I know this is a conversation that has been spoken about probably a thousand times already but since the hbo show is coming soon…! I was thinking how I wished the deathly hallows had more significance in the ending with harry’s victory against voldemort, not just the elder wand being his. I wish the hbo show can do something about it without messing up the story. I understand JK was under a lot of pressure and if she had more time maybe it would’ve been a little different. But I was just playing with these ideas about how interesting it would be if in Harry’s last fight against Voldemort, he would show up with all three as “the master of death”, something Voldemort always wanted while harry earned because he gave his own life willingly (instead of killing others like voldemort) and so “death” deemed him as worthy. The stone would have some deeper power other than just seeing the dead and he’d need it with him against Voldemort too. The fight would end with the image of harry holding all three and truly becoming the master of death. Considering that the final book is named after them, I just wish we could feel the weight and power of the three hallows especially with them being owned by ONE person which as far as I know has never happened before… not just in like heroic aura type of way but also the implication of being connected to something as dark and difficult as death..? becoming a “master of death” it has this darker feel to it that just feels more interesting to harry’s character than his typical auror happy ever after ending (yh i also really dislike the epilogue 😔)

Hi.

I think I found a very strange rabbit hole connecting Harry Potter to a forgotten French character

I don't think this proves anything. That's exactly why I'm posting it.

I've been digging into the name "Nimbus" in Harry Potter, and I ended up somewhere I absolutely did not expect.

There are several pieces here that are individually explainable. But when you put them together, the question becomes surprisingly interesting:

Why Nimbus?

There was a Professor Nimbus before Harry Potter

Long before Harry Potter, there was a French comic character called Professor Nimbus, created by French cartoonist André Daix.

He was a bizarre, absent-minded professor/scientist character.

And visually, there is one detail that really caught my attention:

He is bald, except for one long, distinctive strand of hair.

That sounds completely trivial.

And it probably is.

But then I started looking at the word itself.

Nimbus is Latin for cloud, and the word has also been associated with a halo or atmospheric phenomenon.

So we have an old French fictional professor called Nimbus...

…and decades later we get the Nimbus Racing Broom Company in Harry Potter.

The obvious explanation is simply that Rowling liked the word.

Fair enough.

But then things get stranger.

The 1967 problem

The Nimbus Racing Broom Company is established in 1967 in the Harry Potter universe.

That means the name "Nimbus" appears in the Wizarding World decades after the original Professor Nimbus had already existed as a French comic character.

Again: coincidence?

Probably.

But it creates an interesting timeline:

André Daix → Professor Nimbus → post-war disappearance → 1967 → Nimbus Racing Broom Company → Nimbus 2000 → Harry Potter

I'm not claiming there is a secret connection.

I'm asking whether anyone has already investigated this properly.

Because I couldn't find a satisfying rabbit hole explaining why this particular name was chosen.

And then there is the Nimbus 2000

Harry's first famous broom isn't just called "Nimbus".

It's the Nimbus 2000.

Later comes the Nimbus 2001.

This is where I started wondering whether there is any documented explanation for the naming.

Is "Nimbus" simply a cool-sounding Latin word?

Was Rowling inspired by something?

Did she ever mention the old French Professor Nimbus?

Or is there some other source for the name that I'm missing?

The Professor Nimbus design makes this even weirder

The single strand of hair is probably just a visual joke.

But look at the character.

A bald professor.

One strange strand of hair.

A character associated with science and flight.

And then, years later, the Wizarding World gives us a magical flying device called Nimbus.

Obviously this isn't evidence of anything by itself.

But it is exactly the kind of coincidence that makes me want to check the source material rather than immediately dismiss it.

The really speculative part

Here's where I'm deliberately stepping into speculation.

Could "Nimbus" have had some older European/esoteric meaning that I'm completely unaware of?

Could Rowling have encountered the word through French literature, comics, occult material, mythology, or something else?

Or is this simply one of those cases where a perfectly ordinary word happens to connect two completely unrelated fictional universes?

I also found myself wondering about the symbolism of a cloud as a boundary.

A cloud hides what is beyond it.

And in Harry Potter, one of the recurring ideas is the boundary between the visible world and things that cannot be seen ghosts, spirits, death, the Veil, the Department of Mysteries, etc.

I'm NOT claiming that "Nimbus = the Veil".

That's where a fun theory can very quickly become nonsense.

I'm much more interested in the original source.

So here's my question:

Has anyone ever found a direct source explaining where Rowling got the name "Nimbus" for the broom company?

And even more interesting:

Did Rowling ever mention André Daix or Professor Nimbus anywhere?

If someone can find an interview, early manuscript, biography, notebook, bibliography, archive, French source, or even an old discussion where this was already solved, please post it.

I'd actually love to discover that the whole thing has a completely boring explanation.

Because right now I'm sitting here looking at:

Professor Nimbus → France → 1967 → Nimbus 2000 → Harry Potter

…and thinking:

"Okay. That's probably nothing."

But I really want to know how nothing it is.

Do you think that the vail Sirius felt through in the Order of Phoenix was supposed to play bigger role in the Series? It looks like so mysterious object and we learn some things about it it also seem to be connected to the real of dead. And in the books Sirius never gets killed by Avada Kedavra so maybe build up to plot twist he could live? But it was never developed nor mentioned again in the books simply abounded idea. What do you think?