Order of the Phoenix, Alchemist's Cell, Pyramids of Furmat, and Chariotsof Light

[caliburncy at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 28224

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., alexp at a... wrote:
> The last three titles were registered by WB in the UK in February 
> 2000. In September, OotP was announced. Any speculations on the 
> titles?

The first time this was brought up was Message 25214, so you can check 
it and all it's replies for some speculation on the titles.  To be 
honest, there's not much--this really is due for some heavier 
speculation.  I could swear that I had replied to this the first time 
it was brought up, but I can't find a reply by me, so I guess I 
didn't.

Anyway, there are four possibilities that I can think of:

1) They are "red herring" titles cooked up by some members of the 
marketing dept. at WB who apparently have no life whatsoever.

2) As Kelly Hurt first mentioned, they are the pending titles for some 
non-canon HP merchandise (board games, picture books, video games, 
etc.)

The only thing that makes this less likely, IMO, is that, although I 
know very little about the HP merchandise (nor do I want to), most of 
the titles I have seen do not seem as "original" as these are.  
Meaning the existing games center around things that are already 
central in canon like Quidditch or "Mystery at Hogwarts" (which, if 
memory serves, is the name of one of the board games).  So it would be 
strange, to say the least, for them to create a board game or other 
merchandising element that heavily involved Egypt (i.e. Pyramids of 
Furmat) when Egypt has thus far played a relatively small role in the 
books.

3) They are genuine pending (emphasis on pending) titles for future 
books.

This means at least one book has two titles heavily under 
consideration (even book five is a possibility here--as Order of the 
Phoenix could be replaced).  In that case, it would be my guess that 
the two titles for one book are Pyramids of Furmat and Chariots of 
Light, simply because both could easily involve ancient Egypt, and 
hence, be present in the same story.

Under that assumption I would make those the pending titles of book 
six, with Alchemist's Cell the pending title for seven.  My reason for 
this is that, as I have previously stated, I have a sneaking suspicion 
that book six may be more "tangential" like POA was (even though like 
POA it will somehow have indirect consequences on the larger conflict 
at hand with Voldemort), and therefore it makes some sense for this to 
take place partly in Egypt.  I somehow can't imagine the final 
showdown of book seven taking place anywhere outside Europe.

4) Any combination of the above (meaning just because title A is 
genuine canon, doesn't mean title B has to be)

***

Of course, as always, what this ultimately means is we have to take 
these titles as pure rumor.  So I am not really making them big 
factors in my speculation about books five, six, or seven.  But when 
one is given so few hints, one works with what one has.

-Luke