Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter: Analysis of Books 1-4

by Galadriel Waters, Astre Mithrandir

Calling all HP Sleuths...

Here is the original Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter, which gives Harry Potter fans the ability to delve deeper into the mysteries and fun of Harry Potter. It investigates all the clues that J.K. Rowling has hidden in her series.

This is the Guide that got almost everything right about what would happen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Over 400 pages of theories and predictions -- including many more theories about what will happen in Books 6 and 7. Find out about those!

Using only legitimate sources (J.K. Rowling's published works and interviews), this guide can be used to expose plot puzzles and clues that the author has concealed in her stories. Readers are excited to discover all the hints they missed when they read the Harry Potter books the first time(s)!

Readers are taught to become an expert HP Sleuth, so they can have a lot more fun doing their Harry Potter detective work while they wait for Book 6.

Here is a taste of what's in the book...
-What's with Percy?
-What is going to happen in the war?
-Who may turn traitor in the final two books?
-What secrets does Professor Snape hold?
-Do you know how to solve Snape's poison bottle puzzle in the room "through the trapdoor?" Did you know there are actually 2 solutions to that puzzle?

The Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter addresses a broad audience in a humorous, fun-to-read, conversational format that brings new excitement to the Harry Potter series. It is a must have for Harry Potter fans!

Genres: Harry Potter, Nonfiction, Reference, Magic, Books About Books, Fandom, Science Fiction Fantasy

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating. To delve into the mysteries of the meanings of the names that Rowling used, the mythology that is interwoven in the Harry Potter books, and the other books that connect to Harry Potter was so interesting. This is a book that was very hard for me to put down. I have read it three times and found new things that I didn't notice each time. Then it makes me want to reread the Harry Potter books, and then I am even more amazed at their complexities. One of the most interesting books I have ever read...in part because it was fun to understand the Harry Potter books better.

[Molly Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT!

The Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry
Potter (Analysis of Books 1-4) provides an in-depth look at J.K. Rowling's writing. Is provides analysis of the themes and secrets in her writing. The authors of this book use the following four rules to uncover the mysteries written by J.K. Rowling in books 1-4. (1)"If she reinforces it, she means it (and wants us to remember it)." (2) "If she suddenly interrupts something, she's hiding a key clue." (3) "There's no such thing as a coincidence." (4) "Don't take a character's word for it." The authors also form and develop theories based off of the series and interviews with J.K. Rowling. The format of this book provides a one paragraph summary of a section from one of the Harry Potter books followed by a short (2-8 sentence) analysis of that section.

I rated this book a four. The book noted a lot of interesting connections in the Harry Potter series that I had never noticed before. In books 1-4, chapter 13 has always been a turning point in the book or a spot where we readers receive crucial pieces of information. On page 115, the author writes, "This is chapter 13. Welcome to Whodunit 13. As HP Sleuths know, there are clues hiding wherever there is a suspicious number. J.K.R, therefore could not resist the temptation to have the culprit and his fiendish plot make a cameo appearance within chapter 13. This is a trend that, so far, has held true through Book 4." They note little hints and tricks like that throughout the book that readers don't easily pick up on which make the original story so much more interesting.

Although this book makes some interesting connections and theories, there are some not so realistic speculations. This is what caused me to not rate the book at five stars. I found that this book will at times make slightly ridiculous hypotheses. On page 388, the author writes, "There is overwhelming evidence that Snape is a vampire. Do we believe it? Yes. Do we have proof? No, but there is bloody good evidence. Even Madam Pompfrey may not know- remember, Snape went to Filch for help when he was wounded by Fluffy.... J.K.R. had dropped many hints about Snape: -He lives in a dungeon -He's always up at night -Ron's little joke about Snape 'turning himself into a bat or something' -He has 'sallow skin' -Quirrell (who mentioned, at the Leaky Cauldron, that he was going to buy a book on Vampires) described Snape as 'flitting around like an overgrown bat' -Just like Snape had assigned an essay on werewolves to expose Lupin, Lupin then assigned an essay on Vampires(as payback?)." Waters seems content to throw out any potential idea with no direct evidence from the actual author.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide was so much fun! This came out between the release of 4 and 5 and boy did Galadriel Waters put in their research! This book was a hefty in-depth analysis of the first four books. Broken down by every chapter it takes chunks of the narrative to look at deeper and theorize and help readers string pieces together. Having read the series a million+ times already, it was fun to see what the running theories were at the time and what Galadriel Waters was picking up on, what threads they thought would be important in the long run, etc.
Also, the origin of the James/Lupin theory! Oh boy is it a doozy, but what a strong case they have set up! Among other wild fan-theories, it's super well-researched and thought out. I enjoyed this guide, proving to remain a thought-provoking piece even years and multiple rereads later!

[Rhonda Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting guide. The author, for the most part, is enthusiastically tongue in cheek as they review each chapter of the first four books in the series. There is a lot of really good analysis of style, of fact, and of the mythology behind the stories. There are also several rather frightening trends that the guide's author either glosses over or treats as normal parts of every day life - such as abuse being normal, corporal punishment in schools leaving scars, Harry not needing medical treatment for injuries, teachers physically harming students. That said, there is so much detail about what happened and why, as well as detailed questions about the plots that it was worth the read. And since this was written before book 5 was published, there are few real hints about the final 3 books.

[Tammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read- March 2020
- I ran this through CAWPILE and it was a very high 2 Stars. I found this really interesting because it broke literally every single detail down. However some of the theories were so ridiculous that I couldn't believe the authors thought it was plausible (such as Remus Lupin was actually James Potter, like wtf??).

[LeAnn L Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book back in about 2005. I was fascinated at the depth this book analyzed the Potter story.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of disappointing with some weird theories

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better for the first two books.

[Ruth McConaghy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have started reading Harry potter books some of them
Have made me laugh at different thing with ron. 😅

[Klara Fredriksson · Rating 1 out of 5]

The most pointless thing I've ever read, why was this printed.

[Beth Oehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun way to remember this story and man impressive effort!!

[Jaime Borrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing in general. If you liked all the first four books of the Harry Potter series, then you are really going to like this book. I f you thought that you know everything about the Harry Potter books, well you don't. After I had read this book, I learned a whole lot of things about the first Harry Potter books that I did not notice. The writers of this book really helped me notice things in this book that really changed the way I looked at the characters in this book. The theme of this book is that not everything is how it seems.

Overall, I would recommend this book to people who really like the Harry Potter series. It is a very good book for those people who don't notice things the first time they read the book.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

My friends and I used to study this book. We would read certain sections or chapters and then discuss the topics the next time we would get together. I read this one, so it was before a new one came out for books five and six... and now there is probably one for the seventh book. But I loved this book. The writers are so intelligent and they really make you think about J. K. Rowling had in mind or wanted the readers to think about when she was writing the series. This is one of the best unofficial Harry Potter books I've ever read and I would recommend this book for any Harry Potter fan wanting to learn/study a bit more on the topic.

[Ace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this book not only for the clues it gave me about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but also because of the skills it helped me develop as a reader - as a ten-year-old reading this book for the first time, it never occurred to me that authors might hide "secrets" in their writing. I wouldn't say this book inspired me to eventually become an English major, but it opened doors for me and gave me a new appreciation of the work that goes into writing not just Harry Potter, but any book.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book for a Harry Potter fan. It illuminated the many hints and clues that J.K. Rowling included in Books 1-4 (it was written prior to book 5 coming out). For example, I learned that "bagman" (as in Ludo Bagman) is a slang term meaning "bookie." And Wormtail seems even more sinister when you remember that Wormtongue was a traitor in LOTR. I already loved the Harry Potter books, but reading this guide left me even more impressed with J.K. Rowling's skill in crafting this amazing story.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in 2003, reading this book was so much fun. No one knew how the series would end, so figuring out what bits of writing were clues and what bits were just interesting description kept me and my friends talking for hours.

I've re-read this book twice as I re-read the first four. I'll read a few chapters in the novel and then read the analysis. Still engrossing.

Even though many of the theories here did not pan out in the final books, they are still great topics of discussion if you like to analyze how an author creates a story.

[kris]

I really wish that I could have re-read this while I was re-reading the Harry Potter series. I guess I'll do it next time. Anyway, this adds a very interesting analysis and commentary to the Harry Potter series. It points out several details that most people would otherwise miss, which really just made me appreciate and respect JK Rowling even more. Some of the analyses and predictions were really out of left field, but they were fun to laugh at, especially when reading it after the series was completed. Overall, pretty decent analyses.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read. It filled in the gap while I waited for books 5-7 to come out. It refers to the books in a way that it's just like you're re-reading the first 4 HP's. And you realize some of the little things that Jo was creative enough to include in earlier books that are then used in the later books and you see how many themes are repeated. It was all of these small things that made the series so much more enjoyable than it already was.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved these books back when JKR was still producing new books. While waiting for new books, I could read these books and see all the little hints and clues I may have missed, along with so much other detail about everything (history of names, literary connections, symbolism of animals, etc.). I would read these books and re-read the books and come up with all kinds of conclusions about what was to come. So much fun!

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book- in fact, a student loaned me his copy which I gave back after reading the first couple of pages. I told him I had to buy my own copy to write in! I havelots of analysis books and this was a great addition to my collection. I read the Harry Potter book first and then the guide to some of the books, chapter by chapter with one and just read the guide with the last one since I have read and reread all the books

[Jenn O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have probably read the entire HP series at least a dozen times ... if not more, and I was still amazed at the things I've missed. Just proves how brilliant JKR is. The layering within the series is incredible.
This book was published between 4 and 5, so it was interesting to see what they got right, what they missed, and what they thought was going to be a story storyline, but turned into a red herring.
it was fun to revisit the HP world ahead if my annual summer reading.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the time, before the 7th Harry Potter books, this was the book to read. It gave you insights into the more intricate details of the novels, and it gave predictions for what those details had in store for the next book. Since I have not read this since before I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I cannot say what parts the authors were right and wrong on, but at the time, it was fun to read.

[Catarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved going through this book while I reread the first 4 books of the Harry Potter series. It gives you a really interesting insight and it definitely made me respect JKR even more for the depth she gave to this story (which is more like a new world than just a story).
Probably one of my favourite non fiction books :)

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so fun to read over with my friends. And now that the series is finished, it was even more amusing to go back and see what theories were dead on and what theories just completely planked. This book helped me to notice things I had just skipped over before, even though the 'running bits' never really made sense to me.

[I. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It sure didn't get everything right by a long shot, but this book and the others in the series were my childhood bible. I spent hours poring over every clue and motif in the hopes of predicting Rowling's next move, as any potterhead should. If you or a loved has not yet read the Harry Potter series, consider getting this guide just for the fun of it.

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. I did not ever imagine that there could be so many clues in those books! They explain in a very easy way, and tell you how they think each clue fits to the others. Any Harry Potter fan should buy this book.

[David Blaylock · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I were a kid while these books were originally being released, this would have been a great book.

Not as fun to read after you have finished the books. I would say it should be used as a companion to the series as you read it.

[Elizabeth Qualia]

I read this years and years and years ago before the Order of the Pheonix came out. I also looked at it again in 2011 when the last movie was released and had a good laugh. Some of the theories put forth in this book are ridiculous.

[T-Dub · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just found this book on Goodreads, but I read it years ago before the last couple of books were out.

There were some good bits, but for the most part I felt like the book just hyped itself the whole time.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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