Yesterday, the belovedPottermorewebsite revealed a feature where fans can discover their own Patronus charm. While the feature has been quite popular, some fans created a meme that supposedly revealed the gorilla Harambe is a Pottermore patronus, which was retweeted byJ.K. Rowlingherself. She then clarified that Harambe is not an actual patronus, although she thought the meme was “hilarious.”
The new Pottermore feature lets users answer a few questions about themselves, which results in their own specific patronus charm, just likeHarry Potter(Daniel Radcliffe) uses in the beloved movie series. The Harambe meme first surfaced on The ChiveTwitteraccount, which tweeted it to the author with the message “too soon.” Here’s what the author had to say, in response to the meme.
“I’ve been asked to make it clear thatHarambeis not a Patronus you may actually get on @pottermore. The previous RT is a joke. As you were. I thought it was very funny, btw.”
In theHarry Potter movies, the Patronus Charm is an incredibly difficult spell that only a few witches and wizards can master. The spell produces a spirit guardian in the form of an animal, that protects the witch/wizard against Dementors and Lethifolds, which can be different for each wizard or witch. Harry Potter’s patronus was the form of a stag, just like his father before him, which was first seen inHarry Potter and the Prisoner from Azkaban.
Harambe made headlines around the world this summer, after the the 450-pound gorilla was shot and killed in Cincinatti when a two-year-old fell into his exhibit. Harambe memes have been spreading across the internet since then, with Relativity’sRyan Kavanaugheven revealing that he’ll make a Harambe movie if his statement was retweeted more than 1 million times, but this gorilla is not aHarry Potterpatronus. Take a look atJ.K. Rowling’s tweets, where she reveals that Harambe is not a part of the patronus feature on Pottermore.
