From the Hufflepuff scarf in Newt Scamander’s suitcase to mentions of the Lestrange family, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them has tons of easter eggs to satisfy Harry Potter fans—including one you may have missed. According to INSIDER, the design studio MinaLima has been hiding a recurring character in the pages of The Daily Prophet since the third Potter movie—and she also popped up in Fantastic Beasts‘s New York Ghost.
Meet the Ginger Witch, a career criminal who has been in and out of Azkaban for more than 70 years. She made her first appearance on the back page of The Daily Prophet in Prisoner of Azkaban, where she was responsible for a product recall of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. In The Goblet of Fire, the Ginger Witch was described as a “Hooligan” who was arrested during a “Muggle Football Match”; she was later implicated for interfering with muggle air traffic with two flying pigs. In The Order of the Phoenix, she appeared in an article about surviving a henna explosion that was featured on the front page of The Daily Prophet. Finally, a series of stories in The Quibbler—a wizarding tabloid and “The Wizarding World’s Alternative Voice”—featured the Ginger Witch getting arrested with fake henna in Brazil. She was later sent to Azkaban for her role in a “fake henna scandal.”
Now we know that her criminal record stretches back until at least 1926, the year Fantastic Beasts takes place. A short article in The Daily Prophet notes that the “mysterious” Witch is under investigation. That investigation may have caused her to flee to the United States, where, according to The New York Ghost, she was prosecuted for stealing wigs in the Bronx.
MinaLima is responsible for all of the design work in the Potterverse, from Quidditch World Cup Posters to textbook covers and beyond. Though Rowling wanted certain headlines to appear in The Daily Prophet and The New York Ghost, MinaLima had the freedom to fill in the rest with their own headlines about characters like the Ginger Witch. (The character was inspired by a red-haired woman in the art department named Debbie.) “We know now that things do get seen,” MinaLima co-founder Miraphora Mina told INSIDER. “In the past, we didn’t realize how much these would be scrutinized by fans.”
The Ginger Witch was released from Azkaban at the end of the Potter films, but it’s likely she’ll strike again in future installments of Fantastic Beasts. While you’re waiting, you can pick up a limited edition print of an issue of The Daily Prophet that mentions the Witch here.
[h/t INSIDER]
December 5, 2016 – 2:15pm