Felix Felicis: A Summary of Current Ideas

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 128556

I've spent a little time reviewing current ideas about "Felix 
Felices" one of the chapter titles from JKR's site.  Here are some 
things I've culled from the discussion on various sites, with some 
comments of my own.  Arguments, corrections, etc. are welcome:

"Felix felicis" is in fact a standard entry from Latin-English 
dictionaries, which give the adjective's nominative and genitive 
form.  "Felix" means happy or lucky or fortunate.  It was a nickname 
used in Roman times for people who were, not surprisingly, happy or 
lucky or fortunate.  Felicis translates, I suppose, as "of the 
lucky/happy one."  So literally it means "Lucky of the lucky one" 
or "happy of the happy one."

So what might this Felix Felicis be?

1)  A thing.  Some people have hypothesized it might be a drink.  
Perhaps it is a potion with a human name (like a Shirley Temple or a 
Mickey Finn).  If so, it would be one to make the person happy or 
lucky.  Based on the British adult cover, some have hypothesized 
this is a potion that will be brewed on the NEWT level.  I think 
this is unlikely, but an original idea.

2) A spell.  If so it would serve the same purpose as above.  But 
JKR's spells tend to be verbs in the active singular, e.g. "Exspecto 
Patronum" means "I await the protector" and "Accio" translates as "I 
summon."  Thus I don't think it's likely to be a spell.

3) A person.  This seems to be the best possibility.  JKR loves 
descriptive names (i.e. Remus Lupin, Sirius Black), as well as names 
that alliterate (i.e. Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape, Peter 
Pettigrew, etc.).  Whoever it is, he (Felix is a male name, Felicia 
is the female form) must be a happy or lucky person.  Who could it 
be?

Leading candidates are:

A) The new DADA teacher.  This would follow the pattern of the other 
books in using the position to introduce new characters.

B) The new potions teacher if Snape gets DADA.  I think this is 
unlikely, but possible.

C) The person who teaches Harry Occlumency.  This could be combined 
with one of the others above.  With a name like that, he would be 
better at producing a patronus.  But maybe Occlumency and fighting 
Dementors is more closely related than Snape would like to admit.

D)  The new Minister of Magic.  I suppose winning the position might 
be considered lucky.

Who else could he be?  Perhaps an auror?  Luck would be very 
important for such a person.  If the name means "Happy" who could he 
be?  It would be a great name for a psychiatrist, but I doubt JKR 
wants to go in that direction.

Could it be a new student, a la Luna Lovegood?  Or perhaps one of 
the new Gryffindor Beaters whom JKR has mentioned?

Is he the lion-like man described on JKR's site?  Some have thought 
so, but largely because of a confusion of "Felix" with "felis," 
which means cat.  It's still a strong possibility, although if this 
turns out to be the case I suspect the similarity between the Latin 
words is not an intentional play on JKR's part.

I wouldn't want to bet on anything at this point.  Based purely on 
patterns in JKR's writing, the most likely answer is that he is an 
auror who will be the new DADA teacher and probably also teach Harry 
Occlumency.  But that is not something I would count on.

Is he the Half Blood Prince?  Who knows?

Anyway, just some thoughts.  Additions or arguments are welcome.


Lupinlore