The Annotated Three Broomsticks: Re-Listening to the Predictions Podcast in the Light of the Preview, Part 2. Spoilers for The Running Grave Chapters 1-11

 I am continuing on my annotations of the spoiler-free Three Broomsticks Predictions Podcasts, time-stamping sections and commenting on them in light of the 11-chapter preview. I invite you to listen and read along, if you have read the preview or if you don't mind spoilers, which, as always, are written in BLUE. 

1:31:41. Irvin: I think that, in a parallel to Harry's broken wand, about halfway through The Running Grave, Strike's going to hurt his leg really, really, badly, to the point where he's severely limited as to what he can do for the agency. 

So far, there is no indication of this. Strike has lost 42 pounds, and is continuing to watch his diet, making salmon for dinner instead of getting takeaways and ordering fish when he would prefer steak. He's also stayed off the cigarettes, though he is vaping. Most importantly, he is choosing couch seating at pubs, instead of high barstools, which is a good indicator that his knee is not causing him pain. 

1:35:50. Me: if Strike did lose his prosthesis, this could lead to him replacing it with a better one, getting one with a mobile ankle or things like that.

    Irvin: Like, say, the Elder Wand of prostheses?

No elder wand yet, but the magical powers attributed to the Prophets: Daiyu's power of invisibility and the supposed ability to them to return from the dead correspond to the other two Deathly Hallows. 

1:38:33. Sophia: I wonder if there is going to be some sort of metaphorical fight with the snake, not a real snake, but some sort of demon from his past... 

    Bea: Yes, if perhaps this character who was in the commune, but who has perhaps has renamed themselves, or reappeared...

    Sophia: Maybe a physical fight, or an argument, or a battle of wills...

We know Kevin Pirbright claims to have seen literal resurrected corpses and pig-headed demons on the farm, so these type of fights could be less metaphorical than anticipated. At the very least, Kevin's writings about "real" demons could foreshadow Strike's confrontation with figurative ones. Certainly Malcolm Crowther or his brother could still be around, in or our of jail, and Strike could be in the position of having to confront them. Personally, I would love to see another prison interview, a la Dennis Creed, which, as I have argued elsewhere, is the closest thing we have seen thus far to Harry's final showdown with Voldemort. 

1:40:00. Irvin: I'm wondering if, when Strike goes to Norfolk, if we'll finally get a flashback to his time in the commune with Leda.

We certainly got a flood of memories when Strike read the "Aylmerton Community" notation in the file, and it seems possible Lucy may have been heading for a trauma flashback when the preview cut off. 

1:42:16. Irvin: When I heard we are going to a cult, I thought, oh, we are getting a Xeno Lovegood parallel, obviously because, if we are talking about people who believe in weird stuff, that's going to be Xeno Lovegood, he'll definitely show up. 

    Bea: "Lover of the strange" is what his name means. 

We have a couple of characters who could fill this role: Will Edensor himself and Kevin Pirbright, who is dead but whose experiences could still be investigated through his writings. We have also already seen the similarities between the ceilings of the Rupert Street temple and Luna's bedroom. 

1:44:15. Nick: We may get someone either not in the cult, or in the cult and rebelling, who is believing crazy stuff. 

Nick's prediction is absolutely consistent with Kevin Pirbright here: rebelling against the cult but still believing their teachings and in the existance of supernatural powers. I also thought Robin's brush with the 48 NASCAR jersey after "accepting the possibility" of receiving divine communcation through encounters with "random" numbers is potentially along this line. Interestingly, even Hassan, author of Combating Cult Mind Control, does not completely discount the possibility of divine intervention. Years after his family rescued him from the Moonies, his mother told him she had prayed for him to be injured, but not killed, in an accident, so that the family could see him and have a reason to keep him housebound long enough to get him the deprogramming intervention they thought he needed. Even after decades of working with people to escape dangerous cults, he states in his book that he believes his mother's prayer was answered. This could lead to a very interesting question for "Team Rational" people like Strike: where is the line between a crazy cultic belief and reasonable religious faith?

1:47:50. Irvin: Jo Rowling very clearly needed an orphan in Deathly Hallows... I think we are going to see a very very vivid parallel to Teddy Lupin in Nick and Ilsa's baby. 

I think it is safe to say that the rest of the panel categorically rejected the idea of the Herberts' jointly snuffing it. However, there are certainly potentials for orphans amongst the cult children  I am particularly thinking of Lin Doherty, whose mother may well have been killed, and whose (supposed) father had left the church and so might as well have been dead to them. 

1:55:30 Irvin: Malfoy Manor. I think this also presents a very clear parallel to what could happen with the cult, when our characters are brought to the house of one of the leaders of this organization, where  vital piece of information is going to get revealed. 

We know Kevin Pirbright accused the leadership of building luxury accommodations for themselves with the money willed by Ms. Cathcart-Bryce, so there could very well be some sort of manor in place for this type of event. 

1:57:45: Irvin: I definitely think we are going to see someone in the Draco role, waffling over whether to sell out Robin or not to the cult. 

Will Edensor is certainly one possibility, but the pJohn review has presented two others: April Wardle or (longer shot but potentially much more interesting) Charlotte. Both would be pre-disposed to see Robin as the enemy, April because of her association with her ex's mate Strike and Charlotte because she's "never been as envious of anyone as she is of that girl Robin," but I could also see both being genuinely afraid if they have gotten into the organization too deep and seen something horrible. 

1:58:06. Irvin: For the record, I am not predicting that Robin gets tortured like Hermione did in Malfoy Manor, because they're different books, so it's not all gloom and doom here. 

    Sophia: I think that's actually more likely to happen than that Nick and Ilsa are killed.

I'm with Sophia here. Kevin's description of Mazu Wace gives off serious Bellatrix Lestrange vibes. 

2:05:55. Irvin: I predict a disgruntled sibling,

We definitely have a candidate in James Edensor, though he is more of a John Bristow/Raphael Chiswell generation than a Aberforth Dumbledore.  The best candidate for an older disgruntled sibling would be the second, as yet unnamed Crowther brother. There also are several Wace siblings and some rivalry indicated between the elder Pribright sisters. 

2:09:11. Me: Does anyone have any connection with goats?  

Giles Harmon, author and UHC enthusiast. His first name means “protection,” “kid,” or “young goat,” referreing to the Aegis—the mythical shield of Zeus and Athena—which was crafted from goatskin. His last name means, "soldier," Aberforth was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix and eventually rejoined the fight at the Battle of Hogwarts. If anyone is going to turn out to be Aberforth, it's Giles. 

2:10:36 Irvin: If we're talking about characters in Harry Potter who seem very "Strikey." I think, the Grey Lady...I think the idea of a woman murdered by a controlling man who loved her, that is very Strikey, case-wise.

     Bea:  And it does fit very well with the Shrieking Pits; the female ghost, she's meant to be murdered by her husband, and I think she's called the White Lady.

Reading more about this legend I found that the ghost is supposed to be searching for her baby, murdered by her husband because he did not believe he was the father. After burying the baby in a pit, he went back and killed the wife. This immediately made me think of the Doherty family. Ralph left the cult with his three older children, leaving behind the baby born after they entered the UHC. Given that Papa J feels entitled to sleep with any woman he wants, I think the paternity of Lin could be in question, which could explain him leaving her behind. Then Deidre herself is "expelled" without the baby, which could certainly suggest a murder rather than a departure. Could Deidre "Broken-hearted" Doherty "Unlucky" be the modern day "White Lady" wailing for her lost child after being killed either by the husband who thought she had another man's child or by the cult leader she accused of rape?

2:11:41. Sophia: I also feel like Ariana Dumbledore has a potential Strike feeling; a young girl who has some sort of traumatic event happen to her that messes in some way with her development. 

This sounds very much like Lin Doherty: abused by Mazu, developing the stammer and being hidden away on the farm like Ariana was hidden in the Godric's Hollow home. 

2:30:15. Me: We have some of the more ring structure based predictions where we are looking for connections to Books 1 and 4.  One I think is most interesting is the note.

We learn two things of interest in the preview: first, that UHC may only communicate to outsiders through hand-written letters and second, that all UHC members are required to keep journals. This opens the possibility of Robin searching for a particular letter or journal that someone has hidden. 

2:33:42: Me:The final one is, someone coming into a large windfall of money at the end, but having very mixed feelings about it.

I am thinking that Edward  "wealthy guardian" Edensor may be this person, if big brother James "supplanter" pulls a John Bristow and manages to do away with young Will, just as he earlier tried to bump off Edward during the "accident" that left Edward crippled. 

So, those are my enhanced predictive thoughts based on the preview.  I'd love to hear comments and other thoughts, including all the millions of reasons I am entirely wrong. 

Less that six days!!!!