It looks as though some leftover code on the Pottermore site may have allowed a fan and software engineer to accidentally reveal the four Houses of Ilvermorny, the North American wizarding school that will be revealed to fans in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. If this code proves accurate, then we know where you can be Sorted!
The whole shebang was discovered by Federico Ian Cervantez, a Senior Software Programmer at CAKE Corporation. After taking Pottermore’s Sorting quiz, he went looking around the site’s code, and found code for another quiz that had yet to be published. It turned out to pertain to Fantastic Beasts, and appears to be a different Sorting quiz for the North American school Ilvermorny. Based on that code, the Houses were revealed as follows: Horned Serpent, Wampus, Thunderbird, and Pukwudgie.
Keep in mind, this is no guarantee. Until this quiz goes live on the Pottermore site, anything could be altered. But Cervantez’ blog post, where he explains how he went through the code and discovered these houses, appears legitimate. As he points out, this wasn’t a hack to their site—it was code that he was able to read by having done the Pottermore Sorting quiz. He merely took the time to read said code and tell other fans what he had found on Reddit.
All four creatures are present in the folklore of Native American tribes. Here is some extra information on each, as they pertain to American mythology:
- Horned Serpent: A creature from folklore that is present in Native American, as well as European and Mesopotamian mythology. According to Sioux legend, the Horned Serpents were destroyed by Thunderbirds, leaving only small snakes and lizards behind. Horned Serpents have been associated with rain, lightning, and thunder.
- Wampus: A cougar-type creature that might have its roots in the Cherokee myth of the “Ewah.” The Wampus Cat is known in Tennessee folklore as a spirit of death and earth. The cry of the Wampus Cat means that someone is shortly to die. (It is stated on Pottermore that Wampus hair is used for wand cores in North America.)
- Thunderbird: A well known creature of Native American mythology, present among many tribes. Consistent in every depiction are its intelligence, power, and wrath.
- Pukwudgie: A mythic creature from folklore of the Wampanoag tribe. They appear as small gray humans with large noses, fingers, and ears. Among their attributes are the ability to transform into a walking porcupine and create fire, use of poison arrows and magic, and the propensity for luring others to their deaths.
If this is the case, then each House of Ilvermorny would appear to have its roots in Native American legends. There is no way to be certain of all this information until we get some manner of confirmation via Pottermore, Rowling, or the upcoming Fantastic Beasts film, but it is intriguing to speculate in the meantime.
