3.5 The Dementor

An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his very heart...

It’s Monday – you know us, you love us, it’s time for Podtrificus Totalus, a Harry Potter podcast done book by book, chapter by chapter.

This week we cover chapter five of Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban, in which Harry encounters a clumsy metaphor for depression – I mean, a new and foreboding creature in the magical world! – meets his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and eats some chocolate.

We make a number of references to outside sources and popular culture, which are listed below:

Friends at the Table and The Adventure Zone

Brookyln 99 (TV Series)

The Lord of the Rings series

The scary Beowulf movie from 2007

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Finding Nemo (2003)

Lupin’s personality type is ENFJ, per J.K. Rowling’s Twitter (transphobia warning if you visit her account)

JKR’s “Idle Jottings,” preserved by the Harry Potter Lexicon, which reference that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Prisoner of Azkaban may have been a woman at some point in the writing process

Q&A with J.K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival (15 August 2004) on Accio Quote

Ann Treneman interview with J.K. Rowling for The Times (30 June 2000) on Accio Quote

Dementor on the Harry Potter Wiki

Dementors and Chocolate on Wizarding World

Our Spell of the Week for this episode is chocolate, which seems to have some magical properties in the Harry Potter universe.

You can hear more from our guests, Kevin Rizza and Lauren Kelley, on the Why Can’t We Be Wizards podcast. Check out the show on Twitter (@WhyNotWizards) and Instagram (@WhyNotWizards). You can also find Kevin on Twitter as @RizzaKevin.