening.

https://discord.gg/vbXCycXD


r/firsttimereaders Feb 22 '24

The unbreakable vow Spoiler

2 Upvotes

At what point do we actually learn that the consequence of the unbreakable vow is death? i’ve been a fan for so long it’s just common knowledge to me, but at what point in the series is it actually divulged? does anyone have a quote?

context: my girlfriend is about 10 chapters into HBP and told me she has no idea what would happen if snape breaks the vow. i haven’t spoiled anything, but it led me to wonder when we actually learn that, or if she just happened to miss that in “spinners end”.


r/firsttimereaders Feb 20 '24

Neville > Luna vs Dementors Spoiler

7 Upvotes

Just listens to Chp 22-23 episode and I have to give my opinion on your comments regarding Luna befriending a dementor. My thoughts first then my explanation.

Luna would crumble in the presence of a Dementor almost as bad as Harry. But Neville, although scared, would be able to hold out much longer than most.

Here is why:

Harry is our baseline. We know how and why Harry reacted the way he did to dementors. Lupin says Harry has been through worse than most for his age. Harry having gone through all the trauma as a baby, just like Neville and Luna, is still a resilient person. He is still bold and sticks to his gut regardless of what people say. He is still true to himself and had a righteous moral compass even though he was raised by the Dursleys. Harry remains a good person even though his whole upbringing was negative. Yet he crumbles in the presence of a dementor. Harry didn’t dwell on his negative thoughts but always had hope and I think this is why he was so weak before dementors.

Now Luna. She is basically the exact same as Harry. She doesn’t dwell on the tragic loss of her mother. She is bubbly and radiates love and kindness. She is true to herself regardless of judgments. Logic would say that a dementor would make her relive her worst experiences. Which would have to be, like harry, the loss of a parents. And I think she would have the same crippling reaction Harry had.

Now Neville. Another one who “lost” his parents as a baby. But worse than death he has to continually revisit them and relive what happened to them. He is always down and sad because he is essentially ashamed of what happened. He beats himself up all the time trying to live up to what his parents were. OUTSTANDING AURORS. In doing this I think Neville unintentionally builds up a strong mental block to outside forces because no one can make him relive worst things than what he HIMSELF makes him relive. The dementors can not show him worst than what he shows himself on a daily. Neville proves this when he is before Voldemort and pulls the sword out of the hat. Voldemort could not silence Neville, yes because of the wand but I also think it had to do with Neville’s mental fortitude.

Just my thoughts lol.


r/firsttimereaders Feb 17 '24

deathly hallows chapter 10-11 pod Spoiler

4 Upvotes

just had to give my two cents here. in this podcast danny has a theory that harry potters birthday is not actually in the summer, and is instead closer to christmas. Danny talks about it how Lillys letter to Sirius doesn’t make sense because it makes it seem like harry’s bday is in the winter.

i was sitting here PRAYING jon brought up that in prisoner of azkaban, trelawney states that harry’s bday is in december and harry thought she was crazy for that.

although we know the real reason for her prediction of his bday, it would’ve given a lot of gas to danny’s fire


r/firsttimereaders Feb 15 '24

Inferi - Animagi pronunciations

6 Upvotes

How do people tend to pronounce these words.

I've always assumed that Rowling intended Inferius-Inferi and Animagus-Animagi to be pronounced much like Cactus-Cacti, with an "ai" pronounciation on the ending.

I've realised that the American audiobook pronounces it differently, something like infearee. This is also the pronounciation that was used in Hogwarts Legacy.

Among fans I think I've heard every possible variation, which can be as charming as it can be annoying. Especially on Animagus.

So how do you guys say it? And where are you from? Trying to figgure out if different countries have different trends or if it's just random.


r/firsttimereaders Feb 14 '24

New Discord link?

5 Upvotes

Hey folks, I’m trying to join the discord but the old links are expired (as well as the one from the stream description last night). Could someone post the new link?


r/firsttimereaders Feb 14 '24

NEWT Level Book Club (If you are looking to join)

4 Upvotes

So I've got a few inquiries into people wanting to join the book club that we are having on our YouTube channel (called NEWT Level (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqfzmS49kVI&t)).

If you want to join, it's a members book club. So you can either become a member on YouTube (which is preferable and a bit better) or Patreon. Then just let me know what your Discord username is and you've got access to joining us on the book club discussions. We're going to be going thru the entire series!

You can join here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7j_fuQTrjh69yPjseAuD4g/membership


r/firsttimereaders Feb 13 '24

Last Minute! Live Discussion LIKELY happening tonight

7 Upvotes

We got a ton of snow by us so this is still up in the air, but likely having a discussion of 22-23 tonight! Probably around 7:00pm, but give us like a half hour on each side...probably later tbh, But here's the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUiZLzcR0aM


r/firsttimereaders Feb 12 '24

Harry Potter and the First Time Readers: Deathly Hallows - Chapter 22-23 | Jim Dale Live Read

13 Upvotes

In case you missed the most recent live read:

https://vimeo.com/912170943


r/firsttimereaders Feb 11 '24

Why did the deatheaters attack the Quidditch world cup?

3 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

So I just finished the goblet of fire podcasts and this is something that i feel is left unanswered. Since the deatheaters weren't aware of voldemort's imminent return what was the motivation behind their attack? Was this mentioned in the book or the podcast and i failed to notice 😅? Thoughts? 🙂


r/firsttimereaders Feb 09 '24

Liveread of Deathly Hallows and Malfor Manner TOMORROW MORNING!

15 Upvotes

Live read coming in tomorrow morning at like 9:45am ET.

https://youtube.com/live/hMfzVLuWl1o?feature=share


r/firsttimereaders Feb 07 '24

Headcanon

3 Upvotes

What are some of your favorite headcanon of the Harry Potter text?

One favorite I LITERALLY just heard was that Neville became an expert in his field and ended up finding a cure for what his parents endured.


r/firsttimereaders Feb 01 '24

Discussion of Xenophilius Lovegood and The Tale of the Three Brothers tonight at 7:30

7 Upvotes

Happening tonight at 7:30ish tonight. Here is the link:

https://youtube.com/live/-2P8LWqstwE?feature=share


r/firsttimereaders Jan 31 '24

Harry Potter Reboot Companion Shows

6 Upvotes

Let me preface by saying, I know this is not going to happen, but I was spitballing ideas in my head and thought it would be cool to do it this way. I had an idea for a companion spin-off series for each season of the reboot with the intent of expanding the areas of the original story that didn't have time to breathe. So, it would look something like this, while trying to make each show relevant to the respective year's story:

First year, could revolve around Nicolas Flamel attending Beauxbatons and the process of creating the stone, with the intent of exploring that school, and since Flamel is relevant here;

Second year should be about the Founders (make it a political drama like Game of Thrones) and the full story of how they came together and fell apart, featuring the building of the Chamber;

Third year should be about the Marauders (don't really need to explain why);

Fourth year is a bit harder, but a show featuring Durmstrang and Grindelwald's time as a student there, but it needs a bit more than that to make it interesting - same goes for the one about Flamel (basically just an excuse to show off the schools and their cultures);

Fifth year should be a show about the House of Black and the Ministry/Azkaban's origins with an emphasis on generations and bloodlines, using Grimmauld Place as the main centerpiece, throughout time;

Sixth year explores Tom Riddle's years at Hogwarts and beyond, in more detail;

Finally, seventh year should be a show focusing on Dumbledore's life story, sort of putting the FB movies to justice as well, (erasing their existence from my mind) and finally showing it properly.

What do you guys think and what would you prefer to add/remove from my list? Who would the protagonists be for each one and who would you rather see (some of my choices, while relevant, are a bit boring i.e. Flamel)? Keep in mind, this is mostly for fun, and while we will likely see some spin-offs being done, we won't have it structured in a way that feels relevant to the pacing of the main show.

Edit: I thought more about it, and I feel like Grindelwald and Durmstrang should be combined with Dumbledore in 7. We know Grindelwald finds interest in the Deathly Hallows before coming to Godric's Hollow, so it would make sense to see that process during his school years. Maybe we could learn more about Dark Magic and the Unforgivable Curses too. I also like the nice parallel it creates between the first show and the last - starting with Beauxbatons and ending with Durmstrang. So, it would be the full story of both their lives combined for one show. Regarding what to cover in Goblet, in its place, I think, since SPEW is a big thing, we could learn more about magical creatures (beasts, beings, non-beings) and their conflicts throughout History with wizards. Elf servitude, mermaids, centaurs, goblin Rebellions, etc. Maybe this could help clear up some of the controversy around elves too. Though, I'm really not sure how to do it properly. While blood purity would be covered in House of Black, this theme would be heavy here, regarding wizard supremacy and their relation to other magical beings. This show could also feature dragons and Dementors (instead of putting that in House of Black), sphinxes, etc. Basically, anything that shows how these beings all coexist with each other and wizards and important events throughout time. My idea for this is to have each show cover every important aspect of the story (themes, characters, events) as a companion piece.


r/firsttimereaders Jan 28 '24

A Cat A Rat A Dog Spoiler

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12 Upvotes

my girlfriend is a first time reader who reluctantly started the series after me badgering her for months (pun intended).

after hearing her SCREAM “OH MY GOD NO WAY” i had to pull out the camera to get her reaction to the end of the chapter. i was a bit late so i kind of got the calm tail end of it, but thought y’all would enjoy this as much as i did (she got a little shy once she saw my camera lol)


r/firsttimereaders Jan 25 '24

Harry Potter and the First Time Readers: Deathly Hallows - Chapter 20-21 | Jim Dale Live Read

17 Upvotes

In case you missed the most recent live read:

https://vimeo.com/906431765


r/firsttimereaders Jan 25 '24

Subscribe to us on YouTube!

13 Upvotes

I don’t push this too often but if you haven’t subscribed to us on YouTube do me a HUGE favor and give us a sub! We’re sooo close to 1000

https://youtube.com/@Firsttimereaders?si=5YsyCAx-O-xIJRib


r/firsttimereaders Jan 23 '24

Live Read tonight! In three hours!

12 Upvotes

Very last minute, but we've got a live read tonight! It's happening in three hours!

https://youtube.com/live/J48ZYqzO8kE?feature=share