In 2003 the world was abuzz with wizardly anticipation. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was scheduled to be released in June, and millions of readers just couldn’t wait to see what surprises author J.K. Rowling had in store for the characters and fantasy world they had grown to love.

I was totally on board. I had read and re-read all the previous books a few months prior to the release date so that I would be primed and ready for the new adventure. I had always been a techie, and reading them as digital books on my PocketPC device was the preferred means. Keep in mind that official e-books had not been released at that time, so I had to find those digital files on shady peer-to-peer filesharing networks. In the final months that preceded the official release of the Order of the Phoenix, digital ebook files began appearing on these networks purporting to be early release versions of the long awaited book.

Yes!! I could actually read the new adventure before any of my square relatives who were waiting for the pedestrian printed paperweights to be hauled out to outdated brick and mortar peddlers. I immediately downloaded the largest of these e-book files that I could find; I assumed that the larger the file, the more likely it would actually be the full book.

The Order of the Phoenix?

I was on a busy rotation at the hospital but that didn’t stop me. In the elevator, during slow periods between cases and any time I could sneak a moment, I would whip out my Compaq iPAQ PocketPC device and read a few pages.

The story was amazing. It started, like all Harry Potter stories do, at the Dursley household. Many other elements of the story made me feel right at home in the wizarding world of Harry Potter – Hermione’s brusk know-it-all attitude, the quirky Weasleys and the amazing description of magic spells, mystical artifacts, dark stories from the years before, and Harry Potter’s brave yet vulnerable character. There were some new surprises in store as well, including a Dudley Dursley who had softened his attitude towards Harry, the three major characters becoming Animagi themselves, each learning how to transform themselves into an animal like Sirius Black who could turn himself into a dog.

I eagerly plowed through the whole book. It turned out that the “order” in the Order of the Phoenix was a special endowment granted by the Golden Phoenix long ago to Garde Delafer. Garde had helped to save the Phoenixes at a time when they were hunted for sport and their healing power. After saving the Golden Phoenix, this magical beast blessed him so that every one of his descendants would have the power to order the healing of one person or creature who could be revived – even from death. That was the Order of the Phoenix – and all of Garde’s descendants were said to belong to the Order of the Phoenix! Guess who happened to be in that Order – Harry Potter!

It is a good thing too, because during their adventure in this book, Harry decides to use his order to revive his mother Lilly. Just as he is about to do so, Voldemort appears in the form of a black phoenix and steals Harry’s order! There are magic battles, Dragon duels and a lot of drama – until finally Voldemort unleashes an Avade Kadavra killing curse which hits Hermoine – killing her instantly! Harry is devastated, and the Golden Phoenix himself appears and restores Harry’s Order allowing Hermoine to be brought back to life.

As you can see – the story is thrilling and has all the elements of the wizarding world. While reading it I was elated – it contained all sorts of cool new insights into Hogwarts and the history of Voldemort, as well as new magic spells and abilities. I really enjoyed reading it.

Now if you are familiar with the Harry Potter saga, something should be very evident to you now. Everything that I described above has absolutely nothing to do with the real story of the Order of the Phoenix, which Harry Potter fans got to read when the actual book hit the stores in June 2003. The book I read was a complete work of Fan Fiction.

Read the fake version here if you would like – it’s not bad!

Fan Fiction

Fan fiction (Also known as ‘FanFic’) is what happens when aspiring authors take a beloved universe of characters and settings, and create completely new stories with all of these familiar elements. The best fan fiction incorporates enough legitimate details from the authentic article that readers feel completely at home reading the unofficial tale. There also must be new and memorable material included, so that the story becomes captivating enough for readers to truly enjoy the story, and feel like their understanding and appreciation of the universe of characters is expanded.

Occasionally, fan fiction can be so well received that with a few minor tweaks it can take on a life of its own outside the original world that it was masquerading in (see this popular novel series which started as Twilight FanFic).

Accidentally on target

Occasionally fan fiction may serendipitously included elements of a story that turn out to be real, but that the original author had not yet revealed. This was true in the Harry Potter fan fiction mentioned above. Dudly softening towards Harry, a near lethal attack on Harry’s owl Hedwig, even a quasi alliance with Draco Malfoy; all are elements which would eventually be incorporated into the real Harry Potter saga. Are these proof that the story is authentic?

No.

Sometimes two people making things up independently will get some things sort of similar to each other. That is chance, made more probable by the fact that the fiction is being created around elements and characters which are common between them. This Harry Potter fan fiction is proof of that.

Discovering the FanFic

The bottom line is that no matter how well crafted or captivating a FanFic story is, there is no escaping the fact that it is a complete fabrication. There’s a problem though – how can you discover whether a FanFiction that is as believable as the Harry Potter one described above is not legitimate? In the extreme case, what if an author just as skilled as the original author creates a completely believable fabrication? How could you detect the illegitimacy of the fiction?

Others had the same problem that I had in trying to figure out where my Order of the Phoenix Story came from – they couldn’t tell if it was fake or real. How can you get to the truth of the matter?

Can you go by whether or not the right characters and settings are used? Well my fake story had all the right characters and settings – each showing their unique personalities and features, just as would be expected by the real deal.

Can you go by whether or not you experience the same feelings about the story? Well, my fake story had me captivated with the intrigue and adventure, and had me caring deeply about each of the protagonists and even feeling unprecedented compassion for Dudly and Malfoy. I was also devastated when Hermoine died. Those feelings came about because the events of the story conveyed significance to me, even though they were totally not the authentic tale. The feelings are not proof of authenticity.

Then how can you detect the fiction?

The answer is that you have to trace the unverified text back to where it came from. In the case of my Harry Potter fiction I had to go back and learn that a fan fiction author named Orion11 had created the story and put it on the peer-to-peer networks in the hopes that he would fool people into reading his book thinking it was the real deal (and heaping praise on it).

You see, the history of the text of the story is very important in detecting the fiction. You have to see exactly who created it and how they did it. If that investigation shows you that it is not an authentic text, then it doesn’t matter how detailed and consistent and meaningful the text is – it is still not an authentic story.

It is Fan Faction.

The Book of Abraham

The LDS Church recently released an essay covering the “Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham.” In the essay, the authors provide official acknowledgement of certain features of the source of the book, which the Church has never so unabashedly conceded before.

No Connection with papyri

The most significant statement is regarding the relevance of the papyri to the text of the Book of Abraham:

“None of the characters on the papyrus fragments mentioned Abraham’s name or any of the events recorded in the book of Abraham. Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists agree that the characters on the fragments do not match the translation given in the book of Abraham, though there is not unanimity, even among non-Mormon scholars, about the proper interpretation of the vignettes on these fragments.”

So the papyri have nothing to do with the text of the Book of Abraham. This is akin to discovering JK Rowlings notes that she used in creating the real Order of the Phoenix and comparing them with the text of my Fan Fiction and declaring that they have nothing whatsoever to do with each other. Actually I am wrong. That comparison would at least show that there were similar characters and background elements. The comparison here with the papyri is worse – it shows that there is absolutely nothing in common between Joseph’s text and what was previously considered the source documents.

That comparison alone should completely impeach the Book of Abraham as non-authentic and expose it to be in the category of fan fiction.

“translation” or ‘translation’?

But no. The essay goes on to redefine what is meant by the concept of “translation”

“This view assumes a broader definition of the words translator and translation. According to this view, Joseph’s translation was not a literal rendering of the papyri as a conventional translation would be. Rather, the physical artifacts provided an occasion for meditation, reflection, and revelation. They catalyzed a process whereby God gave to Joseph Smith a revelation about the life of Abraham, even if that revelation did not directly correlate to the characters on the papyri.“

So what are members to make of the many times that Joseph Smith recorded in his journal that he was “translating characters”? Take this example:

“I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc.,–a more full account of which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them. Truly we can say, the Lord is beginning to reveal the abundance of peace and truth.”

(History of the Church 2:236, archive.org)

Should members now believe that he simply mis-spoke and should have stated that he was meditating over the papyri and having the story of Abraham unfolded to his mind? That is what the essay is asking us to consider and believe.

This is akin to the Fan Fiction writer claiming that we should redefine the meaning of “legitimate authorship” to mean something else so that we can continue to accept his product as authentic. It is an embarrassing argument.

Historical Proof

Next, the essay points out a few examples of where some elements in the Book of Abraham sort of match up to the record of history.

It says that the Book of Abraham mentions human sacrifice and states that there is evidence that some cultures in the region executed people. There is an ancient inscription recently uncovered referring to a town called “Ulisum” which we are led to believe is a plausible equivalent for “the plain of Olishem.” If we assume both that that Ur was in the north and that Elkenah really should have been ‘El’ then it sort of matches with a Canaanite cult which did perform child sacrifices (thought it doesn’t cover why the priest of Pharoah would be involved with performing sacrifical rituals in an unrelated cult). It states that there are sources which describe Abraham’s fascination and learning about astronomy, though it doesn’t point out that all the references are authored by LDS “scholars” who have a powerful reason to draw certain conclusions which independent scholars don’t have.

These “proofs”, each of which have to be peppered with certain caveats are offered as a support for the authenticity of the text. This is akin to the features of the fake Order of the Pheonix which are sort of similar to what turned out to be the real story. Just as those similarities did not suddenly make the Fan Fiction authentic, these “proofs” cannot do so either.

What really matters

After putting up the defense that it does on the “translation” and “historicity” of the Book of Abraham, the essay concedes that none of that matters. As believers we are then relieved from having to really study those claims and see if they have merit (whew). The essay informs us of what really matters in determining the authenticity of the Book of Abraham:

“The veracity and value of the book of Abraham cannot be settled by scholarly debate concerning the book’s translation and historicity. The book’s status as scripture lies in the eternal truths it teaches and the powerful spirit it conveys. The book of Abraham imparts profound truths about the nature of God, His relationship to us as His children, and the purpose of this mortal life. The truth of the book of Abraham is ultimately found through careful study of its teachings, sincere prayer, and the confirmation of the Spirit.“

This is akin to saying that the authenticity of a story of unknown origin can be determined by how the story makes you feel when you read it. Just as the feelings I had about the characters, moral, and events of the Fan Fiction Order of the Phoenix did nothing to imbue that story with authenticity – this standard of truth applied to the Book of Abraham also falls short.

Conclusion

When faced with a text of unknown origin, which seems absolutely compelling and to have all of the elements of the genuine article it is essential to examine its author and origin in order to see if it is authentic. Orion11 – the author of the fake Order of the Phoenix is not JK Rowling. Tracing the text from where I discovered it back to its author and finding that it was not produced in the legitimate manner, through legitimate channels and from the legitimate author left me with an unavoidable fact – it was fake.

Did I enjoy the story? Yes! Do I wish that elements from it had made their way into the real Harry Potter adventures? Absolutely – how cool would it have been to have Draco Malfoy be an Animagus who could turn into a chimeric dragon more fierce than a Hungarian Horntail? Does the good experience I had while reading the book and the remarkable and consistent characterizations in the book overcome the fact that it is absolutely a false article?

Sadly, no.

When the lds.org essay tells us that examining the details of translation or the historicity of the Book of Abraham are not important, but it is how you feel when reading the story – they are asking you to accept what could very well be Fan Fiction without bothering to look into the details which could inform of the authenticity of the work.

You see, when I finally got ahold of the real Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I had no problem determining that it was real. The book itself, the sellers and publishers involved and the author welcomed any and all investigation into the source of the book because they had nothing to hide. A legitimate article stands on the merits of it’s status as the real deal. It doesn’t tell you to ignore problems with how it came to be or it’s place in history – because those very things establish it as the authentic article.

Fan Fiction has a place. It allows people remove from the official source of authorship to play the game of “what if” and give readers more of what they are craving in stories about characters whom they love. When you know the stories are not official cannon, it is a fun diversion. When someone creates fan fiction and tries to pass it of as legitimate, then there is fraud. If these stories completely alter your view of the world such as how you treat minorities and your relation to God, then the stakes are much higher and the need to confirm legitimacy is paramount. It is only those who are trying to deceive who would tell you that the origin and authorship of the story is not important. In doing so, they rob you of the very tools that are required to establish the truth.