At the New York Public Library on August 1, 2009, there was a Harry Potter/Twilight discussion. It's no secret that sometimes an evident rivalry can be seen between the passionate fans of both book series. On the discussion panel was Laura (Pel) from Twilight Lexicon and Melissa from The Leaky Cauldron. For those who are fans of both fandoms, you should already know that Laura and Melissa are a couple of the most knowledgeable people about the worlds Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling created. Twilight Lexicon is probably one of the biggest Twilight fansites and is "The brightest star in the Twilight online universe." (quoted from Stephenie Meyer). The Leaky Cauldron is one of the most extensive Potter fansites and is "The most trusted name in Potter." They both spoke eloquently about the books, movies, and what it takes to run their respective fansites.

The number of people was smaller than I assumed, and I really wish more people could have made it out. However, the 30+ or so people that were there were captivated the whole time. Never once was the discussion boring, and it was the perfect length of time-- while hitting all the major points. It literally was one of the best discussions on the Harry Potter/Twilight topic.




The highlights of this discussion were many. However, I tried to pick out the ones that I recorded and remembered. I probably will add up more because there were so many, but this is a fair few for now. These are not in any particular order, so enjoy! If anyone was at the discussion and would like to add their thoughts, please e-mail admin@edward-cullen.net and I will add it up!



- Hold bandwidth, hold! It's no secret that Twilight Lexicon and The Leaky Cauldron are two very popular fansites. Laura stated that The Lex gets about "50,000+ unique hits per day!" Now, that's just on a regular day. What happens when a movie comes out or some sort of exciting/interesting news? For example, what about when J.K. Rowling announced 'Dumbledore is gay?' Melissa says "The news article about Dumbledore is gay is the third most popular page on our site. It's the main page, page not found (which Melissa jokes she's not surprised about), then the article about Dumbledore is gay." So, what happens when there's an increase in visitors? That means more bandwidth is needed for the site. If not, you get periods of the site being offline-- which is not good.


- Hmmm....not appropriate for this crowd. When the panel was taking questions, someone asked a very pertinent question. "What kind of advertisments appear on your sites? Are they appropriate?" Leaky says they have an agency that makes certain that nothing inappropriate appears, same for The Lex. However, Laura did have an interesting story to tell. "The agency goofed up once, and one inappropriate ad came through. My whole thing was making sure that if it could be seen on primetime television, then it could be on the site. However one ad slipped through, and it said..." Laura trails off, and thinks for a moment. "Maybe I shouldn't say what it said in front of this crowd. But let's just say it was inappropriate. I screencapped it, and sent it to the agency and said 'I don't think this would be seen before Law and Order.'"


- What if... Someone asked the question, "What if the Harry Potter movies or Twilight movie did not do so well-- and turned out like the Golden Compass? Do you think both series would still be as popular?" Melissa thinks for a moment, then says "The books still had done very well. So, even if the movies hadn't done well, the books were still popular." What's Laura's take? "Well, I refer to Twilight as 'the little indie movie that could.' It didn't have a big budget or like Harry Potter, a name like Warner Brothers behind them. However, the plot was still recognizable. It wasn't something completely different from the books. I mean, hello? Golden Comppass? A little different from the book there. And even though there's flaws in the Twilight movie, and I realize these flaws, I still love the movie and the books despite that." I'm sure many fans feel the same way as Melissa and Laura!


- We're at War! A rivalry seems to have erupted between Harry Potter and Twilight fans. And, of course, there are some of those that are neutral and love both. However, with the media and article like this one, it doesn't surprise me that fans are at war over the two book series. Melissa says "I remember I posted something, and I got all this-- 'Harry Potter is better than Twilight' then 'No way! Twilight is better than Harry Potter!'" Is there really a need for war? Laura says, "I can think of better things I would go to war over." Laura, I completely agree.


- Don't quit your day job... I think this is something that most people don't notice. Most fansite owners don't quit their day job. They have to run their sites, plus work, plus try and have a life. Laura definitely hasn't quit her day job, and Melissa may have, but she had a lot to handle. Leaky, journalism (which she jokes, "they may say 8-hour workday, but that's not what they mean."), and writing a book. Something had to give, she's only human-- not a wizard! So, I think every fansite owner/admin/staff member, especially those who run Twilight Lexicon and The Leaky Cauldron, deserve a round of applause. *claps*


- Other fansites? The question was brought up if these two ladies would ever start another fansite, like some other fansite owners. For example, Laura mentioned that she knew some fansite owners that had started other fansites-- like MockingJay which is run by the same lovely people that run HisGoldenEyes. Melissa admits that she has her hands pretty full with Leaky, while Laura hints that she may start another fansite one day.


- A little bit of Bran... Laura mentioned that she's a big fan of Bran Hambric by Kaleb Nation (also known as The Twilight Guy). Admittedly, I am too. So, I thought I would plug Bran because its amazing! So, find out more about Bran Hambric by clicking here.


- What happens after Harry Potter and Twilight are over? Melissa jokes, "We've decided, the day after the last Harry potter movie comes out, we're closing up shop....Nah, just kidding." Laura adds, "There's still two more movies, and Stephenie Meyer leaves the series at a place where she could continue writing, if she wanted too. It's a bit different than Harry Potter, where the series is sort of done. Unless J.K. Rowling writes 'Harry sipped a bit of tea...' So, I think everyone hopes, or at least I do, that Stephenie Meyer continues." I know I agree, I hope Stephenie Meyer continues writing, and hopefully there always will be more. Melissa adds, "Whenever it does finish, there will have to be an adjusment period." Hopefully that adjusment period is a long time away-- because we don't want to see these two amazing fansites go anywhere!


- What draws the fans in? There are probably many reasons why fans are drawn into these two very different book series. I think Melissa sums it up very nicely "Bella is very much about you being her, and you being in her world, and experiencing what she's experiencing- which is so attractive for young girls. And with Harry it's more about that he's got this lion heart. That's he's out there just to do what's right because he thinks it's what you should do, and you route for him. And it's more about routing for him than actually being him. Laura also brings up a good point. "Who doesn't want the gorgeous Romeo?" So, true....so very, very true.




As I said before, this was probably one of the BEST HP/Twilight discussions I've seen. Ample time was spent talking about both book series, and one series did not overshadow the other during the discussion. It was really wonderful to get to hear what these two fansite owners had to say. I really wish my camera hadn't run out of memory so I could capture more of what they said-- unfortunately, my camera didn't feel the same way. And while handwriting can be great, I couldn't capture every word and my memory is only so good-- heh. My main hope is that everyone can see how great Harry Potter and Twilight truly are because of what Melissa and Laura said-- but also because of the wonderful example these two fansites are for every fan. And I know, if they ever decide to do something like this again, I'm definitely going! And if you happen to live near, you should go too! It's definitely worth it!