The latest Sims 4 expansion, Realm of Magic, adds new content such as sages, new locations and new abilities for your Sims. It also includes a new book for them to read entitled ''Darley Porter & the Basement of Shadows," a tongue-in-cheek nod players are sure to appreciate.
Fans of the Harry Potter franchise will immediately pick up on the parody of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, as the description reads ''Follow the adventures of young spellcaster Darley Porter, and her friends Harmony Ginger and Rowan Measley, as they solve the mystery of the shadowy chamber beneath their high school gym.'' However, there may be more to this clever parody than first meets the eye.
The names are a clever parody of the original characters; Darley Porter instead of Harry Potter, Harmony Ginger instead of Hermonie Granger and Rowan Measley instead of Ron Weasley. Even the clever insert of the word "chamber" in the book description is a direct comparison to the Harry Potter franchise, and the characters solving a mystery below a school gym is very in keeping with the original characters solving the mystery below Hogwarts.
Another interesting point of the parody is EA's decision to name the author ''U.K Englishlady.'' Normally the author's name would be a parody of the original writer; for example, the parody book ''The Little Train that Couldn't'' is written by ''Batty Typer,'' as opposed to the real-life author of the book Watty Piper. If you're familiar with any of the parody titles, you could easily identify the author, but ''U.K. Englishlady'' could be just about anyone if Rowling's name didn’t spring to your mind first.
This could be in direct relation to J.K. Rowling coming under fire for a series of transphobic tweets in the past few years. Although EA has published the entire Harry Potter series as video games, dating back to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2001, this move could be seen as EA trying to distance itself from the heat of being associated with J.K. Rowling. Although EA could completely distance itself from the situation by removing the book, that might be seen as making more of a statement in itself rather than leaving the feature as a parody of a much-loved movie franchise.
Unfortunately, all Darley Porter seems to be is a fictional book and not an easter egg character in the game. It's fun to fantasize if Darley is possibly one of the sages in Realms of Magic, such as L.Faba, or possibly as there is no timeline comparison for us to go by in The Sims, could be one of the retired sages. Perhaps EA is encouraging users to create their own version of the story using the Realm of Magic expansion and perhaps an entire recreation of the Harry Potter storyline.