The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter (6 page)

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Grindylows have long been part of British folklore, 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.

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.

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.

An Irish folkloric creature, a leprechaun is part fairy, part dwarf: a diminutive old cobbler, usually bearded, who can lead a person who closely follows him to his pot of gold. In the wizarding world, leprechaun gold vanishes in a few hours, making it worthless.

Similar to elves and fairies, Celtic pixies are said to dance in the moonlight, sometimes on the roofs of houses. Wizarding pixies, on the other hand, are tiny—less than a foot high—are bright blue, and have shrill voices. As far as we know, they do no moonlit rooftop dancing, but they do love practical jokes, especially those that involve hurling people high into the air.

A Red Cap is so named in Scottish folklore because this creature, who looks like an old man, wears a bloody cap. He is incredibly fast and strong, but he can be overcome by a victim’s religious zeal. In the wizarding world, Red Caps are creatures that look like goblins and hang out wherever they can sense bloodshed (dungeons, battlefields, and the like).

The Old Testament gives accounts of several battles between God and a sea serpent called Leviathan or Hahab. In the Biblical book of Ezekiel, a sea serpent makes its home in the Nile, where God catches and kills it.
Leviathan
is still the word used today to describe a sea monster.

The best-known sea serpent (also called a kelpie) is in Rowling’s own country: Scotland’s Loch Ness monster, who is sometimes affectionately called “Nessie.” Since the late 1800s, tourists and residents alike have spotted a two- or three-humped creature with a long neck who appeared, turned over boats, and caused both interest and panic. Photographs and videorecordings offer proof of Nessie’s existence, although most people still consider the sightings either outright hoaxes or cases of mistaken identity.

From the Old English
wer
(man) and
wulf
(wolf), werewolves have long existed in folklore: people who shapeshift into wolves at night (whether the moon was full or not), attack or even eat people, and turn back into human form by day. Usually, one has to be bitten by a werewolf (and survive) to become one, although some werewolves are born with the power. Legend has it that scars obtained in battle while in wolf form carry over into human form, which led, at some points in history, to the panicked execution of people who had unusual scars.

Historians who have begun to look carefully at supposed werewolf (and, for that matter, vampire) killings see striking similarities to modern serial killings; werewolf and vampire legends may have been created to explain what was otherwise inexplicable.

In many literary cases, as is true in the wizarding world, werewolves are reluctant participants, who feel they are cursed to possess their shapeshifting powers. Wizards who are bitten by a werewolf will spend the rest of their lives changing into wolf form at each full moon, although drinking Wolfsbane Potion (see Chapter 11) does keep part of the man-into-wolf change from occurring—the body still changes into that of a wolf, but the mind does not. Fenrir Greyback is considered the most dangerous werewolf in the wizarding world, because he specializes in biting children, hoping for an all-werewolf society.

Wolves, although not necessarily werewolves, figure prominently in Tolkien’s
The Hobbit
and
The Lord of the Rings
and in Lewis’s
The Chronicles of Narnia.
Werewolves have also been routinely celebrated in Hollywood, including 1985’s
Teen Wolf
(in which the werewolf character is played by Michael J. Fox), 1994’s
Wolf
(starring Jack Nicholson in the werewolf role), and three werewolf movies in 1981:
The Howling; Wolfen;
and
An American Werewolf in London.

Wizards view winged horses as a transportation boon, as they can guide flying carriages and, for long trips, even be ridden bareback. As with Hippogriffs, winged horses must be concealed through regular applications of a Disillusionment Charm, which allows them to blend into their environment.

Many breeds of winged horses exist in the wizarding world, but two stand out: