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“Yes, it’s rather funny, really, that next to no-one realised the snake that Harry set free in Philosopher’s Stone turned out to be Voldemort’s final Horcrux, Nagini.”

— (not actually) J.K. Rowling

Read this here in the morning so started thinking over this! Any clarifications?

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    You show the quote, but didn't link to the source, or specify where you read it. Can you do so?
    – David Stratton
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 2:43
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    mypotterexperience.tumblr.com/post/7871824436 This is the source , i knw its not so authentic but still thought worthwhile to discuss about it
    – Bhargav
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 2:45
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    The quote you're basing your question on is not by J.K. Rowling: elluhhh.buzznet.com/user/journal/10843221/… As for Nagini being the snake in the Sorcerer's Stone, they are not the same snake. If you Google "is the snake from Sorcerer's Stone Nagini?" the answer comes right up. :)
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 3:02
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    It only took 6 years, but we now have an official confirmation that it's not Nagini.
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 18:42

4 Answers 4

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Well, it doesn't seem likely for a couple of reasons:

  1. The voice of the snake in the zoo in the first film is male, while Nagini is female.

  2. The book says the snake is a Boa Constrictor, which is a non-venomous snake. Nagini, however, is venomous. (I believe in the first film the snake in the zoo was changed to a Burmese Python, which is also non-venomous.)

  3. I believe the first book describes the snake in the zoo as brown, whilst Nagini is said to be green.

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    You can tell the gender of a snake's voice? Has someone been practicing their parseltongue?
    – Xantec
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 3:40
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    @Xantec Well, I was assuming the actor they chose to give the English voice-over of the snake's lines in the theatrical release matched the gender of the snake. I also assume they had at least one parselmouth on set to advise on such matters during filming.
    – user5730
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 3:59
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    Nagini's voice always sounded female to me! :)
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 5:10
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    @Slytherincess "Nagini" means "female cobra" in Hindi. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%81ga.
    – Jay
    Commented Aug 30, 2014 at 6:14
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    Also the Cobras in Rudyard Kipling's 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' are called Nag and Nagaina.
    – Simon Hibbs
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 12:37
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The quote should read as follows:

Yes, it was rather funny, really, that next to no-one realised the ring Voldemort turned into a Horcrux was in actuality the One Ring of Power created by Sauron.

J.K. Rowling

Edited to add: The quote you're basing your question on is not by J.K. Rowling: see here. As for Nagini being the snake in the Sorcerer's Stone, they are not the same snake. If you Google "is the snake from Sorcerer's Stone Nagini?" the answer comes right up. :)

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    The first part of this post is just a joke; the link in the second part has gone dead (this is exactly why link-only answers are deleted on SE); and the third part is just telling the OP to use Google (which, as the top Google result is now this question, is pretty circular). Sorry, but this answer isn't up to your usual standards :-)
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    Commented Nov 4, 2017 at 1:18
  • @Randal'Thor top google result for YOU! which is probably because of cookies but maybe also because it has 65000 views. Anyways, if other joke answers don't get deleted for historical significance, I don't see why this one should.
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 11:17
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    @Edlothiad Other joke answers DO get deleted, despite upvotes or historical significance. scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/q/10117/31394
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 11:25
  • @Randal'Thor but this is an answer. "As for Nagini being the snake in the Sorcerer's Stone, they are not the same snake." Don't know what you want to delete it as, but it's as "bad" as 53% (random number) of questions on the site. If you felt so strongly you'd have nuked it yourself
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 11:26
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    @Edlothiad Not sure why you assume I "want to delete it" - as you point out, I could have nuked it myself in that case.
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 11:30
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J.K. Rowling has confirmed (via a twit) that the snake in the zoo is definitively not Nagini

And Nagini ended up in a zoo?!

JKR: Noooo... I thought I'd shot that one down! The escaped boa constrictor in Philosopher's Stone wasn't Nagini. It was never Nagini. That's an incorrect but very persistent fan theory!

JKR Twitter

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    JKR being all vocal on twiddler at the moment. Saying all kinds of crazy stuff. Lots of answers coming :-)
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 18:45
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    Answers... or new contradictions based on stuff she forgot she ever said? :p anyway, good find!
    – Jenayah
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 18:47
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    Yes, but apparently Nagini also used to be a "Maledictus", and was capable of transforming between human and snake forms. As much as I love the Harry Potter books, I'm not convinced we should be paying much attention to what JK Rowling has to say any more...
    – Anthony Grist
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 18:55
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    @AnthonyGrist - There has been much discussion off-site about quite what drugs Rowling has access to now that she's a billionaire.
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 18:57
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    @Jules - On Twitter one twits.
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 21:06
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No, the snake in the first book is not Nagini. As was mentioned earlier, the snake from the first book was bred in captivity. IIRC, the snake never left captivity before Harry freed it.

In order for Nagini to be that snake, that snake would have had to find Voldemort sometime during the books.

This is in addition to the other reasons listed above.

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  • Voldemort appears to have gotten Naigini sometime after his first body.
    – Emily Campbell
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 19:51

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