The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter Read online

  • Note that Draco Malfoy is a doppelganger (a German term translated as double-goer) for Dudley Dursley, Harry’s Muggle cousin. Both are children without siblings who are spoiled by their parents and who, in turn, routinely mistreat others. But one character (Draco) exists wholly in the wizarding world; the other (Dudley) exists wholly in the Muggle world. Thus when readers first meet Draco, they have already been set up for such a selfish, insensitive person through reading about Dudley.

  • Lucius Malfoy: Draco’s father, Lucius (LOO-see-us), is one of the most evil of all wizards; he is one of Voldemort’s most loyal servants. Lucius in not an uncommon name in Great Britain; it is derived from the Latin lux, meaning “light” or “shining.” Lucius Malfoy, slick, handsome, wealthy, and powerful, does indeed shine. Two early Roman Etruscan kings bore this first name, as did three popes and the famous Roman philosopher Seneca.

  Severus Snape

  Professor Severus Snape, who taught both Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, is notable because he was a former Death Eater who joined The Order of the Phoenix and became a double (or possibly triple) agent. The word severus is Latin for grave, strict, austere, stern, severe, and forbidding, which fits Snape’s character perfectly. In addition, Imperial Roman Emperor Severus was known to be a cruel and calculating leader. In an interview, Rowling said Snape’s surname comes from a village in Suffolk County.

  Famous Wizards Through the Ages

  Although the preceding wizards are the inventions of J.K. Rowling, the wizards in this section either really did exist or were so entrenched in folktales and literature that we feel as though they existed. All of the following wizards are represented on the cards that are found within a package of Chocolate Frogs in Harry Potter’s world.

  TOURIST TIP

  Albus Dumbledore is said to have defeated a Dark Wizard named Grindelwald in 1945, but no further information is given about this wizard. But you don’t have to be a wizard to know about Grindelwald, which is a picturesque skiing, hiking, and mountain-climbing resort in Switzerland. Visit for details.

  Agrippa

  Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a sixteenth-century German alchemist, physician, theologian, and legal scholar. He wrote a manifesto on the occult, De occulta philosophia libri tres. Like Sirius Black’s transfigured form (see Chapter 13 for more on transfiguration), Agrippa was said to have taken the form of a black dog upon his death.

  KING’S ENGLISH

  An alchemist was a person who studied an early form of chemistry, which was really part philosophy, part magic, part environmentalism. The goals of alchemy were twofold: 1) to try to find the philosopher’s stone, which would have the ability to turn inexpensive metals into gold, and 2) to find the elixir of life, which would lead to perpetual youth and immortality. Rowling combined the two goals into one product in her first novel: a philosopher’s stone (or, in the Americanized version, a sorcerer’s stone) that produced the elixir of life.

  Circe

  Greek daughter of the sun god (Helios) and mother of the sun goddess (Aega), Circe (pronounced SIR-cee) was a sorceress who could turn people into animals with a single flick of her wand. She lived on the island Aeaea, where Odysseus and his men landed during their journey, and Circe promptly turned the crew into pigs. Fortunately, Odysseus had taken an herb given to him by Hermes, so he alone retained his human form. When Circe saw that he had resisted her spell, she lifted the pig spell from the rest of the men. A bit later, the child Telegonus was born to Circe and Odysseus, and as the crew was about to set off to finish their journey, it was Circe who warned them of the sirens who would try to lure the men to their death on the rocky coast with their beautiful singing.

  Cliodna

  Cliodna (CLEEV-nah), the daughter of the last druid of Ireland (an order of holy priests), was the Celtic goddess of the sea, the afterlife, and beauty. She was also said to be a shapeshifter who sometimes turned into a bird.

  Nicolas Flamel

  Nicolas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle, figure prominently in Harry Potter’s first novel. Incidentally, Nicolas is also mentioned in The Da Vinci Code. A noted fourteenth-century French alchemist, Flamel was first a bookseller and scribe who bought a unique manuscript from a man in need of cash. The book, which discussed alchemy, led to his subsequent interest in all things alchemical.

  The story of Flamel has taken on mythological proportions, however; he is reputed to have both lived an exceedingly long life and died very wealthy (much wealthier than a bookseller would have been), leading to rumors that he succeeded in both alchemy goals: the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life.

  In Harry Potter’s world, Flamel was also an opera lover and good friend to Albus Dumbledore.

  Hengist of Woodcroft

  Hengist of Woodcroft is perhaps best known as the man who founded the County of Kent. He was a king just before King Arthur’s time, which is his likely link to wizardry. Otherwise, he was just a regional king who helped other kings in their battles.

  Merlin

  Entire books have been written about Merlin, the wizard famous for his role in the King Arthur stories. In T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, Merlin tutors Wart (young Arthur) and helps him fulfill his destiny as king. Many believe Merlin was the basis for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Gandalf, both being wise and noble wizards. Note that this wizard’s name is frequently spelled Merlyn.

  Morgana

  Nearly as famous as Merlin, Morgana, the famous witch, was also an important figure in the King Arthur stories. Wart encounters Morgana (also called Morgan le Fay) in a castle. He later learns that they are half-brother and sister: Arthur’s father (Uther Pendragon) seduced Morgana’s mother, Igraine. Although both Morgana and Merlin are powerful, Morgana is angry and bitter, and she often uses her powers for evil.

  MAGIC TALE

  One of the wizards on the Chocolate Frog cards is Alberic Grunion, who is said to have lived from 1803 to 1882 and was the inventor of the dung-bomb (the purpose of which you can probably make out for yourself: dung + bomb). However, no such person appears to have existed in history. Several priests and saints named Alberic have been documented, but none in the nineteenth century.

  Paracelsus

  Auroleus Phillipus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, whose nickname was Paracelsus (pair-a-SELL-sus), was a noted fifteenth-century physician and alchemist. He was one of the few alchemists who sought the powers of chemicals not for riches or immortality but to improve the abilities of physicians to heal. He contributed much to the medical field, including the idea that wounds can heal on their own, if free from infection. He also named the element zinc. Hogwarts Castle has a bust of Paracelsus.

  Ptolemy

  Claudius Ptolemy (TOE-lehm-mee) was a second-century geographer and astronomer who first proposed the idea that the sun circles the earth. His ideas became known as the Ptolemaic system. He was wrong, of course, but his ideas prevailed for over 1,000 years and gave Copernicus and Galileo something to work with and, later, disprove.

  Witch of Endor

  The Witch of Endor is mentioned in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 28: 4-25) when she conjures up the spirit of Samuel at the request of King Saul. Samuel’s ghost then predicted Saul’s losing his kingdom.

  Where Rowling Found Her Muse

  All literature influences the novels, poems, and plays that come after it, and fantasy literature is no different. As mentioned throughout this book, Rowling was deeply inf luenced by fantasy greats C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as by Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythology; British folklore; and nonfantasy literature, from Shakespeare to Jane Austen.

  In addition, there’s no denying that the Harry Potter series owes a great debt to British fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones, who started writing novels in the early 1970s (when J.K. Rowling was a young girl) and continues to publish today. Jones is considered one of the great fantasy authors of the twentieth century; as an undergrad, she even attended lectures at Oxford taught by L
ewis and Tolkien (lucky girl!). Some fans fiercely believe Jones is a far more imaginative writer than Rowling, but on the flip side, the popularity of the Harry Potter novels has recently put many of Jones’s earliest novels back into print after a long hiatus. Both authors create fantasy worlds that, because they are so painstakingly detailed, become utterly believable. Yet both also relish silliness and absurdity in their stories.

  Regardless of who’s the better writer, Jones invented magical fantasy worlds that likely made a deep impression on Rowling. In Jones’s novels, wizards and witches practice magic through spells; wear robes and cloaks; attend schools that train wizards; work as seers and healers; invite guests into a Great Hall for meals; stretch the insides of their houses to accommodate more people; plant annoying (attacking) flowers; drink from goblets; and live in a world with dragons, griffons, flying horses, serpents, owls, and other magical creatures. You’ll even find a Dark Lord in Dark Lord of Derkholm (HarperCollins, 1998). Do all those features sound familiar? If not, read on!

  Chapter 2

  Creatures of All Shapes and Sizes

  In This Chapter • Looking at creatures who are mainstays of Celtic and Old English folklore

  • Defining the classic creatures with Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman roots

  • Reviewing creatures from other mythologies and folktales around the world

  • Inspecting creatures that came straight from the mind of J.K. Rowling

  Creatures abound in the wizarding world, and most of them are not the least bit friendly. In this chapter, you not only sort through which creatures to avoid in a dark alley, but also discover the mythological, Biblical, and literary traditions of these creatures. Although this chapter discusses nearly 50 creatures, it is not an exhaustive list. Other creatures are lurking in the wizarding world, but they are not substantial enough to warrant entire sections in this chapter.

  Creatures with Celtic and Old English Roots

  The Harry Potter novels are British in origin and J.K. Rowling is Scottish, so it isn’t any wonder that the novels draw heavily on Celtic and Old English folklore. The creatures in this section were all thought—by Celtic and Old English peoples—to exist, but sightings were surely rare!

  Augurey

  The Augurey, also known as the Irish Phoenix, is a small, dark-colored bird that, like a banshee, has a cry that predicts the death of the hearer. As with the banshee, people have died from a heart attack upon hearing the cry, panicked as they were. The Latin augur means soothsayer or fortuneteller.

  Banshee

  The banshee, also called the Irish Death Messenger, originated as a spirit or ghost who appeared to members of five select Irish families, foretelling them of their death by singing (or, in some versions, screaming) a lament. Akin to fairies, elves, pixies, and mermaids, singing banshees are always women and are usually fair, tall, and waifish, with long white or golden hair. Screaming banshees, however (as opposed to those singing a lament), tend to be more haglike than fair, and instead of being a messenger who gives a welcome forewarning—thus offering the about-to-be-dead a little extra time to put his or her affairs in order—are a messenger of death whose presence sometimes actually frightens a person to death. Banshee comes from the Irish bean sidhe, meaning “woman of the fairy mound.”

  Wizards, especially Irish wizards, believe in banshees as much as the next person, and these predictors of death in the wizarding world are not pretty: they are thin, greenish, dark-haired women whose shriek is unbearable.

  MAGIC TALE

  Ghosts have a long literary history, beginning with Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Perhaps literature’s most famous ghosts are Banquo, the ghost in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and the ghosts who torment Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Gothic novels, at their height, also furthered the cause of ghosts in literature and led to the popularity of the ghost story, which continues even today.

  Boggart

  Long a part of British folktales, the boggart is a vexing but admittedly lighthearted creature that annoys people in small ways—moving objects around, touching or poking people, making noises, and so on. A similar creature is the Scottish bogill (also spelled bogle), a creature reputed to enjoy driving people crazy in little, annoying ways.

  In the wizarding world, a boggart is a shapeshifter that appears to be whatever the nearest observer fears most; it lives in small, dark spaces like dresser drawers and wardrobes. A boggart is not so much dangerous as frightening, like its folkloric counterparts. A boggart can be eradicated with the Riddikulus! incantation.

  Elf

  From the Old English ælf, elves have historically been portrayed as tiny, lithe creatures, and may be either fair or dark in their skin and hair coloring. Also called fairies, pixies, sprites, and brownies, these mischievous— sometimes, downright evil—creatures are known to steal healthy human babies and replace them with sickly elvin children (called changelings), a story depicted movingly in Maurice Sendak’s Outside Over There (although, in that story, the baby is kidnapped by goblins, not elves).

  J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves in The Lord of the Rings were unique to literature, because for the first time in literary history, they were no longer tiny, devious, and impish but rather, tall, elegant, commanding guardians of the earth and woods. No longer kidnappers or players of practical jokes, Tolkien’s elves are among the wisest and most noble of all creatures, as well as phenomenally long-lived. Michael Paolini, in Eragon and Eldest, continues Tolkien’s literary interpretation of the elven people.

  Elves in the wizarding world are nothing like any elves in literature— neither impish little pixies nor elegant woods-dwellers. Rowling’s house-elves are, instead, a form of slave labor to aristocratic wizards, who use them as free housekeepers, servants, and cooks. Elves are not allowed to own clothing, so they wear sacks or pillowcases and little else; if an elf’s master gives him or her an article of clothing, the elf is free to leave that service and find paying work elsewhere, but most elves consider such freedom shameful. Most elves are lifelong servants (bound to one master for life) who despise, rather than wish for, freedom from their conditions. They know no other life than serving a master.

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  Beware bad dreams in Germany! Germans call nightmares akpdrücken, which translates to "elf-pressure,” based on the notion that elves sit on the chest of a sleeping person, feeding terrible dreams into his or her brain.

  Wizard elves are quite similar to wizards, albeit with quite a different look: large ears; large bulging eyes; skinny arms and legs; and short bodies. They think and act like wizards and are full of magical powers that they can employ without the use of a wand. Still, because of their low status, they are not supposed to use their magic and are banned from owning or using wands.

  Fairy

  Fairies have historically been thought of as tiny, gauzy, magical, female creatures who often fly, like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. Unlike sweet Tink, however, most folktale fairies are devious, even dangerous creatures, especially because of their desire to kidnap human children (see the “Elf” section).

  Fairies are not only a part of Celtic folklore, but are also present in the tales of such diverse cultures as ancient Greece and some Native American tribes.

  Fairy godmothers, which are popular in Disney movies, bear little resemblance to fairies, except that they could be described as fairly gauzy-looking, and they are, indeed, magical. They tend to be grand-motherly types: older; plump; wise; and kind. Fairy godmothers are an integral component of fairy tales, which originated in the seventeenth century.

  The wizarding-world fairy continues the pre-Disney, nongrandmotherly, nonsweet folkloric tradition, so fairies in the wizard world are tiny, wing-bearing, woods-dwelling, and mean. Fairies are hatched from eggs and cannot speak, thus bearing absolutely no resemblance to Tinkerbell or fairy godmothers.

  Grindylow

  Grindylows have long been part of British f
olklore, utilized as a concept by parents to keep their children from getting too close to ponds and lakes while playing. Grindylows are said to use their long, green fingers to grab children who come close to the water’s edge.

  Similarly, in the wizarding world, Grindylows are small water demons who use their sharp horns and long, green fingers to attack whatever comes in the water with them. Grindylows live peacefully with merpeople but attack just about anything else they find in the water.

  Goblin

  Goblins (also called hobgoblins or orcs) have a long tradition in English folklore. Because of their almost universal association with money, goblins are discussed in further detail in Chapter 4, in the section on wizard banking.

  Kelpie

  A kelpie (or kelpy) is a legendary horse-shape Celtic water sprite that dwells in lakes and seas with the hopes of drowning unsuspecting travelers; the same description holds true in the wizarding world. See the “Sea Serpent” section later in this chapter for additional information.