J.K Rowling relaunches her personal website, complete with Fantastic Beasts FAQs

J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, has launched a new website chock full of fun info.

J.K. Rowling has been busy of late. What with overseeing the debut of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and writing the Fantastic Beasts movies? With her being so productive, not to mention back in the public eye, perhaps that’s why she chose to resurrect her personal website. It is complete with a spiffy new design. “I wanted to bring my website back to what it used to be: something real and personal,” she writes in a lengthy introductory message.

"This is a faithful representation of my writing desk, except that I haven’t put on the bits of stale popcorn and biscuit crumbs that usually litter the surface. Everything looks a bit tidier and cleaner than it really is, but after all, it’s only polite to make an effort for guests. The various objects littered around really do live in my writing room; some of them have sentimental value, some are practical and others have found their way in via friends and family members."

Rowling made the announcement on Twitter, something she points out became “a nice way of interacting with readers in the website-free years.”

At present, the site has little bits of news relating to things that interest Rowling, like her writing and her charity—Lumos. She also promises that she’ll use the site to “debunk baseless press stories and be as serious or as frivolous as I fancied on any given day.”

At the end of her introductory message, Rowling also answers a few frequently asked questions about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There’s some good stuff in here, like:

Q: Why didn’t Harry Potter develop an Obscurus?

"An Obscurus is developed under very specific conditions: trauma associated with the use of magic, internalized hatred of one’s own magic and a conscious attempt to suppress it.The Dursleys were too frightened of magic ever to acknowledge its existence to Harry. While Vernon and Petunia had a confused hope that if they were nasty enough to Harry his strange abilities might somehow evaporate, they never taught him to be ashamed or afraid of magic. Even when he was scolded for ‘making things happen’, he didn’t make any attempt to suppress his true nature, nor did he ever imagine that he had the power to do so."

That’s a find line to tow. And another:

Q: Why couldn’t Newt just Apparate to the USA? Why did he go by boat?

"Apparition becomes increasingly risky over long distances. As with most magic, much depends on the skill of the spell-caster: Apparition requires knowledge of the terrain to which one is moving, or the ability to visualise it clearly. Cross-continental Apparition would almost certainly result in severe injury or death.Moreover, the beasts in Newt’s case had varying magical natures. Some could have Apparated with him, but others could not."

We’ll be keeping an eye out for any developments or announcements made on this page. Hopefully Rowling has a good time with it!

Next: Fan Theory: J.K Rowling is Rita Skeeter—Just go with it

h/t MuggleNet