MuggleCast EP5 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: This is MuggleCast – Episode 5 for September 03, 2005. If you haven’t finished reading Book 6 yet, then you probably shouldn’t listen, as we do talk about several favorite plot spoilers.
Ben: Welcome Back everybody to this week’s edition of MuggleCast! I’m your host Ben Schoen.
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Eric: And I’m Eric Scull.
Ben: Let’s go to Micah for the past week’s news.
News
Micah: Thanks, Ben.
We begin with Director Mike Newell who recently spoke about his favorite time while filming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He said, “Aside from everything else, these are school stories. In a middle-of-the-road English education, the teachers are embattled, the school is a very kind of anarchic place and a very funny place, as well.” Despite Newell’s apparent love for the school nature of the films, MuggleNet reader Hope, who had the chance to catch a sneak peek at the new film said that we only get to see one classroom scene in Goblet Of Fire. To find out which one, stay tuned, as this is the crew’s main topic of discussion.
Those of you looking to expand your Harry Potter Lego collection fear not. On Thursday, Lego.com’s online store released four new Lego sets: “Rescue from the Merpeople”, “Graveyard Duel”, “Harry and the Hungarian Horntail”, and “The Durmstrang Ship”.
Moving from movies to video games, the Goblet of Fire video game trailer was released Friday featuring the first and second tasks of the Triwizard Tournament. Check out October’s issue of Nintendo Power, which has seven-page spread on the creation of the game, as well as some cool screenshots.
In addition, GameSpot.com has just recently played the new Goblet of Fire video game, which due out November 15th. They were quoted as saying: “The Electronic Arts team is focusing more intently on nailing the look of the film in the Goblet of Fire game. This time around the artists are striving to make the characters look as close to their real-life counterparts as possible.”
And wrapping up news on Goblet of Fire, a countdown has been added to MuggleNet’s Main Page thanks to Damon. There exists the ability to remove it from the main page (which is considered blasphemy), set the countdown to your location’s release date, and of course download the desktop version. For all the specifics head over to the MuggleNet Main Page.
In other news, Marge of Maryland created a Sorting Hat take, which took seven hours to complete with special equipment and advanced techniques. They report that it made for a very good snack and that they have eaten it all. Truthfully, however, it might have been wiser for them to put it on eBay. After all, it sure beats Dumbledore’s grilled cheese sandwich. Both a picture and recipe are available online.
Harry Potter Lexicon has reportedly confirmed the identity of R.A.B. as Regulus Arcturus Black. Arcturus is the fourth brightest star in the sky, and the brightest star in the constellation Bootes.
And the Dutch Half-Blood Prince cover was released Friday depicting a staircase with spells flying all over. The book is do out in Dutch on November 19th.
Finally, on a serious note, all of us here at MuggleNet were deeply saddened by the after math of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. If you’d like to help, one way to do so is through MuggleNet’s affiliate Alivan’s. By purchasing a Redwood wand, 100% of the profits will be donated to the American Red Cross. This donation special will last until September 12th. Of course, personal donations can always be made directly to the American Red Cross.
That’s all the news for this September 03, 2005, edition of MuggleCast. Back to you guys.
Contest Update
Ben: Thanks, Micah. Now let’s go to Mr. Andrew Sims who is going to do some side announcements, and then we’ll go to Eric who is going to handle the contest updates.
Andrew: Well thank you Ben. Eric? Wouldn’t you like to talk about the contest with me?
Eric: Yes, I would Andrew.
Andrew: We have a list of prizes this week, and we also have how many people have entered so far. What is that number at?
[Ben makes drum roll noise]
Eric: So far we have 347 entries, which is pretty darn good, and they are looking awesome.
Andrew: Okay, we also have our prizes to announce. First place will win…
Eric: Wait! Wait! You can’t do first place first, dude, you have to do the rest and go, like ‘…AND THE GRAND PRIZE…’!
Andrew: Okay.
Ben: Okay.
Eric: You have to start that way.
Andrew: Okay. Third place. I think this is really good. Third place will win the brand-new Lego Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire set. Which one is it again? The Graveyard Scene.
Kevin: Woo! I’ve always wanted one.
Andrew: It’s pretty cool. Second place will win…Eric?
[Other casters say: “They’ll win Eric?”]
Andrew: [Laughs] No, no. What do they win, Eric?
Eric: [Laughs] Well Andrew, they win a wand of their choosing from the Harry Potter Noble Collection, which includes wands of Harry’s, Hermione’s, Ron’s, Professor Snape’s, and several others. I believe Dumbledore might be on there.
Andrew: Yeah, Dumbledore too.
Eric: I’m not quite sure. Anyway, a wand of their choosing from the Harry Potter Noble Collection. That’s second place.
Andrew: There are so many options. So those are really nice.
Ben [in loud booming voice]: And the GRAND PRIZE is?
Andrew: And the grand prize is…a new car! I’m kidding. No.
Ben: No.
Andrew: You will win something even better than that, which is the Harry Potter SceneIt Game. That new one that just came out. You put the DVD in; you watch…it even has scenes from Goblet of Fire. So you can get a sneak preview.
[Somebody makes weird trumpet noise]
General Announcements
Andrew: So that’s pretty cool. And also, most of you might remember that last week we asked the question: “How does everyone listen to MuggleCast?” And guys, an alarming number of people said that they listen to us before bed. In bed.
Jamie: To give them pleasant dreams.
[All laugh]
Andrew: Well, I guess so. And then I thought maybe it is because we put the show out at 2 AM.
[All laugh]
Ben: Or maybe it’s because we put them to sleep.
[All laugh]
Andrew: No, no, no. Most of the people said, “But you don’t put me to sleep. I’ll sit in bed giggling.” Or something like that. Then, a lot of people listen to us on the way to school. Some on the computer. So, that is cool. Keep those coming to MuggleCast at staff dot mugglenet dot com.
Kevin: I find Ben’s voice disturbing. I don’t know about you.
Andrew: I fall asleep to it.
Kevin: Really?
Andrew: And last week, you guys might remember that we brought up Mr. Nelson who is going to be using our show to teach his kids in his class how to hold literature discussions. And how they can be enjoyable. This kid who was listening to our podcast at the time drew a picture…
Eric: Oh no.
Andrew: …of my hand coming out of a computer screen and pointing at this kid…
Eric: Did he?
Andrew: …quoting what I said last week. So I’ll put that in the show notes so everyone can see it?
Eric: What?
Andrew: Yeah. It was done by, and I quote “King of All Losers.” Age: 15.
Eric: Hey, you! You in the front!
Andrew: They didn’t want to give out their real name I guess.
Ben: It kind of reminds me of Yoda stopping by last week.
[All laugh]
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: I’m so alone.
Andrew: That kid was the best.
Ben: Andrew, do you have any more side announcements to make before we move on?
Andrew: I was also going to…Thanks Ben for bringing that up for some reason. We also have now…we’ve replaced our Episodes Page with a “blog” of sorts. Would you like to elaborate on that, Ben?
Ben: Well, this blog, throughout the week, in between MuggleCast, you can see the weekly updates we do at the MuggleCast section. As well as what exactly is going on with MuggleCast. Who was on past episodes, downloading past episodes, seeing past show notes, seeing the new show notes, and basically everything. The bread and butter for our podcast, right there.
Andrew: And we’d also like to point out how there’s that fine, fine, fine, fine, fine button you’ll notice that says “The Free iPod Book”. And basically I was on this site, and it’s called iLounge. They brought out this book. It’s all about iPods. It gives you tutorials on podcasts. It’s really cool. And if you have an iPod, it gives you all kinds of information like accessories and all that. It’s really cool. So I encourage everyone to click that fine, fine button. Check out the book. It’s actually a free download. I was looking through it. It is pretty cool. That’s it.
Ben: Is that all?
Andrew: Then I also wanted to bring up how I think it’s really cool that we’re the youngest podcasters out there. That rocks.
Eric: Yeah, today. But tomorrow there is going to be some three year olds from Australia that start their own podcasting site.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: After hearing this.
Andrew: Well, there is this one where a nine year old does it, but it’s his Dad helping him out, and it does not even really count.
Ben: Okay, guys. Enough. Guys, guys. Enough. Okay.
Kevin: I mean Ben is nine years old.
[All laugh]
Ben: Moving on. That’s for all those extra-curricular announcements, Andrew.
Andrew: Anytime, Ben.
Eric: Wait. Ben, Ben, Ben, I have another extra-curricular announcement. Sorry, I just wanted to add in another part of this. Last week we talked about Ralph Fiennes briefly, well not briefly it was the main topic. Anyway we talked about Ralph Fiennes, and kind of talked about his acting ability and whether or not we thought he’d do a good job in Goblet of Fire. I just wanted to report on Wednesday night, I went to see his newest movie “The Constant Gardener”, in which he stars with Rachael Weisz. And it was fabulous. It blew me away. This man act with his eyes closed, and his hands tied firmly behind his back. All my doubts, any doubts I could have possibly had were erased. It’s simply just a fabulous movie. One of the problems I guess is that it is only in the U.S. for now. It won’t be released in the U.K. for another few months, but if you do live in the U.S. and want to see a movie, and want to get a really good feel of his acting, the whole movie is really character-driven. So you get to see a lot of his acting and a lot of Rachael Weisz’ as well. Instead, if you want to see him (he’s kind of a good guy in this movie) as a bad guy, please rent Schindler’s List, a Steven Spielberg film with Liam Neesen. It’s an excellent, excellent, excellent. In that one he plays a psycho, Nazi guy. So I guess that’s more of how he’d be as Voldemort, but The Constant Gardener you just get to see that he is a really good actor. And even though I was worried about him saying that he wasn’t paying the most attention to his role in this film (as Voldemort), I think it will be great. Okay. Back to you guys. Sorry.
Goblet of Fire Movie Discussion
Ben: The main discussion this week, as I mentioned about 600 times before was that we’re going to discuss Goblet of Fire only having one classroom scene. This past week there were some quotes and things released from Mike Newell who is the director of the movie. It appears there is only going to be one big classroom scene throughout the entire movie, which is probably going to span between two and three hours. [In fake British accent] Mr. Lawrence, can you please tell me what’s going on?
Jamie[In fake American accent]: Yeah man, I can. Yeah. The classroom scenes I think it the first two, in the first three, we did see a lot of classroom scenes. They were the most important material then because we were still being introduced to the wizarding world and all that. Whereas now, the Triwizard Tournament is the most important thing in this movie, and in Movie 5 it is going to be the confrontation in the Ministry of Magic. These things have to take precedent over the classroom scenes because I think the classroom scenes, I think you can empathize with the people in it, well not really empathize, but people in the Muggle world can see the wizarding scenes in the classroom and relate them to their own lessons at school. But, and of course the first films were made for, and I wouldn’t say childish, but a slighting more fantasy-wanting audience. That type of relation between the Muggle world and the wizarding world is something that goes well with that. Now, the movies are designed to show that darkening side to the Harry Potter series. You need to get rid of all the fantasy stuff that is magical, and get on to the nitty-gritty detailed stuff that is important for the septology as a whole.
Kevin: I think a lot of people have problems with it because they would like to see the interaction between the students. Like Jamie said, they make a connection with classroom scenes. They tend to understand because everyone has been to school before. It’s something we can connect with, and I think people were upset because he only has one, and it’s the one thing that people can really relate to.
Andrew: I mean the reason this was brought up was because in an interview that came out this week, in a small quote from Mike, he was saying how he love’s doing the school side of things. I mean what other school side of things can there be?
Ben: Ooh! Oh yeah. That’s right. That one big thing. The Triwizard Tournament.
Andrew: Well, no.
[All laugh]
Kevin: Well, that’s not a school thing.
Andrew: By school, he meant classroom stuff.
Kevin: Academic.
Jamie: No, it is. It’s part of the school system.
Kevin: Academic in nature. Not recreational.
Andrew: Right, exactly.
Jamie: But it really isn’t recreational because they use magic, which they learn at school. So it isn’t…it’s still part of school. It’s just a bit of fun schooling on the side.
Andrew: What I had thought was that he meant, “I like the school side of things”, as in “Oh, I love taping classroom scenes and kids eating in the cafeteria…”
Kevin: Exactly.
Andrew: The hallways.
Ben: What cool things are there in the books, in the classroom scenes? Goblet of Fire, what is there?
Andrew: People will want…
Ben: What are people going to care so much about that it is going to absolutely be the end of the world if they don’t include that scene in the movie?
Eric: You guys all make great points, but of the other things about the classroom scenes is that they really can’t do them without having to go all the way. What I mean is that they can’t do History of Magic without establishing Professor Binns. Perfect example, or rather good example is in Prisoner of Azkaban. They had to do the Boggart scene in Lupin’s classroom instead of the teacher wardrobe room, or whatever that was…teacher meeting room, teacher conference room. That would have meant that they would have had to do that scene, would have to build the set, and everything for the classroom. Sorry. For the wardrobe. They would have had to also establish Peeves, which they really as you can tell, have not been that willing to do. Or at least it hasn’t been a mainstream thing because on the way to the teacher’s staff room they meet Peeves. By not putting classroom scenes in, they are really avoiding the mess of having to establish Professor Binns and Peeves, until they really have to. The Unforgivable Curses is one of the only classroom scenes in Goblet of Fire, which is actually relevant to the plot. Probably, next to the scene where I believe Hermione’s teeth grew bigger, and then attack Draco. But the whole ferret thing as we know, is already in the movie. Basically, classroom scenes, they use sparingly, and I think they are allowed to because they have to get on with the rest of the plot.
Jamie: Yeah, but I don’t think it’s a financial thing because it’s the biggest budget of any movie ever made. If they wanted to keep the Boggart in from that start, they could have.
Kevin: Yeah, definitely. And you would like to think that they weren’t basing the movie upon a budget. They were basing it upon the story.
Jamie: What people want. Yeah.
Kevin: So, I guess we’ll see how it turns out.
Ben: Yeah. Okay. Hopefully, Goblet of Fire turns out pretty well, which I think it will despite the lack of classroom scenes. This past week Warner Bros. announced when the world and domestic premiere are going to be. On November 06, 2005, in the United Kingdom, there will be the world premiere, and six days later, in the United States (in New York City), we will have the domestic premiere for the U.S. Why do you guys think they decided to have the world premiere in the U.K. this time, when last time it was in Radio City Music Hall, in New York City?
Andrew: I think that’s exactly the reason. They want to switch it back and forth.
Kevin: They don’t want to upset people.
Andrew: Jamie, as a Brit, what are your thoughts on this?
Eric: Yes, as a registered Brit.
Jamie: I actually thought the premiere last time; the world premiere was in the U.K. so I’m a bit confused. I don’t know. I’ve haven’t be to the Hall in New York, I’ve only been to Leicester Square, where the premieres take place here. It is such a big atmosphere there. It will be a freezing cold night, and you just want to wear a short-sleeved top. For me that is, the home of premieres I don’t consider to be any place other than where the film takes place. Also, because the magic started here. The entire Harry Potter thing started here. I don’t think they…even though the franchise growing and growing and growing, and becoming completely transnational, I think they need to return to their roots sometimes. Go back to Britain. Coming from a Brit.
Kevin: I also think it is just to try to keep it fair. They want to move it around so people don’t think that Warner Bros. is favoring one country over another.
Jamie: Yeah. That’s definitely true as well.
Ben: Right. I think we may just be overanalyzing it a bit.
Jamie: That’s the point, isn’t it?
Ben: Last time they may have wanted it in the U.S., and this time they want it in the U.K. So what? It isn’t like they have these hidden ulterior motives…
Jamie: Aren’t you supposed to overanalyze? That’s our point on the show. To overanalyze everything.
Kevin: It’s true.
Jamie: Find conspiracy theories. Find holes in everything. No one is safe with the podcasters at MuggleCast.
Andrew: Was that Jamie’s phone?
Jamie: Yes, it was. Sorry.
Andrew: It sounded like it had a British accent.
Jamie: What? My phone has a got a British accent? You can set the ring tone to any accent you want, but I’d thought I’d stay with British.
[All laugh]
Ben: Well I think that pretty much covers the past week’s news on all these topics.
Andrew: Jamie’s phone…[Laughs]
Spy on Spartz
Ben: Before we move on. I think it’s prudent before we move on to the voicemails and questions submitted by users, that we visit this week’s section of “Spy on Spartz”.
Jamie: Oh yeah. I was thinking about this before.
Ben: Right now Emerson is online. I am thinking he is sitting in his dorm room at Notre Dame.
Jamie: Or he could be…
Andrew: No. He isn’t online?
Ben: He is online.
Kevin: He is.
Jamie: Or he could be lying on his bed.
Ben: I think about in thirty minutes to an hour from now you can probably see him at dinner at South or at dinner at North. One of the two.
Andrew: You never know.
Ben: We never know anymore.
Andrew: I had this idea. If he’s not online on AIM, we call him.
Kevin: We should.
Jamie: I like it. I like that.
Kevin: Skype-out him. Yep.
Andrew: It would be such a surprise.
Jamie: Secretly Skype him.
Andrew: And we wouldn’t tell him we were on MuggleCast. Be like, “what’s going on?”
[All laugh]
Andrew: He’d tell us everything.
Jamie: He’d tell us his most intimate secrets and we’d broadcast it to the world.
Ben: Yeah. Okay, dudes.
Jamie: Mans.
Ben: Mans.
Jamie: Mans. Mates.
British Joke of the Day
Andrew: And now “Jamie Lawrence’s British Joke of the Day”.
Jamie: Okay. There’s one man, and he’s considered the international wasp expert. Okay? And he’s walking down the street, and he sees this sign, and it’s a music store. And there’s an ad on the outside that says the “Greatest Tape of Wasps Sounds Ever”. And he thinks this can’t be right. There can’t be a greatest tape of wasp sounds when I’m the greatest expert in the world, and I have to authorize all the greatest things. So, he walks in strutting his stuff. Goes up to the counter and says, “Do you think I can listen to this tape, to see if it qualifies to have the title of “World’s Greatest Wasp Sounds?” And the person behind that counter says, “Yeah, of course you can.” He takes him over to a listening station, puts the tape in the thing, turns it on and walks away. So, the international wasp expert picks up the headphones, puts them on and listens. He can’t hear anything. By now he’s getting really annoyed, so he calls the assistant back over, and he checks it all. It’s all fine. He walks away after pressing play again. You can’t hear anything. He really isn’t happy about this because he’s the best wasp expert in the world, and he can’t even hear what this other person has been recording. So he calls the assistant back, and the assistant just can’t believe it. He can’t believe he can’t hear it. So he takes out the tape and examines it, and suddenly a look of dawning comprehension comes to his face. He says, “Oh sir, that’s why. You’re listening to the BEE-side.”
[All laugh]
Andrew: That ladies and gentlemen was “Jamie Lawrence’s British Joke of the Day”.
Jamie: Thank you. Thank you.
Andrew: Bee-side. [Laughs]
Kevin: Bee-side.
Andrew: Shouldn’t you have said A-Track instead?
Jamie: No because…
Ben: Oh, who cares?
Andrew: You know what A-Tracks are?
Jamie: How many flying insects…
Andrew: I guess nobody knows about them.
Kevin: Yeah. They’re too old.
Jamie: First of all, they’re called 8-Tracks.
Ben: 8-Tracks?
Kevin: 8-Tracks?
Jamie: How many flying insects are there called 8-Tracks? I’ve been stung by an 8-Track.
[All laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, okay. Whatever. So moving on.
Ben: Rolling on.
Jamie: Get more brilliant jokes next week.
Voicemails
[Audio]: Hey guys, my name is Alay. I just wanted to say I love the show. It’s my favorite thing. My question is: Do you think that Voldemort knows when one of his Horcruxes is being destroyed? Do you think he’s aware he’s nearing his own death? Thanks. Bye.
Ben: Jamie, you field this one. Brit. Mate.
Jamie: Dumbledore I think covered it when he said that Voldemort is so immersed in evil that he can’t feel when he’s dying. If he’s an inch from death, after all his Horcruxes have been destroyed, then he may know. Of course, he isn’t going to be immortal. He’ll realize that he will be killed. And of course after he has been killed, or while he’s dying he may realize it. I don’t know. I have this inkling that Dumbledore could be wrong about this because it’s such a vital part in this book series. If he’s wrong about this, and therefore Harry is wrong because he told him, it’s going to have severe implications. If he can feel a Horcrux being destroyed, then I don’t know. If Voldemort can feel these Horcruxes being destroyed then so far he’s felt the Diary and he’s felt the Ring. But do you think he can feel which object has been destroyed? If his soul is made up of different things, do you think he can cut one part of it off? Like an emotion…love. Take that and put it into one place. So after it’s destroyed, he can’t feel love. Or do you just have a soul with parts of it that don’t mean anything? I think that’s a very important question for the whole series.
Kevin: She was lining it up in the series so that at the end of the 7th Book, Harry would be the one to tell Voldemort that his Horcruxes are gone.
Jamie: Yeah. That’s quite interesting.
Kevin: It sounds to me, exactly. She was lining it up so that last moment was…
Jamie: A taunt. A taunt to Voldemort.
Kevin: Exactly. By the way Voldemort, you’re defenseless
Jamie: I like that.
Kevin: If I kill you, you are dead, but I don’t know. That’s my theory.
[Audio]: Hi, this is Christine again. Pronounced CHRIS-TEEN. And hopefully you didn’t butcher my name this time.
Andrew: Sorry!
[Audio]: It’s okay, Andrew. It’s okay.
Andrew: Okay.
[Audio]: I have a question concerning the Cemetery Scene in Book 4 and the debt of Peter Pettigrew in Book 3. In Prisoner of Azkaban, excuse me. We were introduced to the debt, and witnessed Harry saving Peter’s life. Now in Book 4, we see Pettigrew sacrificing his hand, a servant’s flesh making Voldemort to become whole again. The big question is, if Voldemort knew about Peter’s debt to Harry because that debt is now flowing through Voldemort’s veins, do you guys think that this has any significance to the plot in Book 7? Thank you.
Eric: Yes. Without a doubt.
Ben: Absolutely. But Jamie, what do you want to say?
Jamie: It’s hugely important because I don’t think Voldemort could be bare to be near anyone who owes anything or has any significance to Harry. I think he’d kill him right away. [Coughs] Excuse me. And it isn’t only that. People close to Voldemort, all of his Death Eaters, have to have undying allegiance to him. Their loyalty can’t falter at all, and I think even if there is just the slightest chance, and this is a big chance that Wormtail is going to falter, he will have to get rid of him. Voldemort wouldn’t just let him go and say, “Scurry back!” He’d have to fulfill his debt to Harry, and that could be information about his own Master, Voldemort. I think he’d have to kill him if he found out.
Kevin: Exactly. It’s been a theory floating around because the end of Book 4 and Dumbledore…
Jamie: Yes.
Kevin: …having that twinkle. I’m not sure what the quote was, but Dumbledore had that almost look of success in his eye when…
Andrew: Gleam of triumph.
Kevin: Exactly. There you go. About the gleam of triumph in his eye, when he heard that Voldemort used Harry’s blood, and I think this meant. Well, not only I think, but also a few people think…
Eric: A lot of people think it.
Kevin: Yeah, a lot of people think that this may be the reason because Peter has a debt with Harry, and that debt may have passed along through Harry into Voldemort.
Eric: Kevin. Great point. Now that’s kind of cool. I didn’t think about it like that. If he used it. That’s really awesome. That whole hand transferring the debt to Voldemort. Now as we’ve seen Voldemort has accumulated a lot of debts recently. He’s drank the unicorn blood, so he’s got the cursed life from that, and now I think it is really cool if he did get the Wormtail curse thing. He has a debt to Harry. And it is going to be really interesting to see how that plays out. Especially at the very end, if Harry is able to get all of his Horcruxes, and if Voldemort strangely doesn’t know about it. But that’s going to be really cool seeing how all the curses that are on Voldemort as far as we know, actually take their toll. One other thing I wanted to say quickly was that I certainly don’t think Peter would announce that he has a debt with Harry. It would just make it cooler at the very end when it was found by Voldemort and everybody else.
[Audio]: Hey, I’m Robert, and I had an idea about where on the Horcruxes is. My idea is that Tom Riddle’s Trophy, the one he won for “Services to the School”, is a Horcrux. What do you guys think?
Jamie: I thought this as soon as I read this point. I think it is absolutely brilliant for a couple of reasons. Dumbledore says that Voldemort likes trophies, and while everyone took that metaphorically, I think it could be literal. He likes trophies, trophies he’s received. That must be quite a special thing to him, that trophy. Because he screwed over Hagrid. He got a trophy, a special trophy for “Services to the School”. That has to be a possibility for a Horcrux. On the other hand, it is right under Dumbledore’s nose, so Dumbledore really wouldn’t have to look far to destroy it. You’d think he would have found it by now. If he could find Horcruxes in caves miles away, he could find one that is actually in the school. I don’t think it would appeal to Voldemort that it is so close to Dumbledore.
Andrew: So you mean that Dumbledore wouldn’t even think about it, just because it is so close?
Jamie: I don’t know. Either Dumbledore would think that it is so close to him and so obvious that it wouldn’t even occur to Dumbledore. And therefore, Dumbledore would choose it as a Horcrux. Or it would be so close to Dumbledore, that it would be a risk to Voldemort, and Voldemort hates risk, things that could bring him down from power. He wouldn’t choose it. Put it this way…
Kevin: I wouldn’t either. I agree.
Jamie: I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a Horcrux. If it turned out in Book 7 that it was.
Andrew: You say Dumbledore wouldn’t even think of that one as a Horcrux, but what about Godric Gryffindor’s sword? Isn’t that still in Hogwarts?
Jamie: Yeah, that is true, but I don’t think that that is a Horcrux.
Andrew: Oh.
Jamie: I think, Voldemort is a descendant of Slytherin and since they were such great enemies there has to be some kind of protection that stops a direct descendant of Slytherin from using something of Gryffindor’s in such a horrible way. I don’t know. That’s just how I feel. I think it’s wrong.
Kevin: In reference to the sword?
Jamie: Yeah, the sword.
Kevin: I don’t think it could be the sword.
Andrew: That’s what Jamie said.
Kevin: When Harry pulls it out you get the idea that Dumbledore examined it closely according to the book. I don’t see a way that he could have put it there. I think that Tom Riddle’s Diary is definitely a distinct possibility, especially since JK Rowling loves playing with words. She would love to have that sitting right in front of us, and us not realizing it.
Andrew: It just seems so strange that Tom would make it so easy for a Horcrux to be right in the school. There’s no real protection around it, right?
Kevin: The protection is that it is right in front of everybody.
Andrew: Oh, okay. Right.
Kevin: Who would think that it was a Horcrux when it’s sitting right in front of you?
Eric: All right, you guys. One thing I have to say, as you said, is that the trophy is a distinct possibility. It’s really cool. It really is its own protection if nobody suspects it. I’m pretty sure it probably would have been searched by now, but one thing I really want to bring into the topic right now is a Horcrux at Hogwarts. Now we’ve Voldemort had to place his Horcrux, he had to place his diary in Lucious Malfoy’s hands to get it into Hogwarts. The plan was, as Book 6 says, to put it in Hogwarts for use at a later time. But the question is: Could he have made a Horcrux when he was still at Hogwarts? And I think yes, because if you remember (I was thinking about this the other day), he did kill Moaning Myrtle. He set the Basilisk on her. That is a murder. Assuming Voldemort knew how to create a Horcrux at that time, I don’t exactly what year it was. I think he said it was his fifth year. It’s doubtful, but that is a murder he committed, so whether you have to make a Horcrux at the scene or not, I think that was a murder he could have made a Horcrux for. And it was while he was still at Hogwarts, so I think there’s a really great chance of there being a Horcrux there. Whether or not…because the diary had to be taken there, so there may still be a Horcrux that remains at Hogwarts. I don’t think it is the Sword, but the Hat maybe, or one that we’re completely missing.
[Audio]: Hey you guys! My name is Vincent and I’m from Sydney in Australia. I got into the Harry Potter Series early in 2000, not long before the 4th Book was released. And I was wondering how you guys got into the Harry Potter Series? And also if you got into the series before all the hype surrounding the movies in the media? I just find it interesting to see who else started reading them before all the media attention. So yeah, keep up the great works guys, and I look forward to your answers.
Kevin: I actually got into Harry Potter after Prisoner of Azkaban. One of my good friends showed it to me and I’ve been reading ever since.
Andrew: I got into it when my 4th grade class read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to us, and right after she finished the book, Chamber of Secrets came out in the bookstore. And I read it, and it was all downhill from there.
Ben: Uphill. Uphill.
Eric: Uphill, Andrew. My story is kind of funny. It’s actually in my Potter Profile on MuggleNet because that’s the funny story I told for that. So I am not going to elaborate much here. I was actually not really a Harry Potter fan at all. I thought it was stupid. A boy wizard going around. For quite some time. And a mean scary man going around trying to kill him. My 7th and 8th grade year was basically spent not paying attention to Harry Potter, which was when the hype was happening with respect to Vincent’s question. So anyway, the first movie came out in 2001, and I went to see that, and as I mentioned (I believe it was last week), I came into it after Movie One. I got hooked. But there were a couple years where I wasn’t interested in Harry Potter. It’s kind of funny, here I am working on MuggleNet, participating in this podcast with all you guys, and gotten very far in it. Anyway, so that’s my story. I definitely learned something about don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t judge. Read it for yourself. Experience it. So I learned something about ignorance too.
Andrew: One other thing guys. The contest is going to run up until Episode 6. The moment we release Episode 6, around Midnight, Saturday night, I think it should be, the contest will close. Then we will have a poll up by Episode 7, and then we’ll announce the winners for Episode 8.
Show Close
Kevin: I also want to say that after listening to the voicemails, please leave your name.
Andrew: Everyone leave their name. And one other thing, unfortunately we get so many e-mails with asking questions, you have to send us in a voicemail to get your question answered. Have a chance to get your questions answered.
Kevin: We tried to go through your e-mails, but we get so many that there’s no possible way we’d be able to get to them all.
Andrew: But we are reading them all.
Kevin: We are.
Andrew: We just can’t answer them all. We’re taking your suggestions and your thoughts and your questions.
Kevin: We appreciate it.
Andrew: We are reading them. Yeah, we just can’t answer them all. If we used every voicemail, I think we’d have enough for the next 3,000 episodes.
Kevin: It’s true.
Jamie: Ten hours each episode.
Andrew: Yeah, exactly.
Ben [Show Close with music in background]: So I think that wraps up this week’s episode of MuggleCast. If you have any questions, and/or suggestions please www.mugglenet.com/mugglecast or www.mugglecast.com for all of our contact information. Also, on those two pages you can see all the information on how to subscribe to MuggleCast, even view our new blog, how to access us through iTunes, or see our show notes. Once again, I’m Ben Schoen.
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Eric: And I’m Eric Scull.
Ben: So, I guess we’ll see all you guys next week. Thanks for listening.
Bloopers
Ben: Okay, every one let’s roll. Hello everybody and welcome back…
Jamie: Can we have the schedule…
Ben: …to MuggleCast. I’m Ben Schoen.
Jamie: Sorry.
Andrew: Are you seriously starting like that? [Laughs] That’s so boring!
Ben: Okay fine, I’ll redo it. Yo everybody! Welcome back to MuggleCast. I’m Ben Schoen.
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Ben: I’m Kevin Steck.
Ben: I’m Jamie Lawrence [at same time as Kevin]. Oh well done! Oh *Beep* Oh sorry, I *Beep* that up.
[All Laugh]
Andrew: No! You could have kept going.
Ben: You could have. Geez. Okay.
Jamie: Can we have the schedule again? Can somebody post the schedule?
Ben: Jamie, we can’t redo this *Beep* every time. Okay?
Jamie: How is it my fault? I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to go then. I usually go after you.
Andrew: Everytime he scews up the names.
Ben: It’s always Jamie. He’s always like [in fake British accent] “Oh, oh *Beep* this. *Beep* me. Oh man.”
Jamie: Well Ben, at least I’m not, at least I’m not [in fake American accent]: “Hey, I agree with that point man. That’s a good point man. Man. Good point man.”
Andrew: Okay, okay.
Ben: Shutup! Okay.
[All Laugh]
Jamie: Trust the Brit.
Eric: Exactly, trust the Brit.