The Significance of Mythical Creatures and Their Symbols in the First Six Series of Harry Potter by J.K
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MYTHICAL CREATURES AND THEIR SYMBOLS IN THE FIRST SIX SERIES OF HARRY POTTER BY J.K. ROWLING TOWARD THE STORYLINE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BUDI UTOMO TAN SUBEKTI
Student Number : 034214044
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MYTHICAL CREATURES AND THEIR SYMBOLS IN THE FIRST SIX SERIES OF HARRY POTTER BY J.K. ROWLING TOWARD THE STORYLINE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BUDI UTOMO TAN SUBEKTI
Student Number : 034214044
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
i
‘IDENTITY AND SELF RESPECT ARE NOT TO BE FOUND….
THEY ARE TO BE REVEALED’
BUDI --- 7TH MAY 2009, 13:20 ---
iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama : Budi Utomo Tan Subekti
Nomor Mahasiswa : 034214044
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul : The Significance of Mythical Creatures and Their Symbols in the First six series of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling toward the Storyline beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me- ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun mem- berikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 21 Juli 2009
Yang menyatakan
(Budi Utomo Tan Subekti) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank everyone who has helped me until this undergraduate thesis is completed.
First, for Thian the Mighty, who allows me to have such a wonderful life. I would not be as I am without all the events that I had been. Thank you to my wonderful family, Papah, Mamah, my Big Brothers and Sister Ko’Ming, Ko’Hue,
Ci’Nik and Ko’Nan who keep encouraging, believing and trying their best to make me focus on my works which now had become a reality for me. All my pets in keeping me busy when I am down.
I also would like to give my most sincere gratitude for my advisor, Ms. Ni
Luh Putu R., S.S., M.Hum., for all suggestions, correction and her trust on me in completing this thesis. I also thank my co-advisor Mr. G. Fajar S.A., S.S, M.Hum for the valuable input and correction for this thesis, and also for all the staff of the university and for the ones in secretariat who have helped me for these long years.
Thanks to all Bolo Kurowo (members of angkringanè Ramto) who helped me in doing what I can the most, when I am in doubt and difficult situation. I can not give anything but my friendship to each and one of you....
Last but not least, for my girl, Meme letting me invade her laptop and printer, thank you very much for your love and trust to me.
All of you had thought me many new stuffs and experiences in life. I can only hope for the best of all of us in the future.
Budi Utomo Tan Subekti
v TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ...... i APPROVAL PAGE ...... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...... iii MOTTO PAGE ...... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vi ABSTRACT ...... vii ABSTRAK ...... viii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1. Background of the Study ...... 1 2. Problem Formulation ...... 5 3. Objective of the Study ...... 5 4. Definition of Terms ...... 6
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ...... 9 1. Review of Related Studies ...... 9 2. Review of Related Theories ...... 12 3. Theoretical Framework ...... 24
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...... 27 1. Object of the Study ...... 27 2. Approach of the Study ...... 30 3. Method of the Study ...... 31
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ...... 34 1. List of the Entire Creatures and their Classification ...... 34 2. Mythical Creatures Symbols ...... 44 3. The Significance of the Mythical Creature and their Representation ...... 74
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...... 91
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 94
APPENDICES ...... 99 Appendix 1...... 99 Appendix 2...... 112 Appendix 3...... 116 Appendix 4...... 120
vi ABSTRACT
BUDI UTOMO TAN SUBEKTI. The Significance of Mythical Creatures and Their Symbols in the First Six Series of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling toward the Storyline. Yogyakarta: English Letters Department, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.
This undergraduate thesis analyzes the significance of the mythical creatures, their representation and the symbols that the mythical creatures have in the first six series of Harry Potter adventures by J.K. Rowling. The characters used are the mythical creatures themselves and certainly with the help of some human characters to bold up their usage in the story. The symbols used by each of the creatures are very essential to reveal what the author really wants to say to the reader. This thesis uses theory of character and characterization, symbolism and allegory, and representation theory for the analysis and as the approach it uses new criticism. The analysis is divided into three subchapters based on three problems stated in the problem formulation, and they are: (1) What are the creatures used by Rowling in the first six series? (2) What do the mythical creatures symbolize? and (3) What is the significance of the mythical creatures and their representation toward the storyline? For doing the analysis, the researcher used library research with some steps. First, the researcher used data collecting to get the list of all the creatures mentioned in the story. Later, those creatures were classified into the mythical creatures and the non-mythical creatures. Next, the researcher analyzed the data based on certain classification, actions and events that had been through by the creatures. As the results, the researcher found out that each of the creatures is used to deliver moral values. All of the mythical creatures analyzed have certain usage to the whole story and keep certain symbols used to represent and to show some moral lessons and certain philosophy. Besides to deliver the moral values of the story, they were created to help the characters to improve themselves, to create events, to enrich the conflict, to be the tool to achieve some purposes or goals, to make a clear plot, and to reveal the attitude of other characters in Harry Potter’s adventures.
vii ABSTRAK
BUDI UTOMO TAN SUBEKTI. The Significance of Mythical Creatures and Their Symbols in the First Six Series of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling toward the Storyline. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. 2009.
Skripsi ini membahas pentingnya makhluk mitos, serta simbol dan representasi mereka dalam enam buku pertama petualangan Harry Potter karya J.K. Rowling. Tokoh-tokoh yang dipakai adalah makhluk mitos dan tokoh manusia untuk memperjelas fungsi mereka didalam cerita tersebut. Simbol-simbol yang digunakan pada tiap makhluk sangat penting untuk mengungkapkan apa yang ingin disampaikan penulis kepada para pembaca. Skripsi ini menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, simbol dan alegory, dan teori representasi untuk analisanya dan menggunakan new criticism sebagai pendekatannya. Analisis dalam skripsi ini dibagi menjadi tiga sub-bahasan berdasarkan tiga pertanyaan yang muncul di pokok permasalahan, yaitu : (1) Makhluk apa saja yang digunakan oleh Rowling pada enam seri pertama? (2) menyimbolkan apakah makhluk-makhluk mitos tersebut? dan (3) Apakah pentingnya makhluk-makhluk mitos itu dan representasi mereka terhadap keseluruhan cerita? Untuk melakukan analisa ini peneliti mengunakan studi pustaka dengan beberapa langkah. Pertama, peneliti menggunakan metode pengumpulan data untuk mendapatkan daftar seluruh makhluk-makhluk yang disebutkan di dalam cerita. Kemudian seluruh makhluk tersebut diklasifikasikan dan dikelompokkan menjadi makhluk mitos dan makhluk bukan mitos. Lalu peneliti menganalisa data tersebut untuk berdasarkan klasifikasi tertentu, aksi dan kejadian-kejadian yang telah dilalui oleh makhluk-makhluk tersebut. Hasilnya, peneliti menemukan bahwa setiap makhluk tersebut digunakan untuk menyampaikan nilai-nilai moral. Seluruh makhluk mitos yang dianalisis mamiliki kegunaan tertentu terhadap keseluruhan cerita dan menyandang simbol- simbol tertentu yang dipakai untuk merepresentasikan dan menyampaikan nilai- nilai moral dan falsafah tertentu. Selain untuk menyampaikan hal tersebut, mereka diciptakan untuk membantu para karakter dalam mengoptimalisasikan kemampuan mereka, menciptakan beberapa kejadian, memperkaya konflik, sebagai alat untuk mencapai tujuan tertentu, memperjelas plot, dan mengungkapkan perilaku karakter lainnya dalam petualangan Harry Potter.
viii 1
Chapter I
Introduction
A. Background of the Study
What are mythical creatures? Do they have meaning? What do they represent? Those questions may be identified as the basic forms in making this undergraduate thesis. Here, the researcher wants to reveal the symbols that the mythical creatures perform in the first six series of Harry Potter written by J.K
Rowling and also the connection of those mythical creatures with the other characters (mythical creatures and the non-mythical ones which are human in
Harry Potter’s series).
Harry Potter series written by J.K Rowling are very popular. The researcher believes that this novel is awesome because Rowling cleverly uses the language, and it has successfully driven the researcher through the plot, the characteristics, and the details within the stories. In fact, the researcher finds that many people in the worldwide also love this novel because of the same reasons
Novel is a kind of literary work.If we look carefully in it, we will be able
1 2
to learn many things and we will surely be able to develop our imagination.
Alterbend and Lewis once wrote in their book, Keys to Extended Meaning, that
“Literature is one of the chief means in which people convert themselves in the human being that can help us to shape our perception” (1980: 90). Based on what was written by Alterbend and Lewis on their book that literature can change point of view of a person, the researcher is interested in revealing the mythical creatures of Harry Potter since the description of those mythical creatures are very interesting and it stimulates the researcher to reveal their symbols and function in the story in order to present a different point of view in those creatures.
Although it is in a form of novel, the target of this book is firstly for the teenagers, but later it has been read by all ages (children, teenagers, and adult).
Harry Potter’s series had been planned to be written in seven series by the author,
J.K Rowling. The work is categorized as ‘children’s adult literature’, for the reason that at first the main target is teenagers, and now it is widespread until it reaches another level of ‘audience’, that is why these books can also be categorized into adult literature. Based on the story it is categorized as children’s book (fairies, imaginary creatures, wizard, good and evil, etc), but based on its form it is categorized as an adult book (in a form of novel).
Based on some dependable data, the researcher concludes that in general
Harry Potter series are great from the characters, plot, theme, and the language is easy to understand (unlike most novels with many sophisticated words pointed as
‘literary words’), and the diction is familiar (except for the name, places, and spells). 3
All the characters have different contributions to the plot of the story. It is found that even small things happened in this story are related to the main topic and later on into the next series, which later builds the unity of the story and for the whole series.
The researcher chooses the first six series of J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) to be analyzed for some reasons.
The first reason is that the topic chosen by J. K. Rowling is closely related to the definition of children story (the imagination, the creatures, the themes were about magic, friendship, romance, bravery, etc) but it is in the form of novel and the way she combines all of them into one continuous story without having no awkwardness in all sense is very skillful. We do not need to ‘think’ hard, and if we have lots of questions, we do not need to reread it; we will only get all the answers in latter events or in the next series.
The second reason is that the work has many values related to social relationships of people, like honesty, friendship, forgiveness, trust between a couple (the spell of the late Harry’s parents for him through his relatives), etc.
Those values build the uniqueness of the characteristics of the imaginative people in the story.
The third reason is that in the work J.K. Rowling takes so many forms of mythical creatures and even creates a new form of it. This may provide us a new 4
perspective to see a literary work and it can enrich our lives with their symbols that will be analyzed in this undergraduate thesis.
The fourth reason for the researcher to choose this novel as the literary text to be analyzed is because novel is a literary text to be read and enjoyed. Some experts mentioned that in order to be a good researcher we should not get carried away in reading the text, but here the researcher believes that in reading Harry
Potter’s series it would be hard to create that condition, it is because J.K Rowling had made a work which is very complicated yet full of details.In order to understand the story and its details we should get in the atmosphere of the story and feel it like a reality, not like a data. At this point, the writer wants to achieve the purpose of understanding the creatures’ symbols and what their ‘functions’ are in the stories (the reason why J.K Rowling used them).
The fifth reason for the researcher in analysing the story would be how the stories were written. It is a work of literature, and it is a very hard thing to made, especially if the content of the work came from so many cultural aspects. Many of the readers that had read Harry Potter adventures said that they would not want to hold their urge to finish it; they would go with the flow of the story since it was written smoothly, without having any strange thing or awkwardness. The uniqueness of this work is that Rowling could blend several myths, legends, and fantastic creatures which originate from many countries and nations into one familiar piece of a story.
This undergraduate thesis focuses on the symbols of the mythical creatures as the main discussion. Mythical creatures are chosen because they are related 5
closely with symbols and they have such an important role for the main characters
(the human characters), which are involved in the main story for each book and for the whole series. They can be said to have an important role in the plot of the story, for example as the saviors at the crucial time and place (Fawkes,
Dumbledore’s phoenix rescued Harry when he was about to die by the wound and poison caused by a basilisk venom – book 2; Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secret).
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background of the study, the problems can be stated as follows:
1. What are the creatures used by Rowling in the first six series?
2. What do the mythical creatures symbolize?
3. What is the significance of the mythical creatures and their representation
toward the storyline?
C. Objectives of the Study
The purpose of the study in this undergraduate thesis is to show the continuous relationship of all the mythical creatures in J.K. Rowling’s series, and to give a clearer description about the creatures’ origins, their role especially in
Rowling’s works. The author’s imagination and her point of view toward the creatures are also described in this undergraduate thesis. The novel is analyzed based on related theories; symbolism and new criticism. The focus of the study is 6
the creatures’ symbols viewed from the researcher’s point of view based on varied sources of data. Later on, in the analysis the researcher describes and tries to reveal the creature’s function and identify, the creatures’ roles, their details and of course their symbols in the story.
D. Definition of Terms
There are some significant terms that often appear in this thesis. To avoid misunderstanding of the meaning of those terms, the researcher defines the term based on varied references.
1. Symbol
A Glossary of Literary Terms sixth edition written by A.S. Hornby and published by Cornell University stated that symbol in the broadest sense is anything which signifies something; words, object, or event which in its turn signifies something, or has a range of reference beyond itself. Some are
“conventional” or “public” (like a cross, rose, the color of red, white, etc) and some are “private” or “personal symbols”.They often do so by exploiting widely shared association between an object or an action with a particular concept (like the rising sun as birth, setting of sun as death, etc); some repeatedly use symbols whose significance they largely generate themselves.
Symbols suggest a broad area of significance; transforming the phenomenon into idea, the idea into an image and such in a way that the idea remains always infinitely active. 7
2. Myth
A Glossary of Literary Terms stated that the word “myth” is derived from classical Greek “mythos” signified any story or plot, whether true or invented. A myth is one story in a mythology – a system of hereditary stories which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain (in terms of the intention and actions of deities and other supernatural beings) why the world is at it is and things happen as they do, to provide a rationale for social customs and observances. It can be said that a mythology is a religion in which we no longer believed.
The term “myth” has also been extended to denote supernatural tales which are deliberately invented by their authors. Mythology, whether invented or inherited, is essential to literature.
3. Creature
A.S. Hornby stated that creature is a living being, especially an animal.
But to make it clearer Microsoft Encarta Dictionary 2008 defines creature as any living person or animal with an unpleasant or frightening physical form; it can be because of natural events (born, or because an accident) or created by someone or something, for an example the story of Hunchback from Notre dame, Minotaur- the son of Pasipae-queen of Kreta- or Frankenstein.
4. Mythical creature
Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008 said that it is something in the form of any living animal which were created by the ancient people through stories in order to achieve some goals (e.g. parents told a frightening stories so 8
that their children obey them, or in order to teach them some values; moral value, heroic deeds, etc). Its existence is believed in many generations and thereby becomes an authentic story (as the proof of their origins, existence and their symbols in many ancient artifacts).
5. Story line
Based on Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008 story line is another utterance of continuous plot, theme, scenario, and subplot in a book or in a movie. 9
Chapter II
Theoretical Review
This chapter covers four main parts. The first part is the review of related studies which provides some studies of the novel but they are analyzing different topics. Moreover, this part explains the originality of the study. This part also includes the criticism of Harry Potter novel. The second part is the review of the related theories. It discusses some theories of literature which become the base for analyzing the topic for this undergraduate thesis. There are four theories that are used to analyze and to reveal the symbols and its relation with the other creatures
(both mythical creatures in Harry Potter’s series and the non-mythical ones which are human) from the researcher’s point of view; they are theory of character and characterization, symbolism and allegory, new criticism, and representation. The third part contains the review on literature and biography which explain about the close relation between the literary work and the biography of J.K Rowling’s. Last, the fourth part is the theoretical framework which is the guidance to analyze the study; it is to find the answer of the questions stated in problem formulation.
A. Review of Related Studies
Some works and criticism toward Rowling and her literary works are very important for the researcher in enriching the development of the story, for that reason the researcher included some works in this part.
In thesis written by Mellia Hapsari Sabarno, entitled The Significance of
Hermione Granger to Represent Rowling’s School Life in Harry Potter and the
9 10
Prisoner of Azkaban (third book), she wrote about the resemblance of Hermione
Granger (a character in the book) with the author J.K Rowling, she compared their physical appearances (female, brown hair, brown eyes), their activities (studying, reading in the library for hours), and their achievement and quality (smartest student, book-oriented, brave, sensitive, etc).
Maria Benedicta Dian Savitri wrote in her thesis entitled The Reflection of the Social Divisions of The Twentieth Century British Society in J.K Rowling’s
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret (second book), that the social divisions in the society are reflected with the “classification” of a wizard status which is pure blood (who came from both parents with wizard capabilities-descendent from the true wizard), half blood (whose one of the parents is a muggle-non-wizard people), and mud blood (who are capable of doing magical things while they are the son or daughter from a muggle or a non-wizard people,). Maria compared these classifications with the upper class, middle class, and lower class people
(from wealth, education, and daily activities).
In the thesis entitled Voldemort’s Psychological Transformation to affect the plot of Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (book sixth) Eko
Hadi Yuniarto, analyzed how a half blood could be a very powerful wizard (a talented and genius wizard, and how he gave himself a spell to be immortal) and his significance (as antagonist character). In the sixth book it was explained the childhood of Voldemort with the original name of Tom Marvolo Riddle, who is an introvert person and the last descendent of a great dark wizard Salazar
Slytherin, his ambition, and how the process of his transformation to be 11
Voldemort. It can be said that all the main conflict is created by Voldemort, and without the existence of Voldemort, the stories will be plot less.
There is a study done by Elizabeth Pandolfo Briggs, the editor of Alice’s
Academy
Elizabeth concluded that the greatest interest in the book may be located in this ingenious structure that suggests a surprising closeness between fantasy and reality.
Ian Cunningham made ‘A Wizard Quiz about Harry Potter’ in Reader’s
Digest November 2002 to test the readers how much they know about the story of
Harry Potter. He said that “Harry Potter will once again be casting his spell with the release of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets this month.” It indicates how many people around the world are familiar with Harry Potter series.
However, there are criticisms stated that the theme of the next series is more frightening and not well-suited for children (death, complicated plot, nasty creatures, and so on). Phill Villarreal with his article entitled “Potter Sequel Long and So-so” in Arizona Daily Star on November 15, 2002 states that J.K Rowling’s 12
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret deals with slavery and racialism. This is specially presented by the character of Dobby the house-elf and Hermione
Granger, the friend of Harry Potter, whose parents are non-wizard. Furthermore, he claims that this book has much darker tone than its prequel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, because it suggests many more frightening creatures and events (giant spider, snake, death, some students petrified, etc)
This undergraduate thesis attempts to develop something new and different from the other studies; this undergraduate thesis focuses on revealing the mythical creature’s function and their symbols from the first six series of Harry
Potter. Therefore, this undergraduate thesis makes a new contribution to literary review since it has not been reviewed before.
B. Theories Review
1. Theory of Character and Characterization a. Character
Based on their importance, characters are categorized into major and minor character. A major character is usually the center of the story. He or she is the most important character in the story. “Major character is often called the protagonist or the hero.” (Van de Laar and Schoonderwoerd, 1963:164) While minor character is a character that appears in a setting just necessarily to become the background for the major characters. “Their roles are less important than the major character because they are not fully developed characters, and their roles in 13
a story are just to support the development of the major character.” (Abrams,
1981: 20)
Based on the internal complexity, characters are also divided into two types; they are flat character and round character. A flat character is presented without many individualizing details, and therefore can be adequately described in a single phrase or sentence. It also can be ‘a single idea or quality’. A round character is complex in temperament and motivation that is presented with subtle particularity. “He is as difficult to describe with any adequacy as a person in real life is and like most people, he is capable of surprising us.” (Abrams, 1981:20)
Characterized by one trait or two, flat characters can be written in a sentence to describe whether they are good or bad character. It makes flat character not fully developed. Round characters are more complex and multi sided in their temperament so that the characters have much proportion for their development.
According to C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon in their book, A
Handbook to Literature (1986), characters are also categorized into two types, namely static and dynamic. Firstly, a static character is a character who experience a bit of change (can be in his or her attitude or appearance). The pattern of action reveals the character rather than showing the character changing in response to actions. Sometimes a static character gives the appearance of changing simply because our picture of the character is revealed bit by bit.
Examples of static characters are: Rubeus Hagrid, Prof. Dumbledore, Prof. Mc
Gonagal, etc.
Secondly, the dynamic character is one who is modified by actions and 14
experiences, and one objective of the work in which the character’s appearance is to reveal the consequences of these actions (Holman & Harmon, 1986:83).
Examples of dynamic characters are: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron
Weasley, etc. To judge whether they are static or dynamic is not only based on the changing in a condition or little changing in opinion, but there is a process to make the changing.
b. Characterization
Characterization is the process of creating characters in fiction, often those who are different from and have different beliefs than the author. A writer can assume the point of view of a child, an older person, a member of the opposite gender, someone of another race or culture, or anyone who is not like them in personality or otherwise. In essays or novels, characterization is character development which helps to establish themes.
Characterization can involve developing variety of aspects of a character, such as appearance, age, gender, educational level, vocation or occupation, financial status, marital status, social status, hobbies, religious beliefs, ambitions, motivations, etc.
In Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 20-21) Abram defines character as
“the person presented by the author as being endowed with moral and disposition qualities that can be evaluated from the dialogue and the action.”
Holman and Harmon stated that characterization is the creation of imaginary persons in fictions (drama, novel, short story, or narrative poem), so 15
that they exist for the reader like life-like. They define three methods of characterization afterwards: “Firstly, by the explicit presentation of the author of the character through direct exposition; secondly, by the presentation of the character in the action; and thirdly, by the representation from within the character” (1986:81).
However Murphy in his work, Understanding Unseens, has several ways in which an author is able to make his or her characters understandable to the readers (1972:161-173):
a. By the personal description,
where the author describes a person‘s appearance and clothes to
build the character.
b. By representing the characters as seen by other.
Here, the author describes his or her character through another’s eyes
and opinions, instead of describing the character directly.
c. By speech.
The character is recognized by the readers from what other persons
in the story say.
d. By past life.
Letting the readers know and learn something about a person’s past
life surely can give a clue to shape the person’s character.
e. By the conversation of others.
When people talk about others, it can give some clues to recognize
the character talked about. 16
f. By reactions.
Considering a person’s reaction toward some situations or events
may give the readers some clues to the character.
g. By direct comment.
The author can also describe or give comment on a person’s
character directly.
h. By thought.
By knowing what a person is thinking about, the readers will be able
to recognize the person’s character
i. By mannerisms.
The author can describe a person’s mannerisms or habits in order to
tell the readers something about this character.
Another way of characterization is offered by Roberts, Edgar V and Jacobs in Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, that is, a story is usually concerned with major issues that a character must face. Characterization through dialogues, actions, and commenting may involve interaction between a character with another character, with a difficulty situation or with an idea (Robert,
1989:56)
In his book Approach to Literature, Little states that “to be of interest and value in literature, characterization must be to some degree realistic” (1981:92). It is important for the authors to reveal the real sense to the characters they create, as if they are creating a new life form that really exist in the present world; it needs to be done so that the reader can feel the characters and involved in the story. 17
Even in fantasy and caricature, an essential element is truth to life. However original and fantastic the author’s approach, he will fail if his reader do not feel that his character are real, believable, based on possible variations of human nature (1981:92).
Kate Greenville in her book entitled The Writing Book, A Work Book for
Fiction Writers, agreed to Little that characterization is all the things writers do to build up the character they wanted (character development into good or evil, their physical appearance and their abilities). She added that characterization is the process to transforms real-life people into the characters in fiction (1990:36).
Little also added that the important thing about human life is that no person is wholly good or wholly evil, so that characters in the work (whether it is fiction or not) should be no wholly good or wholly evil (1981:92).
3. Theory on Symbolism and Allegory a. Symbolism
“Symbolism and allegory are modes of literary expression that are designed to extend meaning”, (Keys to Extended Meaning). Symbols are the representation from a group of people or as a token of a certain era and until now symbols are still used to make something easier to be said, especially in a work of literature. In here the researcher will explore only the symbols in Rowling’s works and try to reveal what the mythical creatures represent, and their significance toward the story line.
In literature, a symbol pulls or draws together a specific thing with ideas, values, persons, ways of life, or even certain events, in a direct relationship that otherwise would not be apparent (Robert and Jacobs, 1989:326). A symbol may 18
remain itself and it can stand for or suggest something else. Symbolism, according to Goethe quoted by Abrams, “transforms the phenomenon into idea, the idea into an image, and in such a way that the idea remains always infinitely active and unapproachable in the image, and even if expressed in all language, still would remain inexpressible” (1985:208). Symbols are not solely objects presented in the work. They may also be a single word, a setting, a character, situations, actions, thoughts, even verbal patterns or idea. It possesses its own reality and meaning and may function at the normal level of reality within a story. There is often a topical or integral relationship between the symbol and things it stands for or the representation, but a symbol may also have no apparent connection and therefore may be considered arbitrary. What is important; however, is that the symbol points beyond itself to a greater and more complex meaning (Keys to Extended
Meaning). When a symbol is introduced, like a key opening a lock, it signifies a specific combination of attitude, a sustained constancy of meaning and the potential for wide-ranging application. A symbol might appear over and over again in the same story, yet it always maintains the same meaning. Thus you might think of a symbol as a constant against a background of variables, like a theme with variations.
To determine whether something in a story is symbolic, we must decide if it consistently refers beyond itself to a significant idea, emotion, or quality. There are two types of symbols according to Roberts and Jacobs (1989:327). The first is symbols that are generally or universally recognized, and authors referring to them rely on this common understanding. These types of symbols are sometimes 19
called cultural or universal symbols. They embody ideas or emotion that the writer and the reader share a common as a result of their social and cultural heritage. When using these symbols, a writer does not have to take the time to invest objects or people with symbolic resonance within the story; he or she can simply assume that the reader knows what the symbol represents for example, the color of black symbolizes sadness, darkness, and full of mysteries; the color of white symbolizes pureness and holiness, etc. The second type of symbol is called private, authorial, or contextual symbols for example for some people the color of red represent anger and cruelty, but for other people it will represent spirit and bravery. A contextual symbol is the object and description that gain their symbolic meaning within the context of the specific work of fiction. It only occurs in certain literary works, and only recognized by particular people, nation or culture. “Its further significance is to determinate within particular culture”
(Abrams, 1985:206).
In determining whether a particular object or person in a story is a symbol, we need to make decisions based on our judgment of its total significance. If it appears to be of major importance, we can claim it has symbolic value as long as we can show its scope and sustained reference beyond itself. Symbols may appear as the story progresses, it may gain significance effect for both the author and the readers. Perrine gave cautions in order to analyze symbolic meaning (1974: 214-
215), as follows:
1. The readers should find clues that give details to be taken
symbolically. Symbols nearly indicate their existence by emphasis, 20
repetition or position.
2. The meaning of literary symbols must be established and supported by
the entire context because the symbol has its meaning inside the
context, not outside it.
3. A symbol may have more than one meaning in which its meanings are
controlled by the context of the literary works.
These cautions can help the reader in finding and analyzing the symbolical meaning in a literary works, because precise interpretation of symbols requires delicacy, tack, and good sense.
b. Allegory
A narrative inverse of prose in which the literal events consistently point to a parallel sequence of symbolic ideas. This narrative strategy is often used to dramatize almost ideas, historical events, religious systems or political issues. An allegory has two levels of meaning. Goethe as quoted by Abrams in A Glossary of
Literary Terms stated that “Allegory transforms the phenomenon into a concept, the concept into an image, but in such a way that the concept always remains bounded in the image, and is entirely to be kept and held in it, and to be expressed by it” (1985:208). Both Coleridge and Goethe stress that an allegory presents a pair of subjects (an image and a concept) and a symbol only one (the image alone)
(1985:208).
Allegory is like symbolism in that both use one thing to refer to something else. Microsoft Encarta Student Edition 2008 stated that the term allegory derived 21
from Greek word allegorein, which means “to speak so as to imply other than what is said.” Allegory, however, tends to be more complex and sustained than symbolism.
An allegory is to a symbol as a motion picture is to a still picture; allegory puts symbols into consistent and sustained action. In form, an allegory is a complete and self-sufficient narrative; it also signifies another series or level of events or conditions of life as expressed in a habit of thought, a philosophy, or a religion.
“Allegory is a narrative strategy which may be employed in any literary form or genre to deliver moral lesson to the reader” A Glossary of Literary Terms
(1985, 5). Allegories and the allegorical method do not exist simply to enable authors to engage in mysterious literary exercises, it was understood at some point in the past that people might more willingly listen to the stories instead of the moral lessons. Therefore the allegorical method evolved to entertain and instruct at the same time. In addition, the threat of reprisal or censorship sometimes causes authors to express their views indirectly in the form of allegory rather than to write directly. The double meaning that we will find in the allegory is hence quite real.
There are three narrative forms that are special types of allegory. The first is fable, a short story, often featuring animals with human traits, to which writers and editors attach “moral” or explanations. Such as stories are often called beast fables. It is a very old literary form and has been found a place in the literature of most societies. The second is parable, a really short, simple allegory. Parables are 22
often associated with Jesus, who used them in His teaching to embody religious insight and truth. The third is myth, a story that is related or associated with the religion, philosophy, and collective psychology of various groups of cultures. It sometimes embodies scientific truths for pre-scientific societies; they codify the social and cultural values of the civilization in which they were composed.
Sometimes, unfortunately, the term mythical is used to suggest that something is untrue. This minimizing of the word reflects a limited appreciation of the psychological and social truths embedded in myths. The truths in mythology are not found literally in the stories themselves, but rather in our symbolic or allegorical interpretation of them (Microsoft Encarta Student Edition 2008).
To the extent that literature is true and probable, much of it may consider symbolic or allegorical, and knowing these, we may be tempted to find symbolism and allegorical meaning where none might exist.
4. Theory on New Criticism
New Critics treats a work of literature as if it were a self-contained, self- referential object. Rather than basing their interpretations of a text on the reader’s response, the author’s stated intentions, or parallels between the text and historical contexts (such as author’s life), New Critics performs a close reading, concentrating on the relationships within the text that give it its own distinctive character or form. New Critics emphasizes that the structure of a work should not be divorced from meaning, viewing the two as constituting a quasi-organic unity.
Special attention is paid to repetition, particularly of images or symbols. 23
Because it stresses close textual analysis and viewing the text as a carefully crafted, orderly object containing formal, observable patterns, the New
Criticism has sometimes been called an ‘objective’ approach to literature. New
Critics are more likely than certain other critics to believe and say that the meaning of a text can be known objectively. For instance, reader-response critics see meaning as a function either of each reader’s experience or of the norms that govern a particular interpretive community.
The foundations of the New Criticism were laid in books and essays written during the 1920s and 1930s by I. A. Richards (Practical Criticism, 1929),
William Empson (Seven Types of Ambiguity, 1930), and T. S. Eliot (The Function of Criticism, 1933). The approach was significantly developed later, however, by a group of American poets and critics, including R. P. Blackmur, Cleanth Brooks,
John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, and William K. Wimsatt.
Although we associate the New Criticism with certain principles and terms—such as affective fallacy (the notion that the reader’s response is relevant to the meaning of a work) and intentional fallacy (the notion that the author’s intention determines the work’s meaning)—the New Critics were trying to make a cultural statement rather than to establish a critical dogma. Generally southern, religious, and culturally conservative, they advocated the inherent value of literary works
(particularly of literary works regarded as beautiful art objects) because they were sick of the growing ugliness of modern life and contemporary events.
Some recent theorists even link the rising popularity after World War II of the New Criticism (and other types of formalist literary criticism such as the 24
Chicago School) to American isolationism. These critics tend to view the formalist tendency to isolate literature from biography and history as symptomatic of American fatigue with wider involvements. Whatever the source of the New
Criticism’s popularity (or the reason for its eventual decline), its practitioners and the textbooks they wrote were so influential in American academia that the approach became standard in college and even high school curriculum through the
1960s and well into the 1970s.
(Adapted from The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, A Glossary of Literary Terms and Beginning Theory, An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory)
5. Theory of Representation
Andrew Gibson wrote that there are two kinds of representation according to him in his book Postmodern Theory, Toward a Postmodern Theory of
Narrative. The first is ‘surface representation’ and the second is ‘representation of depth’. The ‘surface representation’ concerns about the representation of the surface which can be looked clearly. It is visible. The example of the ‘surface representation’ is the appearance. But, Gibson said that the ‘surface representation’ is not just about the thing which is ‘visible’, it also includes the things that are apprehended by the senses. Meanwhile, the ‘representation of depth’ is the invisible representation. It cannot be looked clearly from the outside.
It has to be looked from the inside. It is the representation of essences, general features, etc (1996, 81-82). 25
Supporting Gibson, Peter Barry in his book, Beginning Theory, an
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, explained about the term
'representation' which is used to define the thing which has similarities with another thing in which these similarities can be seen in the outside or even can be found in the inside. Barry, then, divided the stage of representation to four stages in which the stages can be considered as the analogous to the four different ways of representation. The first one is the sign which represents "a basic reality".
Second is that the "sign may change the reality behind it". The third stage for the sign is ''the disguise of the fact which has no correspondence of reality underneath". In third sign ''there's a representation of a representation". The last one is that ''the sign seems to have no relation to any reality" (2002: 87).
C. Theoretical Framework
By understanding the basic and brief theory of symbolism, allegory, and new criticism, we know that each of the mythical creature’s character is having their own meaning, function, and even symbols.
The researcher’s analysis focuses on each of the mythical creature which shows a significant role in each book. The researcher discusses mainly the symbols, and their function toward the story line will be included for the second focus. It is done to limit the analysis so that it will not be confusing and be too wide.
The researcher puts some reviews and criticism of Rowling’s work in the beginning part of this chapter in order to get the brief description and some data 26
support to help the reader to understand of what kind of literary work that the researcher chooses to analyze.
The theories explained in the previous sub-chapter are used to help to answer the problems the researcher finds. First, the theory of symbolism and allegory functions as the introductory part, so that the reader knows the basic theory that is used for the analysis in this undergraduate thesis. As for the second theory, new criticism is one of the ‘tools’ to be used to analyze the mythical creatures in details (their attitude, their status -half human, creature, beast-, physical appearance). The character and characterization are also the supporting theory, to clarify whether they are round character or not, major or minor, level of importance, and to clarify their function in the story. Theory of representation is used to reveal the meaning of symbol owned by the mythical creature. The theory of new criticism is used to answer the first problem. The researcher writes down the creatures based on what is in the text. By knowing the mythical creature that appears in each story, there would be not much problem to find out whether they are included as a developed character and which are not, and their levels of importance and their details. The second and third problems of this thesis are answered by using the other theories (symbolism and allegory, character and characterization, representation).
Briefly, this study combines all theories that are applicable either from book or internet as its main source to answer the entire questions in the problem formulation. 27
Chapter III
Methodology
A. Object of the Study
The object for this undergraduate thesis is the first six series (from seven series) of Harry Potter by Joanne Kathleen Rowling entitled Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone published by Bloomsbury, 1997: London; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets published by Bloomsbury, 1998: London; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban published by Bloomsbury, 1999: London; Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire published by Bloomsbury, 2000: London; Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix published by Bloomsbury, 2003: London;
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince published by Bloomsbury, 2005: London.
This novel told us about the life of a sorcerer boy named Harry Potter in a wizarding school named Hogwarts. He had a big enemy, a dark wizard, named
Lord Voldemort. He killed Harry's parents when Harry was a baby, leaving him a lightning bolt scar. Because of that, Harry hated Voldemort very much and he wanted to take revenge on behalf of his parent, yet he also needed to survive from
Lord Voldemort tricks. Each series of Harry Potter tells about his journey with his friends in Hogwarts.
All of the books in the series have gone to the top of bestseller charts in many countries, such as America, England, Australia, Indonesia, and many other countries and they have won many awards, regarding the unique, delighting and
27 28
marvelous story. Although Harry Potter series is Rowling’s first work she managed to ‘trap’ all the readers when reading Harry Potter series, it is like she had tons of experience in making novels. With the popularity and the enthusiasm from the readers of the books, both Rowling and her work were awarded with many awards, such as, The British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year
(Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 1998; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1999); Author of the Year, February 2000; The Whitbread Children’s
Book of the Year, February 2000; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince nominated for W.H. Smith Children’s Book of the Year, January 2001; Royal
Society of Edinburgh from Napier University; Triple Smarties award for Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, (1998) and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban, (1999), the American Library Association Notable Book, the Best Book for Young Adults 2000, the Los Angeles Times Best Book 1999, and the Booklist
Editors' Choice 2000. January 2001; Harry potter and the Goblet of Fire was a nominee for the W. H. Smith children's Book of the Year award. Publisher
Weekly reported Harry Potter (novel) succeeded in achieving the first position of the best seller list in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA
Today. Years to come some awards still wait to be given for Harry Potter novels and films.
Warner Brothers (WB) bought the right to make all Harry Potter film, until now there are five movies that were made by Warner Brothers, and they are still making two of the rest. Although the corporation is Warner Brothers, the director is not always the same. Harry Potter series that are made into film had made a huge 29
success, and won many awards as much as its novel series. The title is the same with the British novel (the title for each novel is different in each countries), they are:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, premiere: 16 November 2001 director:
Chris Columbus; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, premiere: 15
November 2002, director: Chris Columbus; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban, premiere: UK: 31 May, 2005, director: Alfonso Cuarón; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, premiere: 16 November 2005, , director: Mike Newell;
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, premiere: 13 July 2007 , director:
David Yates; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, premiere: estimated for
Winter 2008 (November), director: still unknown.
Some of the movies had been nominated and won some awards from the year of 2004 until 2006 (Teen Choice Award, People's Choice Award, Public
Choice Award, Audience Award, Special Award from UK. Empire, Alexander
Korda Award for Best British Film Award, Saturn Award, Golden Reel Award,
Hugo Award, Grammy Award, Oscar Award, Golden Trailer Award, BAFTA
Film Award, BAFTA Children's Award, Amanda Award, Blimp Award, PFCS
Award, VES Award, BMI Film Music Award, World Soundtrack Award)
Another achievement from J.K Rowling’s work was that Harry Potter was made into games in several game consoles (Play Station, Play Station2, and X
Box). Harry Potter series saved the crisis at book publishing at that moment (when the first series was published) and especially for children’s book. Harry Potter series was published in 65 different languages and made into Braille, and creates a hysterical mass all over the world. Besides saving the book publishing crisis, 30
Harry Potter series have revolutionized the routines of many children in all over the world, and they began to read more books and leaving their electronic games behind.
All the data were taken and compiled from the internet (7march2008).
B. Approach of the Study
The focus of the study here is the mythical creature and their significance and function from the first until the sixth series. Dealing with this study, the researcher uses the new criticism approach to answer the problem formulation stated at chapter two. The researcher believes that text material provides useful facts for the readers, so that the readers can understand and later find out what they need to know about any specific thing (in this case about mythical creature).
New criticism treats a work of literature as if it were a self-contained (self- referential object) by performing a close reading; concentrating on the relationships within the text. Special attention is paid to repetition, particularly of images or symbols in a novel, and since it stresses close textual analysis and viewing the text as an observable pattern, the researcher makes it as the approach 31
for analyzing the novel. (Adapted from The Bedford Glossary of Critical and
Literary Terms).
C. Method of the Study
To do this undergraduate thesis, the researcher used the method of library research, and was also helped by internet research to support the data found in the library. Most of the sources the researcher used can be found in library. For this thesis, the researcher used Joanne Kathleen Rowling’s book (Harry Potter) from the first series until the six (some in Indonesian language/ translated edition). The source of the internet research used for this study is mainly provided by J.K
Rowling’s official site. For the analysis, the writer used the data collection and data analysis, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; Harry Potter dan
Batu Bertuah; Harry Potter dan Kamar Rahasia; Harry Potter dan Tawanan
Azkaban; Harry Potter dan Piala Api; Harry Potter dan Orde Phoenix; Harry
Potter dan Pangeran Berdarah Campuran; The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter;
Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them. For the theories the researcher used A
Glossary of Literary Terms written by M.H Abrams.
1. Data Collection
To answer the problems, the researcher firstly used data collection, taken from the first six series of Harry Potter. The researcher listed the entire creature, those creature were divided into mythical creature and non-mythical creature, after that the researcher listed the complete mythical creature based on their 32
series. All those mythical creatures would be picked (using a statistic) to find out which ones will be analyzed and which ones will not.
2. Data Analysis
The data that the researcher had found were analyzed to answer the problems. Problem number one was answered by identifying the entire mythical creature, and based on the listed creatures that were considered having an important role; they were analyzed based on the series they appeared. The main indicator that the researcher used to decide whether the mythical creatures had an important role or not, is by counting their appearance (how many times they were mentioned) from the first until the six series. To solve this problem, the researcher used statistic for each creature; for if the appearance is below certain number or percentage, they will not be analyzed, even if they have important symbols.
Problem number two was about the symbol that the mythical creatures had, seen from many aspects and of course from the text itself and this was answered by some steps. First, the researcher identified the creature that appeared in each series and analyzed it, and then if they had appeared in the previous series, the researcher will analyze it if their symbol had changed from the previous and explained their symbolic change.
Problem number three was answered by analyzing their appearances, their relationship with other characters, how the mythical creatures affected the story, whether or not they helped other characters (especially the main characters) to solve their problems and had some effects to the development of other characters. 33
More or less it was nearly the same way problem number two was; first of all, the researcher identified the mythical creatures in each series. Then the researcher counted their appearance, if they met the number or percentage needed, they would be analyzed and explained about their significance toward the story line.
Other than the statistic, the researcher also included the evidences that were required to answer all of the three problems that have been formulated, such as statement from the text, a dialogue, and from other source. CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is divided into three subchapters. The first subchapter is a list of the entire creatures’ name based on the appearance on the books (contains both the mythical and non mythical ones). In this subchapter, the researcher also gives the description of the mythical creatures that will be analyzed and why some creatures are considered as non mythical from the point of view of the researcher
(there is a classification of what the mythical creatures are and which are not).
Then it is followed by the percentage of the mythical creatures’ appearance (the percentage will not be calculated based on each book, but from the first until the sixth series). The next subchapter discusses the creatures’ symbols and evidences taken from some sources to support the analysis made by the researcher. The last subchapter discusses the significance of the mythical creatures’ representation toward the story line. Some explanation and evidences will also be included in this subchapter.
A. List of the Entire Creatures and their Classification
In this part the researcher wanted to show all the list of the entire creatures based on their appearance in each book, the criteria for the mythical creatures that will be analyzed, their classification and some of the mythical creatures’ percentages.
34 35
To answer the first problem the researcher used some tables to give a clear view of what the creatures are from the first until the sixth series of Harry Potter.
There are four main tables that will be the base of the analysis in this undergraduate thesis.
The first table is the list of all the creatures that appear in the first until the sixth book of Harry Potter based on when they appear (table 4.1.1). The second table contains all the entire creatures from the first table which is divided into two groups: the non mythical and the mythical creatures’ classification (table 4.1.2), followed by some explanation of how the researcher categorized; which ones are included in the non mythical creatures and which ones are included in the mythical creatures themselves. The third table is a list of only the mythical creatures that appear in the first until the sixth series, and the list is arranged in alphabetical order (table 4.1.3). The fourth table is the representation of the creatures that are converted into percentages, and it is also in alphabetical order since the percentages will not show their “rank” of significance (table 4.1.4).
Based on the sources that the researcher had (hard copy and soft copy of
Harry Potter’s series), there are one hundred and sixty four names of creatures with thirty four variants. However some of the creatures that were mentioned in the tables are not mentioned in the books, there are only one hundred and thirty five creatures that are mentioned (only from the first until sixth book). Here are the four tables mentioned earlier. 36
The first table is the list of all the names of the creatures that were mentioned in the first six series. Here the researcher listed all the names that were found in the novel (whether they were mentioned many times or just once).
Table 4.1.1 List of all the creatures in the story
Book number List of all the creatures
Book 1 troll, owl, snake, goblin, cat, toad, dragon (Norwegian
Ridgeback, Common Welsh Green, Hebridean Black), rats, lion,
eagle, badger, goat, giant squid, 3 headed dog (Fluffy), golden
snidget, werewolf, vampire, unicorn, dog (Fang), ghost, centaur
(Firenze, Ronon, Bane), beetle, chicken, giant, bat
Book 2 basilisk, phoenix, owl, house elf / elfish, gnome, chicken,
dracula, goblin, troll, vampire, werewolf, yeti, beetle, banshee,
pixie cornwall, kelpie, rooster, yak, salamander, giant spider,
leech, insect, ghost, gargoyle, griffon, snail, centaur, unicorn,
giant, bat
Book 3 owl, giant spider, 3 headed dog, dragon, dog (Ripper, Sirius),
dementor, dwarf, rat, 2 headed water lizard, toad, fly, giant
turtle, snail, rabbit, cat, raven, furball, imps, goblin, ghost,
hippogriff, gargoyle, flobber worm, fox, boggart, banshee,
mummy. snake, red caps, kappa, grindylow, hinkypunk,
werewolf, salamander, golden snidget, pony horse, troll, giant
squid, unicorn, giant, ghost, bat, deer
Book 4 Nagini, hippogriff, gnome, owl, cat, rabbit, goblin, troll, elfish, 37
veela, leprechaun, giant squid, exploding back skrewt, dragon
(Norwegian Ridge back, Hungarian Horn-tail, Common Welsh
Green, Swedish Short Snout, Chinese Fireball), banshee,
salamander, ghost, fox, boggart, red cap, hinkypunk, grindylow,
kappa, werewolf, spider, lion, eagle, badger, snake, raccoon,
cockatrice, palmino horse, giant, bat, buffalo, scorpion, crab,
beetle, unicorn, birds, rat, crocodile, hag, ghost, manticore, fire
crab, merpeople, niffler, sphinx, deer, spider, gargoyle
Book 5 cat, owl, bat, deer, dog, elfish, hippogriff, spider, dementor,
boggart, doxy, goblin, gargoyle, werewolf, puffskein, rat,
wartcap, centaur, phoenix, thestral, ghost, pixie, flobber worm,
salamander, niffler, skrewt, bowtruckle, fairy, pterodactyl,
unicorn, porlock, kneazle, crup, knarl, murtlap, hag, goat,
heliopath, lion, snake, dragon, troll, vampire, giant (Karkus,
Golgomath, Gwarp), abraxan horse, chimaera, griffin, beetle,
frog, iguana, weasel, flamingo, fire crab, giant squid, snail,
beaver
Book 6 rat, dementor, fox, fairy, snake, owl, spider, chicken, hippogriff,
beaver, werewolf, inferi, pygmy puff, puffskein, wolf, nog tails,
gargoyle, phoenix, insect, dragon, spider, giant scorpion, gwarp,
flobber worm, elfish, golden snidget, gnome, unicorn, bear,
dugbog, bowtruckle, water monster, giant snake, jinni, kelpie,
Palmino horse 38
The data that were presented in table 4.1.2 were not only taken from the novels as the main data, but the researcher also used Hewan-Hewan Fantastis dan
Dimana Mereka Bisa Ditemukan, an Indonesian version of Fantastic Beast and
Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling herself.
Table 4.1.2 List of the classified creatures
Mythical creatures Non Mythical creatures abominable snowman, abraxan horse, beetle, cats, dogs, fish, goat, insects, acromantula, aethonon, antipodean leech, mummy, owl, rabbit, ramora, opaleye, armadillo, ashwinder, augurey rat, raven, salamander, sea serpent,
(Irish phoenix), banshee, basilisk (the toads and frogs, spider, giant squid,
King of Serpents), bicorn, billywig, tarantula, snail, snake, crocodile, biting fairy, albino bloodhound, iguana, weasel, flamingo, boarhound, boggart, boomslang, snail, beaver bowtruckle, bugbear, bundimun, cat- liked creatures, centaur, chameleon ghoul, chimaera, chizpurfle, clabbert, cockatrice, cornish pixie, crup, dark creature, dementor, demiguise, diricawl, double-ended newt, doxy, dragon, dugbog, erkling, erumpent, fairy, ferret, Chinese fireball, fire crab, fire slug, flesh-eating slug, flobber worm, 39
forest troll, furball, fwooper, ghoul, giant, glumbumble, gnome, goblin, graphorn, griffin, grim, grindylow, gytrash, hag, hebridean black, hellhound, hinky punk, hippocampus, hippogriff, horklump, horned toad, Hungarian horntail, winged horse, house-elf, human-like creatures, imp, inferius,
Irish phoenix, Ukrainian ironbelly, jarvey, jobberknoll, kappa, kelpie, knarl, kneazle, lacewing fly, leprechaun, lethifold, liondragon, living shroud, lobalug, Loch Ness monster, Romanian longhorn, mackled malaclaw, manticore, merpeople, merrow, moke, mooncalf, mountain troll, murtlap, niffler, nogtail,
Norwegian ridgeback, nundu, occamy, Peruvian vipertooth, phoenix, pixie, plimpy, pogrebin, porlock, puffskein, pygmy puff, quintaped, red cap, re'em, river troll, runespoor,
Swedish short-snout, shrake, snidget, sphinx, streeler, tadfoal, thestral, tebo, 40
tortoise, troll, unicorn, vampire, veela, common Welsh green, werewolf, wildebeest, woodlouse, wood-nymph, yeti
Here are some criteria that the researcher used to define the creatures included as the mythical creatures in this undergraduate thesis.
The first criterion is that the creatures encountered or had a special connection towards the other characters, especially the main characters (Harry
Potter, Voldemort, Dumbledore, etc). Those mythical creatures are: basilisk, phoenix, elfish, giant spider, boggart, dementor, etc.
The second is they had an important task which latter build a relation for other characters or events at least in one book, such as: Fluffy/three-headed dog
(which was guarding the philosopher’s stone), Nagini/ poisonous snake (which was one of the horcruxes for Voldemort), dragon, sphinx, acromantula and blast- ended skrewt (which were the obstacles in the Triwizard tournament), Buckbeak/
Winterwing, (which was the hippogriff that is used to help Sirius Black escaped from death punishment), etc.
The third criterion is that the creatures get more attentions from the other characters, especially the human character, whether by their physical appearance, skills, or attitudes, such as: Troll (which got all the Hogwarts students and teachers’ attention when it entered the schools’ dungeon), goblin (which was the finest creature to manage bank security), dragon (which was the hardest obstacle 41
at the Triwizard tournament), golden snidget (which became the main goal in
Quidditch match), Buckbeak/ Winterwing (when it attacked Draco Malfoy for self-defense), werewolf (which was one of the significant characters in both sides
– Lupin, who represented the good side and Fenrir Greyback in the dark side), unicorn (when Voldemort suck their blood to stay alive), centaur (which saved
Harry when he had to face Voldemort for the first time at the forbidden forest), etc. Those are the criteria that were used by the researcher to classify the mythical creatures that will be analyzed in this undergraduate thesis.
The forth criterion is that the creatures should be classified as not having a real physical form in our real life society or in the form of a real natural evidence such as bones structure, or fossil.
The third table is the list of all mythical creatures in the novel, and some of the names in the list which would be analyzed for the symbols, function, and their significance toward the story in the next subchapter.
Table 4.1.3 List of the mythical creatures in each book
Book number List of all the mythical creatures
Book 1 centaur (Firenze, Ronan, Bane), dragon (Norwegian Ridgeback,
Common Welsh Green, Hebridean Black), ghost, giant squid,
goblin, golden snidget, three-headed dog (Fluffy), troll, unicorn,
vampire, werewolf
Book 2 acromantula, banshee, basilisk, centaur, dracula, elfish/ house
elf, gargoyle, ghost, giant, gnome, goblin, golden snidget,
griffin, kelpie, pixie cornwall, phoenix, troll, unicorn, vampire, 42
werewolf, yeti
Book 3 acromantula, banshee, boggart, dementor, dragon, dwarf, flobber
worm, furball, gargoyle, ghost, giant, giant squid, giant turtle,
goblin, golden snidget, grindylow, hinkypunk, hippogriff, imps,
kappa, red caps, three-headed dog, troll, two-headed water
lizard, unicorn, werewolf
Book 4 acromantula, banshee, blast-ended skrewt, boggart, dementor,
dragon (Norwegian Ridge back, Hungarian Horn-tail, Common
Welsh Green, Swedish Short Snout, Chinese Fireball), elfish,
fire crab, gargoyle, ghost, giant, giant squid, gnome, goblin,
golden snidget, grindylow, hag, hinkypunk, hippogriff, kappa,
leprechaun, manticore, merpeople, nagini, niffler, palmino horse,
red cap, sphinx, troll, unicorn, veela, werewolf
Book 5 abraxan horse, blast-ended skrewt, boggart, bowtruckle, centaur,
chimaera, crup, dementor, dragon, doxy, elfish, fairy, fire crab,
flobber worm, gargoyle, ghost, giant (Karkus, Golgomath,
Grawp), giant squid, goblin, golden snidget, griffin, hag,
heliopath, hippogriff, knarl, kneazle, murtlap, niffler, phoenix,
pixie, porlock, puffskein, thestral, troll, unicorn, vampire,
wartcap, werewolf,
Book 6 bowtruckle, dementor, dugbog, dragon, elfish, fairy, flobber
worm, gargoyle, ghost, giant, giant scorpion, giant snake,
gnome, golden snidget, hippogriff, inferi, genie, kelpie, nog- 43
tails, palmino horse, phoenix, puffskein, pygmy puff, unicorn,
water monster, werewolf
Since that the criteria for the mythical creatures include the percentages’ criteria (to make sure that the data taken are provable) the researcher included the table in the first subchapter, so the main data will be focused in this first subchapter.
Data for the mythical creatures’ percentages which were analyzed can be seen in the table above. The researcher made the percentages based on the mythical creatures’ appearance in the book with more than twenty appearances from all six books.
Creatures which appeared more than twenty times were included in the list. Some of the creatures having less than the percentages’ criteria would not be analyzed, except if the researcher considered it is important to include the creature(s).
Table 4.1.4 List of the creatures that will be analyzed
Number Name of the mythical Number of Number of
creatures appearance appearance in
That will be analyzed percentages (%)
1. Acromantula(Aragog, Mosag) 169 6.8783 %
2. Basilisk 63 2.5641 %
3. Blast-Ended Skrewt 68 2.7676 %
4. Boggart 52 2.1164 % 44
5. Centaur 86 3.5002 %
6. Dementor 233 9.4831 %
7. Dragon 244 9.9308 %
8. Elfish (house elf) 658 26.7806 %
9. Gargoyle 33 1.3431 %
10. Giants (including semi-giant) 148 6.0236 %
11. Goblins 91 3.7037 %
12. Golden Snidget 139 5.6573 %
13. Hippogriff 196 7.9772 %
14. Merpeople 26 1.0582 %
15. Nagini 11 0.4477 %
16. Phoenix 88 3.5816 %
17. Three-headed dog (Fluffy) 41 1.6687 %
18. Troll 44 1.7908 %
19. Unicorn 67 2.7269 %
Total 2457 99.999 %
B. Mythical Creatures Symbols
This subchapter discusses the symbols and the functions of the mythical creatures based on the text that the researcher had which were manually taken from each book of Harry Potter (hard copy of the first six series of Harry Potter adventures). 45
Although it uses the term “symbol”, allegory is the theory that is used to see the creatures’ symbols, since the theory of symbol can stand by it self in the work of literature, and for allegory, it is a kind of theory that suit better in a narrative work.
All of the creatures have a certain symbol that can be seen from the conversation by themselves or from other characters, attitude or responses in certain events, their manner, by personal description, etc. Here all the creatures are called as a character because they fit with the description from the theory of character and characterization. Seen from Harry Potter and other human as the main character, the creatures are called minor character; seen from their internal complexity, they are regarded as a round character –having a complex temperament and motivation, and capable of surprising us- , and some of them is stated as both static and dynamic characters.
a. Acromantula (Aragog, Mosag)
Acromantula is taken from the word "acro" from "akros" Latin word means peak and "mantula" from the word "tarantula" English word means a species of large (about the size of adult’s palm) black spider which is poisonous but not deadly. Acromantula is included in the spider species. One of the famous
Greek mythology creatures is spider. It is said that spider was originally a female mortal called Arachne who challenged the goddess of skill, Athene, and later was transformed into a spider and cursed to weaving its nest for the rest of its live because Athene lost in the challenge. Spider then became the symbols of 46
individual failure who tries to rival the God, as the result of the excess ambition of imitating and trying to overpass its creator.
It is said that Aragog was brought in a pocket of a traveler from a far away land (Greek) when he was an egg. Then the traveler passed him to young
Hogwarts’ students named Hagrid.
Acromantula, the king of Arachnid (Harry Potter book 4; p.609) was described as a giant spider who could talk and think like human does (HP#2; p.343), but it was still a vicious beast which depended on its instinct to survive
(HP#2; p.345). A grown up Acromantula was immune from magic spells, caused by the hair all over their bodies except under its body, near its belly (HP#4; p.758), which rarely reached by wizards when facing it. Acromantula had poisonous canine tooth (HP#6; p.604) although they rarely used it, and they preyed on bigger animal (if there was an Acromantula died regardless their age, the other would eat it (HP#6; p.606), and the older ones would let the young eat it
(HP#2; p.347)). It laid its greasy soft egg for six until eight weeks, and when it hatched it would stay in the colony and would enlarge their kind (normal spider would go and survive for their own from the very first day it hatched) (HP#2; p.345). They obeyed their older ones (HP#2; p.347), which were the male (since they used patriarchal method, different from a regular spider, which usually the one to survive is the female, since the female eat the male after mating), and when their leader died they would be free to choose to live freely as one colony without a leader or pointed a senior one to fill in the position. They could be very loyal 47
(HP#2; p.345) and honest (HP#2; p.346) to the one that had done something for them (HP#2; p.345).
Acromantula was one of the mythical creatures that lived in the forest, which somehow in the last moment, they helped to fight the dark side (when the death-eater and Voldemort attacked Hogwarts). It was not clear whether they intentionally helped, or whether they killed the death-eater because they had trespassed the territorial of a bunch of hungry acromantulas (book 6). They also helped Harry Potter to find the chamber of secret by telling Harry and Ron about the creature that they feared the most, which was Basilisk (book 2). With the death of Aragog, Harry could persuade Professor Slughorn to give him his memory about his conversation with Tom Riddle (book 6). Acromantula was one of the creatures that helped Harry Potter developed his skill (when facing it as one of the Triwizard tournament obstacles in the maze)
Here Acromantula symbolizes cleverness, friendship, kinship, loyalty, instinct and greed. Cleverness is shown when it could understand the situation
(escaped to the forest when it was accused to be the creature that killed some students of Hogwarts). The relation between Aragog and Hagrid (Hagrid was the one who gave food frequently and a spouse for Aragog, which is Mosag) represented their friendship. The communication between Aragog and its sons and daughters kept the kinship strong (they obeyed their father by not attacking
Hagrid). Instinct was shown when the entire spiders in Hogwarts went towards the forest to avoid the Basilisk, and they could feel the presence of it even if the
Basilisk was not seen. Greed is also represented by their hunger for flesh or food. 48
Aragog also mentioned it clearly in the forest toward Harry and Ron, when they asked whether Aragog had attack people or not (HP#2; p.345).
b. Basilisk
“There is nothing so simple or so common place as a serpent, and yet by virtue of this very simple simplicity nothing with shocks the spirit more,” Jean
Chevalier and Alain Ghreerbrant stated in Penguin Dictionary of Symbols (1994:
844). Legend says that Basilisk is the king of all snakes and serpent. The word comes from Latin "basilicus" which means royal, so the nickname ‘King of
Serpents’ is particularly appropriate. Greek people call it Cockatrice. It was described as a serpent with a white dot on its head, and it cannot be ordered by anything or anyone. The detail about male being crested apparently come from the real-life basilisk, which is a kind of iguana. Stories of serpent had two sides, good side and bad side, as serpent is told as the destroyer of purity, as an evil and the devil itself that deny the will of God (Christian’s belief), it is said as the soul and libido which create the human kind by the Pygmies, while Indian people believe that the serpent named Ananta (associated with Vishnu and Shiva) as the creator and stabilizer of the world. The Book of Numbers said that it is the act of God choosing the one that will be restored after life (Numbers 21: 6-9).
Rowling created the form of Basilisk as a gigantic (HP#2; p.376, p.395, p.398) venomous (HP#2; p.398, p.401) serpent having a crown-like head (skin- covered bones at the top of its triangle-shape head popping out like a horn on both sides and in the middle like a crown) which could cause death only by its gaze 49
(HP#2; p.360). Acromantula as the king of Arachnids (HP#4; p.609) was afraid of
Basilisk (HP#2; p.346, p.361), yet it was said that Basilisk flee only from the rooster’s crowing, which was fatal to it (HP#2; p.362). Basilisk could live at least
900 years if given adequate food supply (by eating all vertebrates, birds except rooster, mammals, and reptiles). It could not be controlled other than the heir of
Salazar Slytherin, one of the four Hogwarts founders, who was a powerful dark wizard that hated muggle born and a half blood wizards and dreamed of
“whipping” all the muggle and half blood wizards using Basilisk (HP#2; p.388). It was said that Basilisk was breed from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad
(HP#2; p.360); usually it was magical rather than normal breed and done by a great dark power. Although not explicitly stated, the basilisk's skin probably had the same armor characteristics as dragon skin, leaving its eyes and the inside of its mouth as its only vulnerable points.
Basilisk plays a major part in the adventure of Harry Potter in his second year in Hogwarts since it lived in the chamber of secret and believed to be the pet that Salazar Slytherin bred himself. Basilisk created the climax of the story when
Harry Potter fought it and won by stabbing the Gryffindor’s sword pass through the Basilisk’s mouth; after Fawkes attacked its eyes and made it blind. The fang of Basilisk destroyed one of Voldemort’s Horcrux (the part of Voldemort’s soul that would keep him alive if his rough body was destroyed) which was Tom
Riddle’s diary.
From all of the mythical creatures that were analyzed in this undergraduate thesis, Basilisk is one of the creatures having the symbols which focus on evil and 50
death. In the story Basilisk was described as a monster that could not be controlled other than a Slytherin heir, although he or she could speak Parselmouth or Parseltounge (language of the snake). Slytherin gave Basilisk a duty to kill all except the pure blooded wizards, and since it was the most favorite creature of the dark wizards (as a pet and as many dangerous and deadly potions use snakes as its basic ingredients), it made Basilisk an evil creature. Death is the other symbol for
Basilisk, since its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk had a murderous stare, and all who were fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. It was also said that Basilisk skin was poisonous, and when it crept on grass and trees, it would soon wintered and died.
c. Blast-Ended Skrewt
Rowling created a new mythical creature named blast-ended skrewt. Blast- ended skrewts were some of the most revolting creatures ever seen, they had sting in many parts of its body, legs coming from many places of their body, and they grew so quickly from a newly hatched into three meters long in a few months, and like an acromantula, blast-ended skrewt only had one weak point, which was the lower part its body where there was not any thick shell (HP#4; p.751).
Blast-ended skrewt was accustomed to have some explosion from their back of the body because of their excessive power that held inside of their body
(the only way to reduce it was by taking them for a walk for a few hours every day (HP#4; p.354)). They walked side ways and they had a big scorpion-like sting 51
from its back of its body (HP#4; p.358). Blast-ended skrewt was a very rare creature since it was bred by Hagrid himself prior to the autumn by crossing manticores (see appendix for more explanation) with fire-crabs (HP#4; p.528) and regarded as a pleasant pet by Hagrid (HP#4; p.299). The name ‘blast-ended skrewt’ may be a reference to the term "blasting off" which is slang in some parts of Britain for breaking wind (like the explosion from its back).
Blast-ended skrewt was one of the creatures that were taken care from the beginning until the end, as one of the creatures that were learned in Magical creatures’ class. Blast-ended skrewt also functioned as one of the Triwizard tournament obstacles that had to be confronted by Harry directly inside the maze besides Acromantula and other creatures (book 4). It also had the role as one of things that Rita Skeeter (who was a very annoying reporter that loved to write false yet amazing news) wrote in the newspaper and that later made Hagrid stop teaching for a few weeks.
Blast-ended skrewt symbolizes power and emotion. Power was shown from its excessive force, its hard shell which turned all spells into ordinary words, its scorpion- like sting as one of its weapons. Emotion can be seen from its attitude, the exploding is like a burst of sudden feeling, and its shell is like a resilient attitude of not wanting any advises or persuasion to get pass it which just like spells bounced on it. 52
d. Boggart
This creature was told by many children books or movies as Boogey-man, something that crept and lived under our bed, inside our cupboard, in old attic, and many dark places in our surrounding. It usually had a figure of a scary and ugly man with torn clothes (cupboard’s version); something hairy that tickles our feet if we annoyed it, it would later catch our foot and drag us down into its world
(under the bed’s version); sounds and shadows that sometimes caught our senses, but when we looked for it, it would never be there (attic’s version); and the most common was something in boxes or an antique wooden chest. Children aged six until ten lived in the West culture will find it as a reality. Until now it is not clear who spread the story of Boogey-man and what it is for (unlike other children stories that were made for a cause such as Candyman, Jason, the Sleep Hollow, etc)
Boggart is a shape shifter (HP#3; p.169), it loved to stay in dark places such as cupboard, drawer, etc (HP#3; p.169) and nobody knew its actual form because when it came out of its hiding place it had changed into something that we feared the most (HP#3; p.169, p.293). The only thing that could destroy
Boggart is laughter (HP#3; p.170). When it changed, it would also have the ability of the form that it took; although was not as powerful as the real thing.
Boggart was one of the creatures that were learned by Harry in his third year at Defense Against Dark Art class taught by Professor Remus Lupin, and it helped him learn how to deal with Dementor (by practicing using a patronus charm), which later saved him and Sirius Black from hundreds of Dementors from 53
death (book 3). Boggart was using the shape of a Dementor when it met Harry in the maze as one of the obstacles before reaching for the Triwizard trophy (book
4).
This creature symbolizes hunger for recognition, and an uncertainty on every action. It can be said that its attitude was the one that will be its symbol, in this case when it stepped out from its hiding place it would change into something people feared most so that it would not be disturbed. When people felt fear because of them, they had the power to act. Yet if the person were not scared or even laughed at it, it would die; which means it is the perfect symbols for those who wanted to be in charge of something, to be famous, and to be able to achieve what they dreamed of but not wanting to be humiliated. They will do anything to achieve their goals.
e. Centaur
It is a monstrous creature of Greek mythology with the head, arm and torso of human with the body and legs of a horse. Both male and female centaurs lived in a herd in the mountains or in the forest, fed on raw flesh, and could not drink wine without getting drunk. Male centaurs would likely to fight or even rape mortal women when they are drunk. They represent man’s animal nature.
According to the legend, they were divided into two families. The descendent of
Ixion’s encountered with a cloud represented blind, ignorant, and brutal force, while on the other hand, the children of Philyra and Cronos of whom Chiron was the most famous, represented strength and nobility in the service of the right side. 54
A highly skilled physician and friend of Heracles (Hercules), Chiron fought at the hero’s side in the battle which set them against the other centaurs. Wounded in error by one of Heracles’ poisonous arrow and longing for death, he offered his own immortality to Prometheus to find rest. The story taught us about the battle between instinct and reason. Iconographically, centaurs are generally depicted with the expression on their faces. They symbolize lust, with all the brute violence which can reduce mankind to the level of beast if it is not balanced with spiritual strength.
Centaurs made by Rowling had their own manner and rules (HP#1; p.319) for themselves in their own herd (HP#1; p.316), they were very good at astronomy (HP#1; p.315, p.322), and they tended to think that they had more knowledge (HP#1; p.316) and a closer relation to Gods through their ability
(HP#1; p.319-320) which explained why they had a very high pride (HP#1; p.319).
Centaurs in the forbidden forest of Hogwarts were very strict with their law, and yet they preferred to solve every problem with communication, and if it could not be settled, they would leave the herd voluntarily or by force. One of the centaurs in the forbidden forest named Firenze once rescued Harry when facing with Voldemort in his freshman year at Hogwarts. Here they were a combination of the descendents of Ixion’s and the descendents of Philyra and Cronos.
Looking at the descendents of two families with their own characteristic, it can be said that the centaurs in Harry Potter were a combination of both families.
When we look at its appearance they were the balance between instinct and 55
knowledge; animal and human. They represented the balance between wildness and control (they lived freely yet they had rules that had to be obeyed in the herd).
They had the wisdom, knowledge, mysteries, and at the same time they also had the lust, passion, and anger.
f. Dementor
We will not be able to find other mythology creature that resembles it, since Rowling made it born magically from her thought helped by her pen and papers
Dementor was included as a very dark creature that was believed to be the natural and the most loyal allies of Voldemort, and his death eater dark side
(HP#4; p.781, p.849-850). It was represented as a hooded figure that would suck our happiness as it walked near, or glided to be exactly, since Dementor had no legs. They sensed people’s happiness, because it was what they ‘ate’ to survive, and kept them in their fittest condition (HP#3; p.112, p.126, p.233). They made people remember the most terrifying events that once happened to them (HP#3; p.233). As guarding the prison of Azkaban (which was regarded as the most terrifying place ever because hundreds of Dementor were guarding it), or chasing fugitive, they would not show mercy and they would kill as many as they could
(the Dementor would never feel enough since it would feel hungry when they felt happiness, hope, and wonderful things) that made them a cold-blooded killer
(HP#3; p.274, p.306 – HP#4; p.635). 56
Dementor appeared when Harry was in his third year until the very last year (book 7), and it can be said as the most creature that affected him most, since he had to deal with them face to face many times, and he also had his first ‘an inch from death’ experience when he was protecting Sirius Black in the lake side of Hogwarts lake (when hundreds of Dementors appeared and tried to give him the “Dementor kiss”). Dementors finally made the dark side stronger when they left Azkaban and freed the death eater to join at Voldemort’s side once again
(book 6).
Dementor symbolizes dark power, horror, hunger for power and desperation. Dark power could be seen clearly since it was the loyal and natural allies of Voldemort, sucking happy felling and spreading fear to everyone. Most of the characters in Harry Potter adventures were afraid of Azkaban, not because it is a prison, but for what were guarding it (having near a Dementor in a very long time was described to be able to make us confused, mad, losing our magical power, and a death-like situation – since they sucked our soul, yet we would still be physically alive). Hunger for power can be seen when they changed side (into
Voldemort’s side) and when they never had enough for human soul. The effect that they made for their surrounding symbolizes desperation of the human mind.
g. Dragon
Basically in the old mythology, dragons are seen as a savage and terrifying beast which guarded buried treasure. In the West, dragons guarded buried treasures in caves or dungeon, and in Greek they guarded the Golden Fleece and 57
the Garden of the Hesperides (the garden where Golden apple grew), while in
China, dragons are guarding a magical pearl which is said in the story of T’ang
(confirmed in the legend of Siegfried) as the pearl of immortality. Dragon also became the symbol of the Emperor not only in China, but also among the Celts as
“a king seated upon his throne”. They also symbolize lightning, fire, earth, water, heaven, even the underworld (for Japan and China), which means that not only they are the creator of the world, but they also keep the world and universe in balance.In many stories dragon is the same with serpent or naga (Africa, India), regardless their different shapes.
The forms of the dragons that were used by Rowling were the form of the western dragons; having big body, long neck and tail, a pair of enormous wings, two legs as the supporter of its body’s weight, and two smaller legs in front. There were ten dragons in Rowling’s work, and all of them had quite similar attitude with a different color, customs and origins (Swedish, New Zealand, China, Wales,
Ukraine, Norwegian, etc). Four of the dragons (Chinese Fireball, Common Wales
Green, Hungarian Horn tail, Swedish short-snout) were used in the Triwizard tournament as one of the obstacles given that they had a magnificent power
(HP#4; p.396, p.406, p.220) and were full of magical use (HP#1; p.86, p.92 –
HP#2; p.48, p.81 – HP#4; p.34, p.127, p.191), and they were the perfect guard
(HP#1; p.83 – HP#3; p.353) since they were very strong (HP#4; p.396, p.406), and defensive (HP#4; p.231) especially for their eggs (HP#4; p.431-432), they could also be very dangerous (HP#1; p.287 – HP#4; p.218, p.398) since they 58
breathed fire (HP#1; p.290 – HP#4; p.395, p.396, p.430) and could not be tame
(HP#1; p.287 – HP#4; p.127, p.128) or controlled (HP#4; p.396).
As mentioned above, the dragons have an important function in the text. It was used for one of the obstacles in the Triwizard tournament, guarding a golden egg that was put among the dragon’s eggs which contained the information for the second task. It introduced Harry Potter with Bill Weasley who came with Mrs.
Weasley as a representation of Harry’s late parents, and who also saved Harry from Fenrir Greyback’s bite in later events (book 6).
In Rowling’s work, dragon symbolizes power, love, wildness yet full of functions. Power is shown when it could easily break the magical chain that kept them in the ground, love is shown when it was trying to protect their eggs in the
Triwizard tournament and wildness is shown with its extraordinary unwillingness in being controlled by more than a dozen of talented wizards. Its functions were clearly stated in the text such as twelve usages of dragon blood found by
Dumbledore, its skin as protective gloves and boots, its flesh as a pain reliever, and its heart string as a wand’s core which would create a powerful wand.
h. Elfish (house elf)
The term Elfish was created by Rowling to point a specific elf criteria
(which usually regarded as the same as fairy, doxy, pixie or imp). Elfish were bound magically to one family (HP#2; p.22, p.23, p.220), even their descendents should carry on the duty to serve the family (HP#4; p.461), they could not tell bad behaviors about their master to others (HP#4; p.460), they could do magic (except 59
a very difficult ones) without wands (HP#2; p.29, p.32, p.40, p.219, p.220, p.420).
Elfish was crazy about working, they loved to be ordered around, and although they looked for wizard families to work to on their own, only the rich ones could have Elfish, since castles had more jobs to do rather ordinary houses. Some people would say that Elfish was enslaved by the wizard’s families since they were not paid, or given anything in return (HP#2; p.219, p.220, p.221 – HP#4; p.157, p.192, p.274). As a matter a fact, the act of giving clothes to an Elfish was regarded as the worst punishment for the Elfish because it would mean firing them and setting them free (HP#2; p.419-420 – HP#4; p.173).
Elfish did many jobs for their master, like making and serving foods and cleaning. They would obey their master’s will, but one of them named Dobby
(served the Malfoy family) broke the rules to save Harry by warning him not to go back to school in his second year, and he was doing stuffs that were unlike a normal Elfish (keeping Harry’s letter, preventing him to get to the train, and many others) because Dobby was very honored to be seen as equal as him, the boy that brought peace into the wizard world (book 2). Dobby also helped Harry in the second task of Triwizard tournament (book 4). The Elfish also had a major role in helping the good side to destroy the dark side by being their spy, and trustable information (book 5 and 7).
Elfish symbolizes an obedient slave, loyalty, and friendship. It would be seen obviously from their role and their situation in the stories that they liked to work without even getting in return. Loyalty was pictured as one of their symbols because they were stuck to one family whether the family treated them like a low 60
life creature or not. Friendship was shown by Dobby and Kreacher (after Harry let him keep his most adored master locket).
i. Gargoyle
Gargouille was a serpent-like monster which lived in Seine River in
France. It threw water into ships, rolled the fisherman’s boat, and flooded the village near the river St. Romain. People used a convict to persuade the creature out of the river and St. Romain’s people made a cross to conquer the creature and they took the town where it died in the hand of the town’s folks. Later artists made gargoyle figure in the roof top, where it was believed to make the rain flow smoothly to the ground and to guard the houses or building from any disaster.
Gargoyle was described by Rowling in the form of ugly dragon-like creature that guarded the entrance of Dumbledore’s office (HP#2; p.254 – HP#3; p.163 – HP#4; p.668, p.669, p.694, p.695) and it would not move and open the path when the wrong passwords were said, not even with physical force (HP#4; p.833).
According to the text, Gargoyle functions as guards, besides guarding
Dumbledore’s office, it also guards the teacher’s office. It was also used as a mocking and swearing words. It symbolizes a strict and strong guard that can be trusted to keep the master safe (since Dumbledore is believed to be staying at his office). It can be seen from the material that created the form (a solid rock), letting nobody who did not have the access to it. 61
j. Giants (including semi-giant)
Gaia (Earth) gave birth to the giants in order to avenge the Titans, whom
Zeus (Great God of Greek) had imprisoned in Tartamus. They were chythonian being (fabulous creatures that came from the Earth or underworld), and their vast physical bulk and spiritual poverty symbolize the predominance of forces arising from the earth. There are two kinds of giants, the normal one called Giants itself and the other one called Cyclops. They have different appearances, Cyclops is a one eyed creatures and Giants have two eyes (two eyes mark a normal awareness, three are a superhuman clairvoyance, and one eye indicates a low and basic level of the power of the understanding). Both of them had the same characteristic, such as brute force, physical bulk and their spiritual poverty which made them the symbols of the predominance of force arising from the Earth. Their invincible force and terrifying appearance made them as one of the most feared creature in
Greek mythology.
In the story they were pictured to have four times height of a normal people, and about two meters wide, with a brutal attitude that made them feared by wizards. They were a vicious creature (HP#4; p.518) who did not like wizards because they disliked all magic things (they agreed magical things if it was for pleasing them, other than that they disliked it (HP#6; p.594-598)). Once all over the world, giants were spread from the valley, caves, forest and mountain. Very few giants remained today because of their character and the way they solved any problems with brutal force (HP#4; p.529); they formed a group of giants and since they were a warring type (HP#4; p.529) they decided the leader by fighting (many 62
would be injured and might cause death), the strongest would be the leader
(HP#5; p.593, p.596-597). They were once allied with Voldemort but when
Voldemort lost his power they were forced to live in one region (some group of
Giants living in a territorial was not quite good condition, since they would fight for their territorial). Giants population grew smaller, because killing anything or any-Giants which was not included their group was what they love the most
(HP#4; p.518 – HP#5; p.599). They were not the type which would show love and care, even for their own son or daughter (HP#4; p.515).
Rubeus Hagrid was a half giant who was in charge of taking Harry from his destroyed house (when he was one year old), and he was the one who told and introduced the magical world to Harry. He was always giving support and information needed by Harry. Almost all dangerous creature was ‘introduced’ by
Hagrid, whether in the class or in the forbidden forest. Giants had a big role in the story since one of the characters named was a half Giant breed (his mother was a giant named Fridwulfa, the last of her kind in Britain (HP#4; p.515)). A giant named Grawp (Hagrid’s young brother) saved Harry from a herd of angry centaurs (HP#5; p.1045) and helped to fight the death-eaters when they attacked
Hogwart (book 6).
Giants represent the animal instincts on human, hard worker and power.
Animal instinct is shown by the attitude of the giants defending their territorial, how they chose their leader (by fighting, the strongest became the leader), the symbol of power is shown by how the author described them, how the earth trembled when they walked, ran, or fought, or crushed things bare handed, and 63
hard worker iss presented by Hagrid’s action in taming the beast or every wild creatures that are known unable to be tame, maintaining them with love and care.
k. Goblins
Goblin came from a Latin word kobalos, which means trouble maker (in
German, they were called kobold/ kobolt, and gobelin in France). They are described smarter than gnome but not as friendly as fairy, having a greenish skin, long ears, and savage behavior, just like their cousin (hobgoblin). They are often called as Orc, a savage and vicious creature that like to kidnap babies and eat them. It is said that their laughter can make blood to lump up, and turn milk into sour. Their height varied from thirteen centimeters up to two meters. They have all things which are beautiful, love to destroy and kill things.
Goblin was described as a race with high intelligent, a magical being that co-existed (sometimes uneasily) with wizarding society. They were very skilled in many things such as mining, blacksmith, making the hardest and greatest armor, and makers of first class jewelry (book 7). They were the kind of creature that loved to travel around looking for hidden treasures in caves, mines, and even tombs. Gobbledegook was their original language, but they had learned many languages. They were about thirteen until fifeteen centimeters height, a grayish skin, pointed beard, very long fingers and feet (HP#1; p.93). The combination of greed (HP#4; p.158), skillful hands (HP#1; p.94), intelligent (HP#1; p.93 – HP#4; p.541), good and wicked (HP#3; p.178), made them the perfect guard to manage money and valuable and dangerous stuff at Gringotts (HP#4; p.84) and to keep all 64
the things from thief or robber (they were very serious about the security of their bank, like placing spells, dragon, and many curses at the dungeon and in side the vaults that they guarded).
Goblins had the main function for running the Gringotts bank, the one and only wizards’ bank in London, a job that would be well-suited for their kind, since the job needed their wicked yet trustable skill. It can be said that the goblin had rescued Harry and in the same time helped Voldemort (the sword of Gryffindor that Harry used to kill Basilisk and Hufflepuff’s goblet that was used by
Voldemort as one of his seven Horcrux was goblin’s made). Goblin named
Griphook helped Harry and his friends breaking into Gringotts to take the other
Horcrux (Ravenclaw diadem).
These little creatures are the symbols of guard, greed, cunning, intelligent, and skill. Greed is shown by their never ending quest to find hidden treasures.
Skill and intelligent are shown as they managed Gringotts, and the way they kept it safe (placing curse, dragons, spells, etc) is the symbols of guard. Cunning is clearly shown by the way they thought (they tended to think that all the stuff they made was stolen by human; although the human did pay for it, they thought that it ought to be returned to the goblin if the person who they ‘lent’ their stuff had died. It should not either be given to anybody nor to be kept permanently).
l. Golden Snidget
Snidget was another mythical creature created by Rowling. It was described as a small, spherical bird having a 360 degree rotary movement joint on 65
its wings which made it could fly with amazing agility, changing speed and direction almost instantly. Its golden feathers and red, jewel-like eyes were so prized that at one time the snidget was hunted almost to extinction. The fact that a snidget became such an integral part of the game of Quidditch (and usually died when it was caught) didn't help matters either. The snidget became a protected species; there were then severe penalties for harming or even capturing one.
Snidget reserves had been set up worldwide, and a magical device, with the same ability, and appearance was made to replace the live bird in Quidditch.
Golden Snidget that were usually called as Snitch became the important key part in the destruction of Voldemort. The snitch from Harry’s first Quidditch match, which was won by Harry, was given to Harry by Dumbledore as one of
Dumbledore’s heritage for him. The snitch, as a magical device could be opened by wizard that made the first contact with it, in this case Harry was the one. The snitch contained a clue what Harry had to do (in his quest looking for Voldemort’s
Horcruxes to be destroyed).
The golden Snidget as a very fast (HP#1; p.211-212) and an elegant creature symbolizes honor and pride. The game of Quidditch would be won by the team which found and caught the snitch first (and Seeker was the one in charge of finding and capturing the Snitch, but he or she could not use magic on it). In addition the team which caught the snitch would be given an extra one hundred and fifty points for catching the snitch (HP#1; p.134). It was the most valuable and important ball in the Quidditch game (HP#1; p.211) since the game would not end before the snitch was caught (HP#1; p.134). 66
m. Hippogriff
Like Blast-Ended Skrewt, Dementor and Golden Snidget, Hippogriff was one of the mythical creatures made by Rowling. It had the body of a horse, along with its back legs and tail; for front part, they had head, wings, and the claw of a giant eagle with a vicious, sharp, steel-like beak and a pair of bright red eyes.
They were very arrogant (HP#3; p.147), easily offended creature (HP#3; p.151) and could be dangerous (HP#3; p.336) and likely attacked everything that disrespected them (HP#3; p.151), but they would be very loyal and helpful to the one that was nice to them (HP#3; p.487, p.510 – HP#4; p.625).
Hippogriff (named Buckbeak, that later became Winterwings) helped
Harry save Sirius Black from the worse punishment than the death sentence, which was the Dementor kiss. Buckbeak also helped and accompanied Sirius to visit Harry (book 4).
Hippogriff symbolizes the countermeasure in every day toward everyone.
Countermeasure or the act of repaying what other did to us was represented by
Buckbeak’s act. He would honor and respect other that did the same to them; they would not let anybody touch them if they thought that the person was not polite enough by the act of bowing and keeping the eye contact (HP#3; p.147-150). The one that was nice to them, respect or taking care of them would be the one whom they trusted for and would be loyal to them. 67
n. Merpeople
Merpeople is well known in all over the world, especially in classic mythology. Mer- (Latin) means ocean, and –people (English) so merpeople means people who live in ocean. They are also often recognized with the name of Siren,
Selky, Silkie, Selchie, Selkie, Merrow, Merman, or Mermaid. Their upper body is like human, and having a fish body with silver scales for their lower part. In
Scotland they are described as a normal human in the land, and when they want to return home they will use their seagull skin, that they hide somewhere in the shore, which transform their body into a seagull in the water. It is said that when a human finds a virgin seagull skin, they can force the Selkie to marry them. The women are very pretty, but the men are very bad looking. They like to sing, and they sing beautifully (it is said that it lures the sailor to crash their ship when looking for the source of the sound).
Merpeople in Harry Potter was described living in a colony in the bottom of the lake in Hogwart School of Magic and Wizardry (HP#4; p.557). They had grindylow as pets (HP#4; p.598) and architectural building such as houses and some kind of city square with a very big statue of a male Merpeople in the middle
(HP#4; p.597-598). They had a grayish skin, dark green long shabby hair, yellow eyes, with a silver fish body (HP#4; p.598). They lived in a group, and they had a leader (HP#4; p.607). They loved music (HP#4; p.598), and they respected others, especially those who showed bravery (HP#4; p.603-605).
As the merpeople were guarding the “prisoner” for the Triwizard tournament, they followed what they were asked to do (they did not like to be 68
ordered around, especially by strangers). Dumbledore, who could speak their language, which was Mermish, asked them to guard and watch how the four
Triwizard participants did their task. They kept their promise to Dumbledore and kept him informed (HP#4; p.607).
They symbolize honor, respect, friendship, and loyalty. They honored the brave and the pure-hearted (action that Harry Potter did to the ‘prisoners’).They respected people who could speak their language, especially Dumbledore. They show their respect by following Harry through the water into the shore and sang for him, and at the death of Dumbledore (book 6). Loyalty is shown by their act in doing what they were asked to do, and doing more for it (guarding four
‘prisoners’ for the goal of the Triwizard tournament).
o. Nagini
Nagini was the name that Rowling created for the snake which became the pet of Voldemort (HP#4; p.25). It was three and a half meter long (HP#4; p.23), and had a diamond motive in its tail (HP#4; p.24). It was very loyal to its master
(HP#4; p.788), and had a very tough physical strength compared to the normal ones (related to this, Voldemort used animal body to be controlled when he was in his lowest form, and he always chose snake to be controlled. Many of them could not survive long enough, but Nagini survived and gave another live for Voldemort
(HP#4; p.785)).
Nagini was the one and only living creature that Voldemort had a full trust to become one of his seven Horcux. Nagini was also helping Voldemort to survive 69
each day, since her venom was one of two ingredients from the potion (invented by Voldemort himself) that was required to stay alive, although not in his best condition (Nagini’s venom mixed with unicorn blood).
Nagini represents the symbol of loving and loyal companion. Nagini was very loyal to Voldemort, she was carrying Voldemort when he was in his lowest form, and she gave him her venom so that Voldemort could drink it with unicorn blood to keep him alive (book 4). Nagini also became his best companion, by always checking for his surroundings and patrols around to check whether it was clear or not.
p. Phoenix
Phoenix is an eternal bird that can rebirth from its own ashes. In the
Ancient Egypt, they were called Benu, the keeper of “destiny note” (a note which tells the past and the future), symbol of time and Heliopolis City, and it was trusted as the representation of the sun god. Latin writing said that there was a magical bird that was named Phoenix by the Assyrian. Phoenix lived for more than five centuries, and when it was about to die, the bird would collect some flower, cinnamons, and yellow myrh sap and burn itself, and from its ashes there would be a small phoenix that would be destined to live five centuries again. In
Chinese custom and myth, phoenix was called Feng-Huang, it had three legs and lived in the sun. Feng was the male and Huang was the female. They had the head and cock’s comb of Pegar chicken, with the most colorful feather of a peacock with five colors and played five tunes from their holed beak. They represent 70
eternal love, beauty, warmth, care and happiness. Japanese version of Phoenix was called Ho-o, it was almost the same with the Chinese one, but in Japan, they symbolize a new beginning.They come down to earth to help human kind, and it will go to the sky waiting for the next era. Ho-o was adopted into the emblem of royal family, represents the sun, justice, loyalty, and obedience.
Phoenix was a smart (HP#2; p.396, p.397, p.400, p.407) magical creature
(HP#2; p.258, p.396, p.400 – HP#4; p.833) with a swan-sized bird with red and gold plumage, golden beak, and golden talons (HP#2; p.391-392 – HP#4; p.699).
It could make a beautiful song that increased our courage (HP#2; p.391-392 –
HP#4; p.834), its tears could heal any kinds of wound (HP#2; p.399-400 – HP#4; p.839), and only few wizards that could make Phoenix interested and would stay long enough to become a helpful, loyal pet (only a great wizard that have the power to tame phoenix). It is believed that phoenix could not die, when it was the time, it would burn itself and from ashes, came out a small bird that would later be a phoenix (HP#2; p.257-258).
Dumbledore had phoenix as his pet, its name was Fawkes (HP#2; p.258).
Fawkes helped Harry when he had to encounter with basilisk in the chamber of secret (book 2), by bringing him the sorting hat (HP#2; p.392), where Harry pulled the Gryffindor’s sword to kill the basilisk (HP#2; p.397-398). Fawkes also helped Harry to fight the basilisk by hurting the basilisk eyes and making it blind, and using its tears to heal Harry which was wounded by the venomous fang of basilisk (HP#2; p.399-400).Later Fawkes helped Harry, Ron, Ginny and Lockhart out from the chamber of secret (they were asked to hold its tail, and flew out from 71
the chamber of secret). Fawkes had a very unique function, and most likely to be bond with Harry (the core of Harry’s wand was a phoenix tail taken from Fawkes by Mr. Olivander by the permission of Dumbledore, and it shed another feather for a wand which is the wand of Voldemort).
Phoenix symbolizes time and immortality, love, loyalty, and justice. As in the other myths, Phoenix also symbolizes time and immortality for its power to rebirth over and over again. Love is shown by its act of helping Harry (mending his wound, giving him support, and providing what Harry needed in the crucial times). Loyalty is shown by his act toward Dumbledore and by helping others that had a full trust in Dumbledore. Justice could be seen also from its act in destroying the evil.
q. Three-headed dog (Fluffy)
Almost all mythology associates with dog, be it as Anubis, Cerberus, T’ien k’uan, Garm, or Xolotl with death, Hell, the Underworld, etc. Each of them has their own duty to perform, such as imprisoning and destroying the enemies of light, guarding the entrance of Niflheim (the realm of the dead), accompanying the sun god during his journey under the Earth, and many other tasks. Most of their appearance is described as having four legs, having a dark color with a monstrous size (except Xolotl, having a sun color fur and a two feet long body, for it is the sun gods’ dog, and Anubis, a dog headed man, guarding holy places).
The form of the three-headed dog which named Fluffy in Rowling’s work was taken from Greek mythology. Fluffy had the appearance of Cerberus or 72
Hellhound, a monstrous size dog having three heads guarding an entrance to the underworld with music as its only weakness. It was said in the text that Hagrid purchased Fluffy from a Greek traveler (HP#1; p.239) and he had it as his pet for more than a year (HP#1; p.240), and that music was its only weakness (HP#1; p.330), Fluffy was placed at the entrance of a basement as a reliable guard that obeyed its order and kept guarding the third floor besides the charms and spells placed in some room to keep the philosopher’s stone safe (HP#1; p.274).
It is clearly stated that the three-headed dog function was for guarding a valuable thing and it was proven by the action of Albus Dumbledore in taking the philosopher’s stone from Gringott’s bank as believed to be the safest place in the world (HP#1; p.73, p.177) and kept it in Hogwarts.
The three-headed dog is a symbol of a powerful, loyal yet clumsy guardian. Its power is apparent when it never slept even in the slightest second when it is on guard; its loyalty is proven as it is the “pet” of the Gate Keeper of
Hogwarts, Rubeus Hagrid; its clumsiness is shown when it would fall asleep immediately when played with any kind of music.
r. Troll
Troll is described as a brutal creature that is very stupid, they rely on their own power to survive, they kill and eat raw flesh of small animal, such as goat, cow, horse, etc. They are described with a giant body and is always carrying a wooden club. They are not very well known in the classical mythology. 73
In Rowling’s work, trolls were closely related to giants. They had the same characteristic as giants. There were three kinds of troll according to where it lived; mountain troll, forest troll and river troll. The mountain troll was very stupid and exuded a powerfully awful smell (HP#1; p.217-218). It could reach three until five meters height, with grey skin, a lumpy body, and flat horny feet (HP#1; p.218). Dumbledore hired security trolls to guard the Fat Lady after Sirius Black attacked her for not allowing him enter the Gryffindor tower (HP#3; p.332). These were evidently a different type of troll than the mountain variety, since they seemed considerably more intelligent and less smelly. They spent all their time pacing the corridor in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, giving dirty looks to everyone who happened by, and comparing the sizes of their clubs. Umbridge apparently also hired security trolls to guard the Firebolt she had confiscated from
Harry (HP#5; p.935). Trolls were not recognized as magical being because they could not perform any kinds of magic. Giants and troll were almost alike (HP#4; p.280).
Quirrell let a troll entered Hogwarts to create a distraction so that he would be able to get the philosopher’s stone. Hermione, Harry and Ron finally became close friends after that moment (HP#1; p.224), and they helped each other until the very end of the story. They even skipped their last year of Hogwarts together in solving clues and hunted Voldemort’s other Horcruxes.
The way Troll walked, their stupidity, and their way of solving matters or dislike solely with force symbolize the ignorant sides of human. 74
s. Unicorn
In the Middle Ages, the unicorn was a symbol of power, basically expressed by its horn, as well as of magnificence and purity. These properties recurred in Ancient China, where the unicorn was the badge of kingship and symbolized kingly qualities. In China it had the name of Chi lin, meaning yin and yang, and was also believed as a good omen. With its single horn set in the middle of its forehead, the unicorn also symbolized a spiritual arrow, destroying the bad with its horn, the sword of God, and a divine revelation or the godhead penetrating its creation. In Christian iconography, it stands for the virgin who has conceived by the Holy Spirit. The alchemist regarded unicorn as an image of hermaphrodite. The Alchemist believed and stated that unicorn originally came from East and associated with the “third eye”, with the attainment of Nirvana (the alchemist writings of Lombardi, Lambsprinck, Mylius and others were often illustrated with plates of the unicorn).
Rowling described it as a beautiful (HP#1; p.318) magical creature (HP#1; p.312) with the shape of horse-like creature with single long horn on its head.
When they were infants they had golden color and they would turn into silver when two years old (HP#4; p.581), horn started to grow when they were four years old, and when they were seven years old, white hair grew on it (HP#4; p.581). A fully matured unicorn would avoid male human (HP#4; p.581). Fourth years students studied unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures subject. Various parts of the unicorn were full of magical use (HP#1; p.321) - the horn and tail hair in particular - were used as potion ingredients and as wand cores. Unicorn blood 75
could save anyone who drank it, even if they were an inch from death (HP#1; p.321). Slaying unicorn was regarded as a wicked and evil act, because unicorn was very pure and defenseless (HP#1; p.321).
Unicorn is the symbol of female since the author stated that they were pure and defenseless, and they were always the victim of the evil ones (book 1 and book 4).
C. The Significance of the Mythical Creature and their Representation
When talking about the significance of the creatures’ representation, we cannot separate it from their function. The above analyzed creatures had a major role in the story. Some of them were mentioned as an interlude, just for cheering things up (snails that came from Ron’s mouth caused by his broken wand, bats for the decoration in the main Hall of Hogwarts on Halloween, fairies to decorate the
Christmas trees, cleaning gnome as an entertainment, etc), and some of them helped the characters to solve a problems, an aid in danger or the clue to reveal mysteries (Buckbeak helped to rescue Sirius Black to escape from a severe death punishment, the owls that were delivering the wizard’s letter or packages, golden snidget as a place where Dumbledore left his final clues for Harry in order to find and destroy Voldemort’s horcruxes, Fawkes helped Harry to kill a basilisk in the chamber of secret, and cured Harry’s deathly wound caused by basilisk and acromantula’s venom).
All the analyzed creatures (acromantula, basilisk, blast-ended skrewt, boggart, centaur, dementor, dragon, elfish, gargoyle, giant, goblin, golden snidget, 76
hippogriff, merpeople, Nagini, phoenix, three-headed dog, troll, and unicorn) were connected directly with the significant characters in the story (Harry Potter,
Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Albus Dumbledore, Voldemort, etc.) and helped them in many ways. They helped to enrich the story of Harry Potter’s adventures in various ways.
With their symbols and functions, the creatures help to build the entire story with its complex moral values, such as bravery, courage, honesty, the battle between good and evil, friendship, communication, spontaneous act, intuition, loyalty, passion, and strong will power.
Each of the creatures was used by Rowling to deliver moral values which she wanted to give and show to the reader. All of the creatures were delivered in a sensible way by the author through their characters, their action, their speech, and how they react for certain events so that all of the readers can understand each character.
Besides to deliver the moral values of the story, Rowling created them to help the characters to improve themselves, to create an event decoys (the main events are blurred by the creature's problems, and they will be the side events), to enrich the conflict, as the tool to achieve some purposes or goals, to make a clear plot, to show what other characters looked like (mainly reveals the attitude of the characters), and to create the necessary addition line for the plot, the goal, and the focus of each book.
Each of the creatures is analyzed individually to make a clear view. 77
a. Acromantula - cleverness, friendship, kinship, loyalty, instinct
A giant spider originally came from deep Borneo forest, was able to talk and think like human. It preys on any animal/ living things that they can eat (deer, racoon, horse, elephant, human, etc). In Harry Potter’s adventure, it was told that their eternal enemy was Basilisk (a dangerous giant serpent that can kill with a glance of their eyes). Acromantula would run away if they sensed the present of a basilisk. They lived in the forest of Hogwarts.
Aragog was the name that Hagrid gave to his Acromantula's pet. He even found for Aragog a wife named Mosag. Aragog represents cleverness, friendship, kinship, loyalty, hungry for flesh (greed) and instinct.
The creature's significance toward the story is to give Harry and his friends the main clue about the creature in the chamber of secret (a basilisk), as one of the creatures which attacked Hogwarts (final book) not because it was on the dark side, just because it sensed blood and flesh that might be able to be eaten when the great battle happened. Acromantula was also as one of the obstacles in the
Triwizard tournament (fourth book). They helped in building and maintaining the pre-climax (second book, forth book).
Aragog/ Acromantula's symbol is one of the important things for Rowling to show and express the moral value she wants to show, that even a smart,
‘friendship lover’ who respect others could also have greed in its heart consciously or unconsciously (either in physical or mental such as power, material, attention, etc). 78
b. Basilisk - evil, death
The creature's significance toward the story is to enrich Harry Potter experience, as the main mystery in the chamber of secret, a connector between
Harry Potter and Fawkes, a weapon of Tom Ridlle (that was a "heritage" of
Salazar Slytherin),and as the climax of the second book.
The significance of basilisk's symbols toward the story is to emphasize the battle between good and evil that becomes one of the moral values Rowling wanted to show in her story.
c. Blast-ended skrewt - power, emotion
The creature's significance toward the story is to make the characters closer to each other (among Harry, Hagrid, the Weasleys, Hermione and Cedric), to enrich the mythical creature's world because it is a new form of creature (a cross breed between manticore and fire crab), and as one of the Triwizards' obstacles in the final assignment which was the maze)
The significance of blast-ended skrewt symbols toward the story is to remind the readers about the emotion, power, horror, and that everyone has their own weakness no matter how strong they are.
d. Boggart - hunger for recognition, uncertainty in every action
The creature's significance toward the story is to add skills of the characters (Harry learned Patronus charm and how to face a dementor from a boggart, and many other Hogwart's students also learned from this creature), it 79
connected Harry and Lupin with their additional class. Neville gained his self- confidence from handling a boggart (and in later series when Harry was not at
Hogwart, Neville defended his belief and ‘replaced’ Harry's position at
Dumbledore's Army until Harry had to go back to Hogwarts), Neville also managed to kill Nagini (one of Voldemort's horcruxes) after Harry asked him to do it.
The significance of boggart symbols toward the story is to reflect human needs for recognition, and uncertainty in every action or event in life.
e. Centaur - balance (animal and human, instinct and knowledge)
The creature's significance toward the story is by helping Harry at the forbidden forest at Hogwart when he was face to face with Voldemort for the first time. The centaur gave a little bit of mysteries through their words about the movement of the planet. The herd of centaur "accidentally" helped Harry and
Hermione when they were forced to reveal what Dumbledore's up to by capturing
Umbridge who insulted them, making Harry and Hermione free (book 5).
The significance of centaur symbols toward the story is to remind the readers about having a balance in everything, and not to let one condition or situation gets to be overwhelmed or uncontrolled.
f. Dementor - dark power, horror, hunger for power and desperation
The creature's significance toward the story is spreading fear, horror and desperation. Dementor also helped to build the climax in the story (third book), 80
and as a natural allies of the dark side (which was Voldemort's side).
The significance of dementor's symbols toward the story is to represent the dark side; evil will destroy the good if it is not controlled. Dementor's symbolizations are used to emphasize Voldemort's power (it was said that the dark side was getting stronger and would reach its glories moment once again when dementors joined Voldemort's side). Rowling wanted to tell the reader that we can defeat our fear by ourselves (dementors were defeated by the use of Patronus charm - a charm which was produced and created from our happy thought, and the stronger the thought was patronus charm would follow it).
g. Dragon - power, love, wildness, full of function
Creature's significance toward the story is enriching the imagination of the reader, giving thrill in some events (Gringgot's break out, Triwizard tournament, etc), creating warm and lovely bonds between the characters, and making them closer each other (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Maxime, Charlie, Cedric,
Krum, etc), and as a clue (Harry realized that someone intended to get Hagrid to tell him how to get pass Fluffy, the three-headed guardian dog, when Hagrid told him that he won the Dragon's egg from some mysterious hooded person in a pub while drinking together).
The significance of dragon's symbols toward the story is to show some of the moral values that Rowling used in the story (power, love), and to say that everything is valuable and important to others (although dragons are very dangerous, wild, brutal and savage, it has many usages- its blood, horn, teeth, 81
claws, bone, meat, and it is equal to the danger to get it).
h. Elfish - obedient slave, loyalty, friendship
Creature's significance toward the story is as a helper for Harry in his critical time (Dobby, a house elf, gave Harry a warning not to get back to
Hogwarts, and he gave Harry a solution in the second Triwizard tournament to save Ron under the lake – which was to be able to breath under water after eating a plant named Gillyweed; Kreacher helped to gather information in searching the horcruxes; rallied Hogwart's house elf to defend their house; and Hokey gave his memory to Dumbledore to solve the missing puzzle for the horcruxes research).
Dobby finally died in protecting Harry when he was caught and almost died at
Malfoy's mansion.
The significance of the house elf's symbols toward the story is to deliver a moral value to the reader, telling to stand up for our right, not to be underestimated and pushed freely by other, to respect anyone/ anything - because it turns out that even a creature regarded as a slave can be a big help and save us from a problem if we respect and appreciate what they do. To be loyal is good, but we should think clearly for whom we are loyal to, and friendship is one of good aspects to have (Rowling showed her thought by representing it in the form of elfish – the creature which is bound to serve).
i. Gargoyle - strict and strong guard
The creature's significance toward the story is giving some protections 82
needed for some rooms (Dumbledore's office, teacher's room), is also used to create a "joke" when the teacher's room is destroyed as well as their solid rock body (they were destroyed when a battle started), yet they still talked and told people to be more careful and not to stomp on their head (when people were running around casting spells).
The significance of gargoyle's symbols toward the story is to emphasize the important people (one big stone gargoyle at the stairs entrance of
Dumbledore's office, and two rather small stone gargoyles at the both side of teacher's room door).
j. Giant - animal instinct on human, power, hard worker
Creature's significance toward the story is to build the characters (Harry and his friends through their friendship with Hagrid, the gate keeper of Hogwart), to enrich the plot and add some intrigues in the story (the overthrown power of giant's colony, the attempt of making Grawp civilized), and as one of the dark side alliances which attacked Hogwart in the final story.
The significance of giant's symbols toward the story is to make the readers realize their own instinct, and to show that physical power can help someone to overcome their weakness. Hagrid shows a very diligent, persistence, and hard worker act by the way he treated other animals, characters and especially his step brother - a giant named Grawp. Rowling also wanted to remind the readers not to judge people by their looks or appearances from the character of Hagrid and not to let go what we believe, always to look the good side, and that being a sensitive 83
person is not bad at all.
k. Goblin - guard, greed, cunning, intelligent, skilful
The creature's significance toward the story is to make the plot more interesting (when Harry and his friends were in the run from the death-eater, imprisoned at Malfoy's mansion, and broke into Gringgot bank), as the first start for Harry to get to know the magical creatures in the wizarding world (Harry got acquainted with a goblin named Griphook which helped him to get his money and the philosopher’s stone for Dumbledore). Goblin is mentioned over and over because their history (the rebels of goblins toward wizards and because they are considered as a creature that needs more attention) was also crucial in making the wizards economy grew stabile, and also as a treasure hunter and the creators of the finest craftsmanship in heirlooms and valuable things (cup, sword, tiara, locket, armour, etc) and the things that were made as a horcruxes by Voldemort.
The significance of goblin symbols is to give the readers a clear view about something that can be used for evil can also be used for the good of human kind (in the story goblins were described as a greed, cunning creatures that could be the perfect guard for others, creating, inventing or discovering something valuable).
l. Golden snidget - honour, pride
Creature's significance toward the story is as the key to win the Quidditch game (the game would not end before the snidget was caught by the seeker). At 84
the final adventure it was revealed that snidget could also become a hiding item
(snidget is made with a complex magic spells to replace the dangers of golden snidget and not to be touched directly by skin-by its maker or by the seeker-, and
Harry accidentally caught a snidget in his first year of Hogwart by nearly swallowing it). It turned out that anyone who touched or made any direct contact with it would be the one that could open it (for an extraordinary wizards or witches, they could put some note or small things in it).
The significance of golden snidget’s symbols toward the story is to embed the hard work and the action to take control of the way which is needed to be taken effectively and exact movement and decision to escape from the seeker’s hand. Rowling also wanted to say that a quick decision that is made in a crucial time is important, but it should be taken in a calm and rational thought, not in a haste since it will make a huge effect on later events in our life (when Harry understood Dumbledore’s messages in the snidget, he could think the act effectively and efficiently, making Harry the one who survived from the great battle in Hogwarts between him and Voldemort).
m. Hippogriff – counter measurement
The creature's significance toward the story is as the creature which created a conflict in Hagrid’s first teaching, as a tool to help Sirius Black –
Harry’s god-father - escape from death punishment, as a loyal friend for Sirius,
Hagrid, Harry and friends. It made the story rich of small conflicts and revealed
Hermione’s time management secret in taking classes (Hermione was able to take 85
many classes in her third year of Hogwart in the same time with a time reverse).
Hermione and Harry were given a clue by Dumbledore to save Buckbeak,
Hagrid’s hippogriff, and Sirius Black from death punishment by reversing the time in three flips of the magical time glass. With these events, Harry managed to rescue himself and Sirius Black when they were infested by dementors near
Hogwarts lake.
The significance of hippogriff’s symbol toward the story is to warn all of the readers to be more careful in their action and their attitude. It is also to remind the readers to acknowledge what they had done in their life. Everything that we do will eventually hit heart, they will help us back, and if we hurt other in some purposes, we will get it too in return. There is an old saying which resembles hippogriff’s symbol, a counter measurement, which says ‘if you do not want to be hit, do not hit others’. Everything that we have done before will happen to us eventually and in Harry Potter’s adventures it is represented by the hippogriff‘s attitude in bowing to them who bow first, and attacking them who mock or giving an unpleasant gesture toward them.
n. Merpeople - honour, respect, friendship, loyalty
The creature's significance toward the story is as one of the parts in the
Triwizard Tournament (book 4), as a guardian for the prisoner to make sure that everyone will be save and unharmed, and if there is not anyone who comes to save the prisoner they will bring the prisoner to the land. They also become the ones who make Harry in the upper position with an equal point with Cedric 86
Diggory. Their song is as the second riddle in the Triwizard tournament (the first riddle was how to hear the singing without making the hearer loses their hearing ability since the language that merpeople use - Mermish - is like a high pitch screams in the land, and a soft calming voice inside the water).
The significance of merpeople’s symbols toward the story is to deliver some moral values such as to keep our honour and pride high, to keep our honour and our promises, for what we have said or asked to do by other, to help our friends and everyone who needed our help, to respect other and to always remember to whom our loyalty lays to.
o. Nagini - loving and loyal companion
The creature's significance toward the story is as Voldemort’s most loyal pet and companion, as one of Voldemort’s horcruxes and the most difficult horcrux to be destroyed. Voldemort’s care and attention to Nagini made the readers understand more about Voldemort’s other side, who only cared toward the important things in his goal. Nagini was also used by Voldemort to catch Harry
Potter by disguising as an old woman who knew about Dumbledore (in the final adventure). Besides being a loyal pet, Nagini was used as a weapon by Voldemort to attack Arthur Weasley in his way to the prophecy room in the Ministry of
Magic. When Voldemort had not attained his body, he used a potion he made himself with only two ingredients; they were unicorn blood and Nagini’s venom.
Beside that, Nagini was used to strengthen the evil side effect.
The significance of Nagini’s symbols toward the story is to show the 87
reader that even the dark side have positive values, such as loving and loyal companion without any obligation; it can be in a sincere way, such as Nagini’s devotion toward Voldemort.
p. Phoenix - time, immortality, love, loyalty, justice
Creature's significance toward the story is as a saviour in the crucial time like when Fawkes (Dumbledore’s pet) saved Harry from a basilisk attack in the chamber of secret, giving him the advantages in sight, giving Harry the sorting hat which later came the Gryffindor sword and stabbing the basilisk in its upper jaw.
Fawkes also took Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart in a save place and cured
Harry’s wound and avoiding him from death. Fawkes was also used by
Dumbledore as a vehicle (when he was dealing with the people from the ministry to arrest him). Phoenix was used to make an equal strength in the good side (at
Voldemort’s side there is a snake - Nagini - as an exclamation of evil and in
Dumbledore’s side there is a phoenix – Fawkes – to bold up the good side).
The significance of phoenix’s symbols toward the story is to represent the moral values Rowling wanted to explain. It is said that phoenix cannot be tame; it will follow a great wizard to help in any ways. Immortality cannot be achieved by people who look for it; people who give all his best to the good of many people will be immortal in his or her deeds and creations. People should live their life as much as they can, and they should not waste their time in ignorant. If people have a good intention, they will be helped by many people around them, and they should help others who really need them the most. 88
q. Three-headed dog - powerful, loyal yet clumsy guardian
It was an Egyptian creature which was guarding a trap door at the third floor of Hogwarts.It was Hagrid's pet for about a year before he lent it to
Dumbledore to guard the philosopher's stone belonging to Nicholas Flamel, an alchemist who created the philosopher's stone (a stone which could turn any metal into gold and produced an elixir of live - an elixir which would make anyone who drank it having a long life - it was said that Nicholas Flamel and his wife –
Perenelle Flamel - were living more than six hundred years).
Hagrid named the three-headed dog as Fluffy. He bought it from an
Egyptian traveller whom he met at Hog's Head. Its only weakness was it would instantly fall asleep when a music is played (no matter what kind of music it was, even an unarranged melody would make it fall asleep). It represents the figure of a loyal guard that will give a hundred and ten percent of what it can do to do its work (the symbol of powerful, loyal yet a clumsy guardian).
Fluffy is regarded as a significance creature to build up the story, and it gave a role in building up the climax of the story (first book). It was the creature that made Harry and his friends were able to get in touch with Hagrid. It was also one of the reasons for Harry and his friends discussed about their potion teacher
Severus Snape, and as a start to build Snape's character (which was turned out to be misjudged by many people and revealed in the last story of Harry Potter's adventures).
Fluffy's symbols significance is to give moral lessons or to state the moral values that Rowling wanted to show in her book, that everything or everyone has 89
their own weakness no matter how strong or powerful they might be.
r. Troll - the ignorant side of human
The creature's significance toward the story is to create a side event and as a start of the main event (the philosophers stone). Troll was used as one of the things which were guarding the philosopher’s stone suggested by Prof. Quirell
(which turned out to be possessed by Voldemort). Harry Potter and Ronald
Weasley defeated a mountain troll to save Hermione Granger in their first year at
Hogwart, and from that moment the three of them became a best friend until they grew older. It can be said that troll is the first creature that Harry Potter and his friends faced, and it was where they realized that they should pay more attention to their classes. The word ‘troll’ is also used as a mocking word to explain a very low intelligence or knowledge in the wizarding world.
The significance of troll’s symbols toward the story is to remind the reader that an ignorant attitude is not always the best solution, and if we behave properly we could be more useful in our surroundings (there are a much clever troll which became a guardian, with much proper clothes, and nicer smell).
s. Unicorn - female, pure, defenceless
The creature's significance toward the story is as the creature that Harry had to find in the forbidden forest of Hogwarts when he got a detention with
Lucius Malfoy and Hermione Granger. At that time he finally found the injured unicorn and had to face an unknown creature that turned out to be Voldemort in 90
his weakest condition, and who had not got a complete body. Unicorn was also one of the creatures which helped Hagrid to regain his trust among the students in
Hogwart (when Hagrid was pointed as the new teacher to teach about all creatures in the wizarding world he first introduced a hippogriff which latter attacked
Malfoy. Hagrid then grew in a low esteem and lost his trust from some of the students). Unicorn blood was used by Voldemort to make him strong enough to live in his low form right in the first book of Harry Potter until he got his body
(book 4).
The significance of unicorn’s symbols toward the story is to give a statement that people often use and manipulate other without thinking the effect of what they have done to the person or things. Female is often used by many people as an object or a tool to achieve what people want to. Although female is regarded as a weak and unable to defend themselves in many ways, they are still being looked for. CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
This undergraduate thesis talked about the study of the mythical creatures in the first six series of Harry Potter’s adventures by J.K. Rowling. There are three problems formulated for this study: What creatures are used by Rowling in the first six series, what the creatures symbolize, and what the significance of the creatures and their representation is toward the story line.
For the first problem, the researcher found out that from one hundred and sixty four names of creatures with thirty four variants found in the hard copies and soft copies of Harry Potter series, there are only one hundred and thirty five creatures that are mentioned in the first six books. After the researcher made some classification for the creatures in the analysis part, the researcher found nineteen creatures with the most significance roles for the story. At table 4.1.4 the researcher included some percentages to support the creatures’ appearances, yet some creatures having more appearances are not stated if they do not pass other criteria stated. These tables were discussed as the answers for the next two problems.
The second problem is answered by stating what the mythical creatures’ symbols are one by one. Each of the mythical creatures has their own symbol(s), and it cannot be separated from their physical form, status, action and reaction for certain events, their attitude and last but not least from their correlation with the human characters in the story. For all of that condition, the researcher analyzed
91 92
the mythical creatures one by one completed with proves needed to support the researcher’s idea. The symbols that cover all the mythical creatures will be loyalty, physical strength, evil, darkness, instinct, friendship, kinship, death, balance, love, hard working, greed, cunning, cleverness, honors, pride, counter measurement, animal side of human and their ignorance, time, immortality, justice, female, purity and defenselessness. All of the symbols stated had been proved by the researcher from each book.
The last problem is about the significance of the creatures and their representation toward the story line. For this case, those creatures and their symbols were once again analyzed and given a more detail information and a more specific prove by the researcher to answer the last problem formulation about the creatures’ significance and their representation toward the story line. As the results, the researcher found out that each of the creatures is used to deliver moral values. All of the mythical creatures analyzed have certain usage to the whole story and they keep certain symbols used to represents and to show some moral lessons and certain philosophy. Besides to deliver the moral values of the story, they were created to help the characters to improve themselves, to create events, to enrich the conflict, to be the tool to achieve some purposes or goals, to make a clear plot, and to reveal the attitude of other characters in Harry Potter’s adventures.
The mythical creatures created by Rowling had certainly made some differences in the literary world. They have given a whole new aspect of point of view, given new contribution for the creatures, added some new creatures, and 93
through Harry Potter adventures Rowling had made a bridge between the children and the adults reading, making joys in reading a novel form.
The answers of the problems in this undergraduate thesis are obtained partly by using interpreting method with the support of the text in Harry Potter adventure and it’s complimentary. This means that the results can vary, depending on one’s interpretation, which can be influenced by many factors. The answers that the researcher found through the analysis cannot be fully used as the only answer of those problems. The researcher recommends further research on this topic using either the same theories or different theories to acquire more valid results and to create more acceptable symbols for those who adore Harry Potter
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APPENDICES
For ease of references, in this part, there are an explanation for some additional terms, characters and the mythical creature’s specification to make the reader comfortable to get acquaintance with some confusing terms of the creatures.
Appendix 1: Summary of Harry Potter adventures
1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone The story begins when Harry Potter was a year-old baby, he had lost both of his parents. He was put to a house where his only relative stayed by a man called Dumbledore. There was strange event that day in London, where people (muggles) could see a large numbers of people wearing strange robe as they were wizards and witches (while in fact they were really are who celebrated the vanishing of Voldemort, the Dark Prince). From that day, Harry’s life changed into ordinary life as a muggle until he was eleven years old. Many strange things happened to Harry for the eleven years, and he had no idea why he could get those things, until one day, he got a letter written in a green ink and the letter made his uncle, Vernon Dursley, and his aunt, Petunia Dursley, shock, and they even tried to prevent Harry not to read the letter. Amazingly, more letters with the same first letter came and came to the Dursley’s house until uncle Vernon evacuated them all in an abandon shriek on the rock near the sea. That night they stayed in the shriek, and Harry remembered tomorrow was his twelve birthday. At twelve o’clock midnight, someone broke the door and came in. He introduced himself as Hagrid, a messenger of professor Dumbledore, and he brought the letter for Harry to read. The letter gave information that Harry had already registered as the student of Hogwarts Wizarding School this semester, and he was invited to study there. Hagrid told him (almost) everything about his past, including his parents were, they died protecting Harry from Voldemort who tries to kill him eleven years ago. After a small confrontation and spelling Hagrid brought Harry with him, and they went to Diagon Alley, a secret place for wizards and witches to buy things they need. In the end of August, Harry went by Hogwarts Express, and there he got new friends like the Weasleys, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and so on. He experienced many new things, and most of it was magical. Harry experienced his first adventure at Hogwarts, from his first acquaintances with a mountain troll, his detention in the forbidden forest, his first acquaintances with Voldemort, the centaurs, unicorn and many other creatures until his happy moment for joining a quidditch team as the youngest seeker known in history. Unexpectedly, since he is the type of a curious person, Harry knew the information about the Philosopher stone and the breaking of vault were the stone was put and as it is taken by Hagrid before it was brake. Along his first year at Hogwarts, he found more clues related to the stone and his parents, Harry heritage his father’s adventurous character, and it made him involved deeper in the case. 100
Believing the Stone will be stolen Harry, Ron and Hermione go through the trapdoor which is guarded by a gigantic three headed dog to get to it first. They managed to pass all the security system set up by the school's staff and find that Professor Quirrell, a stuttering and rather meek person, is trying to steal the Stone, and realize Snape was trying to protect Harry from harm all along (Quirell actually was the one who tried to take the stone to return his master’s power). Then Harry was forced to confronts Quirrell and survives a second encounter with Lord Voldemort, who has been possessing Quirrell (notably appearing as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell’s head). Quirrell is fatally injured in the confrontation, his skin burned and blistered by Harry’s touch, who finally faints. Voldemort’s spirit then abandons its broken host, leaving Quirrell to die. During Harry’s recovery after the encounter, Dumbledore reveals that Harry’s mother stood up to Voldemort to protect Harry. This sacrifice of pure love gave Harry ancient magical protection from Voldemort’s destructive spells. Dumbledore also reveals that, though Harry found the Stone, it will be destroyed to prevent future attempts by Voldemort to steal it.
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets begins when Harry is spending a miserable summer with his only remaining family, the Dursleys. During a dinner party hosted by his uncle and aunt, Harry is visited by Dobby, a house-elf. Dobby warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts, the magical school for wizards that Harry attended the previous year. Harry politely disregards the warning, and Dobby wreaks havoc in the kitchen, infuriating the Dursleys. The Dursleys angrily imprison Harry in his room for the rest of the summer. Luckily, Harry's friend Ron Weasley steals Harry away in a flying car, and Harry happily spends the rest of the summer at the Weasley home. While shopping for school supplies with the Weasleys, Harry has two unfortunate encounters. He first encounters Lockhart, one of his teachers, who demands to be in a photo shoot with Harry. Harry then encounters Lucius Malfoy, the evil father of one of Harry's enemies, who almost starts a fight with Mr. Weasley. As Harry prepares to return to Hogwarts, he finds that he and Ron are unable to enter the magically invisible train platform, so they fly the Weasley car to Hogwarts. They land messily, and both boys are given detentions. Lockhart, who believes Harry flew the car to get attention, lectures Harry. Quidditch practices begin and Draco Malfoy is the new Slytherin seeker. On the field, he calls Hermione a "mudblood," insulting her Muggle heritage. After taunting Hermione, Draco is the suspect when, on Halloween night, someone petrifies the school caretaker's cat and writes a threatening message. Before the cat is attacked, Harry twice hears an eerie voice. He hears it first during his detention and second during a party, moments before the cat is attacked. Everybody in the school is alarmed. By doing some research, Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that fifty years ago a chamber at Hogwarts was opened and a student was killed. Playing for Gryffindor, Harry wins the Quidditch match against Slytherin. During the game, an enchanted ball hits Harry and causes him to lose the bones in 101
his arm. Dobby, a house elf, has enchanted the ball in an effort to have Harry injured and sent home. That night, Harry sees the body of a first-year who has been petrified arrive at the hospital. Soon after, Lockhart begins a dueling club. During the first meeting, Harry terrifies his fellow students by speaking in Parseltongue to a snake. Harry's ability frightens the others because only the heir of Slytherin, who is responsible for opening the chamber, would have the ability to converse with snakes. Harry comes under further suspicion when he stumbles upon the petrified bodies of Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly- Headless Nick. Determined to catch the culprit, Ron, Harry and Hermione brew a potion called Polyjuice. The potion allows them to assume the bodies of Slytherins and question Malfoy on the Chamber of Secrets. They find out that Malfoy is not the heir of Slytherin. No more attacks occur for a while, and right before Valentine's Day, Harry finds a diary in the broken toilet. The diary belongs to a ghost named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' restroom. Harry writes in the diary, which responds by writing back. Through this dialogue, Harry meets Tom Riddle, a boy who many years before had accused Hagrid of opening the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione and a Ravenclaw girl are mysteriously petrified. Harry and Ron venture out of the castle to question Hagrid. Before they reach Hagrid, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and Lucius Malfoy remove Dumbledore and Hagrid from Hogwarts. As Hagrid is led away, he instructs the boys that by following the spiders, they can find out about the Chamber monster. Several nights later, Harry and Ron sneak into the Forbidden Forest to follow the spiders. They discover the monster who killed the girl fifty years before was not a spider, that the girl's body was found in a bathroom, and that Hagrid is innocent. The boys are almost killed by a colony of giant spiders. As they escape, Harry and Ron decide that Moaning Myrtle must have been the girl killed by the monster. A few days later, Ron and Harry discover a piece of paper with a description of a basilisk on it in Hermione's frozen hand. They deduce the Chamber monster is a basilisk. Before the boys can act on their knowledge, the teachers announce that Ginny Weasley has been taken into the chamber. Ron, Harry, and Lockhart slide down a secret passage in Myrtle's bathroom to underground tunnels. When Lockhart accidentally curses himself, Ron helps him and Harry leaves them behind. Harry enters the Chamber of Secrets and encounters Ginny's still body and Tom Riddle. Tom turns out to be a younger version of Voldemort, who has been enchanting Ginny through his journal. Harry calls for help from Dumbledore. A phoenix and a magic hat arrive. Tom summons a basilisk, but the phoenix punctures its eyes. The hat produces a sword, which Harry uses to kill the giant snake. Harry sticks a basilisk fang through the diary, destroying Tom. Ginny wakes up. Harry explains his adventure to Dumbledore. Lucius Malfoy storms into the office with his house-elf, Dobby, and Harry frees Dobby from by tricking Lucius into giving Dobby a sock. All is well in the castle as the students leave for their summer vacations. 102
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens on the night before Harry's thirteenth birthday, when he receives gifts by Owl Post from his friends at school. The next morning at breakfast, Harry sees on television that a man named Black is on the loose from prison. At this time, Aunt Marge comes to stay with the Dursleys, and she insults Harry's parents numerous times. Harry accidentally causes her to inflate. Harry leaves the Dursley's house and is picked up by the Knight Bus, but only after an alarming sighting of a large, black dog. The Knight Bus drops Harry off at Diagon Alley, where he is greeted by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. He rents a room and awaits the start of school. In Diagon Alley, Harry finishes his schoolwork, admires a Firebolt broomstick in the window of a shop, and after some time, finds his friends Ron and Hermione. At a pet shop, Hermione buys a cat named Crookshanks, who chases Scabbers, Ron's aging pet rat. Ron is most displeased. The night before they all head off to Hogwarts, Harry overhears Ron's parents discussing the fact that Sirius Black is after Harry. The students board the Hogwarts Express train and are stopped once by an entity called a Dementor. Harry faints and is revived by Professor Lupin, the new defense against the dark arts teacher. Soon afterward, the students arrive at Hogwarts and classes begin. In divination class, Professor Trelawney foresees Harry's death by reading tealeaves and finding the representation of a Grim, a large black dog symbolizing death. In the care of magical creatures class, Hagrid introduces the students to Hippogriffs, large, deeply dignified crosses between horses and eagles. Malfoy insults one of these beasts, Buckbeak, and is attacked. Malfoy drags out the injury in an attempt to have Hagrid fired and Buckbeak put to sleep. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lupin leads the class in a defeat of a Boggart, which changes shape to appear as the viewer's greatest fear. For Lupin, it turns into an orb, for Ron, a spider. Harry doesn't have a chance to fight it. During a Hogwarts visit to Hogsmeade, a wizard village which Harry is unable to visit because he has no permission slip, Harry has tea with Professor Lupin. Harry discovers that the reason he wasn't allowed to fight the Boggart was that Lupin had worried that it would take the shape of Voldemort. This concern catches Harry by surprise, because Harry had been thinking even more fearfully about the awful Dementors. Snape brings Lupin a steaming potion, which Lupin drinks, much to Harry's alarm. Later that night, Sirius Black breaks into Hogwarts and destroys the Fat Lady portrait that guards Gryffindor Tower. The students spend the night sleeping in the Great Hall while the teachers search the castle. Soon afterwards, Quidditch moves into full swing, and Gryffindor House plays against Hufflepuff. During the game, Harry spies the large black dog, and seconds later he sees a hoard of Dementors. He loses consciousness and falls off his broomstick. Harry wakes to find that his trusty broomstick had flown into the Whomping Willow and been smashed in his fall, and the game itself had lost. Later, Harry learns from Lupin that the Dementors affect Harry so much because Harry's past is so horrible. 103
During the next Hogsmeade visit, from which Harry is forbidden, Fred and George Weasley give Harry the Marauder's map, written by the mysterious quartet of Moony, Prongs, Wormtail and Padfoot. This map leads him through a secret passageway into Hogsmeade, where he rejoins Ron and Hermione. Inside the Hogsmeade tavern, Harry overhears Cornelius Fudge discussing Sirius Black's responsibility for Harry's parents' deaths, as well as for the death of another Hogwarts student, Peter Pettigrew, who was blown to bits, leaving only a finger. Back at Hogwarts, Harry learns that Hagrid received a notice saying that Buckbeak, the hippogriff who attacked Malfoy, is going to be put on trial, and Hagrid is inconsolable. The winter holidays roll around. For Christmas, Harry receives a Firebolt, the most impressive racing broomstick in the world. Much to his and Ron's dismay, Hermione reports the broomstick to Professor McGonagall, who takes it away out of fear that it may have been sent (and cursed) by Sirius Black. After the holidays, Harry begins working with Professor Lupin to fight Dementors with the Patronus charm; he is moderately successful, but still not entirely confident in his ability to ward them off. Soon before the game against Ravenclaw, Harry's broomstick is returned to him, and as Ron takes it up to the dormitory, he discovers evidence that Scabbers has been eaten by Crookshanks. Ron is furious at Hermione. Soon afterwards, Gryffindor plays Ravenclaw in Quidditch. Harry, on his Firebolt, triumphs, winning the game. Once all the students have gone to bed, Sirius Black breaks into Harry's dormitory and slashes the curtain around Ron's bed. Several days later, Hagrid invites Harry and Ron over for tea and scolds them for shunning Hermione on account of Scabbers and the Firebolt. They feel slightly guilty, but not terrible. Soon Harry, under his invisibility cloak, meets Ron during a Hogsmeade trip; when he returns, Snape catches him and confiscates his Marauder's Map. Lupin saves Harry from Snape's rage, but afterwards he reprimands him severely for risking his safety for "a bag of magic tricks." As Harry leaves Lupin's office, he runs into Hermione, who informs him that Buckbeak's execution date has been set. Ron, Hermione, and Harry are reconciled in their efforts to help Hagrid. Around this time, Hermione is exceptionally stressed by all of her work, and in a day she slaps Malfoy for picking on Hagrid and she quits Divination, concluding that Professor Trelawney is a great fraud. Days later, Gryffindor beats Slytherin in a dirty game of Quidditch, winning the Cup. Exams roll around, and during Harry's pointless Divination exam, Professor Trelawney predicts the return of Voldemort's servant before midnight. Ron, Hermione, and Harry shield themselves in Harry's invisibility cloak and head off to comfort Hagrid before the execution. While at his cabin, Hermione discovers Scabbers in Hagrid's milk jug. They leave, and Buckbeak is executed. As Ron, Harry, Harry and Hermione are leaving Hagrid's house and reeling from the sound of the axe, the large black dog approaches them, pounces on Ron, and drags him under the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione and Crookshanks dash down after them; oddly, Crookshanks knows the secret knob to press to still the flailing tree. They move through an underground tunnel and arrive at the Shrieking Shack. They find that the black dog has turned into Sirius Black and is 104
in a room with Ron. Harry, Ron, and Hermione manage to disarm Black, and before Harry can kill Black, avenging his parents' deaths, Professor Lupin enters the room and disarms him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are aghast as Lupin and Black exchange a series of nods and embrace. Once the three students calm down enough to listen, Lupin and Black explain everything. Lupin is a werewolf who remains tame through a special steaming potion made for him by Snape. While Lupin was a student at Hogwarts, his best friends, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, became animagi (humans able to take on animal forms) so that they could romp the grounds with Lupin at the full moon. They explain how Snape once followed Lupin toward his transformation site in a practical joke set up by Sirius, and was rescued narrowly by James Potter. At this moment, Snape reveals himself from underneath Harry's dropped invisibility cloak, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione disarm him, rendering him unconscious. Lupin and Black then explain that the real murderer of Harry's parents is not Black, but Peter Pettigrew, who has been presumed dead but really hidden all these years disguised as Scabbers. Lupin transforms Scabbers into Pettigrew, who squeals and hedges but ultimately confesses, revealing himself to be Voldemort's servant, and Black to be innocent. They all travel back to Hogwarts, but at the sight of the full moon, Lupin, who has forgotten to take his controlling tonic (the steaming liquid), turns into a werewolf. Sirius Black responds by turning into the large black dog in order to protect Harry, Ron, and Hermione from Lupin. As Black returns from driving the werewolf into the woods, a swarm of Dementors approaches, and Black is paralyzed with fear. One of the Dementors prepares to suck the soul out of Harry, whose patronus charm is simply not strong enough. Out of somewhere comes a patronus that drives the Dementors away. Harry faints. Harry awakens in the hospital wing to hear Snape and Cornelius Fudge discussing the fact that Sirius Black is about to be given the fatal Dementor's Kiss. Harry and Hermione protest, claiming Black's innocence, but to no avail; then Dumbledore enters the room, shoos out the others, and mysteriously suggests that Harry and Hermione travel back through Hermione's time-turning device, and save both Black and Buckbeak. Hermione turns her hour-glass necklace back three turns, and Harry and Hermione are thrust into the past, where they rescue Buckbeak shortly before his execution. From a hiding place in the forest, Harry watches the Dementor sequence and discovers that he had been the one who conjured the patronus, and he is touched and confused to note that his patronus had taken the shape of a stag that he recognizes instantly as Prongs, his father's animagi form. After saving his past self from the Dementors, Harry and Hermione fly to the tower where Black is imprisoned, and they rescue Black, sending him away to freedom on Buckbeak's back. The next day, Harry is saddened to learn that Professor Lupin is leaving Hogwarts because of the previous night's scare. Dumbledore meets with Harry and gives him wise fatherly advice on the events that have happened. On the train ride home, Harry receives an owl- post letter from Sirius that contains a Hogsmeade permission letter, words of confirmation that he is safe in hiding with Buckbeak and that he was, in fact, the sender of the Firebolt, and a small pet owl 105
for Ron. Harry feels slightly uplifted as he returns to spend his summer with the Dursleys.
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire The story begins fifty years before the present day, with a description of how the Riddle family was mysteriously killed at supper, and their groundsman, Frank Bryce, was suspected of the crime, then declared innocent. Frank Bryce, now an elderly man, wakes in the night to see a light in the window of the abandoned Riddle House. He investigates and overhears Voldemort and Wormtail plotting to kill a boy named Harry Potter. Voldemort takes note of him and kills him on the spot. Harry Potter wakes up in the night with a throbbing pain in the scar Voldemort gave him. He worries that Voldemort is nearby, and he writes to Sirius Black, his godfather, mentioning the pain in his scar. The next morning Harry's Uncle Vernon receives a letter from the Weasleys asking Harry to join them at the Quidditch World Cup, and Vernon grudgingly agrees to let Harry go. The following day, the Weasleys arrive in the Dursleys' boarded-up fireplace to pick up Harry. The Weasley twins "accidentally" leave a trick toffee on the ground, which Dudley eats, causing his tongue to engorge itself. The Dursleys panic and throw things at Mr. Weasley as the Weasley boys and Harry exit through the fireplace. Harry arrives at The Burrow, the Weasley household, and there he meets for the two eldest Weasley brothers, Bill and Charlie, and there, Mrs. Weasley berates the twins for making Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and giving them to Dudley. Early the next morning, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione head off to the Quidditch World Cup. They travel by Portkey, a process that involves using a piece of trash as a touchstone for warping across space. They use the same Portkey as Cedric Diggory, another Hogwarts student, and his dad. Together they are carried to the World Cup campground. Upon arrival, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione head off to pitch their tent. Soon, Ludo Bagman arrives, jubilant at the festivities, and makes a wager with the twins on the outcome of the Cup. Soon afterward, Mr. Crouch arrives, throwing Percy into a great reverent fuss. Before they leave, they allude to a mysterious event that will happen at Hogarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione buy souvenirs and troop to the Top Box, where they meet Winky, a house-elf who is saving a seat for her master. The game begins, after a show from the respective mascots. In the end, Ireland wins, but Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, catches the Snitch. The night after the game, a crowd of Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort who escaped punishment, torture four Muggles by levitating them in the air. Harry, Hermione and Ron escape by fleeing into the woods, where Harry discovers that his wand is missing. Moments later someone fires the Dark Mark (the sign of Voldemort) using his or her wand. Winky the house-elf is found holding a wand at the scene of the crime. Mayhem ensues at the Ministry of Magic through the week. Ron receives horrible second-hand robes from his mother and is upset. Amos Diggory brings news that a man named Mad-Eye Moody attacked an intruder at his house. Mr. Weasley runs to the Ministry to sort everything out. The 106
Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione take taxis to the train station and board the train to Hogwarts. Upon arriving, after the Sorting ceremony and in the middle of dinner in the Hogwarts Great Hall, Dumbledore announces that the Triwizard Tournament between schools will take place this year at Hogwarts, and also that Mad-Eye Moody will be the new teacher of defense against the dark arts. Mad-Eye Moody is a competent teacher. He turns Malfoy into a ferret for trying to attack Harry while Harry's back is turned. In class, Moody teaches Gryffindor the three unforgivable curses, Imperius, Cruciatus, and Avada Kedavra (the curse that killed Harry's parents). Meanwhile, Hermione founds a society that advocates freeing house-elves, who are slaves. She asks Harry and Ron to wear badges. As Defense Against the Dark Arts progresses, Harry learns to successfully ward off the Imperius Curse. In late October, the delegates from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive, and Ron is thrilled to see that Viktor Krum, a famous Quidditch player, has come with Durmstrang. On halloween night, the Goblet of Fire spits out the names of the champions who will compete in the Triwizard Tournament; along with Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Viktor Krum, Harry Potter is selected. Mass chaos ensues, since Harry is too young. But because the Goblet's decision is final, it is generally decided that Harry is obligated to compete. Gryffindor House is triumphant, but Ron is sullen and envious, and he doesn't speak to Harry for quite some time. School resumes, and Harry is frustrated that few people believe he didn't place his own name in the Goblet of Fire. The first task approaches, and Harry is fretful; during the weighing of the wands, a reporter named Rita Skeeter accosts Harry and interviews him for what she says is a story about the tournament, but instead publishes a sappy, exaggerated article about Harry's tragic past. A few nights before the task, Hagrid invites Harry for a late night walk, which ultimately turns into a glimpse of the first task: dragons. Harry hurries home, and in the Gryffindor common room fireplace, Sirius's head appears, warning Harry that Karkaroff, the head of Durmstrang, was a Death Eater and possibly still is dangerous, and that Moody was the Ministry's best dark wizard catcher ever, and is probably at Hogwarts for a reason. The next day, Harry warns Cedric about the first task; Moody overhears, commends Harry's decency, and hints that Harry should use his broomstick to get past the dragon. Harry and Hermione spend hours practicing summoning charms, and the day of the first task, Harry summons his broomstick and flies past the dragon, capturing the golden egg and receiving high marks. Everyone in Gryffindor is ecstatic, and Ron and Harry are reunited. Soon afterward, Hermione drags Harry and Ron down to the kitchens, where they encounter Dobby, who is thrilled at his freedom, and Winky, Mr. Crouch's ex- house-elf, who is miserable at hers. In class, Professor McGonagall announces that the Yule Ball is approaching and that the champions must find partners; this is an unexpected and difficult task. Harry gathers his courage to ask Cho, but finds out that she is already going with Cedric. Hermione has a date, but won't say who it is; and she is annoyed when Ron asks her as his last-resort date. Finally, Harry and Ron procure the pretty but annoying Patil twins as their 107
partners for the Yule Ball. On Christmas, the night of the ball, Ron wears his awful dress robes and spends the entire night staring at Hermione, who is there as Viktor Krum's date. Harry spends the whole night feeling miserable about Cho and Cedric, and so Harry and Ron leave the ball for a stroll, during which they overhear Hagrid telling Madame Maxime, the giant head of Beauxbatons, that he is half-giant. After the ball that night, Cedric hints for Harry to take a bath with the golden egg, but Harry is wary of this advice. Harry returns to Gryffindor tower to find that Hermione and Ron are having a huge fight about why she went to the ball with Krum instead of with him. The next day, Hagrid is not teaching class. Rita Skeeter has written an article saying that his ancestors, who are giants, give him a violent and dangerous nature. He is embarrassed and refuses to emerge from his cabin. During a trip to Hogsmeade, Ludo Bagman offers to help Harry with the tournament and mentions that Mr. Crouch has stopped coming to work. Hermione insults Rita for writing such horrible articles. Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts, visit Hagrid, and persuade him to return. Hagrid is grateful for their loyalty, and he begs Harry to win the tournament. That night Harry takes the egg into the bathtub. It sings that he will have an hour to reclaim something valuable that has been taken into the lake. On his way back to his dorm from the bathroom, Harry, wearing his Invisibility cloak, checks his Marauder's Map and spies Mr. Crouch in Snape's office. In his surprise, he drops the golden egg, which makes a loud screeching noise. Filch and Snape appear instantly. Moody also appears, shoos away the other men and returns Harry's egg to him. Moody asks to borrow the Marauder's Map, which shows every part of Hogwarts grounds and castle, and where every person is within it. The night before the second task, Harry still has not figured out how to breathe under water. He falls asleep in the library and is awakened in the morning by Dobby, who gives him a ball of gillyweed and sends him off to the lake, where the task is starting. The gillyweed gives Harry gills, so he swims easily through the lake, finding Hermione, Ron, Cho, and Fleur's sister asleep and tied together in a merpeople village. Harry waits to make sure all of the champions rescue their hostages before returning to the surface. Fleur never comes, so he returns with her sister and with Ron, coming up last, but gaining high marks for his moral fiber in his completion of the task. Soon afterwards, Rita Skeeter publishes an article claiming that Hermione toys with the hearts of both Harry and Krum. The three friends read the article in potions class. After class, Harry overhears Karkaroff confiding fearfully in Snape that something on his arm has returned. The following day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione meet Sirius Black, disguised as a large black dog named Padfoot, in Hogsmeade. He informs them that Mr. Crouch's son was convicted as a Death Eater, and he finds it peculiar that Mr. Crouch has not been coming to work, as well as that he never showed up to take the seat saved by Winky, his house-elf, at the World Cup. Back at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit the kitchens to give a gift of socks to Dobby, who is delighted. Winky is still sad and currently drunk, and she mentions between hiccups that she is guarding a great secret for 108
her ex-master. Around this time, Hermione begins getting hate mail for supposedly breaking Harry Potter's heart. The four champions are taken to see the grounds for the maze, their third task, and on the way back, Krum pulls Harry into the forest to ask if he is at all romantically interested inHermione. When Harry answers no, a disheveled Mr. Crouch appears from the forest, speaking to trees and madly demanding to see Dumbledore. Harry runs to get Dumbldore while Krum waits with Mr. Crouch; when Harry returns, Mr. Crouch has stunned Krum and disappeared, much to everyone's puzzlement. Sirius sends Harry a letter warning him to be careful and to practice hexes for the third task; Harry tries to follow both instructions. In Divination class, Harry falls asleep and dreams about Voldemort, and he wakes up screaming and clutching his scar. Harry leaves class and goes to tell Dumbledore what happened. As he waits for Dumbledore to return to his office, he peers into a Pensieve and enters Dumbledore's memories of various Death Eater trials, including that of Ludo Bagman, Karkaroff, and Mr. Crouch's son. Dumbledore returns, pulls Harry from the memory-world, listens to his story, and says that he suspects that Voldemort is growing stronger. The morning of the third task, Rita Skeeter prints an article about how Harry fainted in class and is possibly disturbed. The evening of the task, the four champions enter the maze, and Harry finds his path relatively manageable. Soon both Fleur and Krum are out of the running, and Harry and Cedric, the only remaining contestants, arrive at the trophy at the same time, and they both agree to touch it together. The trophy turns out to be a portkey, and it takes both boys to a far away graveyard, where a man in a hood instantly kills Cedric and ties up Harry. The man, Wormtail, drops the bundle he is carrying (Voldemort's current form) into a cauldron, as well as ashes from Voldemort's father, blood from Harry's arm, and Wormtail's own right hand. Voldemort resumes his body and rises from the cauldron. Voldemort presses a tattoo of the Dark Mark on Wormtail's arm, and suddenly Death Eaters begin appearing in a circle around them. Voldemort explains to Harry and his Death Eaters his fall from and rise back to power, and then he challenges Harry to a duel. Harry prepares for death, but he manages to use the disarming spell on Voldemort just as Voldemort cries "Avada Kedavra!" the killing curse, at Harry. The light from the two wands meets in midair and remains connected. Voldemort's past victims emerge from his wand and protect Harry once the wand connection is broken, giving him time to grab Cedric's body and touch the trophy, thus returning to Hogwarts. Once Harry returns, he is weak and shaken. Moody carries him into the castle, where Moody reveals that he is in fact a Death Eater, and that he was responsible for placing Harry's name in the Goblet and for turning the trophy into a portkey. Moody also informs Harry that Karkaroff felt his Dark Mark burn and then fled that night. Moody prepares to kill Harry when Dumbledore and other teachers burst into the room, stunning Moody and saving Harry. Dumbledore explains to Harry that Moody's body is a disguised version of Mr. Crouch's son, the young Barty, and that he has made the switch by drinking Polyjuice potion every hour. After some time, the potion wears off and Harry recognizes Barty Crouch. Snape gives Crouch truth serum, and Crouch explains how his father 109
smuggled him out of prison and allowed him to live under an Invisibility cloak, guarded by Winky; and how Bertha Jorkins discovered him and ultimately was relieved of his information by Voldemort, who returned to find young Crouch. He also says that he killed his father, and that he was hoping to bring Voldemort back into power by bringing Harry to him. Then Dumbledore takes Harry into his own office, where he asks Harry to explain what he saw in the graveyard to him and to Sirius, who had arrived. After listening to Harry, Dumbledore explains that the wands of Harry and Voldemort are made of feathers from the same phoenix, so one was forced to regurgitate its spells when the two wants met. Harry is sent to bed, and in the night he is awakened by an argument between Cornelius Fudge and Dumbledore, in which Dumbledore tries unsuccessfully to persuade Fudge to take precautions against Voldemort's new power. Fudge refuses to believe that this is possible. He gives Harry the tournament prize money and leaves huffily. Soon the term ends, and at the final dinner Dumbledore makes a speech telling everyone how Cedric was murdered by Voldemort, and how the future looks bleak and would require them to join together. On the train ride back to London, Hermione shows Harry and Ron a beetle in a jar—Rita Skeeter's animagus form—that she caught and warned not to write any more untrue things. As the students leave the train, Harry gives his gold to the Weasley twins to help start their practical joke company, and he asks that they use some of it to buy Ron a new pair of dress robes. Harry returns to the Dursleys for the summer.
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix It's been another long, hot summer at the Dursleys' for Harry Potter. Having spent most of it in an adolescent "funk" of depression and bitterness over the lack of informative letters from his friends about Voldemort's return, he's suddenly jolted out of his bad mood when two Dementors show up in the town of Little Whinging and attack Harry and his cousin, Dudley. When Harry uses magic to drive them off, however, he quickly receives a succession of owls from the Ministry, requiring him to attend a disciplinary hearing. His heart sinks when he reads that the question of whether to expel him from Hogwarts will be decided at the hearing. Harry is exonerated at the hearing but when Harry finally manages to make it back to school, he finds things are different than when he left. Hagrid's missing, there are skeletal horses pulling the school carriages that only he can see, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is none other than toadlike, repulsive Dolores Umbridge, a Ministry representative whom Harry is all too familiar with. Even worse is the constant mutterings of the other students. Having spent all summer discrediting both Harry and Dumbledore, the Ministry has succeeded in convincing everyone they're both crazy and that Voldemort's return is nothing but a figment of their imagination. With only Ron and Hermione standing by his side, Harry is hard-pressed to stay in a good mood and often lashes out at the ones he is closest to. His defiant behavior lands him in detention for weeks at a time with Professor Umbridge, 110
who soon rises to the status of Hogwarts High Inquistor and revels in sacking teachers and keeping the entire school under the control of her stubby, ugly-ringed fingers. As the school year progresses Harry and Umbridge frequently lock horns, and she retaliates by taking away everything he cares about: Quidditch, letters from Sirius, and visits with Hagrid. So Harry fights back the only way he can, by forming a secret defense group, known as Dumbledore's Army, and teaching his friends how to fight properly. In spite of the frantic workload in preparing for their OWLs (tests that determine the student's future career choices), the tyranny of Umbridge, and Harry's unbearable crush on Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang, Harry keeps having tantalizing dreams of dark corridors and locked doors that are distracting at best. His scar prickles constantly and he soon finds he's turned into a tiny antenna for Voldemort's mood swings, which certainly doesn't help his own temper. Things take a disastrous turn when Dolores Umbridge finds out about Harry's secret defense group. Harry is filled with guilt when Dumbledore, claims credit for the group in order to protect Harry, and has to flee the school to escape arrest. This installment ends with an epic battle of good and evil, resulting in a devastating loss to Harry when his godfather Sirius Black is killed, and the full revelation that his destiny lies intertwined with none other than Voldemort himself. In the end, Dumbledore reveals the lost prophecy to Harry: either Harry will kill Lord Voldemort or Voldemort will kill Harry.
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts opens to find him more mellow and grown up than ever. The death of Sirius Black has left an indelible mark on him, and he's more determined than ever to put an end to Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He's happy to escape the tyranny of the Dursley's early in the summer when Dumbledore picks him up to attend to a mysterious errand, which ends up in Harry's persuading ex-professor, Horace Slughorn, to come out of retirement to teach at Hogwarts again. When the day finally arrives, Harry is as usual overjoyed to be back at school. He's been made Quidditch Team Captain. However, Harry and his friends are dismayed to find out that Professor Severus Snape has finally achieved his burning desire to become Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Harry is excited to be taking private lessons with Dumbledore this year, who is showing him all about Voldemort's past. Dumbledore hopes that knowing as much as he can about Voldemort will help Harry in his final battle with the Dark Lord. A mysterious book previously owned by the Half-Blood Prince comes into Harry's hands early on during his Potions class and changes the course of his school year by giving him a reputation for Potions brilliance that baffles everyone. Harry quickly grows to depend on the information he gets from the Half-Blood Prince's book and uses some of his spells outside of class, much to Hermione's displeasure. 111
Harry also keeps an increasingly close eye on Draco Malfoy. Convinced that Malfoy has replaced his father as the head of the Death Eaters, Harry believes Malfoy is constructing a dark plot inside the school but can't for the life of him figure out what it is. Between Ron and Hermione's skepticism, and Malfoy's disappearances from the school grounds, Harry has his hands full trying to uncover what Malfoy's up to. As the year speeds by, Harry and Ron are both amazed at their blossoming love lives. Harry especially falls hard for someone he knows he shouldn't, his best friend Ron's sister, Ginny. His lessons with Dumbledore continue sporadically, and he's excited to hear that he might be able to go with Dumbledore on a dangerous mission to help destroy a horcrux that contains a part of Voldemort's soul. Things reach a frantic pace when several things happen all at once. Harry and Dumbledore leave on their mission, Malfoy's dark plot finally works and he is able to sneak in Death Eaters to attack the school, and a fierce battle takes place between the students, members of the Order of the Phoenix, and the Death Eaters. Having succeeded in their mission to recover the horcrux, Harry and Dumbledore return only to get trapped on the Astronomy Tower where, to Harry's dismay, Professor Snape kills Dumbledore. Dumbledore's death is a terrible blow to Harry, but it enables him to see clearly what his true mission is. He resolves that he will not return to Hogwarts, but instead sets off to destroy the remaining fragments of Voldemort's soul. He is bolstered by Ron and Hermione's insistence on going with him, and as soon as Dumbledore's funeral is over, they agree to start their journey together. 112
Appendix 2: Additional terms related to the story:
1. Death-eaters A pure-blood Wizards or Witches in the Wizarding world that join Voldemort's side and do what their leader wanted them to or die. There are two kinds of death-eaters, the first is voluntarily or begged to joined the dark side, and the one that are forced to joined because afraid to die or having their love one as a hostage. The death-eaters are allowed to hex or even to kill anything having other status other than a pure-blood (the muggles or the non-magical people, mud-blood or a traitor-blood is their common target). Death-eaters will have a mark of a snake covering a skull on their left arm, as a mark of loyalty to Voldemort. When Voldemort's press his hand to either one of the death-eater's mark, the other will have to instantly appears in his side. The symbol of death-eater is a green snake coming from a skull (symbol of evil and death).
2. Order of the Phoenix A group of wizarding people with Dumbledore as their leader which fought the evil side. The members are not selected by blood status nor bound with a mark. The only thing that bound them is their hatred to the way Voldemort's side treats people. Almost of all the order of phoenix members are Auror. The symbol of the order is a phoenix (symbol of love, pure hearted and time).
3. The Dursleys The only relatives Harry had. His uncle's name is Vernon Dursley works on a drill manufacturer, aunt Petunia Dursley, a regular gossiping house wife and Harry's cousin Dudley Dursley, a leader of some brats at his neighborhood.
4. Hogwarts The most famous school in the wizarding world (there are three wizarding scholl, they are Hogwarts, Beuxbaton and Durmstrang). It is said as the most famous because its graduated students gave many contributions to the Wizarding world, and it is headed by Dumbledore which is considered as the most talented, brave and respected wizard in the Wizarding world.
5. Gringots The one and only bank in wizarding world where the wizardian can deposit and withdrawn their wizard money and valuable stuffs or even exchanging it into muggle’s currency. It is run and organizes by goblin and only goblin could open the highly secured vault full with spells, jinxes and guardian creatures.
6. Chamber of Secret The chamber that was secretly made by Salazar Slytherin, a great dark wizard and also as one of the four founder of Hogwart wizarding school. 113
The chamber can only be opened using a special ability, parseltounge/ parselmouth - the language of snake that should be owned by the true descendent of Salazar Slytherin him self. Salazar Slytherin also left behind his loyal "pet" at that chamber, a basilisk - a gigantic serpent- that can only be controlled by the true Salazar descendent.
7. Triwizard Tournament A tournament between wizarding school that was first held more than seven hundred years ago. It is held every five years with the purpose of creating and maintaining friendship between students in the wizarding world (the participants are from three schools, Hogwarts, Beuxbaton and Durmstrang). It had been stop for more than a hundred years long because of it is high death statistics. The tournament is made into three dangerous events, and every school can only have one participant having an age boundaries (the new rule).
8. Philosopher's Stone A legendary substance which will make any metal into pure gold and produces an elixir of life (anyone who drank the elixir will become immortal). The only stone that was proved to be real is owned by Nicolas Flamele, an Alchemist and an opera lover. It is said that Nicolas Flamele is having his six hundred and sixty six birthdays and his wife named Perenelle Flamele having his six hundred and fifty nine birthdays at the first Harry Potter adventure. Nicolas Flamele was a close friend to Dumbledore, and to prevent the misused of the philosopher's stone they both agreed to destroy the stone.
9. Azkaban Prison The only prison for the outlaws or criminals in the wizarding world who had committed a great deal of law breaking (killing muggle or wizarding people). Azkaban is guarded by a dark creature named dementor that was controlled by the ministry of magic. Dementor sucks people happy thought, leaving the sense of despair, and forced the victim to remembers their most horrifying moment of their lives. Being put into Azkaban is the same as having a slow death penalty.
10. St. Munggo hospital A hospital for the wizarding world taking care of mistakes hexes, spell, potion jinxes and treating a severe damage by magic (such as Neville Longbottom’s parents, Mr. Arthur Weasley, Gildory Lockhart, etc).
11. Ministry of Magic The ministry of magic dealt with all kind of problems that happened because of and toward the wizarding people. The Ministry had many section such as making a necessary regulation or curriculum for wizarding school, misuses of under aged magic and using magic in the muggle area, and controlling many other wizarding business. 114
12. Auror Auror is like a police in the muggle world. It is a part of the ministry of magic section that dealt with wizarding criminals.
13. Squib Person which is born from a wizard family but having no magical ability or even in potion making.
14. Blood status There are three blood statuses: 1.pure blood: regarded as the highest blood status. 2. half blood: one of his or her parents is a muggle 3. mud blood: wizards or witches that are born from muggle family
15. Muggle People having no magical abilities and no understanding of magical states or comprehension.
16. Wizard A male human having magic abilities and skill, usually related with magical creatures and potion making.
17. Witch A female human having magic abilities and skill, usually related with magical creatures and potion making.
18. Beast An animal, usually a large four-footed mammal which is aggressive and brutal creatures; a living organism that is distinguished from plants by independent movement and responsive sense organs. All mammals (belonging to the realm of instincts and urges) are included except human being which is not depending only on their instinct.
19. Ghost The supposed spirit of somebody who has died, believed to appear as a shadowy form or to cause sounds, the movement of objects, or a frightening atmosphere in a place.
20. Magic A supposed supernatural power that makes impossible things happens or gives somebody control over the forces of nature. Magic is used in many cultures for healing, keeping away evil, seeking the truth, and for vengeful purposes.
21. Potion A liquid made from certain ingredients to be drunk that is medicinal, supposedly magical, or poisonous (it depend on the purpose, and usually it have 115
an anti-potion).
22. Spell(s) A word or series of words believed to have magical power, spoken to invoke the magic the influence that a spell has over somebody or something. It can be created with the help of magical wand.
23. Hex(es) A word or series of words believed to have magical power, spoken to invoke the magic the influence that a spell has over somebody or something. It is a negative spells that will creates a minor damaged. It can be created with the help of magical wand.
24. Jinx(es) A word or series of words believed to have magical power, spoken to invoke the magic the influence that a spell has over somebody or something. It is a negative spells that will creates a major damaged or even death. It can be created with the help of magical wand.
Appendix 3: Characters related to the mythical creatures: 116
1. Harry James Potter The main character of the story. The only child from James and Lily Potter who died protecting Harry. He is the one and only person who survive from the attack of Avada Kedavra spell (a deadly spell that will kill its victim in a split second) cast by Voldemort – a dark wizard that wanted to rule the world by killing those who against his will. The first book is when Harry Potter’s adventure begins until his seventh years in Hogwart learning all things needed to be a wizard and in his personal quests in knowing the memory of his late parents and revenge on the person who make him into an orphan.
2. Hermione Granger A talented young girl which is a close friend of Harry. A book oriented girl who often became a problem solver when Harry is in difficulty.
3. Ronald Billius Weasley The last son of the Weasley’s family, a pure blooded wizard which is regarded as a traitor blood by the dark side. He often helps Harry in solving problems, giving an encouragement, spirits and jokes in the story.
4. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore The forth head master of Hogwarts wizarding school. A mysterious person with a very wide knowledge and extraordinary patient. He loves to create things (deluminator is one device that he invents and use by him self), and he also loves to do some researches (one of his great discover is the twelve use of dragon’s blood that is considered as the discovery of the year). He is the founder and the leader of Order of the Phonix.
5. Rubeus Hagrid The son of Fridwulfa (female giant) with a wizard making Hagrid a half giant. He was as the gate keeper and the key holder of Hogwart wizarding school lead by Albus Dumbledore. Hagrid had an honest, care and a hard worker type making him as a loyal follower of Dumbledore (Dumbledore have save Hagrid from a false charges many times). Hagrid is very close to Harry and friends, he teaches and taking care of the creature at the forbidden forest of Hogwarts.
6. Severus Snape Hogwart’s potion making teacher. He is a member of the Order of the Phonix which is an ex-dark eater who became a spy for both Voldemort and Dumbledore by the request from Dumbledore (but Voldemort also asked Severus Snape to spy on Dumbledore). He was regarded as the right hand of Voldemort and Dumbledore. After Dumbledore’s death he became Hogwart’s next head master.
7. Nicolas Flamele 117
An alchemist who succeeded in creating the one and only philosopher’s stone (a stone which can turn any metal into gold and produces an elixir of live - an elixir which will make anyone who drank it having a long life - it is said that Nicholas Flamele and his wife – Perenelle Flamele - having age more than six hundred years).
8. Remus John Lupin A friend of Harry’s late parent which is a member of the Order of the Phonix. A werewolf who teaches the Defense against the Dark Art at Hogwart in Harry’s second year. He is the one who teaches Harry Potter the Patronus charm to fight the dementor.
9. Tom Marvolo Ridlle/ Lord Voldemort The last descendent of Salazar Slytherin. Voldemort plays as the main antagonist character in Harry Potter’s adventure. He tried to rule the wizarding world by killing all who against his will. His glory days were destroyed when he tried to kill one year old Harry Potter, and since that he had determine to kill Harry Potter so that he can conquer the world.
10. Sybill Trelawney A fortune teller teacher at Hogwart. She is the one who made the prophecy about Voldemort’s down fall and his return.
11. Sirius Black Harry’ god father, the closest friend of Harry’s late parents. He is a member of the Order of the Phonix who was framed in killing Harry’s parents.
12. Peter Petigrew Harry’s late parents who became their secret keeper and double crossed them, making Harry’s parents death and with his dirty plan, he was escaped from being prison, making Sirius as a killer and Sirius is the one who is prison at Azkaban.
13. Crookshank Hermione’s pet cat, which helped Sirius Black to uncover Peter Pettigrew’s undercover.
14. Prof. Minerva Mcgonagal A transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts which is a member of the Order of the Phonix and the one responsible in Gryffindor dormitory. She is the one who helped Hermione to get the time reverse sand clock.
15. Grawp, Golgomat, Karkus, Fridwulfa Grawp is Hagrid’s step sister who is being taken care and tried to educate by Hagrid. Golgomath is the leader of the giants group before he was killed by 118
one of his giants. Karkus is the one who killed Golgomat to become the next giant leader. Fridwulfa is the mother of Hagrid and Grawp.
16. Fat Lady Fat lady is the name for the woman inside the painted picture placed in front of Gryffindor tower. In wizarding world, the picture inside can move around as if they are alive.
17. Bane, Ronan, Firenze Bane is one of the centaur that warn Hagrid and his group when entering the forbidden forest or the centaur’s forest according to the centaur. Ronan is the second centaur who warn Hagrid’s group. Firenze is the one who saved Harry when he had to face Voldemort for the first time, later he was banned by the centaur and stayed at Hogwart as the prophecy teacher.
18. Dolores Jane Umbridge A wicked witch who worked at Ministry of Magic. He tried to make Dumbledore to fall with many wicked ways. Later he was catch by the centaur for saying bad thing toward them, and she was released by them when Dumbledore enters the forbidden forest how he managed to let them released Umbridge is a mystery since he only said that he had “a little chat with the centaurs”, but no one get injured.
19. Prof. Quirell The first teacher Defense against the Dark Art at Harry’s first year. It turn out he was possessed by Voldemort and helping Voldemort to get the philosopher’s stone (by letting a mountain troll enters Hogwart dungeon).
20. Charlie Weasley The second son of the Weasleys. He works as a dragon keeper in Romania after graduating from Hogwart. Later he came back to help Order of the Phoenix lead by Dumbledore. He was one of the people who prepare the first challenge in the Triwizard tournament.
21. Arabella Doreen Fig One of Dumbledore’s admirer who is asked to take care of Harry in the muggle world. She is the only witness who testify when dementors attack Harry and Dursley in Privet Drive in the evening, and she is the one who makes the Ministry of Magic cancelled the charger to Harry making him able to go to Hogwart again. She is a squib.
22. Moaning Myrtle One of Hogwart ghost which haunt the girls’ toilet. She died because basilisk stared at her eyes when the chamber of secret is opened by Tom Ridlle about fifty years before Harry’s second year at Hogwart. She helped Harry by 119
giving information about the egg for the second triwizard tournament and about the chamber of secret.
23. Mr. Filch Hogwart school attendance. He is the one who patrols during the night and keeping the student wandering in forbidden places at Hogwart castle.
24. Neville Longbottom A gentle person whose parents are crazy (tortured by Voldemort). He lived with his grandmother and having a low self esteem. Later at his fifth year of Hogwart, he joined “Dumbledore’s Army” lead by Harry Potter, and when Harry skip his last year of school, Neville replace Harry’s position. Neville was the one who destroy the last horcrux by killing Nagini at the last battle at Hogwart. 120
Appendix 4: List of the animal
A Abominable Snowman Abraxan Acromantula Aethonon Antipodean Opaleye Armadillo Ashwinder Augurey (Irish Phoenix) B Banshee Basilisk (the King of Serpents) Beetle Bicorn Billywig Biting Fairy Bloodhound, albino Boarhound Boggart Boomslang Bowtruckle Bugbear Bundimun C cats and cat-liked creatures Centaur Chameleon Ghoul Chimaera Chizpurfle Clabbert Clauricorn Cluricaun Cockatrice Cornish pixie Crup D Dark creature Dementor Demiguise Diricawl Dogs Double-ended newt Doxy Dragon 121
Dugbog E Erkling Erumpent F Fairy Ferret Fireball, Chinese Fire crab Fire slug Fish Flesh-Eating Slug Flobberworm Forest troll Frog Furball Fwooper G Ghoul Giant Glumbumble Gnome Goat Goblin Graphorn Griffin Grim Grindylow Gytrash H Hag Hebridean Black Hellhound Hinkypunk Hippocampus Hippogriff Horklump Horned toad Horntail, Hungarian Horse, winged House-elf Human-like creatures Hungarian Horntail I Imp Inferius 122
Insects Irish Phoenix Ironbelly, Ukrainian J Jarvey Jobberknoll K Kappa Kelpie Knarl Kneazle L Lacewing fly Leech Leprechaun Lethifold Liondragon Living Shroud Lobalug Loch Ness Monster Longhorn, Romanian M Mackled Malaclaw Manticore Merpeople Merrow Moke Mooncalf Mountain Troll Mummy Murtlap N Niffler Nogtail Norwegian Ridgeback Nundu O Occamy Opaleye, Antipodean Owl P Peruvian Vipertooth Phoenix Pixie Plimpy Pogrebin 123
Porlock Puffskein Pygmy Puff Q Quintaped R Rabbit Ramora Rat Raven Red Cap Re'em River Troll Romanian Longhorn Runespoor S Salamander Sea serpent Short-Snout, Swedish Shrake Snail Snake Snidget Sphinx Spider Squid, giant Streeler Swedish Short-Snout T Tadfoal Tarantula Thestral Tebo Toads and frogs Tortoise Troll U Ukrainian Ironbelly Unicorn V Vampire Veela Vipertooth, Peruvian W Welsh Green Werewolf 124
Wildebeest Woodlouse Wood-nymph X - Y Yeti Z –
Rating of the mythical creatures : X : harmless XX : can be tame and kept as a pet XXX : common wizards/withes can handle it XXXX : should be avoid, can only be handle by a professional wizards/witches XXXXX : very dangerous creature, hard to handle even by professional
A Abraxan - XXX- France A breed of winged horse; the Abraxan is a gigantic, extremely powerful Palomino. Madame Maxime, headmistress of Beauxbatons, breeds them, and the winged horses that pull her carriage are Abraxans. They drink only single malt whisky and require "forceful handling". Acromantula - XXXXX - Borneo A gigantic black spider (leg span may reach up to 15 feet) with a poisonous bite and feces, and a very thick hair covering its body; the Acromantula is an anomaly in the beast / being classification system. While capable of human speech, Acromantula is classified as a beast due to its violent tendencies and it tends to eat on a bigger animal and their own kind at certain circumstances. The female is bigger than the male, and it can lay hundreds soft, white eggs with the size of a volley balls which will hatch in 6-8 weeks; its eggs is included in the A class (cannot be sold or breed according to the Ministry of Magical Creature). It is native to deep Borneo forest, where it is believed to have been a wizard-bred species, although it were breed by wizard with the help of magic, it cannot be train and very dangerous; serving as an example of why the Ban on Experimental Breeding was put into effect. Note that all spiders, including Acromantulas, fear the basilisk above all other living things. An Acromantula was stationed at the center of the Triwizard Tournament maze, guarding the Triwizard Cup. "acro" from "akros" L. peak + "mantula" from "tarantula" Eng. a species of large (though not that large) black spider that is poisonous, but not very. Aethonon - Rating Unknown - Britain A breed of winged horse, chestnut in color, which lives mainly in Britain. Armadillo - Rating Unknown 125
Armandillo is included in the lizard’s family, having a small body and very fast in running away, it use it poisonous bite to capture its prey. The spleen of this creature is used for making potions, including Wit-Sharpening Potion. Ashwinder - XXX - Worldwide A thin grey serpent with glowing red eyes which comes out of magical fires and lives long enough to lay fiery hot eggs in some dark and secluded spot in a house. These eggs, while valued as potion ingredients, are very dangerous. If they are not found and frozen in time, they will set buildings on fire. "Ash" comes from the color of the serpent and also as a reference to its connection to fire. "Winder" recalls the sideways movement of some kinds of snakes, such as the rattler. They are sometimes called "sidewinders." Augurey (Irish Phoenix) - XX - Britain and Ireland Thin and mournful-looking bird somewhat resembling a vulture, greenish-black in color, native to Britain and Ireland. Normally remaining hidden in its nest in brambles and thorns, flying only in heavy rain, the feathers of the Augurey repel ink. Its distinctive cry was once thought to be a death omen, but it is now known that the Augurey's cry foretells rain. The Augurey eats insects and fairies. "augury" - Eng. generally, the art of divination, but specifically, the art of the augur (one who interprets omens based on the behavior of birds). Another name for Augurey is Irish Phoenix.
B Banshee - Rating Unknown A Dark creature with the appearance of a woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face. Its screams will kill. Seamus Finnigan is particularly afraid of banshees. The Bandon Banshee was supposedly defeated by Gilderoy Lockhart but was actually defeated by a witch with a hairy chin. Basilisk (the King of Serpents) - XXXXX A wizard-bred Dark creature of enormous power, this extremely poisonous giant serpent (up to 50 feet in length) is brilliant green in color with long thin saber-like fangs and bulbous yellow eyes. A basilisk can live for at least 900 years given an adequate food supply, and as it can eat most vertebrates (including humans), this is not difficult to achieve. The male can be distinguished from the female by the scarlet plume on its head, but basilisks are usually magically rather than normally bred. Basilisk-breeding has been outlawed since medieval times and in the present day falls under the Ban on Experimental Breeding, but this law has rarely been broken even by Dark wizards, since only a Parselmouth can control a basilisk. "Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.” The phoenix seems immune to the basilisk's deadly gaze. When unleashed by the Heir 126
of Slytherin using Parseltongue, the basilisk that lived in the Chamber of Secrets searched the castle for its prey, Muggle-born students, which it apparently could be identified by smelling their blood ("I smell blood..." the creature cried as it wandered the pipes). When its eyes were pecked out by Fawkes, it attacked Harry using its keen sense of smell. Harry killed the basilisk by thrusting a sword through the roof of its mouth. Harry's arm was pierced by one of the basilisk's fangs, the poison of which nearly killed him. Apart from its specific magical powers and long lifespan, many of the characteristics of the basilisk follow naturally from its being a serpent. Like more mundane serpents, the basilisk sheds its skin at intervals, and its varied diet is typical of the larger snakes, which tend to pursue larger and larger prey according to their own size and capabilities. It's quite possible that had Harry both retained his wand and been more experienced in Defense Against the Dark Arts, he might have lost his battle against the basilisk in attempting to use Stunning Spells; although not explicitly stated, the basilisk's skin probably has the same armor characteristics as dragon skin, leaving its eyes and the inside of its mouth as its only vulnerable points. "...the basilisk was portrayed as a serpent with a crown or a white spot on its head. Cobras, which have such marks, may be the origin of the basilisk legend..." "basilisk" Eng. in the legendary sense means this creature, but also comes from Latin "basilicus" which mean royal, so the nickname "King of Serpents" is particularly appropriate. The detail about males being crested appears to come from the real-life basilisk, which is a kind of iguana. According to, the basilisk that lived in the Chamber of Secrets could be controlled only by the true Heir of Slytherin rather than just any Parselmouth, but there is no canon backing for this. Bicorn - Rating Unknown Horn of this creature is used as a potion ingredient. The name "bicorn" suggests a creature with two horns. The Bicorn is a mythical demonic creature which eats human flesh. Billywig - XXX - Australia A magical insect, about a half-inch long and vivid blue in color. A Billywig's sting causes giddiness and levitation. For this reason, the Billywig's sting is highly sought after by Australian wizards. Dried Billywig stingers are useful as a potion ingredient. Blast-Ended Skrewt - Unrated - Probably Illegally Bred in Scotland Magical creatures bred by Hagrid prior to the autumn of 1994 by crossing manticores with fire-crabs. Blast-Ended Skrewts are some of the most revolting creatures ever seen. The name "Blast-Ended Skrewt" may be a reference to the term "blasting off" which is slang in some parts of Britain for breaking wind. Bloodhound, albino - XXXX - England The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures keeps some albino bloodhounds around to be used against Nogtails. Blood-sucking bugbear - Rating Unknown - Scotland 127
When roosters were being killed at Hogwarts (1992 – 1993), Hagrid suspected that the culprit might be a blood-sucking bugbear. Boarhound - Rating Unknown - Worldwide Hagrid's pet Fang is a black boarhound (U.S.: a Great Dane), a large breed of dog used in hunting wild boars. Like Hagrid, Fang much fiercer than he is. According to Great Danes - Their Origin and Temperament, boarhounds (unlike other large breeds) do not slobber from their mouths, as Fang has been shown doing. Boggart - XXXX A shape shifter that prefers to live in dark, confined spaces, taking the form of the thing most feared by the person it encounters; nobody knows what a boggart looks like in its natural state (although Moody recognized one using his magical eye to spot it as it hid in a corner desk at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. One wonders what it was that Moody actually saw...). A boggart appears to feed on the emotion of fear rather than simply deploying this ability as a defense mechanism, hence its classification as a Dark creature. Many Muggle children may have encountered boggarts as "the monster under the bed", though this is not stated explicitly in the text. Lupin taught his third year Defense Against the Dark Arts class to fight this with the Riddikulus spell, and used a boggart as a substitute for a Dementor in tutoring Harry, an experience Harry felt the Dark Arts are really needed in order to learn to cast the Patronus Charm under something resembling realistic conditions. A boggart was one of the obstacles in the Triwizard Tournament maze, and a boggart was found infesting a writing desk in the drawing room at Grimmauld Place. "Often they are house spirits, and in those cases the only way to get rid of them is to move...The more frustrated the family becomes, the more fun the boggart has." (pp. 33-34) Alastor Moody once used his magical eye to look up through several flights of stairs and into a writing desk with a boggart inside it. He then told Molly Weasley that in fact the desk contained a boggart, so he obviously saw and identified it. While he may know what a boggart looks like when it's hiding and away from people, it's possible that when he looked he saw nothing but a blur and therefore knew that--since he couldn't even see it--it had to be a boggart. Another possibility is that Moody saw whatever form a boggart takes for him, and deduced that if it were inside a writing desk it must be a boggart and not his actual worst fear. Boomslang - Rating Unknown - Africa An African snake, Dispholidus typus, with extremely nasty venom. The skin, which is mostly green in males and mostly brown in females, serves the snake well as camouflage, and is used for Polyjuice Potion. Snape keeps boomslang skin in his private stores. "boomslang" is an English loan-word from Afrikaans, whence it was in turn formed from two Dutch words, "boom" Du. tree + "slang" Du. snake Bowtruckle - XX - Britain, Germany, & Scandinavia A small (maximum height 8 inches) insect-eating tree-dweller with long sharp fingers (two on each hand), brown eyes, and a general appearance of a flat-faced 128
little stickman made of bark and twigs, which serves well as camouflage in its native habitat. Found in western England, southern Germany, and Scandinavia, a bowtruckle serves as tree-guardian for its home tree, which is usually a tree whose wood is of wand quality. The twiglike fingers of the bowtruckle appear to be primarily an adaptation like that of a woodpecker's beak, allowing it to more effectively dig out its preferred food of wood lice from its home tree, but they also serve as an effective weapon against the eyes of an opponent. Although ordinarily peaceful, a bowtruckle will attack a human if provoked (which includes perceived assaults upon the bowtruckle's tree as well as the bowtruckle itself). A witch or wizard seeking to take leaves or wood from a bowtruckle-inhabited tree should offer woodlice or fairy eggs to the bowtruckle to placate and distract it. "bow" several English senses, but the obsolete Scottish dialect sense traces back to much older words meaning "dwelling", while some senses come from the same root as the English word "bough", meaning the limb of a tree + "truckle" Eng. to take a subordinate position Bugbear - Rating Unknown - Scotland See Blood-Sucking Bugbear. "bugbear" Eng. a type of magical creature (possibly resembling a bear) in legend that was supposed to eat naughty children; the term (through being used generally as a label for any imaginary being used to scare children) has come to mean any exaggerated fear based more on imaginary than real danger Bundimun - XXX - Worldwide Greenish fungus with eyes. An infestation of Bundimuns can destroy a house, as their secretions rot away the foundations. This same secretion, in diluted form, is used in some magical cleaning solutions. C Cats and cat-liked creatures McGonagall’s Animagus form is a tabby cat with spectacle eye markings Mrs. Figg's cat/kneazle crossbreeds: Mr. Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, Tufty lots of them on Platform 9 3/4 Millicent Bulstrode seems to have a black one Mrs. Norris Cats of every color for sale at Magical Menagerie, including Crookshanks Kneazle J.K.Rowling's suggestive comment about cats in the books: Rowling does not like and is allergic to cats (JKR), an attitude she gave to Hagrid in the books. Centaur - XXXX - Greece Centaurs are very mysterious creatures. They avoid Muggles and wizards alike. Centaurs watch and read the signs in the stars and planets and they do not take sides in the events unfolding around them, which they have foreseen. They prefer simply to observe. The centaurs have chosen to be considered Beasts by the Ministry and do not take part in governing at all. A number of centaurs live in the Forbidden Forest, including Ronan, Bane, Magorian and up until Harry's fifth year, Firenze. 129
Chameleon Ghoul - XX (probably) These ghouls are known to pretend to be suits of armor Chimaera - XXXXX - Greece A vicious, bloodthirsty creature with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a dragon's tail. Chimaera eggs are classified as Class A Non-Tradable Goods. Dai Llewellyn, the famous Caerphilly Catapults player, was killed by a Chimaera while on holiday in Greece. Chizpurfle - XX - Origin Unknown A magical parasite that lives in the fur or feathers of some magical creatures, and can also infest magical items. "chizz" Eng. cheat, swindle + "purfle" Eng. a fur trimming or embroidered border of a garment Clabbert - XX This arboreal creature resembles a cross between a monkey and a frog. Its smooth skin is mottled green. The Clabbert has short horns and a wide grinning mouth. Its long arms and webbed hands and feet allow it to move gracefully through the trees. On the Clabbert's forehead is a large pustule which flashes red when the Clabbert senses the approach of danger, including Muggles. "clabber" Scottish and Anglo-Irish dialect word for mud, soft dirt, wet clay; as a U.S. dialect word, it means to curdle (as in turning milk sour). Cockatrice - Rating Unknown A combination of a rooster and a dragon or snake. A cockatrice went on a rampage in the Triwizard Tournament of 1792. Crup - XXX Magical creature that strongly resembles a Jack Russell terrier, except that a Crup has a forked tail. Crups are extremely loyal to wizards and ferocious toward Muggles. They eat almost anything. D Dark creature (variable danger rating) Dark creatures differ from other animals in several important ways. They are magical in nature. They often do not have a complete life cycle the way a typical animal would but exist simply as a physical extension of an evil intention. They seek actively to harm, often for no other reason than that's what they do (i.e., not for reasons of sustaining their own lives). Dark creatures are not animals. They are actually another form of magical being. Fantastic Beasts refers too many of them as "demons," not in a religious sense, but because it describes a key aspect of them all: they exist to actively do harm and damage. This harm is different from the harm that, say, a manticore would do, since the manticore would be attacking someone to eat them. In other words, it is a predator and that's what predators do to survive. Dark creatures, on the other hand, aren't animals. They don't have life cycles in the same sense that normal animals have. They attack for the sake of hurting someone, not simply to eat. The Red Caps are a great example. They bludgeon unsuspecting travelers so that they can use their blood to stain their cloth caps red. It doesn't give them food, it doesn't allow them to reproduce, and they do it purely out of nastiness. One way of thinking about it is to say that they are a physical 130
embodiment of an evil, harmful intent. And if you think about the essence of magic being intent, Dark creatures are a physical embodiment of Dark Magic. The lines do get blurry, surely. But even werewolves fit this description. Most of the time they aren't Dark creatures, but when they are, they attack people with the intention of passing the disease on to others or kill them. As for the pixies, they aren't Dark creatures. That's why Seamus snickered when Lockhart showed up with them. They're simply magical creatures with a rude attitude. Some Dark creatures: Banshees, Boggarts, Dementors, Grindylows, Hinkypunks, Kappas, Pogrebin, Red Caps, Vampires (considered part-human), Werewolves (although human part of the time) Dementor - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Allied with Lord Voldemort, dementors are perhaps the darkest creatures of all. It sucks all the happy though leaving only the trace of depressed lost leaving the victim in an uncertainty condition (the victims can be either wizard or muggle). The can kill a person by giving them a kiss, “a dementor’s kiss” after the kiss, the victim will no longer be alive. It is known as the cruelest punishment in the wizarding law. Demiguise - XXXX - Far East The Demiguise is a peaceful, herbivorous creature that can make itself invisible. It resembles an ape with large, black eyes and long, silky hair. This hair can be woven into Invisibility Cloaks. The Demiguise is native to the Far East. But since demiguise is really hard to find and captured, there is only one invinsibility cloacks, belonges to Harry Potter from his late father, James Potter. Diricawl - XX - Mauritius This plump, flightless bird escapes danger by vanishing in a burst of feathers. Muggles knew this bird as the "dodo" and believe that it is extinct, being unaware of its ability to vanish at will. Because this belief (and associated guilt) has spurred more enlightened attitudes toward the animal world among many Muggles, wizards have encouraged it. Dogs and dog-like creatures Sirius Black's Animagus form is a large black dog, Crup, Fang the boarhound, Fluffy, Grim, Hellhound Double-ended newt - Rating unknown When Hermione buys Crookshanks at the Magical Menagerie, a wizard is inside being advised on double-ended newts. Aside from this, we don't know what they are. Doxy (Biting Fairy) - XXX - Northern Europe and America The Doxy is a small fairy-like creature that is covered with black hair. They have sharp venomous teeth. Doxies are pests. They can infest houses, taking up residence in the draperies. Removing them requires a good supply of Doxycide. It's a good idea to have an antidote for Doxy venom on hand as well. Dragon - XXXXX – Worldwide Dragons, large flying reptiles that breathe fire, are some of the most awe-inspiring and dangerous of all magical beasts. There are ten varieties of dragons in the world today 131
Antipodean Opaleye - XXXXX - New Zealand and Australia Liondragon or some times known as Chinese Fireball - XXXXX - China Ukrainian Ironbelly - XXXXX - Ukraine Romanian Longhorn - XXXXX - Romania Norwegian Ridgeback - XXXXX - Norway Peruvian Vipertooth - XXXXX - Peru Swedish Short-Snout - XXXXX - Sweden Common Welsh Green - XXXXX - Wales Hebridean Black – XXXXX - England Hungarian Horntail – XXXXX - Hungarian Dugbog - XXX - Europe and North and South America This strange creature looks like just another hunk of dead wood floating in the marshes in which is lives. The Dugbog has finned paws and sharp teeth with which is attacks small mammals. The Dugbog is particularly fond of Mandrakes. E Erkling - XXXX - Germany The Erkling is a small elf-like creature native to Germany. Its high-pitched laugh is particularly entrancing to children, which Erklings like to eat. Erkling killings have decreased dramatically over the last few centuries as the German Ministry of Magic has put in place strict controls over the creatures. "Rowling has transposed a few letters in the name of the Erl King... of German legend. Otherwise, her description holds true. It is an evil creature in the Black Forest of Germany that tries to snatch children." Erumpent - XXXX - Africa This huge African magical beast resembles a rhinoceros. Its horn, which can pierce almost anything, contains a fluid that explodes, destroying what it has hit. Because male Erumpents frequently blow each other up during mating season, the species is somewhat endangered. F Fairy and fairy-like creatures - XX Tiny creatures that look like perfectly formed humans with insect wings. They are extremely vain and quarrelsome, liking nothing better than to serve as decoration (Christmas ornaments). Fairies have their own weak form of magic, which they use primarily to avoid being eaten by predators. According to Scamander, fairies are held to have very limited intelligence, and they do not use any form of language that humans understand. (Fairy-like creatures: Doxy, Imp, Leprechaun, Pixie, Ferret) Someone wrote to the Daily Prophet's Problem Page to ask if the Ministry would look the other way if he turned his brother's children into blood-sucking ferrets (the answer was 'no') Buckbeak enjoys a plate of dead ferrets. Mad-Eye Moody once turned Draco into one. Mortlake once owned some extremely odd ferrets. During the practical portion of the Transfiguration O.W.L., Hannah Abbott turned her ferret into a flock of flamingos, temporarily halting the test. Fire crab - XXX – Fiji 132
The fire crab looks like a tortoise with a jeweled shell which can shoot fire out of its rear end. It is constantly in danger of being killed for its shell, which unscrupulous wizards will use as cauldrons. The fire crab is native to Fiji, where there is a coastal reserve set aside for its protection. Fifth years, for their Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L., had to demonstrate how to feed and clean out a fire crab without sustaining serious burns. Fire slug - Rating Unknown - Brazil Creature that lives in the Brazilian rainforests. Newt Scamander is currently studying fire slugs. Fish and other water creatures Hippocampus, Lobalug, Merpeople, Plimpy, Ramora, Shrake Flesh-Eating Slug - Rating Unknown Apparently a frightening creature, since someone was scared enough of them to turn a Boggart into one. Hagrid once needed a repellent for Flesh-Eating Slugs that were getting into the cabbages, and went shopping for it in Knockturn Alley. Flobberworm - X A ten-inch, toothless brown worm which eats vegetation, especially lettuce. Hagrid, after losing his nerve with the hippogriff debacle, had his third year students raise these for a semester, which was completely pointless as they prefer to be left alone and to do nothing. Frog - Rating Unknown They live in the garden pond. Frogs are used in potion-making. Fwooper - XXX - Africa African bird with brightly-colored feathers. A Fwooper's song will drive the listener insane, so each bird must be sold with a Silencing Charm on it, and every year the owner should take the bird to the department that control magical creatures to add the spell on the birds, or if the owner could do the spell, he or she should do it at least once in a year. G Ghoul - XX Ghouls are slimy, buck-toothed, ugly creatures which live in attics or barns of wizards. They are dim-witted and are content to throw things around now and then. Ghouls are relatively harmless creatures who live on spiders and moths. A ghoul lives in the attic of the Burrow, just above Ron's room. The ghoul makes noises a lot. Giant - Rating Unknown Once all over the world, very few giants remain today because of their character and the way they solve any problems with force, they form a group of giants and decide the leader is by fighting, the strongest is the leader. Many will be injured and may caused death. Glumbumble - XXX The Glumbumble is a magical furry insect. It produces a fluid that causes melancholy. This fluid is used as an antidote for the hysteria that results from eating Alihotsy leaves. Glumbumbles eat nettles. Gnome (garden) - XX 133
The gnome is a common garden pest resembling a potato with legs. Gnomes live in gnome-holes underground, where they dig up plant roots and generally cause a mess; their presence is also a dead give-away that a home belongs to a witch or wizard. Every so often, a garden must be "de-gnomed," which involves grasping the gnomes by the ankles, swinging them around a few times to disorient them, then tossing them out of the garden. Gnomes are rather dim, so when they realize a de-gnoming is going on, they all come rushing up out of their holes to see what's going on, making them a lot easier to catch. Crookshanks loved chasing gnomes around the Weasley’s garden and the gnomes seemed just as much to love being chased. Goat - Rating Unknown The bezoar (stone that are used in wizard’s potion and able to cure almost all poisionous either from spell or potion itself) comes from the stomach of a goat. Goblin - Rating Unknown A race of highly intelligent magical beings that coexist (sometimes uneasily) with wizarding society Graphorn - XXXX - Europe A large, grayish-purple creature which lives in the mountains of Europe. Graphorns have two extremely sharp horns. They are extremely dangerous animals. Graphorn horns are useful for potions and Graphorn hide is even tougher than dragons' and also repels spells. Griffin - XXXX Strange creature with the front body of an eagle and hindquarters of a lion. Griffins are used to guard treasure. There is a statue of a griffin in a corridor in Hogwarts, near the girls' bathroom where Harry, Ron, and Hermione faced a Mountain Troll. Godric Gryffindor, the founder of Gryffindor house, may have gotten his name from this beast. The griffin-shaped knocker on the door of Dumbledore's office may be a pun on Gryffindor's name. Grim - Unrated (not a living creature) The Grim is a ghostly image of a large dog-like beast; seeing one portends death. Grindylow - XX - Britain A grindylow is a pale green creature that lives in the weed beds on the bottom of lakes in Britain. It is also known as a water demon. Grindylows have long, brittle fingers which they use to grip their prey, sharp little horns, and green teeth. Lupin taught his third year students about them Grindylows in the lake near Hogwarts attacked the Triwizard champions during the second task. However, some grindylows appear to have been domesticated by merpeople. Gytrash - Rating Unknown The Gytrash is a huge, spectral hound that lives in forests. The Gytrash, in the form of a huge dog, horse, or mule, haunts solitary places; it is found in the folklore of Northern England. H Hag - Unrated - Worldwide Female human-like magical being, but less adept than a witch at disguising herself from Muggles. Hags are what one might refer to as "fairy tale witches." Hags are 134
wild in appearance, and they have been known to eat children, although at the Leaky Cauldron Harry once saw a hag eating raw liver. Hags can be quite frightening, apparently, since Quirrell had a "nasty bit of business" with one during his year off for first-hand experience in fighting the Dark Arts. Interested parties may also consult Gilderoy Lockhart's book Holidays with Hags, which probably can be picked up quite cheaply at Flourish and Blotts, Diagon Alley, London, UK these days. Hellhound - Rating Unknown Muggle name for the sleepless three-headed dog who according to their mythology guards the gates of Hades. The dog's name was Cerberus, and the only time when he was ever overcome save by brute force was when the great musician Orpheus sang him to sleep. Hagrid had a huge three-headed dog which he called Fluffy, who now is reported to be living in the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts. [NOTE: The name "hellhound" does not appear in the books; that is the name given to this type of creature in Muggle mythology. In the books, Fluffy is simply referred to as a "giant three-headed dog".] Hinkypunk - Rating Unknown A little one-legged creature, with the appearance of being made of smoke, the hinkypunk carries a light with which it lures travelers into bogs. Hippocampus - XXX A Mer-horse, with the head and forequarters of a horse and the hindquarters and tail of a giant fish. hippocampus = (from hippos (horse) + kampos sea-monster) a legendary Greek half-horse half-fish creature often shown in art drawing the chariot of Poseidon. I Imp - XX The imp is similar to the pixie and the fairy. It is about seven inches tall and is colored dull brown or black. Imps live in damp or marshy areas. They have a somewhat slapstick sense of humor and they love to trip people so they fall into a stream. They eat small insects. Inferius (plural: Inferi) - Rating Unknown The Inferi are animated corpses who do the bidding of the Dark wizard who created them. Harry encountered a large number of Inferi floating just below the surface of the underground lake surrounding the cursed basin where the locket Horcrux had been hidden. The Inferi attacked Harry when he touched the water but Dumbledore surrounded them with a ring of fire which drove the Inferi away, back into the water. 'inferi' L. 'the dead' Insects and insect-like creatures Billywig, Chizpurfle, Glumbumble, Lacewing flies J Jarvey - XXX Resembling an overgrown ferret, the Jarvey is one of the few beasts that can actually talk. Its speech, however, consists entirely of rude phrases and insults. Jarveys chase gnomes. 135
"Jarvey" is an old slang term for a cab-driver, dating from the days when cabs were horse-drawn. Jobberknoll - XX A tiny blue speckled bird that makes no sound until the moment of its death, when it lets out a long scream consisting of all the sounds it has ever heard; their feathers are important ingredients in making potions that affect memory. "Jobbernowl" means a stupid person. K Kappa - XXXX - Japan A water-dweller resembling a scaly monkey with webbed hands, a kappa will grab and strangle waders in its pond. According to Snape, the kappa is commonly found in Mongolia, but the Care of Magical Creatures textbook states that the kappa is a Japanese creature. Kelpie - XXXX Lockhart once gave Hagrid unsolicited advice on how to get kelpies out of a well. The world's biggest and most famous kelpie is the Loch Ness Monster. This monster makes its home in Loch Ness Scotland, usually in its favourite form of a sea serpent. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has been trying to find a way to hide the Loch Ness Monster, who is notorious for showing off for Muggles. Hagrid at one point offered to keep the giant kelpie in the Hogwarts lake.
Knarl - XXX Very similar to a hedgehog, except that the knarl takes offense easily and will wreak havoc on garden plants. Kneazle (NEE-zul) - XXX This very intelligent cat-like creature can detect unsavory or suspicious persons very well and will react badly to them. However, if a kneazle takes a liking to a witch or wizard, it makes an excellent pet. The kneazle has spotted fur, large ears, and a lion-like tail. Crookshanks is part kneazle. L Lacewing fly - Rating Unknown These insects are used as potion ingredients (see). They are small insects with large, transparent wings. Lacewing flies eat aphids. Leech - Rating Unknown A small slug-like creature that lives in water. Leeches attach themselves to other creatures and suck their blood. Leeches are used as potion ingredients, both sliced and in the form of leech juice. Leprechaun (clauricorn, cluricaun) - XXX - Ireland A tiny vegetarian creature resembling a little (maximum height 6 inches) green human, the leprechaun is one of the occasional anomalies of the beast/being classification system. Although they alone of the "little people" have the ability to speak human language, they are classified as beasts, and have remained in that category as they have never requested re-classification (although they appear to have made no political statement by this, unlike centaurs and merpeople. They are 136
able to produce a gold-like substance that vanishes after an hour or two. Leprechauns are the Irish National Quidditch Team's mascots. Lethifold (living shroud) - XXXXX This dangerous beast resembles a half-inch thick black cloak which moves along the ground at night, hunting its prey. It attacks sleeping humans, smothers them, then digests them, all in their bed, leaving no trace at all. The only known defense against a lethifold is a Patronus Charm. Thankfully, this frightening creature is rare, only found in the tropics. L. lethum, variation of letum, death. Lobalug - XXX A sea creature consisting of a poison sac and a spout, the lobalug is used as a weapon by merpeople. M Mackled Malaclaw - XXX A creature of the shore and coastline, resembling a lobster. The malaclaw's bite gives the victim bad luck for up to a week. c.f. Felix Felicis. "mackled" = blurred "mal" Fr. "bad" + claw Manticore - XXXXX - Greece A sentient creature, capable of intelligent speech but not classified as a being due to its violent tendencies, a manticore has a human-like head, a lion's body, and the tail of a scorpion. The tail secretes venom that is instantly fatal to a victim of its sting. A manticore's skin repels virtually all known charms, so it is extremely difficult to subdue by magic. In 1296, a manticore seriously wounded someone but was let off because no one dared go near it. Hagrid bred the Blast-Ended Skrewt from a manticore and a fire-crab; we do not know how he persuaded the manticore to cooperate. Manticores originated in Greece. Although this is never stated, it seems possible that like the acromantula, manticores may have originated as a wizard-bred species specifically created to guard treasures, strongholds, and the like, and thus serving as an example of why the Ban on Experimental Breeding is so important. Merpeople - XXXX Sentient beings who live underwater in villages at the bottom of lakes and seas. Specific races of merpeople are also known as sirens (Greece), selkies (Scotland), and merrows (Ireland) Merrow - XXXX A Merperson from the lakes and seas of Ireland Moke - XXX A small lizard that can shrink at will. Mooncalf - XX A strange creature that lives in a burrow. It only comes out at the full moon, when it dances on its enormous flat feet, sometimes leaving intricate patterns in wheat fields (much to the confusion of Muggles). The silvery dung of the mooncalf, if collected before the sun comes up, makes an excellent fertilizer. Mummy - Unrated The preserved remains of a body, human or animal, from which fluids have been removed. Although mummification can occur through natural processes in very 137
dry conditions, the most common conception of a mummy is that of one deliberately embalmed as a preparation for burial, for which additional preservative measures have been performed. In ancient Egypt, mummification was performed on the bodies of humans and of cats, and was considered a necessary step in preparing the deceased for the afterlife. It is unclear whether the type of mummy Parvati Patil fears (which the boggart impersonated during her first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Remus Lupin, is an actual mummy animated or some Dark Creature resembling a mummy. If the latter is the case, a mummy is a frightening creature, bandaged, bloody, and sightless, possibly a manifestation of a curse left behind by ancient wizards. (Of course, if Parvati was exposed to Muggle entertainment as a child, she may just have watched too many horror movies.) Murtlap - XXX - Britain A seashore-dwelling rodent native to Britain, this ratlike creature has on its back a growth resembling a sea anemone, which when pickled can be used to promote resistance to curses. The murtlap will attack anyone who steps on it, although it usually eats crustaceans, not people's feet. After Harry left his detention with Umbridge with cuts on the back of his hand, Hermione recommended Murtlap essence, which helped the pain immensely. Harry later recommends the same treatment to Lee Jordan, who in turn suggested it to the Weasley twins when they were seeking a solution to the problem of the boils caused by their prototype Fever Fudge. N Niffler - XXX A black fluffy long-snouted creature which burrows in dirt as if it were water. Although nifflers are gentle and even affectionate, they are strongly attracted to anything shiny, which can make them difficult to control. They can be very useful for finding treasure, and are often kept by goblins for this purpose. Native to Britain, nifflers live in lairs up to 20 feet underground and have litters of 6 - 8 young. Fred and George left a couple of nifflers with Lee Jordan when they left school. He levitated them into Umbridge's office through her window, where they cheerfully trashed the place, then attacked her when she walked in; Umbridge had a habit of wearing rings, and nifflers are prone to attempt to bite off jewelry "niffer" (Scotland and northern England) to exchange, mutually exchange, or barter Nogtail - XX Found in rural areas across Europe, Russia, and America; a Dark Creature (classified as a demon) resembling a piglet, but stunted with narrow black eyes, a thick stubby tail, and long legs. Nogtails curse farms. A nogtail slips into a pigsty and suckles an ordinary pig; the longer it goes undetected, the longer the curse that falls upon the farm. The nogtail is very fast and difficult to catch, but if chased off the farm by a pure white dog it will never return. See the Pest Sub- Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for assistance with nogtail problems. Nundu - XXXXX 138
Considered by many to be the most dangerous beast in existence, the nundu is a gigantic leopard, native to East Africa, whose breath carries disease and death. Whole villages have been wiped out by the nundu, and no nundu has ever yet been subdued by fewer than a hundred wizards working together. Compare this with the dragons of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's fourth year, each of which - an agitated nesting mother - could be Stunned by a team of fewer than ten wizards. O Occamy - XXXX A beautiful, carnivorous creature native to India and the Far East, resembling a winged snake, but plumed, having two legs, and reaching up to fifteen feet in length. As occamy eggshells are formed from pure soft silver, the occamy's reputation for aggression may be overstated, as most of its interaction with humans probably has consisted of defense of its eggs. "occamy" Eng. a metallic composition imitating silver Owl - XXXX These birds provide postal service for the wizarding world. Although Muggles know about them, they are obviously magical to some extent, since their ability to find the recipient of their letters is extraordinary indeed. P Phoenix - XXXX Swan-sized bird with red and gold plumage, golden beak, and golden talons. The XXXX rating given to this gentle creature does not indicate ferocity, but rather the rarity of successful attempts to domesticate it. The Moutohora Macaws have a phoenix for a mascot. His name, appropriately enough, is Sparky. Pixie or known by Cornish pixie - XXX - Cornwall, England Native to Cornwall, these mischievous creatures are a bright electric blue in color. They are very rude. Plimpy - XXX A kind of fish, shaped like a ball with two long, rubbery legs and webbed feet. If you happen to spot a plimpy with its legs tied in a knot, you will know that merpeople are around. "plim" Eng. a dialect word for becoming plump. Pogrebin - XXX These annoying little creatures are native to Russia. They love to follow people around, infusing them with a sense of hopelessness until the human collapses, at which point the pogrebin attempts to devour them. The Pogrebin resembles a grey rock with a small hairy body and it hides by crouching down and pretending to be nothing but a harmless stone. Porlock - XX Found in Dorset, England and in southern Ireland, this short (about two feet high when fully grown), shaggy creature walks on two cloven-hoofed feet and feeds on grass. Its small arms end in four fingers. The porlock lives to guard horses and will be found with a herd or curled in the straw of stables, although it is so distrustful of humans that it is seldom seen. 139
Porlock is a town located along the north coast of Devon, on the edge of Exmoor National Park. What's On Exmoor, "A large group of feral goats lived in this coastal area until about 1910 and their milk, skins and meat were traded at Porlock Weir..." Perhaps it is this bit of history that suggested the Porlock to Rowling Puffskein - XX A long-tongued custard-coloured little furball that makes a calming purring noise. These pleasant creatures are often kept as pets, particularly by wizarding children; Ron Weasley used to own one until Fred used it for Bludger practice. As scavengers that will eat anything from leftovers to spiders, they are very easy to care for. There was a nest of dead puffskeins under the sofa of the drawing room of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes sells miniature puffskeins called Pygmy Puffs. If you immediately thought of "tribbles" from STAR TREK when you read about the "custard-colored furballs" in the Magical Menagerie, you're not alone. See the original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" written by David Gerrold for more information on that subject. As a matter of fact, David Gerrold got the idea for Tribbles from "flat-cats" in a short story by Robert Heinlein. Pygmy Puff - XX Sold by Fred and George in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Pygmy Puffs are miniature puffskeins, "round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple," that sell so quickly they "can't breed them fast enough.” Ginny convinced her mother to buy one for her, and she named it Arnold. Arnold is frequently seen riding around on Ginny’s shoulder in the Gryffindor common room, often with a hopeful Crookshanks trailing behind. Q Quintaped - XXXXX A highly dangerous carnivore covered in thick reddish-brown hair, having five clubfooted legs and a low-slung body. It has a particular taste for humans. One of the most dangerous of magical beasts, the quintaped is found only on the Isle of Drear off the north tip of Scotland. There is a fascinating legend about the origin of quintapeds, which involves a feud between two wizarding clans and a poorly thought-out magical attack. The reader is urged to read the full account in a reputable source such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander. The Isle of Drear has been made Unplottable to protect the unwary. "quintaped" translates from Latin as "five-footed" R Rabbit - Rating Unknown A fat white rabbit in the Magical Menagerie transformed itself into a top hat and back again (reminiscent of the Muggle conjuring trick in which the performer pulls a rabbit out of a top hat). It is unclear if this is a magical creature or if it had simply been enchanted to perform this bit of Transfiguration. Lavender Brown had a young pet rabbit at home, named Binky, which was killed by a fox during her third year. Ramora - XX 140
Powerfully magical silver-coloured fish from the Indian Ocean, a protected species that in turn is a guardian of seafarers, as the ramora is capable of anchoring ships. It is protected from poaching by international wizarding law. Rat - Rating Unknown In the Magical Menagerie was a cage full of black rats which were busy jumping rope with their tails; the saleswitch implied that they would live longer than a common rat's three-year lifespan. Rat Animagi appear to have some ability to communicate with ordinary rats. While living in hiding in number twelve, Grimmauld Place, Sirius appears to have kept Buckbeak mainly on a diet of dead rats. Raven - Rating Unknown Ravens were for sale in the Magical Menagerie. Red Cap - XXX Small, goblin-like/dwarflike creatures, Red Caps love bloodshed, and will attempt to beat to death Muggles lost in dungeons or on battlefields on dark nights. (As red caps can be repelled easily by charms and hexes, Muggles rather than adult wizarding folk face the most danger from them. According to A Field Guide to the Little People (Nancy Arrowsmith with George Moorse, New York: Hill and Wang, 1977): Some of the most bloodthirsty Scottish elves are the Lowland castle spirits. They are called Red Caps...and by some accounts are said to live only in castles with a history of violence. Others say they live in all Lowland peel-towers [fortified houses or towers]. It may well be that both accounts are true...The Red Caps' main occupation is colouring their red caps, which they dye with human blood. They throw boulders on to travellers from their towers, then catch the blood in their caps. As soon as the blood dries and the colour fades, the Red Caps look for new victims. They also foretell disasters by making a loud noise like the beating of flax. The only things that discourage them are crosses, cross-handled swords, and words from the Bible (p. 47). These Red Caps are described as short, old elves with a sturdy build and long grey hair. They are about four feet tall and have red eyes. Re'em - XXXX Native to the wilds of North America and the Far East, this extremely rare golden- furred giant ox's blood gives the drinker immense strength. However, since demand far exceeds supply, Re'em blood is found on the open market only rarely. JKR borrowed the idea of the Re'em from ancient writings, although she created her own description of this mysterious beast. From The Truth About Unicorns by James Cross Giblin: "In the original version, the Hebrew writers referred seven times to a powerful animal called the re'em. One of these references appeared in the description of Joseph.... Not knowing what animal the Hebrews had in mind, the authors of the Septuagint translated re'em as monoceros, the Greek word for unicorn. "There's no reason to believe, however, that the Hebrews thought of the re'em as one- horned. Some later scholars argued that it was probably the African antelop, the oryx. They pointed out that the Arabic word for oryx was the similar rim" (page 41). 141
The reference to Joseph is from the Biblical book of Deuteronomy: "His Glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns...." (Deut. 33:17). (Thanks to Pigwideon on the Lexicon Forum for this information) According to the historical information about the word 'unicorn', "re'em" was Hebrew for 'wild ox'. The accompanying derivation in the tallies with the above. Runespoor - XXXX A magical three-headed, snake commonly reaching a length of 6 - 7 feet, coloured livid orange with black banding; native to Burkina Faso, where several forests are designated as preserves for its sole use. The runespoor is unique among known magical beasts for producing its eggs through its mouths. Runespoors rarely live to a great age, as each head contains an independent brain serving a different purpose, and they tend to attack each other. The right head is the planner, the middle head is the dreamer, and the left head is the critic. The planner decides where the runespoor goes and what it will do next, although the dreamer's visions often lead to a runespoor remaining stationary for days, lost in its imaginings. The critic, the fangs of which are extremely venomous, hisses continually (and irritably), evaluating the efforts of the planner and the dreamer. Often, the other two heads will gang up on the critic and bite it off; two-headed runespoors are not uncommon. The runespoor was once a favorite pet of Dark wizards, mostly because of its intimidating appearance. A flourishing black market in runespoor eggs and in the serpents themselves has existed for centuries. "rune" one of the alternate meanings of this word in English is 'an incantation, a charm, esp. one denoted by magic or cryptic signs; a magic word' S Salamander - XXX A small, brilliant white, fire-dwelling lizard that feeds on flame, although it can survive up to six hours outside a fire if regularly fed pepper. A salamander lives only as long as the fire from which it sprang, scampering along burning logs and among the coals, and its colour appears blue or scarlet depending on the heat of the fire in which it appeared. Salamander blood has powerful curative and restorative properties. Fred and George once fed fireworks to one just to see what would happen; it was orange. Hagrid once provided a bonfire full of them for his third year Care of Magical Creatures class. Sea serpent - XXX A gigantic (can grow to a hundred feet in length), snake-like beast with a horselike head and a long snakelike body rising in humps out of the sea as it moves through the water; found in the Atlantic, Mediterrean, and Pacific Oceans. The sea serpent has received very bad Muggle press, in this case unjustified. Although many Muggle legends have grown up around sightings of the creatures, usually tales of horror and death, in reality sea serpents are harmless; there is no record of a sea serpent ever harming a human. See also the Loch Ness kelpie. Shrake - XX A magically-created species of saltwater fish, found in the Atlantic Ocean, which is covered in spines and which deliberately seeks out and destroys Muggle fishing 142
nets. The first shrake were supposedly created in the 1800s by a group of wizard fisherfolk who had been insulted by Muggles. The shrake, by damaging the nets used by Muggles to fish in that area of the sea, cause no end of trouble. "shred" +"hake" a fish related to the cod Snails - Rating Unknown Poisonous orange snails were for sale in the Magical Menagerie; they could have been streelers. Snakes and snake-like creatures Ashwinder, Basilisk, Boa constrictor, Dragon, Nagini, Occamy, Runespoor, Sea serpent c.f. Serpensortia. Parseltongue is the language of snakes. Snidget - XXXX (the high rating is because of the severe penalties attached to capturing or owning one) A small, spherical bird which can fly with amazing agility, changing speed and direction almost instantaneously. Its golden feathers and red, jewel-like eyes are so prized that at one time the snidget was hunted almost to extinction. The fact that a snidget became such an integral part of the game of Quidditch (and usually died when it was caught) didn't help matters either. The snidget became a protected species; there are now severe penalties for harming or even capturing one. Snidget reserves have been set up worldwide, and a magical device, the Golden Snitch, has replaced the live bird in Quidditch. Sphinx - XXXX Native to Egypt, this human-headed creature has a lion-like body, the capacity for human speech, and an innate love of puzzles and riddles, but due to its violent tendencies it has been placed in the 'beast' rather than the 'being' category. The sphinx has been used by wizarding folk for centuries to guard treasure, and is noted for violence when that which it guards is threatened. In the opinion of one of the Bestiary's editors, the sphinx is very probably a wizard-bred species rather than a naturally occurring one, given the remarks made by Scamander in his footnote on acromantulas, but we have no definite information on that point. A female sphinx was stationed in the Triwizard maze both to guard the closest approach to the center and to provide a hint about the last monster guarding the Triwizard Cup. She required an answer to a riddle; once the riddle was solved, she calmly let Harry pass by. Gringotts has been known to place sphinxes to guard some of the vaults, much to the consternation of those who want access to their valuables and aren't particularly good at riddles. Spiders and spider-like creatures The cupboard under the stairs was full of spiders. Ron Weasley's greatest fear is spiders, ever since the twins turned his teddy bear into a giant spider when he was little. He can work with dead spiders as potion ingredients without difficulty, however. The fake Moody used three spiders to demonstrate the Unforgivable Curses. Harry encountered an acromantula in the maze of the third task. He and Cedric defeated it together Spiders the size of saucers infested a dresser at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. 143
The Weasleys' broom shed, where Dumbledore talked with Harry after recruiting Slughorn, is full of spiders. Squid, giant - Rating Unknown The largest invertebrate known to Muggle science, the giant squid can grow to 70 feet. Speaking more specifically, at least one giant squid lives in the lake near Hogwarts castle, and seems to be more or less friendly toward the inhabitants. Streeler - XXX Giant African snail that changes colour every hour, and deposits a trail of venom as it moves that kills and shrivels all vegetation over which it passes, and which can kill horklumps. It is often kept as a pet. Streel (from Irish straoillim, trail along the ground) = Eng. to trail on the ground or float at length; when speaking of a person, to wander aimlessly T Tadfoal - Unrated The young of the Hippocampus is called a Tadfoal. From "tadpole," the immature form of a frog + "foal," the young form of a horse Tarantula - Rating Unknown Lee Jordan had one on Platform Nine and Three Quarters at the start of Harry's first year. They're for sale in Knockturn Alley. Thestral - Rating Unknown A carnivorous black winged horse, skeletal and reptilian, which supposedly brings bad luck Tebo - XXXX Like the Diricawl, the Tebo can become invisible at will. It is a warthog-like creature native to central Africa. Toads and frogs - Rating Unknown Toads are allowed as pets for students at Hogwarts, but they're out of fashion, so if you have one, you're likely to be laughed at for it. Nevertheless, Neville has a toad named Trevor, a gift from an older family member, and there are enormous purple toads in the Magical Menagerie. Furthermore, judging from Mundungus' story on Harry's first night in Grimmauld Place, toads (at least in bulk) are valuable enough to go to quite a bit of trouble to steal. Ron has a frog in a tank in his room, and the pond in the garden of the Burrow is full of frogs. Petunia accused Lily of coming home from Hogwarts with pockets full of frog spawn Tortoise - Rating Unknown Dudley once threw his tortoise through the greenhouse roof. The gigantic tortoise with jewel-encrusted shell that Harry, Ron, and Hermione saw in the Magical Menagerie was probably a Fire Crab. Troll - XXXX There are three types of trolls: mountain, forest, and river. Troll language supposedly consists of grunting and pointing, but that description is courtesy of the Weasley twins, who were attempting to wind up Percy on the subject of his boss' linguistic ability at the time. 144
The mountain troll is very stupid. It stands twelve feet tall, with grey skin, a lumpy body, and flat horny feet. It exudes a powerfully awful smell, "a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean." Its nose is full of what looks like lumpy, gray glue: troll boogers. Quirrell, to create a diversion so he could go after the Philosopher's Stone, let a mountain troll into the castle on Hallowe'en, 1991. It wandered around the corridors until Harry and Ron locked it in a girls' bathroom. Right after they did that, they realized that Hermione Granger was in that particular bathroom, and they had no choice but to charge in after it. With a lucky combination of derring- do, desperate magic and sheer dumb luck, they managed to knock it out and save Hermione. Quirrell, it turns out, has something of a knack for handling trolls. He placed one in the chambers guarding the Stone, knowing he'd be able to knock it out quite easily when the time came. By the time Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived in that chamber, the troll was out cold. Tom Riddle alleged that Hagrid, as a boy, would go into the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls. Trolls participate in wizarding society to some extent; some witches and wizards make a career out of training security trolls. Dumbledore hired security trolls to guard the Fat Lady after Sirius Black attacked her. These were evidently a different type of troll than the mountain variety, since they seemed considerably more intelligent and less smelly. They spent all their time pacing the corridor in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, giving dirty looks to everyone who happened by and comparing the sizes of their clubs. Umbridge apparently also hired security trolls to guard the Firebolt she had confiscated from Harry. Trolls are not recognized as magical being. Pierre Bonaccord, the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, wanted to stop troll- hunting and give them rights, but his appointment to that office was contested by Liechtenstein, since they were having problems with a tribe of very dangerous mountain trolls at the time. The Black family kept an umbrella stand made out of a troll's leg in their front hall. A large stuffed troll can be found in the Room of Requirement when it is in "lost objects" mode. Hagrid and Madame Maxime ran into a couple of mad trolls on the Polish border while on their journey to visit the giants Note that OP31 does not capitalize "mountain troll" in the U.K. edition, so the term should not be capitalized. U Unicorn - XXXX A white (when fully mature) horse-like creature with a single horn on its head. Fourth years study unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures. Various parts of the unicorn - the horn and tail hair in particular - are used as potion ingredients and as wand cores See unicorns page for more. V Vampire - Rating Unknown Vampires are studied in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but are not considered wizards. 145
Harry has seen pictures of vampires in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but had never "met" one before Slughorn's Christmas party in his sixth year; their appearance is described as pale and gaunt. Treatment of vampires is regulated by the Ministry of Magic; they seem to be classified as "non-wizard part-humans". They are hated and feared by many. One of the boys trying to impress the veela at the Quidditch World Cup claimed to be a famous vampire hunter. Centaurs oppose them. There are products made and sold for their use (blood-flavored lollipops sold at Honeydukes') Garlic is used against vampires, though exactly how might be a little complicated. They are associated with Romania and Transylvania Quirrell had encountered them in the Black Forest Hagrid had a "slight' disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk" while on his journey to visit the giants (summer 1995) Veela sensual dance, affects Harry, Ron, etc. throw handfuls of fire when angry; face becomes like bird, scaly wings Fleur Delacour is part veela; her wand's core is a hair from the head of her grandmother, a veela. The veela are based on a number of sources that describe Eastern European nature spirits of legend: "Vily" are Slovic fairies who can take the form of birds. "Vilas," as they appear in Serbian legends, are "mountain nymphs, young and beautiful, clad in white, with long flowing hair. Their voices are said to resemble those of woodpeckers. They shoot, according to popular belief, deadly arrows at men, and sometimes carry off children..." ( The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Keightley, 1878.) The book A Field Guide to the Little People describes the Vily (singular: Vila) in detail. They are nature guardians, caring for the trees, streams, and flowers in their domains. They are extremely jealous of beautiful women. Their moods are as changeable as the weather and they can both cause and cure illnesses. A human who tarries too long in their territory may be shot dead with arrows or die suddenly from heart attack, lumbago, or by being buried under an avalanche. Vily have fair complexions and curly, reddish-brown hair which falls to their feet. They wear shimmering white clothing or coverings of green leaves. Interestingly, those born on Tuesday or Sunday can most easily see Vily. W Werewolf - XXXXX A werewolf is a human who has been infected with lycanthropy Wildebeest (gnu) - Rating Unknown - Africa Either of two species - the black wildebeest and the blue wildebeest - of large antelopes, each of which has long shaggy heads, hooked horns, and long tails A postbox and several letter bins were Transfigured into wildebeest by goblins illegally using wands during the Chipping Clodbury riot. Woodlouse - Rating Unknown 146
This term is used generally for various small invertebrates (only some of them are technically insects) that dwell in woods (such as the Forbidden Forest), woodwork, and other such habitats. Bowtruckles feed on woodlice. Wood-nymph - Rating Unknown Fleur told everyone at her table during dinner at the Yule Ball that the Christmas decorations at Beauxbatons included wood nymphs, who sing to the students as they eat. Y Yeti – XXXX – (the Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot) Native to Tibet, this tall (up to 15 feet) white-furred humanoid creature may be related to the troll (unlike giants, the yeti fears fire), but as it will attempt to attack and eat any human (or just about anything else, for that matter) that it meets, no witch or wizard has had an opportunity to study a living yeti at close range. Ironically, however, Tibet is one of the most persistent offenders due to the number of yeti sightings by Muggles, to the point that a permanent International Task Force is stationed in Tibet to help control the situation. Yetis were discussed in Harry's second-year Defense Against the Dark Arts class, as one of Lockhart's books was Year with the Yeti. Bigfoot variety lives in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.