Update: Just for the record, as far as anyone showing up here and trying to spoil anything, I’m implementing the policy of HPANA: “any spoilers (scans of the book, chapter or plot summaries or elements) prior to its official release at 12:01 a.m. on July 21 will be removed and the poster’s details, including IP address, will be forwarded to the Harry Potter publishers and JK Rowling’s office.” Thank you. Have a nice day.
From everything I can tell so far, the leak may very well be real. If the leak is not a hoax, it appears someone got a hold of a copy of Book 7, took pictures of each page, scanned them and uploaded them. I saw some of the pictures (without reading any words), and it certainly looks genuine.
Whether or not it’s real, here’s my advice: Avoid any possibility of accidentally coming across a spoiler. I was searching around for evidence about the purported leak, and I came across a post that did not warn about spoilers. My eyes fell upon the names of some of the characters who die, according to this particular leak. It makes me really angry. I’m avoiding all Potter-related news from this point foward, except for the sites I know I can trust: Mugglenet, Leaky, HPANA, HogPro, and of course the blogs of commenters here.
Just for the record (like you didn’t know this already), you can trust SoG for the rest of the week. I’ll keep blogging, but comments will be closed. It’s too bad we have to spend the last week like this.
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{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Ronald Potter, sorry, man. You’re done here.
Travis, THANK YOU for this warning. I will now basically stay off the Internet between now and when my book arrives. See you on the other side.
Got spoiled as well (on Wikipedia, of all places)
And beware of Mugglenet comments, they’re not very well moderated.
Thank God, I haven’t been spoiled yet. This will be the only HP site I will visit this week. Also, thanks Rahid on telling me you found a spoiler on Wikipedia, because it is likely I would have visited HP DH page sometime this week.
Ben
Oh, yeah and Travis, why did you turn comments back on? I thought they were gonna be off for the week.
I’m moderating them, so discussion can continue.
Thanks for letting us all know, and for moderating the comments. I don’t mind spoilers myself, but this sounds like it’s the whole book—???????
What a waste of somebody’s precious time.
Travis – if it’s the one I’ve read about – it’s a fan fic – a 600+ page fan fic that – get this – was RIPPED OFF from the fan fic writer – who herself is MORTIFIED that someone would re-title her fan fic and pass it off as DH – so I don’t think what you saw is real – if that’s any comfort to you.
I’m not a huge Potterite and only in recent works have begun reading up on theories surrounding Rowling’s work. Just get the bug shortly before and after the publication of one of the books…
But in the realm of podcasts, I must say, of those I’ve listened, both the Catholic “The Secrets of HP” and this one here, are by far the most engaging.
Keep up the good work. You may possibly even convert me into a permanent Potter fan.
darok, I don’t think if this is that fanfic. In the first place, it’s all photographs of a book, not a text file. In the second place, the final page of the epilogue of the “leaked” copy is either 739 or 759, which is a lot more than just 600+, unless by 600+, you mean 700+.
Of course, DH clocking in at 739 or 759 is still shy of the 784 we were told, so I’m holding out hope it’s an elaborate hoax…I’m blogging about the leak tomorrow.
Charles, thanks for your kind words. I’ve not heard about “Secrets of HP,” but I’ll check it out!
Thanks for letting us know about this. I read spoiler sites about “Lost,” and afterwards I felt like I really cheated myself by not just watching the show and letting things unfold. I am NOT going to do that with “Deathly Hallows.”
I’m pretty sure the “scans” that are floating around are fakes. I think darok is right. It wouldn’t be that hard to do.
Create a template based on scans of one of the older books; flow the fanfic text into the template; print it; bind it … It would just be sort of time-consuming, but considering it’s summer break for a lot of people, it’s not that hard to imagine someone giving themselves a “project” …
I certainly hope you’re right, Mr T. The “page 739″ thing really does give me hope.
I’ll rest easy when Scholastic issues a statement. It unnerves me that they haven’t, though, if I recall, it took them a couple days with “Gabriel.”
I saw two or three of the photographs from that photographed book too. At first I thought: “Wow. We have a very talented plagiarist and fanartist here.” And then reality set in and I freaked out. I was admiring the handiwork of an assumed plagiarist, not knowing my doom. At least all I saw was chapter art. (As an artist I was literally admiring the plagiarism that was probably not plagiarism. Ah well.)
I’m more annoyed at the revealed deaths I read that the hacker published. I hope it was a fake leak, because content is far worse to see ahead of time than pictures.
Really? It was identified as the same fanfic taken from the original author? YES!
I’m so happy.
I hate to say it, but I’m almost cheering on the “fake” leaks. They’ll aid in disguising the real ones.
shadowquill, I don’t think it’s been confirmed that today’s leak was the fanfic in question. That was a suggestion made by darok, and while I hope darok’s right, we don’t know for sure yet.
Thank you for the clarification. Just the same, I didn’t see anything beyond artwork and chapter titles, of which I can only recall two.
I think this is an elaborate hoax, designed by Schoolastic. Who else could make something so detailed? The giveaway for me as I told Travis… the page count is WAY off, Jo wouldn’t have her epilogue go for four pages. Sorry. Not happening. This chapter will probably be one of the longest in this book, if not the series as it will deal with ALL of the remaining live characters. And finally, this isn’t Jo’s style.
To say that it is the lady who wrote that popular fan-fic that often gets confused as being the final copy of DH (this happened a few months ago) makes sense. It would be her kind of ending. But it’s not Jo’s.
I have just heard about the final four hundred paged leak. Is that the same leak that has the final four pages of the epilogue of something different?
The person who leaked these must be quite silly. Why leak 400+ pages. Most fans would just want to wait for the final thing.
I now officially hate blogs. It seems to have been leaked. I went to read some of the comments. I’m not going back there again. Nothing HUGE was revealed, or at least I doubt that it was… but I am now going to remain spoiler free. HEck I may even not come onto the internet. This is such an amazing story.
I have not even heard of this, for which I am immensely thankful. Are you actually moderating the comments? That’s the only way to ensure that a spoiler doesn’t get posted, even for a short time. I know I am not reading comments at the Leaky Cauldron or Mugglenet because I figure they get so many posts they can’t be sure they’re all safe, it’s just a physical impossibility. With a site like this you can read them before they appear to the public, but that’s more work for you, Travis. I trust the regular posters here but you never know when some jerk is going to come along just for their own amusement. I’m worried about the Wikipedia reference, my one son spends quite a lot of time on that site, and he’s just the kind of kid who wouldn’t be able to keep a secret if he read it. But if I tell him to watch out, he’ll go search for it. He LIKES being spoiled, he specifically asks me to tell him the ending of the HP books before we read them, he knew who died (and who killed him) in HBP months before he got to that part of the book. Yikes, I may have to lock myself in the bathroom for 3 weeks. Not good for the rest of my family, as we only have one bathroom!
Anyway, Travis, thanks for the strong stand on spoilers. I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much for the warnings, Travis. If a true leak or not, I am so sorry this happened to you.
Travis, thank you for keeping this site safe. And open. I agreed with your decision to close down the comments this morning, but also felt isolated – the people of Sword of Gryffindor have become my daily soundingboards for all things Potter.
I will confess that I’m feeling fairly conflicted. On the one hand, I’d like to open the book at 12:01 Saturday morning (or whenever I get my copy) with no advance knowledge that I (and the people here) did not legitimately deduce as per the rules of the game.
On the other hand, hundreds, thousands – hundreds of thousands? -of people will know the outcome by then. There’s no way of stopping it. And it’s not so much the practical difficulty of maintaining ignorance, as the seeming pointlessness of it.
I think it’s worth keeping this site safe for the principle of the thing – not letting some morally defective low-life feel like he’s accomplished something large by ruining everyone else’s excitement. But beyond that, I’m kind of lost.
Reyhan, I hear ya, man. But for me, out of respect for Rowling, regardless of how many people know the end by 12:01am Saturday morning, I’m going to let the plan unfold exactly as she intended it. She’s given us all these years of delight in the Harry Potter books; I’m going to finish it her way. On July 21.
It’s the right thing to do, Travis, and I absolutely support your decision, and your reason for it.
Your goal reminds me a little of the distinction Dumbledore makes between the easy thing and the right thing. Because it surely is not going to be easy.
Yes and I echo my sentiments and gratitude towards you Travis. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I however think that no amount of leaked spoilers will spoil this for me. If I only remain here and don’t read the comments on the other mainstream sights, I for one will remain relatively spoiler free.
I have read a few of the minor spoilers going around. They wont detract from my first reading. Jo has a way of magically spinning a story. Mearly outlining it in a sentence does it no justice. I can’t wait for the 21st.
I have found that it’s coming to fast. Usually time slows down when we wait for something but it’s already Tuesday (in Australia) and the book will be out within only a matter of days.
Has anyone prepared themselves for if they don’t like this book? Has that come across anyone’s mind.
Michael, I plan to do a write-up for the last day of Deathly Hallows Week on how to approach the book, so I’ll take up that issue then!
I’m going to post a short essay which I wrote earlier today on the whole Leak Debacle, and the crash for the night. It’s been a long day.
Sorry to hear that mate. I’m just happy to be experiencing the last minute buzz with my fellow SoG peeps. Hee. We’re all adults who respect one another. That’s what I love about this sight. Keep it up mate.
I work at a B&N and we are not allowed near the boxes or even take a photograph of them. I have seen them in receiving from afar (maybe from a good 30 feet away) but I have the good sense to not get any closer. If it is hard for B&N employees then how can this guy have taken pictures or got the manuscript. It’s probably a hoax. On a lighter note I won’t be working Harry Potter night so I can get my book at midnight and leave. Yay! And finally thank you Travis for making sure that your site is spoiler free.
I find the idea of Scholastic devising an ellaborate hoax, a fake leak, brilliant. Perhaps it is, but there’s always the possibility it isn’t. Even so, I’d be very impressed if they’d thought of that. It’s quite logical: why would a hacker risk the penalties if the book had supposedly already been revealed?
Travis – it’s DArok!
As to the gits who blurt out “So and so snuffed it!” at a bookshop – well – this is why I ordered by book at Amazon and plan to wait for the UPS man on Saturday – then make a big pot of coffee and R-E-A-D – then crack open a nice bottle of Moselle Valley Reisling and continue READING … aack – 3 more days! Aack!
darok, sorry! got it right in the first comment, wrong in the second. I fixed it.
Coffee in the morning, reisling at night. That’s a great choice of beverages.
Having worked a lot in college on a student run journal, then working a bit after college on a small press and a writing/visual arts journal for a friend, I can tell you that faking a book, while not exactly simple, wouldn’t necessarily be all that complicated or expensive, either. Programs like MS Publisher or Quark Express let you import document files into a book template. They’re not exactly user friendly software. But, with a little experience and a couple hours of work, someone who knew what they were doing could mock up a forged book without any problem. Seeking the materials to bind one wouldn’t be all that hard, either. And, like I said on another post, the covers have been on the internet for a while, now.
Many online posts have been impressed by the visual quality of the book’s presentation; but putting together a visually impressive book just isn’t that difficult to do. It may be a genuine leak, but the evidence isn’t at all conclusive.
Travis – I must have my Organic 100% Columbian natural process decaffinated (can’t have leaded) Coffee when I read DH!
If I don’t do the Reisling – then it’s Sam Adams Summer Ale – or – if it looks REALLY bad – something from my college days – a shot or two of Captain Jack to get me by that night (boy and I aging myself here!)
I’ll keep Jack handy … just in case!
Darok, oh no! Decaf!
I’ve got a 100% Organic Peruvian Select coffee set up for Saturday morning (I think…I might still have some Organic Papua New Guinea to get through first), and Leinekugel’s “Sunset Wheat” for my evening reading.
Me nerves can’t take the caffeine anymore!
I actually told my doctor:
“Coffee, Coffee you make me glow
My nerves don’t like you
But what do they know”
He wasn’t impressed and told me to “Knock off the caffeine dammit!”
So it’s decaf – but it’s THE BEST decaf!
“Sunset Wheat” sounds fab!
(Ponders cracking open some good Mead – yes – I have access to really good Mead … hmmmmmmmmm)
What, Travis? No genuine Australian (or was it New Zealand?) cat-poo coffee?
Darok, well, if it’s gotta be decaf, at least it’s good decaf.
Mrs. Weasley, Ha! No, at $50 a cup, and seeing as it’s made with cat poo, no. I’ll stick with the stuff I get in the organic section of the grocery store.
I’m thinking you can’t get much more organic than cat-poo coffee, but have it your way
.
Actually I didn’t see the boxes with the Deathly Hallows. They were something else. But unfortunately I work Saturday morning so I’m limited in my reading time when I get the book at midnight unless…I read through the night and when I work I can just keep taking breaks to Starbucks. It’s right next to the B&N I work at.
I’ll prefer a big pot of First Flush Darjeeling (original, organic and fair-trade, of course) in the morning, another one during the day, and a glass of dry Riesling or good Chianti at night – depending on the weather and what will be most in tune with the chapter I’m currently reading.
I got freaking spoiled on yahoo! You have absolutely no idea how mad i am now, anyone for a yahoo boycott, join me please. I am really, really mad.
HAHA. I’ll be using my stash of Cat-Poo to keep me awake all night as I read DH. Hmmmm, doesn’t it just taste so good!
Okay that was just a bit weird… but I will be using a strong, black/sweet coffee to keep me up.
Dursley how did they spoil it? Where was this one found?
Amateurs, all of you who can’t take your Potter straight.
At Rena- my coffee (and organic dark chocolate by the way) are ALWAYS FAIR TRADE!
I think this entire group is going to wake up on Sunday after reading DH and be suffering a collective coffee-booze-chocolate-Harry Potter induced mother of all hangovers HANGOVER!
Be sure to stock up on the aspirin or tylenol!
Oh the best cure for a hang over… Powerade. I don’t know if you American’s have the stuff, but it’s an energy drink used by athletes that hydrates you when you feel dehydrated (and essentially that’s part of what a hangover is.)
And yes Reyhan I am a bit of an amateur. I find reading Harry Potter makes me sleepy. It relaxes me that much.